Macon Tracks Running Club

If you want to improve your running performance. Say get a little faster in your next 5K, you may want to try changing speeds. One thing that we all do at times is we fix our running pace on a comfortable cruise control and we leave it there for many of our miles.

In actuality we all should have about 5 manual gears (paces) that we should use instead of that single automatic cruise control.

Those are EASY, MARATHON, TEMPO, INTERVAL, and REPETITION. Each one as its own benefits and should be used to improve our performance.

Today I ran 5 miles at MARATHON PACE. For me that was about 6:28 pace at a 162 ave heart rate. This type of run builds endurance, mental toughness, and stamina. It’s a tough one to hold at constant pace as our natural instinct is to slow down after long periods of exertion.

Today completes my 4 weeks of rehab training and I am back to normal training, as long as my injury does not start to hinder me. I still have soreness in my lower ab and hip but it is minimal and usually lessens with running. That is a good sign.

So next week its time to practice at all 5 of my gears and get ready for a great spring and summer race season. Don’t wait any longer, get out and run yourself to wellness.

Run Strong Friends,
Sam
(AKA RC)

I’ve been reluctant to speak it out loud for fear of it ending. I don’t want to go back to that place where I am not able to be who I want to be. It’s just not been long enough for me to accept that it’s over.

My 3 month ordeal dealing with an injury appears to be behind me now. I am honestly starting to believe it now. I’ve been running easy for three weeks in a row. I’ve actually run my 1st race since early December. I’m back running at the Loop.
You can’t imagine how happy I am to be doing all these things. I love to run and I love to race. I lost the ability to do both back in December. I have no one to blame for myself. I over trained, did not allow enough rest time, and raced too hard too often.
Now I need to take away some important lessons from all this. Things that will help me prolong the gift of health that I typically take for granted. I hope to train smarter and with more focus. I will be more selective on which races I enter and will allow adequate recovery before I jump into another one.

For now I just want to savor the memories of a great race on Saturday. A race where I started well and maintained the pace I was shooting for. A race where I hit the time I was shooting for. A race where I finally accepted that I am recovered from my injury and can enjoy this sport that I love so much again.

Man its good to be back. See you on the road.

Run Strong Friends,

Sam

In a little less than 10 hours I’ll be testing out the old injured left hip. It’s been 3 months since I raced last. That was also the last time I ran fast, except for a couple of mile repeats I sneaked in on Tuesday. I wanted to know what it felt like to run fast before I stepped up to a line to race again.

I have improved dramatically since my doctor diagnosed me with Osteitis Pubis (Wikipedia definition - inflammation of the pubic symphysis, which is the joint at the front of the pelvis between the two ends of the pubic bone).

He gave me a 30 day round of Mobic 15mg anti-inflammatory and sent me home. I have improved steadily each day since. Its been almost two weeks now. I took 30 days off straight from running but I haven’t really run well since the injury in mid December.

Now tomorrow I see where I stand from an overall fitness standpoint. I left off in December at the peak of my running performance. I was running 5k’s in Sub 18 minutes.

So what do I shoot for in the morning. I think I am going to go on the advice of a fellow runner who knows me all to well. He and I go toe to toe on many races. He thinks I can pull off an 18:30 - 18:45 min time tomorrow.

I don’t know if I can but if Andrew thinks I can, I have to at least give it my best to prove him right.

We’ll let you know. For now its off to bed to toss and turn all night.

Run Strong Friends,

Sam

What a simple pleasure for children. They just roll around and make snowballs. They taste the cold snowflakes as they fall in their mouth. They lie in the snow and make snow angels.

We can learn a lot from our kids. Enjoy the simple things in life. Play in the snow.

Run Strong Friends,

Sam

Slideshow of our Snowfall Adventure 

View from our back porch