Up North Running

Ramping Up

2012-01-26T20:23:00.004-06:00

This week will be a first of three consecutive weeks of volume building. I plan to to do a pattern of three up and one down (rest). I have about three or four more weeks of base-phase training and then switch to some longer threshold workouts and continue to work on the long runs.

So far the week has gone about as well as it could. The snowshoeing the past weekend left me a bit more sore than expected on Monday and Tuesday but by Wednesday I was ready for a medium long effort with steady-state. I woke up to about a half inch of fresh snow on the roads which made for very poor footing. Instead of risking any pulled muscles I just ran the time and pushed some sections a bit more than usual. In the end I had a great run. I feel a bit tired today but I will be able catch up and gain some extra hours come this weekend.

Here is the week thus far.

Monday:
Up Woodland out to Arnold roads before making my way home via Vermilion and UMD. I really took it easy on this run in hopes to ready myself for the medium distance run.
Total: 1:10:00 9.1 miles

Tuesday:
I woke up still a bit sore and fatigued so I made a quick decision to stick to a slow, easy run. Since things were looking decent I made my way to the trails of Hartley and proceeded to loop around. Felt great and the trails were very good.
Total: 1:08:43 ~7.6 miles (easy)

Wednesday:
Out and back on West Skyline to 28th Ave W. I managed to push a few miles near 6:40 pace but too slick to do any quality work. The run was still a very productive effort. I will be pounding out this course many times in the next 13 weeks!
Total: 1:31:00 12.7 miles

Thursday:
This morning I made my way to the trails of Hartley again. A bit slick but still very runnable. One complete loop and I returned home to fuel up. Looking forward to the second medium long run tomorrow morning.
Total: 1:02:11 7 miles

January Freeze and Winter Bliss

2012-01-22T20:28:00.000-06:00

Kari and I heading out for Saturdays snowshoe.

Lucas doing some tricks on his snowshoes.

The cold temperatures finally made their showing in Duluth this past week. We had a run of three or four days with temperatures in the negative digits. The put me running with some crazy, cool temps but manageable for the most part.

I gave myself a rest from the long run in order to rest my legs for what I hope a build-up in mileage over the next three weeks. Even with the break from a true "long run" I got in some decent "time" for the week. I am feeling very well and eager to crank up the volume and see what happens. I am ready for some tired legs and will need to remind myself of the fatigue and really keep getting my arse out of bed each morning. That is what is going to make this build up a success!

Here is the week in review:

Monday:
Following a really good weekend of running I was ready for an easy road loop and that is what I did. Out to Martin and back via Vermilion. Doing great!
Total: 1:02:00 ~8 miles

Tuesday:
Very cool morning. It was below zero without the windchill and I got lucky with the wind direction on my out and back from Brighton Beach. The wind was at my shoulder the entire run and that made it tolerable. A headwind would have been sub 20F below zero! I added some uptempo time that was a "steady state" effort but my pace was off because of the cold and blustery wind. The effort was there and I was happy with bumping this workout to 40 minutes. Another 10 minutes will be added this week plus another shorter effort later in the week.
Total: 1:24:11 12 miles
40 minutes at SS at ~6:15 pace

Wednesday:
Recovery style run in Morley Park area and UMD. Decent run but cold once again.
Total: 52:00 ~7 miles

Thursday:
Too cold. The wind chill outside was -40F!! No way. I hit the treadmill and did a nice warm up of 30 minutes and then proceeded to add 2 minutes hill segments at 6% grade each mile just to break up the monotony. I felt really good and will more than likely be running the treadmill more often for specific workouts.
Total: 1:20:00 ~11 miles
6 X 2 minute Hills at 6% each mile

Friday:
0 rest day

Saturday:
No real long run so to speak rather a long effort on snowshoes. There was some running and some real hard ass walking in powder up past my knees for a few miles. The goal of this workout was to keep the heart rate up and keep moving for over 90 minutes. I accomplished this very well. After the effort I was surprised how wiped out I was.
Total: 1:45:00 time on snowshoes

Sunday:
I ran the entire time and got in some strength work. The legs felt good after yesterdays long hike/jog. The temperature was a bit higher today and my feet had no problem staying warm. Overall a really good day and weekend of snowshoeing.
Total: 53:00

Weeks Total: 38 miles running (7.4 hours total)
Years Total: 150.2+ miles

Great American Running!

2012-01-15T21:15:00.001-06:00

I was as pumped for this past Saturday as I was for Christmas. The running of the USA Olympic Marathon Trials were in Houston TX. The USATF really effed up big time and didn't have any LIVE TV or Internet coverage of the event. NBC did their usual shitty job at attempting to do a 2 hour "recap" much like they do of the NYC Marathon. I'm sure its all red-tape bullshit but really, the Olympic Trials? They could have done better.

Anyway, my running has been going great and I am popping into shape nicely. I have a long way to go before April 28th but the way I have been progressing over the last three weeks I can only believe I will be ready to toe the line in Brainerd.

Thursday I allowed myself an easy trail run of up to an hour. Right now the only safe trails are in Hartley or snowmobile trails in Lester. I looped in Hartley and made my way home after finishing a loop of ski trails. A really decent run for recovery style and no aches or pains to deal with right now. Let's keep it that way!

Total: 55:56 6.2 miles *slow trail pace

Friday I hit the roads since my hip flexors were a bit tight and that seemed to help. After the run I didn't really notice much tightness. It has been much cooler than recent these last two mornings and with the wind it's been in the negative figures. Brrrr.
Roads up Woodland and home via Vermilion.

Total: 51:16 ~7 miles

Saturday I hit the trails of Rock Hill, Chester (don't bother running here) and then an entire loop in Hartley. I made it home to see Twitter updates of the last few miles of the men's and woman's races. Wow, excitement! We are sending two amazing teams to London and I can't wait to see how they perform on the world scene. For me,

Total: 2:15:00 15 miles+

Sunday was another easy trail jog in Lester with the boys. A beautiful sunny morning/afternoon greeted us and the trails were manageable. Don't run 7-Bridges Road!! Ice, Ice Baby! Another general mileage run and loving the feeling of getting fit.

Total: 1:12:00 ~8 miles

Weeks Total: ~62.2 miles (8.6 hours)
Years Total: 112.2 miles

A Change Is A Coming

2012-01-11T19:58:00.006-06:00

These last few mornings of running have been right on par with amazing. All three days of this week thus far have been in the mid 30's when I head out for the early morning jaunt. This morning it was 35F and no wind. The roadways of West Skyline were perfect for my steady-state workout and I didn't forget that all too soon the near perfect footing will be gone and hidden under a layer of ice and snow. I can't really complain, it's January in Duluth after all!

Monday I made my way out to the trails of Hartley and did a loop out to the guard rail loop but cut it short on the "inner loop" before making my way back to the ski trails and did a loop before making my way back to the house. My legs felt a bit heavy from the weekend running but more than anything my low back and hip flexors were very tight! The kind of tight that made me realize I had to avoid trails for a few days just to give them a rest.

Total: 58:20 trails ~6.3 miles

Tuesday I stuck to the roads since my low back and psoas muscles were calling for a break. I decided on one of my staple hour loops and made myself run slow for yet another day. I had to remind myself that this was a "slow day" and not to over run it. By the end of the loop my legs were feeling great. Low back, not so much. Good thing I had a Chiropractor appointment to follow.

Total: 1:02:52 8.1 miles

Wednesday was the chosen day for my steady-state work. I knew the roads of West Skyline would be in good shape since they get a lot of sun exposure. I wasn't wrong in my choice. After a 20+ minute warm up I worked my way into a 30 minute steady-state session, up 10 minutes from last week, and I found the pace much more comfortable today. The plan is to keep adding 10 minutes per week, along with adding a second day of this type of work to the schedule as my volume increases throughout the base phase. I finished with a 30 minute warm down.
The chiro must have worked because my low back felt so much better today and my psoas have settled as well. I guess I can't run trails 7 days a week and expect to stay loose. A nice variety will be the recipe for the rest of the plan.

Total: 1:20:01 11.6 miles
HERE is the garmin data

Snowless Running

2012-01-08T15:25:00.004-06:00

It's a topic all over the news and blogs across the country. This is NOT typical January weather. We had very good snow cover on some of the single-track in Hartley and some of it has vanished and some has turned to ice, while the rest has been minimized to a dusting. I can't remember the last time the winter running was like this. For me, probably, the last I ran in conditions like this was the winter I lived 12 hours south of Duluth in Kalamazoo MI. That was a great year of winter running and the next season was filled with PR's. Now I am not going to suggest that I am ready for new PR's, much too old for many, but I would bet that there is a marathon PR in me yet. Let's keep the fingers crossed for a few more weeks first and see what weather I have to deal with for the remainder of this month and February.

As for the rest of this week I am pleased with how my legs progressed. It didn't take long to break my so-called streak. I ended up taking Friday off because of a barking Achilles. Like I said in a recent post, I am not one to push myself out the door just to keep a streak alive. I listen to my body and take rest when it needs it. As a result I had a wonderful weekend of running.

Thursday I made my out and ran an easy loop out to Hartley. The trails were still in good condition and I made an easy loop out to the gas line and back then out to Rock Hill for a short loop before returning home.

Total: 53:06 ~6.1 miles

Friday= 0 miles, rest Achilles

Saturday out on the trails of Hartley once again. Very runnable with the exception of some small patches of ice. Overall a very nice run.

Total: 1:28:03 ~9.1 miles

Sunday I ran out west and did a out and back by myself before picking up the rest of the gang. I ran the Voyageur course back to Skyline and returned for close to an hour. Spirit Mountain Ski area is just kickin' and the ricky racers were out doing hot laps as I ran across the trails. I had to keep a close eye so I didn't get taken out! Once I picked up the rest of the runners we ran the western waterfront trail out and back and that was my two hours. Easy miles and once again, no complaints and legs feel rockin'.

Total: 2:01:00 ~14.5 miles

Weeks Total: ~50 miles
Years Total: 50.3 miles

Steady State Heart Rates

2012-01-04T21:44:00.001-06:00

This morning I had the on of getting in an early base phase steady state run. Today would be my second of this type. I have been reading some training plans and one misconception on the Aurther Lydiard system in the north American continents was the base phase. Specifically the 100 mile week idea. Yes, the system calls for one to reach at least 100 mile weeks but those weeks are not just repeated at slow shuffles. The plan calls for one or two runs a week at a pace that coach Greg McMillan refers to as "steady state". This pace is roughly 15 seconds per mile slower than 1/2 marathon pace. I have taken my marathon pace and subtracted 10-15 seconds and that is usually close. I am starting to add one of these runs per week to my medium distance runs and hope to have it worked in twice a week at the end of the month. The time is started at 20 minutes and then 10 minutes is added each week. I have done these workouts in years past and they really work well. Greg McMilan wrote an article in reference to this topic but I have forgotten where I found it. Sould be on the WWW someplace. So, my overal time was near a hour with 20 minutes at 6:10 pace. This early in the build up I am content with this pace and will adjust over the next week or so. Soon, these runs should be near 5:45 pace, as I hope to run my marathon in April at 6:00 pace. I am not ready for that pace today as the quicker pace would take away from the purpose. I've always said, "just because you can run faster in training doesn't mean you should."

Totals:59:00 8.5 miles20 minutes at ~6:10 pace

Crisp Loop

2012-01-03T17:38:00.000-06:00

Once again I made my way to the single-track of Hartley Park and did one big loop. The trails remain to be in great shape and getting in the woods, away from the cool, crisp air was a wonderful idea.

The time clicked bye very quickly and I was making my return trip down Dunedin Ave home.

Total: 1:00:38 ~7 miles

The Fire Has Been Lit

2012-01-02T17:14:00.000-06:00

It's amazing that putting a plan down on paper can ease the mind and do wonders for the soul. Even if that plan foils at some point, for the moment I am content and ready to tackle yet another marathon build-up and ready myself for the personal challenge of the 26.2 mile beast.

I'm not one for running streaks, aka: long stretches of daily runs with out a break, but I may give this a shot for the remainder of the winter. I like to consider myself a "smart" runner/trainer and not head out for a run when I am sick or injured just to keep the streak alive. But, I am using this time to push myself out the door and if it turns into a streak so be it. For now, I plan to run every day until my marathon on April 28th. Hang on for the ride!

This morning was the first real chilly day in quite some time. I ran out the door with temperatures reading 15 degree's and a hell of a wind smacked me in the face. After the quick 4-5 minute jog to the trail head I managed to tuck in the single-track of Hartley and do a short loop before heading back home. I used today as another "shake-out" run and make sure the legs and achilles are ready "Roll em Out". The trails in Hartley are beginning to set up nicely and with a few more inches of snow they will once again be labeled "stellar".

Total:
47:08 ~5 miles, easy jogging.

OOPS and Update For Year End 2011

2012-01-01T13:24:00.002-06:00

For some reason I was on my Iphone looking at my blog and within a few seconds and much to my surprise I had deleted 6 weeks of running blog entries. I had consolidated them in two posts but I had to scramble out to the recycle bin to find my scratch paper I write my running times on after each run. (i am supposed to then transfer them to this blog but I have gotten pretty bad at doing that.

So, here is a very brief update of the last two months of the training year for me. For the very few of you that may check in with me from time to time I had written that I was considering doing a winter marathon someplace. I really wanted to and I am now finding myself in decent shape and I really think I could be in great shape in 8-10 weeks but I decided against traveling this winter "just to run a marathon". Instead, I plan to fall back into base phase for a bit more, hopefully bank as much mileage as I can, and then do a early spring marathon close to home just to keep it simple. After all the purpose of the next marathon is solely to get me a solid Boston Qualifier. I hope to find a race that will allow me to run fast but really I just want to get one done and not have it set me back too much as far as recovery time goes. I would really like another crack at a fast Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon this year and that is goal number one for 2012. Along that path I hope to be competitive in my age group and possibly chase my old PR's in certain distances. (I feel I can do that at certain races despite turning 42 this spring.)

I have had a wonderful late fall training phase. Nothing too spectacular but I continue to run 5 or 6 days a week and currently have ramped up my long run to 2 hours most weekends and I have been feeling very good with those. My mileage is very low, 40-45 miles per week, and that is the first goal looking into the new year. I need to ramp up the volume and now that some form of "winter" is upon us I will focus on 'time' for the next 6 weeks or so. I guess I will look at about 10 hours of training per week and see how I manage with that. (12 hours would be great if possible)

Here is the months of Nov and Dec in summary.

October 31-Nov 6th:
ran 5 days with two 1:25:00 back to back on the weekend
feeling decent.
mileage: ~40 miles

Nov 7-13:
ran 5 days with 1:22:00 and 2:30:00 runs on weekend.
mileage: ~48 miles

Nov 14-20:
ran only 4 days this week, all trails, no weekend running with travel to UP for the great hunt! (drank lots of beer, didn't hunt a bit)
mileage: ~25 miles

Nov 21-27:
ran 6 days with the Gobble Gallop 5K on Thurs.
managed to run 16:41 5K, happy with the effort.
mileage: ~40 miles

Nov 28-Dec 4:
ran 4 days with no long effort
mileage: ~31 miles

Dec 5-11:
ran 5 days with two decent weekend runs of 1:32:00 and 1:16:00 trails.
mileage: ~48 miles *4 days over 1:10:00 runs

Dec 12-18:
ran 5 days. starting some med. distance mid week on roads
1:40:00 long effort on weekend.
mileage: ~42 miles

Dec 19-25:
ran 5 days with mid week run of 1:20:00 and 4 miles of SS in middle.
Long run of 2:22:00
*a nice week of progression
mileage: ~50 miles

Dec 26-Jan1:
ran 6 days, some of which were short. working on treadmill and maybe need a rehaul.
mileage: ~35 miles *2 hour long run

Years Total: 2201 miles

Two Week Recap- Running By Time

2011-10-31T20:24:00.000-05:00

It's been over two weeks since the WhistleStop 1/2 Marathon and I have recovered much better than I thought I would. I took most of the week following the race off but resumed some easy running the next week and have been running by time only. I really like this time of year and base phase for the most part by running solely by time. It's really easy to get caught up in mileage and really, after all the years I have been at this running gig, I do know how much mileage I am running by a very good educated guess. What's most important at this point in the year is to get in some consistent miles and enjoy them. I can say I have been allowing myself to perform those qualities in my training and will soon follow a more structured plan.

Not a lot has happened in the last two weeks but the highlight of the time gap had to have been my run last Sunday. I couldn't hook up with any partners so I took after that one solo. I would decide on a trail that I had dabbled on a while back and was very fortunate to nail a remarkable day! The run would start at the Parking lot west of Ely's Peak and I would work my way in a southwesterly direction back towards Jay Cooke. The trail was dry, and slightly covered with leaves. I was a bit worried in regards to the trails coverage but it really wasn't an issue as I didn't twist any ankles or take any falls for the 80 minutes of running I did.

Here is the catch up for the two weeks. I plan to run 6-7 times a week and eventually work my way up to 10-11 runs a week with one mid week longer run and one weekend long effort. If the weather cooperates this may happen by early December. If not that will definitely be the goal heading into the new year.

Week 17th-23rd:
Monday: 0 miles
Tues: 31:00 ~4 miles
Wed: 0 miles
Thurs: 0 miles
Friday: 32:00 ~4 miles
Saturday: 0 miles
Sunday: 54:00 ~6.5 miles
*~ 15 miles running (recovery post 1/2 marathon)

Week 24th-30th
Mon: 43:42 ~5.5 miles
Tues: 0 miles
Wed: 52:55 ~7 miles
Thurs: 53:10 ~7 miles
Fri: 55:00 ~7 miles
Sat: 53:35 ~6.5 miles
Sun: 1:18:52 SHT ~9 miles
*~42 miles

Weeks Total: 57 miles (2 weeks)
Years Total: 1842.6 miles

WhistleStop 1/2 Marathon.

2011-10-17T20:56:00.002-05:00

So I did some calculating and I was ready for the WS 1/2 marathon. I had been asked several times during the week "how fast you gonna run?". To them I responded, "not too sure, just want to run a solid run." I'd have to be honest and say I really wanted to run well and have a shot at the win. My buddy Dave H was the clear favorite in my eyes and I was willing to give him company right to the wire if I could. Long story short, it wasn't his day and we had a "spoiler" enter the race at the last moment.

Ben Cogger, a super athlete from Washburn had won the race last year and I couldn't scratch up any running results on him since. So, I figured he would be a no-show, thus giving Dave and I a good shot at the win! Not the case.

As the gun sounded we made our way out to the mile mark right smack into a headwind. That would be covered just under 6 minutes and I was quite happy with the slow pace as I used it as a nice warm up. It was at this point where Ben would make move number one and press miles 2 and 3. He set up a nice lead but well in sight. I fully had the confidence that I or Dave would eventually reel him in and have a race for the last 5K or so. It wasn't long after this point where Dave had some issues and I decided to make a press for a few miles to see if I could chip away at the lead. I would run about 5 consecutive negative split miles in chase but narrowed the lead by a mear 10 seconds, to be trailing by 20 or so.

I so wanted to throw in a couple of 5:10 miles and just catch up but it wasn't in my legs. It was in my head but not a reality this time...

I managed to chip some time I had lost in the 10 th mile during the last two miles but not enough to make a difference. I closed the last mile as my second fastest of the day and I was happy with that.

I ended the morning with a second place finish overall with a time of 1:14:48, thirty-two seconds behind the victory!

Here are my splits for those that like that kind of stuff:
5:53,5:49,5:42,5:43,5:37,5:36,5:34,5:38,5:37,5:42,5:48,5:43,5:35, 0:49

I am happy with how things panned out. Looking back I ran a lot of 45ish mile weeks building up to this and most of it was quality work. Just shows what you can do on very little volume with some quality and smart thinking. I really listened to my body over the last 5 or 6 weeks and let things happen the way I felt. I know I can run much faster but with what I had to work with I am content.

Now it's time to rest a bit then hit up the miles for winter base-phase.

Weeks Total: 35.5 miles
Years Total: 1785.6 miles

Race Week

2011-10-14T20:32:00.000-05:00

Last weeks training went quite well and I had good feelings heading into this final week of preparation. I wasn't planning any type of taper and fully planned to run right up to race day. The week started with a nice recovery style run up Woodland to Martin road and home via the Vermilion road and UMD. I remember feeling really good. Legs light and flowing.

Tuesday I hit the trails for some easy miles then hit the walkways of UMD for some "pickups" to stretch out the legs and hips. That too felt good. My achilles was now near pain-free. What the heck? How did that happen?

