Form, it’s what you make of it…

For the longest time in my running career I’ve had some hiccups in my form that I’ve dealt with.  I’ve had many coaches, friends, and other runners in a race mention my weird leg kick out on my right foot, pictured below.  I’ve also had many people in my life just kind of tell me that it is what it is, you can’t fight your body’s mechanics.  I’ve for the most part believed them but always wondered what it would be like to have better form like some of my friends, or professional runners I see on TV.  I always knew my leg kick out was a major loss of energy in an endurance sport where every bit of energy matters as you crank out races as long as 2 to 3 hours.  Also where I truly believe form gets overlooked is when it comes to injury prevention and how your body can handle the stresses of everyday use.  As runners it’s not usually about the 5k or 10 mile race we run, those are over in 15 to 60 minutes, it’s the hundreds of hours and thousands of miles we run all year long to get ready for these races.  And these are the times we are most likely to get ourselves hurt if we aren't properly running for all of those steps.

I had the luxury of partaking in a friend’s running form clinic in early March of this year and got a lot of good information from it.  My friend Tom Stott came by and gave a running workshop to some of us and I instantly found myself enamored with some new thoughts on form and running I had never thought about.  Things you read on the internet about forcing your foot to land in this exact spot, or doing these few exercises will fix all the problems with your form are everywhere but largely they are just band-aid fixes.  Tom spent the 1 hour with us not focusing on where your foot lands or what strengthening technique you can do but on the four pillars of running(Pull, Pull, Pull).  And that if you can get your body to not fight these pillars everything else will fall into place.  It was entirely new take on form that I hadn’t heard and I was buying in right from the start.  Tom was also one of the first people to tell me, that weird foot kick out you have, yeah we can fix it.  The next step for me was to take the plunge and really start applying myself to these lessons and a followup visit to get some one on one time.

The next step took a little longer than I hoped but about one month after my season had died down, I decided to visit the SportsPerformance Institute and visit Tom and get a one on one form session.  Something I had always wanted to do, but always had my doubts about it actually being able to help me.  That said, I can tell you in the one hour session I had with Tom, I was able to learn more about things to improve my form and techniques than I have in a lifetime of reading articles.  To go to someone who spends his entire life on this and with great recommendations from everyone, means they can provide you feedback that you can trust.  As runners we always think we know everything, and know more than someone else.  So when we have someone we can trust and it goes a long way for us to buy in. (Or maybe that’s just my arrogance who knows!).  If you ever wondered what you can gain from a running analysis I am here to tell you it’s a lot more than you think.  I was able to go through an injury risk assessment that helped point out a couple areas that no one ever thought to check in my life.  Areas I would have never even thought of.  When an issue was found where something seemed off, Tom would stop at nothing to help diagnosis what could be causing it and help me come up with techniques to improve it.  Like the hyper-mobility in my midfoot, a tightness I have always felt but just assumed its part of the aches of running.  Nope, something I can improve.  I also was able to get video with instant analysis of my form, pointing out some of the troubling areas so I can see firsthand.  My favorite part was after seeing the terrible form mistakes I make, we did some running drills and I was able to have another run and everything looked more positive.  In the end I was left with some personalized videos of all the exercises I should be performing on a weekly basis to improve myself.  It’s the kind of care you only get from someone who is truly passionate about his work. 

I was once a skeptic about what I might gain from a running analysis.  I mean I have been running 15 years, my form is fine enough and there is nothing I can do to change it now without causing harm.  I no longer believe any of those things, and fully believe that by focusing more on it I can continue to improve as a runner.  As always in running there are million things we can do to improve ourselves we just need to find the time to fit them all in.  I am a firm believer that finding time to fix form will go a long way and is something you need to take seriously.  It’s essentially free energy you are losing every step, and when we take 35,000-40,000 steps in a marathon that’s a lot of energy we are losing out on.  If you are looking for a professional to check out your form and truly stop at nothing to help you improve in an area we often overlook I can recommend no one better than Tom Stott at Sports Performance Institute.   

What have I been up to lately?  Mostly just training no races in a couple weeks now.  Ramping up the mileage as I contemplate running a marathon this fall or potentially having a marathon free year. “GASP” as some of my friends might say, a year without a marathon isn't a true year.  Racing will pick up with a couple 5k’s and 10k’s in the next few weeks and then a 50k later in July will be my first time attempting an Ultra!  Then who knows!?  Hope to see you out there.  Enjoy some pictures from my running analysis and as always if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Why do I run?

