F.I.R.S.T. Thing's First

OK, before I get too far into this entry, let me catch everyone up on why the blogs have been a bit lacking over the last couple weeks. A couple weeks ago I came down with either a nasty stomach bug or food poisoning. Either way, whatever it was, hit me like Ike hitting Tina on a Friday night. Essentially, I spent all of Sunday night and most of Monday getting sick. It was brutal. And just when I thought the heaving and grunting was over, I’d go another round with the toilet. I went both days without being able to hold any food down. Not that I was hungry, mind you, but even if I wanted to eat, it would just come right back up. By the time Tuesday evening rolled around, the puking had stopped and when I jumped on the scale the next morning, I was 7 pounds lighter. Yes, 7 lbs in a day and a half. Not exactly the most ideal way to shed those final remaining pounds left over from the winter.



So, from being sick, I didn’t run or lift much that week. I did however fully recover to jam out a 13 mile long run that week. More on that later.



Training Update:

Last week was my first official week with my new running workout. It’s called F.I.R.S.T; which stands for Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training. In a nut shell, it’s a training program put together by a father and his son that focuses on removing the “junk miles” from a marathon training regimen. It’s fairly similar to typical marathon training programs in that there are three distinct days of running; a speed work day, a tempo day and a long run day. However, the difference with FIRST from other programs is that on the days you aren’t running, you are cross-training – cycling, rowing or swimming. This will make the days you run more effective and focused on foot turnover and quality leg strength. This is the first time since starting to run that I’ve taken-on a program of this nature. In the past for marathon training, I’ve typically just ran short, medium and long runs during the week while lifting on the non-running days. It wasn’t until I hooked up with LL and this training program that I’ve spent so much time on leg strengthening and working on muscle imbalances in my hips, legs, and back. Which is a perfect pairing for quality running; hence the FIRST training program for this guy to get to Boston.

So the first week of FIRST training looks like this:


Sunday: Rest – what a way to start off the week!


Monday: LL workout – TRX workout, loaded with core, back and chest work.


Tuesday: Speed work – 10 – 20 min warm-up. 3 x 1600m @ 6:12 pace (1 min rest between sprints). 10 min cool down


Wednesday: Cross-training – cycling. 10 min warm-up. 30 min @ 95 – 100 RPM. 5 min cool down. Much harder than it looks on paper.


Thursday: Tempo run – 6 mile run: 2 miles easy, 2 miles @ 6:45 pace, 2 miles easy


Friday: LL workout – functional movements with a emphasis on squats, lunges and ab work


Saturday: Long-run – 13 miles @ 7:56 pace

Week two is more of the same with the speed work being longer distances and the long run being 15 miles are an 8:11 pace. I’ll admit, it’s difficult for me to hold back to an 8:11 pace, but fearing burnout, I’m trying to adhere to the slower pace. When looking at the long-run distances, the first 6 weeks of long miles are all above an 8:11 pace. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.


Running Routes:
The last two long-run routes have been 13 and 14 miles in and around Ankeny. Again, like I mentioned in my last entry, I found myself in Old Town Ankeny while making my way from one side of town to the other. For the 14 miler, I was in shorts for the first time since October. Felt so good, but at the same time, it was raining and 38 degrees. But, by God, I was bound and determined to be in shorts.

Today’s run with Cap was not like any mid-week run I’ve taken. Instead of being a tempo run, a trail run or a hilly run; it was all three! And here’s how it happened….we started off from 15th & Grand where we always meet up when it’s just the two of us and then headed up (west) Grand towards the Art Center. Our hope was to run the Art Center Loop, which hooks into the John Pat Dorrian trail along the river, and check out any flooding first-hand. The 2.5 miles from downtown to the Art Center was the tempo portion of the run. We were somewhere around a 7:20 – 7:30 pace. Once we got on the JPD trail, it didn’t take us long to run into the flooding. About a quarter mile into the trail, the trail was under a couple feet of water. Not wanting to turn back, we decided to traverse the 50 feet from the trail uphill to the higher elevated railroad track that runs along the trail. We ended up running on the railroad track for about a mile. I’m sure it was quite comical to see the two of us trying to hold a conversation while diligently concentrating on landing each foot on the railroad ties to prevent from falling on our faces. I would equate that mile of the run to a trail run; constantly checking the terrain below your feet to make sure you have solid footing while making your way across uneven territory. Once off the tracks, we headed back downtown by way of the neighborhoods south of Grand Avenue. For those of you familiar with these neighborhoods, you know that they are built on one steep hill after another. The two miles south of Grand made up the hilly portion of the run. And it was grueling. Those two miles are part of the Loop of Coin. And that route is grueling; nothing but hill after hill. Catch my drift about the hills yet? It was slow going at times, but we made it back downtown with a total of 6ish miles. All-in-all it was a good run; company was great and weather was nice. Not that I’m a hurry to have that kind of a combo run again, but I’ll admit, it was fun to have a run with that much character.
 Non-Running Thoughts of the Week:
Here are a few non-running thoughts swirling around my melon these days:

- I tried to watch the movie The Informant! with Matt Damon last night and I just couldn’t get into it. Normally, anything with MD is good, but this movie was dragging so much I gave up after 20 minutes. I guess I’m the type of person that has to get hooked into a flick right away to capture my attention. Maybe that’s why my favorite films are: The Big Lebowski, the Star Ware trilogies and The Hangover.


- I’m on a new project at work and it’s really sweet. I’m definitely going to enjoy the next four months.


- Shannon landed a 9 – 12 month consulting gig! I can tell she’s excited about it. She’s been out of work, or “between contracts” as I like to say, for a couple months now and staying at home was begining to wear on her. So happy for her.


- LDV is really coming along in her return from baby #2. She’s going to be back in the sub-8 min pace in no time.


- I’m a little concerned that San Fran has been so quiet in free agency so far. I was hoping they’d make a splash by signing a big tyma free agent, but nothing significant yet. Damn you Mike Singleterry for being so conservative!


- I absolutely loathe working downtown this time of year. For the past two weeks and now this week, downtown has been bombarded with thousands of out-of-towers who are in town for either the state wrestling or state basketball tournaments. Every day for the past three weeks I’ve seen an out of town license plate going to wrong way on a one-way street or grumpy old people wearing “Linn-Mar-Sully” or “Fairfield” paraphernalia walking aimlessly through the skywalk, obviously lost. My new project has me commuting between downtown buildings via the skywalk at least once a day, and it’s overrun with annoying teenage girls doing annoying teenage girl things and even more annoying teenage boys being dumbasses. Geez, I remember when I acted just like that during the tournaments. Makes me wish I could travel back in time and kick my own ass for being an idiot.


The Ink Has Arrived!
As promised, here are some pics of my new ink. I don’t really have a running rant this week, so I thought I would share the tat with everybody. I had to take the first part of this week off from running and lifting to let the tat heal. Today was my first run since getting the new ink last weekend. Badass if I do say so myself: