Tag: fitness

running

Road to CIM 2025: Mic Check (Feb 24-March 2nd)

beersandmiles

Anyone else check the weather for the week before they start up?

While most of the last couple weeks have been mentally preparing myself for bitter cold miles of each day, I was finally excited to head out for the week.

Wait, a clear 55 degrees? In late Feb? Count me in.

It would be another week up at 75 and coming off a great workout Sunday I was pretty pumped to head into the week. The legs were a bit tight from the run early in the week but I figured that fatigue was to be expected given the workout.

What I didn’t expect was to have one of my worst workouts in years on Wednesday morning.

A light dusting had gone over the track and I was too stubborn to move the workout to the roads. I fully expected this one to be easy. 1200-800-400 at 5:00-4:50-4:40 with 200 jog recovery then 4×200 on/200 off. None of these reps were long enough to bite me. I just didn’t expect my legs to not cooperate.

I didn’t even get 100 meters in without some kind of discomfort. My left knee had been facing issues for a couple weeks or so. I thought it was tightness from the IT band issue from the end of the year. I had no pop and I just felt like I was struggling to get into a comfortable rhythm.

5:00 pace? How about a 5:11…
4:50? How about 5:07…
4:40? How about 5:00.

I couldn’t even break 75. This was ridiculous.

I wanted to call it after one rep. This was pitiful. I couldn’t get into rhythm and this just felt labored. Maybe it was the drop in temps that was giving me issues breathing (I should’ve gotten that inhaler years ago I told myself as I struggled through another rep) or maybe it was the little layer of dewey ice that somehow wouldn’t come off the track. I stayed in. Even if it was going poorly I could just adjust. If this was my effort today so be it, stay engaged and do what you can.

Set 2:
3:54, 2:33, 73

Alright a little bit better.

Set 3:
3:51, 2:31, 72

Okay, that’ll do for today. On to the 200s.

If I was having issues on the longer reps, that was nothing compared to the 200s. I struggled to feel any sense of power in my left leg as I wrapped around the curve. Nothing felt natural but it couldn’t be that slow right?

34 seconds….

Wooooooof.

Alright, one more here. If I’m under 34 here I’ll finish it out. If not, we’re done.

Click.

I work hard to drive through the first 200, trying to get grip around the turn. Arms pump hard, 100 to go. We’re definitely under.

34.

Alright we’re done here. This isn’t feeling good and I’m worried about what another 200 is going to feel like. I have a meeting scheduled with my PT the next day.

Every time I visit my PT he’s visibly disgusted by how tight my hamstrings are. I’m incredibly inflexible and can’t really bend past my knees. I think by this point he had said this is enough and we needed to fix it. So we started doing light cupping today targeting three specific spots, hamstrings, calves, and IT band. My knee continued to have issues and basic lateral movement and touch caused me pain. The questions he asked were akin to someone facing a tackle at the knee or something. I didn’t have any traumatic incident on it. Not any that I could think of.

Wait. I fell really hard on both sides of my body last month. Could that be it?

Possibly.

Welp that’s great.

He suggested I get a knee brace to try and stabilize my knee a bit. I wouldn’t wear it while running but I would start with walking around the house and sleeping in it to see if I had any improvement.

While there has been signs that I’m in really good shape, I know Boston enough to know that any little issue will be a death wish for me on race day. The course is cruel to those that are coming in with any sort of small injuries.

So time to get on a serious rehab schedule. Better late than never right? Consistent rehab stretches and using any tool to my disposal. I have what I need to get better (I hope), I just need to do it.

Sunday came quicker than expected. Another cold morning. I had all morning to prep since I wanted to try and knock this out when we at least had a little bit of sun out there. 18 on the schedule with 3 x 3 miles with 1 mile float recovery. I had a brand new pair of shoes and I felt pretty solid heading into it. Leg had improved a bunch over the last couple of days and I was actually responsible all weekend.

The goal of the workout was:
Set 1: 5:30
Set 2: 5:25
Set 3: 5:20

I set out a variation of my workout loop from the previous week (without the big hill section) and made my way over to the loop.

I came in with the thought of just being cautious off the gun. After the issues earlier this week, being a hero and trying to force things sounded like a recipe for disaster. If today was starting at 5:35-40, so be it. Just get some work done.

Mile 1: 5:29.

Well looks like I’m feeling better than I thought.

I had a slight bit of gust as I finished off each loop but I felt incredible out there. Finally my left leg was cooperating and I felt like I was back into a rhythm for once. The hardest thing early on was trying to stay controlled. Sure, this might feel good now but you have 10 more miles to go of this workout, don’t be an idiot.

