David Taylor Gonzales

running and other things

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I’m a husband, father, son, and runner

  • Marathon Training Week 33

    8/14

    Today was a much needed off day. Lane and I bought a whiteboard which we’re using as a training/family/meal calendar. We decided we need to share an off day so we can spend some time together. Thursdays are already scheduled for House Church every week so it was somewhat a no brainer. When we got back, I was feeling restless so I decided to go out to the garage and spend some time working out (I didn’t even log it, just 20 minutes with some pull-ups, hammer curls, core work, etc). I’m starting to notice something disturbing: I’m not doing a good job of allowing myself to truly rest. This marathon training block is creating a sort of underlying anxiety around training where I feel like I’m “falling behind” if I miss a workout or don’t execute well. I need to operate with more grace for myself and a better mindset. It boils down to trusting that I’m doing the right things, even if what my body requires is an off day.

    8/15

    I ran 3.5 miles with Travis at a 8:33 pace. It was good to spend some quality time with him and get the heart rate up in preparation for the long run tomorrow. We got to discuss parenting and how he’s excited for baby number four to come next week. I like days like this where we pick up the pace but can still have a conversation. Some of the truly easy runs get mundane. This was a good balance of challenge, especially on the hills, mixed with some good “flowy” segments as well. It looks like I might be running solo tomorrow for the half-marathon. Elliott texted me saying he’s worried he might have a micro-fracture in his foot. Super bummed for him. I’m hopeful he can still train and run with me on November 2nd. We both have the goal of breaking 4 hours so it’d be great to start and finish together.

    8/16

    Half-marathon day! I ran solo, but the good news was Elliot’s foot was okay. He’s gonna cross train this week so I ran this one by myself. Him and I will get to run together at some point in the coming weeks. I woke up at 5 AM to practice pre-race fueling with overnight oats. I was able to get the meal down 45 minutes before I started the run. It sat comfortably in my stomach which was a very good sign. That probably means that I can increase the volume of food as these runs get longer to really make sure my glycogen stores are fully topped off for fuel.

    After the run, I took a 90 minute nap in the afternoon. I woke up with a sore throat which I’m hopeful will go away shortly. The last thing I need is to get sick in the middle of the building phase of training. I’m not super worried about it since tomorrow I’m just doing a short lift and mowing the lawn. We’ll see how I recover tonight.

    8/17

    Okay yellow light. It’s Sunday morning and we’re getting ready for church. I’ll be honest, I don’t feel great. I got plenty of sleep but it wasn’t very restorative. I’m gonna try to be as light on myself as possible before mowing this afternoon. I will limit my activity level and try to find restful moments between now and the kid’s nap time. My throat is killing me but no fever, just the throat soreness for now.

    I mowed the lawn and stayed hydrated despite the sun. My workout went really well, I even PR’d for a single set of pull-ups! 9 is the new record. I think I can hit 15 in a row by the end of the year. I’m very fatigued and it’s unclear if that’s due to muscle soreness or immune suppression and sickness. We’ll keep monitoring it throughout the night and this week.

    8/18

    I woke up feeling like I’ve been hit by a train. My watch alarm went off at 6 AM and I was hopeful that I’d be able to get a morning run in and get a good start to the week. The moment I woke up I knew that was not in the cards. I hit snooze and waited for the kids to wake up around 7. I’m exhausted but I’m going in to work despite the fatigue. My watch says my overnight heart rate variability was 106 ms (a sign of sickness and not adequately recovering from training). My training readiness is in the low 60s. I still have a sore throat but now I also have body soreness, head fog and a cough. I haven’t had a proper rest day in awhile so this was my body’s way of forcing me to rest.

    I came home from work feeling so sick I could barely stand. Lane told me to take a long hot shower and lay on the couch until dinner. I did both things, trying to play with the kids as much as I physically could but the body aches were almost debilitating. I ended up going to bed at 8:30 PM.

    8/19

    I am working remotely today. My watch says I got 9 hours of sleep but it did almost nothing to help my body recover. I still feel bad but not as horrible as yesterday. Not much else to report. It’s a sweatpants day. I’m going to focus on hydration and protein to help with muscle soreness and promote good recovery for tonight. I might try to get a walk in tonight to get the blood flowing.

    I did not end up going on a walk. Lane made chicken white cheddar mac n cheese. It was phenomenal. I feel better and I anticipate a return to work tomorrow and a short easy run in the evening before bible study.

    8/20

    I ran 3.33 miles, 1.7 miles to and 1.1.6 back home from my bible study. I felt much better for moving my legs and getting the blood flowing. Kept the heart rate in zone 2, a truly easy run hovering around 10:10 pace. Our bible study is continuing through the book of Mark which we have been slowly studying since January. This week we talked about good soil, how we as Christians can posture our hearts so that the seeds of God’s Word can grow in us. It had me thinking about the habits I’m choosing to participate in that are bringing me closer or further away from God. I’ve said it before, I feel much closer to God when I’m running. There’s something about building physical endurance that teaches valuable lessons about the pain of life we all go through.