Wednesday I ran out Skyline and decided on some "race-pace" type running just so my legs wouldn't get stale. The morning moonlight was great and I settled in a 3 X 4min at 5:50 pace for the pick ups. Decent but not stellar. My legs and achilles remained intact and that is all I needed.

Thursday and Friday turned into 0 days as I just made the decision to give it a try.

Week thus Far:

Monday: 1:01:58 8.1 miles

Tuesday: 45:49 5.5 miles

Wednesday: 1:00:59 8.8 miles 3 X 4 minutes at 5:50 pace

Thurs/Friday: 0 miles

Tardy Postings

2011-10-10T20:20:00.000-05:00

First off, I need to play catch up with some running over the last week and a half.
The last I wrote I was heading into the weekend prior to race week and then I was going to see how things felt and tweak for the final days before the WhistleStop 1/2 half marathon.

I took off Thursday and chalked it up to a rest day.

On Friday the 7th I ran up Woodland and did a quick adjustment and decided to run a 4 X 4 minute at 10K pace, or just about 10k pace. It looked like this: 5:23, 5:32, 5:21, 5:18 paces respectively. I then ended with 2 X 1 min at 4:46 and 4:37 paces. I ended feeling really good and the feet/legs were really responding that morning.

Saturday the 8th I woke up early to get in my medium long run before my wife and before we hit the road for the Bayfield Applefest. I ran trails down to Lakeside and roads back home. I didn't feel spectacular but it was a decent run.

Sunday was another rest day so I took it off and walked a lot at the Apple fest.

Here is how the week ended with volume.

Thurs:
o miles

Friday:
1:03:00 9.6 miles 4 X 4 min, 2 x 1 min.

Saturday:
1:34:24 12.2 miles

Sunday:
0 miles

Weeks Total: 46.4 miles (5 days)
Years Total: 1750.1 miles

Recovery Week and Move On

2011-10-06T06:27:00.003-05:00

The extra "faster" running from last weekend left me a bit fatigued and I used the early days this week to make sure I was recovered. Monday was just that as I did an easy road loop. Tuesday was my trail run/umd sidewalk fartlek run. Wednesday was a nice out and back on Skyline and I was going to attempt to run some faster miles but it just wasn't in the cards.

Monday:
1:01:50 8 miles

Tuesday:
45:43 5.7 miles (trails/striders on roads)

Wednesday:
1:12:09 10.4 miles (skyline)

Adding Workouts

2011-10-03T05:56:00.000-05:00

To end this past week I added a workout, or two, and finally began to see a dim light at the end of a very long tunnel. I am referring to finally getting to the point in training where I can feel myself making a little progress towards some fitness. For some reason this return to everyday training has taken me through some rather long "rough patches". I'm glad things are starting to improve, albeit slightly, but I will take it.

On Friday morning I woke and had it in my head I as going to do some faster intervals during my route of unknown. I quickly decided on running up Woodland for the warm up and slowly work into a series of 3 minute intervals. After the 2.5 mile warm up I ended up doing 6 X 3 minutes at ~525-5:30 pace. I actually felt really good during this farlek workout and was pleased with the effort.

Saturday came and I had made plans to run with Dave H. He and I met at the Rose Garden and ran to Park Point where we slowly decided to work into an "uptempo" of unknown effort. Neither one of us felt that zippy to start but slowly worked into the run and ended up finishing at 5:35 pace. I felt good, but remained concerned about the possibility of "racing" a half marathon in two weeks. The last thing I want to do is go do that race and have it destroy all the work I have done in the last month or so. So... it remains to be a last minute decision.

Sunday was another gorgeous day in Duluth. I hit the trails from our house and ended up running for just over an hour really easy. A super run. (wore he Universe and achilles felt great!)

Here are the details:

Friday:
Woodland Fartleks
6 X 3 min *5:33, 5:32, 5:18, 5:23, 5:36, 5:36
Total: 1:02:07 9.1 miles

Saturday:
Park Point progression run with dave
middle 6 miles: 6:15, 5:56, 5:51, 5:38, 5:42, 5:40
Total: 1:19:31 11.7 miles

Sunday:
Hartley trails in Universe.
Total: 1:01:45 7 miles

Weeks Total: 42 miles
Years Total: 1703.7 miles

New Week- Progress

2011-09-29T19:59:00.005-05:00

I have been posting about some persistent aches and pains that have ailed me since July. The main issue to keep at bay is a little tendonopathy in the achilles. It seems to wax and wane but for the most part I can run without any discomfort. In the process of all this I am working my way down to more minimal shoes, as I have been running in the Brooks Launch for a couple of years now I think I may be on my last pair. Mostly because I'm not too sure if they are going to make them anymore and more importantly I am looking forward to the Brooks Pure Connect. I'm not too sure how they feel and I am hopeful they will be a match for my feet. I also enjoy the Saucony Kinvara and they will definitely work if the Brooks fail.

With the change to a lesser shoe my form and stride have shifted a bit and that has been working some new muscles a bit more than in the past. I hope this transition remains to go smoothly so I can ramp up the volume and get ready for a strong base phase later this fall and winter.

This week has been one of small progress but progress none-the-less. I did't get out on Monday morning because I forgot to set my alarm and woke up 45 minutes too late. I chalked it as a great day of rest. The rest of the week has been going well and I hope to carry the momentum into the weekend and have a decent longer effort on Sunday.

Here is how the week has gone thus far:

Monday:
0 miles *no alarm clock

Tuesday:
out and back on Skyline
10 miles with 5 miles at steady state 1:07:00

Wednesday:
Kenwood loop to UMD
53:28 7.4 miles

Thursday:
Windy as hell and hit the woods with double headlamps
44:54 5.6 miles

Persistent Aches

2011-09-25T19:14:00.001-05:00

I managed to get out the door most days this week and even had the opportunity to run an evening run on Friday with my lovely wife. I really struggled to get up on Friday morning so it was a pleasant surprise to get out in the evening and hit some single track with her.

Waking up on Saturday had me in a spin. Literally! I woke up and was going to hit the trails and roadways for an easy hour before my wife and Lucas woke up. I worked my way downstairs only to find myself spinning in me head. I was so dizzy I had to lay back down and close my eyes on the couch just to keep things at bay. It wasn't too much longer and my son was trying to show me his loose tooth and when I looked up at him I saw three of him so I decided it was best just to stay where I was for a bit. I ended sleeping/resting on the couch in darkness for near two hours before working on getting vertical. I finally made it up and about but going for a run, especially on the trails, just wasn't in the cards.

I continue to have a series of aches and pains involving the achilles and right psoas muscles. Doing the stretches keeps things at bay but I am not really progressing with the volume and workouts like I had planned. I hope to nail down (2) workouts this week. Keeping the fingers crossed...

Here is how the week unfolded.

Wednesday:
Out to Woodland, Martin road and home via Vermillion/Umd.
1:01:40 8 miles

Thursday:
A mix of trails and UMD sidewalks at end for some uptempo running.
46:19 5.9 miles (6 X 100 meter striders)

Friday:
Too sleepy in a.m. Ran with Kari after work for a nice loop in Hartley.
55:00 6 miles/trails

Saturday:
NO running 0 miles

Sunday:
Out west with the boys. A series of loops to get in the time.
1:46:30 13.6 miles easy running

Weeks Total: 45.8 miles (6 runs)
Years Total: 1662 miles

Step It Up

2011-09-20T20:33:00.002-05:00

I planned to step up the volume this week and start working on some faster running in hopes to get myself in respectable shape to do one more race this fall. I have a couple of half-marathons on my radar but nothing for sure. If I can make some progress in the next week or two I think I have a shot at racing and being content with the results.

MON:
This week I started off a bit weak but I really struggled just to get out of bed. I was happy I did and made the best of it with the time I had. Nothing special, just an ordinary shake-out run to the cemetery and back.
Total: 31:42 4.2 miles

TUES:
This morning I made the choice to do some faster running in the form of steady-state/slow LT pace running. I may have been a bit quick for steady-state but not quite fast enough for LT but by the way I was feeling I may have nailed the perfect pace for such a workout. After a warm up along Skyline I worked myself into a 4 mile section at 5:45 pace. I was a bit surprised to see the first mile slow but I quickly adjusted the pace and finished out the miles. Wow! That seemed way hard and just a few months ago I ran 13.1 at 5:29/mi pace. Hopefully today's run was a good jump start to fresh running!
Total: 53:12 8.1 miles
4 miles at 5:45 pace

Mixin' Trails and Such

2011-09-18T20:24:00.000-05:00

I managed to finish off the week quite strong. I am really not making any great strides in my fitness and each run seems to be going well, so I may need to look at adjusting the volume next week and adding some up tempo workouts to the plan.

On Friday I managed to do another double headlamp (one around my waist and one on my head) run in Rock Hill and finish the run by doing some quicker miles on the campus roads. I felt great after one warm up loop and the achilles are progressing nicely.
Total: 43:03 5.3 miles

Saturday I did my medium long run solo and hit trails down to Lester before making my way to the Lakewalk and doing some quicker miles on my route to the DRC. I had to resort to taking a gel along the way as I could feel a nice bonk heading my way and I was not willing to take part in a bonk-fest! The gel didn't make me feel any better, but I didn't get any worse so that tells me it was a wise decision to take it and I was able to maintain effort to the store where Kari and Lucas were waiting my arrival.
Total: 1:40:00 13.6 miles

On Sunday my wife did her long run and soon after she was done I made my way out with Dave. He and I did all the trails of Rock Hill and Chester Bowl before I let him go on his way home for his long effort. My legs felt decent but remained a bit fatigued from Saturday's longer run. I really didn't do too good of a job with nutrition after Saturday's run so I must play catch up now.
Total: 1:07:26 7.6 miles

Weeks Total: 48 miles
Years Total: 1616.2 miles

New Motivation

2011-09-15T20:46:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend I managed to get my motivation fired up again. I had the opportunity to crew for my friend Tony as he ran the Superior Trail 100 miler. I have done this in the past and this year was one to remember. We met at Gooseberry State Park, the start of the race, where I had the pleasure to see all participants take off on a very, long run. I kept my focus one aid station at a time and I'm sure Tony did as well. It's really amazing, for me, how fast the day and night went by. When you are constantly thinking of your runner and how they are feeling, looking and what extra supplement they might need or want, the hours just fly by. I managed to get a little tired in the wee hours of the night but as soon as the sky broke for sunrise I was immediately energized and made the push to be on my best attentive behavior. The day hours were full of sun and heat, good for the crew, bad for the runners, but we made the best of it and Tony nailed a great race. During the race I was joined by Dave,Clint,Andrea,Deb,Chris and Dave S whom all shared the pacing duties after 50 miles and through the night. Dave Shuney stayed throughout the night and next day and paced quite a few miles himself. I can't speak for Tony, but I'm sure Dave, and all the pacers, did a marvelous job and having the extra company is truly amazing.

Tony is one tough sun of a bitch. He always looked so content in what he was doing. Sure, he may have had his ups and downs, but there was very little complaining on his part. A sign of a true champion, and a sign of a prepared runner. It goes without saying, I am very proud to have been part of Tony's experience. Thank you!

The race or Tony ended at 6:34 pm on Saturday evening and like a bunch of whooped horses he, DAVE and I showered and attempted to eat before crashing for the night. There were many stories shared over the next 24 hours and there will be many more memories shared in years to come.

So, with such an amazing running experience from Tony, my motivation has been kicked in once again and I am making a push for one more race for the season. I may be running the Whistle Stop 1/2 Marathon on October 15th if all goes well. I need a few serious runs to go well and if they do, I will toe the line.

So Far this Week:

Monday:
48:10 6.3 miles
sluggish, but a good start

Tuesday:
51:39 7.2 miles

Wednesday:
0 miles

Thursday:
1:02:13 8.4 miles
felt great the last 2.5 miles or so. i hope this is a sign that things are going to improve quickly. I need that to happen.

Build Up

2011-09-11T20:22:00.000-05:00

I used this week to build back up a bit. The goal was to run most days in Ronin's and maintain the lower leg/glute exercises. I knew I would get little to no exercise during the weekend so I made the most of my week runs. Nothing special, just good ol running on roads and trails as I wished.

Here is how the rest of the week unrolled.

Tuesday:
43:07 6 miles

Wednesday:
50:00 ~7 miles

Thursday:
45:00 ~6 miles (trials and roads)

Friday-Sunday:
0 miles
*crew for Tony during the Superior Trail 100 miler

Weeks Total: 23.3 miles
Years Total: 1567.8 miles

Labor Day Trail Run

2011-09-05T11:23:00.002-05:00

I didn't run a trail race. Just another run on the trails by our house. We woke up to cool temperatures today (43F) and it forced me to put on a long sleeve shirt to keep the chill to a minimum.
I hit the trails of Hartley for a planned short loop and I felt super! No tenderness in the achilles and after running for an hour in my Universe I am pleased. The Hartley trails are in great shape even with the added rain we received lately. I ended the run with 3 x 100 meter striders at 5:15 pace. Legs are making a turn in fitness and I may actually toe the line in a race before years end...
Total:
33:44 4.3 miles trails

Solid Rebuilding Week

2011-09-05T11:10:00.000-05:00

I am very happy with the progress I made this past week. The tendonopathy in my left achilles is slowly subsiding and gives me very little trouble right now. Having said that I need to remain diligent with the rehab process and moving forward with some new strength building exercises as I progress through the fall season. I hope to find myself in decent shape soon in order to take advantage of fall fitness and enter a race somewhere.

Here is the remainder of last weeks runs.

Wednesday
I decided to add a few minutes to the run this morning and proceeded to run the "extended Pig's loop". Out to Vermilion and back provided a nice a.m. loop.
50:31 6.7 miles

Thursday:
Making a conscious effort to step back a bit this morning I did just over a half hour to allow more time for adjustment to the minimal shoes. I don't really see myself needing a ton of time to adjust since I have been fairly "minimal" for a few years now, I am just making it full-time now and throwing out the trainers. The Ronin's are feeling great and I even see myself spending a bit of time on the trails in my Universe fairly soon.
32:38 4.5 miles

Friday:
I did a short version of my Kenwood loop and was feeling great. My legs are making further adjustments to the new shoes and stride. I found myself really cruising at times and had to slow things down.
40:11 5.4 miles

Saturday:
I hit the trails for my medium long run and had a super run! Leaving my house I hit the Rock Hill trails at UMD. After a short loop I made my way to Hartley via SHT and ran through to the Cemetery and once again hit the SHT to Amity creek trails where I proceeded to move to the Lester Park single-track trails for a half-loop before finishing on the Lester Park Ski trails for a loop until my time was up. My legs (quads) took a beating and were fatigued quite a bit but the rest of the body felt great. Another run in the Ronin's.
1:37:52 11.8 miles

Sunday:
I was planning a day off but got in contact with an old running pal from Esko and made the trek out to his place for an absolutely wonderful trail run in Jay Cooke State Park. I following on a new loop that had us just giddy. The trails out there are truly a hidden gem to most.
57:00 7 miles or so

Weeks Total: 44 miles
Years Total: 1544.5 miles

Clean Slate

2011-08-30T17:41:00.002-05:00

The week following Ragnar I took a big fat 0 on all days! That's right. No running at all and a lot of sleep. I slept up to 2 extra hours a night for nearly a week. Yes, it felt great. I also allowed my left achilles some needed rest and I am now in the process of rebuilding an aerobic base and doing some much needed rehab. It's funny how a person lets their body go as long as it's performing well and quickly forgets all the extra strength oriented work that goes along with keeping the body healthy. I am now back at square one and will not slack on those exercises and continue to improve my overall strength this fall and winter and 2012 will be a new Masters record year for me. I'm pissed off with all the minor setbacks and now it's time to kick ass! This year was headed in that direction and since my 1/2 marathon in June I've been stuck in a rut of destruction. NO MORE.

So far this week I have run two easy days and performed my lower leg exercises along with some overall stretching of the legs, abdomen and upper torso. I plan to obtain some kettle-bells and possibly an old Bow Flex, as I used one today at Dunhams and I think it will provide all the necessary strength exercises I need. More research on that over the next few days.

Monday:

Out and back through the cemetery and exercises.

32:00 4+ miles

Tuesday:

on treadmill for 4.2 miles at 7:40 pace

33:00

*both runs were in Mizuno Ronins. I may try to adapt to the racing flat system, aka minimal-trainers, with a some caution looking ahead. I like the look of the new Brooks coming out this fall and those may be just what I need in a trainer. No more heels!

RAGNAR/GREAT RIVER RELAY 2011

2011-08-22T19:48:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was very fortunate to be a member of a men's Masters team that was sponsored by Revel Sports/Marshfield Clinic that won the 2011 Ragnar/Great River Relay this past weekend. This same team, with the exception of two runners won the event in 2010 as well. Last year after we won there was talk of doing it again but those discussions really never surfaced until late this spring. Some guys were skeptical of doing it again because of the experience being so great in 2010, how could we possibly top that? With the crew we assembled we made that possible and had one hell of a time!

The picture above shows the six members of the starting van. We departed from Winona at 4:00 pm on Friday. For such a huge event, 300+ teams of 12 members, the start is very anti-climactic. The 4 pm slot had just 8 teams start. It felt like a club practice. We managed to get out and run in third place for most of the first round of running and had a decent battle already brewing. When we handed off to the second van of six runners it was getting dark and we had to put on the required reflective gear for the rest of the night and until the clock ticked past 0700!

For me going through the challenges of the race segments pays off when you hand off to the next runner and then see how the 11 other team members are putting out their 100% effort. In times of doubt all you have to do is think of the others hurting and to just keep pushing on the best you can. We all are hurting and as the night progresses EVERYONE is tired. You just have to dig a little deeper to find that extra piece that maybe the other teams are not quite able to focus on. All 11 of us did that and it resulted in another year with a super victory.

Briefly, I was runner number 5. I had segments of 8, 6.2, and 7 miles for my three legs. The 8 miler was .2 short and I appreciated every step of it! The 6.2 mile segment was in the farm lands just off the river valley's so it incorporated a lot of bluff climbing on gravel roads. I had about 1.5 miles of gradual warm up then I had 4.5 miles of uphill grind. The grade was more than the challenge I wanted at 0130 but I had to keep pressing on and get to the exchange zone to pass the hurt to my team member Mark. All in all, I finished that segment a bit disappointed but managed a 6:04 average pace for those climbs. My last segment was another hilly 7 miler that started in the corn/farm lands just outside of Woodbury and finished in the suburbia mecca of east Woodbury. Those rolling hills were enough to make scream, but I remember the look on my friend Steve's face as he ran the exact segment in 2010, and I just couldn't give up as he put in 110% that year and I didn't want to let my guys down. I still felt like I did, and part of it was injury, and the other part was not fueled up enough, but I managed to get it done and remain to average 6:03 miles for the last dirty bugger.

Once our van completed our last bit of running we handed off and grabbed a quick breakfast as Denny's and made contact with our team members in Van 2 only to find out they ate up the 9+ minutes we were behind all night long and actually were in the lead. As we made our way to the river paths of Minneapolis we found our runners in the lead and looking great. As our last runner took off for the final leg and the push to the finish he had a 5+ minute lead and gave it his all. With a lot of encouragement and a stellar running performance we managed to get the win with a 3 minute cushion.

The excitement was unbelievable. We had repeated the win and we now could celebrate. With a bit of help from some new friends we managed to make "a few" beers disappear and had eventually made our way to the motel for a little hot tub and dinner.

Thank you guys again for such a wonderful experience. I said this last year and I will say it again. I don't think we can top that performance but I am willing to try in 2012! Thanks much!!

Total for Ragnar: 195 miles 19:59:52 average pace: 6:10 per mile

me:

Friday:

44:36 7.8 miles

Saturday: 37:05 6.2 miles

42:05 7 miles

Sunday: 0 miles rest

Weeks Total: 43 miles

Years Total: 1500.9 miles

Ragnar Week

2011-08-21T17:31:00.000-05:00

Team Revel Sports/Marshfield Clinic, a Masters division team, won for the second year in a row, the Ragnar Relay-Great River Relay from Winona to Minneapolis MN!!

I had the pleasure of joining these gentleman on last years victory and we decided to give it a try again and damn if we didn't repeat. There is a good story to the victory and I will get to that later but first I have to share the week building up to the race and how my runs went.

