This was week 6 of Daniels and was a planned cutback week. Kind of weird how 75 miles is now considered cutting back for me....just a few years ago my MAX mileage while training for my second marathon was 55 miles. Oh, how times have changed...
Monday - 6 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. Definitely felt weird to be running so little, but it was enjoyably weird, if that makes sense.
Tuesday - 10.24 miles. I guess that 10 mile loop is actually a 10.24 mile loop. Now I know.
Wednesday - 8 miles with 8 strides.
Thursday - 10 miles including 4x1200m intervals. This was the last warm day of the week and I took advantage by running in tshirt and shorts at lunchtime. The intervals didn't go so well though, thanks to a 20 mph headwind I had to deal with on the backstretch of every lap. This also represented my last track workout of this training cycle, which ain't a bad thing as far as I'm concerned.
Friday - 8 in the morning, 4 in the afternoon. Winter has returned and it ain't screwing around. From 50 on Thursday to single digits (with negative windchills) on Friday. Both runs were done on the indoor track.
Saturday - 8 with 8 strides. Still cold, still on the indoor track.
Sunday - 17 including 2 easy, 3 tempo, 7 easy, 3 tempo, and 2 easy. A lot of stuff was off kilter for this run. For one, I couldn't start until 1 PM because it was too damn cold to run outside (not to mention the crappy footing afforded by a few inches of fresh snow) and the gym doesn't open until 1 on Sundays. So, I started this long run much later than I'm used to. Also, my stomach was giving me fits for, oh, the first 8 or 9 miles. That first set of tempo miles did NOT feel good thanks to the stomach issues. Eventually, it settled down and the second set of tempo miles went much more smoothly (and was faster). It wasn't a fun experience by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a good workout.
Total - 75.24 miles
The mileage should ramp back up this week and hopefully the temperature will follow suit. Running on a perfectly flat track isn't exactly the greatest preparation for the Boston course. I maybe probably kinda sorta think I could run a 4 mile race on Super Bowl Sunday. The sometimes annual Freeze Your Fanny race is held on almost every Super Bowl morning in Sundance, WY. I'd like to run it, but if I do it'll be after doing a long run on Saturday, so I have no illusions of running it all that fast. Right now, sticking to my Boston schedule is more important to me than a 4 mile race, so I'll see how this week shakes out before deciding for sure.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Daniels Week 5
5 down, lucky 13 to go. This was a good week. Got off to a slightly sluggish start after last weekend's 22 miler, but I recovered and got in a good speedworkout and another good long run. The weather went from "normal" in the early part of the week to downright tropical towards the end. The tradeoff was that the 50 degree temps came with 30 mph wind.
Monday - 8 in the morning and another 5 in the afternoon. Ended up doing both of them on the indoor track thanks to frigid windchills.
Tuesday - 12 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. Back outside.
Wednesday - 10 miles with 8 strides. Back to the indoor track. Blasted windchill...
Thursday - 12 including 7 miles of 5 minutes hard/4 minutes easy. Indoor track again. The warmup had started by this time, but the streets were covered with soft, not quite frozen and not quite slushy snow, which is a pain in the ass to run fast on.
Friday - 8 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon. What the hell?? Is it April all of a sudden. Ran outside in a long sleeve and shorts in the morning and tshirt and shorts in the afternoon. It was windy, but a warm wind is much more tolerable than a -20 degree one.
Saturday - 10 miles. Another warm, windy run.
Sunday - 18 miles that included 3 miles warmup, 2x12 minutes tempo pace with 2 minute recovery and then 1.5 hours easy. Again, it was warm (which means upper 40s) but windy as hell (around 30 mph with gusts over 40). I ran the warmup basically straight into the wind and then did the tempo portion with the wind at my back but over rolling hills. It went very well; my average pace was just under 6:30, just where I want it to be. The last 11 miles were an out and back where I tried to stay sheltered from the wind as much as possible, but there were a few stretches where the wind literally stood me up straight and it felt like I had hit a wall. All in all, a very good long run.
Total - 93 miles
This coming week will be a planned cutback week, with my mileage down around 75. I'm looking forward to it....the last couple of 90+ weeks have gone well, but it will be still be good to give the legs a little break.
