Jumping in and running out(side).
Vol. 4, No.4
“The pathway to what's most real is through the hardest things you can do” - Dr. Peterson
Week 3: Swimming, Racquetball, Track Work and an Ultra!
This week I took on a myriad of different athletic activities that provided growth across the spectrum of elements that impact my running and life. From the physical aspects of swimming to the emotional support of being invited to play racquetball, the mental fortitude on the track and the social aura of an Ultra Marathon. The week started with me jumping back in the pool after a five month hiatus and ending running with friends through my hometown.
I continued to dial in my nutrition this week with an increase of Salmon and a decrease of sugar free cookies. My weight is officially down to 213lbs, a number that I haven’t seen since September, 2021. My goal is to be down to 175lbs at the start of my Mesa Marathon build that starts on October 1st, 2025, but moreover this journey requires a drastic change of body composition.
Recovery is essential for the longevity of continued exercise and the ability to grow and repair muscle tissue. Of all the things you can do for recovery, sleep is arguably the most important. My average nightly sleep decreased by over an hour this week to just 6hrs and 28minutes. This is expected as I generally don’t sleep well in hotel rooms. In addition to sleeping I’m also using the percussion gun and rollers to help with the legs.
I hope you enjoy this edition of The Long Run and you can find some common ground in my weekly struggles and maybe find a piece of motivation that gets you back on trail.
Monday: 1.13.2025 (Day 13 of 90): 1,000 meters? or Yards?
I’ve always loved the water, for as long as I could remember I’ve loved swimming. My first memories of swimming were taking swim lessons at the YMCA around the age of six or seven. By eight years old I was jumping off the dock at the lake, conveniently located less than a mile from my home. I grew up swimming in clear lakes and lazy rivers. The only problem, the swimming season was less than 100 days long.
Uncle Sam sent me to North Carolina where I got to see the ocean for the first time in my life. I jumped right in and was instantly in love with the sea. Much different than lake swimming or river tubing, the ocean was a constantly moving mass of excitement and fun.
It must have been around 2010 that I started swimming laps for exercise. Luckily for me, Fort Bragg, NC has multiple outdoor pools in the summer and an indoor pool that opened at 0500 for lap swimming. I was once again hooked. I loved it.
In the past 15 years I’ve made it a point to incorporate swimming into my fitness regime every summer. Now, my local YMCA network has a few outdoor heated pools. Here in Georgia, the local YMCA has a massive indoor heated pool that generally sits empty in the early mornings. Perfect for me to get in a few laps.
So at 43yrs old I find myself back to the earliest memories and beginning of my love affair with swimming. The YMCA.
I love to run, I really do, but it’s also fun to have a side piece in swimming. The best part is, they both compliment each other and increase cardiovascular capacity.
A breath of water is like no breath at all.
Swimming requires coordination and timing. Mess that up and you’ll get a mouth full of water instead of the precious air your lungs demand. You need to ensure the you’ve mentally orchestrated the motions before embarking on a 1,000yd swim.
Or in my case, 1,000 meters. Yeah, I missed it up on my watch! I selected a 25m pool instead of a 25yd pool. So when I finished my 1,000yds faster than expected, I thought I was doing great. Only to realize my error and accept that in fact, I’m not great.
With the swim done and a full day of work behind me, I had to get in a run. Too bad it was raining out pretty bad, cold and miserable. In my attempt at avoiding sickness I opted for the hotel treadmill.
It was a disaster. The treadmill was junk. My legs were tired. I was unhappy being inside. The workout room was hot, there were no fans. It was downright miserable.
So I logged my 1-mile and called it. I’ll be back outside tomorrow when the sun is out.
**Lesson Learned: Run earlier because later the treadmill could be junk.
1.02 miles | Avg Pace: 11’09” | Avg HR: 130 | Best Mile: N/A | Feeling: Grumpy
Motivation: 2.4
Tuesday: 1.14.2025 (Day 14 of 90): Two-A-Day Redemption
I stumbled back to my bed at 4am and fell over. The last thought I had was being thankful my alarm was set for 0500 and I’d be back in the pool at 0530. I had an obligation, I signed up for Lane 1 from 0530-0630.
