February 13, 2009 by gregshore.

Worked out with one of my athletes who is training for the Cooper River Bridge Run. She is much faster than I am so I struggled to do half of what she did. This was our workout.

• Quick Skips - Almost like a hurdle drill. Fast feet and then kick out the leg with a skipping motion.
• Butt Kicks - Bring the leg up into a 4 shape with the thigh parallel to the deck rather than perpendicular to the deck
• High Knees - forward, right, and left
• 2-stairs - take the stairs two at a time and don’t use the rail to pull yourself up. Fast, even rhythm on the way down
• Tuck Jumps - Started with six. We’ll move to 10.
• One-legged Hops - She did these much easier than I did.
• Bounding
• Step-ups
• Wall Ball - Bend into a squat position and toss a medicine ball up onto the wall with the explosive power from the legs.

2 circuits. We ran a 1/2 mile warm-up and 1/2 mile cool down and ran from exercise to exercise.

Posted in Drills, Coaching, Running | No Comments »

September 26, 2008 by gregshore.

This week has been a little different. Saturday I had a problem with my calf and decided to curtail the running and to see the doctor. I did Boot Camp on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and bailed on the group runs. I either stayed with those who couldn’t stay with the group or did an ab workout. On Thursday, after our group run, the beginner class worked out with Ultimate Boot Camp. For many, it was intimidating, for others it was shocking. For all, it was eye opening. Some felt overwhelmed - others gained confidence. Amazing to me is the range of reactions.

I ended up in doctor’s office on Thursday morning and finally got to actually meet the doctor more than an hour after my scheduled appointment. Whereas, I’m still not happy about wasting my time, I’m really glad I got in to see him. The diagnoses was that I had a sore soleus (calf muscle) probably caused by the dehydration I had suffered on my longer runs. Coupled with dehydration is also the use of Zocor which can cause problems that are coupled with the dehydration. He told to ice and stretch 3x a day and to take 600 mg of ibuprofen 3x a day. I’m not a big fan of anti-inflammatories but the doc is also a runner and understand my desire to get to the start line healthy. He said to continue the training but if I needed to back off on the mileage to do it with the shorter runs during the week and to continue with the long runs.

So, I jumped right back in on Thursday afternoon and resumed the training. Steve and I ran 8 helf-mile intervals at marathon race pace (11 min/mile) with a one lap recovery in between, a total of 5.17 miles. I felt great afterwards and had no pain in my soleus.

Weigh in last night - 230, down 1.2

Posted in Healthy Charleston Challenge, Medical Issues, Weigh In, Boot Camp, Running | 1 Comment »

July 21, 2008 by gregshore.

Oh, gosh, that really does sound gross, doesn’t it. Today, Class, we’re speaking of body fluids and nakedness, so if it bothers you, go somewhere else. It’s my blog and I’m staying here.

Last week, during a 12-mile run, I ran into some serious problems because I was not well hydrated. I was probably either on the brink of heat exhaustion or may have even crossed over the line. That’s a problem not only for that run but for all future runs. If you end up with a severe instance of your body adversely reacting to the heat - either heat exhaustion, or more seriously - heat stroke - you are more susceptible to heat illness in the future. So you need to do everything you can combat that without going into hyponatremia.

The sweat test is part of the arsenal of tools to combat dehydration. Plan a run of 60 minutes in the conditions in which you normally train. For me, it’s high humidity and temps in the high 70s. Weigh yourself with no clothes on just before running. Use a scale that is accurate to at least a tenth of a pound, prefereably accurate to the ounce. When you get back from your run, strip down and dry yourself completely before stepping on the scale. Your weight loss in ounces is the amount of liquid ounces you lost during the hour run.

For me - this morning I ran for 56 minutes and lost 4.0 lbs. That’s 64 ounces. No wonder I had such a problem last week - I only consumed 24 ounces in the first 90 minutes and then went for another 90 minutes with no additional fluids. I already knew what I did this time didn’t work and that what I did last year mostly did work. Now I know if I’m running for more than an hour that I need to consume 64 ounces every hour. That’s a lot more than the Fuel Belt carries. I may resort to a Camelback or use some other plan. Bottom line is - I need a better plan next time.

Posted in Coaching, Medical Issues, Links, Running | 3 Comments »

July 20, 2008 by gregshore.

I spent the last two days attending a coaching certification class put on by the Road Runners Club of America (www.rrca.org). A lot of really good information. Compared to the things I’ve been doing, I am more conservative in the amount of mileage whereas what they taught is more consrvative in terms of pace. Will I radically restructure my training as I prepare for the Marine Corps Marathon? No, probably not. Will I change what I do? Absolutely - part of my conservative approach is because I want to get to the start line healthy. However, in talking and learning, I’ve learned that I can add some more miles each week, especially if I start counting Boot Camp miles. If I add  the miles, I also need to slow down the pace of some of my runs.

Why would I take such a class? I have found in working with others is that they look to me for advice about their running. These are people that know that I only start training  and working out two years ago. And yet, for some reason, they trust my advice. I want to always give good advice and I feel like this class has given me a huge bump in knowledge that I would not have gained on my own. It has also tapped me into a network of other coaches with whom I can ask advice and refer people to if they are beyond my level of knowledge.

Posted in Coaching, Thoughts, Running | No Comments »

June 6, 2008 by gregshore.

Worked out with TBC this morning. We ran a one mile warm up and the n spent some time stretching. Each person had decided what time they wanted to complete the 5K on Saturday. We broke that down into 1 lap times and 1/2 lap times. We ran six full laps with with a 1/2 lap break with each person trying to hit their pace  exactly. Everyone started out too fast and some even continued too fast. The more experienced a person was in running longer distances, the better they were at holding their pace steady.

