Morning run was an uphill 6 mile run. Felt a little sore but figured most of that tightness would be let out throughout the day with Egoscue (body alignment clinic) and with massaging the muscles before the afternoon workout. On workout days, I do strider drills which consist of karaoke, high knees, butt kicks, quick feet, backwards, leg gates, and A and B skips.

Afternoon workout at Santa Monica College Track. Little chilly for Southern California standards but I digress.

2 mile warm up
10 x 100
8 x 200 (2 fresh (33), 2 good (30)
400 easy
3 x 400 (200 recov)
400 easy
3 x 400 (200 rec)
400 easy
3 x 400
800 easy
3 x 400 (All under 60 secs) (200 recov)
1.5 cool down

I thought of a clever way to get all of my splits since my Coach hates when I look at my watch. I had a teammate write them down secretly but when asked what he was writing down by my coach, he took the paper and said “oh, I could use that, thanks.” Plan busted.

For the last set of 400’s, the happenings around the track were shocking. Around one turn there were the cheerleaders practicing their cheers. On a straight away, there were two open doors to the athletic building. One was playing Irish jig music and the other was playing bongo music. The football team were practicing their field goals, so we were dodging the landings on the turn. Then the parking garage had what sounded like 5 different alarms going off. It was like a fan filled stadium except not at all. Needless to say, I ran that one the fastest.

About 10.5 on the track. 16.5 total for the day. Legs were pretty tired and sore but happy with the workout. Usually speed workouts would not be done this early in the season but we treat these like fartlek workouts so its more of a distance workout with quality minutes.

If you want to know more detailed information about my times for my workouts follow me on twitter (@NicKarwoski) or check me out on Logarun.

We Are One 365.

AR. NF. NR.

Nick

After a tough week last week and a few hard days in a row, today was a nice break. I ran 4 easy in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. Legs felt a little tired today. Probably a combination from last week and the 20 minute ice bath last night that took me about 2 hours to warm up from. James Sunderland tucked me in nice and tight so no heat escaped.

Ice baths are an important part of training, especially after workouts/high demand days. All of the blood rushes to the vital parts of your body in order to keep the important interior parts warm while in the bath. Ice baths help decrease inflammation in joints and muscle tissue and allows your body to recover from the workout quicker. Its really good for nagging injuries that are starting up as well because when you get out of the bath, the oxygen enriched blood flows very quickly to the areas that need it the most. Welp, that’s it for today. Hope everyone’s training is going well. Put the work in now so that you can have that 3rd plate on Thanksgiving. The 2nd plate wasn’t in question. I realize that. We are only human. But We Are One 365.

AR. NF. NR.

Nick

It’s almost a guarantee that Monday’s workout will involve a mile at a pretty quick pace. I used to be sort of scared of this because I had the mentality that “I’m not a miler” and would always get housed by the other guys doing it. But after the past several weeks, I have grown to really look forward to staring at the 26th st sign knowing that I had less than 4 minutes and 20 seconds to get to 14th st (exactly one mile away). Today, I got there in about 4:11.1. After the miles I hit last week, I was ok with that especially because it felt smooth and relatively comfortable. The workout in its entirety:

1 mile warm up

10 x 100 striders

half mile easy (3 min)

3 x 450 hill repeats (1:20 ish)

3/4 mile easy

half mile at 2:15

half mile easy (3 min)

3 min hard

1 mile easy (6:00 pace)

1 mile good (4:11)

1 mile easy (6 min pace)

half mile all out (1:55)

half mile cool down

10 x 100

5 min power abs: minute of crunches, minute of leg lifts, minute of twisted reaches, minute of plank, half minute side planks…..This ab workout is very good for strengthening the lower abs. There are plenty of ab workouts that can be much longer and have many other exercises but I always find this one to hurt the most. Having abs are more than just a looking good muscle. Especially for running, they serve the same purpose as your arms do. When you see someone running with very little arm movement (especially when they are sprinting), their core and lower abs are more than likely very strong. Having strong abs helps prevent your torso from twisting back and forth. It a stabilization function muscle just like your arms (that’s why your left arm swings forward when your right knee is driving forward…for stability). Shorter distance runners lift weights in order to have more strength at faster speeds. Distance runners don’t necessarily need to do this because they don’t hit the same speeds, which is why having a strong core with lean arms is a perfect distance running combo. Strong abs = stable and more controlled body.

