04.30.08

Training Update!

Posted in The Blog of Jabaut at 10:04 am by Jason

Dear Friends and Family,

I am alive and well in Carrboro. Here is a long-overdue update in regards to my recent training and preparation for the 2008 outdoor track season and Olympic Trials:

The summer sun has yet to scorch my newly shaven head as the last few weeks have been overcast and damp in the Triad. Two weeks ago encompassed several extremely hard training sessions involving hills, race pace work, and general hard running all-around. To illustrate, one of my “easy” days included a 10 mile run completed between 5:30 and 5:40 minute / mile pace over the rolling hills of Duke Forest. I had to sleep 12-hour nights and it still did not feel like enough to absorb the hard training.

For anyone wondering why in the world I am training this hard within the confines of my upcoming races, I can explain: The window of opportunity for this type of training is very small during my outdoor racing season (April 1 – July / August), and with a race as short as the 1500m, there is little physical training benefit from the race itself. So in order to make the next fitness jump, I have crammed in some high quality training sessions to catapult me all the way to the Olympic Trials in July. Also, I needed to “right the ship,” so to speak, with some hard work. I suffered through the Flu a while back and missed some vital training, and in turn my confidence plummeted. But with 5 repeats up Lone Pine hill now under my belt, I feel ready for anything (thanks, Joan).

Now that the foundation has been laid and secured, I am looking forward to some fast racing to make a withdrawal on the deposits I’ve made since last August.

What does it take for you to feel confident and ready to line up on the starting line?

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04.29.08

sianara

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:49 pm by Joan

Hello CAC members and Carrboro Athletics Club fans,

This may well be one of the last official posts of our blog. I have tried to impress upon everyone the importance of generating new content on a regular basis, but there seems to be ittle or no interest in keeping this experiment going. Just like Rob who wrote about an “ill-defined spring,” I feel that this blog has remained ill-defined for many, many months now. I have asked Dave (who has devotedly kept this site up and running, paid for with our family’s private funds) to take the site down at the end of our spring season. I want to thank our readers for their insightful comments. I do believe it is important in life to take risks and we did try to put www.carrboroac.com on the internet map … but it takes more than a few posts a month to keep a site like this viable.

thanks for reading,

joan

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04.27.08

An ill-defined spring

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:49 pm by Rob

I am now going into another “rest phase” before training in the summer begins.  I am doing this because we are going away for an 8 day vacation starting this weekend, and, more importantly, because I have been nursing an aching back and leg now for the last 3 weeks that seems to be demanding some time off from the intense workouts and long runs.

My title of this post has a double-meaning.  First, I have felt like I have been nursing one injury after another since December, which has been a first for me in the last  years.  The last ailment has been the most worrisome, as I have had left lower back pain and sciatic pain that has not healed.  I think this is more muscular than back related (as with piriformis syndrome or hamstring tendinitis) but I have been shocked at how long it takes to get over these things now.

Secondly, and most importantly, I do not feel that I had one great race this spring, which was disappointing.  I felt more fit than last year, and worked as hard or harder each week this year, but did not see the benefits I was hoping for.  This was evident with my sub-par time at the Duke Invite 5k (15:30 when I had run 15:14 last year) and my slow time at the Franklin 5000 yesterday, when I ran 16:11 compared to 15:48 last year.   True, I was running alone in front this time, instead of trailing someone like last year, and the race-planning left something to be desired (the 10 miler folks started ahead of us and overlapped the same course for 2 1/2 miles, which meant I had to weave through people after around 400 yards), but I was still disappointed.  As I mentioned before in a post, I care now much more about beating my old times than about winning or losing a race, and so this spring has been unsettling.  I was hoping to have something good to think about over the summer, like Marc with Boston or Brent and Tyler with Penn.

The good news about all this: I can’t wait to train again this summer!  I hope to be 100% soon, and look forward to doing something next year that will carry me through next summer.

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04.22.08

The Boston Marathon

Posted in Jeuland's Musings at 10:13 am by Marc

Wow! What a race! I now have a lot of debts to friends and strangers following yesterday’s event. I think the greatest thing about this marathon is the way the towns and cities from the start - in Hopkinton - all the way to the finish - in central Boston - turn out in support of runners.