I started last week by giving myself a little break and running easy on Monday after a medium distance run on Sunday. I felt good and allowed myself a nice, easy recovery-type run and enjoyed it. Because I was feeling a bit behind in training I wanted to get a feel for "steady-state" pacing and decided to run a bit of loop out on Lakeside and turn up the volume a bit and run up to 5 miles at steady-state pace. Right now that pace seems to hit right about 5:50 pace. I started off and things were feeling great. I knocked off the first mile right on pace and soon found myself running closer to Lactate pace of 5:35 and didn't like that so I slowed down back to the 5:50's that I wanted. During the second mile I felt a pull on my posterior right knee that kept getting worse with each stride. Very concerning, so I backed off after 3 1/2 miles and jogged it home. That night I got a massage and the therapist couldn't find any trigger and all things felt fine. Very weird... On Wednesday I met up with Nic and we ran an hour very easy and things felt very good and I felt very little pulling on the knee. I took Thursday off and traveled Friday to the Ragnar.

The Ragnar report deserves it's own entry and I will post that very soon.

Here is the week:

Monday:

50:09 7.6 miles

Tuesday:

59:09 8.3 miles

3.5 miles at 5:50 pace

Wednesday:

57:55 7.4 miles easy

Thursday:

0 miles rest

Decent Week

2011-08-14T21:47:00.003-05:00

I finished the week pretty strong with some decent runs and more importantly runs that felt good from an injury standpoint.

On Friday I managed to almost oversleep and had to shorten my run. I made up for it by hammering all the hills/inclines I came up to and ended running a decent fartlek workout.

On Saturday my wife and I managed to get out for a run together. That doesn't happen very often and we loved every minute of it. I showed her the single track trails in Lester Park. We had a wonderful day for running the trails and stood in the river after soaking our legs.

This morning I made my way out for a medium distance run and really didn't know what or where I was going to get my mileage. I decided on some trails in Rock Hill and Chester (upper) before making my way down to Skyline Blvd and out West to 8th Avenue before making a dip to see my friend Krysta. A quick chat and I was off to find the SHT and make my down to the Bayfront where the Bluesfest was setting up for their final day. I managed to catch up with some other friends and hammer a Bloody Mary down before making my chug home for the last 30 minutes of the run that took me along the Lakefront on the Lakewalk and finally the push up the single track on Chester Creek and home via UMD. What a fun run! The bloody actually helped me as the salt kept me going in the heat of the early morning. I did manage to hit the creek for a quick dip on my way up.

Friday: 43:00 6.5 miles (fartleks)

Saturday: 55:00 5.5 miles single track trails with wife in Lester

Sunday: 1:33:00 12.5 miles Loop down to Bayfront.

Weeks Total: 53 miles

Years Total: 1456.6 miles

Game On!

2011-08-09T18:25:00.002-05:00

Things are going very good this week. I continue to 'up' my miles and intensity but remain to be far off of where I thought I would be at this point in the year. Still, I have a lot of racing season left and just have to refocus and do some new races this fall.

First on the list is the Ragnar in one week. I will once again have the opportunity to run with some real nice folks and talent. It will be fun, guaranteed!

Here is a quick recap of the week thus far.

Monday:

Martin road loop and home via Vermilion road.

1:00:00 8 miles

Tuesday:

Out and back on Skyline with 3 miles at steady-state pace just to test the achilles.

Felt slooooowwwww. Achilles decent.

55:30 8 miles

Wednesday:

short loop through cemetery and UMD.

40:00 5.3 miles

Thursday:

Kenwood loop. Tried to stay slow but managed a decent pace.

53:00 7.5 miles

Moving On

2011-08-08T18:12:00.001-05:00

When I last wrote I was discussing how I may have found the source of my left achilles discomfort. I believe I was/am right and I continue to perform some deep calf stretches and lower leg exercises. The achilles discomfort is near gone but just a bit of stiffness on some mornings. This is something I need to monitor daily and stay diligent about exercises to keep things loose.

I managed to get out and run most days last week and took a double-day off on Saturday/Sunday after a most excellent party weekend in Washburn/Bayfield/Madeline Island with my wife, brother-in-law, wife and friends. There are times when you have to go have fun and forget about running and that was the weekend for me. Looking back I am very certain it also gave me some added rest to the achilles and that may be why I am feeling well this week. I continue to progress and will attempt to keep hammering towards my focus race the first Sunday in October.

Here is the remainder of last week and the early part of this week.

Tuesday:

31:33 Morley Park area/UMD. 4.3 miles

Wednesday:

55:17 8 miles Skyline 6 X 1min repeats at 5K

Thursday:

54:38 7.5 miles Kenwood/Chester loop

Friday:

38:56 5.2 miles trails and roads

Sat/Sunday:

0 miles

Weeks Total: 32 miles

Years Total: 1403.3 miles

The Source

2011-08-01T21:05:00.002-05:00

I believe during the course of the weekend I found the source of my achilles tenderness. I believe it's coming from very tight, upper calf muscles pulling my achilles and thus thinking it was a tendonitis. I hope I'm right on this one. I've been stretching and things are improving. I figure it wouldn't hurt to keep at the lower leg exercises and thus will maintain all the extra work in addition to the running.

I got out under a beautiful sunrise sky and did an extended loop to Pleasant View and home via Vermillion. I had a bit of stiffness in the last two miles but stopped to stretch and most of the discomforts disappeared. Man, I'm ready to start hammering some serious miles! I just have to be patient the rest of this week, then if all is good start dialing up the intensity and volume ever so slowly.

50:47 6.6 miles

Maintain But No Progress

2011-07-31T20:17:00.000-05:00

The last week was one with minimal gains and maybe a bit more loss. I have been able to maintain fitness but I am not getting any faster by the training I'm doing. I managed to get a Chiro adjustment and do some self massaging with the Stick and my right calf seems to be at ease. In the meantime I have woken up some old left Achilles tendonitis which I am very aggressively treating. (been down that road and wish to never get as bad as I was in 2007-2008!) Once I get the green light on the Achilles I may just find myself in decent shape this fall. I always like racing in the fall season so I guess that is a good thing. I remain to swear off all marathons this year but I got the bug to train for one now. Maybe 2012 will be a marathon year for me. Now I'm getting too far ahead of myself, but for now I need to get healthy and be ready to help my Ragnar Relay team in three weeks.

Here is a brief summary of the last week.

Monday: I ran an easy road loop up past old Pig's and home via Vermillion. Legs are feeling decent. No calf issues.

52:00 6.5 miles

Tuesday: Out and back on Skyline. Feeling much better and had to keep things under control.

1:00:00 8.3 miles

Wednesday: no go. i was tired and took the 8+ hours of sleep

0 miles

Thursday: Kenwood and UMD area. left achilles minor twinge.

55:37 7.7 miles

Friday: Out and back via Cemetery loop. Left achilles has me concerned. I don't want to go down this path of 2007-2008 agian.

30:57 4 miles (exercises and ice achilles)

Saturday: Achilles felt better but I hiked a bunch of miles at the Voyageur 50 Miler taking pictures in the backwoods. Felt good.

3-4 miles hiking

Sunday: I managed to get out in the hottest part of the day. 86F when I ran and I felt great! I managed to stay in the woods on trails by UMD and Chester Bowl and take a little dip in Chester Creek mid run. Both calf and Achilles felt fair and no major pulls to be concerned with. Just need to keep rehabing and exercises.

1:01:04 7.3 miles trails

Weeks Total: 34 miles *5 runs + one hike and one rest day

Years Total: 1371.7 miles

Fickle Calf

2011-07-24T21:58:00.002-05:00

I have had my share of ups and downs with this calf issue. I know I didn't strain it. The damn thing decides to tighten when ever it wants out of the blue and very quickly. I have a feeling it is related to tight IT Band in the hip or possibly a lower back/SI alignment. I will see the Chiro this week and keep at my stretches and massage. My hopes are that this is behind me, but I felt like that last week and it came back very quickly. So, I hope to have a nice stretch of running this week and hopefully soon get back to some workouts.

I was able to run through last weekend and Monday and Tuesday of last week, then my calf gave me shit on Tuesday and required me to jog home. After taking Wednesday and Thursday off I ran a light run on Friday but a bit of tightness remained. I took off Saturday and ran this afternoon and had a wonderful run. PLEASE let this be behind me!

Sunday:

1:00:00 trails

Monday: easy, slow 4.5 miles 35:00

Tuesday: 7 miles with calf tightening.

Wed/Thur: 0 miles

Friday: 5 miles easy (slight tightening)

Saturday: 0 miles

Sunday: 50:00 5+ miles on singletrack trails in Lester with Tony.

Felt great!

Purple Donuts

2011-07-16T15:18:00.002-05:00

I managed to get a quick appointment and sign up for a hour massage with my usual therapist. Yeah! To start the session she always asks me, "why are you here today?" I like that about her. She always is interested and ready to tackle whatever issue I may have going. I told her about my calf and the fact I was a bit stumped as to why it reared its ugly head in the first place. She had some ideas and we got underway.

To save you the boredom of the whole hour, let me tell you she found "the spot" within 10 minutes and really focused on "breaking up the adhesions". Just let me tell you one thing. If a therapist ever utters those words, get ready for the hurt-locker. It's what needs to be done and very crucial, AND a good therapist knows when to back off during the session. We have that kind of relationship and it works wonders. I was at that point when the adhesions were being "torn off" that I did all I could to stay relaxed and breathe easy. Not so easy to do, but an essential part of a massage. I had my eyes closed and I was doing all I could not to kick my leg and then I saw one. Then two. Then many more to follow. No kidding. I had my eyes closed and I saw little purple donuts floating through my visual field. At first I thought I was crazy, but I opened and closed my eyes again and they were still there. Wow! I asked her. "Is it normal to see purple donuts with my eyes closed?" She laughed a bit and got back to work.

I said many "mama-mea's" and made it through the hour. What a great hour of work it was. I got my $ worth that's for sure.

This morning I hooked up with the two Dave's, Grant and a new couple to the area. We showed them the trails at Rock Hill and Hartely and had a wonderful easy trail run. I was a bit concerned of the calf but it warmed nicely and stayed loose the entire loop. I almost added to run 90 minutes but opted out. Probably the smart thing to do at this point. It's nice to be back and I am loving every minute of it. To make matters so much better my lovely wife has been back at the miles and seems to be making progress. Something she hasn't been able to say for quite some time.

Total: 1:07:30 ~8 miles

Forced Break

2011-07-14T05:51:00.003-05:00

Last week I had some stellar training underway. I felt like I had made the recovery from the GB-Half and I had the green light to start the push for my next race. I had planned a week of strength work and light speed secession with the usual long effort on the weekend. The week went great and on Saturday I ran my long run with Nic again and we started nice and early so we could tend to our own responsibilities after. The last half hour of the long run I had my right lateral calf muscle begin to tighten. With a mile and half to get home I had to stop and attempt to stretch my calf. I managed to run a bit more but quickly realized I could do some serious damage if I kept running on it so I stopped once again and made the rest of the journey a walk home. I am not too sure yet what the root of the problem is but I have my own theory. On my Thursday workout on the track I felt my lower leg get a little fatigued and at the end of my last interval it was a bit tight. My low back was tight as well. I never gave it much thought as that seems to be quite normal. The following easy day I was very fatigued but no soreness or pain to deal with. Then the Saturday long run came and the rest is history.

It is now the following Thursday and I have not run but once since last Saturday. I tried to jog on Tuesday and lasted a little over a mile and I was reduced to a walk again. It is feeling better and I can stretch it out a bit from my hip stretches I do. That is why I think it is referred pain from tight hips/glutes/low back. I am a bit taken back with this, since I don't truly know what the hell is going on and I hope to have it licked by the weekend. I'm just a bit worried about starting too soon and being back at square one. I have pushed all racing thoughts out of my mind until the Ragnar Relay in mid/late August. If things improve sooner I may jump in a local 5 or 10K just to test the waters. So that is my last two weeks. Here are the details.

Week 4th-10th

Monday: another easy hour just to shake things out a bit.

56:40 8 miles

Tuesday: Hills, 4 x hills at UMD with 30 second strider on top

56:56 7.8 miles

Wednesday: Easy loop through Kenwood area and Skyline.

54:21 7.4 miles

Thursday: Track session at UMD 4 X 1000 meters

3:14, 3:12, 3:08, 3:12

56:08 8.1 miles

Friday: Morley Park neighborhood run. Snively home

44:33 6.1 miles

Saturday: Started in downpour rain, out to Stebner, Morris Thomas, Piedmont, Skyline home.

2:00:25 16.5 miles (0.5 mile walk)

Sunday: OFF *calf issue

Weeks Total: 54 miles

Years Total: 1301.4 miles

So far this week I have attempted to jog a bit on Tuesday with failure. I felt decent to start and after the one mile mark I could feel the calf tightening very quickly so I immediately turned the jog into a walk and made my way home.

I have been doing a series of stretches and things are improving but I am still quite apprehensive to try running as I can still feel some tightness when walking stairs. I hope to get back at it by next week but right now it's day by day.

Time To Restart The Engines- Progress

2011-07-03T21:07:00.004-05:00

Wednesday
I woke up and really had a difficult time getting motivated to run, much less a run with some sort of intervals. I really came close to staying in bed but something told me to get up and at least give it a try.
As I hit the road and started making my way to Chester Bowl I really was doubting my legs. At 2.5 miles I threw in a strider and realized I was that far off and indeed my legs would turn over if I asked them to. So I decided on "near" tempo run pace for three minute intervals.
The first felt fair and the rest felt great! I was clicking off 5:25 pace like nothing. The last interval was up a slight incline so that one didn't feel the best but I finished very satisfied.

Total: 57:29. 8.4 miles 5 x 3 min at 5:25 pace

Thursday
I ran an easy loop out to the SHT and ran it doe to Hawks Ridge before making my way home via Sively.
A decent run and finally nailed a great morning run as far as weather goes.

Total: 54:55. 7 miles

Friday
Feeling fatigue and just not willing to listen to the alarm this moening. I stayed in bed a bit and then got up and went to work early.

Total: o miles rest day.

Saturday:
I finally connected with Nic again and we made our way out to Park Point and back for our early morning long run. The morning was already approaching 70F and we had plenty of sunlight as company. I was surprised how good I felt as this was my first longer effort since late May. My legs really didn't get too fatigued and the energy was there at the end. A nice surprise.

Total: 1:59:06. 15.8 miles

Sunday
After my wife ran her long run I took to the woods of Hartley and did a loop before doing a small loop in Rock Hill. I am always bummed out in the summer after attempting to run in Hartley. The mud, rocks, and roots are ever so apparent as compared to the smooth surface of winter running. There are times when I enjoy the slow slog, not that often, and today wasn't one of them. I tripped and fell the last time I ran in there and I guess I was still tasting sour apples because I kept the pace very pedestrian and eventually made the loop.

Hartley is such an interesting place. I love the fact that it is 4 minutes from our house but the terrain is just blah. My take on it is it's good for recovery but that is about it. There are a lot of hard working individuals that work to maintain the trail but I believe its work that is appreciated by a small group of users. There have been more re-routes in the last three or four years and I can see many more in the near future. The re-routes get hammered by the bikers who dont respect the wet trails and soon the new path is beat to shit and now more re-routes are needed. I guess I will bid my time and wait til the leaves fall and once again they will be covered in snow. But let's hope that is FAR to the future.

Total: 1:06:30. 7.4 miles easy

Weeks Total: 54 miles
Years Total: 1247.5miles

Back In The Groove

2011-06-28T19:04:00.002-05:00

I had the day off of work yesterday since we had our annual family get together and it was a late night or two. I'm so glad I did. I slept in a bit and managed to get out for a nice trail run in the mid-morning. My legs felt fair and I had a bit of some residual calf soreness/tightness. I managed to finish the run without any further damage and I am looking forward to getting in some consistent training this month.

Total: 1:04:00 7.5 miles

This morning I was back to the early morning training and I had a wonderful run. I stuck to the roads of Woodland and Vermilion and struggled with overall fatigue but mostly heavy leg syndrome. I can tell I am low in carbs and will focus on increasing my intake of such food items along with adequate fluids. If all goes well I may find myself cranking out some good miles within the week.

Total: 57:00 7.6 miles

End Of Rest Week

2011-06-27T10:44:00.003-05:00

I may have exercised my right to take off a few days this week being post half marathon but I am ready to get back at it. I was torn between taking time off and just running easy. I hope to benefit from the days off, as I feel very rested and ready to tackle the second part of the year. I am still unsure of what the big goal race might be, rather the second half of the year may be filled with shorter races with the goal to run fast at the TCM 10 Miler in October. Between now and then I will have a couple 5K's, one mile, and the Great River Ragnar Relay.

I hope all of you out there are having healthy, enjoyable running days. I hope to see many of you at the races to come.

Here's to the second half of 2011!

Weeks Total: 10 miles

Years Total: 1193.8 miles

Optional

2011-06-23T18:48:00.001-05:00

The week after a major event I like to take a physical and more importantly, a mental break. My buildup for GB Half started in January and some six months later a minor break was warranted. Had I ran the full marathon I might take a longer break but really, I am itching to get back at it and run some additional races this summer and fall.

Sunday last week I rested and enjoyed the day with family.

Monday:
I set off to walk the trails at UMD and found myself running the entire time. I ran easy but one complete loop of Rock Hill felt great.

Total: 25:36. 3 miles

Tuesday:
Off/rest

Wednesday:
Off/rest, too much rain! Enough already.

Thursday:
I did the modified Kenwood loop and I felt decent energy wise but both low calves were very tight.

Total: 50:30 6.7 miles

Overdue

2011-06-19T17:11:00.004-05:00

The 35th Grandmas Marathon and 21st Annual Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon were blessed with weather conditions that once made this event popular. I'm talking about the Northeast winds that can blow directly down the race course that gives the runners a tailwind.

This years events would have such a day, one that has been long overdue, and I was blessed with the opportunity to take part in the Half-Marathon. I had a plan, stuck to it and ran very respectable. The race plan did not unfold the way I had visioned but pretty damn close! One major move by one of my competitors would make the difference but like I said, I wouldn't change a thing if I had to race again tomorrow.

Friday:
I woke up and got our son to Kid Connection before I returned and broke out for a short 4 miler just to shake out the legs. I knew during that run that good things could happen on Saturday. I didn't announce it to anybody but I had been waiting all week to have a run like that. Tapering, the little bit I did, play more mind games than anything and I was not feeling so well early in the week. Friday I managed to run the short loop and without thinking I was running 6:30-6:40 pace and it felt like 8:00 pace, always a good indicator ones ready to put in a good performance. I sure am happy that happened, because I sure was doubting myself earlier in the week.

Total: 4 miles with 3 striders.

Saturday:
Race morning came quick, as it does in the GB half, and I was so ready to get going. I quickly made my way to the computer room to check the doppler radar to see how long the rain was going to last. When I jumped in the shower it was raining quite hard and the doppler looked like it was going to pass and be over by 0630-0700. For once the weather held true and by the time our race was starting most of the rain had quit. I didn't get the warm up I wanted, so that's when I decided to use the first mile or so to warm up. That didn't quite happen but with the tailwind, it sure felt like a warm up.

The GB Half has gotten very popular since the introduction of money prizes to the top ten a few years ago. Back in the day I finished in a PR that landed me in 4th place overall, a time now that wouldn't crack the top 20! That was then, this is now. As the horn sounded the field took off like no other. The huge pack of open elite quickly made their mark and I settled into pace just to stay out of the way. I would run the first two miles quicker than I planned but remained under control. (5:22, 5:31) At the two mile mark I shed my long sleeve shirt I had on and got to business. My main goal going into the race was to run under 1:12:00 and with hopes that would place me high in the Masters Division. I kept in mind the wind that was at our backs so I really didn't panic when I saw the quicker splits on my GPS. The course is one I have run literally dozens of times and I knew where every small incline was just to make sure I didn't push too hard in a section that didn't need pushing. The next five miles would all read under 5:30/mile pace and I was feeling great. It was at that point on London Road where my main competitor would make his move and I made the decision NOT to cover it. He pushed the 8th and 9th mile and I let him go thinking I would real him in on the slightly downhill 10th mile and exciting 11th-12th miles. That never happened. I would run 5:25, 5:24, 5:25 in chase and I gained only minor ground. (I later talked with Pat an he told me he broke away with a 5:17 9th mile!) As we made our way through the downtown streets the rain-soaked crowds were amazing! They always are in downtown and Saturday would be no different. For some reason as we passed the 12th mile I started thinking too much and got behind two runners as we head into the wind behind the DECC and I let them dictate the pace. My second big mistake. They slowed down and I stayed behind slowing as well. It's amazing how one lapse in concentration can cost you 10 seconds. I had enough energy to push pretty hard down the final stretch (4:56 pace) with another runner and we broke the line just one second apart. My final time would be 1:11:43. A time I knew would be possible but I didn't really know if it would happen. I can thank the wind a lot but I did play out my race plan as best as I could have. What a feeling!!

