Ryan – Page 119 – HillRunner.com

What numbers matter to you?

April 23, 2014 / Training / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Recently, I was out on a recovery run the day after a pretty hard-run long run. I was originally hoping for 10 miles in order to complete a 70 mile week. However, while my legs didn’t feel horrible, they were flat and my pace was definitely off. Deep down, I knew I should stick with 8 miles, get in my hour’s worth of running and not push the distance given how I felt. However, that 10 mile run and 70 mile week was definitely in the back of my mind and I was looking for any reason possible to go for it.

I’m a competitive runner. Always have been, can only imagine that I always will be. While daily and weekly mileage numbers may be the most important things to some people and training paces may be the most important numbers to other people, for me, it’s all about race times and places. What will produce the best results on race day? From my observations, most runners would prioritize race day results even if they don’t think of themselves as competitive runners. You want to break 3 or 4 hours in the marathon. You want to qualify for Boston. You want to break 20 minutes in the 5K or 60 minutes in the 10K or you want to beat your neighbor in your upcoming race.

If these are your goals, then keep those things in mind when you’re out on a run like my recent one. Will that extra mile or two make you faster on race day or will it detract from an upcoming workout and make you slower on race day? That’s not always an easy question to answer but it’s one we should always be thinking about.

In the end, I’m happy to say I got to the 4 mile mark, recognized I wasn’t going to accomplish anything meaningful by going an extra 2 miles and asked myself what I would tell the runners I coach. It only took a split second for me at that point to turn around and stick with 8 miles.

Live blogging the Boston Marathon

April 17, 2014 / News/Elites / 1 minute of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

For those of you who can’t watch the Boston Marathon live, I’ll be watching the live stream and posting updates along the way. Check in on the comments of this post Monday morning and don’t forget to refresh frequently to see the latest updates.

Elite women start at 9:32 Boston time (estimated finish around 11:55 Boston time)

Elite men start at 10:00 Boston time (estimated finish around 12:05 Boston time)

I will be home with my daughter so I’m not sure how frequently I’ll be able to post updates but I’ll do my best. If anyone else wants to chip in with updates, I always appreciate the help. Also, as always, live analysis and commentary/questions are very welcome.

I may offer a post-race analysis on another post later but it won’t be right away.

As for my usual weekly blog post, it will probably be a day late. I don’t want it to get lost in the shuffle of Boston Marathon coverage.

What can you do now?

April 14, 2014 / Training / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I hear a lot of people say "if only I had more time" or "when my life eases up, I’ll worry about my running goals". That’s all good and well…if your life is ever going to ease up. However, what are you doing in the meantime?

Most of us have very busy lives. We have jobs, families, social commitments and many other things that make getting in the "perfect" training impossible. To paraphrase Voltaire, the perfect is the enemy of the good. Don’t think about what would be perfect and how you can’t attain that, think about what you can do right now and how good you can do on that.

You can’t run X miles per week? Don’t worry about it. Can you run X – 10 miles per week? Maybe X – 20? You have so much stress in your life that you can only manage one workout per week without breaking down? Then do that one workout. You may not get the same results but you will come close. You’ll definitely come much closer than if you just give up.

So get out there. Run 5 days a week if you can’t run 6. Run 40 miles a week if you can’t run 50. Run 13 mile long runs if you can’t run 15. Maybe you’ll have to adjust your goals but what happens to your goals if you simply give up?

“Not a race” report: Germantown Soccer Club “5K”

April 5, 2014 / Race Reports / 5 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I was looking for a low key 5K to kick off the 2014 season after not racing for nearly 6 months. This weekend worked out to be the perfect time to race, which will set me up well for the Deer Run 5K 3 weeks from now, the Run the Bay 5K 6 weeks from now and Walleye Run 9 weeks from now. Perfect rhythm to settle into.

It appeared I had two choices for a 5K. Drive all the way into Milwaukee for a lakefront 5K or stay close to home for what appeared to be a low key 5K just an easy 15-20 minute drive from home. Seeing as I was looking for low key, the one close to home seemed to be a perfect fit.