Mile 2-3: 5:31-5:27

The next set would be where I’d see if this was going to be one of those good days. By the time you get to the 2nd mile of the set, you basically have an idea of how things will be going for the next one. The only struggle was pulling back. 5:25 was the goal and my first mile was 5:23. I brought the second one back to 5:24, but got ahead of myself again on the third one with a 5:21.

After a quick stop at the portapotty I started up my next rep. Okay. 5:20 is all you need here. Nothing fancy. Well, today was one of those good days. With about a minute to go in the first mile I worked to try and pull back a bit. But I had locked into this pace. This felt good?

5:14. Yeah, chill out dude.

The next mile was closer. 5:19.

Okay… nothing flashy, just bring it home here.

5:13. Oops.

There’s signs of a breakthrough coming. I feel it. I’m still working myself back to one hundred percent and I’m able to knock out workouts like this. But I can’t get greedy, especially as the miles increase and we get closer to peak. But after a tough winter and heck, a tough week, I’ll take this. Just need to practice control.

75 Miles done.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Perspective

beersandmiles

I have to admit, finding energy to recap this past week is a bit tough. Over the last week I experienced such a hodgepodge of emotion that really writing about my week of training just seems like such, well, so small in the grand scheme of things. Jotting my thoughts out has always helped a bit and adding an Instagram post just doesn’t seem right for the moment or topic so I’ll just use this. Seeing as I paid another year of subscription for this domain, I better keep using it.

This past week began with a bit of an outline for what the remaining block was to be. After setbacks over this past month and issues with what feels like my entire right leg, this block would be much more cautious than previous blocks. 60 miles on the week. I would be traveling to Boston on Thursday after work so this would be a welcomed week to be a little bit down in milage.

The week kicked off on a high note with some early miles with Ian. The morning was a bit chilly but I’d highly welcome a real feel of 19 than -10 like we had the previous week. Chats around shoes, the state of running culture, and of course running influencers. It was an hour or yapping. The adjustment to my social media intake and these weekly checkins have seemed to be a bit of a help for just my general energy surrounding all things running in this day and age.

Wednesday would be my first workout where I’d try to scrape some of the rust off. It was a modified fatigued miles type of workout. 4 miles at marathon pace + ~30 seconds, half mile jog, then 5x 3 minutes at 5:00 mile pace with 1 minute jog recovery. Max joined me without hesitation. I continued to still have issues with my left leg, lingering tightness around the knee following it locking up before Christmas break, but the uptempo miles weren’t too tough. We tried not to get too carried away with ourselves there:

5:49-5:47-5:49-5:47

Knowing the state of my left leg, I decided it was probably best that I took these next reps off the road and hit the track. I ran out of time with the half mile jog and started my first rep on the roads just as parents were dropping their kids off at school. I successfully made it to the track without being run down but my pace took a hit. No worries, we’d get on it. I was almost right on with the next four but man did it feel like I was doing a lot of work to get myself into rhythm. Aerobically, not horrible but this leg was not having it.

Double at Hoof Hearted went fairly well compared to the previous week. Great chats and another great crowd for our gnarly squad program. Closed Wednesday off with 16 miles on the day.

No matter how often I do it, trying to fit a run in on a travel day is always a shitshow. Thursday was no different. Knowing I had a long run on Sunday and was out of GU, I decided to round my loop out to Columbus Running Company, grab a couple to get me through Sunday and then place an order for a case to get me through the block. Knocked it out during the lunch break but jumped right back into work and didn’t have enough time to eat before getting to the airport. A sandwich and a beer thankfully helped. We were off to Boston.

Landed in Boston with no issues thankfully. Made it in time to meet one one of the team members, Ashley, who greeted me with a cool tote bag that included socks, a hat, a nice note, notepad, and a new pair of 880’s. Truthfully, I didn’t know what to expect beyond the Grand Prix on Sunday but I was really excited for what was sure to be a weekend to remember. I made it in time to grab dinner with some of the other members of the group and got to chat a little bit about our respective run clubs, Val representing Good Boys Denver, Hanna and Carolyn representing Hoboken Track Club, Mak & Yves representing Society Track Club, and Zach an artist/designer based out of SF. The night ended fairly early for me as I was tired and was going to be working a half day prior to the first event that afternoon.