1:11:43, 48th overall, 5th Master, 3rd in 40-44 age group

Here are my splits for you running geeks like me:
5:22, 5:31, 5:29, 5:26, 5:29, 5:25, 5:30, 5:34, 5:31, 5:25, 5:24, 5:25, 5:34, :32

Total miles: 15 miles

Weeks Total: 38 miles (taper, 5 days)

Years Total: 1184.1 miles

Some Assistance

2011-06-16T06:10:00.002-05:00

Monday:
I woke up feeling much the same. Not too bad, but not much better. I would contact my doctor during the day and start antibiotics and start using an inhaler as well. The run went ok. I am always surprised how tired these virus's make you feel. I hope this works.

Total: 49:01. 6.6 miles

Tuesday:
Too early to tell if the antibiotics were working but I managed to get out and do a short warmup and do some light uptempo work on the track. I did 6 laps of 100 meter pick-ups with the curves as recovery. The first few laps were horrible. I felt like it was my first day on the track in months! Once I blew off the rust I finished the intvals feeling fluid but the whole workout was just another shot to my confidence.

Total: 40:07. 5.7 miles with 12 x 100 meters @5:00/mi pace

Wednesday:
Mid day at work yesterday I felt like things were changing. I suddenly felt like I was breathing better and less congested in the nasal cavities. I woke up with next to no phlegm and made my way out the door for a short, easy run. I did a loop out to Pleasant View road and returned via Vermilion. My legs felt decent but I didn't push the pace at all. I may want to do some striders on Friday just to get the legs loose one more time.

Total: 47:27. 6.6 miles

Thursday:
I decided to take a rest day today and hope this freshens up the legs a bit. I have the day off of work tomorrow and will get a short run in the morning just to loosen up some. 48 more hours of antibiotics to work before the race, so I hope things improve. I felt like I was stuffing up again last night but I didn't wake up coughing at all, so that is a bonus. Super foggy and cool this morning. About the norm two days prior to Grandmas, as years past had this similar pattern.

Total: O miles

Struggle Continues

2011-06-12T21:40:00.003-05:00

Friday:

I woke up late and was going to take a zero then I figured I would venture out for a short run just to clear the head. The morning was glorious and I am glad I did make it out for a short jaunt but my sinus's remain to be clogged. I am coughing less and the phlegm I do cough up is minimal but I still feel zapped overall. What the hell did that virus do to me?

Total: 34:00 4.6 miles

Saturday:

I slept in until near 8:00. That is a record for me for a LONG time. I felt whipped last night and I really took advantage of the weekend and gained some extra sleep. It sure felt good. When I did manage to get out for a run I decided on a trail run just to pass the time. I made my way to the trails of Hartley and ventured out on a "guard-rail" loop. I usually don't run those trails prior to Grandma's weekend because I don't want to risk injury. I was going to be running really easy so I figured I was safe. Wrong! I was almost 40 minutes into the run and I was coming up on a corner on the single track and I entered a stretch that was shaded by the trees and that's where my toe grabbed a whole of a root and sent my flying forward. Fully knowing I was about to eat dirt, I tried to soften the blow with my hand/elbows and take the fall into a full body roll to keep impact a minimum. When I finally stopped I was staring up into the sky and let out a big $^^#()!!!! I hate falling. It always leaves my back in a mess. I really feel old, and I am NOT, when I fall and that is what I was most pissed off about. My right low back went into a subtle spasm while I wobbled for a few minutes but by the time I got home I had kept my pains to a minimum. A hot shower would help most aches but I was worried about my back. I did a few extra stretches later in the day and night and it must have helped because I went to bed mostly pain-free. (It may have been the beers I had that aided in that too.)

Total: 1:03:00 7.7 miles

Sunday:

Other than feeling a bit "dry" I woke up mostly pain-free and was eager to get my run completed under the early morning sunny skies. I had planned on running up to ten miles and run the latter miles in a negative split fashion just to keep the legs from getting too bored with all the easy running lately.

That is where I had some difficulties. I started picking up the pace after the three mile mark and I soon realized how hard I was working to maintain what I call "steady-state" pace. This pace should be relatively easy at this point in my training. The pace I was running felt way too hard and I shut things down after four miles. The splits were: 6:13, 5:51, 5:46, 5:39.

I'm not too sure what is going on, but I felt like my lungs were not expanding enough and I struggled to get air. Kind of how I felt like the 5K at altitude last week. I hope things improve quickly otherwise the race on Saturday is going to be a wash...

Other than the run, Kari, Lucas and I went to Brighton Beach and skipped rocks for an hour or so then we made our way to the Duluth Huskies game to watch them kick butt!! What an amazing day we had! Finally, one good one on a day free of work!

Total: 1:11:00 10.3 miles

middle miles as above.

Weeks Total: 49 miles

Years Total: 1146.2 miles

Down From Mile High/ One Week To Go

2011-06-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

I made the trip back form Denver and have made the transition back to normal hours and no altitude. I really didn't feel the altitude in everyday training per say but I did manage to get my ass kicked by ~5300 ft in the conference 5K on Friday

Friday I woke up hacking the same mucous. I was indifferent about the 5k but I really wanted to get in a hard effort no matter what the outcome would turn out to be. I took the bus ride to the start and did a warm up. The race was about as hard as I expected with the altitude and my virus I was fighting. The opening mile was tough and it got more difficult by the minute. I did get my "hard effort" but as far as a race goes it was a disaster. I ran 17:26 or so, which is the slowest I have run since age 16 or 17.

Total: 7.6 miles
2 mile warm up
5k race
2.5 mile warm down

Saturday was a travel day and I took a day off
0 miles

Sunday I joined the boys out at Jeremy's house and did a little step-down run. The early pace was very manageable and I decided to run the last 5 miles or so at steady-state pace. The last 4.6 miles were run at 5:50 pace and it felt fair. I am still not breathing right and I can't wait until all the bugs are out of me.
Total: 1:32:32. 13 miles with step-down miles.

Total week: 54 miles
Total Year: 1097.4 miles

Monday was the typical easy recovery run. No frills.

Total: 55:47. 7.6 miles

Tuesday I ran an out and back on west Skyline with negative splits at steady-state pace miles. I was feeling much better and hit some decent splits at an effort less than Sunday's. Just maybe I can salvage a decent race come June 18th.

Total: 57:05. 9 miles with 5 miles near 5:35 pace

Wednesday I woke up after a stellar nights sleep and decided to take an off day and add another hour of sleep to the night. For some reason I was fighting the virus I thought I lost and now was stuffing up and hacking some green mucous again. By mid-day at work I was feeling better but I am still monitoring the possibility of some antibiotics before next weeks race.

Total: 0 miles

This morning I ran an easy warm up and made my way to the UMD track to do one of Pfitzinger's workouts two weeks out. I did a 3 X 2000 meters with 3 minutes rest between. The pace was very manageable but still it left me doubting my goals for the half-marathon next weekend. I still don't feel like I am exchanging air properly and luck would have it I ran into my primary physician on my warm down so he and I spoke of the possibility of antibiotics and I will make that call by this Friday night. I want to make sure there is no doubt I can breathe properly one week from now as I am going to need all the air I can get!

Here is how the workout went:

3 mile warm up

2000 meters at 5:20 pace

2000 meters at 5:21 pace

2000 meters at 5:18 pace

2.4 mile warm down

Total: 1:07:20 9.6 miles

Virus Remains/ Feeling Some Heat

2011-06-02T18:44:00.002-05:00

I just want tot start by saying that I hope I don't get another virus in the sinus for quite some time. Every day, including this morning, I have hacked up some incredible lung cookies! How does our body produce such a thing? I continue to get better in small increments each day and I hope by weeks end I will be ready to crack some good workouts.

Monday I ran an easy hour and time would allow me to hook up with my old running partner Kooks! I picked him up and we ran out and back on Skyline. It was nice to reconnect with him as we have ran many miles together back in the day. I felt good and the miles rolled out like they should on a recovery run.
Total: 1:02:00 7.6 miles easy

Tuesday I was flying out to Denver for a conference so I had to get up ultra early and hit some miles. With this I felt like spending some miles running a bit faster so I made my way to the UMD track and ran 12 laps with the the straights at sub-5k pace. The fog was so thick I couldn't see across the track. I think I was the only one out there but on my last lap I ran down two men doing some laps. Legs felt great.
Total: 50:38 7+ miles

I didn't sleep worth a shit on my first night in Denver so I took full advantage and gained a couple extra hours of sleep. The day allowed me to sneak out at lunch and run the creek paths just blocks from the hotel. I felt great and the time just flew bye. I had to work to keep the pace controlled and I like that feeling.
Total: 1:00:30. 8.4 miles

This morning I felt more rested and made my way out nice and early and hit the creek paths for a bit longer. The weather was wonderful and I haven't felt heat like that in some time. Duluth hasn't been this warm since last summer! I managed to have a good run and add a few extra miles to the morning. The lung cookies are becoming much less and I can't wait for all this to be gone.
Tomorrow I will run the 5k that the conference puts on and I plan to go as I feel. I would love to hammer out the race but I am not too sure all systems are ready for that. We'll see but I may run LT pace to ensure a great workout, but then again, once the competitive juices start flowing I'm not too sure I can hold back. Report to follow.
Total: 1:11:14. 10 miles

Catching Up With Dismal Week

2011-05-29T17:46:00.001-05:00

Wed
I didn't think that I could have got any worse in health but then I woke up. I new in an instant why I took 48 hours to recover from a trail run that Would usually just take a day. I was getting sick and now it was full-on! I did report to work but it lasted to noon then I went home. A quick trip to the Urgent Care was justified to ensure I didn't have Step. (I didn't). I made it home and slept for 3 hours. That felt great!
0 miles for the day.

Thursday I woke up feeling rested so I hit the roads for a quick run. I didn't want to do too much so an easy loop to shake out the legs was perfect. My legs were feeling better but now I had to deal with a brewing head cold and mucho snot from my head. The feeling I was having felt like it could linger for a bit. I just finished having a three weaker in early May and I was not looking forward to repeating the whole thing all over.
Total: 42:45. 6 miles

When I woke up on Friday I knew I was in trouble. I hacked up some gnarly lung cookies and made my way out the door. My goal was to get in 7 miles and that was all I could mentally consider. Once I went through the mile I surprised myself and was feeling a bit frisky so I quickly made up a workout based on what I felt like I could handle physically and what would actually help me come June 18th. The plan was to do 2X 2 miles at true LT pace. I worked into the first mile then proceeded to manage 5:20 pace for the two repeats separated by three minutes. My legs were better and I actually was breathing just fine after clearing out the lungs.
Total: 48:05. 7.4 miles

Saturday I woke up with much congestion and really didn't want to run. The weather sucked and I just didn't want to head out. I finally did and hit the trails of Rock Hill and Chester. Again, once the lungs were clear I felt decent so an hour was in store. Easy hour.
Total: 55:49. 6.5 miles on trails

I felt like my run on Sunday needed to be at least 13 miles. I did that and actually ran a negative split run. I love doing these workouts as you gain much confidence when they go good. I had to hold back on the way out and once I had the green light I hit some 5:45-5:50's for close to 4 miles. I would have liked to hit more faster miles but it felt like way too much work for that pace and I just chalked it up to the virus is was fighting. Not the best run but I knew it wasn't a true reflection of my fitness.
Total: 1:25:44. 13 miles with 4 @ steady state pace.

Weeks Total: 45.3. Miles
Years Total: 1043.7 miles

Wasted

2011-05-24T18:10:00.002-05:00

The Sunday trail run shattered my legs. I finished the run and went to bed Sunday night very happy. As I woke up Monday I had the usual drowsiness and didn't really want to hit the pavement but I pushed on and quickly realized how sore I was. No energy. No spring in my stride. Just plain 'ol fashioned fatigue! I took every step with caution and quickly made a decision to cut it short. Two days recovery may be in order...

Total: 37:02 4.8 miles

*very low energy

This morning was worse yet. I couldn't believe how trashed my legs were and frankly I was shocked! Three miles in and it felt like I just took my first step off our driveway. The loop took me out to Martin and Vermilion roads and that was enough. Each step hurt. My hamstrings were a mess. Tight is just a word that begins to describe how awful I felt. When I got home I hit the fitness ball and did some abdomen work. I also stretched the hips and low back. I did manage to feel a bit better but feeling like this concerns me. I have some key workouts to do this week and I hope tomorrow morning will allow me to nail a good one!

Total: 58:13 7.6 miles easy!

Finished In The Mud

2011-05-22T17:43:00.000-05:00

Wednesday was a lazy morning that turned into a big fat "0" for the morning. I woke up tired and really just didn't want to run. I will give myself one day a week at the most to do that. A person knows when they are being lazy and when you really need a day off. I was somewhere in the middle of all that and when it lands on a recovery run morning I am less likely to fight it. In the end, more times than not, your legs thank you for the rest.

Total: 0 miles

Thursday was back to a more structured workout of sorts. I decided on 1k repeats but as I jogged past the track something told me to avoid it. I am still a bit leary of all the turns a track workout can dish out. My achilles has been so good, I don't want to blow it on some workout I can mimic on the roads. That is what I did. I did 5 x 3 minutes at 5:10-5:15 pace with 90 seconds rest between intervals. West Skyline has fairly tame terrain so that was my stomping grounds.

Here is how the workout unfolded.

3.4 mile warm up

3:00 at 5:16 pace

3:00 at 5:04 pace

3:00 at 5:16 pace

3:00 at 5:17 pace

200 meter, 400 meter sprint

3.5 mile warm down

Total: 11 miles

Friday I woke up to sunlight and decided to run a new route and mix in some trails. I ran through Woodland neighborhoods and worked my way to Hartley before making a final loop to Rock Hill. Legs felt great and the trails were in great shape.

Total: 1:05:30 8.4 miles

Saturday we went camping on the North Shore to Temperance State Park. The morning was great and we took in the action at the Superior Trail Races. There was a 50K and 25K that had a maximum field of 250 runners. The runners were blessed with no rain and mostly dry trails. As we were leaving the race, the rain started and never let up until the next morning. My plan was to run 90 minutes on the trail near Temperance but that never materialized so I took another "0". I cant remember when I last took more than one day off in a week. Again, I tried not to beat myself up over it and enjoyed the weekend.

Total: 0 miles

Sunday was another rainy day and we made it back to Duluth rather early. After a little snack I decided to hit the trails for some loops and ended up hitting Rock Hill, Hartley, Amity Creek, Lester and returned home. I misjudged the Lester loop and ended up running a bit longer than planned but all was good. One gel got me through the ordeal and for the most part my legs were happy.

Total: 2:21:21 18.1 miles (trails)

Weeks Total: 56 miles

Years Total: 998.4 miles

Crisp Air

2011-05-17T19:31:00.002-05:00

The first two days of this week have been a bit chilly but I will not complain a bit because I have run under sunny skies. By the time I am heading out at 0515 the sun is near breaking the horizon and the morning air is crisp. The birds are chirping and all I could hear was the pitter patter of my feet hitting the asphalt.

Monday I found myself a bit more fatigued than planned. I felt so good yesterday after my long run that I figured I would jump out of bed and just pound out the miles. Wrong! I had sore and tight hamstrings along with general fatigue. That may have been a good thing as it kept the pace very controlled. I did my usual loop out to Martin road and home via Vermilion and UMD. By then end of the run I was looking for some food and tea and ready to start a fresh week.

This morning I managed to get out and do some uptempo running. For the next three or four weeks one of my weekly workouts will be steady-state running. This morning I did 4 miles and at the end of four weeks I will run a 10 miler at pace. The pace is NOT the same as LT (lactate threshold) pace, rather it is a pace just a bit slower, or, just a bit faster than marathon pace. At this point in my training I used 5:40 as my pace. I didn't really feel all that peppy this morning but I managed to hold pace rather easily. It's really important not to push too hard on these workouts and running under the prescribed pace is counterproductive. I'm not too sure what I will do the rest of this training for my second workout of the week but I am thinking I will dabble with 1000 meter repeats. In the past I have gained a lot of strength from the 1k's and I hope that is the true this time around.

Monday: 1:02:00 8.2 miles recovery

Tuesday: 1:10:00 10+ miles

(garmin died 32 minutes into run)

4 miles at 5:40 pace in middle

Another Cold Week- Lucky For A PR!

2011-05-15T20:25:00.003-05:00

Monday:

The run on the SHT left me feeling a bit invigorated. Having run for two hours on that trail and having little to no soreness after makes one feel like their "fitness" has made a proper adjustment. Once those trails dry up I plan to make them a regular addition to the weekend running routes. For the morning run I ran an easy loop up Woodland and home via Vermilion. Typical recovery style run.

Total: 57:27 7.6 miles easy

Tuesday was my last workout prior to the one mile race on Thursday night. I managed to do a nice warm up to the UMD track, quickly changed my shoes the the Mizuno Universals before working myself into some laps of alternating the straights and corners of easy/hard. The straights were at mile pace and I jogged the corners. In total I made it 8 or 9 laps before heading home. I was really liking how I was feeling after the first 3 or 4 repeats and had a really good workout. I think if things go right, a new mile PR could be in the works. But let's not get too far ahead of myself...

Total: 1:00:35 8.3 miles

Wednesday was another easy Kenwood loop. The rain has managed to stay away for my runs this week but the cool temperatures sure have not. I need some heat!!

Total: 57:03 7.6 miles

Thursday was all about the TC 1 Mile. I woke up and proceeded to run about 4 miles easy to Vermilion Rd and back. I did a few striders and got myself home to ready myself for work.

Once we, Dave S. and I, got to Minneapolis we picked up our packets under grey skies and temperatures just 2 degree's warmer than we had in Duluth. The mist/rain would fall off/on throughout the night and keep things rather cool. I figured this to be the case as all my races this year have been under grey skies and some form of precipitation.

We got in a nice warm up and covered the course a time or two before getting on the racing flats to ready ourselves for the gun start. Once we were off I tried to settle in a pace that would keep me under control the first 800 meters but that would not happen. I felt a constant urge to adjust the pace and never really got comfortable. Lot's of jockeying for position and I soon was getting passed by a light grey-haired gentleman that had me worried about the masters title. He passed with authority and I had a very hard time trying to go with him. Once we got past the 3/4th's mile mark I decided it was time to start to get to work and try to make a last push, but the legs really had no other gear than I was currently running. Over the last 200 meters I felt like had just a bit left in the tank and passed a few runners but not the man I targeted. That's OK because I managed to run 3 seconds faster than last year and run myself to a new mile Pr of 4:34. I'm happy with that. After the race Dave and I hooked up with some old teammates of mine and had a nice burger and pint before heading home for the late night commute.

Totals: 30:00 4 miles in AM

35 minute warm up prior to the race

1 mile race then 1 mile warm down.

11 miles total for day

Friday I had off from work and packed my morning full appointments and the afternoon was full of rain. Being pissed and sick of all this, I opted for a day off and enjoyed myself.

Total: 0 miles

Saturday I made my way to the SHT to Hawks Ridge and ran roads home. I found myself at the base of Glenwood hill and pushed at 7:15 pace up and continued the effort the rest of the way home. An impromptu tempo if you will. Legs felt great to go faster again and I feel like some nice workouts are right around the corner.

Total: 1:00:21 8.1 miles with last 20 minutes tempo.

Sunday I found myself out at Jeremy's as he is starting to get back into running after an injury that had left him down and out for a month or so. We ran the Western Waterfront trail out and back then three of us added another ATV trail loop to get our long effort for the day. Good for just over 2 hours. Legs felt great with no soreness after. Yeah!!

Total: 2:03:19 15.5 miles

Weeks Total: 58 miles

Years Total: 942.7 miles

Kickin' Viruses

2011-05-08T19:21:00.003-05:00

Tuesday: I woke up with continued and actually increased head-stuffiness and I wasn't sure what the source was. My initial thought was another virus, I had just finished a three week bout of a head cold and I wasn't looking forward to another one. I was then reminded that the pollen counts were at an extremely high level and it could be allergies kicking in high. At at rate I was waking up very congested and having to hack up many goobers along the first few miles of my runs.

The schedule called for some up tempo work and I decided to do longer fartleks. Once I got a decent warm up I worked myself into 5 X 4 min's at LT pace with 2 minutes of rest between. I was very pleased with how this workout unfolded and considering the terrain was fair, with the exception of the strong uphill 4th interval, I felt very strong and excited to hit the splits that was given to me that morning. I hit splits of 5:40, 5:35, 5:40, 6:08, 5:33 for the "on" segments. Finishing with a nice 4+ mile warm down kept me loose for the day.

