DO NOT TAUNT HAPPY FUN BEER MILE

bad news and more bad news.
Bad news number 1: my training has taken a turn for the worse, and I am not getting in many runs. Nothing to be overly upset about, but running less means i am probably just maintaining or slightly losing shape, as opposed to progressing.

BAD NEWS #2: 4:15 4:15!!!!!!!!!! 4 stinking 15 and I have been silenced and put into place. What the heck is jack-nut talking about? well, today i had a track workout, so i decided, why not take a couple of beers to the track and see what i can do Half a beer mile in. Is the first 2 laps in 3:10 a realizable goal? I wanted answers. So, on a warm day, i headed to the track and did my warm-up, stretching, and intervals. I had planned to do 8 X 400 on the track, saving the last 2 400's for the practice beer mile. After hammering out the first several pretty good, i decided to cut the number to 7 400's. My times for the first 5: 73,75,77,78,82. I took an extended rest of about 7 minutes between the last 400 and the start of the "half beer mile". The beer i had was in bottles, as i couldnt find cans. I chugged the first one slowly, finishing it in roughly 20-25 seconds. Running the first lap was good and fast.. for the first 200.. then horror set in as the pain set in for the last 200 of the first lap. I managed to painfully chug the 2nd beer, and finished with a total time of 4:15. I have been humiliated. I have been floored. Jack-nut ran his mouth about sub-8:30's and talking about the beer mile as if it was not that big of a deal. The problem is that i learned, or maybe re-learned, that no one ownes the beer mile, the beer mile ownes people. (or at least me). I am not saying nesesarily that i want to take back everything i said about the beer mile, but I am saying that from here on out i will not throw out times, predictions, or whatever else. The beer mile inflicts pain. Pain indeed. Maybe i forgot about that pain. I know no analogy is perfect, but i want to describe how finishing the first lap of the beer mile feels, breathing heavily, with the 3 cans staring you down, knowing you have a LONG way to go. It is much like a 2nd grader picking a fight with the 5th grade bullies on the play ground. the first bully takes the little guy by the ears, throws him to the ground, and maybe knocks the wind out if him. If that was it, it wouldnt be to bad... but then suddenly... the 2nd grader looks up, and sees 3 other bullies waiting their turn to dish out a beating.... and there is no mommy in sight, not even a phone with which to call mommy. The pain will be inflicted.. horrors!!!
Yes, i have been beaten over the head with a 2X4 with just half of a beer mile.
I would have been lucky to finish under 10 or 11 minutes.
The ONLY SLIGHT bit of thing that i can consider "in my favor" was that i was allready slightly tired from the 5 400's previously. anyways, good luck racers, the race is anyones to be had. I do not run the beer mile to win, to break a certain time, or whatever.. i will run the beer mile to find that Steve Cram inside of me, that is bold enough to push through the pain.
gsj

Congratulations are in order

many miles remain, but the first are always the most difficult

1:23:17

I'm a little disappointed, but I'll get to that in a minute. Here's the race recap. Rain the whole way. I ran the first 3 miles in just under 28 (something like 27:54), and I picked it up a little at that point. I used my iPod to mark the miles, but I have just realized that it doesn't give you the actual time at that point. It just gives you what it deems to be your pace and distance. Annoying. Perhaps the best indicator is that I got passed by about 60 people in the first 3 miles, and no one passed me for the next 3 miles. After that I slowed the pace a little. In hindsight, I just don't think I had the juice to go too much faster and finish well. Maybe I did. At any rate, I didn't feel as though I approached the next 3 miles as aggressively. I still ran faster than the first 3, I think. I got passed by about 5 people or so, and I probably passed another 2 or 3 myself. I had my traditionally strong kick at the end. One important note is that I really don't think this race was a full 15k. After 9 miles, it really didn't seem as though we ran another 0.3m to me. I was running faster, but I don't think it was that fast. Anyway, my best guess is that it was closer to 9.1m or maybe 9.15m than a true 15k.