    I can be a pretty hardheaded person. I almost never want to take time off from training, especially in the middle of a marathon build. But my body needed it and I forced myself to mentally “get over” the feeling of falling behind. I have to trust that a setback can be overcome if I stay consistent when I’m healthy. Running through sickness isn’t productive, it just feeds my ego. That’s not what this is about. The moment this running thing becomes all about me is the moment I lose the love of it. There’s a reason that picture of 4 names on my arm precedes each of these blog posts. It’s about them. It’s about Jesus and using the physical body He has given me to glorify Him. It’s about Lane and becoming a more resilient and servant hearted husband. It’s about Joy and John and building myself into a father figure worth following.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 32

    8/8

    I ran 4 miles with Travis this morning. It was my first early morning workout in awhile. My body has been craving a higher intensity aerobic workout for the last week so we did some interval training. 12 min warm up, then 5 x 2 minutes @ threshold pace with 2-3 minutes of recovery running in between. Total stats: 4 miles 8:08/mi pace. I’m glad we were able to get this one done together. There’s something about running with a friend that keeps me motivated during the higher intensity workouts. We were still able to talk and catch up a bit in between the intervals so it was a good balance and start to the morning. Tomorrow’s run is 9-10 miles, all easy. That will put me at 27 miles for the week and good position for the increased miles going forward. My ankle and right side TFL is a little sore which might have been due to running in the Hyperion Max’s which I reserve for my high aerobic/sprint workouts. I’ll do some stretching and foam rolling tonight to get ready for my long run tomorrow.

    8/9

    I did my 10 mile run in the heat of the day. It was 96 degrees in Springfield with a hot bright sun overhead. I set out water and a chia seed pouch for an aid station at the halfway mark. I ran my first 4 miles around the neighborhood before it became clear that I needed fuel. I was tired almost immediately. Even though these were supposed to be 10 easy miles, nothing about the run was easy (or fun for that matter). I texted my Dad afterwards and told him that this was one of my least favorite runs of all time. Now that I’ve had a day to process, I stand by the statement. I felt heavy and sluggish from the speed workout the day before and the foam rolling and stretching I did in the morning didn’t help at all. I had to pause the run to go by one of my rentals to check on a drainage issue and a broken doorknob at the seven mile mark so the interruptions for hydration and the house issues prevented me from getting into a good flow mentally. Still, we logged the miles and checked the box.

    27 miles for this week. It felt good to get some recovery time in after 3 straight weeks of stacking miles. I have a 5 mile easy run with strides mixed in tomorrow after church. We have another hot day incoming, looks like a high of 94 with a small chance of rain in the afternoon.

    8/10

    The sermon today was on the spiritual discipline of community, something I’ve been thinking more about in recent months. As a high school and then a college student, my Christian community of friends were really special to me, to the point where I probably made them into an idol. I struggled with that for a long time and it wasn’t until I married someone who was more introverted that I learned the value of intentional solitude and one on one quality time.

    In recent years, community has looked a lot different for me. As a husband and a father of 2, my main focus and my main community is my family. They deserve all my attention and leadership. Friends and extended family deserve parts of me too but it’s been an important thing to remember to always save the best of myself for my wife and our children.

    I listened to a Chris Williamson podcast episode with Mike Israetel as the guest and he said that something in your life will suffer when you go all in pursuing something else, even if the pursuit is positive. I’ve been thinking a lot about that. I was struck with fear at first. The thought crossed my mind, “Is my family suffering because of my training?” That didn’t make sense to me. I feel like a better Dad for the training I’ve done. I think the alone time with God that the running has afforded me has enhanced my drive to be a great husband and father. But the question kept nagging at me, “What is suffering because of the way I’ve chosen to orient my life?” It feels weird to admit but I think it’s friendship. I don’t think I’m as good a friend as I could be because of the choices I’m making. I spend 45 hours per week working, I spend, on average, 6-8 hours of my free time training. Calculate 7-8 hours of sleep per night, and there’s not much room for quality time with other people outside of my family.

    I’m thankful for my friend Travis who I run with once a week. I’m thankful for my friends I see at church on Sundays. But the late nights downtown are long gone. The college rental houses are occupied by different strangers now. I pass by them on Pickwick or Delmar sometimes and say the same thing to myself, “remember when ____ used to live there?” Sometimes I miss those days. I wouldn’t trade my life now for any of it but still, it’d be nice if all of us lived in the same city again. Everyone’s so spread out now.

    I ran 5 miles today and mixed in some strides to get the heart rate up. My body recovered well from the 10 miles yesterday despite the heat. I decided to skip on mowing the lawn. We haven’t had rain in almost a month and I don’t want to scorch the grass. Glad I can take that off my list of to-dos this week. I sat in my garage for 20 minutes and shut the door to use it as a makeshift sauna. No idea if it helped my body recover but I’m gonna keep trying it a couple days a week.

    8/11

    Tonight is a workout. I’m trying to be more consistent with the strength training. Up until now, I’ve avoided the gym for fear of soreness affecting my performance in my speed training days. I heard from a running coach who runs ultramarathons say something to the effect of, “speed work isn’t about running about peak performance, it’s about improving endurance so that your peak is higher on race day.” That has really changed my mentality when it comes to speed training. I’m not going to be afraid of running on tired legs or lifting heavy, even if I have a run the next day.

    I did a 45 minute strength workout, mostly focused on legs and back. Here’s the full breakdown:

    Pull-ups: 3 sets x 7 reps

    Barbell back squat: 3 sets x 12 reps

    Trap-bar deadlift: 3 sets x 12 reps

    Calf-raises: 3 sets x 12 reps

    Dumbbell shoulder press: 3 sets x 12, 10, then 8 reps (25lb dbs)

    Hammer curls: 3 sets x 8 reps (25lb dbs)

    Candlestick leg raises: 3 sets x 8 reps

    I’ve attached some video from my workout for anyone who’s curious. I’ve started filming myself to ensure good form and technique.

    The arm and shoulder work was purely cosmetic but the rest of the workout is going to help me achieve my marathon goal. I need stronger legs and if that means my speed work sessions suck a little bit, that’s okay. I don’t want a random threshold workout in August to be my best run of 2025. I’m trying to run my best on race day.