Total: 1:24:42 12.3 miles

Wednesday I woke up with continued congestion and I really didn't want to head out. I got my arse out of bed a bit late and proceeded to make a short loop just to clear the head if nothing else. My legs appreciated the effort and became much looser with the short mileage. One of those mornings where I was happy just to get out a bit.

Total: 30:07 4 miles

Thursday was uptempo day #2 for the week and I decided on shorter intervals at a much higher workload. After a decent warm up I worked myself into a workout that consisted of 15 X 1 min on/0ff at ~4:50 pace. It felt great to get my legs to turn over a bit quicker and I really was feeling good at the end of the workout. Lot's of head junk still coming out in the early miles.

Total: 1:00:08 8.6 miles

Friday was my usual Wednesday loop of easy miles in the Kenwood area. I like this loop as an easy run and having a beautiful morning was a bonus. My legs were a bit tired at the start but I worked into the run and finished feeling very fresh.

Total: 54:55 7.4 miles

Saturday was a run in Cloquet as a group of us at work were running a 5K to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer. Save Our Hooterz 5K didn't disappoint and over 200 walkers and runners participated on a wonderful, sunny morning.

I tried to get to Cloquet early to run some miles prior to the fun run but I didn't get there as early as I wanted since I was functioning on 5 hours of sleep post Sir Elton John conert Friday night at the Amsoil Arena in Duluth. What a spectacular show!! Anyway, in total I ran just under 5 miles prior to the fun run then the race. Good enough for a sleep deprived morning. Maybe some photo's of this event will follow. I just have to find someone that had a camera that morn.

Total: 8 miles

Sunday I ran a wonderful trail run with Tony out west on the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT). We ran from the Magney Snivley parking lot out past Ely's Peak toward Fon du Lac and back. The pace on that trail makes one humble but the experience and strength one gains is priceless! What a run, and one that left me hungry for more. I even started talking about running a 100 Miler some day! Must have been the low blood sugar.

Total: 2:05:00 12 miles

Weeks Total: 62 miles

Years Total: 884.6 miles

Get in Gear race data.

2011-05-02T20:55:00.001-05:00

Untitled by greggor722 at Garmin Connect - Details

A New/Old Toy

2011-05-02T20:40:00.003-05:00

I just started playing with the Garmin Connect site and downloaded a few runs I have completed last week and this morning. It's really neat. I don't know how to post them to the blog yet but will. For those of you on FB, I will post one up soon.

This morning I did an easy loop out Woodland and UMD before getting the dog and completing the morning. It was cool. The kind of cool that reminds me of November running, not MAY!

My left upper hamstring and both glutes were very tight but got much better with the run. No other pains to report and I hope I will be ready for some harder running tomorrow morning.

Total: 1:11:39 9.2 miles

A Weeks Worth

2011-05-01T20:14:00.000-05:00

I got my Garmin fixed!! Wow, what a relief. Product support came through big for me and I was able to fix the bug at home with the assistance of Garmin. All it took was to borrow Tony's USB ANT (garmin chatter) and I did a "hard reset" of the unit back to factory settings and then download the most recent software version for my device and I was back and running!

Tuesday I ran out to Woodland and did an easy recovery "jog" and enjoyed every minute of it. Legs were feeling the uptempo from Monday and I was happy not to think on this run.

Wednesday I just made it out of bed and immediately decided on another easy loop and I was so happy I made it out. Sometimes you have to just enjoy the moment and stop thinking about goals, plans, races and everything else. That morning was all about having the opportunity to get out and run some miles. I'm being patient but the weather better change quickly!

Thursday was another uptempo day on West Skyline. I love doing these workouts this time of year on Skyline because I get to see some amazing sunrises over the big Gitch. This morning would not disappoint, yet another great sunrise. I did a series of fartlek intervals of 20/40's. Seventeen to be exact and I felt really good. My pace for the 20 seconds on was averaging 4:45's.

Friday I decided to take it really easy and ran out and back on Vermilion and home through UMD. I just wanted to shake out the legs and do a few strides in preparation for the big race tomorrow.

Saturday was a big day. I woke up at 0400 and hit the road by 0440 to pick up my buddy Chris and make our way to the 34th Get In Gear 10K. The weather was horrible and the temps were marginal. It rained the entire way to the Twin Cities and rained during our warm ups. The race was fairly rain-free but the rest of the morning consisted of rain and clouds. I felt rather pleased and ran a decent race despite the conditions. It's good to be on the right track.

Sunday was truly a day of rest. I partied with my buddy Dave as it was his birthday a day before mine and I managed to stay up way too late and get very little sleep. I rested, tried to fly a kite with my boy, and picked my honey up at the Lester Park after her medium distance run of the weekend. I really didn't want anything to do with running that day. No biggy.

Tuesday: 58:46 7.7 miles

Wednesday: 54:35 7.3 miles

Thursday: 1:12:50 10.4 miles

Friday: 34:00 4.2 miles

Saturday: 90 minutes 13.5 miles

Sunday: 0 miles

Weeks Total: 54.6 miles

Years Total: 823.1 miles

One Last 40 Workout

2011-04-25T07:31:00.004-05:00

This morning I made my way to the Lakewalk and Scenic 61 to do a series of fartlek intervals at an estimated pace just under 10K. (still no Garmin)

The workout went like this. 18 minute warmup then 5 X 5 minutes at ~10K pace with 3 minutes recovery. I was toast after the last interval. I seemed to max out the energy for the morning and had what I call a very good workout.

This was my last workout at age 40. Yep, another trip around the sun come tomorrow!

Total:

1:20:00 11.5 miles with intervals

Hilly Weekend

2011-04-24T12:10:00.003-05:00

With the Holiday weekend and our family having travel plans I opted for an early morning long run on Saturday. Luck would have it that one of my running buddy's from Jeremy's group texted Friday night to see if I was running long and I told him he was more than welcome to join in but I was leaving my house at 0530. He was in! Sweet. It sure is nice to have a partner for a long run, especially one at 0530. We hit a rural Woodland loop that consisted of some decent, long climbs along West Tischer and Hawks Ridge before making it back to my house at just over 2 hours. Perfect!

My legs felt pretty decent and fatigued only in the last ten minutes or so. I was happy with how I recovered the rest of the day and had plenty of foods and bevies to make it worth while.

Total: 2:03:20 16 miles

This morning I waited for the sun to make an appearance and hit the trials for a hour. I managed to hit all the trails in Rock Hill and Chester Bowl trails before getting home. For me, this was the best "weather day" I have run under yet this year. Temperatures once home were approaching 60F! I ran nice and slow and allowed my legs to rid the crap in them and I managed to keep the HR ultra low. A very good recovery run.

Total: 1:03:00 8 miles

Weeks Total: 73 miles

Years Total: 768.5 miles

New Energy

2011-04-22T17:06:00.003-05:00

After having two sub-par weeks, (58, 50 miles) I decided to ramp it up just a bit and hit two quality week-day workouts prior to the Holiday weekend. I woke up on Monday and felt great and the easy miles just flowed. Tuesday was my first quality workout of the week and I had to resort to "feeling" as the Garmin shit the bed and will be in the shop for a fixin'. I did a nice little fartlek that looked like this: 3 mile warm up, then 4 X 4 minutes at ~10K pace (~5:25) with 2 minutes of recovery followed with 4 miles of warm down. This workout went about as well as I could have asked and left me with a little upper hamstring/glute soreness that I'm getting used to, but really wish it would go away! Wednesday I did my Kenwood easy loop. Nothing special and it felt good to go slow. Thursday was my second quality workout and I did longer repeats at steady state. (steady state is a zone slightly faster than marathon pace, but slower than half marathon pace. Again, it would have been really nice to have the Garmin on this one just to make sure I didn't over-do-it.) I did 2 X 15 minutes at ~5:40 pace with 4 minutes recovery in between repeats. I had a bit of a headwind to deal with on the second repeat and I timed a London road mile at 5:44, not bad for inner-body GPS. The workout left me hungry to get faster and stonger. I feel like time is going by too fast for June 18th, but then again, I have seen my fitness really sharpen over a very short time. I hope! This morning I ran an easy loop with no frills. Having the past two days off of work really helps and I am getting in a few extra hours of sleep that allows me that much more recovery. Going into this weekend I will get my long run complete early tomorrow am, as it will not conflict with travel plans. Sunday will be a bit over an hour easy.

Monday: 1:13:10 9.5 miles

Tuesday: 1:14:00 11 miles

Wednesday: 1:05:00 8.5 miles

Thursday: 1:20:00 11.5 miles

Friday: 1:02:36 8.5 miles

Ending Flat

2011-04-17T17:00:00.000-05:00

Fitgers 5K left me feeling a bit flat on Sunday and having a lot of the snow still lingering didn't help matters. We had a small group that planned to loop in Rock Hill and possibly Chester Bowl. I wore road shoes, mainly because that is all I have, and they were giving all that I could handle on the wet trails of Rock Hill. My legs had very little pep and after 75 minutes of looping I called it a day. Had I ran roads I have a feeling I would have felt much better because the five minutes I ran on dry pavement after the trails my legs felt much better. I guess I will call the week one of REST.

Total: 1:20:00 9+ miles

Weeks Total: 50 miles

Years Total: 695.5 miles

First Timers

2011-04-16T16:38:00.003-05:00

The past week sure has been interesting to say the least. The weather has gone from being nice and warm to having myself pull out the winter apparel once again. The brutal winds have blessed us with some additional "training stimuli" along with some rainy mornings and now the weekend had ~3 inches of snow.

The 22nd Annual Fitgers 5k was this morning and it was reported that in the history of the event no snow had been part of the festivities. Until this year. At first I was kind of mad when I heard the news yesterday but I quickly made an attitude adjustment and decided to have some fun with it and welcome what ever weather conditions nature could dish out. (like I had a choice anyway...)

As the gun sounded it was as close to a winter storm as any. I sure hope to have some pictures to post soon but we had one heck of a snow squall that thankfully diminished very quickly into the early mile or so. It was very good that some traffic made their way through downtown superior street because that was the only path to follow on the way out. Canal park was a bit less traveled and the corners were slick! A bunch of us were talking and we all wondered how much the slippery conditions really slow a runner down. It really doesn't matter because it was a race on effort and as long as you were giving it your all you were going to do as good as anybody.

I was surprised how good my legs and breathing felt going through the conservative opening mile in 5:15. I felt like I could manage to push that kind of effort the entire race and was feeling very good. As we ran past the Sports Garden we were greeted with the usual wind howling down the avenue. Once we were striding down Railroad street I was third in a line of three and we slowed some. I felt too comfortable but yet I didn't want to pass and lead into a wind while others took advantage. I stayed there until the 180 turn by the DECC and soon after made the gap up to the first guy who was trying to make a move out. As I fell in behind him I took a minute or so to catch my breath and then made a move past him to allow him to draft me. We pushed under the viaduct and then I gapped him a bit and decided to keep pushing up and over the final bridge and make my way to the dreaded trip back up Superior street. My legs were beginning to feel heavy but I still felt like I had decent turnover. Once I crested the climb I knew it was time to push all out as I didn't shake the runner behind me and he was making a move of his own. In the end I held him off and I didn't like what I saw. I know the conditions were crap, but I saw the clock tick past 17:00. That was a time I was trying to stay ahead of for many more years. My time would be 17:03, good for 3rd place overall and first over age 40. The last time I ran over 17 for 5K was in high school. I'm still happy with how I ran and how I felt as I think I am finding myself in pretty decent shape for April. I am now just starting to hit some true specific uptempo workouts and for me that is a good sign.

The other great news of the morning was my sister. She decided to join us nuts in this running venture last fall and ran her first race of adulthood in the Duluth Mile. Soon after she signed up for the Fitgers 5k and ran this morning. I had the pleasure of looping back and running the last quarter mile with her and she was just cruising. I also got to witness her endure a wonderful side stitch. You know, the kind that just makes you want to stop and sit down. I could tell that was on her mind but with a little encouragement she pressed on and broke the line in a very respectable 32:58. What's most important is she managed to run the same pace she ran her mile race last fall for the entire 5k! I wish I could do that! That also shows the room for progress and I get to enjoy watching all the PR's to come as she enters each race. Good job Carole!

Here is the early part of the week leading up to the snowy race weekend.

Monday:

My first uptempo work of the week. A fartlek that went like this. 12 X 20 seconds under 5k pace (4:50-5:00) with 40 seconds rest. I call it the "20/40" workout.

My legs felt super and I was surprised at the pace as I was just feeling very fluid in my strides.

Total: 1:10:56 9.5 miles

Tuesday:

Easy recovery style running. Kenwood.

Total: 1:06 8.6 miles

Wednesday:

A bit longer repeats this time. 6 x 2 minutes at 5:15 pace with 90 seconds recovery.

Again, I was surprised how easy the intervals went. I felt like I could push a bit more but didn't. I have plenty of time to get speed in and this felt like a very good intro workout. No pains, and that is nice.

Total: 56:32 8.2 miles

Thursday:

I woke up to the alarm and slammed it. I was so tired and fatigued I just couldn't imagine running. Didn't sleep well the last few nights as my head cold is lingering and I am up much of the night coughing. A day off is often better than stumbling through a recovery run just to say you did it.

Total:

0 miles

Friday:

Easy miles up Woodland. No problems except trying to keep the pace down. Nice!

Total: 1:05:40 8.5 miles

Saturday:

Race: Fitgers 5K

17:03 3rd place overall and first Master runner.

brutal weather, but still fun.

Total miles: 6+ miles

Rural Miles

2011-04-10T12:03:00.004-05:00

Both runs this weekend consisted of a lot of rural miles. On Saturday Nic and I ran up Woodland and made our way out to West Tischer by means of Howard Gnesen and Nelson roads. Running W. Tischer past Jean Duluth all the way to Maxwell provided some decent rolling miles. We finished by taking Hawks Ridge over to Glenwood and Snively before looping at UMD and making our way home. The run felt really good and I had a bit of leg fatigue in the latter minutes of the run but nothing outstanding. An ice-bath afterwards and some recovery fluids and eats made life very enjoyable. The only residual soreness I had was the insertion of the hammies at the ischial tuberosities. I have battled with this pain in the past and Saturday afternoon was no different. By evening things were much better.

Total:

2:13:00 18 miles

Some Quick Shots of Sunday's Crew and Lester River

This morning was back out to Lester Park to meet with the guys for some gravel running. We did quite a bit more asphalt than weeks past but none the less a decent loop. My energy was excellent and legs were feeling fine with the exception of a right lower IT Band strain. I first noticed this soreness after a harder effort earlier in the week. It was hinting a bit yesterday and this mornings run it was definitely making a presence. I am looking forward to this upcoming week and hitting all my workouts to go into the weekends 5K with a bit of early, spring confidence. I am relatively fit, but not 5K fit so the weather will be my biggest enemy or friend.

Total: 1:18:42 10.2 miles

Weeks Total: 57.4 miles (5 runs)

Years Total: 645.7 miles

Systems Check! Welcome The Weekend

2011-04-08T17:39:00.002-05:00

The head cold took another crack at me last night and allowed me to see every hour of the night with the exception of 2am. I slept through that hour. After a dose of meds I returned to the bed and slept to my alarm clock. Correction. Lucas made his way to our bed coughing and restless so I made my way to his bed and slept until my alarm clock!

Nic and I had made arrangements to meet at UMD at 0500 and run an easy hour. Once we hooked up I mentioned the loop out to Martin road and back via Vermilion but I forgot to add on the time it took Nic to run from his house to UMD and back and thus the run was a bit over a hour. No big deal for me but he needed to be to work by 0700 and it was now 0610. He didn't seem to mind but I felt bad none the less. After two miles things really loosened up and I was feeling great. We chatted the whole run and time went bye like nothing. With that run I gave myself the green light heading into this weekend and will do my usual long run and recovery style runs.

Total:

1:12:40 9.4 miles

Sickness

2011-04-07T21:13:00.004-05:00

I managed to get decent runs in Monday and Tuesday with the latter being an out and back on Skyline with 10 X 1 minute at 5K pace with one minute recovery. I had a bit of soreness after the run and by the time I got home from work on Tuesday I realized I was getting sick. Nothing major but just the type of bug that keeps you down and really stuffed up head/sinuses.

Both Wednesday and Thursday were days of zero. The way I felt in the early morning hours kept me in bed and I just couldn't muster up the strength to get out and run. More than likely it would have been counterproductive anyway. I will try to hit some road miles in the morning. Test time.

Monday:

1:04:00 8.3 miles

Tuesday:

1:22:00 11.5 miles

10 X 1 minute fartleks at 5:15 pace.

Wednesday:

0 miles sick

Thursday:

0 miles sick

Spring Running

2011-04-03T13:16:00.003-05:00

It's really turning into Spring season in the north. I had my doubts early in the week when temps were still in the teens for the morning runs. By late in the week I had to adjust the apparel I chose in order to avoid over heating. The week went about as well as I would have liked with the exception of some nagging, sore muscle/tendon on the top/inside part of my right foot. It makes my foot feel like I have shoe laces too tight but at home I wear Crocs or Birkie shoes so that isn't the case. The feeling reminded me of a minor stress fracture I had in 1995. The odd thing I find is I have no pain when I run. Only a bit of discomfort walking around the house and that itself is fickle. The best I can do right now is stretch the lower leg muscles a bunch and ice the foot. Keeping tabs on this will be primary concerns this week.

It is now time to switch gears a bit and start introducing some faster and hillier running into the weeks mix. I look forward to this phase as a lot of work gets done and you can see progression rather fast if all comes together as planned. I will race twice this month and will really see how I am setting myself up for June 18th, as that is the primary goal for getting out of bed each day.

Here is the weeks review.

Monday:

One more easy recovery style run after Saturday's two hour jaunt. I didn't really need recovery but it always feels great to take two days of recovery, so what the hell I did.

1:05:15 8.2 miles HR= 125

Tuesday:

I ran what I call the "Heights" run. Once I made my way over to Arlington I ran some hilly portions with a bit of a fartlek style and managed to run some decent climbs during the loop. A great run for early am!

1:13:28 10.1 miles HR=135

Wednesday:

I wanted to run a long, low HR run just to get a decent aerobic effort on the books for the week and really not stress to much about pacing. I felt great and looped down to Lakeside and ran the entire lake walk back to Blackwoods where I found myself running uphill for the last 17 minutes of the run. Felt super once again.

1:32:56 12 miles HR=128

Thursday:

The Woodland, Martin road loop served very well for this run as I did some impromptu fartleks of 30 seconds in the middle. I did 10 X 30 seconds at 4:55 pace with once minute of recovery. I really felt good on those repeats and think that some faster running is going to feel good next week.

1:03:49 8.5 miles

Friday:

I didn't like how tired I was feeling and decided on an unplanned day off. I always beat myself up for taking a day off but sometimes those day are a blessing in disguise. This time off will hopefully assist me in the near future and get that foot under control.

0 miles/rest day

Saturday:

The foot continued to pull as I walked around the house but I knew I could run once I got my arse out the door. I didn't leave until noon and had what I might call the best run of 2011! I really just ran on perceived effort and really pushed the hills I came to. Sometimes I love making up workouts as the run unfolds. This was no different and hammering the hills made my confidence in running so easy for 12 weeks is going to really lay the foundation for me to really build upon over the next 10 weeks. It's time to get excited!!

1:14: 28 10.7 miles Farlek on Hills

Sunday:

I met up with Dave, Tony, and Clint out at Lester and ran some decent snowy/gravel roads for 90 minutes. Clint and I tacked on an extra 20 minutes at the bottom of our loop and I felt very fresh for the day. I had some quad tightness but that is par for the course with all the hills I ran in the last 48 hours. A really decent back to back effort for me.

1:52:00 13.7 miles

Weeks Total: 63 miles

Years Total: 588.3 miles

Ending Base- Week #11 Review

2011-03-27T17:36:00.003-05:00

I am heading into week number 12 of base-phase and I am now just feeling like I am beginning to roll. I really feel like I could use another month and build up the volume but that may change once I start doing workouts and such. For the next week I plan to do much the same, two medium distance runs with some uptempo along with a two hour long run on the weekend. I have been doing some reading and I think I know where the next phase will be focused with little to no change in overall volume of running. Mentally I am looking forward to some new training zones and I hope my physical being will follow once I start paying attention to the pace and heart rate zones a bit more closely.

I found myself with good company this weekend on both my runs and the miles just clicked off on little effort. I believe I had my last effort of any kind on the trails on Saturday and will be stuck to road loops for a month or so. Maybe the snow will continue to melt and give us some added motivation going into April. Having a little grip under the feet during some harder efforts sure is a nice thing.

