Craig's Running - What's New

NOVEMBER 1, 2002 - Training has been just horrible the last few weeks - which should have left me feeling rested, but instead I am struggling through runs that should be unbelievably easy.  I'm not sure what is wrong, but it doesn't look good for the 1/2 marathon is 2 days.  Now just finishing looks in question, and even if I pull in together pretty well I just don't see myself even cracking 1:20.  I'm just real discouraged with my training, and concerned that something else seems to be wrong since I have gotten so slow, so quickly.  This is not a real good way to lead into my first real race in 7 months, but I need to just look at this race as a starting point and use it as motivation to pull my training together.

OCTOBER 11, 2002 - I have now signed up for the Santa Clarita Half Marathon, so I am definitely doing that.  My daughter is making her racing debut in the Kids K (actually 1/4 mile), and she is really excited.  Training is going okay, but still in the 50's per week which is much lower than I had hoped for.  On paper I would say I am in 1:18 shape for the half, but I am hoping to fake my way through 1:15 on the fast coarse.  That shouldn't be fast enough to be in contention, but you never know who might show up.  The only locals who can run that kind of time aren't expected to race, but there are 1,000 entrants, including a lot of out-of-towners.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2002 - Training continues to be a struggle.  Work stress has subsided a bit temporarily, but a busy schedule still limits my running a lot.  I am having ongoing problems with my feet, ankles, and right achilles being sore.  This makes the first few miles of every run quite painful and awkward.  It does get better as the run goes on, but never goes away entirely. I have decided to try the Santa Clarita 1/2 Marathon on November 3rd, which is a long enough race to really force me to get my base training for next year's track season going, but short enough that I could manage to get in shape for it in such a short length of time.  I probably won't win it or run a PR, but I could probably make a respectable showing in 8 weeks.  I am planning a big upgrade to the website, but I don't want to spend time adding content until I get the look straightened out.  With my schedule, this could still be weeks or even a couple months down the road.

AUGUST 24, 2002 - So, what happened between March 22 and now?  Basically I went into semi-retirement.  Things have been tough at work, so I have been stressed and working some long hours, I have been spending some time coaching, and most importantly, we had another baby in June.  Needless to say, my running took a major back seat, and so did this website. My running has stepped back up a little in the last couple weeks, but I will wait a few months and see how things go before declaring this a comeback.  I do know that the Santa Clarita marathon is out of the question.  I decided that frantically trying to get in shape in half as much time as I really need, and then risking yet another marathon disaster doesn't make any sense.  I really like 10K's better anyway, so I am going to start training for the track 2003 season now, and then maybe think again about marathons once I have a much stronger starting point.  The main goal now is just run consistently and get the new website fully up and running.

MARCH 22, 2002 - Well the marathon is history (DNF), as is a mediocre track 10K.  Things just didn't come together as planned.  I was unbelievably stressed about work, missed a lot of training, and just lost my focus.  Now it is time to regroup, hope I haven't lost to much conditioning, and pick a new goal.  I am thinking of shooting for a fast time at the FILA meet in mid May.  It has been moved from USC to Oxy this year, but it should still have a 10K.  If I can knock a minute off my 32:46 from last week's race, that would be my fastest race since college, and would break our club record.  It seems possible to do this in the 7 weeks I have to prepare.  My goal is moderate mileage (60 to 70), but lots of intensity.  After that, the baby is due in June so I will have a light training period, followed by a possible attempt and the Santa Clarita marathon in November. 

FEBRUARY 25, 2002 - The last week has been a nightmare for my training.  It was supposed to be a taper week, but not like this.  The point behind a taper is make sure you are well rested, but I am getting no sleep AND no running.  I have considered bailing on the marathon, but I still think I have a fast time in me if I can just regroup for a couple days before the race.  I found out over the weekend that Bill Crowley died.  He was my high school coach and mentor, so that was tough news especially with everything else that is going on.