    8/12

    My speed work run was 7 miles. I woke up at 5:45 to get out of the house early so I can be on Dad duty when the kids get up. Here was the structure: 1 mile warm up, 6 x 1km at 10k pace (RPE 7/10), 2-3 min cool down in between each interval. I was surprised by how the legs performed. I expected to be moving through cement during the run but we were able to move faster than expected. I ran the 1km intervals around 7:20-7:45/mi which felt challenging but not an all out effort. I was surprised my Garmin counted it as a Base workout based on my heart rate data instead of a tempo workout. It felt like a high aerobic workout to me but I know to take some of Garmin’s tracking with a grain of salt.

    We’re sleep training John this week so I’m hoping to start doing these early morning workouts more consistently. I always feel better when I knock my training out early so I don’t have to think or worry about it later after work. It frees me up to spend more time with the family and get quality time with God. I’m going to wake up around the same time tomorrow to do a 5 mile easy run.

    8/13

    I woke up with a bit of a sore throat and my Training Readiness was in the mid 50s. I didn’t want to push too hard today but I felt too good to just do a slow run since I’m resting tomorrow. I changed it to a slow progression run. We started at 10:40/mi pace and cut 10 seconds off each mile from there and did the last mile at marathon pace with some strides mixed in. Total stats: 5.45 miles, average pace 9:56/mi. Kept the heart rate in Zone 2 for the majority of the run. I’ve run 17.6 miles so far this week. I’ll be taking tomorrow off so Lane and I can have some quality time then I’ll do 3-4 easy miles with Travis on Friday and a 13 mile workout with my buddy Elliot who I haven’t seen in months. I figured I might as well try to spend more time with friends if it’s been a weak spot recently!

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 31

    8/1

    Friday 5 mile run at marathon pace. This was a perfect weather day. Couldn’t believe how good I felt. This was my second run in a row with no chest pain which was encouraging. This is my last ramp up mileage week before a rest week (32 miles this week, 27 miles next week). The increasing mileage hasn’t bothered me (yet). I think I’m going about it the right way by not increasing my long runs too drastically.

    8/2

    Today was my long run. I ran 12 today, my first time running that distance since May. I ran the first nine at easy pace, last three at marathon pace. This one was great for a couple reasons. I started at 6:30 AM. I love the early morning, waking up with the rest of the city and watching the neighborhood come alive. It was 65 degrees when I started. When I walked outside, I nearly shivered just from shock. at the temperature difference. That was a welcome change after the last 2 months of brutal humidity. I ran downtown for the first 4 miles and it was cool to see the sun come up over the industrial park. The middle portion of my run took place in Rountree, one of the most beautiful historic neighborhoods in town. I finished things off by stopping at the house for water and a Chia seed pouch and then ran the last 3 miles in my neighborhood. I came home feeling pretty good overall. Last week was about defining the easy run and I feel like I’m getting the hang of it. Mixing in different paces is also helping me improve. Picking up the pace on already fatigued legs is a very unique sensation and probably a helpful one for running a marathon.

    When I got home Lane was making pancakes with the kids so I hopped in the shower and then helped with family breakfast. I’m always on egg/bacon duty for our family breakfasts. I’ve really started to love cooking in the last 6 months or so. Saturday family breakfast is my favorite day of the week.

    8/3

    Nothing significant to report here. I ran 4.5 miles easy. I like doing some sort of shakeout or easy run the day after my long run just to keep my body in check and monitor my body’s overnight recovery after the high mileage day. I meal prepped 4 pounds of bacon wrapped jalapeno cheddar venison patties for lunches this week. I also broke my garbage disposal. I’m extremely frustrated about that. I might hire someone to fix it but I really would rather save the money if possible and just knock it out myself.

    8/4

    After doing some research I decided to go to Home Depot and buy the disposal and give it a shot myself. It took a couple hours because I had to pause and help with bath and bedtime with the kids. We got it fixed around 9 PM and I went to the garage for a short 15 minute back and leg workout. I did enough for the quads to get them sore. with a barbell back squat. I did 3 sets of 5 pull ups. I’m proud of myself for how much I’ve progressed in that area. I couldn’t do more than 3 pull-ups in a row when I first set the rack up. Lifting has taken a backset with the increased mileage but I still want to shoot for an hour of weight training per week for maintenance and injury prevention.

    8/5

    3.5 easy miles tonight. I just needed to get moving again. This week is much lower mileage which is giving my body some time to recover and prepare for longer runs and more intense workouts going forward. I’m going to do a tempo or threshold workout at some point this week, maybe Friday with Travis.

    8/6

    I’m running with Sam tonight after work. We’re gonna do 5-6 easy miles together. The original plan was to run to Drury University and do a 1 mile time trail. I’m curious what my PR could be (current best is 6:24/mi). I think I can get it under 6 minutes if I go all out. Sam texted me saying he’s pretty beat up from a long run he did on Sunday so we’re going to keep this one low and slow.

    Update: we kept this one low and slow (kinda). We both felt good going into mile 3 so we started mixing in some strides on the hillier sections of our route to get the heart rate up. We ended our run with an all out sprint down the street. My sprint speed got up to 3:24/mi pace which is easily the fastest I’ve ever run in my adult life. Total stats: 5.6 miles @ 8:47 average pace.

    I assumed that my increased mileage would mean less running with friends. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that so many of my runs, even some of my higher intensity workouts, have involved other people in my life. We’ll see if that continues as we get deeper into marathon training. 13 weeks to go!

