Sor far, this week of training is going really, really well. I think my body is finally adapting to the nasty heat and humidity in Middle Tennessee. My left hip continues to bother me, but I’m pretty sure it is an IT Band issue, and nothing bone related. I’ve stepped up my emphasis on stretching, strengthening, and foam rolling to try and get it knocked out. Here is a quick rundown of this week so far:

Monday

Nathan and I hit the trails in Edwin and Percy Warner park to get in a few off-road miles. We started with the Blue Trail in Edwin Warner, and added the short Yellow and Orange trails to add a little distance. My legs were definitely pushed to the max on the steep climbs, but I made it all the way through without walking. After a quick fluid stop at the Nature Center we hit the Candy Cane Connector Trail in Percy Warner, and then did a loop on the Vaughn’s Gap Cross Country Course before returning back to Edwin Warner on the Candy Cane Trail. We got in a little over 6-miles, and my legs felt pretty good throughout.

Tuesday

Nathan and I started from the main gates in Percy Warner park and did an 8.5-mile easy run through the streets of Belle Meade. We kept the pace very, very chill throughout, and it was good to get in a fairly long, mid-week run. Incorporate the infamous “Zig-Zag” route created by our friend Edward:

Thursday

After last week’s track workout disaster, I was anxious to get back out there this week. Thankfully, the intervals were much shorter, and I felt AWESOME. Here’s a rundown:

• 3.2-Mile Warmup (wanted to make sure my hip was good and loose)
• 6 x 100m Stride Outs
• 4 x 200m fresh (100m Recovery / 400m Recovery)
• 800m Straights and Curves (400m Recovery)
• 3 x 250m fresh (150m Recovery / 400m Recovery)
• 800m Straights and Curves
• 1.35-Mile Cool Down

It was crazy humid, but for some reason it didn’t really bother me after I got through the warmup. I started off the intervals fairly conservative, but picked up the pace as my confidence started to grow. For example, my 200m splits during the 250m intervals, were faster (39/40 sec) than during the 200m intervals (43 to 46 sec). In total I got in just over 8 miles, and more importantly re-gained a great deal of confidence that was lost last week. Still have a LONG way to go, but it is nice to have a good night at track.

Friday

The Bellevue Trio Returns!! Paxton has been nursing an injury for the past few weeks, and today was the first day in a while that all 3 of us did a run together. We did a 4-mile recovery run through Bellevue using 10 / 1 run-walk intervals. My legs were pretty toasty after the track workout, but we kept the past very chill, and it felt good.

About to head-out for an evening 2.5-mile run/walk on the White Trail at Percy Warner with my girls, and then tomorrow we have a group tempo workout with 10 to 11-miles of Marathon Pace intervals. Should be a good challenge.

Beast Mode….ON!

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Today I finished off week 12 in my training for the 2013 New York City Marathon with a great 13.5-mile run in East Nashville, Shelby Park, and the Shelby Bottoms Greenway with our running group. One of the things that made it great was getting a very nice break in the temperatures. When Nathan and I got out of my car by the train trestle in Shelby Park, it was only 62° with humidity that was not too terrible for July.

The train trestle in Shelby Park just before this morning’s group run.

Before the group all arrived for the run, Nathan and I got in 1/2-mile warmup out-and-back to the Shelby Bottoms Greenway Nature Center. Our group then started with a 4-mile loop that incorporated a couple of laps around big pond in Shelby Park and a short distance on Electric Avenue. On the way to Shelby Park, Nathan and I prepared for the run by listening to the song Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant, which I had not heard in a LONG time.

These first 4-miles were quite hilly, but my legs felt much better than I expected after the disastrous track workout on Thursday night. Dan had to remind me not to push the pace, since the goal today was simply slow, easy miles.

After grabbing a quick drink back at the cars, we did a second 4-mile loop on the Shelby Bottoms Greenway and Barclay Drive, and my legs continued to feel really good in the mild conditions. After this loop was completed, Nathan and I were at 8.5-miles in total. My schedule called for 12-miles, but there were some members of the group that were going to do as many as 8-miles out-and-back on the Greenway for the third part of the run. I knew I didn’t want/need 16-miles, but my legs felt good enough that I suggested to Nathan we try to do 2.5-miles out-and-back to end up with a total of 13.5, which would be my longest run since the injury by over 3 miles. This is exactly what we did, and I felt strong all the way to the end. We even dropped below 8min pace for the final 1.5-miles.

This run was a BIG confidence boost after a rough track workout on Thursday night. In total we completed 13.56-miles with an average pace of 8:52 per mile. Perfect long run! For the week, I got in just under 38 total miles. Slowly building my way back up.

On a side note, I’m still having some problems with my left hip after tweaking it earlier this week. However, it continues to feel better as I run on it, and doesn’t affect my stride, so I’m going to try and train through it unless it gets a lot worse.

After the run, our group had an awesome breakfast at Sky Blue Cafe in East Nashville where they have Trivial Pursuit question cards on the table. It was a lot of fun taking turns on the trivia questions.

Beast Mode….ON!

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I’m currently in the middle of week 12 in my training for the 2013 New York City Marathon. Last week was my first after completing the “return to running” program from my doctor, and this week I began my official training plan for NYC (more on that in a minute).