FEBRUARY 18, 2002 - The last 4 weeks of training have gone pretty poorly.  A small taper followed by a harder than expected recovery from the half marathon had a negative affect, but I think I really needed that race to work out the kinks.  Since then, however, a rough work schedule, a minor calf injury, and a mini vacation have prevented me from training at a good level.  Now I am just 13 days from the marathon, so I just have to consider it to be a long taper since it is too late to crank the training back up now.  I am considering doing a 10K on Saturday, since I am probably peaking now, and it will be a lot harder to try to run a fast time after the marathon.  My big concern is my heavy work schedule and stress will continue through the week after the marathon, so I am worried about getting enough sleep and keeping the stress level down leading into the race.

FEBRUARY 6, 2002 - The marathon is getting close, and I am really dragging.  Things are stressful at work, I have a lot to get done at home, and I am not getting enough sleep.  Both my mileage and intensity are lower than I wanted at this point.  I really have just 11 more days of hard training before I start my taper, so I am trying just to suck it up and do what I need to do for just a little longer.  I am already starting to look forward to doing more speed, less mileage, a lot more races, and just having more fun with my running after the marathon.  I did try to get a seeded number for the LA Marathon, but was pretty much just laughed at.  I followed the phone conversation up with an emailed running resume, but this got no response.  In a way this is a good thing since it takes the pressure off to live up to a seeded number, and also gives me some incentive to prove I should have had one.

JANUARY 30, 2002 - The half marathon went great.  I went out slow, but was able to hammer the second half for a PR by 3:34.  See my race report.  I was quite encouraged by this, although a 1/2 is probably my best distance right now.  Still it shows my lack of speedwork and raw turnover is not a big problem for the longer races, and my endurance is quite good.  2:30 at LA is still an outside possibility, but 2:35 is looking quite reasonable.  The race took more out of me than I had expected, so this week has started out slow.  I should still top 90 miles each of the next 3 weeks before starting to taper.  A new problem for the marathon is what shoes to wear.  My planned on racing flats caused me great pain when I wore them in practice, so I am left with some very lightweight racers that really aren't solid enough for 26 miles, or just wearing my training shoes.

JANUARY 23, 2002 - I am getting in good mileage (90+) now, but I am discouraged that I am SO SLOW.  My January 1st time trial was good, but my limited speedwork has been really poor.  I am waiting for all the mileage to kick in and my pace to start dropping, but it just hasn't happened yet.  Last night's speedwork was really discouraging since I have gone from being the fastest guy in the track group to maybe 7th or 8th in the last 5 months.  This weekend's 1/2 marathon will be a good test to see where I am really at.  I am hoping my raw leg speed is the only thing lacking and I can still maintain a solid pace in longer races.

JANUARY 2, 2002 - I pulled a shocker in my traditional January 1st time trial mile.  With my lack of speedwork, and coming in tired and with 10 miles already that day before the time trail, I thought a sub 5:00 was out of range.  I planned on running 77's and seeing what happened in the last lap or two.  With superstar hurdler Mark Crear cheering me on, I hit the quarter in a way-to-fast 69.2.  I knew I was in trouble, so I tried to ease up a little and just stay relaxed.  I hung on surprisingly well with splits of 71.0, 72.2 and 72.9 for a 4:45.3  Although this was a couple seconds slower than last year, I was thrilled to run this fast.  This workout combined with a good set of mile repeats puts me just a few weeks behind where I was at this point last year.  Also encouraging was the very fast pace seemed to have no affect on my hip. 

DECEMBER 26, 2001 - My mileage continues to be good, and I am actually ahead of schedule for the long runs (up to 15 miles already).  The flip side is my speed and intensity is way off.  I hadn't planned on doing any real speedwork until after the marathon, but I am thinking it might help my marathon time to add some speedwork now.  I did let it rip yesterday and managed 16:18 for a hard 3 miles, but I do have a little hip pain this morning.  I have been pretty lax about stretching, and I think that is probably a factor in the hip pain as well.  I really just need to be smart and patient with my training.

DECEMBER 12, 2001 - My mileage is now about 2 weeks ahead of my training plan for the Los Angeles Marathon, but the intensity is way off.  I am just starting to get used to the high mileage and double runs, so the intensity and speed should start catching up.  I'm not going to do any more big jumps in mileage, but just drift up the long runs, overall mileage, and intensity over the next couple months.  I am considering trying the Los Vegas Half Marathon the first week in February.  It is exactly 4 weeks prior to my marathon, so it would fit the schedule pretty well.  It is only 6 or 7 weeks from now, so I wouldn't expect a huge run, but my half marathon PR is soft enough that I think I could get it.  If I do this race, I will try to do a mini-vacation with my wife and daughter around it.

