Carter Snow
Age: 28
Race: Half Marathon
Goal: sub 1:09

Blog 1: Big Diesel Engine
Blog 2: Do You Run Marathons?

Carter is the fast guy on the team. He's the guy we get to beat up on all during base training and on all of our long runs just so we can say we've got something on him because once we get to the track for anything fast we're toast. In fact we much prefer to watch Carter's track workouts as opposed to participating in them. He also has a great last name which lends itseld to the nickname "Snowman." The nickname "Snowman" also means the opportunity for a Snowman tattoo which we think would be awesome but his girlfriend disagrees. We'll keep you posted!


Do You Run Marathons?

10.22.09 (3.5 weeks out)

When people find out I’m a runner (not hard to do, I’m 6’2” and 157 pounds) they always ask two things; “How fast is your mile?” and recently, more frequently, “do you run marathons?”.  I have a halfway respectable answer for the first question but when I tell people I’m not a marathoner I feel as if I’m written off as some quasi sprinter who only jogs a couple miles a day.  In the words of the late Mr. Dangerfield “No respect”. So why do marathoners gain so much respect? Well I’m learning that it takes an incredible amount of dedication to put in the hard work required to run 26.2 miles at any pace much less the ridiculous time required to qualify for Boston or the Olympic trials. Day in day out high mileage, being constantly conscientious of recovering, and doing the little things are just a few of the qualities that the Big River team has impressed me by demonstrating. It has been a motivational and inspiring training segment watching my Big River teammates getting ready for San Antonio (yes….even you Lyons). Their hard work and dedication deserves every bit of respect.

Oh and half marathoners work hard too.

Monday: pm 7 miles up/ Drills with 6 fast strides/ 1 mile down

Tuesday: am. 4 miles easy // pm. 8 miles with Lyons

Wednesday: 3 up/ 8x800 / 4 down

Thursday: am. 4 easy // pm. 8

Friday: pm. 9 with Lyons + core

Saturday: am. 8 miles easy with 4 fast strides, get ready for race.

Sunday: am 2.5 up/ GO! STL Halloween 10K (pr. 32.11)/3 down // pm. 7 easy with Ben and Lyons

Weekly Total: 80 miles 

Carter 

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Big Diesel Engine:

9.30.09 (7 weeks out)

The last couple months have been a little frustrating, but hey welcome to the fall for a track guy.  I have been slowly building my mileage up for the last couple years and this fall I’m hitting lifetime high mileage weeks. The goal is to get a big base for the indoor and outdoor track season, and hey why not run a half marathon in the process. The first month of this training segment I felt like I might be going backwards in fitness level. Everything seemed hard, workouts, drills, even “easy” runs with Lyons  (note: Lyons prefers about a 6.15 pace on easy runs……. be wary if he calls you for a jog). It is tough to see all of your teammates getting very fit and yourself not follow that same progression.
Maybe this is where being an older runner pays off. Instead of backing all the way down or worse yet training harder I Just backed off the intensity a little bit. Some days that meant rolling off the first mile in the morning in about 9 minutes.  The good news…… things are starting to come around. My body has started to recover from the day to day miles and I think I’m making some progress. I’m fired up about how fit everyone in the training group is getting and I’m looking forward to getting a true test of fitness this weekend at the “Gary Stoner Invite” a cross country meet at my alma mater.  First up 25x400 tonight………… a long and steady grind.  As Paul Sherwin the Tour de France sportscaster likes to say “fire up the big diesel engine”.

Carter

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