Brad Lowery 's Journal

April 19, 2008 (Posted April 23, 2008)

I have talked about running the steeplechase for about eight years and have never run one. Every season I have said I was going to try it out but would find some excuse to stick with running the 1500.

Last summer I brought up the idea to Dennis of trying the steeplechase. At first he was a little skeptical considering I hadn’t run it at all in college. But over time he agreed that it could be a pretty good event for me, and this spring that is where I am going to try and put my focus.

The first weekend in April I broke my streak of talking myself out of running this event and debuted in the steeplechase at the Hamline Invitational here in the Twin Cities on April 5. It was questionable if the weather would cooperate as we had a snowstorm the Monday before the race. I did my only workout over hurdles on the indoor track. But we lucked out because it was 60 degrees and mild winds.

The plan was to run 70-second laps for as long as I could. I didn’t do that. I tried going out at what I thought was an easy pace, but with no water jump or barriers the first 200 meters, a quick pace for the steeple feels pretty easy. I came through the 400 in 64 and I knew I was going to be in trouble. I decided I would just go with it and see what happens, which was probably even dumber than going out at world record pace.

My pace quickly slowed and the last mile I was left just hanging on as I started stepping the barriers the last 800 meters to avoid any disasters. I finished with a debut time of 9:01.71. Not what I was hoping for but with the way I ran the race I am satisfied with the result and look forward to running another steeple in a couple weeks. My hurdling continues to improve and I feel pretty efficient going over the hurdles during workouts.

I am running the mile at the Drake Relays this weekend (April 26). It will be my first trip back to Drake since I graduated from college. During my last year there in 2005 I won the 1500 meters and 5000 meters. Along with a DMR victory a previous year, I have three watches. The field will be tough but I am going back looking for my fourth.

February 21, 2008 (Posted February 25, 2008)

Well I don’t really have anything new to report. No races or changes in training, which is a good thing since things were going well before and continue to go well. So for this entry I figured I would run down how a day plays out for me. Now I could have chosen last Sunday, but I figured sleeping in until ten, running at one, and spending the rest of the day on the couch would not have been too interesting (not that this will be).

All right here we go.
8:03 a.m. my alarm clock is playing the latest tune by Matt Costa as I roll out of bed to turn it off. Stumbling across my room I lay back into bed until I can put together some rational thoughts. After checking my email and the weather I bundle up for a morning jog in what weather.com says will be the last bitter morning run for a few days. 5 ½ miles later I am back and after a quick check on the Internet for any urgent updates, I enjoy a nice breakfast of Corn Pops, a banana, and orange juice.

It is now 10 a.m. and you know what that means, The Price is Right. Drew Carey is starting to grow on me, but nobody will ever compare to Bob. Pretty good show today. Two people got the dollar on the wheel, but they didn’t play That’s Too Much so that was a little disappointing. After a quick check to the Internet I fell asleep watching the HGTV channel (daytime TV is not that good). After about an hour I woke up to my phone ringing. Good thing because I think I could have kept sleeping for a few more hours, not ideal before I workout.

I should explain that this day is different than most days of the week. I work at TC Running Company, a local running store, typically either working 10-3 if I have a workout in the afternoon or 2-8 if I am just running easy. But Thursdays I have had off so one workout a week I don’t have to work on that day. I have enjoyed this day so far.

A turkey sandwich, Pringles, and two episodes of Curb your Enthusiasm later it is time to pack up to head into practice. I’m living out in the ‘burbs at the moment so I have about a 30 minute drive into practice. It’s a small group today, just Carrie and I for the warmup. The workout for the day was 3 or 4 x 1600 meters with 3 minutes rest. Everything felt fine on the warm-up and it seems like I was recovered from the 8-mile tempo run on Tuesday. My splits were 4:31, 4:30, 4:31, and 4:30. A good day. Afterwards Carrie and I finished up with some drills: high knees, butt kick, karaoke, quick feet, lateral, B step, B skip, and some walking hurdle drills. Before I drove home I took in a Power bar and some Endurox. I picked up Chipotle on the way home for dinner.