NOVEMBER 26, 2001 - Even though my mileage is going pretty much to plan, I am frustratingly slow, and still can't do any real speedwork with the hip problem.  I am actually ahead of where I was on this date last year, but well behind of where I was 14 weeks out during my last marathon training.  LA looks to be too close to have a reasonable shot a 2:30, but there really isn't another marathon I could do.  With the due date for our next child as June 7th, I won't be able to run much of a track season after the marathon either.  Oh well (meaning - not a big deal, just a change of plans).  Since I can't do any real speedwork now, but mileage doesn't seem to bother me, I'll just keep doing marathon style training and see if the marathon makes sense once I get a little closer.  Then out of necessity with a new baby at home, I will probably do low mileage / high intensity over the summer and concentrate on 5 and 10K's.

NOVEMBER 15, 2001 - The training is starting to come around, and I should top 50 miles with week in spite of having a cold.  I was discouraged to only manage 5 x 1 mile in 6:00 on Saturday.  Although this was one of the best runs I have done since the injury, it just made be realize how much I need to improve in such a short time to run well at LA.  Then, to my surprise I repeated the same workout 3 days later in 5:37!  I'm not sure how much of the difference was due to the all-weather track vs. dirt, but it does show I am in a lot better shape than I thought.  I am not far off of where I was at this time last year, and could probably catch up within the next few weeks.  While this still leaves a sub 2:30 a very aggressive goal, it wouldn't be impossible if everything went perfect.

NOVEMBER 5, 2001 - Well things went just as planned at the Santa Clarita Marathon yesterday, only I wasn't running.  Not surprisingly, Brian dominated, breaking the race record with a 2:28:46.  It looks like those 140 mile weeks and workouts like 3 x 5K in 16:30 paid off.  Second was way back in 2:36.  No one else broke 2:40.  Had I stayed healthy, it would have been an interesting race.  I would have had to run the race of a lifetime to do a 2:28, but I probably could have been close.  Brian went out extremely fast, near 5:00 for the first mile, and 33 and change for 10K.  That would have left me way back trying to chase him down over the final miles, instead of a side-by-side battle.  It wouldn't have bugged me that much to watch this race if it wasn't for the fact that my hip is still bugging me so I can't even do anything about being so slow.  Had I raced the first mile of the marathon and then dropped out, I still would have been a good 30 seconds back from the leaders.  Aarg!  Well, I'm not lacking in motivation - I just need to get my body to cooperate.  I know I can run a Olympic qualifier, but my health is a big "if".  Someone asked me at the race if my hip problem was permanent.  I don't think so, but there is a thought.  Why did I wait so many years to get serious about running?

OCTOBER 28, 2001 - I have learned that as long as I stay in shuffle mode, the hip seems to be okay.  An easy track workout with some stuff as fast as 5:20 pace hurt the hip again, but I can force a shuffle step as fast as low 6's and be okay.  I have lost a lot of conditioning, plus the shuffle seems to be a lot more work than running normally.  I did a 19:30 track 5K on Saturday and it was really tough.  My legs were pretty thrashed on Sunday.

The new plan is to build mileage fairly aggressively and shoot for the LA Marathon March 3rd.  Even with avoiding speed work for now, I think 16 weeks is enough time to get back to where I would have been for the Santa Clarita Marathon.  With the faster LA course this year, a sub 2:30 sounds possible if I stay healthy.  Then, if I recover well from LA, I still have a few months to build speed to run some fast track races at the end of the season.  After a 22 mile week last week, I am going to try to get to 50 by the end of November, and 80 by the end of the year.  Then I will be ready to start training with Tabori and adding some speed while working up to near 100 before the marathon. 

OCTOBER 22, 2001 - I am back to some low level training, with the hip almost normal.  I am being pretty cautious for now, but I am mostly running short and slow because that is all the faster I can run with all the conditioning I have lost.  I am virtually starting over from scratch.  I did a fairly hard 5K on the track in 20:47 on Saturday and my heart and lungs felt like they were going to explode.  I would assume I will come back pretty fast since just 6 weeks ago I probably could have run this 5 minutes faster.  I am really fired up to get back into training, but I need to be a little cautious for a few more weeks.  I think the San Diego Marathon is on my daughters birthday, so I may have to adjust my plans.  The LA Marathon might be an option, but it isn't very far away, and it falls into early track season.  I will probably research race options while I see how quickly my training gets back to speed.