Dreams? Nightmares? PTSD? I don’t know what I’d call it. It’s probably just normal anxiety, however my nightmares almost always take place in the Iraq. I was startled awake with the overwhelming feeling that I missed SP TIME for an important convoy in Iraq.
One glance at my watch and it was 0530. I was supposed to be swimming at this time! So I stumbled out of bed and reminiscent of so many early morning missions in Iraq, I was driven by muscle memory, went through the motions and next thing I knew the Jeep was running and I was on my way to the YMCA.
I was in the pool and swimming by 0552. A mere 22 minutes after waking up, I was fully engulfed by water in my freestyle form still figuring out how I got in the pool so quickly. By the time I was fully awake I was already 150yds into the swim.
Funny, this time I actually set my watch for a 25yd pool instead of a 25m pool.
Well, I knocked out another 1,000yds of swimming on the morning and was back at the hotel by 0640.
With work wrapped up just a little earlier than expected I maximized my time by hitting the trail earlier in the day. The sun was up, wind was down and it was 58F. I had no choice but to get outside and enjoy such a day, especially after last night’s fiasco on the treadmill.
The plan was bare bones minimal and simple. Go run. I didn’t know what pace I’d be at, my distance or duration. I simply stepped off and would figure it out along the way. I had a generally sense of the path I wanted to take, so I went in that direction and would figure it out as the roads and sidewalks changed.
I felt like I was running all over the place. I ran past the YMCA, then to another local park, onto a track, to a main highway, to another park, past several housing areas before looping around my normal park and taking it back to the hotel.
When it was all done and I ran 5.11 miles at a very comfortable and easy pace. Nothing about this run was taxing, difficult or pressing. It was a nice, sight seeing run that left me thankful to be outdoors.
**Lesson Learned: One bad run is just one bad run. Get back out there and go again, it gets better.
5.11 miles | Avg Pace: 9’30” | Avg HR: 132 | Best Mile: 8’58” | Feeling: Thankful
Motivation: 8
Wednesday: 1.15.2025 (Day 15 of 90): How could I say no?
I’ve been in Georgia for two weeks and been going to the local YMCA almost every day. Last week I was approached by a retiree with a big smile and a hand shake and asked if I wanted to join in on some racquetball. Unfortunately I couldn’t that day as I already had plans, but told him I’d consider it. That was Monday.
I saw him again on Wednesday and Friday and again he greeted me with a smile and asked again if I wanted play some racquetball. I saw him again this last Monday and again he was nice and invited me to play. So I gave in and agreed to meet on Wednesday at 5:30am for a game.
I arrived a few minutes early and the hallway was empty, I was curious if maybe the men took the morning off. Right at 5:30am, four other players showed up, we decided who was going to play in these 2 on 2 matches, someone gave me a racquet and off we went.
It’s been almost 15 years since I played, and I picked up almost where I left off. However, don’t just hit the ball right at me, I have zero skill to hit the ball when it’s trajectory is directed right at me.
My partner carried our team, Leon was damn near a pro, while I was running around like a madman, doing my best just get the ball down the court. Overall it was a great time with almost an hour of game play and I left my shirt soaked through and honestly a little sore.
Biofeedback Running
What the hell is that you may be wondering. It’s a term I started using to describe the method of evaluating my run based on how I physically feel and what physiological changes are happening at current effort levels. I take into account my breathing, sweating, fatigue on my legs, hips, back and shoulders. I’ll adjust my effort level, not pace, based on how well my body is functioning. I don’t look at my pace, heart rate, steps per minute or any other metric provided by my watch or heart rate monitor.
To accomplish these runs, I use one of two methods. Running for Time or Running for Distance. In both cases I set up my watch to alert me when I’ve reached my designated time or distance.
In order to continue tracking all my metrics with my COROS Pace Pro, I’ve set up two custom activity screens during a “run” that only shows two metrics.
