The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials?

The title of my post is a quote from the amazing book Once a Runner by John Parker. I actually haven't read the book myself, but I've heard everybody rant and rave about the book and have it on reserve from the library. Anyway, so today's run hurt-- a lot. I now have well over 400 miles on my shoes, and they hurt like hell. I went to Marathon Sports where Jason Lehmhuhle's wife (I forget her name, no disrespect,) but she took the footbeds out of my shoes and the forefoot was almost nonexistent. And you wonder why my feet are killing me? I ran 7.5 or 8, somewhere in there, and ran 8:00's, but it was one of the most painful things I have ever done.

Oh, and I'm doing the 2009 feet running challenge on Buckeye, and I'm pretty far down there, but my goal is to catch gaza_running in the next couple weeks. I think that's Mal from .1 of 1%, so look out Mal.

he's a workin' man now

I feel exceptionally old. I'm working a 9 to 5 Monday through Friday, which once again, puts a cap on my running. I haven't got to blog, because I've got my hands full as far as filling out scholarship applications. I haven't blogged since my two- a days on Monday, and since then, I've run 4 on Tuesday going 9:32's, off on Wednesday, and 5.6 on Thursday going 8:15's. Hopefully I'll get a few miles in tonight, although we'll see. This has been a weird week for two reasons. One, its sectionals for my brother in Track, so Wednesday I was there until 9:30 or so watching his 2 mile. He ran 9:30- something and only got 6th! He ran pretty even splits, hitting 70-72 every lap except the last because he has no kick. Tonight he's running the one mile at 6:00, so I might get a late night run in. Plus, I don't think I'm going to get a long run in this weekend. I was planning to go 10 miles, but I think the farthest I can run on my shoes without my feet explodeing is seven or eight.



Oh, and I was watching this week's Workout Wednesday on Flotrack, and guess who I saw? The famous and beutiful Alex Gits. She ran XC for Edina two years ago and now she runs for Stanford. I haven't really followed her at Stanford, but she set a couple school records for Edina, so she's kind of a big deal. People know her.



I guess I should report on my work, just because. My job is just kinda do whatever. My boss said to go through all the classrooms at the University, take pictures of all the technology, test the technology, and eventually file them online. Well, that might take us a month, maybe. So we end up testing the technology, spesifically the LCD projector and DVD player, for a few hours, AKA watching a movie. Today's a different story. I am fixing hard drives, reimmaging them, fun stuff like that by myself, there are like three other Tech Support employees here, not including my boss, so I'm going to try and dip outta here early today.

Sox finally get good start from Penny, Ortiz takes a seat

With the Sox starting a four game set in Minnesota, I get to watch all four games. And, with Ortiz hitting sub- .200 and going 0 for 12 in the New York Mets series, it was time for Tito to do something. Francona benched Ortiz for today's game, putting the red hot Mikey Lowell in the DH slot, putting Youk at third, and sliding call- up Jeff Bailey to first. Lowell went 4 for 5 with one RBI, Youk continued his red hot tear going 2 for 5 with two RBI's, and Bailey went 1 for 3 with one HR, his third, and second against the Twins. If it was up to me, and obviously it isn't, I would stick with this lineup for at least a couple more days, and keep Ortiz on the bench.

Oh, and Brad Penny. 4.12 career ERA, terrible control this season Brad Penny. He made Theo Epstein look like a genious today. Usually, Penny looks like a trainwreck, but not today. He pitched beutifully, throwing 5.1 innings of 6 hit ball. As I sit here watching the Pittsburgh- Chicago Cubs game watching Cubbies starter Ryan Dempster walk in two runs, I'm glad Penny's in my rotation.

Doublein' up

So, here we go. I said I was going to do speedwork today, but when I went up to the track at Kuhlman Field by the Community Center with some kids from my old track team. Well, it was locked, so I decided to take the fine young lady I was running with for a long run-- or, at least long for someone who's longest run is 800 meters. We went for just a short 30 minutes, and I figured we went a good three and a half.

I drove back to my house with the thought that I really needed to run again- a 3.5 miler never did any good for me. So, I got home, took a swig of water, got my iPod, and went out for another five miler. This one felt really good, allthough I felt the Lactic Acid a little bit around mile three or two and a half, but not too bad. I felt on top of the world too, I was flying through the second half of the run.

