Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Running update: Back training and racing again

I can safely say that I believe the worst of my adductor strain, that has kept me sidelined for most of 2010 is behind me. I'm up to 60 miles a week and 10 miles for a long run without any discomfort. I'm training for the Boston Marathon for the third time, which I didn't get to run last year due to the injury. I'm aiming for another personal record, so breaking 2:34 will be a major success in my mind, considering the lack of training during the past year. I am well rested, that's for sure. I feel like I've come away from this injury experience wiser, and I'm definitely concentrating more on strength training and stretching because of it. I plan on racing a full slate again in January, so here's to four more weeks of injury-free base mileage.

Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday season!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Running bio for KTC Web site

I just finished writing a bio for my profile on the Long Distance Committee for the new Knoxville Track Club Web site that is to roll out in January and I wanted to share it.

Born and raised in Knoxville, Bob Adams currently works at TVA after finishing a five-year, active-duty assignment in the U.S. Army as a print journalist. He attended the University of Tennessee for both undergrad and graduate school, attaining an MBA in Logistics and Marketing. Bob grew up in a KTC family, and at 8 years old, he ran in his first KTC road race in 1988. Bob’s dad, Brint Adams, a former KTC President and Board Member, was Bob’s role model and running partner throughout his younger years. Bob ran on the KTC Youth Athletics summer track team from 1990 – 1994, reaching the AAU National Championships three times. Fast forward to 2010 and Bob has now completed 13 marathons and five ultramarathons, the farthest being 72-mile jaunt across the Smokey Mountains. Bob has watched the KTC grow exponentially over the years, and is excited to give back to the program that has helped shape his life. Bob said, “I enjoy helping others reach their goals, and I’m excited to pass along the knowledge I’ve gained to the running community for many years. I want to add that the Olympic torch my dad carried through Knoxville has metaphorically been handed down to my brother (Brad) and I, and we hope to carry it just as proudly for the KTC while we are here.”


CURRENT RUNNING STATUS:
I finally went to get physical therapy for my adductor injury, and I'm almost healed. I'm ultimately aiming for the Boston Marathon 2011, so I'm easing my way into the mileage again. I will post updates of my progress along the way.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Blue Ridge Relay Overall Team Victory ...

... with an ultra team to less. That's right my friends, team KTC - Shaving Time, showed the running world, that 6 are stronger than 12. Our main goal was to win the Ultra Category and attain the Ultra team course record. But once we got going, we noticed that it wasn't out of the question to take down the overall course record as well, which was set last year, by the 12-runner team, Norm's Maggots, who have won the Blue Ridge Relay the past 3 years.

The Blue Ridge Relay consists of running 208 miles along the Blue Ridge Parkway and surrounding mountainous country roads. Most of the trendy relays that have sprouted up over the past decade were formed to attract 12-person teams. But this event includes an ultra category and that was right up my alley, so to speak. This is the second year that I have been on the Shaving Time team. The first year, one of our runners went off course and we were penalized an hour for the mistake. Either way, we weren't going to make the same mistake again this year.

We came into this year with a strong team. Five out of the six runners, had run on this team before, so they knew what they were getting into. The sixth runner was my brother, who has run a 50-miler before as well as a 12-person relay, so he kind of knew what he was getting into. From the get go, we took the lead and no team came even close to catching us. As a team we were averaging sub 6:00 per mile pace through the first 120 miles or so. The key was to replenish and prepare to be ready to run again within three hours or so. Each runner on the team ran six different times, and on pre-determined distances. I ran 34 miles, while some ran a few more miles and some ran a few less. After it was all said and done, we finished in 21 hours, 25 minutes, which ended up being about 6:10 per mile pace, which was fast considering the last 50 miles go up and down some tough mountains. That time beat the former course record by 18 minutes, so we couldn't really let up as we approached the finish.