The next morning a group of us met up for some coffee and then a run. There I was formally introduced to Matt, Tim, and Tom before we got to running. We got a chance to tell our stories of how we ended up in the cities we were and I got to tell how I ended up in Ohio by accident. Tom, Matt, and Aidan were working out this morning and Tom was all good with joining me for some easy miles. We talked a bunch about our respective running journeys, clubs, and scenes. It was a refreshing conversation.

I got back to the hotel just in time to clock into work for a couple hours. Knocked everything out and got out there just in time for lunch. And what a lunch it was. Tasty apps and a lobster roll for me. Man, I love the east coast.

This kicked off what could only be described as a running nerd’s dream weekend. We kicked off the afternoon with a tour through the New Balance Sports Research lab. As someone who was a massive shoe nerd starting from his college days, I was locked in here. All the details and tools used in shoe and apparel technology were showcased to our group. It was the first tour of the weekend and I was already so blown away. We spoke with a team from merchandizing/apparel and had a feedback session with some of the more east coast members of our group. Hearing the feedback from the other members of our group and current needs and wants from their respective communities was incredibly insightful, especially as I look to see what the future of Ope Athletic Club is to be in 2025.

The night ended with some duckpin bowling/dinner and a nightcap of live music with a smaller group of us. I was surprised (well I shouldn’t have been at this point), that a lot of us had one degree of separation with each other without even knowing it. Whether it was racing against mutual friends or even unknowingly racing each other in college, it was pretty cool to see how small this community could be.

The next morning I awoke to a missed call from my mom at 2:30AM EST. My mom is not known to call me very late and a chill went through my body knowing there could be some bad news coming. With it still being early morning I went off to our morning run with a larger group that were here with run specialty businesses. I got back to a couple missed calls and text messages. A quick glance to a message preview told me everything.

My condolences for your Grandmother’s passing.

I immediately called my mother. My grandmother had lived at our home for about the last 20 or so years. She saw me through my formative years and much of the years I’m not proud of. From an angry, insecure, high schooler looking for his way to the man I am today. I was a very angry kid for many of those years, and then distant as I left to find myself in college and then ultimately in Ohio. I can’t say I was ever really that close to my family in those years. Language barriers made it tough for me to have full conversations or express myself to her. But there was a love and patience that transcended language barriers that was unwavering, even when I didn’t want it for all of those years. I came to appreciate it all as our family came together to celebrate her 90th birthday almost 3 years ago. I caught up with the cousins I grew up with that were now adults with families and careers of their own. It was a reminder of the importance of family and almost a homecoming of the self if that makes any sense at all. The happiness that came with that weekend is something that will stick with me for a lifetime. Many of us who had not seen each other for almost a decade, gathered around and celebrated a kind, selfless human being that gave so much love for all around her. It had a lasting impact on me, even years later.

The rest of the weekend could’ve been a tailspin of emotions. I worked on trying to adjust my flight on Monday to surprise my mother while also trying to be present in such a once in a lifetime opportunity. Things eventually worked out where I would fly home to California instead of Ohio, so in a weird sort of way I was lucky. As I try to unpack it all over a week later, the thing that sticks with me is how life can have a way of providing experiences that are hard to fully categorize in column A or column B. The entire weekend provided me with an experience that I can confidently say was one of the best of my life. The incredible individuals that were involved with this program made me incredibly thankful to still be involved with this sport almost 2 decades later.

I completely blew up in my long run workout that Sunday but part of me wanted to run with others moreso than getting after it in chilly/icy conditions. I spent most of it running with friends new and old and while the workout portion itself went poorly, I had to be realistic as to how much energy I had in me. I was emotionally drained from the weekend.

I capped the weekend off watching some of the best athletes in the world compete while I enjoyed some wine and chowder with fellow track nerds. Then we all sang our hearts out in karaoke. A much needed escape from what was sure to be a tough week ahead.

As you can probably tell, this was written in two parts. I put it off for a bit after writing most of it early last week. Sitting here, in my childhood living room, it’s still hard to really express out this week. But that’s life I guess. I’m thankful for one of the best experiences a track nerd like me could have ever had and found myself refreshed about community again. I’m grateful for the life I’ve had the opportunity to have and the kindness of others around me. We were in for a tough time, but I didn’t feel alone in that. I often find myself so caught up in small annoyances or issues and this was one of those reminders of just how inconsequential most of it can be.

Til next time.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Turbulence

beersandmiles

It’s a fitting title for the current moment and this past week. As I sit on my flight to Boston I have some time to catch up on how last week went and well, hopefully line this blog up with the current week that I had just finished. Or this beer I had will make me sleepy and I’ll push this off til Sunday. Let’s try this out.