Sunday speedwork

I don't know if you could really call it speedwork, but I did 4x400 repeats, with a jogged lap in between each. I ran with my old track club because a couple kids were practicing to run the 800 in their national qualifying meet. Being the nice guy I am (that's a joke), I ran around the outside lane to pace them off, got their splits, etc. I ran consistently 1:26's, and all four were around a second of that, but I was pretty tethered down as far as how fast I could go. I've got another speedwork session on Monday, but this time I think I'll run a distance run also, because I didn't feel tired from my speedwork session Saturday.

Playing catch up~ See ya St. Paul easy 7 miler

I can't believe Freshman year finally came to an end. It really went by too fast, and its pretty sad to think some of the guys I met will move off campus and I won't see them again; I think if I could go through Freshman year again, I definitely would. I know none of my friends read this, and that's okay; I know for a fact they have better things to do. But honestly, the people I met this year are my inspiration for running. I'm not one of those people who will go out of the way too look for friends, or be the life of the party (or even be at the party for that matter.) Basically, the people I met went out of their ways to find, me, a guy that they've never seen in their lives, and I feel like I owe something to them, and since I'm really average at everything, maybe I can run, and that would make them proud of me. It sounds lame, I know, but you need something to keep you going when you're running five, six days a week.

So, that's that. The run Friday was awesome. I went seven and a half, and left the watch at the dorm. I believe I put an hour something on both my Flotrack and Buckeye logs, but that's just a guess. I believe it was 68 when I ran, not hot, but not really comfortable ether. Lucky for me, everybody by the river was watering their lawns, which was awesome because whenever I needed water, I got it.

Open letter to nature

Dear nature,
I really wish you wouldn't make it so hot. While I appreciate scantily clad college girls running around campus, I appreciate my running more, and some people are trying to run. See, nature, its pretty difficult to run when its 91 degrees outside, especially when you're trying to hold a pace, but I will anyway, bitch.
Love,

Matthew J. Ellenberger

So, coming off the eve of a very ugly run, I pulled off one of my best runs ever. My dad was lecturing me "don't go fast" since yesterday morning, and while I totally ignored his advice yesterday, I kind of put that into practice today. I ran the same 6.5 mile course as I did yesterday, and when I got back, I looked at my watch and it said 56:15. That's 8:40's; not slow.

Upon further review, I took splits on miles 1 and 2, because those are key for me. I did both at 9:30's which is slow. Then, I fell into my pace and felt amazing from there. Oh, that's not to say it wasn't hot though, my shoes were once again swimming pools, and I was sweating like a whore in church when I got back to my dorm.

I should probably do my duty and tell you about school. I had my World Politics final today, and it was pretty easy, but I love Political Science, so that's maybe why. God its hot in my dorm, like nine thousand degrees. I'm trying to study for my Math final tomorrow, but that's probably not happening. Right now, I'm drinking some hot coffee despite the heat, because I swear I will fall asleep if I dont. Hopefully I'll get a run in before class, because I'll swear by that gets you a better grade if you run before the test.

That was a FUBAR run for sure

Of you don't know what that means, watch Saving Private Ryan again, actually-- hell, watch that movie again even if you know what FUBAR means. And yes, I did steal that term from the Trilogy Running boys, but my running was hell today. Even though I ran at 6:30, it was 90 degrees outside. I ran with the TC running group, but lets back up 5 minutes. 6:25, and shit, I've got to run with the club. So, I threw on a pair of shorts, my Fuel Belt, and sprinted out of the Selby parking lot, down the street, almost got hit by about a million cars, and made it to St. Clair, panting heavily. I figured that I could strech out, get loose, etc. Well, right when I got there, here comes the club. The coach says "hey, are you the Berger kid, lets go," and that was that.

Well, I was running with the 8:30 group, and that took its toll. Now usually, that's an easy pace to hold, but considering my sprint and the heat, I just died after 5k. So, the group passed me-- all of them, cool. So, I finished up my ~10k loop back running by St. Kate's, at a lot slower pace. I went out in 26:40, and came back in 32:30. I'm into complaining about my equipment lately, so here we go. I came back, and my shades were caked with sweat (again). My runing shoes were pretty much buckets of water by the time I came back, and I still have blisters because my shoes are ~360mi worth of old.