OCTOBER 9, 2001 - The hip is finally doing better.  The x-ray showed nothing, so I will probably never really know what the problem was.  I ran one mile last night, very slow on a flat, dirt stretch to put as little stress as possible on it.  I could still feel a little something in the joint, but it is a lot better than it has been since this first started.  I want to be extremely conservative for a while, but I want to start doing some very easy runs just to start loosening up my legs.  I have basically decided to start training with Laszlo Tabori and really shoot for some fast 5K and 10K times before trying the marathon again.  I enjoy track more than anything else.  The only reason really for trying marathons is I think I can be most successful at that distance.  I will probably try doing a reasonable marathon right after track season (2:30 - 2:35 at San Diego?) and then go for the 2:22 qualifier in the fall.  I'll have to run this by Tabori to see what he thinks.

OCTOBER 3, 2001 - Still little or no improvement on the hip.  I got an x-ray yesterday (no results yet) but the doctor was not helpful at all.  "Oh well.  Check back in another month if it still hasn't gotten any better.  It is not unusual for things like this to take 6 months or more."  Great.  The thing that really bugs me is he doesn't even know what the problem is and isn't interested in finding out.  At least if I knew what it was and the prognosis I could plan ahead for the future.  As it stands now, it is a huge unknown.  I won't know if or when I can run again until it actually happens, and then I won't know what caused the injury and if it will just happen again.  If nothing good happens soon, I may pay out of my own pocket to see a running orthopedist.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2001 - My injury has not improved, so the marathon is out.  I attempted a very slow 2 mile run last week, and it really made things worse.  I have at least another week before I could think about easy running again, and it could be 4 or 5 weeks if I have a stress fracture.  I also have a probable stress fracture in my left foot that I started feeling about a week before the hip thing, but this doesn't seem to be an issue because I never even felt it when running.  Even best case, I simply don't have enough time left to be ready for a November 4th marathon.  After the LA marathon in 2000, I decided that doing a marathon that I wasn't fully prepared for simply did more harm than good.  Picking up a Boston qualifier would be the only reason I would still run Santa Clarita, but even 3:10 might be a struggle, and I probably wouldn't go to Boston anyway.

The whole thing is very frustrating.  I had built my mileage to an unprecedented level, but never even got a chance to see how the high mileage was working.  I had planned to run a fast marathon and a couple shorter races of the high mileage, and the decide where to go over the next few years with my running career.  Now I will be starting over at some unknown time in the future, and I really don't know what to train for and what approach to take.  I'm not sure if I really want to jump right back into marathon training, so maybe I will gear up for some fast track races this upcoming season, and then do a summer marathon.

SEPTEMBER 13, 2001 - An injury on Sunday 9/9/01 has completely killed my training.  This appears to be a sacroiliac joint problem.  It is very painful, and I have trouble walking, sitting, and just moving in general.  Running is out of the question.  Suddenly the marathon doesn't seem very far away.  I bought an Aqua Jogger belt and dug out the stationary bike so I am going to try to do some major cross training and hope for a quick recovery.  A track 3K at the Cal Poly reunion this Saturday if definitely out, but I still have hopes for the marathon.  I'll just have to wait and see what happens. 

SEPTEMBER 4, 2001 - My training is now great.  My last two weeks were 88 and 92 miles, with good intensity.  My mile repeat times are coming down, and I did long runs of 16 and 18 at an honest pace (sub 6:30).  I have turned Thursdays into marathon pace day, and hope to do these as 10 miles at 5:40 pace before race day.  After feeling like I was way behind in training, I now am concerned I have hit peak training too early.  I am not sure what to do the next 6 weeks other than do the same stuff faster and try to hold everything together until race day.

