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The Cold and A Cold

Last 4 Runs

6 miles, 7:00 pace | 3.5 miles, 7:30 pace | 5 miles, 7:00 pace | 6.5 miles, 7:15 pace

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat. From my last post:

Mostly 5-7 mile runs where I’m executing a 6:30-7:15 pace…

I know. I have one excuse, and it’s not a great one, but here goes: treadmill.

It dropped to negative temperatures in Columbus Sunday and MOnday, and that’s just too damn cold for me to get outside. So I lowered myself to running indoors on a treadmill, which is probably my least favorite thing on earth to do.

For one thing, it’s impossibly boring. You just stare ahead the only scenery changing being the people walking past you in the gym or outside the windows, and try to keep trudging along in place. But the bigger issue is the discouraging feeling of treadmill running being so difficult. The technology to measure how fast you’re running on a treadmill is not something extraordinary; it doesn’t require math skills beyond division. Which I bring up to say that I guess the miles per hour numbers a treadmill is spitting out is a number we should trust. It’s discouraging then, that running at 7.5 miles per hour (or an 8-minute mile pace) is tiring for me when I’m doing it on a treadmill. That is a slow jog when I’m outside. So what’s going on here? Am I taxing myself that much mentally when I have to run inside?

Either way, I had to hop on a treadmill for the first time in 10-11 months and after I felt like I had been running for three and a half hours I looked down to learn that it had only been 2 minutes and 45 seconds. I stayed the course for long enough to make it feel like I’d done an actual workout, then happily hopped off the infernal machine to do some core work. It’s going to be cold enough again to force me indoors on runs, and I’ll work on sticking it out for longer.

Also from my last post:

I’ve run 9 of the last 12 days, and 5 of the last 6…

Yeaaaaahhhhh. Followed that up with only 4 runs in 8 days. Not great! I got sick and had to take it a little easier this past week. But to be honest, it hasn’t been all bad. I ran in a 40 degree rainstorm (to call it pouring would be hyperbole, but you’d have wanted an umbrella to walk outside). I’ve always thought running in the rain can be pretty fun once you get going; I have some of my best distance runs as I’m more focused on keeping my vision clear and avoiding puddles than my pace. You get weird looks from people and get to do your thing.

Anyway, about 1.5 miles into that run I stepped onto the grass to avoid a large puddle and hit a slick of mud that sent my feet flying out from under me. Imagine that, after it had been raining all day! I’m honestly not sure how, but my right foot got back onto the ground and I was able to right myself before hitting the ground from what I can only assume was a Djokovic-esque contortion. I’ve still got it.

My longest run of 2019 (low bar) was a good way to start a new week off right. More rainy 40s and near-zero temperatures are in the weather prediction for this week, so it should be another terrific time.

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Grey Ohio Winter Misery

Last Five Runs

6 miles | 5 miles | 5 miles | 5.5 miles | 5 miles  all at similar pace (~6:45-7)

A quick note about these Last Several Runs that will accompany the top of each post: The distances will be rounded to the nearest half mile to keep things simple. For example, that 6 mile run was a 10k. On certain key training runs, I may keep the exact distance.

And so we’re a couple weeks into 2019. Winter is an interesting time of year for me in terms of running, because it sucks, but it’s usually pretty important for hitting my goals in a given year. The desire to get outside, run hard and be productive vs. the dread of having cold hands or being outside in general is a battle I go through mentally almost every year. Last year it was the need to start pouring in miles for an early spring marathon; this year, it’s about finding a way to stay relatively fast and in great shape for when daylight savings time is done and real running can begin.

Because let’s make no mistake about it–running in the winter is awful. The weather in Ohio ranges from unpleasant to frigid (although in fairness we did have a warm December this year), and that is only made worse by the nearly-permanent dim grey color the sky settles into through February. Seriously, when the sun is actually shining you get some of your best runs during the midwest winter, because it feels like you have something worth living for.

And none of that includes the most underrated awful part of winter running: you have to do laundry at least twice as often. To deal with the cold, you have to slap on multiple layers of long-sleeved clothing and pants, which then get sweaty and fill up a washing machine much faster than normal clothes. Add to this reality the fact that normal people don’t own as many pairs of running pants or tights and pullovers as they do shorts and shirts, and you have to do laundry more often than normal just to maintain clean clothing. Yes, running in the winter time is the worst.

Anyway, let’s get to the running. It’s likely that there won’t be much variance on the Last Several Runs at the top of these posts until the weather warms up slightly and the sun stays out for longer. Mostly 5-7 mile runs where I’m executing a 6:30 – 7:15 pace over the course of them. I try to add surges here and there for a couple minutes to keep speed on my mind, but it’s nothing really focused yet.

I’ve run 9 of the last 12 days, and 5 of the last 6, which means it was time for nice evening off. The increased workload had my legs tired yesterday while running. That’s a good sign, because it means I’m running enough to gain some fitness. But it also means I’ve got some work to do. 5 out of 6 days running should become the norm, with speed work and higher mileage mixed in by the time spring gets here.