After checking the Internet one last time for the day, it probably would have been good to call it a day and get ready for bed but I could not pass up dollar games and dollar beers at Brunswick Lanes. It was a solid night 169, 171, 175, and 135. No turkeys though, a little disappointing.

January 21, 2008 (Posted January 23, 2008)

I am now at six weeks post-op and things could not be going better. Here is a recap of how my recovery progressed:

• Four days post-op - I started physical therapy. The main exercises were to strengthen the muscles around my knee (front and side leg raises, calf raises, step ups and step downs).
• Seven days - I started on the stationary bike, just spinning, and no resistance for 10 minutes.
• 10 days – Added in running on an elliptical and biking with resistance. I was actually able to work up a sweat finally.
• Two weeks – first run, 35 minutes no pain. Was told afterwards that it was probably a little too much, but I came out of it fine so we are ok.
• Three weeks – Started running everyday - before was running every other day and cycling on the off days.

I have now been running solid for four weeks and have had no problems with my knee. Last week, instead of starting up on workouts right away Dennis decided it would be better to continue to progress with increasing my mileage and just running how I felt. If I felt good I could go hard or add in some fartleks at the end of a run.

It went well and I started back up with regular workouts this week. The first workout was some threshold miles; I did six, all at about 4:55. I think the general consensus was it was good to be back.

It is amazing how much better I feel after having the surgery. Last fall, even when I wasn’t noticing my knee, my whole body would just ache. The minute I would start running my joints and back would start to hurt and it would be a struggle the entire run.

I was trying not to think much of it at the time and told myself once I had a few more weeks of running under my belt it would go away. It is definitely fair to say the meniscus tear had a lot to do with it. Even with the quick recovery back I am going to stick with the plan to skip indoors and have a nice long build up into the outdoor season.

December 13, 2007 (Posted December 17, 2007)

Earlier this week I had a partial meniscectomy done on my left knee to remove two tears I had in my meniscus. The surgery went very well and I was able to walk out of the hospital with surprisingly little pain. I’ve been icing my knee almost constantly to bring down the inflammation and doing a couple of different exercises to maintain flexibility and muscle strength.

I am not sure when this exactly happened. In August, my knee would lock on me sometimes when I would do a deep squat, but once I popped it straight again it did not bother me and didn’t hurt my running. In October, I started having sharp pains when I was running. I took some time easy and the pain subsided enough to where I thought I could resume training. A couple weeks later the pain was back and we decided to have an MRI, which clearly showed I had a tear.

Recovery is supposed to be fairly quick. I should be able to run again in the next couple of weeks. From there I will build up slowly and should be ready to go for the outdoor season.

In the meantime I am looking forward to heading back to South Dakota for the holidays. It will be a busy trip, going to both of my grandma’s and home, but it will be nice to see everyone. I am especially looking forward to seeing my 3-month-old nephew, Daschle, and my 1½ year old niece BreAnna. They have been a fun addition to the family.

Happy holidays!

October 14, 2007 (Posted October 16, 2007)

It’s been four weeks since I ended my summer racing season at the USA 5KChampionships, a race I now wish I would not have run. I’ll get to that in a minute but first, let’s back track to the Falmouth Mile where I finished third.

Workouts were going pretty good leading into the race and I felt I had a good chance to break 4:00 if the race played out right. It got out well but the pace was pretty quick and I let myself drift back to second to last on the first lap still coming through the quarter just under 60 seconds. The quick pace spread everyone out into a single file line and on the second lap I started making my way towards the front. On the homestretch, I was in fourth place as the rabbit moved out to let us by. At that moment, I felt like everyone let up not wanting to take the pace so I went ahead and took the lead.

By the time we were on the backstretch, I realized I was now Solinsky and Riley’s rabbit. They were both sitting right on my shoulder but I did put a gap on the rest of the field. At the bell, they both blew by me and I had nothing to respond. Rod Koborsi passed me with 200 to go but I was able to gather myself for a decent finish and passed him back for third place. Everyone I talked to about the race said I could have won if I didn’t take the lead, but I am pretty sure I would not have been able to close in a 57 like Riley regardless of leading a lap or not [Editor’s Note: Lowery finished with a time of 4:02.54].