Time of Day and Activity Time or Time of Day and Distance.
That’s the only two metrics displayed on my watch during these biofeedback runs.
I then set my “lap alerts” to a predetermined Time or Distance so my watch will alert me when it's time to increase my effort level. That’s exactly what I did for today’s 5K run.
The display showed two metrics: Time of Day and Distance. The Lap Alert was set to 1-mile. My intent on this run was to increase effort every mile until I was done with a 5K distance.
So that’s exactly what I did and it felt great! I just kept increasing my effort, never going into the hurt locker yet not taking it easy. I felt stronger and faster and when I looked back at all my splits, I was surprised I went so fat.
Mile 1: 9’23” | Mile 2: 8’31” | Mile 3: 7’45” | Last 0.11: 7’00”.
**Lesson Learned: You don’t always need to the “tech” to tell you if you had a good run.
3.11 miles | Avg Pace: 8’30” | Avg HR: 137 | Best Mile: 7’39” | Feeling: Anxious
Motivation: 6.5
Thursday: 1.16.2025 (Day 16 of 90): A Three-A-Day
I woke up upset. Upset at the fact I woke up. My mind immediately went to the questions: What are you doing? Why are you awake? You don’t need to do this, right?
My body was on autopilot, grabbing my swimming bag and throwing on some shorts and a hoodie. I was getting to the YMCA and if I could just throw myself in the pool I’d have no choice but to swim.
The pool was quiet and the water still, with a teenaged lifeguard asleep in the tower. I startled him awake when I walked in. I had no faith that if I had a heart attack in the pool this young kid would even notice, but that didn’t deter me from sliding into the pool like a walrus and attempting to scoot down the lane faster than a Hippo. (Which honestly, they’re really fast).
I got in. I got wet. I got my 1,000yds done. When it was all over I got back to my room and went about my life and into a full day on the job-site.
Was it discipline or routine that got me into the pool? I’ll never know.
**Lesson Learned: Sometimes the reason doesn’t matter, just do the damn work.
Swimming and then a full day of work will put the lead blanket on you. After work I was sitting in my hotel room, curtains drawn and all I could think about was doing a direct action raid on the local Panda Express and cleaning them out of Super Greens and Grilled Teriyaki Chicken. But I couldn’t give into my stomach. I have goals.
So I took up the curtain, glanced outside and the sunset was incredible. The wind died down to near zero and temps were hovering around 52F. It was time to go run!
I usually enjoy running on post. I don’t have to worry about wild dogs, homeless people or crackheads for the most part. There is always traffic, so should I pass out someone will see me lying on the side of the road. I’m also an amateur history nerd, so running past the many memorials and war machines from old wars is always intriguing.
Unfortunately, the old war “relics” are now from 2003 and the invasion of Iraq. The equipment I used to fight wars are now in museums. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Soon, even those will be moved into the wood line, not far from the rest of the relics and time pieces of histories wars.
Regardless, I had an enjoyable run past the 3ID Headquarters and around the garrison area. It really was a relaxed, easy run.
**Lesson Learned: I am to today’s Soldier as a Vietnam Veteran is to me.
2.76 miles | Avg Pace: 9’31” | Avg HR: 127 | Best Mile: 9’09” | Feeling: Old
Motivation: 7.2
After running around the Garrison area my run finished at the track. The weather was cool, I felt great from that 2.75 mile run and felt that I still had some in me. I was motivated and bolstered to do more by my friend Chrissy and her latest speed workout on the track. I was impressed and a little shocked at how fast she was clocking her 1/4 mile efforts. She was in the 6’s! I had to get back on a track and give it a go.
I decided some basic intervals would be good. 1 lap warmup, 1-lap at Marathon Pace or better (7’10”), 1-lap recovery and so on until I got 4x laps at Marathon Pace.
Overall I felt good and never felt fully taxed. I kept my posture in a running form and never got into the sprinting mechanics. My effort intervals were not great, but weren’t horrible either.
Effort 1: 6’52” | Effort 2: 7’11” | Effort 3: 7’03” | Effort 4: 7’19”
This scared me. I’m officially intimidated.