At first response it’s usually the same answer for me, I want to keep improving my times and I want to push my body to its limits and see how far I can take it.  And while yes that is a part of why I run, I think in retrospect it’s not the bulk of the reason.  It’s not the reason I am out there every day running 6-8 miles or putting myself in tons of pain for a workout, or running through 100 degrees heat or below zero temperatures.  The reason that I love running and I do run is the friends and family I have made through it over the years. The running community is this magical group, where you can meet a random person one day and they will without even a  second thought support you and cheer your performances.  Not just in running but also in life.  Where you can meet someone on the roads and be able to strike up a conversation without any judgment.  Running has given so much to me over the years that I can’t ever begin to repay it back.  I continue to do my best to be out there supporting friends, offering advice and just being a positive member to the running community but there is so much more it's given me.  Additionally, running is also more than just logging miles, doing workouts, pushing the body to me.  It’s also this amazing sport where a group of people who might never meet all bond together and come closer because of it.  In Baltimore I was lucky enough to find my current team, the Falls Road Racing Team and they are a huge part of the reason why I continue to run today. 

It’s running and an amazing leader who bring us all together at the beginning but the team itself is about so much more than running.  Sure we train together, we sometimes talk about running ad nauseam and we go to races together.  But through that we become a family, where we spend time outside of running together.  Where we care about one another, not just about how each others training is going but how their life is going.  Where we meet up outside of running as a group and make memories.  And where we support each other in racing but also in every aspect of life.  I doubt without running I would have met any of these wonderful people who now make up a huge part of everything in my life.  But thanks to running, I am glad I have.  Don’t get me wrong, I suffer through a workout on the track to improve my fitness and run faster, but I am also suffering with my friends. Which makes it that much more enjoyable.  In the end I just think when it comes to the question why do you run, it’s important to have an answer that keeps you coming back and keeps you motivated.  For me, my running team and the pursuit of constant improvement is what gets me out the door every day and as long as I have that I will continue to love running.

Recent Running:

Since Pittsburgh I took about a week of downtime to recharge the battery and then I got right back into training.  I wanted to keep this fitness around and do some shorter races for the next couple of months before moving into Marathon training for the fall.  I ran a couple races in May and then this past weekend with some push from a friend decided to try out an aggressive weekend double, Baltimore 10 Miler on Saturday, Bel Air Town Run 5k on Sunday.

Baltimore 10 Miler - It was a hot and humid morning and I knew there would be some competition for me at this race but I wanted to get out and see what happens.  I knew Dave Berdan was the local favorite and I was just bib #4471 when it came to race coverage and contenders.  No worries I was ready to go.  One of the reasons I choose this race was 5 years ago it was my first race back to competitive running, I got 100^th place and ran 1:10:59 and I wanted to see how far I’ve come in the past five years.  So the gun went off and I got out early with Berdan, and despite it being hot and humid came through the mile a little quick around 5:15, rolled into 2 miles around 10:38 when a Howard County runner, the eventual winner Eric came by and the pace quicken.  I quickly knew I was not going to be able to handle this and fell back a bit but tried to keep enough contact in case the humidity got to anyone.  As we hit Lake Montebello(mile 4/5), it was clear I was off the pace and not getting top 2 today so I settled into 3^rd and wanted to not lose my podium place.  At around mile 6 there was a turn around so I was able to calculate I had a 50 second lead on 4^th.  With a race tomorrow I began to let my foot off the pedal a little bit, clearly way too much.  Sometimes you can get too cute in racing, today was an example of that for me.  As we rolled through the hills before getting back into Druid Lake I was feeling confident attacking the final big climb.  As I hit the final water stop I did a quick look back and saw my lead had shrunk to about 20 seconds.  Panic set in as I feared I was going to get caught as we entered the tack-on loop around the park.  I put on a big surge around one of the turns and looked back again (ugh I need to stop doing that) and knew I had it.  Rolled into the finish line 3^rd place overall to the announcers saying “In 3^rd place #4471, hold on we have no clue who that is” and then they proceeded to butcher my last name.  57:16 and 3^rd place on a hot morning, I’ll take it.  Got a pretty fun glass container and got to spend the morning with the woman’s winner Meg, trying to appear in the background of her various interviews.  