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 30

    Defining the Easy Run

    7/24

    I did a sprint workout tonight. 15 minute warm up, 9 10 second intervals @ 4:20/mi pace. I’ve said it before but I have a really hard time keeping a consistent pace when I’m running that fast. My slowest interval was 5:16/mi and my fastest was 3:44/mi. It would be great to run more consistently within my target range but I only do workouts like that a couple times per month. We have run 16 miles so far this week. Legs feel fresh but we’ve started noticing some chest pain so we’re gonna monitor that going forward. It’s only noticeable during the warm up portion of my runs. I never notice it when I’m at rest or sitting down or walking. It’s kinda weird, but I’m not concerned about it yet. I have a 11 mile long run tomorrow in St. Louis. 30 total miles is the goal this week. I’m excited to get in some hill workouts and experience a change in scenery in St. Louis.

    7/28

    We got into St. Louis around 9 PM Thursday night so I waited to run my 11 easy miles until Friday afternoon, with my last 2 miles at marathon pace. Like I said before I’ve been having some mild chest pain when warming up for my runs recently so I wanted to be careful. I ran 33 laps around the block in the blistering sun at their house. I set up an aid station for myself with gatorade, water, ice, a washcloth and some strawberries. Despite how boring the route was, I actually enjoyed doing something a little outside of the norm. The best part, very little chest pain! I made the mistake of running the same direction for all 33 laps so my right TFL was extremely sore that afternoon. I used a resistance band that evening to stretch and work it out. I woke up early on Saturday morning to play golf with my father in law and brother in law. We did a 3 man scramble for 9 holes and shot 5 over as a team. We’re terrible at golf but I was thankful for the quality time. When we got back we went to The Hill to eat at Gioia’s. I had the usual: a hot salami sandwich with giardiniera and banana peppers. We walked to DiGregorio’s to do some grocery shopping in the old neighborhood afterwards. After we put the kids down for nap time I did a quick 18 set workout in the basement and ran 3 easy miles (9:26/mi pace) and mixed in some hill sprints. Trying to take advantage of as many of these hot summer days and miles as possible. I did notice more chest pain during this workout, probably related to the quicker pace and hill work. I’m a bit concerned so I’m gonna look into getting an EKG.

    I took Sunday off due to some gnarly allergies and driving back to Springfield. Despite the miles, I gained FIVE POUNDS while in St. Louis. Turns out no amount of miles can outweigh pizza, pasta, chocolate chip cookies, and angel fruit cake. I’ve heard it said before, that greatness is boring. It requires discipline and consistency, especially when it comes to dieting. Let’s just say I had a lot of fun this weekend. I may not have been great, but what’s the point of family time if I’m off grilling chicken by myself while everyone else enjoys toasted raviolis around the kitchen table? No regrets. We’ll dial it all back in this week.

    I realized a few weeks ago that I was pacing most of my easy runs at marathon pace which wasn’t giving my body a real opportunity to recover so I could execute my speed runs effectively. That 11 mile run I did this week would’ve been run at a 9:05ish pace if I had run it 2 months ago but instead, I ran it truly easy at 10:08 average pace (factoring in 2 miles at marathon pace). My body was able to rebound much more quickly from the work load because I wasn’t pushing beyond what was expected for the workout. ChatGPT estimated that an easy run for me should be about 60-90 seconds per mile slower than my marathon pace. That’s a big mental hurdle for me to jump because sometimes it almost feels too slow but I’m starting to adjust and enjoy the easy runs.

    Right now, I’m nervous about my chest pain. I don’t know if it’s heart related or not so I’m going to go to urgent care and get an EKG. I don’t usually feel the pain when I’m not working out so I’m not sure how much good it will do, but I’d rather have a doctor tell me I’m fine than find out I’m not fine by dropping dead.

    7/30

    I stopped by the Urgent Care this morning before work. I actually got seen by Doctor Scott Dooley, a friend from the Potter’s House coffeehouse ministry. I showed him my heart rate data from my runs, explained the weirdness of how the pain actually went away the higher my heart rate climbed. He said it’s impossible to rule anything out with 100% certainty, but based on my overall health and pain symptoms, he was fairly confident I’ve got Costochondritis. This basically means I damaged the cartilage that connects my upper ribs and breast bone during a chest and arm workout with my Dad a few weeks back. It can take a bit to heal but I can keep running and most of my training will stay the same. I’ll keep monitoring it but I’m glad that this isn’t an issue that’s going to drastically hurt my training. I’ll skip arm and chest workouts for the next few weeks while it heals up and focus on mobility and lower body workouts in the meantime.

    It was a bit of a weird week, but ended on a high note now that I know I can keep training and prepping for this marathon in November. As always, I’m thankful for my health and my family’s health. God has been very good to us.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 29

    7/17

    Barefoot run yesterday (0.6 miles) and 3.7 miles in shoes. Tempo run 0.66 mile warm up, 2.33 miles at 7:50/mi, 0.74 mile cool down. I’ve been really enjoying the barefoot runs. This one was short and sweet but we were able to pick up the pace a bit because there were more running on grass opportunities. I waited to do the rest of my run until after my small group time. Sam was the only one who could make it this time around so we ended up just catching up about work and talking shop. The tempo workout wasn’t my favorite. It always takes a good effort for me to sustain a pace below 8 min/mi and I don’t think I was adequately recovered to give it my best effort.

    Today is a light workout day. We focused on triceps, back and shoulders. Average heart rate of 88 BPM so it wasn’t the hardest workout of all time. I really just wanted to get the body sweating without going all out. I have a 5K race at the end of this week and I want to be able to keep a sub 7 minute pace for the race. Some part of me is afraid of training legs this week because I don’t want to wake up with any soreness on Saturday. I tend to struggle with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) so if I lift on a Thursday, there’s a good chance those muscles are still cooked two or even three days later.