Here I am running a mere 1/4 mile at Marathon Pace and while I’m not completely spent, the fact that I need to stretch that out another 26 miles seems unsurmountable.
Doubts started clouding my thoughts. Is this even possible? I’m too heavy and not aerodynamic enough to run that fast for that far. What am I doing?
**Lesson Learned: Even with high motivation, dark thoughts of deceit about achieving goals can still penetrate the the mind and cause doubts. Mental Toughness is required to reach your goals.
2.26 miles | Avg Pace: 9’24” | Avg HR: 131 | Best 1/4 Mile: 6’52” | Feeling: Stronger
Motivation: 9.2
Friday: 1.17.2025 (Day 17 of 90): I ran an Ultra…………(kind of)
What an incredible collision of circumstances that happened on Friday. I was wrapping up the job site near Savannah, GA and I had a group of friends running the Dark Anchor 34hr Ultra Race at Wormsloe State Park just outside of Savannah.
The opportunity presented itself for me to go stop by the race and hang out with my friends and get in a lap with them before making the five our drive back home. This was the first “Ultra” event I’ve ever been to and I was excited to see what it was all about. My friends have been trying to recruit me into running Ultra’s for the past five years and each year I earn the Runners Heisman for avoiding the commitment.
I stopped by the Black Rifle Coffee Shop, picked up some caffeine and made my way to the team. What I walked into was like a race I’ve never seen.
This Ultra appeared to be the perfect compilation of Running, Camping and Community. There were 10x10 canopy’s and camping tents lining the final quarter mile of the route, each with it’s own distinct Ultra Decorations from signs, to skeletons and plenty of chairs and food.
There was a steady stream of runners making their way through the tunnel of tents to the timing mat, then back to their base of operations for food, fuel and a short break. With camping stoves whipping up a morning breakfast and beats rumbling off a nearby speaker, the atmosphere was a conglomeration of running, camping and community.
The event was the least competitive running event I’ve ever been to! I surmise because this is an event that is 100% a battle against your own mind and willpower. Do you have what it takes to just keep going? To do another lap. Each runner who passed the canopy had a different demeanor and set of gear, yet each runner looked determined to GO ONE MORE!
I am 100% onboard with joining the cult of Ultra Runners when this BQ compulsion runs it’s course. The Mesa Marathon is in February 2026 with my potential Boston Race in April 2027. Beyond that hyper-fixation, I have an admiration for those runners who can continue pushing themselves for 12, 18, 24 hours or more.
While completing my one-lap with the boys, we had a conversation about how they usually tackle races like this. The consensus was they went out fast and went far, until they entered the Hurt Locker and from there they’d just “figure it out”.
Something about that statement appealed to me. The notion of “Fuck It, we’re going out strong and not quitting when things get difficult”
I knocked out one lap which was exactly 3.44 miles of walking and jogging.
**Lesson Learned: Often the race is within, not against another.
3.44 miles | Avg Pace: 15’47” | Avg HR: 86 | Best Mile: 14’24” | Feeling: Excited
Motivation: 8.5
Saturday: 1.18.2025 (Day 18 of 90): What takes longer? 5K Row or 5K Run?
It was an absolutely rough day. Just after watching my daughter drive off, moving a few states away I was not feeling so great. So I did what I always do, regardless of how I’m feeling, and that is to run. With a soul sucking Carolina winter grey sky, cool air and rain, I opted for an indoor run at my home YMCA.
Finally! The New Years crowds must have finally started showing up. The parking lot was full and the workout floor was just as packed. The gymnasium was alive with youth basketball that was amusing to watch. The weight room floor was packed and all the treadmills were full.
Even the two stair-mills were in constant use, so I turned my gaze to old faithful. The one piece of equipment that remains nearly empty every day. The Rower.
It was an easy decision. Jump on the rower for 30 minutes and surely a treadmill will have to open up when I’m done. Why 30-minutes you may ask? Because my close friend Robert is on a running hiatus while tending to an injury and to supplement his running, has been rowing. The standard has been established. In 30 minutes you ought to be rowing at least 6,000m.
