Well, last week for me marked the end of the preparation phase. I guess a nice way to look at it is building the foundation or base for the end-performances of autumn. Frankly, it is difficult for me to believe we are twelve weeks into the year; or one-fourth of the way down the path to Panama City.

So we also hit the first day of spring, or the proper technical term of vernal equinox, on Friday. The weather has taken a jump for the better, almost; while it's still in the high 50s/low 60s in the morning as I drive into work, it's not what we'll see much of in about another six weeks. I'm not certain what to think, or if I want to think, about what I've called 90/90/90 (days, degrees, and humidity) in the past. It's nice to walk out onto the back patio and ditch my sopping wet shoes/socks/top after a workout without yelling 'blankety-blank, it's stinking COLD!'

However, the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and Quietwater Sound is still kinda that way. I guess it's still the latter half of the March Comes In Like...And Goes Out Like...thing. Unfortunately, yesterday made me think March was going to enter and exit like a lion. Triathlon wetsuits are wonderful for keeping most of the chill at bay, but it takes a little adjustment for a guy who's more used to training in pools to tolerate swells. And when March decided to act up the other day, the flotation abilities which neoprene provides were less than welcome. I felt like a cork while fighting three good-sized swells, at which point I said to myself 'hey, I did 3,000 yards in the pool yesterday. I don't need this as bad as I thought I did.'

- Wedding reception; road race in New Orleans.
- Vacation; road race in Key West.
- Trip to visit former coach; road race in Dayton.

Yes, we're wierdos. And your point? Well, this time it's the 51st Annual Road Runners Club of America National Convention in San Francisco.  Nothing like spending several days hanging out with other runners, talking about runs, comparing notes about running programs, & drinking beer...not necessarily in that order, mind you.
For the Southern Region representatives, this is going to be an epic event. We're going to do a hail & bail for several of our own; one or two are moving up the corporate food chain to become directors, our regional director is taking a well-earned retirement (after the past four years he should receive the Purple Heart). But I have to ask (in the words of Jim Mora): Ken...fishing!? You're talking fishing!? Fishing!?

I love how this organization has embraced the use of social networking technologies. It's as fast as e-mail & as cool as web pages/blogs...but without the serious need for mad techie skills.

Yeah, we need to get a couple of days away from the work stuff. It's easy to tell when there's been too much going on at the office; either Suzanne or I end up with a serious case of insomnia. If I get it we're really in trouble, because Suzanne is a light sleeper. She's usually a lot more kind to me; if she has problems getting down she'll hit the futon in her office...which usually makes me feel rather guilty, with that 'did I say or do something to upset you?' feeling. However, I am certain she also does it so the d-a-w-g will attack me first thing in the morning instead of her. No worries...I'm supposed to get up & go to the pool this morning, anyway, right?  Uh, what day is it, again? Is there a rest day coming in the foreseeable future?

