Recovery

Light drizzle and near 50F called for shorts this morning as I realize these days are definitely limited to a few. I had some heavy legs and I really took it easy on the foggy loop. Tomorrow will be another easy run but a little more volume.

Totals: 54:30 7.2 miles (easy)

Stamina Workout

This morning I had the option of a couple types of workouts to choose from and I chose the "stamina" workout. I figure that for this week, since my long run will be basic mileage I would benefit from this workout more than the other options. I had a decent morning to run, no rain, rather warm and light breeze present.

Once I warmed up for three miles I worked into the first repeat and noticed the wind was just a bit more than I thought and the second mile of the interval had some rolling hills. Very slight, but when you are doing pace workouts they seem to be greater than when just doing aerobic pace. I was pleasantly surprised to see the split and at the end of the workout I finished feeling quite happy yet pistol-whipped. Kind of a happy medium.

Here is how the workout looked:

3 mile warm up

3 X 2 miles at Tempo pace. (5:15-5:25)

splits: 11:00, 10:51, 10:57

*not quite the splits from the chart but that is all I could muster this morning and I feel like that is OK. My legs were a bit tired going into the workout and I am surprised I could hold the pace I did.

3 mile warm down.

Total: 12 miles

Down For The Count/ Mid-Week Wrap

Monday morning was my usual easy hour or so and I was feeling great. The way I felt was reassuring that I didn't press too hard on Sunday's long run. It was during the 31st minute and bam! Down I went. I had hit a broken piece of asphalt on Martin road and my ankle took one hell of a twist and because of the drop in the shoulder I went down for the count. My immediate reaction was, "oh shit! I broke my ankle." I didn't and really I have sprained my ankles much worse back in the high school basketball day's. After a minute or so of walking things calmed down and I was able to run and complete the loop. On Tuesday it was a bit stiff but it didn't hinder my running at all. Super!

Tuesday's medium distance took me out west on Skyline and back. My legs, hip flexors to be exact, and mid back were sore from yesterday's tumble. Man, it's starting to really hurt when I fall. Not like when you're twenty.

This morning I had a return of a bad case of heartburn and it caused me to cut the loop short. That's OK as it will provide a bit more recovery for tomorrow's workout.

Here is the skinny on the runs.

Monday: Martin road loop; 1:04:00 8.2 miles

Tuesday: Out and back Skyline 1:41:00 14 miles

Wednesday: Kenwood and Skyline; 57:11 7.5 miles

* reflux/heartburn am

End The Week Quick

The virus I had been battling most of the week was only brutal for a couple of days then it tapered off rather quickly which was nice. I remain to have extra "snot rockets" but that seems to be par for the virus.

I managed to keep running during the week but had to take the intensity down until today. I did my first "finish fast" long run. With these types of runs it is goal to finish the last 6-8 miles at goal marathon pace and to "practice" all the other extra race day items such as fluid intake, gels, shoes, etc... Today's run went as well as I had wished and actually I finished feeling like the effort was very easy. (kinda nice at this point)

Here is how the week finished out and the details of Sunday's long run:

Friday: Easy out and back on west Skyline and then added a loop in Rock hill.

1:14:10 10 miles

Saturday: Trails at the Porkies in Michigan with my wife Kari.

~54:00 6.5 miles

Sunday: Finish Fast Long Run

first 10 miles 1:11:46 (7:11 pace)

last 6 miles at MP

5:50,5:53*,5:45,5:47,5:51,5:48

total: 1:46:48 16 miles

* had to stop and get aide

Weeks Totals:68.2 miles

Years Totals: 2295.7 miles

Back At It!

The sickness got me and it forced me a day home on the couch. Ouch! I managed to kick it pretty quick and the last two days have gone well.

This morning I managed to nail a pretty decent Tempo workout and I was a bit concerned that I ran too hard too soon but so far today I have felt quite good. Tomorrow will be another easy hour or so and I am looking forward to the two weekend runs in Michigan.

