My 2015 Chicago Marathon training Numbers

·      5 month, 20 week training cycle starting May 11th, ending Oc.t 11th

·      Mileage base prior training cycle 68/week avg for 4 weeks

·      1,708 total miles, 85/week avg

·      Lowest mileage week: 47

·      Highest mileage week: 103

·      Lowest mileage month: May, 295 miles, 74/week avg

·      Highest mileage month: July, 473 miles, 94/week avg

·      Lowest mileage training run: 2.5

·      Highest mileage training run: 28

·      Number of 20 mile (+) long runs: 15 

Simplified B-skip to alleviate soreness in the hamstring & attachment

I use this simplified version of the B-skip drill to effectively relieve soreness in the ischial tuberosity (the area where the hamstrings attach to the pelvis) and stretch and strengthen the hamstrings and adductor.

Many runners get pain there, particularly if you're sitting at a desk all day. The key to doing this exercise right, is to keep the foot in the dorsiflexed position (toe pointing to the shin), straightening the leg once the knee is horizontal and then pulling down in a "pawing" motion with the leg, instead of kicking out. It takes some practice getting it right and feeling it in the attachment.

HD Slow Motion Stride Analysis

"Feedback loops. Video self-modeling. Powerful stuff!!" - Runner & Ironman triathlete, Steve Dean

New Testimonial from Ariela!

Thanks Ariela!!  

 "Sean is an amazing running coach and an exceptional person. Few other people could get me out on a bitter cold morning or after a long day at work. He enhanced my confidence, attitude and approach to running and made it an exceptionally meaningful experience. Whatever your level, Sean caters to each individual client and customizes his training to ensure each client reaches his/her potential and leaves a changed person. I have 100% confidence that Sean will not only meet your expectations but will beyond exceed them!" 

New testimonial from Jessie!

Thanks, Jessie!!!          

"I decide to train with Sean as he came highly recommended and

he is a runner himself.  He was also very flexible working with my

grueling work schedule, meeting me at 6am in the mornings during the

week.  I can not recommend his coaching enough!  He really motivates

you and gets the best out of you.  He is also an incredibly nice,

funny guy and super supportive.  There have been a few times he's

talked me through the anxiety prior to race starts.  His workouts are

always different and exciting and although I dreaded the early morning

wake up I definitly always enjoyed the workouts.  My goal was to have

a good race in Boston which I felt was anywhere under the qualifying

time of 3:35:00.  I had a huge PR, 3:25:53 and probably my best race.

Even though it pored rain the entire time I felt strong the whole race

and ran negative splits. I really owe my conditioning and the race

results to working with Sean."

New Testimonial from David!

Last workout before his first Half Marathon

Short but sweet, thanks David!  

 "Sean has a combination of infectious enthusiasm and tremendous know how.  I couldn't have completed my first half marathon without him!"

Road to Chicago in Search of a PR #10

Post #10 | 2 Weeks ~ Monday, May 18th – May 24 || Monday, May 25th – May 31st

The week of May 18th through May 24 was a good training week. I was dying to start feeling good and feeling like I was having some solid workouts, and thankfully, that happened.  I also started incorporating strides into my week, a little “un-abusive” speed to help give my legs that poppy/snappy feeling. Here were the two main workouts:

Wednesday – 6x 1 mile on 400m jog on the E.Drive in CP, back and forth on the hilly Healthy Kidney 10k course. Conditions were good, so that played a big role in feeling good and being pleased with the times

Saturday – Long Run 22.5 miles with 3x 2miles @ MP ~6min/mile on 1 mile recovery @ 7min/mile. Once again, conditions were good, and had company for the workout with training partners Brad Weiss and Jim McQuade, a couple of 2:3X marathoners.  We hit our splits - it was challenging but manageable.  I look forward to repeating this workout with a slight change in variables – either quickening the recovery pace to 6:30-45 or shortening the duration to .5 mile instead of a full mile. But perhaps not until increasing the rep count to 7 and feeling like I mastered the workout.  