For me the day started with a ride out to the start from Kit Wells, a friend of a friend’s (who was a teammate at Swarthmore and also ran, setting a PR - look for Jeff Doyon in the results) that I have gotten to know since my run in New York. That provided a major lift, as the public buses start leaving downtown Boston at 7 am, for a 10 am race start! This way we only left Somerville (where I was staying, and a good 45 minutes from the center by public transportation) at 7:45 am. I had a full night’s rest and much less stress that way.

The start is really in a small town, called Hopkinton, that once a year is overrun with runners. What a zoo! I had an elite start, another blessing, so could relax in a church adjacent the starting line up until 9:45 am. I jogged a bit (5 minutes), stretched, and fueled up in there. I did a lot more quiet prep work before this race, because I was so sheltered. The trials pre-race were a bit insane with alot of pressure and nervous energy. Here I could just melt away into the background and do my own thing. I even thought to put on sun screen.

The day started off cool and overcast, in the low 50s, which was a little warm but pretty close to perfect. Throughout the race, though, the sun came out and temperatures rose to close to 60, and I saw many a sun-burned runner at the finish line. Not me! The other weather factor was a light headwind (5-10 mph), which was actually cooling so not something to really complain about.

The first half of the course is mostly downhill, and I did everything I could to stick to my pre-race plan of going out conservatively. I was really holding back, but it’s just too easy to roll down the gentle slopes at the start, especially in the first 10k. That explains the fast first half, though the effort was nowhere near what I was putting out in New York last fall when I went through the half in 1:08. This first half even felt easier than the first half in Chicago when I ran a PR, which was about 1:09:30. I went through in about 1:08:30 yesterday. After the first 10k, I kind of settled into a steady 5:15 pace on the gentler rollling downhills, which felt comfortable.

Just before the half, passing by Wellesley College, the wall of sound is deafening. I thought my mono head was going to burst out of my skull at that point. Girls were holding up signs that say: “Kiss me I’m single” but I decided not to stop.

From 13 to 16 is mostly more downhill, with a really big downhill at 16 after which I started catching people. I took out the little hammer I had in my pocket over those hills, determined to make the effort in this race honest. I was a bit surprised at my pace running through 16, and decided it was time to start racing anyway, mono or no mono. There was this deep ache in my head though all along as I ratcheted up the intensity. My brain actually felt like it was moving around in my skull, which was a little scary…

Heartbreak hill (around mile 20) is not such a heartbreak if you play it safe in the first half, and I kind of rolled up that section of the course and the two hills preceding it. I probably expended too much effort and should have held back a bit more than I did, since this effort came back to bite me in the closing miles. At that point though, I was just going after it.

At the top of heartbreak I saw an old teammate from Swarthmore riding his bike along a road parallel to the course, cheering his lungs out. He would ride ahead, jump off his bike, and run up to the fence, before getting back on his bike and following again. He continued that until the crowds got too thick, around mile 24. Talk about some support. Rory, that was terrific!

That’s not to neglect all the others too who cheered me on. There were large groups of people chanting my name, other people who just happened to recognize me somehow, Shu Wen of course, and random supporters - Bostonians who just love the marathon. What a fabulous way to come out for a marathon!

As I mentioned above, the early pace started to catch up with me a bit in the final 3-4 miles. I slowed into the finishing stretch. At that point I was mostly running alone and the finish line seemed miles away. I just focused on maintaining what I could. I think I passed about 6-7 people in the second half as I moved up, but the guy who finished 14th flew past me with just over 2 miles to go and that just confirmed that this race was not going to be a perfect finish.

But wow, 2:20:57 in Boston is not what I expected. I did not really have a plan going into the race except that I wanted to go out in 5:35-5:40 or so. You can see how well I did sticking to that!

Here’s a photo from Let’s Run, coming up the first of the three big hills in Newton.

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04.21.08

3rd American at Boston!

Posted in Uncategorized at 6:22 pm by Joan

Congratulations to Marc for his 15th place finish OVERALL up at the Boston Marathon.  When I asked him if he had to wear one of those silver blankets afterward, Marc said, “Nah, I didn’t need it.”  This, after recovering from mono just a few weeks ago.  2:20:57 is a mere 24 seconds off of his lifetime PR for the marathon.  Imagine a mono-free effort … on a flat course.  Oh, yeah!!

I

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04.20.08

Fam = the man!

