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.

Smell of Spring

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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