Monday, June 23, 2008

Ever get the feeling.....(aka the 13 mile fartlek run)

....that maybe you just shouldn't be doing certain things. I am fearful that this is going to be my conclusion in regards to moving up to longer distances. Over the past 2 years the focus has been on preparing for the marathon once I worked out some hip issues. Over the last year I haven't had many hip problems (or really been injured since 2004), but my results have been absolute crap.

It's not that my expectations are that high, but based upon a combination of workouts, volume, etc.....I should be running as well as I did during 2005 when things went so well. My run on Sunday was just such a thing. Now I haven't' exactly been banging down the training 'door', but then again things also haven't been that bad. But every time I run these days I get to a point (physical???mental) where I feel as though I just can't run any faster and that's that. On Sunday I was all over the place pace wise and it wasn't til the last mile when I simply had to just run that I actually felt smooth.

The problem that seems to occur is that i don't feel that way til I get to a mile-2km to go. For a 10km that's not so bad, but when I can't even keep up a consistent pace for the 1/2 marathon I am in big trouble, never mind the full distance. So am I simply a 10km runner??? I have run some okay 1/2's, but ultimately my greatest race success was in a race that was pseudo tactical, but even then I should at least be able to consistently run 1:07's when in half assed shape. But even now i can't even get to the point where i can even run tactically. Hence why I am going to shut down the competitive season and focus on simply having fun and getting that old feeling of running efficiency and racing in the Fall. A few of use are in that boat, so hopefully I'll have some companions on the experience.

Race Report:

Got out okay, but never felt great. Ran with a small pack through 3-5 km (Todd Howard, Finn, and some guy from out east), when I let Todd and Jim break away and that's when the fun started for me. After that I all over the place both in effort and pace. At around 7-8 km I we hit the downhill section and I went after Todd and Jim (they had gained about 30 seconds from 4-8km on myself and the eastern guy). by the time we hit the bottom of Spanish Banks i felt great and had Todd and Jim down to a few seconds, but just as soon as that happened they began to pull away (a lack of running on the roads really hurt me there). But even then i simply went backwards and my steide went to crap.

I simply fell apart and the guy from out east caught me, but as soon as he did I rolled again and actually felt good. I got into my perceived 5km get on my toes stride with my hips pushed forward and was rolling again. But I have gotten so used to the marathon shuffle style of running that I can't seem to 1) hold that form and 2) actually know exactly what it should feel like.

So I was again all over the place, but when I had to go I could (by kits pool i saw Matt Fedoruk and through in a nice surge and felt smooth), but once again my mind and body shut down. Just before we went up the Burrard St. Bridge (17-18km) my right hip flexor totally seized up and I was content to just finish, but as we got half way up the bride I figured one more strong move might get me back. Considering how lousy I was on the hills I was shocked at how well I went up the bridge. As we crested the end of the bride and went down Beach Ave I went harder and for a bit nothing happened, but then slowly I could feel the eastern guy coming back. All of a sudden I figured I only had a couple of minutes to get him and then things got fun. I caught the back of him and slightly went by, but then let him retake the lead. I saw the finish around the corner and simply powered away quite easily.

Why I couldn't do this the previous 19km I have no idea. My legs felt shot by 5-6km and completely messed up the est of the way. My stride had no power, except for the few times I got my hips forward. I feel as though I have become the runner I always dreaded...the shuffler with no power or speed.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

'THE MEETING'....

Being older than i'd like to admit has allowed to experience the great of the Vancouver running scene (the era of Williams, Fell, Boileau, Hoogeworf, Duhaime, Lee, Pells, Nelson, etc.... just to name a few) and the current scene where there appears to be some big holes.

Over the last few years I'd always bitch about where things were and a couple of years ago I got the idea of trying to get a more, as i say, 'centrifigal force' in the Vancouver running area. We had a small group of people, but some were at points in their lives where running too a backseat and we focussed more on the suburbs and not the core vancouver area and eventually the group that had been building went kaput.

The drawback has always been the geographical size of Vancouver itself as we have some decent runners (Ziak, Mosley, Osaduik, Hayden, etc....) but we are all over the place so having some 'centrifical force' in regards to geography is tough.