Last week continued a shit week of weather in Columbus, Ohio. The dip in temps had iced over any snow that had landed over the previous couple days. Cold? Well, we were in for worse. Welcome to freeze hell, the worst week of the year for the Midwest. 

Tuesday. 10 degrees. Real feel of 0. How in the world you can find comfort running in this beyond me but dammit we found a way. Enough layers and some coverage from the wind did enough to make this feel okay. Heck it was just as fast a nice day. Things are looking up! I even started doing strength training. We’re back police? Hey. It’s Cris calling.

But the temperatures continue to drop. How about -6 and a real feel of -10. But three of us showed up to jog. This is far too cold to work out and too dark and icy to trust moving fast, so a shakeout it was. Again, enough layers and the help from some handwarmers was enough to make 5 miles in this faux tundra bearable. 

While I’m known my friends as someone with a habit of getting to things fashionably late, I do a reasonably good job at planning out my workout days. This wasn’t one of those days. 

I ran out of time before run club and decided to push the workout to Thursday. Tonight would be an easy 8 to get me 13 on the day. I was overwhelmed, frustrated, and just in a foul mood as I tried to get two miles in before I got around to doing announcements for the club. 3 miles solo after would be on the schedule. Great. Funny enough I thought to myself during the run that being upset during runs typically didn’t go well for me. It was distracting and it was an easy way for me to…

*pop* 

I rolled it. I fucking rolled my bad foot again. I’m 3/4 of the way back to bar. I can hobble home. Bad step. I almost go down from the pain. It’s fucked again. Dammit. Just what I needed. I just had a great week for myself. Everything was supposed to be looking brighter. 

I limped back to the brewery grabbed my stuff and went home. It was hard to hide just how upset I was and I felt like I didn’t need to be that kind of person in a place that is genuinely a place to relax and enjoy the company of others. I vented to my best friends about it and they pulled me out of it. I took the next two days off and focused on pulling myself back together mentally and physically. It was a little stumble but nothing that was any different than things I’ve experienced. 

By Saturday I was back to running. No pain, thanks to an ankle brace that I put on to stabilize my foot as I walked throughout the day. It was strange to have something hurt so bad and then just go away but then again I haven’t been able to really understand what the hell is up with this foot since I first rolled it two years ago. 

By Sunday I was good to long run again as though nothing happened. I tossed on some alphaflys and focused on a strong long run with some uptempo. 16 miles at 6:21 average with a couple miles rocking at 5:40s. We’re back police? You have another incoming call. 

In all seriousness though, while this week was frustrating and a small setback in multiple aspects, it was a reminder that it’s not always a straightforward path despite all the work we put into it. Sometimes the universe likes to toss a random hurdle in there to make sure you’re awake. And well it’s a wake up call. This block isn’t gonna be as simple as just getting out there and doing it. You gotta be ready for some turbulence along the route. But we’ve beat the worst two weeks of the year weatherwise so hey, we’ll take our wins where we can. 

That’s it for now. I’m sure this weekend will provide a lot for me to talk about.

running

Road to CIM 2025: Clarity

beersandmiles

Sliding in on Sunday to make sure I keep this streak alive. Sorry, had to finish Twin Peaks so I can get on with my life.

Last week I completed my first 70 mile week of the block. Now some would say that jumping from 29 miles to 70 is probably a bad move but considering the 10 days prior were basically a wash due to sickness, I’d say this isn’t that crazy of a move.

Now, Columbus experiences a couple choice bad weeks. 365 days around makes you forget about that until the realization hits you like a truck. Last week, well that was the start of one of them. The city had been smacked around by snow and the temperatures dropped. Snow isn’t bad. Ice? Yeah, that’s where it get’s a little hairy. That’s the thing, most of these runs aren’t going to be the vision of excitement of fun that you see plastered around social media. Sometimes it’s gonna just be you, and what’s gonna get you out there where there is nothing exciting about the next hour. And when there’s a solid chance that there will be very few runnable areas to cross in this hour? Well, anything helps.

22 degrees, real feel of 13. 10 on the schedule. Yuck.

I grabbed my headphones and put on a go to playlist I would listen to when I had to run at 5:30am before work years ago. This was one of the better Tuesday runs I’ve had in recent months. I felt in control for miles as I trotted through the city, one step after another, no pain, just a calmness as I ran through a quiet bike path into the downtown strip. I made the turn for home as the unforgiving wind blew directly into my face. On different days I’d probably be hoping to be anywhere but here but in that moment I felt good. It’s awful out yes, but that punch of cold air was enough to make a man feel alive. I didn’t mind being there. This was dare I say, enjoyable.

