Catching Up With Dismal Week

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

Untitled by greggor722 at Garmin Connect - Details

A New/Old Toy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.