Here's the disappointment factor: I don't feel as though I can really run at a fast enough tempo and maintain it for long stretches. This is obviously something I need to address in training. Bluntly, I need to train faster. Why I haven't been doing more of this I don't know. The next question becomes how. Do I finish out the last 3 weeks of my current program before the marathon relay? Do I try to switch one of the two easy 4-5m runs I have in a week to a faster or speed-focused workout? Questions abound. Perhaps I really can run faster, and I just need to do it more in practice so I feel more comfortable with it. Who knows? I'm just a guy who looks remarkably like some dude named Leonard from Buffalo who runs a mean steeplechase.

3 months, 2 days, 1 man

This is mainly because of the fact that we can't go more than a month without a new post. So it is written. So it shall be done.

Random jlowe facts and thoughts:

(1) Shouldn't the subtext to the Houston 2009 blog read "...challenge OF life, liberty..." rather than "...challenge to life, liberty...?" Any English majors are encouraged to comment. If English is now your second language, your opinion will be discounted. Darn furiners.

(2) Are we still thinking that 8 people will be involved with the marathon in some way? I don't even care if everyone actually runs; I just think it would be cool if we could get everyone together in the same place. Do 8 people even read this?

(3) I've now completed 3 steady months of training (minus 1 week of flu-like illness). As you know if you care to remember, I am running a 12k leg of the OKC marathon relay in just over 3 weeks. My stated goal for the run is 59:50. I don't think there is really anyway I'm going to be able to pull it off. My training program has been great for endurance, but it has failed me in preparing me to run at or even near race pace. I plan on doing more treadmill workouts over the next few weeks just to try and get used to running at a necessarily faster pace. I suppose in the end this training problem is really more my own and less due to the program, but hey, the point is it seems to be too late to salvage the goal.

(4) I'm running in a 15km race this weekend that I just found out about. More updates on that after the race.

Hope everyone is well, and I plan on talking to y'all soon.

Videos for your amusement

I've been rummaging through you tube, watching some great middle distance races.
I think the more I watch, and the more I think about how fast a sub-4:00 mile is, the more I am amazed. My body doesnt even want to feel the pain of a mile that fast. If you want to be amazed, go to a track, run 200 meters in around 28 seconds, and then imagine trying to do that 8 times in a row. Or better yet, try to run 1 lap in under 56 seconds. good luck... in the words of Micah Strange to Wes Moulden ca. 1996, regarding the number 1,000,000... "You can't fathom that!"
1. Jim ryun vs snell and others 1965


2.800m final 1972 olympics


3.Steve prefontaine 1973 L.A. times mile


4. Steve cram crystal palace mile 1983


5. Sebastian Coe's leap into the world track scene

It's snowing in Fort Benning!

And I'm about to run 7 miles in Wartown with my friend Keeley. By the way, Fort Benning and its snow are actually south of here. I'll be back in about 71 minutes or so to give you the full scoop. I'm so fired up about this!

UPDATE: 1:10:09, and one of the best runs ever. 37F or so with wind chills in the 20s when we started. Their were intermittent patches of sunshine as well as moments of fairly heavy sleet. We both were reminded of running in Colorado, which is quite the notable event when you're actually running in central GA. I felt like an actual runner. Awesome feeling.

2 months down and 1/2 mile closer to a PR (sort of)

So we're into March, and I'm still running. I talked to Jackson this weekend via internet phone for a while, and he was kind enough to take some time to look at my proposed training schedule for the next 8 weeks. As you may recall, I'm preparing for the 12k leg of the 3rd Annual Lowe Family OKC Marathon Relay. I've run the same leg the other 2 times, and as silly as it may sound, I have learned some new things about the actual distance in just the past few days. The OKC Marathon Relay website has the mile equivalent of 12k listed as 7.6 miles. After using an actual metric conversion tool, I was able to confirm that what I have read on several other sites is correct. 12k is actually about 7.46 miles. But wait, there's more.

If you scroll to the bottom of the aforementioned OKC Marathon Relay website, you can see that the 3rd leg (the 12k leg, my leg) is actually "about 0.3 miles short" because they can't put the transition zone in the middle of an intersection. They then go on to list the total distance as 7.3 miles, which presumably, means the distance is actually about 7.16 miles.

I guess my point is this: I am now almost 0.5 miles closer to my goal of completing the leg in 59:50. I felt like it was pretty doable before, but now I feel pretty confident that I can pull it off. Just thought I would share the positive vibes. If that doesn't work, try out this video of what happens when you raise your children to favor Notre Dame.

Much love,
jlowe