Here are all the details:

M – AM Easy 6 miles plus 4 strides PM Easy 4 miles Total – 10 miles

T – Comfortable 4 loops CW of Harlem Hills ~6:50-7min pace Total - 14.25 miles

W – Intervals Downhill, Uphill, Flat E.Drive 6x 1 mile on 400j ~2:30: 5:33DH, :48UH, :25F, :30F, :28,DH 6:01UH Total – 12 miles

T – Easy 8.6 miles

F – AM Easy 5.4 PM Easy 4.8 Total – 10.3 miles

S – Long Run 22.5 miles w/ 3x (2mi @ MP ~6min/mile on 1mi @ 7min/mile | 2hr 45mins 7:24/mile avg.

S – Easy 9.7 miles

TOTAL: 87/week

The week of May 25th through May 31st I planned on training through my 10k race in Central Park.  The hot and humid conditions on Saturday and Sunday really didn’t help matters at all and made it much harder than it had to be.  I felt comfortable the first 2-3 miles of the race purposely running what felt like HM pace, with the plan to pick it up the last 2 miles with the favorable downhill course. Thanks to the humidity and my currently inability to gauge proper race effort, without warning and in a flash, I went from comfortable to bonky between mile 3-4. The rest of the ‘race’ I bargained with myself about how  slowly I could run and still feel OK with the result.  Not exactly the race experience I wanted, but I’m glad I was out there getting it in. Sunday’s long run in the humidity was rough, with the 90th mile of the week being ridiculous. 

M – AM Easy 10.2 miles PM Easy 5.6 miles plus 6 strides

T – Easy 6 miles

W – Hills – 3x Harlem Hills CW Hard uphill, Easy downhill Total – 10.9 miles

T – Mid-week Medium Long Run MDR Easy 13.6 miles

F – Easy 11 miles plus 5 strides (some with Mutai & Kipsang)

S – RACE Healthy Kidney 10k Hot & Humid 37:21 | 6:01/mile | 37th overall

S – Long Run Hot & Humid Easy 19.2 miles w/ Alex Arslan | 2:27 – 7:41/mile avg.

TOTAL: 90.2 / week

Road To Chicago in Search of a PR #9

Post #9 | Monday, Week of May 11th – May 17th

Two thoughts have been on my mind recently:

1. Runners tend to have short-term memories.  “You’re only as good as your last great workout or race” can be a common theme that plays out in your head, conveniently ignoring where you’re at in your training cycle or racing plans or return from injury.

2. I also feel like it’s nearly impossible for a non-professional runner to do everything right 100% of the time.  Pre-run dynamic stretches, run, strides, drills, post-run stretches, foam rolling, icing, strength work, core work, nutrition, 2nd run, etc. Something to strive for, to be certain, but life’s other commitments usually get in the way and you fall short in one aspect or another.

I’ve been thinking of these two things lately because it feels like I’m in a rut and too infrequently have good days, even when I account for where I am in my cycle, racing plans, and return from injury. I think I can do better with number 2 by managing my time more effectively. I want more good days. 

I’m also going to put more emphasis on this 3-pronged approach to my training: 1. Speed 2. Strength and 3. Nutrition.  My nutrition (by my account) is notoriously awful.  Too much emotional eating during the crappy winter eating my feelings.  That means meatball hero subs and pizza. Frequently.  Embarrassing.  

I’ll talk more about all these things in future posts as I implement them into my training.  As for last week, here’s how things shaped up:

M – AM Easy 5.1 miles PM Easy 5 miles Total – 10.1 miles

T – AM Easy 8.2 miles

W – AM Easy 5.8 miles PM Easy 4.5 miles Total – 10.3 miles

T – AM Easy 11.4 miles PM Easy 4 miles Total -  15.6 miles

F – Easy 5.6 miles

S – Long Run w/ 2x (2mi @ MP on 1mi @ 7min/mile) (MP ~6min/mi) – 15 miles @ 7:25/mi avg.

S – Easy 10.6 miles

TOTAL: 75.75/week

Mostly mileage this week as I never got on track to do a speed session. Saturday was a nice strength workout with James McQuade, Brad Weiss, and Joe Eagan. Hopefully, we’ll build on that sequence of Marathon Pace intervals on relatively quicker recovery (7min/mi).