So I jumped on and got going. Around the 5K mark I started wondering, should an athlete be faster at running a 5K or rowing a 5K? My 5K Row was 23minutes. To run that would require a 7’24” pace, so as it stands I am faster at rowing than I am running 5K.
Question: What event should be a faster for a well rounded / hybrid athlete? A 5K Run or a 5K Row?
After rowing 6,578m in 30 minutes, indeed a Treadmill did open up so I transitioned to a run.
After the row I had already worked up a sweat and was ready to tackle this run. I had no plan going into this run, no plan at all. So I spent the first 0.25 mile to figure it out and decided I would increase the speed every 0.25 miles (each lap) until the 5K was over.
With a starting pace of 10’00”, I increased the speed every 0.25 miles and ended with a sub 30-minute 5K that felt great.
**Lesson Learned: It’s near impossible that my running watch will match the treadmill for distance and pace, so I always go with the treadmill metrics.
3.11 miles | Avg Pace: 9’31” | Avg HR: 134 | Best Mile: 8’41” | Feeling: Sad
Motivation: 3.5
Sunday: 1.19.2025 (Day 19 of 90): Open Invite Run
If you’ve read this far than you must be interested in my journey and I appreciate that! At the 12:00pm posting of this publication, I will actually be finishing up my Sunday long run with friends. Later this evening I will update this run with all the details. I’ve put out an open invite to all runners in the club to join me for a 5 to 8 mile run today followed by a beer and maybe some food from the gut truck post run.
**UPDATE**
It didn’t look like a great day to run. The sky was grey, the possibility of a cold rain was inevitable and odd’s were high that you’re feet would get wet. Nothing about a glance out the window looked like it would make for a great run, except the notion that others would show up and suffer with you.
And they did! Runners did show up on this cool winter day in January to suffer together and get some miles in.
My initial intent was to get in a minimum of 5-miles and possibly go up to 8-miles. I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do. My expected pace was anywhere from an 8’30” to 10’30”, again not knowing exactly what would unravel once we got running on the wet streets.
After a short discussion of who was running what distance, we talked about a quick route, made our plans and departed. This particular group had varying distances ranging from 3 miles up to 10 and paces somewhere from 8’30” to 12’30”. We all started together and naturally started to separate based on abilities.
Just yesterday, Sarah took first place Overall Female at one of our local 5K’s with a pace of 7’45”. It was her first podium and it was a great race. Now she was back out here and going to tackle 8-miles!
As for my run, it started with Sarah and her friend, Anthony, Mike, Amir and myself. Eventually Sarah and her friend started to pull away, Amir needed to stretch the legs so he took off to up the effort level and Anthony, who had previously already ran 6 miles was turning back early. Fortunately I was able to log the entire 6.38 miles with Mike.
It might have been the weather or the lack of sleep or the chicken wings from last night, but this run was difficult. My heart rate was elevated and it wasn’t an “easy” run. It certainly wasn’t difficult like our summer runs in the insane heat and humidity, but it still wasn’t easy.
Mike and I stuck together for the duration and ended up with a sub 10’00” pace that honestly I was proud of for my weekend long run. Thank you Mike for sticking with me!
**Lesson Learned: There’s no such thing as bad weather! Just bad gear and bad attitudes. Don’t be soft, go get in that run when the weather looks terrible.
6.38 miles | Avg Pace: 9’53” | Avg HR: 134 | Best Mile: 9’28” | Feeling: Restless
Motivation: 6.0
Week 4 Preview
I’m finally home for a week and look forward to getting in more local runs and increased strength training at my local YMCA. Swimming last week has ignited my love of the pool and I’ll be looking for the nearest indoor pool to start incorporating swimming at least once a week into the training cycle.
I’ll be traveling to Washington at the end of next week and the planning for that day’s run hasn’t even started yet. Life and work will always throw hurdles at me, staying disciplined and flexible allows for the agility to get over these hurdles while still moving towards my goal.