Bel Air Town Run – Sunday it was about the Bel Air Town Run.  This was my second time running the Bel Air Town Run, first being in 2014 when I got 18^th and ran 17:38.  I spent most of Saturday doing everything possible to get my legs ready for the next day.  Got to the line and the gun went off and the pace went out real hot.  Down the first hill by the corner we were rolling 4:30 pace and the leader Tyler was pulling away.  So I let him go and a pack of 3 of us formed behind him and stayed that way until the mile, 4:48.  On a hot humid morning, after a 10 mile race probably not the best idea.  After the mile the pack broke down to 2 of us, and at about 1.75 miles second place finisher Chris pulled away and I decided to not go with him.  Probably the thing I am most upset about all weekend.  I convinced myself in the moment to let him go and I’d go after him at the last big hill around 2.5 miles.  I’ll need to be mentally tougher during a 5k in the future, the race is too short for mental lapses like this. I rolled through 2 miles in 10:11 and when we got to 2.5, I was about 10 seconds back but made no move.  Rolling down the final hill I could see him finish and ended up with another 3^rd place finish with my fastest 5k 16:25 since college.  All in all if that’s the only thing I am upset with this weekend I can deal with it.  Watched our woman’s team go 1-2-3 so that’s fun and hung out afterwards and got another fun award and some money.  Overall a great racing weekend.

Up Next for Me:

My fall season is up in the air currently not sure what I will target as my peak race but I’m pretty sure I am targeting a Marathon.  As for the summer I’ll do some more local 5k’s, 10k’s and maybe a half sometime in September.

If you’d like to read more about me, I was given the great honor from the Baltimore Road Runners to be the Member of the Month for June 2016.  Get to know me better here

Lastly check out some fun pictures from the past couple weeks of racing.  And lastly I added an email section if you would like alerts for future blog posts!

The Season that Was

This will be long, so grab some coffee and enjoy the ride because I want to get all this down to reflect on this season and learn for the future.  My 2016 January – May season has been unlike any season I have had post college.  I’ve done so much positive it’s hard for me to really be too down about what happened on 1 May.  I honestly feel like the training period from March 1 to May 1 is some of the best training I have ever had in my life and I had so many fantastic memories from this year that even though as I sit back and reflect on the Pittsburgh Half as a whole and realized I missed almost all my goals, I can’t be too upset.  I wrote a while ago it’s about the journey and you can’t forget all that happened along the way, if you get too caught up in what happened in that one race you can turn an entire season into disappointment.

For this cycle, I got some sage council from Graham early on about trying to make my training cycle a little shorter, in the past I spend about 14-16 weeks doing workouts and sometimes feel I peak too soon or don’t make it to the end.  I came up with a plan for 8 weeks of workouts starting beginning of March ending with the race in May.  My first race was early January with the BRRC 5 miler, and I was still waiting for my fitness to come around as I expected by now.  I firmly believe running is this sport where you train and train but you come across barriers.  Mental/Physical all the same, but where you need to push harder than you ever have to overcome them but once you do, you start making all the gains you have been hoping for.  It just requires the determination and confidence to believe you are on the right path.  After this race I once again continued to believe I was on the right path just needed to stay confident and positive and good things would happen.

For all of January and February, I worked on base training.  But not my usual base training, this time  I did do workouts but the goal was just to get in some intensity, fartlek’s, tempo’s, hills, but never pushed into Lactic Acid buildup.  Also a decent amount of mileage and long runs but nothing crazy.  I was confident this was a good strategy, and rolled up to my first race 28 February at Club Challenge with a ton of confidence but knowing that the workouts and gains were still to come.  Club Challenge ended up being a struggle for me, I did run a PR on a hard course but died really bad at 5 miles.  I left the race thinking, it was a good place to start but work begins now.  Tim Kennard the following week might still be the race of my life when I think about it.  My 33:30 in College when I won my only Division 1 race was amazing, but TK 10 miler was something else.  Running by myself only seeing a glimmer of Andy Weaver, while running 5:30 mile after mile was something I did not expect.  Not based on what I had run the week before and where I thought my fitness was at.  I had finally broken through a barrier and it was time to roll.  It was also the first time I ever won money in a race, amid some controversy(The Nick Klastava way)! 