The nice thing about sports is it's loaded with irony. The media are not the only ones who tend to get the predictions wrong more often than not (think Bode Miller in Torino rather than Michael Phelps in Beijing), coaches & individual athletes do so, too. While you can make an educated guess as to how well a person is going to perform from the exterior view it's much harder to tell what lies underneath the flesh, dwells within the muscle, bone & nerves of the individual. You cannot measure drive - heart - of an athlete by their physiological data.
One of my favorite training partners in the past five years, if you looked at him before a workout or a race, you would not be a bit impressed. In fact, he always looked more like a misplaced softball player than he did a road racer. I think nearly all my best workouts/races always had something to do with him...and many of his with me. Before a knee injury cut short his career about two years ago, he went on a tear...ended up winning a local half-marathon, ran some great trail ultra-distance races, and such. I miss not having him around to sharpen me up.
Not every athlete exudes what my father once desctibed as bad-ass in three easy lessons.  A great case in point can be found in the realm of masters' swimming. A (relatively) slender, cardiovascularly efficient young(er) guy can be on the blocks at a masters' meet next to someone ten years older with a serious case of dunlap disease (the disorder where ones' midsection has done lapped over ones' belt line)...yet the paunchy, hoary one might be the one handing back the @$$ of the younger, relatively svelte, technically less-efficient swimmer at the end of the event. Trust me on this one. I've stood on the deck trying to find a way to graciously stuff my butt cheeks back down into my Speedo after having them handed to me by one of my adipose-enhanced training mates.
Our favorite local beer/bite hangout didn't quite go all-out last night for St. Patrick's Day; they did offer corned beef & cabbage, but we avoided it. It's not that I doubt the uniqueness or the genuine-ness of a place with the last name of O'Brady's, but I knew it would not sit well in my tummy either last night or this morning...especially this morning, in the pool... They did surprise us with some new appetizer items, one of which is a fried calamari, something we don't see much of unless we assault an Italian joint, a place I eat at only under extreme duress. My friend Paul doesn't do calamari, but Suzanne & I will try anything on the menu there at least once to make certain it's not bad. It wasn't the classic overly-chewy squid rings, though. A tad more on the crunchy side, as though they had been fried a little longer than the average bear. However, there was no overwhelming garlic smell/taste (and I like garlic!), nor serious grease...not bad with a side of marinara.
We're approaching the mid-term for our performance system, which means it is high time to do what is better known around here as brag sheets. Unfortunately, with this system, you might be in the walk on water, talk to God realm in all of your duties, but if your duties don't exactly line up with the standards, you are screwed. Yep, you can do all the good things for your fellow employees, your instructors, your courses & the service at large, but if you can't justify it, it's like you did nothing for the past six months but sit on your butt, drink coffee & write blog entries. Oops, I did it again, didn't I?
Is any one else as offended as I by the audacity of big corporations, ostensibly owned now by the federal government (& hence owned by the taxpayer), giving millions of dollars to executives for driving the business into the ground during the previous year? And then, my co-worker tells me some of the executive recipients are people who left the company. Well, I guess that blows the if we don't pay them their bonuses they might leave argument right out of the water, doesn't it?

Oh, & for those of you who don't know the rest of the story: Bikila destroyed the Olympic & world best times for the marathon; McKenzie finished 48th. As Chuck Berry sang: C'est la vie...most days you never can tell...

“The truth is that running hurts. No one gets faster without meeting their personal pain barrier straight on. No amount of junk miles, fun runs or affirmations are going to get you over the hill at the five-mile mark in a 10k. However, what will pull you through is solid prep...”- ManciataNot everyone who calls me Coach sees me at the track two-to-three times a week. There are some runners who believe enough in my approach to training, my research and my work ethic to consult with me on a near-daily, weekly or monthly basis. It is in those relationships I probably receive the greatest level of reward; they are the ones who most consistently laud my role to friends, fellow competitors and colleagues. They are the ones who make me a more cautious training planner.
What makes the distance coaching relationship such a challenge?  Communication. While I can scribble up a six-month half-marathon training plan for a friend in Canada I also have to take into account their life barriers; the obvious limitation of family, sleep, work, & realistic (performance, training) expectations. Not everyone is going to rearrange their life schedule to meet a training plan. Then, I have to teach them the language of my training, which my local 2-3x/week athletes learn in the first months.

A gentleman was upset at being slowed down on his church commute by the Pensacola Marathon (Feb 22, 2009), and wrote this letter to the Pensacola News-Journal:

"Is it fair to promote one business, sport or industry at the expense and inconvenience of the community? This issue has been an ongoing traffic problem in our city for more than 20 years; but it is not a traffic problem. The city police block entire roads for hours, even in the rain, inconveniencing hundreds of people going about their business. Our area has 15 or more nice running tracks that were designed for running. These tracks have never been used by cars or trucks. We use city streets for cars and trucks. What would the response be if we drove our cars and trucks on running tracks? Just my point. Keep runners off streets that were designed and made for cars and trucks, and these motorists will not drive on running tracks that were designed for running. Common sense is not common at all, especially when it involves planning."

Here’s my take, submitted to the PNJ today:

"Running is the simplest of sports. It requires relatively little equipment for the first-time participant. It requires no club membership, specific venue, opponent or pre-requisite qualification. Running demands only what the individual participant cares to give & provides a great number of benefits, which include cardiovascular fitness, weight control, stress reduction, & for many persons, socialization (RRIC State of the Sport, 2008).

Mr. Xx Xxxxxx ("Running the Streets,” 10 Mar 2009) complains about “hundreds” of persons being inconvenienced by runners as if the entire local running population participates en masse in a fitness demonstration of sorts on a near-daily basis. The blockage of “entire roads for hours” Mr. Xxxxxx describes - more often than not - lasts closer to 90 minutes during a 5,000-meter road race, the most common race distance in Pensacola. And, to my recollection, the 5,000-meter road race - the most common road race distance, according to the Road Running Information Center's research - is mainly held on Saturday mornings in Pensacola, & contested between 15 and 20 times per year.