51:31:1, 01T

Wednesday:

Easy loop in the rain: 54:32 7.3 miles

Thursday:

Tempo workout

~3 mile warm up

4.4 miles (23:28) Tempo

first 3.4 miles 5:22 pace, last mile 5:28

~3 mile warm down

10.4 miles 1:10:30

Bare Legs

I realized that the warmth is visiting for a short time, but it was nice to run in shorts once again. The morning temps were hovering around 48F and that was plenty for me. I still had to wear glove on the raynaud hands but that is OK.

My legs felt really good following yesterday's long run and I made the best of it. I ran the Pig's loop in reverse of what I usually do and then added a short loop in Rock Hill.

It looks like my running will be day by day until this cold has run its course. When I got home from work all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep until eternity but after a supper and chill time I am feeling very good again. Let's hope tomorrow morning I catch myself while I am feeling up and the run can go as planned.

Totals: 1:05:41 8 + miles

Long Trails and Sore Throat

I'm heading in for one hell of a "cold" if I get anything like my son and wife has had. I woke up this morning with one of those sore throats that just kills to swallow. I was thinking I had dodged a bullet and was not going to get sick. Wrong! Next will see how much this thing will effect my workouts. I know I can run with this but doing a true "workout" might be too much. I guess this is better to get sick now then sometime in the middle of November when I am getting in those last few important workouts.

After waking up a bit and drinking a cup of tea and downing a glass of water and Airborne I decided to give it a shot and hit the trails for whatever my body would let me. I was about three and a half miles into the run when I bumped into Jay Lee. He was heading in the direction I just came from but I didn't hesitate one bit to turn and join him for some much needed company. We continued to run with each other for another eight miles or so and then it was time for me to make a turn for the house. Most aspects were on today except my legs were a little fatigued from yesterday's track work. I had to reach for the emergency gel again at ninety minutes and I am very thankful I continue to carry such a thing. I timed the gels effectiveness and I was right at 16:00 and things were starting to feel pretty good once again. By the time I had got home I was definitely ready to be done. After a quick shower and a light meal the family made its way to Oulu, WI and walked for a hour in the corn maze looking for fifteen check points so we could return to the barn and claim Lucas' prize. (candy, of course) A great day in the northland. Now I just have to get rid of this cold.

Totals: 2:33:39 18.2 miles (slow and easy, one gel)

Weeks Totals: 70.3 miles (6 runs)

Years Totals: 2227.5 miles

The Return of YASSO

First I will catch up the rest of the week. It has a been a challenging week as far as fighting the virus's and bugs at work and home. Many of my work partners have been sick and in/out of work. My son has had a "head cold" since last weekend, and now my wife has joined him. I too had some form of virus that hit me like a locomotive on Wednesday mid day at work. I was overcome by extreme fatigue, headache, chills and that was enough for me to take an early exit out of work and home a couple of hours early and right to bed. I slept for two or three extra hours and by late evening the fever broke and I was already feeling better. Thursday I was feeling surprisingly better but out of caution I didn't run and in hind sight that was a good decision on my part. From a running standpoint I have been feeling very good. My legs recovered well from the long run last Sunday and I would have been ready for my workout on Thursday but put it off until this morning. Another good decision.

After some easy running yesterday on the roads and a small loop in Rock Hill I was ready to bust out the YASSO workout this morning. Truthfully told, I was not fired up this morning to do this workout since it was still 34F and a slight wind out on the track. After a nice warm up I made my way on to the track and did a few striders and stretches and worked into the first 800. This workout is such a mental challenge that you really have to keep pressing on and pay attention to how your body is actually responding, and not to listen to all the negative thoughts running through your mind. After the third repeat my initial thought was, "there is no way I can keep this up for seven more!" I quickly snuffed out those negative thoughts and told myself to focus on one repeat at a time and when my times start falling off by more than three seconds I will then consider ending the workout. Well, that never happened and I finished the workout very happy! I was fricken cold out there and my hands froze once again, and my low calves were getting pretty tight during the last three repeats so I finished out the day with a total of 8 repeats.

Here is the weeks summary and the YASSO summary as well.