Week 11

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week (4th of July weekend), we had a LOT of rain in Middle Tennessee, which is quite unusual for July. On Thursday I met several friends for 7-miles of trails in Percy Warner park in a downpour. The trails were pretty nasty, but overall the footing was decent. I stayed strong through the first couple of miles, but then my lack of fitness started to show on the very hilly route:

I ended up walking up several of the more severe climbs just to be able to finish. Even though the conditions were tough, and I am not in ideal shape, the park was really quite beautiful in the rain. I am very fortune to live so close to such an awesome place to run and to have great friends to share it with (even in a downpour):

With Brian, Marc, Josh, and Mark after the (very wet) trail run

After a very easy recovery run with Nathan on Friday (also in the rain), I had my first tempo workout on Saturday since returning from the injury. This was also done in a downpour in Percy Warner Park with my regular running group. We got in 10 total miles, with approximately 45 minutes of tempo intervals. I ran all of the intervals with Brian and Nathan, and ended up feeling MUCH better than I expected, even though I almost tossed my cookies during one of the more intense efforts.  It was a very good morning with a very dedicated group:

At the end of last week, I finally mapped out my training schedule for New York, which is an 18-week plan, and will generally follow the pattern below:

• Monday – 60 to 70-Min Easy (Trail or Road)
• Tuesday – 60 to 90-Min Tempo Intervals / Easy Run (alternating weeks)
• Wednesday – Rest
• Thursday – 6 to 8-Mile Track Workout
• Friday – 40 to 50-Min Easy
• Saturday – Long Run / Marathon Tempo Workout (alternating weeks)
• Sunday – Rest

Week 12

In keeping with my new plan above, on Monday Nathan I did an easy 7.5-mile run on the Harpeth River Greenway (including a new unpaved section) in the nasty heat and humidity. My legs felt pretty toasty after the difficult effort on Saturday, but I was glad the get this one done. At the end we did 4 stride outs as I continue to try and incorporate more up tempo work into my training. Sometime during this run (maybe during the strides), I must have tweaked my left hip, because it started aching later in the day. It is still there today (Thursday) as I write this, but fortunately it is one of those “injuries” that gets better as I run, which does a lot these days to ease my mind, since I am so fearful of another stress fracture.

On Tuesday, Nathan and I did a tempo interval workout that consisted of :

• 20-minute warmup
• 6 x 4-min (7:15 to 7:20 pace) / 1-min recovery jog
• 10 to 15-minute cooldown

The heat and humidity was again very nasty, which made the workout difficult. My legs didn’t feel nearly as good as they did during Saturday’s workout, but I still managed to hit the goal pace during the first 4 intervals. I faded during the last two, but still kept them in the 7:40 range. Overall, I was pretty happy with the effort.

After a rest day on Wednesday, I returned to track tonight (Thursday) for the first time in over 16 weeks, and it was humbling on a hot and muggy evening. We started right off-the-bat with a 2000m interval, which punched me right in the mouth. I was only able to complete the first 3 sets of the workout, before pulling out and jogging a few easy laps to cool down. It was one of those nights where I left angry at how much fitness I have lost, and how miserable I felt. However, I know this is only the beginning of a long training schedule, and am determined to come back stronger than ever.

Beast Mode….ON!

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What Does it Really Mean to Have Faith in Jesus Christ? (Romans 3:19-26) – Audio recording of my Sunday morning sermon at Bellevue Church of Christ in Nashville, TN on July 7, 2013.

The lesson came from Romans 3:19-26, and looked at two of the most fundamental questions in Christianity:

(1) Why did Jesus have to die?

(2) What does it REALLY mean to have faith in Jesus?

Romans 3:21-26 (ESV)

²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  

For students in my Wednesday night class on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: Handouts and Notes for Ephesians Chapter 3:14-21 are now available online. Lord willing we will begin covering this text during class tomorrow night at 7pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!

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Am I Dreaming?

There are two main features I prefer in running shoes:

1.) That they be Saucony

2.) That they be RED

However, I’ve never been able to get my training shoe, zero-drop shoe, and trail shoe all in RED at the same time. Well, it looks like that might be about to change!

Kinvara 4

I am down to my last 2 pair of Kinvara 3s, so I should be ready for the 4s in about a month or so. Definitely going for these babies in Red and Citron!

Virrata

Since it looks like Saucony is going to do away with the zero-drop Hattori that I’ve been using for the past two years, I may give the Virrata a try. If so, this colorway looks about perfect! They are supposed to be released later this month.

Peregrine 3

I’ve been running in the very first Peregrine trail shoes for the past 2 years, and it is about time for a replacement. Just found out that later this summer they are going to release the Peregrine 3 in Red and Citron! Yeah Baby!!

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The Equation of Life (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12) – Audio recording of my Sunday evening sermon at Bellevue Church of Christ in Nashville, TN on June 26, 2013.

Life doesn’t fit into an equation, and is full of injustices and things that just don’t seem to make sense. This study looks at ways in which we can be ready to deal with the unexpected and unfair things that are a part of life under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 (ESV)

¹¹ Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. ¹² For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.