Mr. Xxxxxx provides a deal of sorts by promising not to drive on running tracks in his car if we will hide ourselves away on nice, safe, secure running tracks...far from the exhaust belching behemoths of the roadway. It's not a deal Mr. Xxxxxx can enforce for his side...and not one I think any of my fellow runners, whether here in Pensacola, or in the 980 clubs & events which make up the Road Runners Club of America would accept.

Not all of the tracks Mr. Xxxxxx wishes the local running community would relegate themselves to have been designed for running or run training. A good example of this "planning" exists at the main campus of Pensacola Junior College. The 440-yard track at PJC used to be populated by walkers & runners of all ages, shapes, races, socioeconomic statuses & fitness levels, until it was taken up this year & replaced with a 300-meter, irregular-shaped, single-lane width walking path. Other tracks are situated on school properties which may not be accessible during nights or weekends. Not every person who wishes to run has access to a track near where they live; that leaves no other choice than running on sidewalks, more often than not it means running on the shoulders or the edge of the road where sidewalks do not exist.

Mr. Xxxxxx may not realize runners are not just an ignorant (93-94% possess a college degree, according to a 2007 survey conducted by the RRCA), impoverished group (average income of $50,000-$75,000/year according to RRCA survey). We tend to make economic choices on the basis of which business/business owner is willing to support our running habit by sponsoring an event. We purchase & sell homes (of which Mr. Xxxxxx's business might no longer be required), & we also pay taxes to pave & maintain the very streets on which we also travel to tracks to train, to events in which we will race on the roads, & on which we sometimes have to train. We pay for the police to protect us during our races, as well as during our training runs, which may or may not occur on the sidewalks & shoulders of local roadways.

Until the taxes we pay for local infrastructure are used to develop good running paths throughout the entire city, & not just in one little corner, walkers, fitness enthusiasts & runners of all stripes will continue to be at the mercy of automobile operators exercising the same sort of common sense, of which Mr. Xxxxxx seems to possess in abundance.

This past week, my loving wife closed our membership to the local YMCA & opened an account with the local World Gym franchise. Our reasons for the change-over were more for practical reasons and less for economic ones, despite the nearly-equivalent charges. Well, we got a good deal because she's marketing-savvy & I'm willing to provide coaching services to runners. When you take away my wife's tanning it was only a few dollars more than the Y.We gained 24-hour, seven-day access to the facility; definitely outweighing any economic disadvantage. While it's been a solid decade or more since I felt the irrational desire to work out at 1:30 in the morning, there are stretches when my wife would rather put her infrequent insomnia to good use. It also takes away any of the weather-related excuses I could use (to quote my coach, one excuse is as good as another...) on those recovery run or track workout days. Even the beat-up days, when I'd be better off working on the elliptical trainer or the stairmaster, are easier to fit in the schedule...even more so when you live four blocks from the joint.

Okay, I do miss the spectator aspect of working out at the Y near my home; mamas & chitlins playing around on the weight equipment or pedaling at slow/no speed on the exercise bikes. The unattended kids were more of a hassle. I do not miss the little booger whose father was watching the other kiddo wrestle...decided to have a little Eddie Murphy-esque Let's See What We Can (Mess) With Next moment with the weight-assisted pull-up machine. The crash of metal parts summoned the father back into the room, where he proceeded to give my wife & me the stink-eye. Hey, buddy, not my d*mned kid, but yours. If he was mine his @$$ would be sitting down on the floor, or whooped on by now.Of course, at WG I have the privilege of working out on good quality equipment. Well, most of the time. I've learned which exercise machines are useless as breasts on a boar hog in the past week...which would include nearly anything aerobic in nature built by Cybex. There are certain bells & whistles every athlete or fitness enthusiast loves, there are others which are nice to have. Sometimes there's too many bells & whistles, which invariably ring/honk every time you turn around. Not so good. And, regrettably, there is a right way & a wrong way to display exercise data for the enthusiast. Scrolling through data is never a good thing. And the Cybex treadmill I used last night had that particular function. Worse yet, it would not allow me to hold the scrolling on the total distance, but kept jumping back to my heart rate, calories, METs, etc., etc., & so forth. As I mentioned to my running friends in my daily missive to them: Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, Oscar?
So everything works itself out, or seems to. I'm certain to rave about how nice it is to have all that equipment once the rainy season kicks into full force.