My week in review:

Monday

The easy, recovery loop was stretched out to a full hour and will continue to fall in that time frame from here on out as long as things remain to feel good. Woodland/Vermilion loop to UMD and home will be a Monday staple.

1:03:00 7.8 miles HR=125

Tuesday

I kept the heart rate up a bit on this run and meandered through Woodland hills and Howard Gnesen before making my way home via Martin, Eagle Lake, Riley, Jean Duluth, Martin, Vermilion, UMD.

1:24:12 11.5 miles HR 138

Wednesday

As I woke up to Vortex winds and NO snow I was happy/sad. Happy with the no snow part but just pissed at the winds. Instead of hitting the treadmill for an easy hour I just made myself a cup of coffee and read the morning paper. Mental break day.

0 miles

Thursday

Out and back on West Skyline to 28th ave west. The morning was perfect and I had a bit of a cold wind to deal with on the return trip but I am very familiar with those so no big deal. Legs felt great and I managed to squeeze in 12-13 X 30 seconds at 5K pace with one minute rest.

1:30:39 12.6 miles HR=138

Friday

The same as Monday with a little more added through UMD. Feeling great!

1:04:56 8.2 miles

Saturday

Nic and I ran some roads before making our minds to at least try some of the snowmo trails. We did, but they sucked. Too much ice and uneven surface made for a full body muscle contortion every time going over the brown sheets of ice that covered the trails.

I was very happy with how the miles felt and it was a run to mark myself getting fit.

2:03:00 15.8 miles

Sunday

Out in Lester with Dave and Henry. We did 7 bridges road and some gravel roads out in the country. A very nice switch in running terrain and it was a loop I wouldn't mind repeating a bit more often.

1:11:00 9 miles

Weeks Total: 65 miles (6runs)

Years Total: 525.1 miles

New Photo

2011-03-20T22:12:00.003-05:00

I have been looking for a new photo for some time to really say what I love most in my life. The two individuals in the photo are two of the best things to ever happen to me. Without them I would be nothing. I realize that most running blogs have a runner or the like on their banner but the Lift Bridge is such an iconic symbol of Duluth and after all, that is where we live and also, it's home to one of the best marathons in the country. I hope you enjoy the change and it will take quite a photo for me to replace this one. Thanks for reading.

Smell of Spring

2011-03-20T19:33:00.003-05:00

The smell(s) of spring are present. I had a nice early morning loop on Friday and I could smell the fresh air and everything that comes with spring. Yesterday our trio couldn't help but smell the odors of dog feces throughout the run and at random times. This morning was back to the wet, damp odors and yet I enjoyed every minute of it.

The latter part of this week I really fell into form and had three nice days of running. I banked myself some serious sleep this weekend and that seems to help a ton! With the energy I had all weekend I hope to "spring" into form this week as I start to do a little more "work" on Tuesday and Thursday. This will be a transition week into the next phase and I am looking forward to the change in paces.

Here are the last few days of the week:

Friday

I will be getting back to doing this loop as one of my regular recovery type loops as the trails in Duluth will be non-runnable very soon. I like to run up Woodland to Martin and return via Vermilion road and loop in UMD before making it home. It's a good hour with some ups and flats. Keeping the HR low is always the goal.

1:02:31 7.9 miles

Saturday

I met up with Dave and Jonas to run some flat road miles out and back on Park Point and then some added time on the Lakewalk. We had many laughs during this low stress run and it felt good to do some mix-up fartleks the last thirty minutes. My legs felt fine and I am hoping to springboard into a new zone of fitness after this week.

2:00:00 16.4 miles HR=133 *i like that!

Sunday

A surprise of wet, heavy snow this morning made it very difficult to find footing if one were to run in my neighborhood. I didn't. I ran from Chester, along with Tony and Brian, down to the Lakewalk and I ran out to 36th before making my way back via Superior street and then doing a little hill running back to Chester. My legs felt awesome and if I had planned better I would have run another two hours with these guys. I hope tomorrow feels as good. (first time I forgot any watch on a run in some time so I had to ask Tony the running time and then look at my car for hours when I got back to the parking lot)

~1:02:00 ~8 miles

Weeks Total: 64.1 miles

Years Total: 460.2 miles

Black Ice Season

2011-03-17T12:47:00.002-05:00

It's that time again. The temperatures create some nice melt and the early morning runners have an extra variable to be aware of while attempting to open one's eyes. Most of my routes are mostly clear of ice but you always have to have your eyes open and having a good, bright headlamp doesn't hurt either.

For some reason I am fighting some tiredness in the early morning hours. The alarm is waking me but I have the snooze-factor going on for some thirty minutes. To get my allotted time for each run I can't afford to snooze that long. Once I'm out on the roads I feel decent but before and after the runs I am just ready to crash and take a serious nap. Hopefully that's something that will adjust, or I'm fighting a bug, or I just need to buck up and get my arse out of bed and get moving.

The runs this week have gone well. Four days of alternating very easy days with some 80 minute faster runs. I have one more week of base and then I will be working on some strength and shorter repeats. I'm looking forward to the change and that alone may help me get out of bed.

Here is the week so far.

Monday:

*almost a zero for the day but I finally got out and took an easy spin around the cemetery loop.

32:40 4 miles

Tuesday:

out to Howard Gnesen and Martin roads, home via Vermilion. i found it very symbolic that my headlamp faded to a candle light, and my gps watch battery died two miles from the house. i was just wondering if i was going to have some issues next?

1:21:00 11 miles

Wednesday:

another easy, modified cemetery loop that took me out to Glenwood and home via Snively. legs felt good and I kept the HR ultra lowwwwww.

47:18 5.7 miles HR=122

Thursday:

my skyline out and back morning. after four miles i added 12X20 seconds at 5K pace with 30 seconds rest. those repeats felt really nice! no skunks so that was nice.

1:19:43 11.1 miles HR=135

First Crack At 20, Almost

2011-03-13T14:35:00.003-05:00

In summary, the rest of the week went well. I did take Thursday off for a mental break and woke up Friday ready to rip it. I adjust the daily assignment and ran near 80 minutes at my upper HR limit. It felt great but the constant near run-ins with the skunks are getting old. I say "near" because I have yet to see one but I know they are close.

The weekend was great with my first run near 20 miles this year and a wonderful trail run today to flush out the legs. (it's early to comment but I am sure Kari and I will have fun at tonights first Shamrock Pub Shuffle. We are running a short (3+mile) loop with a bunch of others form the DRC and will be stopping at two participating pubs for a pint. I am so looking forward to this as it will be a wonderful social event. More on that tomorrow.

Here is the latter part of the weeks running totals:

Friday:

1:18:07 10.2 miles HR=134

Saturday:

2:29:17 19.6 miles

*had a great "bonk" that last thirty minutes

Sunday:

1:07:38 7.2 miles

Weeks Total: 60.1 miles (6 runs)

Years Total: 396.1 miles

Making A Jump

2011-03-09T07:41:00.003-06:00

I woke up Monday to some fresh powder. We received about 2-3" of light powder and the temperature was near 10F when I ran. Making my way to the trails of Hartley was first in my mind and hitting the trails early guaranteed me a first around the loops. First two-legged anyway. There were numerous other tracks from various four-legged beings out there and that kept my mind occupied while I made my loop. The easy, recovery run was much enjoyed.

Total: 56:27 6.3 miles HR=125

Tuesday I started with a short section of trails before making my way to the roads of upper Woodland neighborhoods. Once out on Arnold and Martin things were clicking just fine. I didn't add any fartleks but just kept the pace steady but focusing on my HR. It was this run I realized I had made a nice jump in fitness again. I realized this past weekend that my long runs are becoming easier and now some of the mid week medium distance runs are clicking rather nicely as well. These are all good signs going into the next phase of running in about a month.

Total: 1:21:34 11 miles HR=135

This morning was nothing special. The trails of Hartley were calling my name once again and I grabbed my Yak's and made the best of an easy recovery loop. The legs didn't feel as peppy as Monday and Tuesday but very close. I managed to keep a very close eye on the HR and kept it as low as I could. Another great night of sleep helped with some needed recovery and I hope to carry some momentum to the latter part of the week and and the weekend long run.

Total: 50:22 5.8 miles HR=125

Two Months In

2011-03-06T20:44:00.003-06:00

I am officially two months into my training. I had a bad patch in early January when our whole family got sick buy other than that I have had continuous weeks of progression. I hope to bump up the volume just a bit more before heading into the next phase of training. The goal of peaking at a 100 mile week always falls short but I must say I often feel very fit once I average 70's per week. Maybe 100 is too much? Hitting 100 miles in a week on singles is very difficult and running twice a day just isn't in the cards with my family life and work. Anyway, here is the summary of the weekend.

On Friday I woke up and pretty much knew I wasn't running. Thursday I made reference to it and I stuck to it once the alarm went off. I was telling Tony today that I believe it was much more of a mental break than physical. Getting up so damn early and fighting the wind and slippery surface is beginning to wear on me and I am looking forward to some change. The break on Friday was welcomed and come Saturday I felt great.

Dave H and I ran from the Rose Garden and hit Park Point. It has been some time since I ran on Park Point and I sure enjoyed it. We fell into a nice rhythm and on the return trip we ran negative splits while talking of the racing season coming up. Dave had a bit more to add after he dropped me off and I made my way home so my wife could get her long run complete.

Sunday I woke up and made plans to meet Tony at the entrance to Chester Bowl. Once we connected I ran us up Kenwood to the back entrance of Hartley single track where we did a loop through some surprisingly beautiful trails. It's amazing how the trails can change day by day and Sunday they wouldn't disappoint. Once we completed our loop I ran Tony back down a quad-pounding downhill to his place and I added some more miles on the Lakewalk before making my uphill grind to my house. I continue to be amazing how the body starts to fatigue near the end of these long efforts but at least the fatigue is waiting longer to show up each week. This week the last 15 or 20 minutes were tough, but then again, they were all uphill. Hmmmm. What a great day for a long run.

Total Saturday: 1:11:46 9.4 miles

Total Sunday: 2:01:40 14.6 miles

Weeks Total: 57.1 miles (6 days)

Years Total: 336 miles

Subtle Fatigue

2011-03-03T19:18:00.002-06:00

After a weekend of great running I started the week with another easy day on Monday just to make sure the longer effort on Saturday was recovered from. I felt a bit "off" but nothing too bad, just a little heavy-legged running. I followed a similar path of Sunday's run that included single track, snowmobile trails and roads.

On Tuesday I managed to get in a little longer effort and stuck to the roads of Vermilion, Eagle Lake, Reily, Jean Duluth, Martin and home via Vermilion. I tried to keep the HR near 135-140 but my legs felt awful the entire run. Heavy legs out the door, heavy legs to return home with. Not good. I was just happy to get in the mileage and looked forward to a rest day.

Wednesday's rest day came at a cost. It was -9F with a -25-30F windchill!! I stared out the window and contemplated taking a zero. Well, I did't and the easy run in Hartley wasn't all that bad and in the end I was very happy to get out and run the firm trails.

This mornings run took me out on West Skyline just past Enger golf course and back. I added 9 X 45 seconds at 5:50 pace with 30 seconds recovery. I was thinking it would feel nice to get a little turnover in the legs and what I found was sore, tight hips, hams and glutes. The same muscles that hampered me so bad in October. I hope I can loosen things up and progress because to get all those muscles tight again would be a loosing battle.

So I sit and stew if I should take a zero tomorrow or get out and do my easy hour on the trails. I guess I will let my legs dictate that come 0445. I'm not entirely sure I am fighting a virus-bug that is causing some of this grief too, so a day off may help in recovery. Hmmm?

Monday:

59:08 7.1 miles

Tuesday:

1:16:11 10.1 miles HR=134

Wednesday:

46:14 5.3 miles

Thursday:

1:18:00 10.6 miles

9 X 45 seconds at 5:50 pace with 30 sec rest

Dates, Dreams, and Reality

2011-02-27T11:37:00.005-06:00

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to have a "date" with my wife to celebrate her birthday. Time can pass so quickly and we have not had a real date since December. The weekly routine becomes, well, routine and the next thing you know a month or so has passed. In our case, two months. We had plenty of discussion time as the crowd at Zeitgeist was nil. The conversation wrapped around many topics from our jobs, our son, and our house. Agreeing we are happy for the most part but often asking ourselves, "is this really all there is to our life?" Don't get me wrong. We have an extraordinary life but I think it is only natural to start looking for more at this stage in our life. The good thing is Kari and I are on the same page and will decide and follow each other with what ever we do in the years to come.

After all the spirits-induced discussion I came to the realization this morning that yes indeed, my life is super. I woke up, spent a little time tending to my caffeine needs, and then decided to take an easy trail run in the cool, northern Minnesotan air. It was just after the thirty minute mark when I bumped into Charlie, who was out on the snowmobile trail on his Pugsley getting in his Sunday ride, when, after visiting for a short time I realized that living in Northern Minnesota is what I like. To see others sharing the great outdoors is what it's all about. The air was crisp. There was a very light snow fall and my legs felt like a million bucks while keeping the HR at an ultra-low level. I suddenly felt very content. Kari and I have discussed moving to a new city and restarting our lives but really, in a dozen years will we be needing to move again just to cure our sense of boredom? Maybe, maybe not. I guess time will tell but for now I am looking forward to a fresh week of running and increasing the volume to yet another level in hopes to have a spectacular six weeks until the base-phase of this training is over.

Here is a recap of week 6 of phase I base training:

Monday: a day home with our son. I ran on the treadmill just because it was easiest with the schedule of the day.

51:44 6 miles HR=125

Tuesday: A mix of trails and roads. This was week two of allowing the HR to venture near 140. I really didn't approach that often unless there was a hill to deal with.

1:18:20 9.5 miles HR=132

Wednesday: Easy morning. Mostly roads.

50:02 6 miles

Thursday: Out on the trails a bit then shifted to the roads to do my first true "fartlek" style workout. During the loop I did 8 X 45 seconds at 5:45-6:00 pace with 30 seconds of rest. It felt good to get the legs to turn over some. :)

1:07:45 8.8 miles HR=133

Friday: I was just happy to get out the door. Felt very tired as I stared into the morning darkness. I made it out though. Easy recovery.

44:43 5 miles HR=122

Saturday: The plan was to run a bit over an hour with Dave H. and Jonas. Once we got to thirty minutes I made the decision to make the run into a long effort. We hit the trails of Lester and Amity and made it back to the rose garden via roads. Legs felt great.

2:00:00 14.7 miles

Sunday: Easy run on the trails and snowmobile trails. Felt great!! Legs recovered well and I must say I am a bit surprised. (must have been the martini)

1:02:20 7.1 miles HR=127

Weeks Total: 57.1 miles

Years Total: 278.9 miles

Country Snowmobile Trails

2011-02-20T13:48:00.004-06:00

I had a late night Saturday after driving to Edina and back in one evening to attend the 2010 Minnesota Runners of The Year Awards banquet. I managed to hold off my competitors (actually chase them down) in the 40-44 year age group. I will have more than my work cut out for me this year with some real speedsters joining the group. Anyway, it was a great night to be surrounded by other runners and share some winter training stories as well as future plans to bash head again come racing season! It's going to be anther great season.

To gain some extra hours of sleep I wasn't able to get out to the early morning running group but had the wonderful opportunity to run with Tony out on the snowmobile trails northeast of Duluth. The trails have been set quite firmly from the premature warm up we had last week and we took advantage of this by running out nearly an hour before making our return trek. Conversation made the time fly but I was feeling the fatigue after 90 minutes of ups and downs the trail had to offer. Being distracted by the excitement of running new trails with Tony I forgot any fluid or gels and was beaten down to the point of crawling on my hands and knees into the woods to punch holes in the snow in search of clean powder snow I could "eat" to gain some fluids. It worked. The last fifteen minutes were getting a bit challenging but knowing the car was just a hill or two away I was ready to dig deep to push on. The last 200 meters or so we had a nice downhill along a field and it was then I was so happy we decided on trails as the open roads would have been a chore. Good times!!

Total: 1:54:00 14.3 miles (-split by 4 minutes)

Weeks Total: 53.4 miles

Years Total: 221.8 miles

Back To Reality/Winter Wind Storms

2011-02-19T11:06:00.002-06:00

The heat wave that covered most of the U.S. early in the week is over and our temperatures plummeted -24 degrees in less than 24 hours.

On Friday I woke up to temps at 12F and a hellacious wind blowing. I didn't bother to turn on the TV to see the wind chills as that was not necessary, as I was going out running regardless. I decided on a road/snowmobile loop I had done many springs of past years. The problem with the loop direction I chose I ran the entire second half of the loop INTO the wind. OUCH! I really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be as my major problem was keeping my HR under control with the headwind. My legs continued to feel like crap and heavy. When I have felt this way in the past and I don't believe I have been pressing the training too much I always turn to nutrition. Luck would have it that one lunch option at work was baked ziti with breadsticks. The evening meal would be more pasta, tofu, vegies, potatoes, and cheese. (I had to wash the evening meal down with a little New Belgian IPA)

Total: 50:36 5.9 miles HR=129

This morning I woke up to temps near 10F. The wind died down to nil. I really wanted to hit the snowmobile trails so I drove out to Vermillion road and hit the trails from there. The loop down Amity and returning via Hawks Ridge was just amazing. No slipping as I wore the "get a grips" over my Ronin 2's.

The nutrition worked yesterday. My legs felt amazing as did my overall energy!! Sometimes you gotta get a plate full of pasta and life sure improves. (you just can't overdo it that's all)

The snowmobile trails were filled with "dead-heads" from the canopy of trees. That sure was some wind we experienced. They say more snow is on the way but I hope not. The running is very good right now and a foot of snow sure would screw things up.

Total: 59.04 7.2 miles

Heat Wave

2011-02-17T21:45:00.002-06:00

We're having a tropical heat wave! Wednesday when I got off of work I read 52F at 5pm!

A Duluth record for the day. I know it will not last but I'm sure the spring-like weather had lifted plenty of moods in the last 48 hours.

Wednesday morning was near freezing and the trails were still in great shape. I ran a loop out to the gas line and back along with a small road loop the campus to make my recovery run complete. Running easy is becoming really easy to do. It used to be a chore.

Total: 48:45 5.4 miles HR=127 bpm

This morning I woke up to fog and 36F. I opted out of the woods and hit an out and back course on Skyline. The roads were a bit wet but not too much ice to navigate which made things pretty decent for my hour run at the higher HR zone. My legs felt fair to the turn around and never got any better. I was happy with the pace but my legs felt flat. I know I didn't eat very well last night, and I hope that is what it was, but heavy legs off of easy running just doesn't make sense.

I'm looking forward to adding a little more spice to my Tues or Thurs runs next week. It's not much, but I will increase the HR zone just a tad for some fartlek intervals. I just have to finish off this week and keep pressing on during this base-phase.

Total: 1:01:18 8 miles HR=134 bpm

Ice on The Trails

2011-02-15T18:59:00.003-06:00

With the weekend temperatures hovering at 45F I figured the trails in Hartley would be long gone and beat up. Not the case. On Monday morning I ran to the trail head and as I approached the true single track I noticed that the surface was in great shape, the only thing was they were slick since the temps had dropped below freezing. I treaded lightly through the main trail out to the roads and had a wonderful easy loop.

Total: 40:00 easy

This morning I woke up plenty early and made my way back to Hartley with the intention of looping the lower trails. With the Get a Grips on my Ronin-2's I was feeling very frisky and the scheduled HR was feeling just fine. I'm still amazing how much faster you can run by increasing your HR by 10 bpm. As I approached the turn out at the gas line I decided to take a quick look at the upper trails and talked myself into giving them a try. I managed to loop out to the guard rail and for the most part the trail held up to the warm weekend temps and I was able to make it through quite well.

In the end I was feeling a bit fatigued but managed to get in my time. A super run and I am now looking forward to the rest of the week.

Total: 1:04:00 7.6 miles HR 132 bpm (high of 142 on hills)

Week of Rest...I Needed It!

2011-02-13T19:52:00.005-06:00

After a horrid long run on Sunday I spent the Monday morning run in Hartley running easy. I kept the HR near 123 bpm and it felt just fine. When I woke up on Tuesday I noticed it took a bit more to get up and out and my legs were still fighting me. (also, it was -35F with the windchill) I took another easy morning and that was all I could handle to keep warm. Come Wednesday I was looking for a day off but talked myself into a road loop and I actually felt fine despite the -25F windchill. That wind sure can zap your mojo and I was looking for a break. Thursday and Friday I took that mental, physically I was ready to get back at it, but I just didn't want to fight the wind any longer.

