I am extremely proud to announce that this weekend I will be honored as the 2013 USATF Midatlantic Male Distance Runner of the Year. I think it is fitting to reflect on the year that was 2013 for me running and racingwise and how I earned this honor. Without a doubt, 2013 was one of, if not, the most successful years in my running career. I logged more miles and more 100+ mile weeks in a year than ever before - 3,629 miles in total (coming up just short of averaging 10 per day for an entire year) and experienced the success I always knew I could at the longer distances. I am very grateful to the USATF Midatlantic for selecting me amongst many other talented runners in our region as well as for their continued support of my running pursuits.
There are certainly many people I need to thank for helping me to achieve this award. First would be my future wife, Madeline for putting up with my running obsession. My parents have also been incredibly supportive of my running and still scarecly miss a race. Between my parents and fiancee, I never lack for support at a big race, and you cannot underestimate the value of that. Having your loved ones behind you and supporting you really makes the training feel easier. I would also like to give a big thank you to Henry Klugh from the Keystone Track Club for keeping me in shoes. You would be surprised at how quickly a pair of shoes gets worn out when running over 15 miles a day. Lastly, I would like to thank Robin Jefferis at USATF Midatlantic for really helping me navigate the world of road racing and encouraging me to enter challenging races.
It was certainly a banner year for me, but it almost never got off the ground. Following my first attempt at the marathon in the fall of 2012 at the Philadelphia Marathon, I really struggled to get myself training hard again. At the time, I knew what potential I had as a marathoner, having run the first 20 miles of that race at 2:18 pace. Unfortunately, I had not really trained properly or understood the marathon distance my first time around racing one, and I cratered hard the last 6 miles of the race, and finished in a very pedestrian 2:31. I came away from that race knowing two things, first that I had totally underestimated my potential as a marathoner. I had gone into the race with no expectations and ran at Olympic Trials qualifying pace for 20 miles. Secondly, I realized, that I still had an immense amount of work to do before those last 6 miles felt as good as the first 20.
As I entered my first winter as a post collegiate runner, I quickly realized just how much of a grind it is training in the winter while working a grown up job. The weekends are the only time for a period of over 4 months that you are able to run in daylight. I have never been one to lack motivation when it comes to running, but for the first time in my life, I found myself not really wanting to run all that much. I will be honest with everyone reading this - it absolutely sucks running in the pitch black on a 25 degree windy night. At this time, I also realized something else about myself. I do love to run, but I hate doing anything in life at less than a 100% effort. If I wasn't motivated to run at a high level, I did not feel like simply going through the motions to put in a five or 6 miler. Empty days piled up on the calender during the month of January. I was still doing around 60 miles a week with some workouts, but not really training for anything.
At the end of January, I entered an indoor 5k on a whim. I had no real expectations of myself in the race as I had not really been training well. I ended up running 15:09 and feeling very comfortable doing so. I could not believe that I could run that fast off of very little training. Seeing what I could do with very sporadic training was the spark I needed to recommit to my training.
After that race, I did something that was probably very stupid at the time, but ended up working out in the end. I woke up the Monday after that race and decided I was going to run 100 mile weeks. With no real buildup to that amount of mileage, it was a risky move, but it worked out. The miles piled up quickly and I got in the best shape of my life. Sometimes in life, you just need to tell yourself you are going to do something and then do it no matter what. As I reeled off these hundred mile weeks, I found I saw in myself that ability, the shear force of will to get done what you need to get done.
As I really trained properly for my first marathon, I was doing types of workouts that I had never done before. My college team never did many tempo runs, but as the marathon is the "tempo run from hell," I found myself doing longer tempo runs than ever before. I did 3x3 mile, 3x4 mile, 6 mile tempo runs, progressive long runs with the last 5 miles at marathon pace. More importantly, I also worked on my speed. I think many people who train hard for marathons neglect their speed, thinking only of the long aerobic workouts which are certainly important. There is no getting around the fact, however, that to run 26.2 miles at 5:15 pace, you need some basic leg speed. To work on my speed, I was doing 1k repeats at 10k pace, and eventually worked up to mile repeats at 5k pace, which for me was 4:35-4:40. I followed all of these workouts with 200's and 300's all out to really hone my fast twitch muscles.
The training translated incredibly well to racing in the spring. I broke 15:00 for 5k on the roads, running 14:54 and placed in the top 10 at the nations largest 10 mile race, the Broad Street Run, in a time of 50:28. All these races were run with heavy mileage still weighing on my legs as I prepared for the Vermont City Marathon in May.
Going into Vermont, I knew I was ready to run under 2:20. I was well tapered, and everything felt good. Unfortunately, the second coming of the Great Flood coincided with the race, and we were forced to run in torrential downpours, gusting winds, and 40 degree temperatures. I felt very good through the first half of the race in 1:09:30, but could not keep the pace up over the last 10k of the race, finishing 3rd in 2:22:28. I was definitely disappointed with the final time, but not the effort. I know that effort was worth a sub 2:20 on a good day. This race was definitely the highlight of my year, as it was so gratifying to have a breakthrough marathon after months of training. I got my first taste of what it really feels like to be taken care of at a race, as the race directors looked after us all weekend. I would highly recommend this race to anyone.
Following Vermont, I made the worst decision of the year. I decided to accept an entry into the USA Half Marathon Championships only 3 weeks after the marathon. At the time, I was riding an incredible high, thinking I could keep racing at a high level, but the marathon just completely sapped my body of everything it had. Months and months of high mileage just left me worn out, but I pressed on. As I have already written, I did set a new half marathon PR at the race, but the effort triggered a full breakdown of my body. It was something I had never experienced as a runner, only heard about. There really is no way to describe the feeling other than a lingering, never ending fatigue. It hurt even to walk anywhere, and I was forced to train sporadically all summer. I barely cracked 200 miles a month for July and August. Things improved in September and I was finally able to approach the type of training I had done in the spring.
I approached my fall training rather conservatively given the state of my body after overracing at the end of the spring. I slowly brought the mileage up this time, and hovered between 80 and 90 miles a week through October and November. I raced the Philadelphia Half Marathon with only a good 7 weeks of training under my belt and the result was not pretty. I struggled to run 1:09, but in the end, the race turned out to be just a good boost for my fitness. As fall turned to winter, I capped my 2013 racing season with several good performances that left me feeling very optimistic about the things to come in 2014. The highlight of the fall was running 31:01 for 10k on a very rolling road course, a time that indicated to me that I was in better shape than my 10k track PR of 30:48. My training has gone extremely well of late, and as the first month of the new year wraps up, I will give a little update on that very soon.
Below is a recap of my top races for 2013:
5k - 14:54 at the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k
10k - 31:01 at the Chambersburg Christmas Dash for Cash
10 mi - 50:28 at the Broad Street Run
13.1 mi - 1:08:04 at the USA Half Marathon Championships
26.2 mi - 2:22:28 at the Vermont City Marathon
I am hoping to chip away at those times this year, and even make a return to the track to run some fast times!