Then we did rabbit laps. The slowest person started and then each person started after them, at an interval determined by their goal pace. The goal was for everybody to cross the finish line at the same time as the lead person. We did four of those. Only on the last one did it work well because it was only on the last one that the rabbit held her pace steady. Other rabbits were too fast. 

Posted in Running, Greg's Runs | 1 Comment »

May 6, 2008 by gregshore.

Yesterday morning I seemed to be fine. Good workout at a Boot Camp though I was clearly still recovering from Saturday’s race. Yesterday afternoon I got up from my desk and the stiffness and pain in my back would not go away. I ended bagging my run yesterday afternoon. Took a couple of Tylenol PM and hit the hay by 9.

Woke up this morning and seemed to be relatively pain free until I actually got out of the bed. It seems to be a very localized pain in the left buttocks (piriformis muscle?). There seems to be a knot I can feel in my lower back. Doing a stretch like this one on the Rice University website seemed to effect the pain the most - it didn’t really relieve it - that just helped me really localize it.

Posted in Medical Issues, Running | No Comments »

April 26, 2008 by gregshore.

At the Riverdogs game after the race:

Well, I see it like this, Greg. You can run faster and farther than me because you train to do it. And you train to run because you like to run. Me - I like drinking beer. So, I train to drink beer. And being able to sit here and enjoy several beers during the game is because I’ve trained myself to drink beer, just like you’ve trained yourself to run long miles.

~Fitty Lub

Posted in Thoughts, Quotes, Running | 1 Comment »

October 22, 2007 by gregshore.

No, I didn’t run the marathon but my training partners, Adam and Laura, did. Laura and I were supposed to run the Marine Corps Marathon - Adam didn’t sign up in time - so when I had to bail she decided to continue training and  run with Adam. They finished in around 5.13. It was the first marathon for Adam. They called me as soon as they got back to the hotel - I was very excited for them.

Yesterday as I was driving to work, I crossed the Cooper River Bridge and saw all of the people out running and my heart hurt. A year ago, I never would have thought that I would have been jealous of people running over the bridge and would have been upset because I had friends out of town running a marathon?

Posted in Thoughts, Running | 1 Comment »

September 7, 2007 by gregshore.

Yes, this is about an experience in Las Vegas - about running.

This morning I ran down the Strip and then back to the hotel for about 4 miles. I love to talk to the Lord while I’m running and think. I figured if I ran on the Strip, I would be too distracted and originally planned on running in the opposite direction. Well, the Lord had different plans and told me to run to the right.

The first thing I noticed is that there are places where the city of Las Vegas has made it very safe for pedestrians to get around. My problem was I didn’t notice where those places were until I was running in the street and having a CBDR (constant bearing - decreasing range) encounter with a stretch Escalade. It was at that moment that I also realized how much heat the streets here retain overnight - I had to jump in the grass on the side of the rode and immediately noticed how much cooler it was in the grass then on the road or sidewalk.

Then I began to notice that the people on the streets aren’t nearly as friendly as people at home. I passed probably a dozen runners and only one returned my friendly 5:30 in the morning in the morning “Hello.” At home, even if they’re out of breath, the local runners at least raise their hand in greeting. I said hello to everyone on the street and even the two drunks in front of the Bellagio looked at me as if I was about to commit murder. Two prostitutes (or at least I think that might have been their profession - I didn’t ask) did return my greeting with a tired smile. I think they knew that the greeting was genuine.

There was only one group that consistently said “Good Morning” in response to my greeting - the street cleaners. As you can imagine, with so many people on the street having a good time each night, that the sidewalks get trashed. They smell of stale beer and stale people and garbage. Early each morning, the resorts on the strip send out their small armies of people to clean all the trash and to sweep and wash the sidewalks in front of their property. By and large, it is the immigrant community who has those jobs and most of them seemed to be from Southeast Asia.

Almost amazing and fits in so well with what Simon talked about at St. Andrew’s this past week. Here were people who have almost nothing and gave up what little they had to follow a dream. And they take a job cleaning up after others in Sin City.

God sent me down The Strip to see that. I didn’t feel bad for the drunks or gambling addicts or prostitutes I saw. I didn’t feel bad for the people cleaning the streets.  God sent me to see the street cleaners and remind me that they, too,  are loved by God.

Posted in Thoughts, Running | No Comments »

August 3, 2007 by gregshore.

What a great day to run. I woke up early - I thought my alarm was set for 6:30 because that’s where it’s been since Sunday but I forgot I changed it to get up for our flight yesterday morning. So I was up at 5 am and got dressed to run. Checked the watch as I went out the door and saw it was 5:20.

London is a great place to run. I ran through Hyde Park - it’s only two blocks from my hotel. From there I went on to St. James Park and then waved to the queen as I went by Buckingham Palace. I was a bit surprised to see so many tourists so early in the morning and then I realized they were all extras for some film or television show being shot. My final clue that this was so was seeing two of the palace guards walking with their wives/girlfriends sans bearskin hat and smoking cigarettes. The Brits do things differently but I can’t imagine that it’s ok for a soldier here to smoke in public in a ceremonial uniform.

After circling the palace, I headed back through St. James Park to Hyde Park. I could have continued but I do want to run a 10K race tomorrow. The manager here at the Darlington Hotel Hyde Park was kind enough to grant me a late check out on Saturday so that I can clean up afterwards.

In Uganda I felt a bit cut off in not being able to run during the week. I thoroughly enjoyed our run on Sunday and yes, my shoes are still red from pounding the roads there - I think they will always be.

Posted in Running, Greg's Runs | No Comments »