Road To Chicago in Search of a PR #8

Post #8 | Monday, Week of May 4th – May 10th

This week needed to be a recharge.  Last week I was feeling pretty broken down, so all I cared about was getting to neutral and feeling healthy; mileage goals be damned.

I started by taking Monday off. That was great. I needed it physically and mentally. Followed that up with an easy double on Tuesday – 5.1 in the AM, 5.5 in the PM. Legs felt pretty crappy, but whatever, that’s pretty common after a rest day.

Wednesday was workout day, so I choose to do a short, speed Fartlek, to spice up my legs and get them feeling peppy. Didn’t want the physical demand of doing hard repetitions, just wanted to go on feel, keep it short, fast, and controlled.  I was also planning on running my first short road race in 4 years on Saturday, so wanted to set that up nicely and make sure my legs weren’t comprised by going too hard. The active recovery and relatively high rep count ensured that.  

I did 2 loops of the Rez with 5-lamppost sprint pickups off a 3-lamppost jog. This works out to be 24 pickups at about 21-25 secs of sprinting off 25secs of jogging.  It felt good and it hurt and I knew I needed to work on this type of speed while doing it.  Afterwards, I cooled down with Stuart Calderwood and John Roberts and Stuart mentioned that he had mistaken me for a Columbia runner while I was finishing up. I guess I’ll take that as I compliment.

Thursday was a very easy (and slow: 9:11/mile) 7.6 miles with Joe Eagan and Chris Solarz. Enjoyable pace and company.

Friday: another rest day.

Saturday was a 4-mile pre-race shakeout plus 4 strides.

Sunday I raced the 4 mile Japan Run in CP. Aside from last year’s NYCM & Grete’s HM, this was my first race in 4 years.  I was somewhat nervous about it as a 4 miler is pretty much like a 5k and completely different on the body than a HM or Full.  Since it had been so long, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I have done enough of these to be able run it with my eyes closed.  But, “would I run it relatively fast?!”  That’s the question I asked myself that made me nervous. I knew to run fast I was going to have to hurt. Was I up for the challenge...

M – OFF rest day

T – AM Easy 5.1 miles PM Easy 5.5 miles Total – 10.6 miles

W – Sprint Fartlek – 3.5m w/u plus strides | 2 lap of Rez – 5 LPs ON, 3 LPs OFF | 3m C/D Total – 10 miles

T – Easy 7.6 miles 9:11/mile avg.

F – OFF rest day

S – Pre-race Shakeout & Strides – 4 miles

S – 4m race in CP 22:46 | 5:42/mile | 12th place  - 8.5 miles

TOTAL: 41.25/week

What do I say about my race… I don’t know. I’m disappointed, slightly embarrassed. I unbelievably split a 6:03 mile. Splits were: 5:40, 5:29, 6:03, and 5:39. I did the best I could on the day. 

But, I’m very happy I finally got one in, it had been so long since racing anything shorter than a stupid HM or ‘thon.  It's good for me to think of myself as a 'racer' again.  

Here are some other random thoughts on the day:

- The humidity definitely played a role in going slower.

- I wore a fresh pair of racing flats and they felt tight in the toe box causing slight numbness/tingling/discomfort in my right foot. Rookie mistake.

-   Stephan Bois from Warren Street basically called me huge after the race, and that he enjoyed drafting off of my big body before he dropped out around mile 2.

-   As a base line, it’s always a win to line up and race and finish healthy. I’m very, very grateful for that, and admire anyone who takes up that challenge.

-   It was fun racing again. It’s really hard but very gratifying. I want to do it again. 

Road to Chicago in Search of a PR #7

Post #7 | Monday, Week of April 27th – May 3rd

This running week was a struggle. I feel uninspired even as I write it out. Without being too overly dramatic, I’ll throw down the details, summarize and move on.

M – Easy 10.5 miles - 7:40 mile

T – AM Easy 7.8 miles PM Easy 8 miles

W – Intervals – 4m w/u plus strides | 8x 600 @ sub-5min on 200j: 1:54, 1:55, 1:52, 1:55, 1:56, 1:55 (rest 1:35-1:58 jog – pace 5:00-5:11) | 19min c/d Total – 9 miles

T – Easy 6.2 miles

F – Easy 14.6 miles

S – Long Run – 18 miles – 7:46/mile

S – Easy 4.75 miles

TOTAL: 79/week

After the previous week’s success, everything caught up to me this week.  Mileage goal was for 80-85.  While I managed 1 speed session and 1 quality long run, everything was a struggle. I didn’t hit my planned pace for the speed session and stopped 2 reps short: just mentally and physically not there.