    7/18

    I texted Travis last night asking him if he wanted to run Friday together and do my sprint workout with me. He wanted to take the day off to taper for the 5K on Saturday. I decided to sleep in before work and then do a short shakeout workout this evening. Three miles at an easy pace just to keep the legs warm for tomorrow morning. I plan on adding some easy miles after the race when I get back home to round out my week. I need to hit 28 miles this week to stay on track with my marathon training. I’m going to start ramping up the mileage by increasing 2 miles each week between now and early October (every 4th week will be step down week to recover from the increased mileage).

    7/19

    I ran the 5K today. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I looked down at my watch after the first 400 meters and saw that my average pace was 4:20/mi. Way too fast. I throttled back to what I thought was closer to 6:50/mi. I looked down again. 5:30/mi pace. I couldn’t believe how amped up I was. It took a conscious effort to throttle back to a pace that felt right. I settled in and completed the first half of the race in 10:05 (6:31 average pace). I had a great shot at breaking 20 minutes but I needed to run a negative split and I didn’t have it in the tank. I don’t know precisely what my lactate threshold is, but I was in it during the race. I ended up getting 4th place and 1st in my age group! Final time: 20:29. Average pace: 6:37. First time I’ve ever gotten 1st in my age group. I paced myself really well considering I’ve never trained for a 5K race. I wasn’t sure if I was running too fast or too slow but I had just enough gas in the tank to sprint out the last 30 seconds or so. I am very proud of how I ran this one.

    When I got home, I went out for my five easy miles to round out the week. I ran them very slow (10:09 pace). No need to try to be a hero after the morning I had. This summer has been so hot. It’s great training for this marathon but in the moment, it’s hard to be thankful for. I know I’ll reap the rewards later.

    7/21

    Today was a rest day. I did a light core workout in the basement before my shower. I have a sprint workout tomorrow: 15 minute warm up, 9 x 10 seconds @ 4:20/mi pace (3 minutes rest in between) and a 10 minute cool down. I think the legs will feel pretty well rested and ready for it, but I haven’t been getting a ton of anaerobic exercise recently so it will probably be an adjustment.

    7/22

    The run felt pretty good but I’ll admit, I’m tired and I don’t feel that confident at pacing correctly when I run that fast for those sprint intervals. My slowest interval was 5:14/mi pace and my fastest was 3:43/mi pace. One thing I was proud of was that I continued to light jog through each of the three minute rest intervals, something I’ve never done before. Ended up putting 5.6 miles on the legs. The week is off to a strong start! We have nineteen more miles to go. We’re taking the family up to St. Louis to visit Lane’s parents and siblings. Joy and John are really excited about it. I’ll get to do some hill sprints in their neighborhood which I’m going to pretend to be excited about. I know it’s good for me but they’re so tough. I have five miles today, eleven miles on Friday, three to four miles on Saturday to get to thirty for the week.

    It was a great training week overall. I was glad to race again, my first since early April. There’s a good chance that’s my last race between now and the marathon so to end on a high note like that will be great to look back on as we inch closer to November 2nd. I’m thankful for my health and my family’s health. Life is not always easy but knowing that my kids are healthy, my wife is healthy, it really provides a clear lens through which I can process all of the normal nonsense and daily struggles of life. I spent the cool down of my run yesterday thanking God for our health and a peaceful home (though not a quiet home). God is good and kind and gracious always. Psalm 23:1-6.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 28

    7/13

    I’ve been reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s been described by some as the barefoot runner’s manifesto. Basically it’s the story of McDougall’s personal running journey, injury issues and curiosity which eventually leads him to seek and spend time learning from a largely unknown native tribe in Mexico called the Tarahumara (or Rarámuri, the Running People). They are known as some of the best runners on planet earth. They run ultra-marathons well into old age. And the fact that I can’t get out of my brain is that they run in what basically amount to homemade sandals. The Tarahumara aren’t buying $180 Brooks Glycerins online, I doubt any company would be willing to ship to the Copper Canyons even if they did. They rarely get injured, and they don’t face the chronic issues modern runners deal with: plantar fasciitis, shin splints, etc.

    I bought the Brooks Ghost Max’s last week and when I unboxed them, they reminded me of my first pair of Hoka Clifton 9s. The stack height was tall, to be expected. The cushioning was pillow-like. The shoe itself, shockingly light for the size. But I couldn’t get this thought out of my head: “all this brainpower and energy and engineering and yet, based on historical data, some 65% of runners will sustain some sort of injury this year.”

    What are we doing wrong? I’m the wrong guy to answer this question, because a lot of people are doing a lot of things right. For those who find themselves at this fork in the road where I am, there are probably multiple answers depending on the person. But I ask it because reading this book got me interested in the idea of running barefoot. I figure, “if our distant ancestors did it-hell, if I did it as a small child, why should I assume I can’t right now?” On Saturday I tried run-walking one mile on grass. I felt so good after the first mile I ended up running three and a half. It felt great. I ran the grass segments and walked when pavement was the only option. My feet are pretty beat up but I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling. There were moments I felt like a kid again. I wasn’t worried about pace, mechanics, heart rate zones, etc. I was enjoying the ebbs and flows, the change in stride length to avoid sticks, the way my hips shifted as I alternated between pavement and grass. It was the definition of joy. The sun was warm against my back. The road and grass segments I chose were uneven and sloped. I didn’t care. My average pace for the entire run was 12:44/mi but there were moments I felt I was flying. It was like I was falling in love with running all over again.