And Iran, Iran so far away

That's from the SNL skit, by the way. That was a pretty warm run, 74- ish to be exact. It didn't really stop me, but I felt like crap after. 7.2 miles, running 8:20's I'm really trying to get my pace up, have you noticed that? Now, you might think "what the hell are you doing?" But there's a good reason. While I'm running 7:30's and under, I feel like I can only run up to 5 miles or so, and am just a trainwreck after.

Oh, and my shoes are falling apart pretty badly. I have almost 350 miles on my Adrenaline GTS 8's (348.39 miles to be exact), and I've got big blisters on my feet because the stability in my stability shoe is going. I'm going to tough it out until the rest of the school year, which is a week, but I think I'm going to put my paycheck to a new pair of Adrenalines.

That was pretty cool

First thing's first: I was meaning to run this route on Saturday, and kind of psyched myself out for some reason. I got myself thinking that 10 miles was a long way. Not that its a short jaunt by any means, but it isnt anything daunting. I figured I'd put it on hold and run Today, Sunday morning, so thats what I did. Actually, I wasnt planning it this way at all, but I was listening to Fdip 93, Steve's running of the 11th Boston Marathon on Saturday night. Steve was running through more or less a monsoon, and I was thinking to myself "Why are you such a whiny baby? 10 miles is just 4 more than 6, and you do six real easy." Its amazing how you can trick yourself like that.

As far as that goes, the run wasn't bad at all, it was in the mid 40's and it was just real easy. I ran 9.84 actually, at 8:14's which was good- I was aiming for an 8 minute/ mile pace. Here's my route:

Back to studying for finals

Paps & Ortiz

So, I wanna talk about the Red Sox debauchery against the Angels yesterday. Johnathan Papelbon was shaky at best. I dont want to look up any stats because I'm lazy, but he went to a couple 3-0 counts to Angels batters, gave up too many base hits, and threw I think 15 or so pitches. They said we had the best bullpen in the league. False. Papi was a complete trainwreck though, worse than Paps. He struck out 3 times, went 0 for 7, and is batting around .200. I think we need to sit this guy.

Catching up

I'm playing catch up, but that's okay, because I don't have anything really to report for Thursday's Extravaganza. I didn't feel like waking up early on Thursday, so I didn't. My only only other downtime was after work at 8:00, and I figure I shouldn't run, and if you've got almost plowed into by the f'in drivers as much as I have.

So, anyways, I did the stationary bike for two hours on Thursday; 17 miles. I did it mostly on level 5, but did level 9 for the last 15 minutes. The only good thing about that was when I got to the workout area there was nobody there, so I got to change the channel on the TV. Thank god, because there's no way in hell I'm watching the Disney Channel for two hours.

Today was good. I ran somewhere longer than 10 but somewhere shorter than 11, so I just called it 10.5; what the hell, right? It wasn't that warm, 68, but I ran without a shirt anyways. I've got a wicked tan line from my fuel belt, but that's okay-- despite what you thought, I'm not a fasion model. I ran 7:15's. Seriously, it felt like I was running 9:00's. It felt so easy.

That turned ugly in a hurry

That's what I get for waiting on my run. Let me preference this by saying I've had a combined 8 hours of sleep in the last two days, but usually lack of sleep doesn't get to me as far as running goes; today it did. I woke up and went to work at 7:30, with the intention of running to the Xcel Center and back for a nice 10 miler because my 9:30 class was canceled. I figured by 9 that wasn't going to happen, so I figured split the difference, I'll go 6 and a half. I got out there, about a mile in I was just sloppy with my form, and my muscles just ached like crazy. I ran back to I hall and took a two hour nap. I woke up, went to class, and tried it again at 2:45.

To borrow a couple phrases from Steve Runner at Phedippidations, I "decorated that 6 mile stretch of roadway" In other words, I puked all over the place. Now, I'm a runner, so that stuff happends and you move on. I didn't feel bad at all, so what the hell. Well, probably a mile or two down the road, my chest started to hurt a lot-- just below my ribcage on the left side. It was the worst pain I've felt in a while, even worse than my ruptured appendix a year ago. It was a sharp, stabbing pain that I just couldn't run with. I'd go maybe 200 meters and have to stop because the pain was too much to run with, and I didn't want to pass out, because my Road ID is still in the mail.