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:14 pm by Tyler

http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/coverage.php?c=245&id=13330

 Thanks to Brent for pointing this race out to me - he suggested I watch this before doing my workout today, the last steeple workout I will do before he and I head up to Penn Relays for our Thursday night races.  If you have 15 minutes or so to spare, you should watch this race and the events that immediately follow - I can’t believe I’m going to be in the same heat as this guy!  (I already did the math, and am pretty sure I won’t get lapped

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04.18.08

our cac blog

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:50 pm by Joan

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04.15.08

pre-race routine … what’s yours?

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:18 am by Joan

A question from Victor:

One thing I have been thinking about lately is how good I feel after one interval in a work out. Then my second interval I feel relaxed and comfortable. Sometimes when I step up to the starting line of the race and race…I feel like I never relax and open up. I feel tense and not smooth. It’s like that first interval in a workout…then on the second interval in the workout I’m much more relaxed and comfortable. I want to eliminate that feeling of being tense during races and just relax.

So I researched some different warm-up routines. I realize that a lot of Ethiopians and Kenyans run long but slow….with full warm-ups. They toe the line sweating…which is great. I also read another warm-up where Ed Moran (13:25 5K guy) runs for 20 minutes, stretches for 10 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of faster running?, then 8 strides. I wonder if that faster run is to get rid of that tense feeling and get ready for that second interval…your race! My question is….do you understand what I’m describing and if so, how did you warm-up for your races?

An answer from Joan:

Hi Victor,
YES, I do know what you are talking about.
In fact, I recently encouraged Jason to incorporate a new warm-up routine to help with that “first interval” feeling in the race. Here’s what I learned works:

1 3/4 before race, have caffeine and 1/2 bagel consumed;
1 hour before race start, take care of potty issues (helped along by coffee)
take inhaler X 2, pin on race number
50 minutes before race, slow jogging in full sweats (I run this alone b/c I find that when I warm up with others I run too fast … or too slow) until I break a good sweat - usually takes about 17 minutes for me.
Another trip to the bathroom …
change into my racing flats or spikes, take a 3rd puff of my inhaler if needed, peel down to penultimate layer of clothes (tee-shirt and light tights);
Now, here’s the crucial part: about 20 minutes before the gun, run a “first interval” LONG stride of about 300m - between 45-60 seconds - at race pace or faster, then slow jog back to gear.
Jason started doing this before indoor nationals and felt like it made a difference, so you may want to ask him about it. Don’t be afraid of “using up energy for your race” because it will take nothing away from your race performance.

Next, stretch and readjust shoelaces until they are perfect.
Peel down to final layer (except for hat and gloves on cold days)
and do 6-8 X short strides … of, say, 80 meters .. with jog back.
Find your way to the start line and, while standing on the line, begin visualizing yourself getting out with a great start. Do 1-2 starts off the line, with jog back.
Jump up and down on the start line to release any final burps.

It’s a long routine, but it works.

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04.13.08

a little YouTube action for Jabaut

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:44 pm by Joan

High Point University’s assistant coach, Julie “mythical gear” Cox, caught up with Jason after his Duke 1500m win.

Click here for interview.

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04.05.08

Missing in action…and other news

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:33 am by Marc

I thought I should write in an update since I have been away from Wednesday workouts the past couple of weeks, and have not raced in a while either. It’s been a strange month; it appears that I have had a relapse of mono (that I originally had as a teenager 15 years ago). There is some controversy in the medical community about whether it is even possible to have a relapse of mono, but some of my antibodies are really elevated, and the last doctor I saw said there was no way they could be at those levels 15 years after the original infection.

At this point, I am trying to get healthy, resting as much as I can and running mostly easy. I did get a workout in last Wednesday, which was a positive step forward. I am still uncertain about what Boston holds for me in about 16 days. I will go and run, but may not go all out as I originally had planned.  Some days are better than others.

In other news, I have been working hard on my PhD proposal (which probably did alot to contribute to my fatigue and compromised immune system last month). But the bigger piece of news is that my wife Shuwen ran her first 10k in Cary last week and got second in her age group! She even won a $20 gift certificate. She insists the race was not very competitive, but for me it was a real treat to watch her enjoy the event and derive satisfaction from it. When Shuwen started running about a year and a half ago (I think that’s about right), she had to alternate between walking and jogging, and now she’s talking about 10k races.

Anyway, that’s all from me. Hope everyone did well at Duke!

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