    7/15

    On Sunday we took the kids out for a walk. It was cut short due to a great conversation with our neighbor Nick who, we found out, owned several iconic Springfield restaurants over the years (including Ebbett’s Field from 1972-2002). We walked 1.2 miles together and I did it barefoot. Around the 0.9 mile mark a large pebble dug into the back of my right heel. I howled like a wounded dog. It hurt like crazy. No blood, but my heel has been sore ever since. After some rest time and ice, I ran 8 miles that afternoon in my Ghost Max shoes (my third run in them overall). My goal was to focus on my cadence and my landing, specifically toe striking. Any time I’ve tried to focus on running mechanics for a long run in the past, my focus starts to diminish after mile 4. To combat this, I tried listening to a playlist of only nine songs all from the same album (State Champs, self-titled album from last year if you’re curious). Cody Ko said in his training that listening to the same song on repeat helps in get into the “flow” state. I wasn’t sure if I could handle that much repetition.

    Here are my cadence charts from my last two runs of similar length.

    Cadence chart from my 7 miles on Friday 7/10.
    Cadence chart from my 8 miles on Sunday 7/13.

    I attached these two cadence charts to show what I noticed on Sunday. Turns out, I was able to focus on my mechanics quite well on this run. When compared to Friday’s run, you can see I was much more consistent throughout the run. Based on the chart, the difference in cadence between the first few minutes of mile 1 and the final moments of mile 8 was minimal. Compare that to the Friday run and the difference is definitely noticeable. For starters, because I was heel-striking, I was able to start at a much higher cadence in the beginning of the run because I wasn’t doing anything outside of my comfort zone. And the drop off in cadence illustrates the deeper point here: if I don’t focus on running economy or my mechanics consistently throughout a run, I can keep a good cadence for a time but once fatigue sets in, I revert to bad habits quickly and I lengthen my stride to make up for the lower cadence. The more I focused on good mechanics and running economy, the shorter my stride and therefore, a higher, more consistent cadence.

    Are you sick of reading the word “cadence” yet?

    So what does all that mean? I have only been running for a couple years now so I’m not an expert but one thing that I’m hoping it means is that I’m improving my chances to stay healthy and prevent injury. Each step I take is a tremendous amount of force on my body (I’ve read from smart people in the running world that your lower body sustains 2-3 times your bodyweight of force when you run). Higher cadence means less stress on my soft tissue and my joints. Being less “bouncy” (vertical oscillation) with each stride will help keep me in good running shape as I age. That’s the goal with all this. I don’t want to enjoy running just long enough for my body to fail me. An older friend of mine quoted his physical therapist a few weeks back, “running is the best thing you can do for your cardiovascular health, and the worst thing you can do for your soft tissue and joints.” I don’t know if he’s right. But I’d like to prove him wrong by running well into my 70s.

    The question I’m asking myself is, “so what’s the plan now?” I don’t know the answer yet. I know a couple things for a fact: I loved barefoot running and I think I can incorporate it into my weeks to allow myself more “fun” training since I’m now fast approaching the dog days of my marathon block. I also know that I’m too close to my race to realistically become a full time barefoot runner or run the race in minimalist shoes. Maybe that’s where my training will lead me some day, but for now I’m going to have to stick with what’s got me here. If running shoes have led to increased injuries in the last 50 years, I’m sure that reversing course and attempting to run a full marathon barefoot with only 5 months to go can cause injuries at an even higher rate.

    Here’s the third thing I know.

    I want to run for the rest of my life. I don’t know if there’s running in heaven but if there is, I want to run there too. That feeling I had running barefoot on Saturday, I’m going to chase that feeling for a long time. I thank God for healthy legs when I’m out for a run. I probably don’t thank Him enough but writing this blog has really helped me meditate on how lucky I am, how lucky we are, to learn what it means to endure. The sweat is worth it.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 27

    7/7

    I ran 10 miles on Saturday. We had a great 4th of July weekend with family and I was thankful for the time to run, despite the oppressive heat. The run was really challenging but I kept my nutrition dialed in for it so despite the exhaustion, the chia seed pouch gave me a much needed boost at mile 5. I finished the run with a mild strain on my right ankle, just below my calf. I’ve watched enough NBA basketball to be a bit worried about the possibility of an achilles injury so I took Sunday off and did some cross training with my Dad. It’s possible that the issue is related to my shoes. I crossed the 400 mile mark in my Brooks Ghost 16s, the shoes I plan to race in. I bought the Ghost Max’s today to see if I like the extra cushioning better.

    I ran tonight, 4 miles at recovery pace (10:09/mi). I kept a zone 2 heart rate for most of the run (average 133 BPM). I wanted to see if the shoes were really the problem or not. As I sit here drinking my magnesium supplement, I feel fine. I don’t know if I really need to retire the shoes but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I’ll keep them for low mileage recovery days and walking.

    I ran 31 miles last week, that’s two weeks in a row above 30 miles. This week I’ll throttle down to 25 or so. The build phase of my training starts next week and I don’t want to be fatigued going into the most intense block of training.

    7/8

    I’ve been using ChatGPT for nutrition advice. I’m surprised by how effective it is at tracking macros for me and giving me estimates on caloric intake. It makes plenty of mistakes but it’s helpful. I’m trying to get down to 168 pounds (losing about 5 pounds). My theory is that it’ll help my running form and efficiency. Only problem: I love cookies and Andy’s frozen custard. We’ll see how much discipline I truly have.