I took the next week pretty easy to recover from my attempt to race the Falmouth seven-mile road race the next day, which beat my body up pretty good. The following week, I had a couple of solid workouts and it looked like I was on the right track. But about three weeks out from the 5k championships, I started to feel pretty bad on every run and workout. I was not able to recover between sets and would have to end the session early. Even when we scaled back the workout I would have to stop early.

I started taking a little more time between sets and it seemed to help a little bit. I was starting to feel positive about things coming around in time for the race. The week before the 5K championships, I won the Minnesota Mile Duluth in 4:08. It was nice to win but really it was pretty slow considering the course was flat to downhill the whole way.

At the 5K champs, my race was over by the first mile. I was already gapped by the lead pack and the odds of me feeling better in the next two miles were pretty slim. At half way I wanted to just drop out but didn’t because I hated myself the last time I did it. Obviously when you start thinking that way, there is no chance to finish well. I survived to the finish and sulked for a little while trying to figure out what happened over the last month. I have concluded that the year got a little too long and I probably should have taken a break after Falmouth and called it a year.

I have taken my much needed break, ate some banana cream pie and Swiss cake rolls and am now ready to start up workouts again tomorrow. No races in the near future. I probably won’t race until Indoors.

July 31, 2007 (Posted August 7, 2007)

So it has been awhile since my last journal entry as usual. I’ll give everyone a quick update about what I have been up to since the last posting. I was injured for the entire month of March with an inflamed IT band. Once I was able to run again things started coming around quicker than I thought and my first race back I ran 13:52 for 5000 meters– a new PR.

I was not able to qualify for the USA Outdoor Champs so I have turned my attention mainly to the roads for the rest of the summer. My times so far have not been anything to write home about, but I did win a few races and I am happy with the way things are progressing. I am looking forward to the last months of racing this summer.

Next up I am racing the Falmouth Mile on August 11 which is held the night before the big boy’s race – the 7 miler. I am excited about having another chance to race on the track and hopefully I can set a PR and maybe dip under the magical four-minute barrier. After that there are a couple races in Minnesota I am going to do in preparation for the USA 5k Championships in September.

Here’s a sample training week from this last month:

Monday – a.m. 60 min easy in Hyland Park; p.m. 35 min easy from TC Running (where I work), 6 x strides

Tuesday – a.m. 5 x 1000m R: 2 min (2:44, 44, 43, 44, 38). Lifted

Wednesday – a.m. 60 min easy in Hyland Park; p.m. 35 min easy from TC Running, 6 x strides

Thursday – a.m. 24 x hill sprints

Friday – a.m. 50 min easy in Hyland Park

Saturday – a.m. 1 hr 30 min in Stillwater

Sunday – a.m. 50 min on Minnesota River Trail

Mileage total: 74 miles in 9 runs

January 31, 2007 (Posted February 2, 2007)

I’m one of the people on the team who gets to hold down the fort here in the frigid north during January, while five members of the Team USA Minnesota group are off gallivanting around Arizona.

The University of Minnesota’s indoor track has been good to me so far this winter. I am very happy with the track workouts I have done. It’s been nice to be doing nearly every stride of the workout with Ryan, except the last lap of a workout when Ryan likes to demonstrate his superior leg speed (I have not yet conceded this title to him though).

In January I put in 108, 112, 95 and 85 miles a week. I had a day off last week to nurse a sore hamstring; it seemed to do the trick as I am feeling good at the moment.

Two weeks ago I raced the mile at the Jack Johnson Invite at the University of Minnesota. I won with a new indoor PR of 4:03.47. I am satisfied with the effort, even though my last 200 was a 33. It was good way to open up the track season.

My next race will be this weekend (February 3) at the Meyo Invite at Notre Dame. I am running the 3K and hopefully I will take a nice chunk off my PR of 8:03.

Take care.