Since I blew the week of running, or as I called it, an impromptu recovery week, I played with my son in the snow and came to the realization I ain't no youngster any longer. I was sledding and trying to snowboard on a sled and made myself nice and sore after a few falls. My neck and low back took a beating and Sunday my lovely wife and I took off for a snowshoe on my parents property and my dad surprised us by doing a loop backwards and joined us for the last half hour. We sure had a great time as the temperatures hit mid 30's while snowshoeing and would top out at 45F for the day time high!! Yes, spring is right around the corner.

Weeks Mileage: ~25 miles

Years Mileage: 168.4 miles

Ending On A Sour Note

2011-02-06T11:11:00.003-06:00

The week went so well and having it end with a poor long run bums me out. It's really no big deal as this happens every single build-up. It's a natural occurring thing. One might have a series of weeks going well then, Bam, a crappy run. As long as the crappy ones are few and far between that is OK with me.

The run took me out west again and we traveled east on Grand and eventually Superior street until we hit the Rose Garden and turned back. I couldn't find a rhythm the first hour and just struggled to maintain the second hour. No major pains to report, just heavy sore muscles.

I am looking forward to my ultra-slow recovery run in the am and will more than likely perform another week of stellar training in the woods of Hartley Park.

Total: 1:52:00 15 miles

Weeks Total: 46.5 miles (5 days)

Years Total: 143.4 miles

Temperature Variance

2011-02-05T11:27:00.002-06:00

I woke up Wednesday to howling winds. Lying in bed I figured that running conditions would be "less than ideal". I gave myself the chance and walked downstairs to check the air temps. It read -9F. I then turned on the TV to hear the reported wind chills in the -35F to -40F! No way! No outside running for me. It was an easy recovery day and I decided to take a nice fat 0! The coffee was brewing in less than 5 minutes and I was content on my decision.

Total: 0 miles

Thursday the temps were a bit better but negative below zero wind chills were being reported. I put on my gear and repeated Tuesdays run with a bit of snaking the Hartley trails. I continued to be impressed with the running terrain that greets me every morning. One month left and those conditions will be gone, if not sooner.

I allowed my HR to creep up to 140 once again but for the most part I saw 135 bpm. My legs felt better than Tuesdays run and the breathing is just fine at that increased effort.

Total: 1:00:12 7.2 miles HR:133

Friday was a super recovery-style run that felt awesome. I love these ultra-slow runs and doing them on trails puts the icing on the cake. The temps are moving on up and the weekend running may not be so great off pavement. For the morning though I did a series of mini loops and crested the ultra-high altitudes of Baldy once. The air is so thin up there I can only squeeze on of these crests per week right now. Maybe two summits next week.

Total: 48:35 5.3 miles HR:126 bpm

Saturday gave us wake-up temperatures of 25F! Really? With all the snow the roads and trails were "fair" at best. I'm spoiled having the last three weeks of exceptional traction in the Hartley system but the roads are just not as good right now. Soon, that will be my only option and I'm OK with that, but right now the more trail running the better. I did a mixture of trails in Chester and Lakewalk snow covered terrain to make my loop home via the Tischer Creek trail. Another nice and easy run this morning.

Total: 55:40 6.4 miles

A New Zone

2011-02-01T20:15:00.002-06:00

Monday I found myself feeling quite well for being 24 hours post medium long run. My legs felt decent and my breathing was under control. I gave myself an easy day and I kept the heart rate as close to 125 bpm as I could. On single track at that heart rate my pace for the entire run averaged near 9:20/mile pace. I'm starting to move my "recovery" runs closer to an hour and should be there in a week or two.

Total: 50:21 5.4 miles HR= 126 bpm ave.

This morning I allowed myself to move up a zone in training. Most of my runs have been feeling very good and well under control. For this morning I put myself up at least 10 beats with a ceiling of 140 bpm. It's amazing how much faster you can run when you allow yourself to go 10 bpm higher in heart rates. There were times this morning where I actually wanted to slow down because I enjoy the low HR runs so much but I realize it is time to step up a bit and soon I will be doing structured workouts. By the end of the hour my legs were feeling the increase load and I was ready to finish. In the end, it sure felt good to run faster on the trails and by completing the hour at that pace I realized that my fitness it getting ready to make a jump.

Total: 1:00:56 7.2 miles HR= 133 bpm ave.

Slick Ending of Week

2011-01-30T11:53:00.004-06:00

I made another trip out west to Jeremy's house. The four of us had some slick roads to deal with but we got it done. A few hills to challenge the legs a bit and we made the loop back home.

My body felt much better than last week. I can't believe how much the human body can improve in one weeks time. Crazy! Hopefully next week will feel as good and I can squeeze out a few extra minutes to the long run.

Total: 1:33:00 11.8 miles

Weeks Total: 43 miles

Years Total: 96.9 miles

Strap on The Snowshoes

2011-01-29T18:49:00.003-06:00

I woke up pretty tired on Friday morning but got my butt downstairs and made my way out to the trials of Hartley in yet another balmy January morn. (22F) I started off a bit sluggish but soon I was ready to hammer and need to keep things calm as it is not "hammer season" yet. I didn't see any animals but I saw the usual deer tracks and some rabbit tracks to go along with some fox tracks. They are out there. They're just not willing to show their faces. I added a bit to yesterdays loop plus a repeat up and over baldy. I have done this three times this week and may try to sneak in some extras this next week.

Total: 51:40 5.8 miles

Saturday I woke up to ~4" of fresh, dry powder and realized that running on the roads or trails would be very difficult. (my Yak's are shot and new ones due any day so that wasn't an option) I made the quick decision to take out the snowshoes for a trip on the snowmobile trails. The trip down towards Amity was decent but boring! On the return trip I made it a bit more interesting and took the SHT from Hawk's Ridge to Vermilion. A good choice! My legs felt super, but my breathing, and I'm sure my heart rate, (no HR strap today) was spiked most of the return trip. I'm ok with that for one day, as it was a super workout.

52:00 ~5 miles HIGH HR!

Green Eyes in The Thickets

2011-01-27T20:05:00.003-06:00

I've been hitting the stellar single track of Hartley everyday this week. The weather has been close to perfect, as far as January goes, and the wild animals probably agree. Hartley has tons of deer and lately I have been getting freaked out by all the green eyes watching me from the edge of the trails. I'm referring to the large herds of deer. I normally see between 4-6 deer each trip out. At least I'm not alone out there.

Tuesday:

I continued to feel great and added a bit to the loop from Monday. I managed to keep the pace very close and I'm sure the HR followed but I forgot to put on the monitor strap. My legs are taking on a new feeling for the better and my stride is following. Nice!

49:47 5.4 miles

Wednesday:

Another superb trip out to the trails. I was wondering at what point in the run I would start to fatigue but it didn't happen. I turned home because I figured I had to be cautious. A good move based on years of doing too much too soon.

Getting older I listen to my instincts a lot more and usually I am pretty close to being right. I know my body. Spending a few more weeks running very conservative will benefit me come the middle of the racing season.

56:55 6.2 miles HR=127 bpm

Thursday:

I knew I needed to be cautious yesterday and I am thankful I did. Hitting the trails this morning felt a bit "off" compared to the first part of the week. My legs were just a bit heavy and my stride was not as peppy as I would have liked. Good thing I had planned my run to be a short one and just shake out the lactate. Job accomplished.

Yak's are a must for grip. The temperatures are getting too warm and the added grip allows one to relax on the corners and downhills compared to sliding off into the rubarb.

38:55 4.3 miles

Need For New Yak's

2011-01-24T18:32:00.003-06:00

I took off this morning for my usual warm up heading into the Hartely trails. It's all uphill from my house so I usually crawl up so I don't spike the HR too soon. As I entered the trailhead I noticed my right Yaktrak slipping form under my foot. I had forgotten to tighten the strap in my morning fog. What I also noticed was the right coils were broke in two spots and the left also is broke in two spots. I guess it's time for a new pair as I have a solid three to four seasons on them.

The trails were in great shape and I had a subtle wind of -5F to deal with in the open spots. Hardly noticeable compared to yesterdays negative digits. I was happy with how my legs felt considering I had run my two longest runs in over a month on back to back days. Tomorrow I will focus once again to keep the HR ultra low and just squeeze out some additional time. It's still several weeks away but I am already getting excited for the next phase of running to fall into place.

Total: 40:06 4.3 miles HR=126 ave.

Western Roads

2011-01-23T11:41:00.003-06:00

I wasn't planning on this particular run this morning but it was a pleasant surprise and I will take it. Last night I got a message from Jeremy that if I wanted in on a 80 minute run come on out to his house for the 8am start. I decided to give it a go. Having the temps in the -15F range wasn't exactly what I wanted but that is what they made winter running gear for.

We ran a nice road loop up Highland to Proctor and returned home via West Skyline. With the exception of my left big toe, how important is that toe anyway, (i know, really important, as I know folks that have lost their big toe and its a new walking game) I felt really good. For the first ten minutes of the run I thought I was going to loose that left toe but I finally loosened up and had the blood rush to my digits much to my liking!

The time of the run was at my max for sure. I hadn't run that long since October and as long as the pace remained mellow I was able to complete the loop with minimal damage. (tomorrow will be the real gauge on that) Overall a very nice way to get a medium longer run in.

Total: 1:27:17 ~11 miles

Weeks Total: 31.6 miles (5 days)

Years Total: 54.1 miles

Cool Trail Running

2011-01-22T13:30:00.003-06:00

Last weekend was a wash. To be honest, I tried to hang with a few 20-somethings (i did pretty well) for a night on the town. I had a few too many sociables and had to wipe Sunday off the fitness plans. Oh well, as long as those weekends are far and few in between I will be OK.

The laziness poured over into Monday and Tuesday of this week. I sat and stared at the window Tuesday morning and finally made a cup of coffee and made the lunches for the day. I got back on track (trail) on Wednesday and have been going strong since. My plan is to carry the momentum into next week and try for all seven days.

Monday: 0 miles

Tuesday: 0 miles

Wednesday:

I finally made it back to the trails and what a wonderful morning. I always feel so comfortable on the trails of Hartley in winter. (not so in the summer) It's funny because I was not feeling too peppy on these runs, but more of a "let's just get it done" kind of mode. I tried to keep the HR low but I think I failed.

38:49 4.3 miles

Thursday:

As I ventured out the door I figured I would cross paths with CG but we missed each other by a mere 10 minutes or less. I tried some new trail across the pond to Hartley Estates and looped back to the visitors center and CG had popped out of the trail and made his way for a second loop ahead of me. Next time!

I was feeling a bit better than yesterday but I was pushing the HR as well. I need to get back to controlling the lower rates better. My stride remains to feel choppy and I can't wait for that morning when I feel fluid again.

44:52 5.1 miles

Friday:

I woke up to the thermometer reading -20F without windchill! Easy decision. Stay indoors. I opted for a TM run later in the day. That didn't happen at work so I hit the 'mill at home after work.

What a terrible run. I was struggling with paces between 7:40 and 7:30 per mile. My legs were just not willing to flow lightly and I called it a run at half an hour. Better than a zero.

30:50 4 miles

Saturday:

Stellar run! It's funny how come late spring or summer I will look back at this run and say "big deal" but today it was a big deal. I ran a hour and felt great doing it. It was still -15F windchill but the woods of Hartley protected me for the most part. Now this was the run I have been waiting to have for two weeks. I can carry this energy into the next week and keep pressing the time of each run until I am over an hour a day. That will be great and then I will be ready for some easy fartlek workouts. Still a month away though.

1:02:39 7.2 miles

New Challenge

2011-01-15T15:14:00.003-06:00

I managed to hit the trails one more time on Thursday and found myself working really hard to keep the HR down in the proper zone. I like that feeling. When things start to click I will become quicker at a lower HR and soon I will find myself looking to up the volume of my runs. I ran the same loops in Hartley and was loving every minute of it. We did get a light layer of fluff-snow but not too much to mess up the trails, yet.

Total: 45:09 ~5 miles HR= 128 bpm average

Friday I woke up to 3-4" of fresh powder and the temps were in the mid-teens. This usually makes a really good recipe for terrible running. I didn't want to get locked in the single track with poor conditions so I opted for the roads. I don't think it made any difference as the roads sucked just the same and I struggled the entire loop. Lots of slippage and I had a terrible time keeping the HR in the zone.

When I finished the run I felt my mid back tightening up and after a half-hour of shoveling things stayed the same. I spent the entire day and evening with a sore back and had to opt out of a Saturday morning run because of it. It looks like my best bet for a workout on Sunday will be a ski somewhere.

Totals: 35:41 4 miles HR= 129bpm ave.

Saturday I did not run. Moved snow for an hour or so. Maybe a ski tomorrow.

Total: 0 miles

Weeks Total: 22.5 miles

Years Total: 22.5 miles

More of The Same

2011-01-12T18:43:00.002-06:00

As long as the trails stay runnable I will continue to sneak on them in the morning darkness lit by headlamp. Today I was allowing myself 5 beats higher of heart rate and I found myself finishing with an average of just 2 heartbeats faster. I ran the loop with an average of 128 bpm compared to yesterday's 126 bpm. My legs continued to thank me and they responded nicely!

We are currently getting a bit of snow but I doubt that it will amount to much more than a dusting. Just enough to gain bragging rights of being the first out in the am to make the circuit.

Total: 40:12 4.4 miles HR= 128 bpm

Keepin' The Heart Rate Low

2011-01-11T19:53:00.003-06:00

I have followed this type of training before and had good luck crawling out of the cellar. I am not too far out of fitness range but I could use a period of super-low heart rate training and now is the time.

The theory is to train all heart rates and start low and slowly introduce faster heart rates as you build stronger mitochondrial paths in the muscle. Arthur Lydiard was doing this long ago with his base-building phase.

This morning I ran the similar loop as yesterday but kept the heart rate (HR) as close to 125 bpm as possible. That was very difficult but I felt great afterwards. It just showed me that the day before I was pushing the pace just a bit. I hope to be up and running 40-50 mile weeks within the next three weeks then if all is well I will try to ramp up the mileage as much as my schedule allows for Feb, March and April.

Total: 43:00 4.6 miles HR= 126 ave.

Headlamp Single Track

2011-01-10T07:15:00.002-06:00

I was surprised to bounce out of bed as easily as I did this morning and make my way for the "running change room" in the basement. I decided to wear 'get-a-grips' and that was the correct decision for the trails, you just have to remember not to put them on upside down as the spikes don't do any good pushing up to your shoes!

The single track of Hartley is amazing and I will continue to loop there until they become a mess. We are expecting some snow throughout the next 24 hours so maybe a snowshoe will be in store one of the mornings.

I felt decent this morning but was exhausted very quickly. At 25 minutes things were slowing down but I pushed on to do a loop nearing 40:00. A very good effort this morning!

Total: 39:40 ~4.5 miles

Remount

2011-01-09T19:01:00.002-06:00

About 10 or so hours after my last post I was hit by some two-ton virus train and it rolled right over me. I got the flu or something associated with it and sat on/off the toilet for some 14 hours before the train slowed down. I continued to be down with little energy until Friday and Saturday.

I guess I will "remount" and start fresh this Monday. Today I spent the day with my son on the ski hill for near 4 hours and he has mastered the snowplow and is skiing independently. I'm so proud of him, as he listened and took the lessons learned from his Spirit Mountain class and applied them today and he saw success! For me, I could feel the legs and arms getting a workout and after he and I were done my sis and I did a half-dozen runs before calling it a day.

Looking forward, I know I was doing all this talk about skiing but once again, I have shifted mind-sets and will try to run at least 30 minutes per morning and if I have time will add skiing in the evening. I may dedicate one morning to skiing on the weekends but I guess I will see how the legs respond to the daily runs. Either way, I am looking forward to gaining some fitness and it's nice not to have any long "marathon" goals anytime soon.

Totals: 0 running for week, one day downhill skiing, sick the rest.

Hartley Tracks

2011-01-02T14:24:00.002-06:00

I made my way out to Hartley with Rod and Bau and did a couple loops of classic skiing.

When I classic ski it is often an act of balancing my Anerobic threshold since I am way out of tune with form. I'm getting better and I have to believe that it is good for me to red-line a couple times a week in other ways but running. A great afternoon! Afterwards I got the enjoyment of pounding down a fresh bowl of turkey-noodle soup. Yum, yum!

Two days in a row. Next week should be interesting as I have a few hurdles with my sons birthday and a little travel involved.

Total: ~50:00 min. of classic ski in Hartley

Bring on The New Year

2011-01-01T09:36:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure why it is, but beginning the new year I feel motivated again to get out the door 7 days a week. I will run when I can. Ski and snowshoe as much as possible. Continue to do the core/leg exercises 4-5 days per week and hopefully get myself out of the hurt-locker.

I started the year fresh with a trail and road loop I made up as I ran the different terrain. I started in Hartley and the trails are in good shape it just was a bit difficult with the fresh 3" of powder so I made my way to the roads to finish out the loop.

My breathing was labored more than I wanted and my upper hamstrings remain to have the nagging pull with each step. That's got to go away!

Overall a decent opening to a new year. Windy, 4F, and fresh powder everywhere.

Total: 39:40 ~5 miles

*most workouts will be focused by time for the next couple of months.

2010-Masters Years Begin

2010-12-31T08:23:00.001-06:00

Little did I know, I could have written this review back in early November and it would have said much the same, with the exception of the long break from running. I wanted to take a break after a long season but I wasn't expecting a near two month break!

The year was definitely one of ups and downs. I came into the year fresh off a new marathon PR late in 2009 and was ready take off from there and do some serious running in the new year. I was using the coaching services of Greg McMillan and my training was going to new levels. I didn't run big mileage during the spring, maybe 70 miles per week, but the workouts were great and I was feeling fresh each day. My focus for the spring was Grandma's Marathon. Along the way I put myself out of my comfort zone and entered a Thursday night MILE race in Minneapolis and managed to run decent and take home top masters title. Grandma's Marathon just didn't work out as planned but I ran a respectable 2:41 and saw $1000.00 slip past me with less than 3 miles to go. I would finish 4th master and 3rd in my age-group.

It took me a good month to recover from Grandma's and I was fresh into Greg's fall marathon plan feeling very motivated again. The second week of the plan was under way and I did my Tuesday 11 miler with 6 sets of hills. The workout went great and I was excited for the week. Then at work, just after lunch I developed some upper abdominal cramping along with a little queeze. Later that night I would find myself in the ER and soon reporting to the OR to have my appendix removed. When I woke up on the post-surgical floor I knew that the summer and fall had just been swept from under my feet. I would push the line of pain for a few weeks and found myself racing on the winning team for the Ragnar Relay some 5 weeks post-operatively. (This decision would ultimately ruin the rest of my fall but the memories made were great!)

As I said, the Ragnar race may have been a bit early in my rehab phase but I did it and I will have to live with that decision. I never recovered after that day and would spend the rest of my summer and fall running in pain. My low back was the main culprit on day by day runs, but my right hip flexors and bilateral hamstrings were a mess anytime I would do uptempo running. The plan for the fall was to run in my first Masters Marathon Championships held at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. I was going to opt out but after getting some steady weeks of running, 0nly ~50 mile weeks at best, I decided to give it a shot. Many people told me that I could have a good race. "All the time off might help you..." "You never know, things could just go your way, give it a try..." Well, I sure was happy a lot of people had confidence in me because I sure didn't. I ran the marathon and had one of those days we all want in a marathon. The weather was near perfect! I had a bad patch near 18 miles but regrouped and ran solid the last 10K, good enough for me to run my second best marathon EVER! (2:40:18) I got a good ol' fashion ass-kicking as far as the Masters placement, but the good folks at Marathon Sports support the "local" masters and I placed second MN master, good for $150.00!

I had just enough left in the tank to race one more time on Halloween and place 1st Master at the Monster Dash 1/2 marathon. (That race would also give me an edge on the ROY points and put me in a solid lead for the year) The race felt just horrible, my second slowest half-marathon ever,(1:15:20) and that would be the last serious effort for 2010.

Looking at my blog it looks like I haven't been doing much. I haven't! But, I have been doing more that what's posted. I lost all motivation to run, as well as blog. Most of the weeks in December have included two or three days of 30 minute running but mostly I have been doing 4-5 days a week of core/strength workouts, 30 minutes in duration and much of it on the fitness ball. As soon as I got this into my weeks routine my low back improved. I still have some discomfort in my back, but the main issue remains to be my hamstring attachments. The plan going into the new year is to run when I can, but ski and snowshoe as much as possible. (I got new Rossi nordic skating-skis for Christmas and used them once) During this time of the year I also enjoy adding one day a week on the treadmill so I can do some sub-6 min/mile pace running just to keep things fresh.