When you're working out there are three important things to keep in mind about nutrition and/or hydration:
First, there are things that should never be taken in to your system, regardless to the John Parker-esque quote about if the furnace is hot enough it will burn anything.
Second, there are certain things which can be taken into your system at any time of the training day.
And third, there are certain things which should only be taken in after training.

Naturally, in the do as I say, not as I do category of most coaches/athletes, I strongly suggest you avoid anything wrapped in a cellophane wrapper with the name Little Debbie on it. Not only because of the you are what you eat dictum (Eat enough of those things & you too will be round, filled with a thick plaque-like substance & wrapped in plastic...), but because of the economics factor. I mean d*mn, I remember when the lowly oatmeal cake - the least offensive of Little Debbie's siren-like offerings - could be purchased for 25 cents. Now you can't even look at the bee-yotch for less than 75! One of those & a Faygo cream soda could give you enough sugar to get you through a rough morning run; all you had to carry was a single dollar bill in your running shorts.

After a month of complaining, researching, comparing, asking questions of friends, & all that good stuff it was time to get out of the house & visit a couple of car lots. While I love my wife's 1988 Toyota Camry (a thoroughly functional, practical car) the strain on our lives was getting to be a little over the top. The loss of autonomy for both of us was the worst; Suzanne doesn't have to travel as much as she used to (go figure, when your office is 150 meters away from your house...) when she has to go...

The original plan of action was to go to Alabama, just minutes outside of Mobile, to a large Toyota/Scion dealership...however, we did figure it best to look at the local dealer before we invested a solid hour of driving, one way, into what might have been a fruitless car shopping excursion.

However, anyone who knows me well enough knows when I finally get my sorry @$$ out the door to shop for something I've pretty much made up my mind. The only real issue was going to be what model (sedan or cross-over) & what color. I had narrowed down to one of the two Scion models - the xB & the xD.  Test-drove a very nice-looking teal xB & was well-prepared to talk money, as neither of the xD's were automatic transmission (yes, I can drive a stick; I don't like to). Darned if Wendy, the sales associate, didn't come back with a better deal...no haggle, huh? There was a 2008 certified used (whatever the heck that really means) xB, black sand pearl (hey, black by any name in my book is a winner), for about three-grand less than the one I was about to dive into...with some high-market rims/tires. Well, I was not going to hesitate.

I have my doubts you'll see me do too many upgrades on this car, but you never can tell. If Steven or I come up with any socially-acceptable methods of advertising that doesn't make the car look like something formerly owned by a drug dealer...you'll see it at the races. It's a very nice car, even on the inside & has some of the newer technology I've slowly been adapting to. As for the race bikes, both the time trial bike & the road bike should fit well in the back cargo space, with some wriggling. If I decide to drop the seats flat there's no question I can fit both bikes (or even Suzanne's cruiser & my mountain/measurer) in the cargo area. It's kind of like having a good black suit jacket & a pair of dark slacks...fits most anywhere & adapts well to accessorizing. There might be some accessorizing in the future...stay tuned for my sense of humor to come out.

Today is the first of March, so I had to break in another spreadsheet & start counting yards/miles/minutes for a brand new month, full of opportunity. Naturally, the month arrived full more of precipitation & windy, chilly conditions than of sunshine & blue skies. The Scion's heater was more than adequate for the challenge. One of the area's more humble, hard-working female runners decided to meet up with me for a nice 8.4 miles. We train together at least once a week on the beach, so this was definitely a treat. Gosh, if I can help her stay healthy for another couple of weeks, she's going to kill some great ten-kilometer times.

We talked about the high-tech swimming suit issue, namely, how much an athlete's mental state affects their performance. While those B70 & LZR suits can be directly attributed to two percent increases in performance, nobody can say what a suit like that can do in the mind of a swimmer...or in the mind of the swimmer who doesn't have a B70 or LZR.

It's a reminder to me to remind my athletes the same thing Neo hears from Morpheus in The Matrix: '...don't think you can; know you can.' Does the king of the jungle know the same? Hard to say.

"Recovery. That's the name of the game... Whoever recovers the fastest wins." - Lance Armstrong
Locals haven't seen a lot of me lately; some assume it's because I'm injured or quit running/racing altogether. Nothing is further from the truth. I'm spending more time doing something I could have done better in the past. In order to perform well at my goal events this autumn I'm spending more time on the treadmill, on the elliptical trainer, on the bike, in the pool and - believe it or not - easier efforts on the road. It isn't as fun as road racing. You don't get any awards for doing base training. Maybe that's why it's so overlooked. However, this isn't about me as much as it is about you.

