Or We Can Blaze!

I've decided that it would be in my best interest, and in the interest of my long term running success to join the local running team here in Toledo, Ohio. Dave's Running Elite Team is fairly new organization created by former Malone runner Evan Gaynor. I've recently been training with Nick Thomas who is on the team, and he kind of talked me into racing USATF's club cross country championships which is December 8th, for Dave's. Originally I had no intentions of running hard for six more weeks, but feel like with the addition of a weekly fartlek or tempo and more emphasize on a harder long run I won't tire myself out. I'm not going to change my weekly mileage or alter anything major that may take away from my spring on the track. I am excited to be back doing stuff other then mileage though, and I love that I have the opportunity to train with a good group of guys, and be able to represent a team this upcoming spring. I feel humbled to be able to race under Dave's and hopefully I don't embarrass myself to bad out in Lexington, Kentucky.

I've got 4 weeks, and 3 days to get into 10k shape!

"It is simply that we can all be good boys and wear our letter sweaters around and get our little degrees and find some nice girl to settle, you know, down with...Or we can blaze! Become legends in our own time, strike fear in the heart of mediocre talent everywhere! We can scald dogs, put records out of reach! Make the stands gasp as we blow into an unearthly kick from three hundred yards out! We can become God's own messengers delivering the dreaded scrolls! We can race dark Satan himself till he wheezes fiery cinders down the back straightaway....They'll speak our names in hushed tones, 'those guys are animals' they'll say! We can lay it on the line, bust a gut, show them a clean pair of heels. We can sprint the turn on a spring breeze and feel the winter leave our feet! We can, by God, let our demons loose and just wail on!"

This Is The Time

They don’t understand, maybe a couple of them have a little bit of an understanding, but not, they don’t … It’s not about where is it going to get you in the material sense. It’s about fulfilling your potential, and seeing the best you can be and doing whatever you have to do to do that.

When are you going to grow up? When are you going to get a job? When are you going to get a real job? When are you going to get married? When are you going to have your family? Don’t listen to that! This time, this is the time for you to do this now! Now! And you go out there and you do this!

And you know what you’re going to find your way. You’re going to find your way. Good things are going to happen. Because when you have that mindset your going to cover all your bases, there is not gonna be any stones left unturned, and your going to reach your potential! Maybe its not what you thought it might be, but you’ll know one day you’ve reached it. 

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Why Do You Run?

Just some inspiration before I head out on my Sunday long run to cap off a great week at 61 miles. 

I run to let loose

To unleash my deamons

To show them a clean pair of heels

To create art

because it's the only thing that I truly understand

I run to be free

Why I Will Suceed This Track Season

"Don't dream of winning. Train for it"

My past four years running at Shawnee have been up and down. My training was very inconsistent at times. Running too hard, too slow, low-mileage, high-mileage. I was all over the place. Often times we raced our workouts, running too hard too often, depleting out bodies of all glycogen levels before the race even started. Don't get my wrong, Eric Putnam lead me to times I'd never dreamed about in high school, and without his guidance and coaching I would not be the runner or person I am today. He left me hungrier than ever, but I did not truly understand how to run fast, but I did understand how to run hard and often times that lead to poor racing and poor training.

Since I've started training on my own here in Toledo, Ohio I've been able to analyze and educate myself on the basic principles of track and field. Running mileage everyday by yourself in the woods gives you a lot of time to think about the future and the present. More time then I'd like to admit, I often place myself in a race six months from now blazing into the bell lap, taking the lead and running away with it - and when I'm not dreaming, I often think about my training in all aspects. With the new addition of an extremely educated coach, and with the freedom to choose the length and races of my season, the amount of room to excel is vast.

I've come up with some simple steps or tips that I think can help any distance runner looking to take there running to the next level.

1) Keep it simple: Don't put all the focus on the details. Take a step back and look at the big picture. The more farther you run in distance the better aerobic fitness you have, the better you'll do. Don't be afraid to run doubles four, five, or six times a week.

2) The more consistent running you can get in, the better: Faster runs do not always equal better. take your easy days easy. When running 100 miles or more a week pace is the last thing you need to be thinking about. Don't be scared to run 7:30 pace if you need to. Consistent aerobic training equals better threshold.

3) In workouts run without the watch, go by feel: The goal of every interval or every workout is not to run as fast as you can. The key to running fast is to relax. Teach the body to put all energy into your mechanics and relax muscles that are irrelevant for speed. You want to be trying to run as relaxed as possible at a faster pace. There is a difference between running hard and running fast. If anything you want to be getting faster as the workout progresses, not slowing down.

4) The number one key to running fast is staying healthy: Quit drinking pop and eating artificial snacks. Your body relys on you to fuel it with the right nutrients and vitamins. Learn what works for you, and stick with it. Get into the habit of eating complex carbs before workouts and races, and high protein meals after hard efforts. You are constantly breaking down your body, and it is your job to recover as fast as possible to get the most out of each mile.

5) Learn how to run workouts just under your threshold: Figure out your threshold and use it to base your workouts and intervals off of. You should be just under your threshold and not struggling to complete the workout out or hit a certain pace. Again, go by feel and ease into the workout.

