Running with the Daums: August 2011

Monday, August 29, 2011

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your...Fun?

Doubles. I doubt this term has any real meaning outside of the world of competitive distance running, but it's the topic of today's training talk. Outside of running they use terms like "two-a-days". The implication is usually that the two-a-days are out of the norm; a special, relatively short-term period of intense training. In distance running, this is not the case: for us, doubles are the norm.

I am, as a rule, a very hard person to convince of anything. Some have even said I have a tendency towards cynicism. But the argument for training twice a day is this: 99% of all elite distance runners, for at least the last 50 years, have run twice a day. Every day? Maybe not. But nearly all distance runners, who for the most part train very differently, do 10-13 runs per week. As the great Haile Gebrselassie famously said, "I run twice a day every day but Sundays and Christmas." And personally I don't see why we can't run twice on Christmas.

So why doesn't everyone run twice a day? Well I would guess that the bulk of weekend warriors, of which I count myself a proud member, just don't care to actually change into running clothes and sweat twice a day. Which I understand. I mean, I don't particularly enjoy these 100+ degree afternoon runs. And the fact of the matter is, we all make compromises between achieving our potential in a particular endeavor (in this case distance running) and having a good, balanced life. But, assuming that someone is actually interested in coming close to whatever their "potential" is, why would they not run doubles?

Honestly I don't really know. There's a weird misconception that running twice a day is somehow harder than running once per day. And maybe that's true if you really believe that running is some sort of arduous task; something you should fear. But I believe that once you've gotten used to the daily grind of being a runner - once you've really taken on the lifestyle of a serious runner, a 2nd run should be a nice way to loosen your legs, and an easy way to pack a little more mileage into your week, not some chore to be avoided if possible.

I'll close with an anecdote from one of the best and worst places on the internet to discuss distance running, letsrun.com. This particular post comes from one of the old letsrun regulars, "malmo", or George Malley, former American record holder in the 3000m steeplechase and half marathon. In it, he discusses training with a young Terrence Mahon, who would later gain more fame for coaching Ryan Hall to a 2:06 marathon and 59:43 half marathon than he got for his own athletic career.

"In 1989 Terrence Mahon was in the same place as many of you today. As a college freshman at the University of Oregon he sucked. He hadn't improved since his junior year of high school (9:13.6 2 mile in 1987). He decided to get serious and train for the Summer and asked me about how he should go about doing it. I told him to bump his mileage up and do doubles every day he could. Eager to improved he asked "what happens if I get tired?" I said, "IF? I know you'll get tired, it will pass." About three weeks later he reported back to tell me his training was going great and he was not feeling so fatigued anymore. Wud I say?

"Terrance went from being an unknown to his coach in June to All-America 5 months later in November. He ran a sub 29:00 10k in December of 89, which still ranks as a top 10 US Junior performances.

"Terrence had the same gift that many of you have back in May of 89. He just never bothered to use it until June."

I could post up a hundred more examples, from this year's 2nd place finisher at the Boston marathon to this year's World Cross Country Champion. But it's getting late, so I'll yield to old Malmo one more time. After all, I couldn't say it better myself:

"Runners around the world do doubles. You should too. Of the hundreds of athletes that I've known and trained with, I don't know any who ran singles."

Monday, August 22, 2011

Midget Twins DAUMinate Sunrise 10k

(First let me just clarify that Em came up with the title for this one)

Saturday, August 20th, 2011. A day like most any other. But this, this was no ordinary Saturday. On this day, our own Emily Daum and Liz Eder took to the streets of Alamo Heights to dominate the Sunrise 10k. Here's a picture of the aforementioned domination in progress from the start:

Start of the race

Emily came in at 36:27, and Lizzie followed soon after in 36:57. I ran this race myself 3 years ago, so I speak from experience when I say it is a painful, painful race. They start it pretty early, 7:30am, but there's no getting around the fact that it's still August. In South Texas. And then there are the hills. Lots of them. Just when you think you're done with them, the course takes a turn and oh look, there's another one. So I'm very impressed with where those two are so far. They both ran within 30 seconds of their personal bests, off of base training, on a course that's at least that much slower than a flat race, so I'd say things are going pretty well. I look forward to someday maybe taking them to some pancake-esque race with nice, cool weather, to hopefully make up for what could not have been a very pleasant last 2 miles.

Yes, they got matching sports bras...girls.

Winners!

We also have a new teammate. Amy Shackelford! She just graduated from SFA and is in the physical therapy program at the UT Health Science Center here in San Antonio. She was an NCAA DI Regional qualifier in the 10k and has impressive PR's of 35:08 for 10k and 16:52 for 5k. We're all really excited to have another great runner added to our crazy bunch.

Team-iness! Awwwwwwwww

Next race up is the Labor Day 5 Miler on September 5th, where Em and I both won last year. Unfortunately this year the competition will be a little heavier on the guys' side, as our very own Chass Armstrong will be making his season debut. As long as one of us takes home the bottle of wine, I'm happy, because I know Chass...he'll share.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

We Finally Ran Down the Aisle!

So Jer and I got our amazing wedding photos back a while ago, it's just taken me awhile to get them put up. Since it's a running blog I should at least share some of the running related things we decided to incorporate in our wedding plus a few of my favorites : )

These are the professional photos from Sada Lewis. She brought her husband Reagan, as well as second shooter Mark Wright to help capture our special day. She's got a great blog too!

So first off we decided to get some racing bibs made up for the wedding as one of the party favors. I loved what the company ended up doing with the different fonts!

We had a bib for everybody

We spread some of the extra racing bibs around the reception area

The other favor we had was a delicious candy bar! There were 4 other jars of edible happiness.

Sada getting creative with the bibs

Someone call for some purple runnin' shoes?

Flying high with my awesome ladies!

Goofy dudes trying to act cool = goofier guys : )

Ok, so my dad insisted that we do the traditional "left foot together right foot together" march down the aisle. Below is when we realized that we were taking so long getting down the aisle that the music ran out! Everyone had a laugh, including us.

Jer and I while my Grandpa/the officiant was giving the opening remarks

I might have gotten a little teary eyed during the vows

Here it is folks. We actually did it. We actually ran down the aisle! This wasn't planned. In fact, Jer had NO idea until after they announced us husband and wifeypoo. Melissa, my friend from middle school, came up with the idea at the rehearsal, and I didn't hear about it until the morning of the wedding. I forgot to tell Jer, but thought it was a cute idea. Our friends, Bryant Wright and Emilie ~~Strom~~ Wright, held the ends of the ribbon as we dashed for the finish line at the end of the aisle.

He got me with a head lean!

All my wonderful brothers...some doing more work than others.

Jer with the ladies, working a little harder.

Heels = Taller Emily

My dad sporting the racing bib!

I don't know what to say about the photo below. I'd like to say I was surprised he pulled out a stopwatch, but let's face it, he's my dad. He whipped it out during his speech to us about baby making or something ridiculous. At least he kept the cow bell and skeleton at home : )

Mr. Loeffler & Mr. Daum

I've never thrown a bouquet before. I caught one though, a couple months before Jer proposed in fact. I didn't think anything of it, but apparently it takes some skill to throw one. My first attempt ended up here...in the chandelier : ) It crossed my mind before I threw it that there's a slight possibility I'd hit it, but I told myself, Em, no worries, just go low. At least the priceless moment was captured so I can forever cherish my awesome backward tossing skills.