After TK, I started making new goals for Pittsburgh.  I wanted to take the next step in a big way and maybe I got too aggressive.  My original goal was sub 1:13, but I adjusted to 1:10.  I started training at 5:20’s, making them feel as comfortable as possible.  I also started racing a lot more often, I have run 9 races this season (the same number I ran all of last year) and have had so much fun.  I’ve won some money, gift cards, a plant, and a birthday 5k that I wasn’t legally able to drive to.  I ran my first 5k under 17:00 since college, I since did 2 more back to back on the track for a workout.  When I look back at this season I achieved a lot, and had so much fun doing it.  Tim Kennard weekend was a blast with friends out on the Eastern Shore, running National Half with Conrad and his “bib 545” was the most fun I ever had during a race, and Pittsburgh weekend with friends and family was amazing.

In the 8 weeks up to the half I did some serious work, I completed a 6 x 1 mile 60 second recovery at 5:17 pace, I did 2 20 mile LR’s, I did 2 x 5k each in 16:40, 15 mile long run with last 4 at 5:30 pace, and even averaged 4:59 pace for 3 x mile(might be my first legit sub 5:00 mile in 3 years).  Each of these I am not sure I have ever done anything like before and left me feeling really confident.  I made sure to have adequate rest after some of the bigger workouts, and staggered races in there to keep some fast controlled running going but not over reaching myself.  In the weeks leading up to Pittsburgh I felt pretty fresh, I even did a race 1 week out just so I didn't over taper as I have done before.  As I got out to Pittsburgh the only issue I had was a minor quad thing that ended up not being concerning at all race day.  The stage was set and I was ready to go.  Top 10, Top 5 US and sub 1:10 were the goals as I arrived in town.

Met up with Sara, Dan, and Brendan out in Pittsburgh as we were all running the half and looking to do work.  I absolutely love destination races with friends it gives the entire trip more of an epic feel.  Berlin is going to be something special this fall.  We grabbed some dinner together, talked and shared our goals we were all pretty excited.  I even lucked out in having the best wife in the world who went to a Bridal shower Saturday Morning in NJ and drove 5.5 hours to Pittsburgh that afternoon getting to the hotel at 11:30 just to support me.  It was great warming up with and lining up together in the seeded section with friends.  The morning was kind of humid with some rain in the forecast but I can’t blame the weather for my performance, light rain is my dream condition.  At 7:00 am the gun went off and it was go time.

First mile was a little quick but I wanted to be 5:20, I ended up 5:15 and it was weird feeling for me being in a race this big with so many elites and being pretty close to some of them.  I had to shake it off, and focus on the task at hand.  As we approached the second mile things felt off, I was struggling mightily, despite doing many workouts at this pace, it just wasn’t coming naturally, a pack of about 7-8 was forming and they were picking it up after that 5:15, I decided it wouldn’t be wise to run with that pack so I fell off and ended up next to Serena Burla.

After the second mile of 5:23 I knew this pace would not last, so we formed a little pack behind that group.  We rolled through about 16:50 for 5k about 10 seconds back.  We ran by what must have been her coach around 3.5 who told her to get up with the chase pack, so she went and I followed.  At this point I did a quick glance and saw that behind us was 1 person a little ways back and in front was a pack of 7 people and that was it.  This surge did not catch the pack and we moved towards 10k we were 30-40 seconds back and I still came through in 34:08.  At this point we were alone and started working together.  I was very much hurting at this point, I knew today was not my day but I also knew if I fell off from her this could quickly turn into a pretty terrible day.  I would gap her a little bit going uphill but she would surge back every flat portion.  Around 7 we hit another hill I did not expect (the theme of today’s race, more hills than I thought), it hurt a good deal and after the decline we started getting on solid even ground, a pretty long street that allowed us to see ahead, and we were finally able to see some people singled out but still 30-40 seconds ahead.  At this point the pace kept slowing and there was little I had in me to be able to fix it.  I kept trying to pick up the pace to catch them but at this point I was just fighting myself.  Every time I started to feel sorry for myself like I wanted to give up it was nice to look over and have someone to keep the pace moving and keep me from blowing up, just hang tough Nick.  We went through 10 in 56:11, and at this point all cheering from fans consisted of “Go Serena!”, is it that hard to add “And Nick”, I’m trying my dardnest here too people.