AUGUST 20, 2001 - My mileage continues to be good, just short of plan, and my pace is starting to come around.  The long runs are still missing, and my string of 22 milers simply isn't going to happen.  My longest run so far is just 15 miles, and this week my "long" run was only 12.  With just 8 weeks left before tapering, I am going to shoot for something like 16, 18, 16, 20, 18, 22, 18, 20.  I did some unplanned runs around marathon pace this week and was very encouraged by the results.  I'm very busy and kind of stressed about work, and I am just not getting enough sleep, so I need to work on that.

AUGUST 6, 2001 - My mileage has been great (for me) the last couple weeks, but I still have a few things to work on.  My long run is only to 15 miles, and my mile repeats are very slow.  Since both of these are weekend daytime runs, the heat seems to be a big factor.  It it tough to do a 20 mile run or fast repeats when it is routinely over 90 degrees.  I have made the decision to essentially not race until the marathon.  I have already cancelled a couple cross country races and a track meet.  At this point the long slow training miles don't make me real race ready, and the racing hurts my training a lot more than it helps.  I will do a club track meet in September, but that will really just be a interval workout since I will probably do 4 or 5 races.  I might also try to find a 10K or 1/2 marathon to do late in my training if I think I can take a shot at a PR.

JULY 26, 2001 - I am finally starting to get in double runs.  I am doing them from home, and I found they are going pretty well as I am getting used to them.  I just do them very easy, and on a mostly flat course.  After some more bad weeks, this should be my first real good mileage week if things keep going well.  It is frustrating to train at such a slow pace, but once I get used to the higher mileage and double runs, I can start picking it back up.  My longest run so far has been just 14 miles (once) so that is the next thing I need to start working on.

JULY 6, 2001 - After a pretty good effort for 3rd in my July 4th race (16:08 for a tough 5K - see race report), I am ready for some serious training.  The very next day after the race I was able to put in a quick 10 mile training run.  I am feeling very motivated and ready to really start training hard, but I need to quickly figure out how I'm going to do double runs.  I am also working on some cool new training tools for the website, which should be up in the next couple weeks.

JULY 1, 2001 - The marathon training has been going okay, but is still a little short of plan.  Although I had planned on keeping the intensity low while I built mileage, I have been surprised by how hard I am working to run this slow at just 60 mpw.  The morning runs are looking like a problem - the few times I have tried it, it really didn't work out.  It seems like a short run just after rolling out of bed costs me more than it hurts since I am to tired to do a good hard run that night.  I am going to try to find a gym near work so I can drive down here and wake up a little bit before running in the morning.

JUNE 4, 2001 - My first week back into training was surprisingly hard, but it felt good just to be out there again.  I was surprised to find out just how much conditioning I have lost.  I am probably 20 seconds per mile slower than I was in March/April.  I'm surprised looking back at it that I was able to run 32:24 just a few weeks ago.  I have now become a firm believer from looking over my logs and what worked, that consistent mileage is a lot more important than short speed, even relatively short races.  My new training plan for the marathon reflects this, and I think my 5K and 10K times will improve, even when building mileage specifically for a marathon. 

MAY 25, 2001 - The Fila race went great.  Not very fast (32:24) but it was very exciting as it turned into a war for 2nd place.  Myself and a Fila runner changed the lead (for 2nd) seven times in the final mile, with me pulling it out in the final 500 meters (see race report).  After several very easy weeks leading up to the race, and a recovery week this week, I am ready to start real training again.  The plan is to build up the mileage while keeping the intensity real low.  I am going to try to add double workouts early on to get used to running before and after work.  This will be critical in a few months when I get past 70 miles per week.

MAY 15, 2001 - After one good week and a mediocre week, it was time to start tapering already.  Unfortunately, high stress and long hours at work have made the taper more extreme than I wanted, and left me wiped out most of the time.  I should be out of this work crisis in the next week or two, but unfortunately my big end of season race is just 4 days away and I am just not feeling sharp.  I am running the 10K in the FILA Twilight Classic track meet at USC.  This is a pretty serious meet.  They are charging $5 just for spectators, and the meet record in the 10K is 28:23.  I just want to get out fast and see what happens.  A somewhat disappointing run at the Laguna Peak Challenge 5K doesn't help much with my confidence (see race report).

APRIL 24, 2001 - My training has continued to be bad, and my hoped for fast times at the end of track season are looking questionable.  I am still going to try to get 2 or 3 good weeks in and do a little taper for the end of track season, but this will mostly because it is too early to start marathon training.