6) You've got to believe! This may be the most important aspect of your success. Running is an extremely mental activity. If you go into a race thinking there is no way you can run with these guys, or no way you can hold onto the pace, stop! You have to believe in your training and believe you are able and ready to run fast. Accept the discomfort as a natural part of the race and hang on, keep going and push through it!

I hope that anyone who reads this gets some knowledge or a better understand of why we runners do what we do. I am more then excited for the bright future that lays before me. By no means is it going to be a simple task, but one that will be with daily toils and hardship, and I'm gonna take it one mile at a time.

-BJW

Limited Distractions

"To win enough of the time to be considered successful 

you have to both care a great deal about it 

and also not care about it at all"

Recently I've been so tied up with school, work, and making sure I'm running that I am finding it hard to keep everything going smoothly. It is very difficult to juggle all of these while having some down time and relax. Often I neglect the important things just for some self satisfaction or just simply down time. I've been thinking recently how tied up I get in social media, that I am considering an experiment. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Letsrun, Tracktalk, Flotrack, and numerous amounts of music forums, and other time gasping websites. My entire day, if I'm in class, running, eating, or whatever I'm always on my phone, listening to music, on the internet, watching tv, literally sucked into this twentieth century technology hole.

What if I were to shut off my computer and put it in my closet. Turn my off 3g internet, set my cell phone to just take and receive calls, and leave it in my car in case of emergencies. Force myself to only access the internet at the university library. Leave the ipods locked away at home. Fully and truly break free as much as I can from these things that suck me into their orb. If I were to do this, how much time would I have to focus on studying, getting in touch with nature on my runs, or simply enjoying the sound of the wind?

Starting this Friday October 12th, I will do just that. I am hooping that my habit of spending hours sucked into this online world, will dim down a great bit as I realize the freedom of limited distractions. This will allow me to focus on what's important, and create a hardened orb of self concentration and time management. Along with this I will focus on keeping a daily schedule and routine to follow which will help break up my daily toils and make things run more smoothly. I will shoot for one week through October 19th, and will write down day by day what I encounter and realize during this experiment. I hope I don't go too crazy...

-BJW

Autumn Days

Today marks the second week of my long train to sucess. As the leaves in the area are falling, I've been flocking to the trails welcoming in the fall breeze with a long powerful stride. This is my favorite time of the year, and I'm loving every step of my running. My runs are coming very easy and enjoyable to me and I know it's going to stay that way.

I have recently started working as a package handler for Fedex Ground in Toledo. It is not easy money by any means. The job itself evolves a lot of heavy lifting, and coordinated fast loading of boxes into a trailer. It has been difficult incorporating this into my routine. I have been struggling a bit in my academics and not getting in the weight room much this week. My job has left me tired throughout much of the day and my laziness has been getting the best of me. I have just now started to get into the swing of things, and I'm finding a routine that I feel comfortable in taking on everything.

Today I met with my new coach at Starbucks to for our first meeting. We discussed my short term and long term goals, current and future training, and everything in between. I feel very confident that he has the knowledge and drive to push me to new limits and mold me into a very respectable mid-west distance runner. I am extremely excited about what the future holds and my willingness and motivation have been at an all time high. I feel like I am finally getting comfortable in Toledo, and have a good plan laid out. Now I just have to juggle everything and hope something good comes out of it.

Turning Over a New Leaf

I've decided with the recent wake of changes, and newly clammed love for my sport again, that I am going to start blogging again on a weekly routine. My blog thus far has been very scattered and somewhat UN-organized. I'd like to change this. I will be updating this blog once a week, giving updates on my training, my life, and whatever else fills in those gaps.

So, where to start...

 Alice, and myself on the way north

I have transferred schools leaving Shawnee State University after the summer term, and started classes this fall at the University of Toledo. I spent the entire summer slowly building up my mileage in preparation for what I thought would be my senior cross country season, but after finding out I was leaving my enthusiasm quickly went downhill. After making the transition to the University of Toledo I tried training and running workouts on my own. I quickly found out that it was easier said than done. After two rough weeks, and a race in which I dropped out, I called it quits.

I found myself wrapped up in the "normal" college student activities, and found a new enjoyment in rock climbing. I never really quite found that satisfaction though like I had previously with my running. Again I found myself questioning what I should be doing with my life. The main reason why I made the transition to the University of Toledo was to focus on school, and graduate. But, something in my life was missing. It wasn't long before I found myself making very detailed thirty-six week training plans in Algebra class, or daydreaming about cross country races.

I have once again fell back in a deep hard love for the sport, and I have hit the trails - But this time it's different. I have planned out 12 weeks of strictly base mileage. No workouts, no races, just slowly building up over a three month period. This will allow me to have a huge aerobic base to work with before I start the long season of workouts and races in mid December. I am also setting something up hopefully within the week, to have a long term coach in the Toledo area who will provide training plans, time workouts, and provide all the necessities I need to reach the goals I want for the spring of 2013.

As of right now, today was my second day back running and it was a nice and easy 5 miler at my favorite metropark in Toledo called Wildwood Preserve. The cool fall breeze quickly brought back memories I have, and memories that I don't want to give up on just yet...

Keep Believing.
BJW