Solid start, but a long way to go, especially with some colder, snowier weather coming to make running outside more challenging. Keep pushing!

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Finishing 2018 and looking ahead

2018 Recap

When I came up with the idea for this blog, it was September and I was keeping myself in semi-shape with a couple jog-runs per week. My break from running hard had extended longer than I’d anticipated, but the summer of chilling and occasionally getting the blood flowing again was a nice mental break.

Then I signed up for a half marathon that was in three weeks, and realized it was time to get back in gear. I also signed up for a 10k a week after the half, and the 10k I always run on Thanksgiving day with some family. So uh, yeah, time to start running again.

Well, over the next three weeks I never made it more than eight miles and headed to Auglaize County, Ohio a little disappointed in my effort and anticipating more or less jogging it out over the course of the half marathon. But we had a day with perfect weather and I felt amazing, pushing the final five miles to finish in 1:28:14. Nowhere near where I’ve run in the past, but at least 7 minutes faster than I thought I was capable of on that day. Pretty exciting!

The good vibes from that weren’t enough to carry me through the 10k a week later. There, while the weather was hotter, I wasn’t really able to run a pace any faster than I had a week earlier and finished in a disappointing-but-should-have-seen-it-coming 39:40. Okay Nate, you’re not quite ready to set the world on fire.

From there, I had about 6 weeks to get in shape, and started committing to speedwork. I got on the track once a week with a couple friends once a week and worked through some intervals to try and get some speed. It felt productive and I felt myself getting some degree of faster, but the results weren’t really there–a 39:05 was my final finish of the year. To be fair, this course in Mason is hilly and very difficult, especially the second half. But I was expecting to be faster than that by a good margin.

Lessons Learned and Looking Forward to 2019

So a mixed bag to close out the year. I wasn’t expecting to set the world on fire, but I’ve also got some major work to do mentally and physically to achieve my goals for this year. Obviously, in order to be faster than I’ve ever been, I will need to be running more than I was, and I plan on it. That shouldn’t be a problem. But one concern I have as I kick off a new year is whether I will have the mental capacity to push myself that way I need to. Running fast requires feeling pain and discomfort, and embracing it and running through it. I wasn’t able to execute that in the Thanksgiving 10k, when it probably would have netted me another 45 seconds.

I did have that will to a degree in the half marathon though! After a conservative start, I felt so good through 8 miles that I decided to go for it, and ran a comfortable negative split (boom, blog reference). There were a few factors involved in that success; 1) the weather could not have been better, and 2) the general slowness of my pace at that point made it a simpler acceleration. But the seeds are there! With harder work going into the races in 2019, building on that mental state is my biggest focus.

Let’s make it happen.

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Why I’m here

Welcome!

Running is probably my favorite hobby, and writing is something I went to school for and did professionally for a few years. Both have always brought me the joy and present me with occasionally frustrating challenges that I get satisfaction out of overcoming. I love setting aggressive goals in running and pushing for them, but I’ve let my writing deteriorate after changing careers. Negative Splits is my idea for changing that.

A new running goal popped into my head after taking some time off and recovering from my last major race – setting a personal best time in the four major distances (5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon) in the next couple years. It’s an enticing thought to be running my fastest as a total amateur doing it on my own, in some cases several years removed from my running peak. In thinking about it I also realized achieving it would probably require more accountability and commitment than I typically ask of myself. And so the idea of keeping a journal about training, airing some of my ideas and aggravations outside of my own head (even if I’m the only person who ever reads this) is going to serve as my means of self-motivation. Hopefully the benefit will be two-fold: some racing performances I can hang my hat on and some re-sharpening of my writing skills.

So, about those PBs:

5,000:      16:55
10,000:    38:17
Half marathon:     1:20:36
Marathon:     2:57:36

Some of these should be easier to break than others. I’ve not run very many 10ks, and the majority of them are from a time when I wasn’t in great shape (for me) in college or was more focused on training for something else. I expect to better that time, so I’d like to improve by more than just a personal best in that case. On the other hand, even though 16:55 for a 5k is not exactly an elite time, I’ve not worked on running the kind of per-mile pace required to beat that in at least 10 years, focusing more on half and full marathons since high school.

Why the vague “next couple of years” timeline for completing this? Well, as I came up with this idea we were headed into fall and I wasn’t in particularly great shape. I was able to get a couple good races in before winter, but 2019 is going to have to be the year for real improvement. And then there’s the small matter of the full marathon. I don’t know if I’ll even run one in 2019, because they’re kind of the worst. That’s at least based on the training plan I have swirling in my head right now (more on that in the future). I do plan to push for this, but realistically I don’t think it will happen before 2020.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be doing my best to keep it light and enjoyable, hopefully producing some pieces of writing that I’m proud of on top of the races. I may even eventually add some non-running posts on my other interests–movies, books, sports–when I see or hear or read something worth getting fired up about. I love having discussions, so I’d be happy to hear your thoughts.

-Nate