    I have a 3 mile shakeout run tonight. It’s been raining off and on all day so it’s gonna be humid and miserable. Gotta learn to be thankful for these days and these runs. New shoes come in Thursday. I am giving my body some time off before a big threshold workout later this week. Still monitoring my calf. Garmin says my training readiness is at 97 today.

    7/9

    Well, I felt too good during the first half mile of my run to keep it low and slow. I ran the first half mile at 8:55 pace and ended up running a 5K at an average pace of 7:15/mi. My heart rate peaked in the 170s, average of 150 BPM. I missed my PR by 20 seconds so if I hadn’t run that first half mile at a warm up pace, I had a good chance at a PR. I’ll have another shot at it on July 19th at a race in Branson. I’m excited for that one. Some of my buddies from church are gonna run it together.

    I worked out with my Dad this morning. We did chest, back, hamstrings and glutes. 3 sets of pull-ups and jumping negatives, 4 sets of dumbbell bench press, 4 sets of trap-bar deadlifts, 4 sets of single-arm rows, 5 sets of dumbbell shrugs. I can tell I’m gonna be sore tomorrow. I’ve been impressed with him sticking with it. He told me he would do four workouts with me while in town and this was number three. We’ll do our last on Saturday before they leave town. He asked me about what it means to run “smooth” and I told him about how I’ve been working on increasing my cadence the last few weeks. We ran a bit together after the workout so I could show him what I was talking about. He bought Hoka Cliftons for walking last week but my hope is that he tries running a bit when he gets back home.

    I love working out in the morning but one thing I miss when I do that is my quiet time. I always feel more centered on God throughout the day when I spend that first 30-45 minutes of my day with Him. I’ve been thinking about how I can do both in the morning. Unfortunately, most of the ideas I’ve come up with involve me waking up at 5:30 AM. That would be a challenge. As a former night owl, the idea of going to bed at 10 PM was a foreign concept to me until a year ago. 5:30 AM would probably require a 9 PM bedtime.

    My parents came in to town to hang out for a couple weeks. Living many hours away from family with two kids at home has been a challenge so I’m thankful that both our parents both have the flexibility to visit us and help with the kids as often as they do. My wife and I are seeing F1 at Alamo tonight. It’s our first time going to an actual movie in theaters in at least a year and our second date night since my parents got here last week. I’m really thankful for the time we’ve gotten to spend alone together. I’m trying to keep my nutrition dialed in but I’ll tell ya, I’ve got a hankering for those loaded fries. I’ll let y’all know if I cave in or not.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 26

    7/2

    Last night I finished a 55 minute tempo workout. 10 min warm up, 2 x 15:00 @ 10k pace (7:35ish pace), 5 min recovery between, 10 min cool down. It felt great. I usually dread these speed workouts but I really enjoyed this one. Garmin wanted me to do a threshold workout (same structure but 6:50 pace) but I wanted to throttle back a bit and I think that’s why I actually enjoyed the workout. Total stats: 6.82 miles, 8:18 average pace, 147 average HR.

    I was drinking water in the kitchen after the workout when a thought crossed my mind: when you start something new, your mind has had days, weeks or months even to prepare for it. Your body, however, is still at the starting line. It’s important that you treat yourself with grace when taking on that new challenge. There’s almost always a gap between mental preparedness and physical ability. If there is no gap, it might be a sign that the goal isn’t high enough. Even if you think you’re ready, you may be shocked at your body’s inability to execute. That’s totally normal, it’s part of the process. But if you start with the expectation that you’ll be able to execute your plan perfectly the first time, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

    I remember installing my squat rack a few weeks back and staring at the pull-up bar. I decided that I was going to start doing pull-ups twice a week to strengthen my back. I began building out my workouts, assuming that I’d be able to do three sets of five pull-ups to start. And do you know what happened? I could barely squeak out three pull-ups on my first set before switching to jumping negatives. My mind was ready to do fifteen pull-ups. My body was not. I was really disappointed leaving the garage that night. But it’s a good reminder that if discipline is required to show up and train consistently, grace is required to keep us from burning out and giving up.

    7/3

    It’s a difficult thing to have grace for myself during the summer months. My pace slows, my VO2 max stagnates, all the metrics I use to measure whether I’m performing well or not seem to decrease this time of year. Obviously it’s heat related but still, it’s a mental hurdle for me. I ran a base run at 9:00 pace for 6 miles. That felt like a failure because I didn’t hit 8:40 like I wanted to. Was it a failure? No. I did what I needed to do for the workout. I was within the range I wanted to be in. But I find that when I put my faith and trust in the metrics instead of Jesus, it ends up being a losing battle. No matter how high I climb, there will always be someone above me. There will always be an athlete or a time goal or a distance PR to chase. I have two choices. Either I believe that God is sufficient to cover my weaknesses and I can choose to lean into His strength, or I can dwell on all my shortcomings and beat myself over the head with them until eventually, I decide it’s all futile and decide to retire the running shoes permanently.

    “A run doesn’t end when you stop, it ends when you don’t start again.” -Coach Bennett, Nike Run Club

    “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1

    The sin I’m choosing to lay down this week is the sin of pride, the sin of believing that my best is sufficient, the sin of believing that I ought to have no weaknesses for God to cover for me., the sin of believing I have no sin.

    The more I write in this blog the more I think back to Coach Bennett’s words in the early days of my running journey, back when I would run in the same old pair of sneakers I mowed my lawn in, those days before I ever spent a dollar on running equipment or knew what cadence was or cared about my vertical ratio.

    “This is about running, this is not about running.”