December 11, 2006 (Posted December 14, 2006)

Fall is definitely turning to winter here in Minneapolis.  One morning last week it was zero degrees when I was running and I am not quite ready for it to be that cold.  There is still no snow on the ground, but I don’t think that will last very long.

I traveled home to Pierre, South Dakota, for Thanksgiving to see my family before things get too busy with racing. It was good to see everyone. It’s not very often we are all together at the same time. On Thanksgiving morning, I joined the Pierre Running Club for the annual Turkey Trot. I saw a lot of old friends and was able to catch up on what everyone was doing. The first thing everyone would ask me is “How’s the running going?”, “When is your next race?”, or “Have you broken 4 minutes yet?”

It is nice to get the reminder that a lot of people in South Dakota still support me. I ran with Torry Zeller, a fellow Pierre T.F. Riggs High graduate. He has run a 2:25 marathon and is trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials. I always like to run with him a little when I am back home and catch up on how his training is going.

With winter moving in, I am starting to gear up for the indoor track season. Training is going very well. It is obviously slightly different than things I have done before, but the same basic principles are still there. Over the last month I (by I, I mean Ryan and I) have done some long tempo runs (9-10 miles). The longest I had done before is 6 miles. I can’t say I really enjoy doing them, but they should help me stay better focused when I am running longer races.

In the near future, we will add in speed sessions to switch over from our base phase to the indoor season. I’m looking forward to racing a few more times indoors than I did last year. Last year I had the attitude that I hated racing on the small tracks so I only did two races – one 3K to qualify for the indoor champs and then, the indoor champs. As it turns out, I probably was not ready to race and ended up having a pretty bad day at indoor champs. So this year I will race a more reasonable amount, probably about four races, and hopefully I can have a better showing this time around.

Now that I will be racing more frequently, I should be able to give updates more than once every three months. So check back in soon to see how things are going.

Have a great holiday season!

Introductory Entry/September 18, 2006 (Posted September 25, 2006)

I have moved three times in the last year and don’t plan on moving again any time soon. I graduated from SDSU (South Dakota State, not San Diego State like I heard for four years wearing the jersey) in December 2005. After spending Christmas with my family, I made the trek half way across the country to join the Big Sur Distance Project based near Monterey, Calif. I was there for only four months before I decided I needed to move back home. I don’t want to go into detail about why I left, but in short I wasn’t having fun and I felt I needed a different scene to succeed in running. So, I loaded up my Ford Taurus again with everything I own and drove back home.

Back in South Dakota, I tried coming back from an Achilles injury I suffered while in California to qualify for the U.S. Outdoor Championships. But, I was too upset with how things ended so quickly with BSDP that I never was able to really get back on track. I even dropped out of my last race of the track season, a mile in Nashville. That was the first time I have ever dropped out of a race. After that I knew I needed a break to refocus.

I had already talked with Coach Dennis Barker about joining Team USA Minnesota, but had to wait until August to see if I could. After two months of living at home, I needed to get out of my parents’ house so I loaded up my Taurus for the third and final time and moved to Minneapolis. The day after I arrived, I found out I could join the team and started training with them immediately. It was a great relief to know I could be on the team. Being able to train with the group of guys we have here and working with Dennis will help me a ton.

Running in Minneapolis is very good, running/bike paths galore, and also only a short drive to some superb trails. But the two best things about living here are Twins baseball and Chipotle - my favorite is the chicken burrito with both black and pinto beans. I am sure some of you are thinking, why is Chipotle special to Minneapolis, there is one just down my street? Well, I’m from South Dakota and we don’t have much there, so I am excited to be able to get my weekly burrito.

The CVS/pharmacy Downtown 5K held the USA 5K Championships last weekend in Providence. I ran 14:46 for 23rd place. I can’t say I am thrilled with the results, but I am also not going to look too far into it. I went out with the leaders for the first mile (4:27) and the pace felt pretty fast. By two miles I had fallen back to about 15 seconds off the lead, and continued to slow from there.

So, it’s back to some fall training. I will check back in with you soon, hopefully with some more exciting race results.