APRIL 16, 2001 - My training has been terrible the last few weeks.  I ran even less than I expected while in the bay area for a combination vacation / work trip.  I missed 4 days completely, and it is amazing how flat I have felt the last few days as I tried to jump back into normal training.  A planned track 10K this week is definitely out as I now need as much good training as I can get before the late May / early June meets.

APRIL 2, 2001 - Ran a pretty good 15:34 to win the April Fools 5K road race by over 2 minutes (see race report).  Overall, however, this was a fairly poor week and I have made no real progress in my training the last month.  An upcoming week out of town will make it tough, but I am going to try to refocus, and do some consistent, high intensity training the next 6 weeks and then taper for two meets late May / early June. 

MARCH 22, 2001 - After running a great 31:57 for first overall at the Occidental Distance Carnival (see race report) I am trying to get back into normal training.  It is a little tough trying to get focused again and decide what my next goal is after running better than expected.  I am probably going to do a couple of very low key races and then try to peak for some fast 5K's (sub 15:00?) at the beginning of June.  After that, I will take it easy for a few weeks and then gear up for the Santa Clarita Marathon in November.

MARCH 12, 2001 - This last week was a good one, but finished poorly as I just got out of sync on the weekend.  This next week will be an easy week to make sure I am sharp for my 10K race Friday night.  I am working on a training tips / coaching section of the website, which should be up by next week.

MARCH 5, 2001 - I just finished a great week of training.  I ran 3 days in the rain, but I am starting to get used to it so it didn't slow me down that much.  At 66.6 miles, this trails only a single week at training camp in college for highest mileage in a week.  Even better was the quality - I averaged an amazing 6:15 pace for the week, and my mile repeat workout bodes well for a mid 32 minute 10K at the upcoming Occidental race.  I am very concerned about the weather for the race, however.  We have been averaging 3 days per week of rain, and with this being a night race, it could be very cold also.  I have no idea what to wear for the race if it ends up being 35 degrees and raining.

FEBRUARY 29, 2001 - I just completed my massive update of this website.  It doesn't look quite as slick, but it definitely loads faster, has more information, and is hopefully easier to use.  I am trying to add a lot more useful and interesting information that isn't all about me.

I have decided to run the Occidental Distance Carnival as my next meet.  I am doing the 10K at 9:15 at night!  I was hoping to go sub 32, but 32:30 is a lot more realistic right now since my training and the Northridge races have not been real encouraging.

FEBRUARY 19, 2001 - My track meet went pretty well. I ended up running a 4:38 mile and 10:04 2 mile. This was faster than my goals, but I was secretly hoping for a big break though. I trained through this meet, and haven't done that much speed work, but this still leaves me a long ways to go to get close to my PR's. More complete info is in my race report.

FEBRUARY 15, 2001 - I am finally well after a bad cold. I am planning to run a track meet this weekend at Cal State Northridge this Saturday and I am really looking forward to it. I missed two track meets and a road race in the last month for various reasons, so I finally get a chance to race and see where I am really at. I am running the mile and two mile about an hour and a half apart. These are short races for this early in the season, especially against college kids, but it should be fun! My goals are 4:40 and 10:15

JANUARY 26, 2001 - I have now added all my race results from 1995. Check it out here.

JANUARY 24, 2001 - Here is an interesting challenge. Based on Joe LeMay's web site, I am clearly in better shape right now than he is. Check out Joe's training log. With Joe being one of the top runners in the country, and having averaged 20 miles per day as recently as November 2000, it will be interesting to see how we match up in the future. I suspect he will bounce back rather quickly (from a current injury) and quickly pass me, just because it is easier to come back once you have been at a very high level than it is to get there to begin with.

WORLD RANKING! - According to masterstrack.com I was the 24th ranked 5K runner in the world in my age group last year (10th in the U.S.). Check it out here. Obviously this is pretty bogus, the list is nowhere close to complete (notice the big gap between 13:44 and 15:04?), and is for track races only. Still it is kind of neat in a weird way.

JANUARY 12, 2001 - I have found the overall results of my 10 mile race online. Somehow it seems less impressive when you see how few people there were. Here is my race report for the Base-to-Base 10 miler.