Wednesday:

I did the Rice Lake Road loop and this time I didn't get zinged by any cars or trucks. Believe me, I was looking for one truck in particular and was ready to jump the curb if needed. Good thing, I didn't to worry about that. I may delete this run from my routine since they made the "bike" lane so narrow. Half of what is once was. Duluth doesn't know it's head from it's ass when it comes to bike traffic. Terrible design on that stretch of road.

1:00:23 8.2 miles

Thursday:

O miles after last nights virus hit me

Friday:

I wanted to play it safe and run another low-intensity workout and keep the HR down. I managed to do that and ran the Martin road loop and then added a short Rock Hill loop just to get some extra mileage. A very good morning of running.

1:17:38 10 miles

Saturday:

YASSO workout on umd track. cold, windy, ice in the first lane. yah, lots of fun!

4.2 mile warm up, 8X800 repeats

2:32,2:32,2:31,2:31,2:30,2:29,2:30,2:28

2.9 mile warm down

1:35:17 12.5 miles

Frosty Morn

Monday:

Made my way out to Woodland and Hunters Park to run an easy hour. No frills and when I say easy I mean it. I was feeling the effects of the long run yesterday.

1:00:15 7.8 miles

Tuesday:

Out west on Skyline to new "eyesore" house on the hill and back home. Very cool this morning. I had 25F at the tundra house. I really never broke a sweat, as I missed a layer somehow. Hands froze. I am still not used to dressing for this temp. My legs felt much better this morning and I hit sub 7:00's on the return trip.

1:35:20 13.6 miles

Emergency Gel... Check!

The week of training went well and I am happy with the progress thus far. The fartlek and track workout went well and this mornings long run was decent. During this build up I have been using very little fluids or gels on my easy long runs. My body has made good adjustments and now I don't require as much nutrition on the run. I will be using plenty of gels and fluids on my marathon pace efforts in the upcoming weeks but those are workouts where I am pushing the pace quite a bit and it will also allow me to experiment with proper timing and placement of fluid intake. I will not have elite bottles at Cal so I am thinking of using S caps and the water from the tables, along with gels and the occasional glass of Ultima IF it goes well in my longer pace runs.

Since I wasn't sure of my long-run fitness I have been taking an "emergency" gel along just incase I start to bonk and need to make it home. That was the case this morning. I used the trails for the first 9+ miles and after that I was on the roads until the finish tape. At ninety minutes I was starting to feel really bad in the quads. The kind of bad where you think, "I better get some help soon or stop". That's when I reached in my pocket and opened the gel. It took some ten minutes to work but like magic once working my pace improved and I was able to finish the run in good fashion. It's really amazing sometimes how those things work. For those that don't believe in them, too bad for you, because they sure made the difference today.

Here is a wrap of the last two days and weeks totals.

Saturday: 1:12:30 ~9 miles (snowy trails with Erik)

felt really good, pizza at Thirsty Pagan later

Sunday: 2:17:31 19.3 miles

first 9.2 miles, trails 7:37 pace

last 10.2 miles, roads 6:40 pace

Weeks Totals: 75 miles

Years Totals: 2157.2

It's A Race!

For those Jim Carey fans out there like me, anyone remember the scene in Pet Detective when Ace is trying to figure out if all the football players have the stones in their ring to determine who stole Snowflake? The scene when he is chasing one of the guys on the track? Yes, some dude did that to me on the track at 6 am while I was doing intervals. I almost had to stop because I was getting ready to laugh so hard. Only thing is, I think he was half serious. It was either one of the ROTC or basketball players out during their morning workouts. I attempted to include a small clip from the movie HERE.

Thursday was a nice, cool morning at the UMD track where I proceeded to do 4 X 2000 meters with 2:30 rest. Medium-hard was the desired speed, and with the gales picking up once again that made it a bit difficult to gauge but I settled in pretty close to 5:30 per mile pace. My legs are really starting to adapt to this faster training and I can tell I am getting stronger.

Friday was an easy hour in Hunter's Park neighborhood.