Legs feel loose and strong. Biked home. Need to put the lights on my bike since it now gets pitch black at around 4:45 pm.

With 4 miles this morning, 11 for the workout. 15 total. We Are One 365.

AR. NF. NR.

Nick

1:00 pm: Since I don’t have official practice with my team on Sundays and the runs are normally pretty short (comparatively), I usually don’t plan where I’m going to go and just turn down random streets. I figured I would decide how long the run would be once I gauged how my legs felt after a pretty heavy workload this previous week but I felt very fresh from beginning to end. I ran to Montana, Washington, Georgina (ok, take out two letters and its a state), and Idaho, about a mile and a half from the ocean. I wanted a nice recovery run so I kept the pace slow. Gorgeous sunny 70-degree day with a little breeze and, while I hardly ever listen to an ipod while I run, “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” podcast keeps passerby’s curious as to why I’m laughing when I’m running. Great afternoon 6 mile run in 40:53 (6:48 per mile). Did some relaxed leg swings and high knee drills after I returned. Will run 3 miles later this afternoon with a 4th grader that I run with. He’s a 22:30 minute 5k runner. Pretty impressive stuff for a 10 year old.

Hope everyone’s workout was great and ready for some goal setting as we head into the holiday season. Enjoy the NFL games tonight. Not a crazy Patriots fan or anything but it would be nice to have them beat the Jets. Yeah…I said it but remember, We Are One 365.

AR. NF. NR.

Nick

Hello and Welcome to my first post for the We Are One 365 Day Challenge! The first of many…well… 365 to be exact.

A couple of things to start off. First and foremost, I would like to thank the Veterans, past, current, and future, for their constant sacrifices to this country.

Second of all, I want to personally thank Matt Wood, Marena Perkins, James Epstein and all of the We Are One 365 Team for coming up with and helping create this corner of the website as a part of We Are One 365 and allowing me to put my training towards a greater cause.

While the next 8 months of my life will be focused on preparing and qualifying for the Olympic Trials, I am truly excited for the next year of my life in terms of my training and being able to share it with the We Are One 365 community.

Thirdly, training with the incredibly talented Santa Monica Track Club in Los Angeles is an experience that many athletes don’t get the opportunity to do. As no one likes regrets, I am dedicating everything I have physically and mentally to this challenge. I believe I have a chance to make the Olympic Trials. How good of a chance? We will find out.

I look forward to sharing my running journey with all of you. With that said, I encourage any and all suggestions regarding the information I provide as well as helping decide the most interesting and engaging direction to take. Some days, my training will be short and sweet with the blog following suit. Other days will be more complex with more miles and workout breakdowns. Again, I would love to hear from you with any questions, suggestions, or comments.

Lastly, I understand that accomplishing my Olympic trial goal is going to be difficult and require an incredible amount of focus, industriousness and, most importantly, enthusiasm. If you don’t love what you do, you will never be great at it. I’m still learning a lot but it’s something that makes me happy. Because of this, I want to help put more happiness in your life by pushing you physically and offering different ways to get to new levels. By reaching out to me, you give me more meaning, purpose, and drive with my own goals on good days and bad. Having this blog holds me accountable every day and it increases my commitment to training, to We Are One 365, and to the military members that we have made our pledge. Let’s work hard together and see the impact we can make. We Are One 365.

9:30 am: Westridge Mountains

Met up with Tony, Moses, Yermie, and Zach at the Westridge canyon entrance in Brentwood. It was raining but not too chillly. I was very excited to be running in the canyons for our long run. First time this season. As we started, I forgot how steep the canyon actually was and how long an inclined 3.5 mile run can seem. We ran 45 minutes out and it took us about 42 to get back (about 7 miles out). The downhills were very slippery so watching my footing was crucial and we weren’t able to go as fast as we normally would down hills. Felt good to push up the hills and to see that I was in some sort of shape. Did some leg swings and high knees after the run.

14 miles in 1:27:30 (6:12 pace)

5 miles later this afternoon which will put me around 110 miles for this week. Most ever. Groin feels good and body feels strong.

12 days til next race. Turkey Trot in Dana Point. Trying to decide between 10k and 5k.

Congrats to the We Are One 365 members who ran the 5k this afternoon in NYC. Looking forward to hearing all about it. I’m sure it was a huge success. A great start for a great organization.

Always Remember. Never Forget. No Regrets.

Nick