Now, one thing you should know about me is that I don't feel pain like normal people do. Its called a "reduced sensitivity to pain." You'd think that'd be pretty cool right? but it has its plusses and minuses; here are some examples. I was running this winter, tripped over a root, split my running tights open, and got up and proceeded to run 5 more miles. When I got back, I had a small river of blood from my knee down into my shoe-- I didn't feel a thing. Okay, so that's good, but what about this: I thought I had stomach flu, I went to school, I played all 60 minutes of our hockey game. Next day, I went to the doctor, he sent me to the ER. Ruptured appendix. Doctor says "good thing you came in, because one more day, and you'd be dead. That's bad.

Bottom line, when things hurt me, its usually something serious. My first thought was a punctured lung, and scared the shit outta myself. Get real, Matt. How could that even happen? Second thought was I pulled an ab muscle. I do half an hour of core every day, so improbable, but still possible. Now, I'm thinking it was just a cramp/ dehydration thing because:
- It was 68 and humid
- Even with the stopping and starting, I ran at a pretty good clip, 7:27's-- way too fast.
- I hadn't eaten a real meal in two days, not to mention carboloading (which I usually do once a week) so my glycogen stores were probably almost gone
- The sleep thing
- I probably didn't drink near enough

Sorry for the long post, fellas

This is going to be a long post

Lets get to my run first, before everything else. It was nice, probably 40- 45 degrees, and very windy. On my way from the Lake st. bridge to the Ford pkwy. bridge the wind was really biting. I mean that's not a long distance, probably 10k, but it took me a while. I didn't get my split, but the wind was just brutal in my face. I thought I'd just fly on the 5k back, but the wind just died and the skies opened up. Fun fun. Oh, and the group I sometimes run with, the Twin Cities running club, is all pussies. Let me rephrase that, I don't actually officially run with them, but I jump in to their pack when I get off work early enough. No one- I saw zero people on my run. I ran 5.2, at 8:04's. blah.

Second, and this I'm really pissed off about. So, I usually cross train on Mondays, in the pool. I went in the locker room yesterday, and first thing I noticed was some lockers were gone. So, I went to my locker, and there was some guy's football stuff in there. Ok, maybe my stuff's still in there. I try the lock, it won't open because its not mine. What the fuck? why do these fat guys have privilege over this skinny guy? That wan my thought process-- I hate how football takes precedence over everything. So, I ask the lady who's working near the locker room in no uncertain terms "Where the fuck is my shit?" She kinda laughed-- I wasn't laughing, this isn't a joke--and directed me to some guy's office THAT DIDN'T EXIST. I spent that night sending nasty emails trying to find where my $50 of swimming stuff went.

And now I'm waiting for a washer to open up.

Hills> Me

Well, I ran without my dad today, he went 10 but I didn't want to go that far and ran that same 4 and a half mile loop again. Um, the hills-- are hills, big ones. The 5 mile course I run by St. Thomas is pretty much flat, so I went out at that pace, and once I hit the first hill by my house like a half mile out I just died. I ran up the hill, which sucked, then stopped and refocused and was good from there, albeit at a slower pace. I went 4.5, doing 8:15's.

I'm listening to Trilogy Running episode 12, and Jason was talking about naming his hills. A little quirky, but I'm a weird person, so I'll try it.

Weekly milage totals: 5/3- 5/9

Short week this week, because I ran my long run last week. But anyway, not a lot of miles at all, but next week looks to be a lot better in that regard.

Sunday-
Usually my long run day, but I went to the Twins game. I didn't even hit the pool... lame
Monday-
Always an off day. I didn't even get in the pool that day? well what the hell Matt? my god you're lazy
Tuesday-
5.2; 6:12's-- that's wicked fast
Wednesday-
5.2; 7:05's-- that was hot as hades, for real
Thursday-
I didn't run I guess. Again, I'm lazy.
Friday-
5.2; 6:58's
Saturday-
4.5; 9:18's-- Ran with my dad. Those hills kicked my ass. It was fun to have someone to run with nonetheless

I'm coming home again

T- minus two weeks until the end of school. I'm at my humble home in Edina, listening to Evan Longoria and the Rays beat the crap out of the Red Sox. Jon Lester's getting lit up like a Christmas Tree-- Tito better get his act together, and here comes Hunter Jones, thank God.