Thursday: 1:18:52 10.8 miles

3 mile warm up

repeats: 6:54,6:51,6:45,6:47

2.3 mile warm down

Friday: 58:18 7.7 miles (easy)

Rage

I wished I had my heart rate monitor on this morning. As I described a couple of weeks ago, my Wednesday route is freshly paved and back then I got zinged by a couple of cars and I put the blame on the lack of paint lines on the road. Now the paint is laid down and I nearly got flattened this morning by some ass driving a truck. Within seconds of that truck passing me I had this overall feeling of rage and I could feel my pulse rising along with my blood pressure. ( i guess this is called an adrenaline rush) Mind you I am wearing a super bright headlamp and reflective clothing, so I know he saw me, so I gave this guy the best middle finger, "eff" you I could but then realized that I had camouflage gloves on. Damn, he probably didn't see it! For some reason, the paced picked up after this episode and I felt awesome the rest of the way home. I kept asking myself, "why would someone do that? what satisfaction do they get from such a stupid move. I could have died and he would have "manslaughter" pasted next to his name in the paper the next day. What a shit head." I am still pissed!

So I digress and will fill you in on the first part of my week.

Monday was a nice morning of easy running up to Martin road and a short UMD loop. Good for eight miles.

Tuesday was short fartlek interval day. I like to run these workouts on west skyline as an out and back. Considering that I ran near 18 on Sunday, that workout went pretty well. Most of the one minute intervals were at 5K pace along with a thirty minute warmup and warmdown.

As an added bonus I got a full body massage Tuesday night and a chiropractor adjustment this morning. Hopefully that will aid in eliminating most of the nagging back and hamstring aches.

Monday: 1:00:24 8 miles

Tuesday: 1:24:32 12.1 miles

30 minute warm up

11 X 1 min. @ 5K pace, (1min recov)

30 minute warm down

Wednesday: 59:09 8.1 miles

It's Fall! Apples Everywhere

The last three day's of running have been nothing too special. Basic aerobic running of varied lengths. Friday mornings run was in a slight drizzle and winds again. I ran easy and my legs were thanking me later in the day. Saturday was a trail run down Amity creek trails and home via Hawks Ridge and SHT. A good run with Rod. After the run Kari made her way out for a jaunt and then we packed up the Sienna and made our way to Bayfield, Wisconsin. Home of the great Applefest! We spent Saturday visiting with family and didn't make down to the festivities but instead gambled with the weather and made our attempt for Sunday and boy was it worth it. No rain, a little sun shine through the clouds, and temps near 50F. Not too bad given the weather we have had all week. I managed to replenish the calories I burned during my morning long run along county highway C. Here is the last three days:

Friday: 8 miles 1:00:19

Saturday: 8.6 miles 1:06:45 (trails)

Sunday: 17.5 miles 2:03:21

Weeks Totals: 68.5 miles

Years Totals: 2082.2 miles

Coons, Skunks and 1000's in Tights

Yesterday I woke up after spending the evening doing some good stretches and ball exercises in attempt to get my right hip flexors and glutes loose. They have been getting progressively tight in the past weeks since the 25K. As I left for my run I didn't know if it would be one mile or eight miles. In the end I split the difference and called it safe at just over five. I actually felt very good post run and finished feeling good that I made the decision to take an extremely easy day. Within the first two miles of the run I spooked a raccoon and he blasted right in front of me and scurried up a tree. Less than two hundred meters later I saw some movement in the distance of my headlamp glow and sure enough it was a skunk making it's way across the road in attempts to make it to some cover. No spray. Wow.

This morning was another cool morning and that makes it four days in a row of running in tights. It's too soon...

The plan called for an easy warm up and then head to the track for 1000's at "cruise interval" pace, which for me is roughly 5:20/mile pace. I managed to run them feeling pretty comfortable despite the winds. I ended the session with a couple of 200's. Overall, I felt very good about this workout and now look forward to some longer stuff this weekend.

Wednesday: 5.13 miles 38:15 easy running

Thursday: 10.3 miles 1:15:19

6X1000 meters: 3:26,3:20,3:18,3:20,3:17,3:16

2X200 meters: 34, 32

warm up and warm down in rock hill.