If you participated in every area race since the beginning of the year (Here in Pensacola the first race is not long after New Years' Day, goes until early May, then stops over the summer. Racing then resumes in earnest around the middle of September & reaches it's crescendo right before Thanksgiving.) it might be too late to talk about whether it is time to recover; that time might have been long past. While hard work - long runs, speed work, tempo runs, terrain/event-specific workouts - are important, what is more important (I'm reminded by reading the thoughts of coaches & physiologists) is what Alan Couzens calls "the intelligent distribution of work."The first time we encounter a particular stress during training (say, a workout of 800 meters four times, with 100 meters walk recovery, at "up-tempo fresh" pace) our body becomes alarmed at the assault. Once the body adapts to that stress it compensates to deal with it, making you more fit...for a time. However, extended exposure to the same stress (say, due to a lack of variety) eventually leads to exhausting adaptation; you could end up worse off than when you first started doing that particular workout. That's what makes a variety of training stressors important. The same (4 x 800 in this case) workout that provided a 100% performance benefit at New Years', if done without any change, would provide, if you’re lucky, only a 3% benefit by Memorial Day.A season of hard training - or racing - that is too long leads to a performance plateau, or to fatigue. If you don't ration your efforts wisely over time, you can expect a relative plateau after three months & a decline in performance in five. Backing off the efforts by 1/3 of the normal volume one week each month, & one month each year won't hinder performance a bit.Each athlete needs to know the best length of training period, volume of training, & intensity of training for their goal. This means taking time to quantify not only how far/fast you went, but how intense it felt, & how you felt during the next workout period. You can do this by Borg (perceived effort) scale, average heart rate during the workout, resting heart rate each morning, hours of sleep, relative fatigue...I think you get the picture.Recovery, as the smart people say, is underrated.

Every once in a while I get e-mails from running friends with questions about training. Most of my closest friends are either runners, swimmers, cyclists or triathletes. If they aren't they have some sort of connection to the sport or they've known me from my former life as a musician or a preacher wanna-be. Yes, I know it seems pretty strange to hear that last one, but I did aspire to that, once upon a time.  If you think about it, there's not much difference between preachers and coaches...

Mike, I am a runner again and feel a need to improve. I think back to before my body rebelled and I get a little anxious to return to those days. I know impatience can lead to injury if I'm not careful. I am really
asking an opinion on when to start pushing the envelope. I think I have made a breakthrough in the pace department without really trying. Since I have started back again my pace has been VERY slow in the beginning and I worked it down. Now suddenly in the last couple of runs I have made a colossal jump in performance. I am not sure how this happened because I do my best to just run efficiently and not wear myself out.  So I am making improvements without consciously trying to. Recent runs blew me away, because the splits dropped from what I have been doing for that distance and my recovery was much the same as any other run.  When do you think I should start doing some sort of speed work? I'm doing good and making my mileage goals but am still apprehensive - I don't want to break myself again. In any case I am ecstatic to be able to call myself a runner again even if I never get back to where I was before it all went south. Any suggestions?

I haven't felt much of a need to blather on about my masters' swim meet experience at Auburn this past weekend. Probably the best thing I can say is that I did some things I never had tried before and made it through without injury, or worse, death.

I had, however, an unusual phone conversation the afternoon after I got home. My ex-wife decided to call me after a 14-year hiatus; nothing better to do than to say hello and find out how my life was progressing. Before you think this was a less-than-civil conversation, let me stress that the last phone call we had, around Christmas of 1995, was, er, interesting. Interesting, in this case meant: 'boy was I a fool to run off rather than work out the marriage.' Sometimes the old phrase time heals all wounds is absolutely true. I was glad to hear her life had taken a turn for the positive; she had married a good man in her home town, earned her GED & was working for a major banking firm in the southeast US.

While I told her a lot about what I was doing here, I don't think she understood much of it. I definitely developed a different life in the 17 years since we divorced, one even more foreign to her than the one I had when we were married. As I hung up the phone, I realized something:  Our intersection, while brief, was an important one in my education about life, women, leadership, and more. She's on her path, I'm on mine, and I hope she finds her happiness during the journey.