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 25

    Back Home

    6/20

    I don’t talk about my work much on here but I think there are a lot of valuable lessons that I’ve taken from work and applied to my training. I work as a sales manager and recruiter for the Academy of Hair Design, a beauty industry trade school. I love my work. I’ve been with the company since 2023. I had no idea that I’d be interested in or particularly good at sales, but I realized pretty early on that I had a natural talent for some skills that are pretty important in sales: mirroring, personality reading and awareness, a good memory, and persistence.

    I’ve got two medium distance runs back to back: 7 miles tonight, 10 miles tomorrow. I’ll update this on how I feel after my longer run tomorrow.

    6/21

    Here are the stats on last night’s run: 7.02 miles, 10 min per mile pace. 144 BPM heart rate. I called my buddy Colin to catch up on life during this one. It’s challenging but talking with friends while running is (almost) always a welcome interruption to the usual routine. I’ve been trying to improve my cadence so speed hasn’t been a high priority lately.

    6/21

    I just finished 9.4 miles this morning. It’s incredibly hot today and I needed to keep it low and slow. I set out my electrolyte water for the halfway point of this one and I’m glad I did. I started this run at 10:15 AM and by the time I finished, my water was mostly warm. Pretty wild. I ran this one similar to yesterday: 10:01 pace, 148 BPM. Garmin estimates I burned 1,200 calories which is crazy because that’s almost what I burn during a half marathon race.

    The heat this summer is no joke but I’m thankful for the opportunity to challenge myself in new ways. I know the short dark days of winter will be here before I can blink. I’ll be running in 15 degree weather looking back fondly on this summer. I’m trying to be thankful in the moment even though these runs are an absolute slog to get through sometimes.

    6/24

    Seeing myself improve in so many areas: strength, mental toughness, endurance, quantifiable running metrics, PRs for distance and time have all played a huge role in improving my mental health over the years. My wife and I used to joke that I was the pessimist and she was the optimistic realist in the early days of dating. That has totally changed for me in the two years since I began this journey. I still probably err on the side of pessimism, but I see the world through an entirely different lens now. I think the physical activity, increase in time in daylight, and discipline required to train during weird hours with kids at home has all caused me to see the world differently. The lows aren’t as low and I am more in tune with my body than at any other time in my life. I know when I’m craving a run, I know when my mental health is being positively or negatively affected by my amount of time being active.

    6/26

    Running is very hard in the summer but I think about what it means to love something. Sometimes that means doing it even when it doesn’t love you back. That’s what I’m reminded of when I’m wiping my sweat-soaked face with my sweat-soaked shirt on hot days like this. Running requires almost nothing from us, other than willingness. But on the hard days, it requires persistence.

    Persistence. If that doesn’t sound like summer running, I don’t know what does.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 24

    Elevation Pain

    6/13

    We have a family reunion in Santa Fe, New Mexico this weekend. Elevation: 7,190 feet. I have never ran at elevation. On Saturday I’m going to give it a shot. I’ll let you know how it goes. I want to run long(ish) and see how my body holds up. Main fears: hydration and heart rate. Gonna try to keep it at a 3-4 RPE.

    “People don’t change until the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change” -Tony Robbins -Papa

    I spent most of my lift thinking my grandpa made that up but I just googled it and apparently it’s Tony Robbins. It’s a bit convoluted, but I think about that quote a lot.

    Okay back from my run. That was brutal. The neighborhood wasn’t ideal for running so we had to loop around a few times and I needed to run by the house to get a quick sip of water twice. 7.21 miles, average pace 9:56/mi, average HR: 140 BPM (peaked at 161 BPM). My VO2 Max estimate dropped from 56 ml/kg/min to 52 ml/kg/min. I knew it would drop but I didn’t expect it to be that drastic. This was a hilariously difficult run. I ran out of breath almost immediately. At one point I was running uphill and my watch showed a current pace of 11:20/mi. I don’t know how some people do it day in and day out but the benefits are obvious. If I trained at that elevation for 2 months and then raced in Springfield I’d PR most distances.

    6/16

    I only ran 20 miles last week, the perfect way to get back into the swing of things. But I want to talk about our family reunion, more than the training. It’s been on my mind since we got back on Sunday night.

    The travel was a pain in the ass, there’s no two ways about it. Traveling with a 2 year old and a 3 month old isn’t for the faint of heart. We had a great time though. The moment we landed in Albuquerque and Joy saw her grandma, she screamed and ran to her arms. It made the whole painstaking process of getting there worth it. I missed our last reunion in 2017 so I hadn’t seen many of these extended family members in 15 years. I got to catch up with Florencia, Isabella and Nicole about running and their experiences running ultra-marathons. I talked with my Dad’s cousin Tim about his videography. I shook Uncle Eloy’s hand while he looked me up and down saying, “shiiit,” and laughed about how long it had been. I got to reacquaint myself with Chris, Reyna, Lucretia, Luanna, and countless others. I’m realizing now as I get older how lucky I am to have a big family. This was a “small” reunion for us and we had 50 people show up! It was cool to see so many different generations celebrating just being together. As Lane and I celebrate 4 years of marriage this month, this reunion was a great reminder of why it’s important to put in the time with family, even if it’s inconvenient.

    6/18

    This week I’m going to up the mileage to 25 miles. I’ve only run 8.6 so far but I was craving a long Saturday run anyway. I have been working on my cadence to reduce injury risk. My watch tells me I usually run at about 165 steps per minute. I did 5 miles this morning at 182 steps per minute. It required a lot of mental energy to keep that cadence but it felt great and seemed to work different muscles in my legs. I’m curious what recovery will look like if I keep this up.

    Keep Going!