After Ottawa Jerry Ziak and myself were not too happy and Ryan Day was not to pleased either. Much of it seemed to be around motivation and training partners, so we decided to have a meeting. During the time we decided and actually had this meeting Richard Mosley made the decision to come back to the westcoast (once a westcoaster...always a westcoaster), so now we were four deep.

Anyways to make a long story short we met over some beers and came up with a running template, some general scheduling ideas and a creed/philosophy of what we wanted, needed and expected. The idea is that if we four can keep things going 3-4 times every 2 weeks then we may be able to attract (at least some of the times) others who also feel the same way and get something growing.

I think we all left feeling better about the situation, but now we need to put ideas into practice and that (as I've found out) is always the most difficult thing to do. I am not sure where this is headed (some other people - Bruce Deacon and Steve Osaduik) have also expressed an interest, but alas geography and circumstance once again comes into play (Steve lives further out than me.... pretty much in the forests of Langley and Bruce has a family to keep track of...those darned families sure get in the way), but we'll see....


training since wednesday
thurs: 20min tempo and 6 x 30 sec hills
Fri: 58 mins
Sat: easy loop around mundy park 22 mins

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I am still here....

...but it's report card week. The one week of the year I hate the most (thank god I am moving to high school next year). Just a quick update. Training has been pretty good the last week or so and much of it conicides with some new training scenarios (I'll post about the 'meeting' when I finally get my reports done) and that Richard Mosley is back in town. Not doing anything fancy and no hardcore stuff, but just getting in decent single runs on work days and doubles on weekends

Mon: 74 mins
Tues: 3min-4min-5min-5min-4min-3min hard off 2mins easy at bby lake with Mosley. Covered 10km during the workout and the easier sections were easy jogs/walk
Wed: 94mins at SFU trails
Thurs: monfartlek plus 3 x 30 sec hard/easy
Friday: 65mins at mundy park
Saturday: tempo at mundy park 5km below tempo 2mins and then 5km at tempo with Mosley....hit some decent splits around mundy park (16:08 and 15:42) PM 38mins
Sunday: 1 hour 43mins at SFU tails
Around 90 miles for the week so ok considering only 8 sessions

Mon: afternoon - with 'dug' for 54 easy PM 30mins good pace
Tues: 4 x the infamous 2km loop at mundy park with Mosley off 2mins rest. Nothing crazy as we both felt flat to start out but we really picked it up the last of each 2km loop as we went along (we kept on hitting the exact same split for the first half) 5:58, 5:56, 5:52 and 5:48)
Wed: 80 mins at SFU trails

Monday, June 9, 2008

dumb de dumb

Why do I feel like I am sorta running right now???!!! Maybe it's because I am. That's always one thing I find is that once your goal event (whether it's good or bad)ends it's bloody tough to get back into things. When I ran 800 and 1500m it was easy as there was always another race around the corner. With these longer distances it's more like you only get a few chances and if your one race doesn't go that well then your whole season ..well....'sucks'.

Despite the great training I've had over the last year I honestly can't say I am anywhere near my training fitness. The most frustrating part is that my reputation has (used to be??) been as someone who showed up for the big races. Now I can't seem to do anything right.

In the mean time I continue to plug away. Of special note (maybe an answer??) is a secret meeting that may help alleviate some training situations....hmmmmm.....

Mon: 75 mins
Tues: monfartlek plus 6 mins of 30 sec hills
Wed: 95 mins
Thurs: 55 mins quick ..supposed workout but I was watching Lost....oops
Fri: I realized i hadn't had a long run in a bit so had a great 2hr+ run at the SFU trails...hit some PR splits without any real effort so a really nice enjoyable run.
Sat: AM 52 mins run PM 32 mins good run plus 6 x 10-15 sec striders
Sun: ran low key 10km out in Maple Ridge. I was away after about 1km and at 3km I figured I would treat it as a workout. There is a big hill around 6 km so I slowed down til the bottom of the hill and then attacked it. After that I alternated 60 sec hard easy the last 3km. Only ran around 33mins but it was good fun, a Mizuno event and relaxing. Probably what I needed

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

I swear it wasn't my fault...