Oh, and the Run. I ran with my dad, who's a marathoner-- he's running Grandmas in June-- he's quite a bit slower than me, but then he knows what he's doing a lot better than me. My little brother biked along side of us when we ran. We ran 4 and a half miles around Bredison park doing 9:20's

Same old, same old

Same 5.2 miles, pretty warm, but not as warm as Wednesdays run, but it was still pretty warm. I ran my warmup and cooldown in my running shirt, but my five miler shirtless and was fairly comfortable. Again, my sunglasses are crusted over with sweat, and again, I couldn't see anything out of them, so its a good thing I run the same route every time. I ran 6:52's. Very nice.

I missed my run Thursday, slept through my alarm again. I was just listening to Phedippidations episode 75, "The Burnt Out Syndrome," and that's one more thing for me to think about it. I don't want to attribute that to me running too much, and you can't make me. I'd like to think it is because I'm just doing so much work because of finals and stuff.

Oh, and I'm going home for the weekend tomorrow, and that means hills. By my campus, it seems like the only hills I can run are overpasses or bridges. My neighborhood is appropriately named "Indian Hills;" there are no Indians as far as I know, but plenty of hills. Plus, being home means my own tub, which means icebaths, and lots of them.

I feel like a runner

Before I could consider myself a runner instead of "some guy who runs," I needed to accomplish two things. Those things are (1) pee on somebody's lawn, and (2) drink from somebody's lawn sprinkler. It goes without saying that these would be done against the homeowners will. They say that Hopkington has the greenest lawns in the nation, or at least once a year. Well, I'm doing my part to make Minneapolis have the greenest lawns, and it felt oh so good.

Today, I accomplished my second goal, drinking out of a lawn sprinkler. I said I forgot my Fuel Belt on today's run, so I was thirsty as hell. That was my only option, wasn't it?

Well... this was an ugly one

It was ugly, but not if you look at my time. I ran without a shirt, which is good because it was 68 when I went out, and 70 when I came back. It was rough, I stopped 2 or 3 times along the way, whereas I usually stop just once at the Ford Bridge where I reset my watch to get my split time. So, I stopped a lot. It was hot. I'm dumb. I was thinking of bringing my fuel belt, I should have, but I thought that would waste too much time and I only had a small window to get my run in.

Its a Wednesday, so I went my usual 5.2, doing 7:05's. Like I said, I ran shirtless for the second or third time this year, and I had to alter my route a little because it would be bad if I ran my usual route past the girls dorm-- you know, all the ladies pressed up against the windows might topple the building or something.

Lets see, what else? Oh, I couldn't see for half of my way back because my glasses were so caked with sweat I couldn't see anything. So, remind me to wash those before my fast 5k run tomorrow morning

If you're not running through pain, what are you running through?

Yep, that's me. I just ran my fastest 5 miles two days after running a half marathon for the hell of it. That was brutal though, it was overcast when I started, and rained near the turnaround point of my out & back, then it got real steamy like it does after it rains, you know? I hate running through that, but shit happens.

I didn't find my running group this week, I sprinted the first 3 miles or so of my run, but didn't find them. One thing that can catch up to me on longer runs is that once I pick up the pace, I can't really slow down. Thats what happened. I ended up running 6:12's. That's fast.

I'm just about to start my post race regimen of sandwiches, gatorade, and classic rock. Oh, and I finally started doing my core again. Its been about a month-- not even, but close. I'm definitely seeing a little bit of my form falling apart at the seams, as well as some of my stamina going. So, I've started again. I didn't go real hard, but you've got to start somewhere, right?

The 72 hour party

So, the bad news is I think I'm going to miss my cross training swim tonight. Lame, I know. But yesterday marked the start of the 72 hour teeter- totter marathon. I'm scheduled from 6pm- 7pm, then again from 9pm- 2am. Teeter toter- ing is cross training, right? I mean, you get the whole quad exercise deal in there, right? Don't answer that, because I know what the answer is. But whatever, its going to be fun anyways. Its for this charity, I can't remember which one, but anyways its like this huge three day long party. You've got music blasting all night and grilling all night and all this good stuff. Its going to be a great time.