Totals for 2010:

~2175 miles

Moonlight and Headlamps

2010-12-19T22:25:00.002-06:00

I managed to piss another week away with minimal running but did manage to have a spectacular weekend of training.

On Saturday I connected with Tony and we hit the trails of Boulder Lake for a nice skate-ski on one of the easier loops just to get accustomed to the gear I purchased last weekend. I felt pretty decent for not skate-skiing for the last three years. The morning was good for just under 12K.

This morning I woke up feeling a bit under the weather and my wife and I decided to take the morning off of running and hit the stores for some last minute (her last minute, my first minute) shopping. When the late afternoon/early evening approached we dropped our son off at my mother-in-laws and we hit the moonlit trails of Hartley. Kari and I don't get many chances to run together so I was hoping to have a good night on the trails. What a wonderful time we had and she was running so strong and smooth. One complete loop of the trails and we found ourselves back at the car in 56:00. I hope to use this weekends energy as a spring board and start some consistent training going into the new year.

Happy Holiday's everyone!

Inching My Way Back

2010-12-13T19:40:00.004-06:00

Since my last post things have improved greatly. My low back is mostly pain-free as is my hamstrings and glutes. The major difference is the addition of 4-5 days a week of lower and upper body strength sessions. I am really focusing on my abdominals and glute muscles.

I have been running three or four days a week at 30 minutes a shot. I did manage to get in an hour snowshoe run one day and just last Friday night Dave Schude and I ran the snowmobile trails and single track of Lester for just shy of an hour. The last run I did was on Saturday for 32 minutes on the treadmill. Once or twice a week on the treadmill will be a good idea for sometime as it will allow me to spice up some of the runs with a little faster pace running and keeping safe from the ice.

I hope everyone is keeping warm and safe on the roads. Happy running.

Years Total: 2163 miles

Not Quite Right

2010-11-29T19:57:00.004-06:00

My last post was after the Monster Dash 1/2 Marathon. I was feeling very beat up. My legs, hip flexors, back, hamstrings and mostly my desire was beat down to a pulp. I took two weeks off of all activity and planned for a return to slow, easy running along with some new strength work to get myself back into the running routine. That didn't happen because I caught a virus that settled in my sinus and gave me an infection that would call for a 10 day run of antibiotics. So, in total, I took three weeks off of all running. Along the way I had one or two massages and several chiropractic adjustments. My back was slowly getting to where I thought I would see some vast improvements in regards to my running. Not so fast...

Starting on Saturday the 20th I ran 30-40 minutes a day and hurt every step of the way. On the 23rd I was beginning to feel better and then I had some disturbing news at the chiro's office. The x-rays they took showed I have a L5-S1 spondylolisthesis. What does that mean? My last lumbar spine is slipping forward (away from) over my sacrum. Not a good thing. I thought I had heard that term before and I went to work and signed a release to have my xray records sent to me and sure enough, back in 1999 I had the same diagnosis. Now what?

Here is what I take from all of this. Back in '99 I had gone through a really rough patch and I did a lot of rehab work to strengthen the abdominals and such and sure enough, along with regular chiropractic adjustments I managed to get myself back to running pain-free. I believe back in July, when I had my surprise appendectomy, I returned to running too soon and was trying to get back at regular mileage and my abdominal muscles were not ready and I fatigued the rest of my stabilizers and now I am paying the price. So, to get my self back on track I think I may need another month of easy activity and mostly core, strength training to get things ready to ramp up the mileage once again. I sure hope I am right.

For now I will be running very minimally, just enough to keep my foot in the door, and really try to get strong and do other activities as my back and hamstrings allow. I hope to see you on the road!

On the flip side, all this pain and agony gave me a little something to celebrate. For those who follow I have a stronghold on the 2010 USATF Runner of the Year for 40-44 age group.

The results of the races can be found HERE.

Years Total Miles: 2132.6 miles

2010 Season Officially Over

2010-11-01T19:22:00.003-05:00

This last week was one long week. I was just counting down the days to the Team Ortho Monster Dash 1/2 Marathon so I could get it over with. Not the attitude one wants when they are lining up for a half-marathon. As I told my wife once I got home, "I will never take a half-marathon so lightly ever again." More on that later. The week was long because we had some difficult weather and more importantly I have been feeling like shit. My back and upper hamstrings/glutes are a mess and I need to get them fixed soon.

My week was something like this:

Monday I had no intention of repeating my Sunday run in high winds and rain so I skipped the run. Plain and simple. I was being a big wuss!

Tuesday I made my way out and had a little precipitation to deal with. The winds were still blowing but it seemed like they let up some. My loop out on Kenwood and surrounding neighborhoods kept me protected as much as I could and the miles clicked fairly well.

Total: 44:00 6+ miles

Wednesday we woke up to three inches of wet snow. School was cancelled and the scramble was on to find someone to watch Lucas for the day. Thank you Grandpa Dick. Once again I hit the wuss button and stayed indoors.

Thursday the snow was gone at our house but remnants remained in the 'upper elevations' of Woodland and such. The loop felt great and I know I was running some quick miles but I kept the Garmin at home to avoid monitoring the pace and pounding myself into the pavement just two days before a race.

Total: 49:00 6.6 miles

Friday I made the short loop out near Kenwood and felt good once again. Maybe, just maybe the race will go well....

Total: 31:30 4+ miles

Saturday was the race. I chose to run the Monster Dash 1/2 marathon because I have not run one in 2010 and needed the distance to gather some points in the USATF ROY points series. It worked for that purpose but nothing more than that. It was my second slowest half marathon to date. I once ran a half a bit slower when I did a pace run after just 4 weeks of ultra-low (HADD) hear rate running just to see the progress, or lack of progress.

The race was blessed with exceptional weather and the course was stellar, with the exception of the third mile as the half-mar runners caught the ten mile runners and it was mass chaos trying to pass all the runners until our paths split some ways up the course. I doubt it cost me any time, in fact that mile was my fastest mile of the morning, but annoying when you are trying to concentrate on pace, rhythm, breathing and all.

I read afterwards there was a lot of "issues" at the race but I'm not going to badmouth them as all races have their low points. It seemed to me they did more good than bad so it was an acceptable race. I'm not too sure I will run it again anytime soon, just because of the time of the year but I will monitor this event and see if they iron out some issues and if they do, I may be back. They won't miss me as there was close to 9000 participants in the three races that morning. That's kinda cool that all those people were out there exercising on such a wonderful morning and I got to participate in a very successful morning of exercise! Don't loose focus of why we are out there people. We love to run and sharing that with one another at a common place is called a race and nothing more. The problem is when you have to pay a fee to exercise, aka "race", one starts to feel like they owe you something. They do. The provide, hopefully, you a safe, secure racecourse. They provide drink at aid stations. They provide mile markers so you can gauge your effort, and hopefully, they provide a refreshing finish line. Monster dash failed at that point but maybe they will work on it. It's easy to get all worked up about a race and what they "didn't" provide, but usually they provide enough. If not, don't go back. Choose another race. That's reasonable. All I can say is Monster Dash had over 500 volunteers! A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU!

Here is how my race unfolded:

miles: 5:39,5:37,5:27,5:35,5:41,5:42,5:48,5:44,5:44,5:49,5:49,5:49,5:51,:56

Time: 1:15:15 1st 40-44 age group

4th overall

total: 14+ miles

Sunday was a nice walk in the park with Lucas and trick or treating later that evening.

Weeks Total: 30 miles

Years Total: 2112.6

Hangin' On By Threads

2010-10-24T21:20:00.000-05:00

The plan to line up at the Team Ortho Monster Dash 1/2 Marathon is still on. My last week of running was nothing spectacular. I managed to get out and run most days and some were very easy. The main issue continues to be some extensive lower abdomen discomfort that wax and wanes. Some days it feels like I am ready to get going and do some serious training and others it makes me feel like I should hang it up now. Thankfully the last week had more good than bad days. I had two great days of Chiropractor visits and that relieved a lot of tightness. I have one more visit this week and hopefully that will get me ready.

The last time I ran a sub six minute mile was during the TCM and on Saturday I will be asking myself to run thirteen of them much faster than six-minute pace. A bit aggressive? Maybe, but I have to at least try. If I manage to hang on to the pace I should be in the mix. We'll see come Saturday.

Here is a breakdown of the last week. The weather has been stellar until this past Saturday and Sunday where the days were filled with mostly rain and fog. Sunday was very wet and if the temps would have been ten degrees cooler there would have been a foot of snow on the ground!

Monday:

One of those "get out the door" kind of runs.

31:00 4+ miles

Tuesday:

Feeling better I ran a bit of Kenwood and Arrowhead areas and managed to rip a good mile in there, and felt strong doing it.

45:00 6+ miles

Wednesday:

Back to the easy loop where I almost got sprayed by the cemetery skunk again. Damn, I've had some close calls.

30:00 4+ miles

Thursday and Friday

0 miles

Saturday:

Trails in Hartley. I felt really good. One of those runs where I had to concentrate to keep slow.

45:00 6+ miles

Sunday:

Torrential rains and winds kept things close to the house. I ran down to Hawks on the SHT and ran roads back home. I had a period of time on Jean Duluth where I looked down at the Garmin and it read 6:25/mile pace and I was just cruisin'. That's a good feeling. Just maybe I can pull off this half in a week...

58:00 8 miles

Total: 28 miles

Years Total: 2082.6 miles

Back On The Road...Barely

2010-10-17T18:36:00.004-05:00

It has been a bit of a struggle to get my body to allow me to train a bit longer into an already LONG season. Since the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon I have had some serious muscle aches in my low back and right hip area. This is nothing new, but this time it is really taking a toll on my psyche. I just want to make it one more race. The plan, which is always a bit of a dream, was to recover off of TCM and go run Mankato Half-Marathon. Well, anybody who was planning on that event and didn't sign up, like me, was thrown a curve ball last week when an email went out that the race had filled it's capacity. What? The web site stated that they would be accepting day-of race registration and no where did it mention a field cap! (I would later get an email stating that they screwed up but couldn't change their mind now.) OK, I guess I have to respect that.

On Saturday my wife was spending a little time on FB and one of the side advertisements was from Team Ortho trying to get people run their race at the end of the month. A ten mile race was filled but there was a handful of slots left in the Half-Marathon. Count me in!! I quickly signed up and that is where I will focus my energy for the next two weeks. Then some serious down-time!!

As long as I can get my back to and low abdomen to loosen up I will be able to make a good race out of it. The weather should be great and the course looks like a lot of what I just ran on the TCM course. I'm looking forward to it.

Here is a very short recap of the running I have been doing since my marathon.

I took a week off then resumed running on Friday the 8th.

Friday 8th: Easy, slow run out on Woodland and side streets.

31:30 4 miles

I was planning on continuing my training and all of a sudden on Saturday morning I was out taking pictures of my son and when I went to stand up my back went out and locked me tight! It took most of the day to loosen and on Sunday night my wife figured out I had an extremely tight PSOAS muscles pulling my lumbar off to the right. I did a few stretches and things were a bit better. I took off Monday and Tuesday and had a massage Tuesday night. Things improved a bit but still a lot of stiffness and discomfort. For the rest of the week I focused on stretching and sleep. I am once again fatigued beyond myself and sleeping 9-10 hours a night. That's 2 plus hours extra per night than i am used to.

Friday: I was feeling better and ran a nice road loop to loosen up. Not too bad.

31:27 4 miles

Saturday: I hit the trails on a beautiful, sunny afternoon and completed the Hartley loops before making my way home via Rock Hill. I felt great and had a super run.

1:02:26 7.1 miles

Sunday: Waking up this morning didn't feel so good. I was feeling a lot of soreness that I had been feeling all last week and blame it on the terrain. Since I am planning a road half-marathon I should stick to the roads. My out and back this morning was a bit stiff and sore but I managed to feel a bit better at the runs end. That is a good sign I think. My plan is to run easy most of this week and do some pick-ups as my body will let me.

40:11 5.8 miles

Years Total: 2054.6 miles

Recovery and More Recovery

2010-10-06T20:13:00.003-05:00

Since the marathon I have been resting and taking care of a virus that got the best of me. I could feel it coming on Saturday night in the hotel but that was the least of my worries and on Monday and Tuesday it kicked my ass.

On the upside, my legs are feeling much better and I am eager to get back out there and run a bit. I will wait until Friday or Saturday the resume some training. I am kicking around the idea of making the drive to Mankato on the 23rd to take part of their inaugural events and run the half-marathon. We'll see once I start running again.

Here is a photo I dug up on the blog world.

Photo credits to Evan Roberts

The Marathon. A Crap Shoot?

2010-10-04T19:34:00.005-05:00

First I have to review the week leading into the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.

I don't have a lot to report. I don't have any " I feel amazing, I can't wait" postings. For the most part, race week was much of the same that I have experienced all summer and fall. On Monday I ran an easy loop after a pathetic 90 minute run that left me in total doubt. Tuesday I woke up with the intentions of running a nice warm up and turning in a four mile "steady state" run at 5:55 pace just to get a feeling for the pace one last time. That failed miserably and I couldn't get myself to run under 6:30's and feel comfortable so I scrapped the workout and just ran easy. Wednesday came and I felt it was necessary just to get up and run and I started feeling better but still nothing too speedy. Thursday I took a rest day and did my back stretches and workout video. Friday I ran an easy 5 miler and actually felt very fluid and relaxed. A first in many days! Saturday I traveled to the Cities for the race but opted for a day of rest once I got down there, no running.

So, as you can see, I put together yet another week of "less than ideal training" heading into a marathon. No threshold, no speed, nothing. Just plain ol' running. Not exactly what I was looking for during race-week but then again, I have been going against the regular training plan all summer.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3RD

Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon

Just to shed a little light on how my pre-race plans went, I have to mention that I continued to "go against the grain" in terms of marathon preparation. I drove to the host Hotel to get the final race instructions, check in, and get my race number. After a quick trip to the race expo and visit with some friends, I had to find my way back to the vehicle that I was sure would be sporting a parking ticket since the meter was malfunctioning when I had left it. I got lucky and found my windshield clear of any paper citations. It was now 1430 and I had last ate at 0830 before I left for my trip. I was getting hungry and I needed food. Thankfully I had left a Powerbar in the truck and I made it disappear quicker than I could imagine. I did manage to keep up on my fluids very well, just lacking in the solids. Once I made my way to the Hotel I checked in and soon was making the jaunt to Leann Chins for a healthy plate of vegetable fried rice with cashew chicken and two pot stickers. (I had done the Asian food thing once before a long run and swore it was the reason for a stellar run, so I figured if there was a time to test it before a race now was the time.) A bit later that night I made my way to an Irish Pub for a Summit Extra Pale Ale and a bread and cheese tray before settling in my room for the final checklist and preparation.

That night I drank a lot of water and finished a 32 oz. Gatorade I had started earlier in the evening. I was peeing clear upon awakening and I knew the hydration was well taken care of. I forgot one major detail. I had NOTHING to eat race morning!! I had a lot of gels but I needed solid food. What was I going to do? As I was leaving for the bus shuttle I saw a Rainbow food store only to find it closed until 0600. So I took off for the bus and downed a gel as I was driving east on I-94. I kept thinking to myself, "you have plenty of time, hit an exit and find a gas station for a breakfast bar or something." As I approached Snelling I hit the blinker and blasted up the exit before quickly eyeing up the golden arches. Yes, the McDonald's golden arches. I flew into the parking lot and ran in to order an egg and cheese biscuit. As I was driving out of the parking lot I discovered that the guy gave me a sausage and egg biscuit instead. The sausage ended up on the street and I ate the egg-biscuit. Another test in my not-so-ordinary race preparation plan. I made my bus and the rest of the morning was relatively routine.

If you are still reading I am sorry to yak about all the crazy shit I did but I just find it funny that a lot of the pre-race plan was so different that I am amazed to write about how the race unfolded.

The morning was made for marathoning. Clear skies. Cool, 40F just as the race was starting, and NO wind. Simply amazing and I was part of the 8000+ participants that got to take advantage of such a glorious morn. I got a decent warm up and stretches in and was ready as the gun sounded. What the hell? One last glitch in my race plan. My Garmin had not found all the satellites and was still searching as we left the dome. The gps would not work until 2 miles of the race, it was at that point I was able to start my watch. Not a big deal, but in past races it would have freaked me out big time!

Once past the 5K I was working pretty easy and I had the pleasure of running with Pete Miller whom I had competed against many a times over the last 18 years. He and I were looking to run very similar races and it was best to find someone to run with as it keeps a persons mind occupied. We had a difficult time settling on the 6:10 pace we wanted for the first 7-10 miles. Many of which were well under 6:00 minute pace. The good thing was they felt very easy. That was very promising and yet I was concerned. For some reason, at 8-9 miles my right, lower calf was starting to tighten and soon the upper hamstrings and glutes were joining in on the tightness. As we passed 10 miles Pete asked me, "how are you doing?" I told him I had a bad patch back there but things were improving. We ran very consistent through half-way and I mentioned to Pete as we passed the 13.1 mark, "I'm not too sure what the hell I'm doing going through half way at my current PR pace, but I guess it's too late to worry now." We progressed up the course and I progressed to feel worse. Miles 15-17 started to get really tough and I was then planning where my drop-out spot would be. For some reason 19 sounded good to me in my mind. Something told me to keep pressing though. As I monitored the splits for a mile or so it made sense for me to keep moving, despite the way I felt, the splits were staying pretty close and I wasn't walking yet. The gel I had taken at mile 17 must have started to work and soon I was talking myself into 'counting down the miles'. "Just eight miles to go, just seven to go", and I kept doing that as I moved up the course. As I moved up the hills coming off the river bottom something magical happened. I started to feel strong. I couldn't believe it but I was passing runner after runner and I was moving feeling very good. I had heard of this happening to runners before but was it really happening to me? How? I hadn't run over 18 miles since Grandma's Marathon back in June. I kept my eyes up ahead and just kept pressing the pace. From 20 miles to the finish I didn't look at my watch for pacing. I knew I felt good and I wasn't going to let some number ruin my feeling. If I felt that good I must have been moving decent for the last stage of a marathon. I took my last gel at 21 miles and at every aide station I took two cups of Poweraide and two cups of water and drank them all! I'm not too sure if that's what did it but I finally got to feel what it's like to crush the Summit Avenue curse!! I felt amazing but scared. I didn't want to have the feeling of moving so well come to an end at mile 22,23, or 24. I wanted to run strong to the finish. I put those worries to rest and told myself, "you will never find out if you can run strong to the finish if you don't try. Don't be afraid, just keep the same strong, relaxed effort and you may just make it. Don't stop!" I saw and heard many people out there cheering on myself and many runners but there is something about complete strangers looking at you and saying something like, "hey, number 118 you are really moving well, keep up the good work." Thank You All!!!

As I passed mile 25 I knew I had put the worst behind me and all I had to do was press one more minor hill and then the reward was waiting. Most times the last half mile, mostly downhill from the Cathedral, feels horrible. A downhill that steep after running 25.5 miles hurts the quads. As I crested the hill and saw the huge crowds, I focused on the gigantic American flag at the bottom of the hill, all I wanted to do was let out a huge scream of relief. I made it!! I never did let out the scream but I wanted to and I kept pressing to the end. I focused on the finish tape and was very surprised to see the clock tick past 2:39:59. I was bummed out and excited at the same time. To run 2:40:17 was very rewarding with the challenges I had this summer and to get the opportunity to finally, after 15 marathon starts, feel that it is possible to hammer the last 10K of a marathon still brings tears to my eyes. I now have a little feeling of what it's like to nail a marathon. I didn't get a personal best, but it sure felt like it. I wanted to run much faster back in July when I started preparation for this race but some circumstances are out of a persons control. I finished this race happy! I've mentioned this in the past but it's races like this that keeps us crazy marathoners chasing the carrot. I feel like the marathon is what many call A Crap Shoot. I've trained much harder with all kinds of workouts before and raced much worse than I did on Sunday. What gives? I'm not willing to test this training again, but it sure will be on my mind come next build up.

Here are the splits the Garmin spit out starting at mile 2.

miles one and two were: 5:53, and 6:00

6:03,5:50,6:01,6:04,5:59,6:00,5:59,5:57,5:51,6:07,6:03,6:02,5:56,5:59,6:01,6:04,6:06

,6:13,6:28,6:31,6:24,6:11,6:08,6:06,2:02.

Here are the details:

Time: 2:40:17

87th overall, 6th in age group 40-44

*feeling strong at the end, PRICELESS!!

Miles for day: ~28 miles with warm up

Weeks Mileage: 56 miles

Years Total: 2033.7 miles