There is so much more I could talk about, like how we all grew mustaches for the event, my love for Monster energy drinks before running my legs of the relay, to counting the amount of "kills" you claimed as you pass other teams, but I could write all night if I started down that road, so I must digress. My legs are still sore, but I'm already craving defending the title next year!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Training is slowly ramping up

My hamstring pull is "slowly healing," but is to the point where I've been able to get in short jogs without tightness. I'm up to 3-mile jaunts at 8-minute pace ... it is amazing how quickly one can lose their fitness. Granted it has been 11 weeks since the injury occurred, but I feel like a highschool basketball player during the offseason, starting to get back in shape for the season. I know it won't take long once I can start running longer training runs without pain, but I've still got a long road to go before I hit the racing scene again.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The "hamstring pull" blues, positive outlook

I'm going into my 8th week of my hamstring pull injury. I can still feel it and I probably have another month to go, but I can definitely tell taht there has been improvement. If anything, this injury has allowed me to focus on other problem areas that I had been neglecting. I'm now more flexible, and I'm working on strengthing my core, by focusing on pushups, situps, and pull ups. I'm also cross training and strengthening the muscles around my knee, so when I do start running again, I will be ready to start piling on the miles again. I look at it as a much needed break.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Boston is "No Go" ...

I may not be running the Boston Marathon this year due to my hamstring pull, but I'm still going up there to cheer on my brother and party with friends. I will defer my time to next year, so if I decide to run it next year I can use my 2:34 time from last year. (Side note: I may run the Knoxville and Nashville Marathon's next spring, so Boston might be out of the picture all together). Anyways, back to the subject at hand, I'm disappointed, in that I put in more miles this season than I've ever put into a marathon training program and was in damn good shape, but I learned a lot about myself for the future. I will come back stronger from this injury, I know, especially in the area of flexibility. I will also incorporate strides more often after workouts, and add some sort of a strength program. Just putting in long weekly miles, without the necessary supplemental activities was what led to the injury in the first place. Wish me luck and I hope everyone is enjoying running for me while I heal.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Still down for the count...

As Boston fastly approaches, I'm still far from healed. I'm starting to fear the worst and at this moment, it will take a miracle to heal enough to be ready for the marathon. It's alright though, if that's the case. Injuries happen and there will be plenty more Bostons to run down the road. I'm focusing on cross-training and other leg exercises that I've been neglecting while running so much. I will come back stronger and ready to get my speed legs under me over the summer in preparation for Hood 2 Coast round 2 in August!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Past Four Months: Rollercoaster

I know I went incognito for four months and left everyone hanging, so I'm going to give a short recap of my past four months and try to get back to the usual blogging grind.

So a lot has happened over the past four months: I started a job at TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) as a Power Contracts Analyst in January, I started back up training for my third Boston Marathon in a row, and I recently got engaged to Lally. Not to downplay the other two, and trust me, I'm most excited about the engagement and wedding planning for August 2011, but since this is a running blog I will recap my training progression from November to today.

I started off my Boston training in mid-December. The first of the 18-week plan started December 13th. I started out at 47 miles that week and gradually picked up the mileage over the first eight weeks to 84 miles a week. My first race was the Calhoun's 10-miler, which I ran in 58:11, which I was pleased with considering I hadn't incorporated any speed workouts or tempo workouts yet in my weekly schedule. My highest mileage week was three weeks ago, in which I reached 100 miles. It was also during that week that I ran an extremely hilly 30k (18.6 miles) road race in 1:49:02 (5:51 pace). That was my PR on that course by more than two minutes and I felt great. Since then I ran some really strong workouts with my fellow Boston training partner Ethan. After running 10 X 800s at a 2:32 pace last Tuesday, I was projecting that I would finish Boston sub 2:32. But instead that workout proved to be my downfall as of now. It took me three days of hard running after the workout to figure out that the pain and tightness in my right hamstring was not soreness from the Tuesday workout, but a deep pulled hamstring. I immediately went into rehab mode and took off Saturday and Sunday, hoping it wasn't that bad. Now it's Thursday and I haven't been able to run much of anything the past six days, and I don't see it improving in the short term. My hamstring is extrememly weak at the moment, and I usually have to stop running after going a few miles or so. The one positive is that I've been able to do a lot more stretching in the absense of running, and I've noticed my flexibility has greatly improved. I've already decided to drop out of the Knoxville Half Marathon this weekend and I'm praying this injury improves dramatically over the next week or I'm going to have to scrap Boston as well. If that happens, I will still go up there and cheer on everybody and do the Boston thing.

Wish me luck through this. I'll take anything I can to rid myself of this injury. I will keep everyone updated on my progress. Hope everyone is doing well in running and life!

Bobby