The Week at Hand.

While training is only occupying a small fraction of my time I am going to start updating this a little more often, but not necessarily about my running. This week should be an interesting one, I know it is only Monday but Labor day weekend is on the way along with the first Razorback football game of the year, but not to be forgotten is a trip to the Chancellors house which takes place Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the 2011 Arkansas outdoor SEC track and field champions! Being part of such a successful program means that we have made this trip once or twice before, actually four times before to be exact. It is a great opportunity to get the whole team and staff together, combine some delicious eats and drinks before an award presentation by athletics director Jeff Long and Chancellor David Gearhart and you have got yourself a nice little Wednesday night! This will be a bitter sweet (mostly sweet) moment since it will be my last opportunity to get together with the team and celebrate our past achievements. This brings me to my next topic, now that I am no longer on the team or in school and running only takes up 1% of my day I am looking to work a part time gig, just to get a little spending cash, any suggestions? Well everyone I am off to carpe the diem and I suggest you do the same!

One week in the books!

The first week of training has already come and gone, and better than I had expected. After taking a month off I really didn't expect much at all these first few runs back but it seems as though my body really has responded well to the rest and was ready to get back into some easy jogging. I was running right around 3 to 4 miles each day, I even managed to get up to the trails these past few days and get in some easy hill work. The good: One week of pain free running, this probably hasn't happened in a couple of years. The bad: It was only one week, and the week only added up to about 25 miles. The ugly: Me trying to stretch after a month of sitting on the couch eating potato chips and watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. After this first week back I have but one reflection, running is hard, sweaty, dirty work, and I love every second of it! Ok, so now for what you all really want to read about, my new training location! Starting November first I will be heading out to Mammoth Lakes, CA for a six week stint of altitude training. Does this sound like an extremely short period of time? Well thats because it is! I don't feel like I will really be in any kind of shape to train at altitude until late October/early November and my graduation ceremony is December 17th, so I have to be back for that. Training in Mammoth will probably become more and more common for me in the future as I move up in distance, but for now it is an ideal place to do my base training this fall/winter. I will be running with the Mammoth track club guys and gals who are all trained by Terrence Mahon. There will be a slew of other elite distance athletes in town as Mammoth is probably one of the best altitude training locations in the world, consisting of great trails, beautiful scenery, and plenty of great training partners on tap. This is one place that I will definitely be taking my camera so I can upload some pictures onto the blog! Well everybody, thats all i've got for you for now... I'll keep you posted on the training every couple of days but in the meantime get out and enjoy the weekend!!!

Back to school!

Well I guess it's that time of year again, when the summer ends and school begins, there is just one barely noticeable difference this year, I'm done with school! I made it a point today of all days to sleep in extra late as nearly everyone else I know was waking up and going to class. There was one thing on the agenda for me today, my third run back, and it was a dandy. Ok not really, but it went pretty well. I am still only running 20 minutes but the time is passing a little easier, my breathing a little lighter, and my legs a little fresher. The real highlight of the day was running for the third straight day pain free. This is not a feeling that I have grown completely accustomed to yet as the last two years of my athletic career have been plagued by injury. It looks like the month off was just what the doctor ordered! I will continue to run a meager 20 minutes a day for the first week, and depending on how I feel increase my runs by 10 minutes each week. I will continue to keep you posted on the day to day improvements, and explain the lifestyle of a professional athlete along the way. SPOILER ALERT: My next post will also include my plans for fall training, and they don't include Fayetteville...

Pain free running, nothing beats it!

Today is a great day for many reasons, I will be seeing Rachel for the first time in nearly 7 weeks, it's Saturday, and last but not least today was my first run back after taking a month off to nurse a strained hip flexor. The old saying "nothing comes easy" certainly holds true 99.9% of the time, but today, well today I fell into that grey area that a runner rarely ever experiences. The run was pain free, effortless, smooth but most important of all, did I mention pain free!!! For the first time in nearly 2 months I have done something so completely pain free that I still cannot believe it as I sit here and tell you all about it. I was afraid to look at my watch for fear that my pace would be comparable to a snails pace, but once again I was in shock as my garmin watch had my pace right at a 6 minute mile. Not only was this the most pain free run I have ever had coming back from a break, but it was also the fastest! Now I feel that I should confess that this run was only 3 miles, but, you have to start somewhere and this was the perfect start to a long year that will hopefully conclude in London! Enough of this blogging about a 20 minute run! I have some cleaning to do before Rachel gets back! I'll keep you posted on the slow build back into training every couple days.

Back from vacation!

After a much needed break from Fayetteville and the ensuing boredom that comes along with living in a college town during the summer months I am back from vacation and bored as ever! Although I say this like it is a bad thing being bored isn't the worst possible thing, I read a quote a couple weeks ago and loved it, it went something like this, "you have to be bored to get in really good training. To have two good runs a day you have to be really bored, that way the running feels like an escape rather than torture." So I have been trying to live vicariously though this quote the past couple of days, using the boredom as motivation to get out and ride my new bike (still resting my hip flexor). It appears while I was gone on vacation the cable company finally realized they had been giving me free cable for the last four months and now unfortunately my free ride is over, so needless to say I am really wishing I could get out the door for a run to kill some time. On that note my hip is feeling 100% better and the only thing that is left to do is actually go for a run. This is my last week of break and I am more than a little nervous to head out the door for that first run and experience that same sharp, stabbing pain that has become so familiar these past several weeks. I guess the next logical thing to do is force myself out the door and forget everything, just run, with no purpose or pressure, just to feel the freedom of running without pain. I'll post again after the run, so be looking for another post this Saturday!

Vacation!

Well as most of you know I have been on my break from running these past few weeks in an attempt to heal my lingering hip flexor issues and recharge the batteries. This means a lot of laying around with the occasional round of golf, in other words life has been great! This coming week I will be meeting my family in Eureka Springs for a relaxing weekend on the lake. This should be a good distraction from life in Fayetteville, which lets just say has been somewhat lonely. This coming week will be my last week of down time (assuming my hip is ready to go) and training will resume the following week. I can't say that I am too disappointed to have missed these past few weeks of training seeing as it has been the hottest two weeks of my life. The average temperature here in Arkansas has been right around 105 or higher and I don't remember the last day the temperature didn't reach into the triple digits. Hopefully this message finds you all in good health and spirits!