The long run was OK; had some miles in the 6min range, but bonked at the end and my legs have felt trashy ever since. 

I desperately need a day off and a down week, so that’s what I’m going to do. With the week that I’m currently in, I've taken yesterday (Monday) off and I’m putting very little importance on a mileage goal.  Right now, my legs feel like they’ll never feel normal again (overdramatic).  Cue world's smallest violin. 

Road to Chicago in Search of a PR #6

Post #6 | Monday, Week of April 20th – 26th

This week has been characterized by that feeling in the legs where they’re just kind of ‘numb’ to running. Not numb in a bad way, they’re neither good or bad (or feeling injured)… they just are. And running just… is.  Also, I’m starting that period of higher mileage where I’m starting to feel like I’m running ALL the time. Runs start to feel like blurs… “what day is it; what time of day is it; what is my purpose for this run;” You get the idea.  And I know this is just the beginning, and an illusion. The plan is for a 6-8 week stretch of 100+ mile weeks in the meat of marathon training, so 77miles/week is really nothing.

Here’s my week, afterwards I ‘ll talk about the heck happened:

M – Easy 7.3 miles

T – Easy 11 miles

W – Hills – 4m w/u into 3x CW Harlem Hill loops (Hard uphill / Easy downhill) 4m c/d Total – 12 miles

T – AM Easy 12 miles PM Easy 2.5 miles Total 14.5 miles

F – Easy 4 miles

S – Intervals – 4m w/u plus strides | 3x 1 BP loops on 400m jog: 9:11, 9:15, 9:18 | 2.5m c/d plus drills & lunges

S – Easy Long Run 16.3 miles in 2:08 7:50/mile

TOTAL: 77.7/week

I needed a week of effort-based speed sessions.  With my ‘numb’ legs and feeling the fatigue of the adjustment to “higher mileage” I needed some workouts where I could just run on feel and be free from trying to hit a certain time or pace. 

Wednesday’s HH workout, to me, is one of the toughest workouts I do. I feel no other tests my lungs, legs, and determination, they way running hard up those damn hills do. I love that workout. 

Saturday’s workout went better than I thought it would. Conditions were pretty good:  a crisp 38-40degs w/ some wind.  I used some mental imagery of Alex Arslan running a PR at Princeton a week ago to help hone my pace and effort.  While I positive split the intervals, I was pleased with the times based on perceived effort. A good sign for future workouts, but no doubt the good conditions helped.

The biggest take-away from this week was the reinforced idea of knowing where you are in your training cycle and accepting your limitations or perceived limitations. What I mean by that is, for me, I’m in a build-up phase right now. My legs haven’t felt snappy or sharp in a long time. Like I said, they kind of feel numb. I don’t feel like I bring out my ‘good legs’ for ANY of my workouts or runs. This can be kind of humbling or discouraging IF you forget where you are in your training cycle and you lose sight of WHY they feel that way. I remembered that on both speed days on the warm up. I took confidence from knowing that when I do sharpen, I'll cash out all the hard work I’ve put in and have the legs I want when it matters most.

ROAD TO CHICAGO IN SEARCH OF A PR #5

Post #5 | Tuesday, Week of April 13th – 19th

After last week’s pullback (58.5), it was time to bring back up the mileage. Plan was for anywhere between 70-74. Maybe a little ambitious, but I have lots of miles in these legs and 70 is not stressful.

What WAS stressful was 1. The previous weekend’s Sunday long run – it left me wiped out for the earlier parts of this week. I took until Thursday to recover and feel ready for my next speed session. 2. My Garmin's failure on this week’s long run. 3. The tingling sensation in my right foot and ankle that I started feeling on Tuesday of last week... Now lend me your ear so I can bend it.

