Sam Costa

I ran the 40^th Annual Sam Costa Half Marathon Saturday. It’s the oldest road race in Indiana. Weather was great, cool and overcast, perfect except for a little too much wind. I started out ok. Maybe a little quick, but not too bad. I soon settled into a nice steady pace around 7:13 or so per mile. After passing the 7 mile mark I started to pick up the pace. I was passing people and was feeling pretty good. Then just past the 9 mile mark my left calf suddenly started to cramp up. I stopped for a moment to massage it. This helped a little, but I knew I was in trouble. I started running again, but very tentatively. With every step of my left leg I had to pull my toe up to keep the calf stretched. This is no way to run, but I was somehow able to run the next two miles at 7:30 pace. As I hit mile 12 I realized if my calf didn’t completely disable me I could still squeak out a half marathon PR. Well, I made it to the finish in 1:36:14, a little more than 2 minutes faster than my previous best which was run on this same course in 2007. I think I lost around two minutes to the calf problem so if I can get healthy I can shave some more time off that PR.

Spring Means DINO

The first race of the DINO Trail Series happened last Saturday at Eagle Creek. The weather was perfect and the trail conditions were pretty good too. A little mud in a few spots, but otherwise dry. Very large turnout, in fact the largest ever for a DINO Series event, 202 finished the 15k and 195 finished the 5k. I'm glad the economy isn't keeping people from racing, maybe we're all just running away from our troubles.

The course was a loop that was repeated three times for the 15k. The course was modified slightly this year to shorten it. Last year the course was a little longer than 3.1 miles. This year it was a little short of 3.1 miles. I ran a pretty good race, didn't start out too fast and was able to maintain a good steady pace the entire race. Lots of fast runners though and I wasn't able to crack the top three in my age group. Still I'm happy with my effort and the finish time of 1:05:44. I'm still plagued by this respiratory infection, but I didn't let it get the best of me this time.

This morning I did a set of 75 burpees in 12:53. Not a record time for me, but still a good effort. Tonight is Indy Runners Mini training at Butler, an easy 6 mile run.

Bubble Burst

I was really bummed out after my poor performance last Saturday at the Spring Fling 15k race. I ran almost four and a half minutes slower than last year. Today though I am taking some consolation from the fact that I've had a respiratory infection for about two weeks now and I guess that took more out of me than I thought it would. I didn't think about this until this morning when I went out for an easy six mile jog and my legs were extremely sore and lifeless, much more than they should be from a mere 15k. I have another 15k race this Saturday, the first race in the 2009 DINO Trail Series. I hope this infection is cleared up by then.

Twenty-One Redux

It’s been just over two months since I’ve tackled twenty-one. Since that time I’ve been working a push up program to improve my push up endurance. That program is supposed to get you to the point where you can do 100 consecutive push ups. Well, I’ve not reached 100 yet, but I’ve definitely improved my push up endurance and it shows in the results for twenty-one. On December 16th I needed just over 33 minutes to complete 21. Today I did it in 19:16. For those who don’t know, twenty-one is a push up and crunch workout where you start with 20 push ups and 1 crunch, then 19 push ups and 2 crunches and continue until you do 1 push up and 20 crunches. I do a leg lift crunch where I lift my legs and curl my knees up into my chest. You can do whatever type of crunch or sit up you are comfortable with. Enjoy.

By the way, I followed twenty-one with 100 squats for good measure. Squats are a quick way to burn lots of calories and you can quickly do 25 or 30 at work even. Contrary to popular myth, squats are good for you knees, just make sure you a doing them properly. Go to http://www.crossfit.com/ to see a video demonstration.

Lovin' the Hills, Kentucky Style

I felt really good going into this race, was well rested, and slept good the night before. So naturally I went out a little too fast at the start. Dumb, dumb, dummy. When will I ever learn? I ran the first loop about four minutes faster than last year and the second loop about 12 minutes faster than last year, but at the Scott’s Gap turn around I was only a few minutes ahead of last year’s pace. From Scott’s Gap to the finish I was still able to run the flats and down hills, but didn’t have the steam to really push it like last year. Also on the return from Scott’s Gap I was having trouble running fast down hill because my toes were so sore. It’s too bad I blew it this year because I can’t ever expect to get better weather and trail conditions than we had this year. I have to give a huge thanks to all the volunteers who made this race possible. The ice storms from two weeks ago and the wind from last week knocked down so many trees there was a good chance the race would have to be cancelled. Fortunately many people worked their butts off to get the trail ready. I have never seen such devastation; there were trees down everywhere, but with a couple minor exceptions the trail was cleared and in great shape. For finishing we got a wood medal shaped like a heart and a Colorado blue spruce seedling. Not sure where I’m going to plant it, but it should make for a lasting reminder of a great day on the trails. That is if I don’t kill it.

Still leaking, but keeps on ticking

Two years ago a cardiologist told me I had a leak in my aortic valve. He told me to avoid lifting heavy weights, but running should be ok. He also told me to come back in two years for another cardiac echo. In the two years since then I’ve lost at least 15 pounds and have set new PR’s for just about every race distance with one annoying exception, the 5k. I had another cardiac echo done a couple weeks ago and the cardiologist says everything looks great, of course the leak is still there, but it isn’t worse. He said I’m in excellent shape and just keep doing what I’m doing and of course come back in three or four years to drop off another wad of cash.

This is all good because this Saturday is Louisville’s Lovin’ The Hills. LLTH is one of the toughest 50k’s around. My 50k PR is 5:11, my best time at LLTH is 6:30. This year my goal is to beat that time. It won’t be easy, but if I’m patient and don’t go out to fast at the start I know I can do it. Then again if I'm slogging through mud the whole way forget about any goal other than just finishing.

Good News/Bad News

The good news is that I now have lots of time to train. The bad news is I won't have the money to sign up for races because my job was eliminated on Tuesday. I'm now looking for a job as a "Certified Internet Surfer" with a salary in the low six figure range. If anyone knows where I can find such a job let me know asap.

Actually I've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of jobs that are posted.