OK so here is the story of how I shut down (well ok how i was involved in) the Vancouver airport. A bunch of months ago I asked my wife to get me a little swiss army style knife to cut those irritating and too long plastic straps for the 'chiptiming'. I had been looking for the knife in my last handful of races and assumed I had lost it...turns it I hadn't lost it.... and in the end it cost me and many other people about 90 mins on their flight and for some they couldn't even get on their flights (oops!)....here is the real story....

I hit some really bad traffic on my way down to the airport (construction and accidents) and only make it there about 40mins before my flight is supposed to go off (lucky for internet check in). I rush through security, but it's quiet. (I was simply happy to get on my flight as I was scared I might miss it).

So the Transport Canada guys put my bag thru the scanner. I wait and ask if it's okay to take it. They say, 'yes'. I leave, go to the plane and find my seat. Our pilot would like to take off early. 'Yeah', I think. But just as we are supposed to leave they tell us there has been a security breach and that we can't leave. '^$#&^^(%&' I now think). Oh well, I pull out my book and read. The RCMP and aiport people come through our plane a few times and we continue to sit there for the next hour plus.

On about the 4-5th run through this lady asks me if 'that's my water bottle'? 'Yes', I say, but it was empty and the security guys let me through with it. She then asks if I have a bag. Once again I reply 'Yes'. 'Can I see it', she says.? 'Sure it's right here'. I give her the bag and then she proceeds to walk me out of the plane with some RCMP officers. As I get up I see Jerry Ziak. 'Hey Mark', he says 'I didn't know you were on my flight'? I was all pretty surreal at that point.

I go back to the security check point and one of the officers asks me if I know why I am out here. 'I assume you think I have something' I told him. He asks me point blank if I have a weapon or anything resembling one. I can't imagaine anything and mention I have some foot cream (OH I think to myself I forgot to show it to the security guys...yikes....). 'I have some safety pins' I tell him. 'I am racing this weekend and I pack everything I need to race in case my luggage goes missing on the flight'.

I am pretty calm and more like did I do something wrong. So they put my bag back thru the scanner and everyone lets out a cheer. What the $%&*$*%^ think. Another RCMP guy goes throug my bag in front of me. He misses some of the samller pockets on my bag so i tell him about all the compartments (there are many) and then proceeds to go into the main part of the bag. It's then I notice an inside pocket I have (I had emptied out all my pockets the night before and repacked, except for that one). Out he pulls this small pocket knife. 'I had no idea that was there' I say. The RCMP guy checking my bag was a bit of a jerk and procceds to give me a mini lecture on packing my bag. I feel bad enough as it is without some lecture.

The other RCMP guy I had been dealing with (who was great) tells me it happens more than one thinks. I still feel like an ass though. They were even going to do a body search on me ('it's procedure', one of the airport guys says), but once they found the knife they decided there was no danger they let me back on the plane. And the didn't even charge me...

On the way back to the plane I ask the YVR person and the Westjet guy who was in charge (very nice people) exactly has happened. They proceed to indicate to me that the Transport Canada people really messed up. Apparently the scanner person had noticed the knife and had indicated that my bag needed to be checked, but the person at the next stage of security hadn't checked it. I guess just after I got into the plane the scanner person asked the second person if they had found the questionable item. The second person then apparently asked' what item?' and then the security breach began. But first they had to find me (they had some nice security video picture of me) and I had been wearing a black jacket at security and had taken it off in the plane.

In the end I had really done nothing serious wrong and Transport Canada had really messed up (the Westjet guy even seemed to indicate I could file a report/complaint) as they had missed my knife and had also messed up protocol by not taking my boarding pass.

The entertaining part (is that the right word to use?)were the people who mentioned how their flight had been delayed and then I proceeded to explain why. Even better was a boyfriend of a girl who I know and was running in Ottawa. He had been on the flight with me and had told her how the police had taken me away. 'But I know that guy..he's Mark Bomba', she told him.

Even funnier is the number of people who heard the story and ddin't know I was involved. Apparently there were reports of a switchblabe and many people at my wife's wrok had heard about it. One person was even worried that the breach had impacted my flight.....if they only knew what was really happening at that time.