The last bridge we went over was around 10.5 and it sucked pretty bad, we hit the worst hill on the course just after 11 and at this point I pulled away a little bit, it was still my worst and only mile over 6:00.  Once I got to the top I knew the last 800 was all downhill and could still see second place woman but never could quite get her.  Rolled down and crossed the line in 1:14:29.  Stopped to congratulate my running partner, doubt I helped her much this day but without her I’m not sure I make it to the line this quickly.  I then waited for Brendan and Sara to finish, where Sara D crushed another PR, while Brendan had a rough day but he’ll be back.  Hung out together post-race and even rung the PR bell before heading home.  1:14:30 officially, 16^th overall 7^th US finisher.

As I sit here two days later I am still not sure what to think.  I missed every goal I set out pre-race and even ended up missing my initial sub 1:13 goal.  Conventional wisdom would say I got too aggressive with my training, I got too aggressive race day and paid for it all and cost myself a 1:12.  However, as I sit here I am honestly happy I attacked this time, I knew it would take an absolutely perfect day for me to run my goal time and that obviously was not the case.  This is not like Chicago where I went out 30 seconds faster than goal pace to run with someone I was not capable of and paid for it, I tried to put myself in a position to run something I thought I was capable of here in Pittsburgh.  Had I gone out a little slower 15 seconds or so I would have most likely been completely by myself.  I was never passed by another runner or did I pass another runner for the entire race past mile 2.  A part of me feels like maybe I should have latched onto that bigger group and just tried to hang but I feel like I would have just blown up.  I am absolutely grateful as I sit here to realize that on a day when I just didn’t have it, I was able to find a running partner and tough it out together.  I know looking back all the training I did, it will still make me a better runner even if on race day I didn’t perform like I thought.  If I can’t be happy when I run a PR when can I be happy?  So I think the moral of the story for me is, as I look back at this training cycle I think years from now I can point to this period as where I took a giant step forward, and even if I didn’t reach my goal on May 1, toughing out a race when things weren’t going well is a win. 

I am once again grateful to have a season where I was healthy, able to get the training in and continue to do what I love. I’d also be upset if I didn’t pay special attention to all the people I was grateful enough to have in my life to help me through this season.  First off as always my loving wife Kelly, who supports me as I continue to do what I love by letting me go to several key runs during the week to train with my group, who let me race many times on weekends and who drove somewhere around 10 hours on April 30^th to NJ then Pittsburgh just to be there for me, carry my stuff and help with some of the burden of race day planning.  She is amazing!  Also Conrad gets a special shout-out as he is an absolutely special one of a kind guy.  From grabbing my bib for me for National Half, and even signing up race day morning (which I didn’t think was allowed) so he could run the entire thing with me, to meeting me in UMBC and running an entire workout with me pulling me along even though it was so slow for him, to taking the time to answer all my questions regarding my training plan and giving me a long honest email with all this thoughts.  He is a truly special friend.  Conrad is one of the most selfless people I know, who would do anything for anyone even if it is not convenient for him, just ask the people of the Flying Pig Marathon about their unofficial 2:59 pace group.  Then there is the TNT crew who gave me so much support as I grinded out workout after workout at Gilman mostly alone, and who even managed to fit their rest just perfectly to give me support in workouts when I needed it.  To the grueling but important/fun NCR runs that helped build my foundation, to just all the amazing members of  Falls Road Racing Team who gave support every step of the way in so many different ways, and lastly to the Falls Road Running Store who helped gear me up with anything I needed this season and supports the entire team.  Without all of you I could not have done what I did this year, you all are truly heroes and I am so grateful. 

To sum it all up, there is a lot of good I accomplished this year:

I race 9 times

Won 3 races

2 2^nd place finishes

Set personal or post collegiate bests:

5k 17:08 -> 16:28 (PC)

6k - 20:21 (PR)

5 Miles 28:26 ->27:26 (PR)

10 Miles – 54:58 (PR)

Half – 1:17:48 -> 1:14:30 (PR)

Next up some much needed downtime, some local races in Baltimore area, maybe even my first Ultra before tackling the Berlin Marathon in September.  I hope you all enjoyed reading my long blog entry as much as I enjoyed writing it.  Enjoy some fun pictures below from this season.