I just wish the rest of the run was enjoyable too.

A couple miles later as the sun started to set I saw my first person on the bike path. We gave each other a head nod before I dipped under the over pass. Hmm, wonder who he runs for I thought to myself before my body went into panic mode as my foot lost traction. Crash. I’m on the ground. I pause my watch and lay there for a bit while I try to survey the damage. If it was a little warmer I’d lay there for a second and just take a breather but every minute seemed to be getting colder.

I dusted myself off and kept going. A little banged up but stride didn’t seem too affected. Just about 400 meters til I got out of the bike path and got onto safer streets. Just one quick left up the roundabout and I’m home free.

I didn’t even have time to think. Crash. On the ground again.

I looked over to my left as commuters slowly drove on the highway next to the trail. Well I hope my fall at least entertained them on that shit drive. This one hurt a bit more. I slid a bit and now the opposite side was now evened out. Dust off and head home. Just about 2 miles to go. Stay on your feet and don’t kill yourself out there. Can’t say I shed a tear from those falls but I may have shed a tear when What Sarah Said came on. We got home safely thankfully.

That was cold? How about 5 degrees at 6am.

Yeah. I didn’t want to workout. I was just gonna go out and do a shakeout. I had an hour progression. But the other boys were working out and I didn’t want to workout after a day in the office so he we go, loops alone in temperatures cold enough to shut off your mp3 player. My face hurt. I kept worrying my contacted lenses would freeze. I oscillated between feelings of numbness and rhythm. I figured I had to be going slower with each passing mile but with each passing beep I was pleasantly surprised to see the paces go down ever so slightly. I bargained to myself that I would continue to go until the next mile seemed like it was just a little too much. These paces had no business being difficult but being layers and freezing made this a bit of a challenge. It wasn’t difficult by any means but 6 minute pace is typically fairly easy nowadays. I got to 45 minutes. From 6:39 down to 5:46. I jogged home to my warm apartment and got ready for work. Was this a character builder? It was something…

The next two days were days where you just bargain with yourself to get out there. Just 6 you tell yourself. Next thing you know you’re 5 miles in on an out and back and it’s another 10 miles in the bank. Theres a feeling in the back of my head that knows that I’ll get the miles in. I just need the loud voice to lie to myself a little bit to get over the lazy thoughts of watching another episode of the show I’m binging and staying warm. 2 days. 20 miles. 70 was in play.

I joined Breydon and Jamey for their run before jumping into my long run. 16 miles with 4 miles uptempo somewhere after 10. I put on some beater Vaporfly 2’s and hit some uptempo. I was quickly reminded just how stiff these shoes could be. Eventually I found rhythm again. 5:59-5:40-5:34-5:28. Just one more run ahead of me.

The cold and my laziness proved to be my enemy on this Sunday run. I pushed my run until after an event I had to go to in the early afternoon. Before I knew it, it was 4:15, I hadn’t ate since 11am and I was 30 minutes from home. 10 miles ain’t much anymore but I know that it’s enough to make the body feel crazy after not eating for a bit. So I called an audible. 10 piece wendys nuggets and a double stack, an hour to let it settle and then out the door at 6.

I hit the road at 6:10 and was greeted by about 30-40 minutes of snow flurries. The snow was consistent enough to stick. Every step was a gamble with the hope that whatever was underneath the next step was concrete and not ice. Pace was not going to be the focus tonight. It was going to be staying upright. This wasn’t gonna be a fast one but I’d also rather not be a speedbump for some innocent bystander driving down Goodale Boulevard that night. Nothing felt particularly bad thank god and I stayed on my feet. 10 miles at 8:21 average. But it was 70. It was a step forward.

Outside of running, this was a step forward mentally. For the last 6+ months I haven’t really been able to go through a day without the desire to take a nap and have had a lingering fatigue and brain fog as I went through my days. Running for some reason didn’t feel that fatigued. I didn’t feel like I was overtraining. I just felt a general feeling of apathy as I went through my daily life. The beginning of the year I decided to take a better look at my social media consumption. I realized that a lot of the things I saw on social media, whether it be running or otherwise, tended to bring on a negative reaction from me. I felt like a worse person in this past year because of it. So I actively avoided and unfollowed and well, last week was a massive difference. This series may be a way of me expressing myself now since Instagram just seems like it sucks the creativity out of me with copy paste like posts.

But here’s to another week. I’ll try to get this current week updated during the middle of the week so I can get things written out closer to when it happens. But for now, this is what we got. Another week down.