1. Long Run Wipe Out: The first hard long runs of a new training cycle always take time getting used to and can really drag you down physically. That’s one of the reasons I think it’s so useful to think of yourself as your own ‘body-diagnostician.’ When you’re training hard, you have to carefully monitor your body and take seriously any type of dysfunction or inadequacy.  I did everything I could to recover from Sunday’s long run – rehydration, foam rolling, stretch, some icing, eat & sleeping right, but it still took me to Thursday to be ready for my next workout (and even then, I decided until after my warm up if I would be OK to go ahead with it).  A younger me would have tried to go ahead on Wednesday with a workout, not because I recovered faster then, but because I hadn’t honed my ability to listen to my body over the noisy cascade of my ambitions.

2. My Garmin 620: I’ll try to be brief. You pay a premium for Garmin with the understanding that they offer superior technology. With that, expectations of reliability are higher.  Well, my Garmin is all too unreliable.  It too often takes too long to get a signal lock; during hard workouts it too often gives me erroneous feedback on pacing & distance.  On some occasions, distance is completely off – NYC Half Marathon, it had me running over 14 miles, not the 13.1. I run tangents well, so that wasn’t the problem. Well, on Sunday’s long progression run, it crapped out in the Harlem Hills (10 miles into the run), only to come back 30 seconds later with bad pacing feedback. As this was a progression long run, I was getting close to the business end of the workout. As I started to push the pace, the display got fixed on 7:05/mile pace.  I knew I was going faster but it wouldn’t budge.  In frustration and anger with it’s continually unreliability, I started running basically as fast as I could for the next 2 miles to shake it up and try to get an accurate reading. My guess was that I ran those miles around 5:47-5:50, and yet still, the display barely lowered my pace. Well, I ran myself to the ground and had to jog in the last 1.5-2 miles to complete my long run.  Not what I wanted, but whatever, I ran hard and got in 16 miles.

3. Tingling in the foot: On Tuesday of last week, as my legs were still recovering from the 18 mile long progression run from the weekend, I started getting a tingling sensation at certain times in my right ankle and foot. It scared the crap out of me and I immediately did a search.  Thankfully, it seems that my habit of crossing my legs when I’m on the computer pinches the peroneal nerve by the outside of the knee. That prolonged and continual compression causes the tingling and could progress to a much worse dysfunction. Since I’ve stopped crossing my legs, it’s gone away. Knock on wood.

M – AM easy 6 miles PM easy 4.5  = 10.5

T – Easy 5.1 miles

W – AM Easy 6.25 miles PM Easy 5.25 miles = 11.5

T – AM Intervals: 3m w/u + strides | 8x 600m @ sub-5min on 200j recov: 1:48, 1:52, 1:50, 1:50, 1:52, 1:51, 1:52, 1:50 | 19 min c/d PM – Easy 3 miles = 13 miles

F – Easy 8.25 miles

S – Easy 7.5 miles

S – Progression Long Run: 16 miles avg. 7:24/mile

TOTAL: 70.8/week

ROAD TO CHICAGO IN SEARCH OF A PR #4

Post #4 | Monday, Week of April 6th – 12th

This was a “pullback” week, “absorption” week, “recovery” week – whatever you want to call it. The point being, after 4 weeks of a steady increase in my weekly mileage (46, 57, 65, 71) I 
followed the tried and true practice of bringing it back down to let me body recover and allow for the physiological adaptations from the mileage manifest into real, healthy running fitness.

This doesn’t mean you get to slack off on quality or intensity. Oh no-no; in fact, it’s a great opportunity to add in a 2nd quality speed workout to the week if you’ve just been managing 1 per week.  My original plan for the week was: 1 speed workout, 1 race – 4 miler in Central Park, and I would tack on some extra mileage during my cool down for a respectable long run to finish up the week. 

As in life, things didn’t go as planned, and I had to bale on the race due to my left hamstring feeling tweaky, most likely due to not recovering from my deadlifts, Wed's post-running strength workout.