I arrived on race day about an hour before the race was scheduled to start and the registration tables were just getting set up. I picked up my packet, went back to my car and decided what I would wear for the race. With the temperature about 30 and a bit of a breeze, I wasn’t sure. After some consideration, I decided to go with the shorts and singlet with a light hat and a light pair of gloves. So I pinned the number on my singlet, then hit the restrooms before my warmup.

On the warmup, I got my first bad omen. I couldn’t really tell where the course was going. No signs, no chalk arrows on the roads/sidewalks. No sign at all where the course was to go. I figured they would have people at the corners or a lead bike, though, so signs wouldn’t be necessary and maybe they couldn’t get signs in the ground with how cold this winter has been.

At the start, I got my second bad omen. The start was on the sidewalk. A standard size sidewalk with room for about 2 people shoulder to shoulder. I quickly grabbed a spot at the front, then 4 kids crowded around me. At the start, a girl immediately stepped to the side from off the sidewalk right in front of me and I stepped on her foot with my very first step. I then had to come to a complete stop to avoid running her over. I then jumped over to the grass to pass the kids and set off on my way. Not a big deal, pretty typical for a 5K with kids in it, but I’m always concerned I’m going to hurt one of the kids when something like this happens.

By the time I got going, I was feeling good. I was running relaxed but I could feel my stride was quick, long and powerful. I was going to have a good run today. I could just feel it. Maybe I could even flirt with sub-17 on my first race of the year. I quickly built up a big lead as I weaved my way through a neighborhood.

Eventually, I made my way out to County Line Road, where a guy with a very quiet voice said something, I thought turn on Water Street. I remember from the course map that I turn off County Line at the second street. So, when I saw the street sign for the second street said Water, even though nobody was at the corner to tell me to turn, I turned. Then, someone wearing a yellow vest but still sitting in a car said I’m going the wrong way. She said I had to go back out to County Line and run up to the next road. So I took the orders of the individual who gave those instructions. What else do you do when a race official gives you instructions in middle of a race, even if you’re not sure they are right? Always follow the directions of race officials is rule number one.

So I ran out to the next road and took a right on Division. By this point, I was already over a mile into the race. I figured I had to be turning soon. Nobody was around, though, and something didn’t seem right. Eventually, I had run over a mile on Division. I knew I had to be around 2.5 miles in and I was at least 2 miles by the most direct route from the start/finish area. I stopped on the side of the road, said a few choice words and jogged back in thinking all kinds of nasty things.

When I got back to the start/finish area, I told the first race official I saw what happened. We confirmed that the person who told me to go the wrong was was in fact a course marshal and she was wrong to tell me to go back to County Line. He said he wanted me to talk to the race director and I shouldn’t leave until I did. So I waited. Finally, I saw the race director but I didn’t want to approach her and be that guy who complains about things. I mingled around a bit, making sure she could see me. Maybe she hadn’t heard yet what had happened, maybe she had too much going on at the time, maybe she didn’t know how to approach me about this. I don’t know. Finally, tables were being broken down and I just decided to get the heck out.

15 years of HillRunner.com!

April 5, 2014 / HillRunner.com Admin / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Wow, it’s hard to believe. 15 years ago today, I registered the domain HillRunner.com. I was just looking for a place to host my personal running page that had outgrown the student page I was previously using. Over the years, it has turned into much more.

Things have changed quite a bit since the beginning and things will continue to change as time goes on. It feels very appropriate actually that, just earlier this week, I was able to announce the new partnership between the Seattle Marathon and HillRunner.com and we can start a new era here as we celebrate 15 years.

I don’t have a whole lot to announce to celebrate 15 years. That said, I have been working on a project recently that I’ve been interested in doing for years. Don’t be surprised if, in the next month or two, you show up at HillRunner.com to find things looking different. I hope you will like what’s coming! In the meantime, thanks for sticking around for 15 years and I hope we have many more years of learning about running and sharing the lessons we’ve learned along the way to come.

Fittingly, I’m scheduling this to appear as I’m lining up for a race. Yes, I’m racing on HillRunner.com’s 15th "birthday". What better way to celebrate?