The curse of the Trop

Seriously, the Sox just took a crap all over themselves at the Juice Box. Longoria's just slaying us with 6 RBI's and 8 total bases. Combined with an absolute garbage start by Beckett giving up 7 runs in 4.2 innings, even though he struck out 8. I get home today and read that Crawford stole 6 bases off Red Sox pitching. Are we really this bad? my thought is absolutely not... Its the curse of the Juice Box

Weekly milage totals: 4/26- 5/2

Big millage week for me, but it was so worth it. Rough week schoolwise, but there's nothing like putting in a nice five miler after (or to interrupt) a tough day.

Sunday- 12 miles, 9:40's
This was the windy and rainy one. Tough one to get out for.
Monday- Off day
Hit the pool for about an hour
Tuesday- 5.2 miles, 6:52's
Man, this was the run where I got toasted by that old guy
Wednesday- 5.2 miles, 7:25's
Started out a rainy day, but was hot and steamy when I finished
Thursday- Off day
Took a day off to rest my knee, it was really hurting Wednesday. Plus, I slept through this one
Friday- 5.2 miles, 7:52's
My quad was giving me quite a bit of trouble throughout
Saturday- 13.3 miles, 9:40's
I still can't believe I ran that far
Total: 40.9 miles, 8:48's

So, there you have it. It will be interesting to see where I'm at next week, when I have three off days including two back to back. That's a lot, but maybe my quad will heal itself

Runner's lunch

I thought I'd give the few readers of this blog a look at what I eat on a regular basis after each run. After each run, I don't go to the cafeteria (for example, on my 7:00 runs, I don't go to breakfast and for my 11:00 runs, I don't go to lunch) So, here's what's on the menu:

-2 PB&J sandwiches
- One of those Cliff Shot Gel packs
-A bottle of the powdered Gatorade stuff
- A cup of coffee

Obviously, my school's cafeteria isn't the best as far as a runner's diet goes, so I tend to gobble down a lot of those gel deals because I don't get near enough calories for the amount of miles I run

Crazy dedicated or just crazy?

Way #1 to waste a Saturday morning- run a half marathon, or at least start it before 9:40 if you are. I told you I was going to fit that 5k I missed in there somewhere, and there you go. I logged the run as 12.3mi on my Flotrack, figured that was close enough. I ran 9:30's again, I dont know how I feel about that, but I guess that's fine for a long run. I modified the last route I posted, but not much; I just added another loop or two. Its an out and back, FYI

I'm freezing. I mean, you're supposed to get cold after a run, and I usually do because I don't cool down enough, if at all. But I mean, even though it was 50 outside, I was covered in sweat, plus a couple of bottles of water I dumped on myself en route.

Oh, and I ran with my Fuel Belt for the first time. I went through on before I found one that fit me, some idiot gave me a medium, when I am really a small. But whatever, I love it.

Life is complicated. Running is simple. Is it any wonder that people like to run?

Cool huh? that was the Runners World quote of the day they emailed me, I love it. But whatever, on to the run. I ran another 5 miles today. Its kind of a bummer that I can't run further, but I'm hemmed in a bit by classes, so I really can't do anything about it.

It usually takes me around 40 minutes to run 5 miles (5.2 technically), and I have 2 hours between classes. It takes me around an hour to shower, make a two PB&J sandwiches and eat 'em, blog on my run, and get my books together for class. I guess if I wanted to, I could go up to 6 or 7 miles assuming I hold my pace, but that would be cutting it real close.

Anyways, nice day today-- sunny, low 50's, pretty good run except I never really got that "locked in" feeling and felt my lower calf all 5 of those miles. No matter though-- I went 7:29's anyways.

Oh, and in other news, I figured out my run for tomorrow. I'm going to run up to the University of Minnesota's Frat Row. Hell, I'll just embed the map, so all the pedophiles can try to catch me-- but it won't happen because I'm so fast and elusive (that's a joke if you didn't get it)

Its only 9.3 out and back, but I bet I can make it 10 if I swing around East River Road by the Washington St. bridge.