Instead, I did a long progression run as my 2nd quality effort for the week on Sunday, the day of the race.  This allowed me to ease into the run and not stress the hamstring, and as my muscles relaxed, I could push the pace as I deemed fit. Having company for the long run made it that much easier, too. Here’s how the week shaped up:

M – AM Easy 8.75 mile PM Easy 5 mile = 13.75 miles 

T – Easy 4.25 miles (Legs feeling tired coming off 70/week)

W – Tmill 3 mile w/u incl. strides | 4x mile on 2:15-2:45 jog (10min/mile) @ 1%: 5:00, 4:57, 4:55, 5:07 (.5 @4:52/.25 @5:24/.25  down to 4:52) | 14min c/d | 3x ascending hill sprints: 20sec @ 8.0, 25sec @ 9.0, 30sec @ 10.0 | Strength: 3x 10 deadlifts 65lbs + 3x 20 hamstring curls on ball  Total = 10 miles

T – Easy 8.1 miles

F – OFF REST DAY

S – Easy 4.25 mile plus 4x 100m strides on 60sec

S – Long Run: 18.75 miles as progression | Splits: 9:05, 8:31, 7:49, 7:12, 7:31, 7:31, 6:55, 6:59, 7:13, 7:21, 7:43, 7:28, 7:28, 6:54, 6:26, 6:45, 6:31, 6:40 (18m in 2hr 12m), 8:03 last .75 = 18.75 miles  in 2:18 = 7:21/mile avg.

TOTAL: 58.5 /week

My legs were shot after the long run. Went straight home to hydrate, take in fuel – easily digestible carbs & protein: cereal with milk, and then foam rolled & stretched. 

Road to Chicago in Search of a PR #3

Post #3 | Monday, March 30th – Sunday, April 5th

The past week felt like I was back to normal training, i.e., at various times I’ve felt: fatigue, heavy legs, tired, unrecovered. But also: strong, running is easier, and getting out for runs – much easier.

Highlights of the week: 71 miles/week; 17mile long run; continued to mentally challenge myself during workouts.

Lowlights of the week: caught a small cold, which slowed my recovery during the week and only allowed for 1 speed workout (which was fine as mileage was going up for the week); didn’t complete speed workout – left the last interval for another day.

M – Easy 7 miles

T – AM Easy 4.3 mile PM Easy 4.3 miles = 8.6

W – Easy 10.3 miles

T – Workout – done as ‘fartlek’: 3.75m w/ strides w/u | 3x (1x 600, 1x 1 mile) on 3-4min jog – 1:53/5:23, 1:55/5:24, 1:57/X | 15min C/D = 10.3 miles

F – Easy 5.4 miles

S – Long Run: 17.1 miles as a progression watching Scotland 10k | started around 8min pace down to 6:35/mile for the last mile 

S – Easy 12 miles

TOTAL: 71/week

Next week is a pullback week, as I’ll purposely lower the mileage to recover from the previous 4-week buildup that looked like this: 46, 57, 65, and 71. I’ll look to keep intensity/quality up with 2 good efforts for the week. Should be fun. I’m definitely feeling fitter.

Road to Chicago In Search of a PR #2

Post #2 | Tuesday, Week of March 23rd – 29th

I was very pleased with this training week. I want to wrap my head around bringing up the intensity & speed of my workouts and to stabilize my mileage around 70-80/week. So far, so good. Here’s how my training week looked:

M – Easy 8 miles

T – Tmill 4m w/u | Fartlek 10x 2min @ 4:50/mile (1%-3% incline) on 2min jog  | 10min c/d | Strength: 3x 10 45lbs deadlift, 3x hamstring curls in supine w/ ball~ 9.5miles

W – Easy 3.4 miles

T – AM Easy 3.3 miles PM Easy 5.2 miles

F – 4.4m w/u | 3x 1mile @ 5k feel (5:26, :19, :26) on 5min jog on wet Rez | 10min c/d  ~ 10.9miles

S – Easy 10 miles

S – Easy Long Run 15 miles

TOTAL: 65.6 / week

I really challenged myself on both interval days by not backing away from the intensity. It was a great feeling - I wanted to experience the gut-wrenching hurt. I believe I’ve shied away from it the past year and I think mentally, I needed to get to that place where I look for it. Mission accomplished for this week. Feel so ready for next workout.  Mileage was good with a nice long run and I’m on my way to getting to the 70-80s.