As I mentioned in my last post, I bought my airplane tickets to Boston yesterday morning. After obsessively checking ticket prices for the last, oh, 6 months, they finally dipped down to the lowest I've seen em so far (which isn't really that low, but flying from Rapid City to pretty much anywhere but Vegas, Denver or Minneapolis just isn't cheap). So I snagged em. After some consideration, Shannon and I decided that I will make the trip solo. The cost/benefit of all four of us traveling there just wasn't working out quite right, especially considering that my kids (ages 3 and 5 at the time of the trip) won't really remember much of it and probably won't be very entertained by all the runner type stuff going on, or even likely see me finish in the mass of runners. So, I'm heading out of Rapid on Friday afternoon, getting to Boston at almost 10 PM and then will be flying back on Tuesday morning.
Monday - 8 in the morning and another 5 in the afternoon. Ended up doing both of them on the indoor track thanks to frigid windchills.
Tuesday - 12 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. Back outside.
Wednesday - 10 miles with 8 strides. Back to the indoor track. Blasted windchill...
Thursday - 12 including 7 miles of 5 minutes hard/4 minutes easy. Indoor track again. The warmup had started by this time, but the streets were covered with soft, not quite frozen and not quite slushy snow, which is a pain in the ass to run fast on.
Friday - 8 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon. What the hell?? Is it April all of a sudden. Ran outside in a long sleeve and shorts in the morning and tshirt and shorts in the afternoon. It was windy, but a warm wind is much more tolerable than a -20 degree one.
Saturday - 10 miles. Another warm, windy run.
Sunday - 18 miles that included 3 miles warmup, 2x12 minutes tempo pace with 2 minute recovery and then 1.5 hours easy. Again, it was warm (which means upper 40s) but windy as hell (around 30 mph with gusts over 40). I ran the warmup basically straight into the wind and then did the tempo portion with the wind at my back but over rolling hills. It went very well; my average pace was just under 6:30, just where I want it to be. The last 11 miles were an out and back where I tried to stay sheltered from the wind as much as possible, but there were a few stretches where the wind literally stood me up straight and it felt like I had hit a wall. All in all, a very good long run.
Total - 93 miles
This coming week will be a planned cutback week, with my mileage down around 75. I'm looking forward to it....the last couple of 90+ weeks have gone well, but it will be still be good to give the legs a little break.
As I mentioned in my last post, I bought my airplane tickets to Boston yesterday morning. After obsessively checking ticket prices for the last, oh, 6 months, they finally dipped down to the lowest I've seen em so far (which isn't really that low, but flying from Rapid City to pretty much anywhere but Vegas, Denver or Minneapolis just isn't cheap). So I snagged em. After some consideration, Shannon and I decided that I will make the trip solo. The cost/benefit of all four of us traveling there just wasn't working out quite right, especially considering that my kids (ages 3 and 5 at the time of the trip) won't really remember much of it and probably won't be very entertained by all the runner type stuff going on, or even likely see me finish in the mass of runners. So, I'm heading out of Rapid on Friday afternoon, getting to Boston at almost 10 PM and then will be flying back on Tuesday morning.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
It's officially official
I qualified for Boston on July 13th. I made hotel reservations on July 20th. I registered on September 3rd. Today, I added the final piece of the puzzle: I bought my plane tickets. Holy crap, I'm going to Boston!!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Daniels Week 4
Four weeks of Daniels down and I'm starting to get into some serious running now. Before I started Daniels, I was putting in a lot of miles with no speed. For the first few weeks of Daniels, I was adding some speedwork in, but the miles were lower. This week, speedwork and mileage came together in a crazy orgy of running (or something like that).
Monday - 10 miles in the morning, 5.1 miles in the afternoon.
Tuesday - 12.77 miles. It was supposed to be 12, but I misjudged the distance of the loop I ran. Oops.
Wednesday - 8.13 miles w/ 8 strides. Purposefully tacked on an extra 0.13 to bring my mileage up to a full number (no decimals). Don't ask me why.
Thursday - 10 miles including 5x1200m intervals. It was an amazing 51 degrees, so I ran in the afternoon in t-shirt and shorts. The track at Belle Fourch High was about 95% clear; there were just a few spots of snow that I had to trudge through on each lap. Overall, a good workout.
Friday - 8 miles in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. The high temp was half of what it was on Thursday, with a 30 mph breeze thrown in for good measure. I did the afternoon run at the Black Hills St. University indoor track, where the college track team was practicing. After getting assurance from the coach that I wouldn't be in their way, I proceeded to feel like a tortoise racing a bunch of hares as I shuffled around the track at about an 8:40 recovery pace as the track team was doing speedwork.
Saturday - 10 miles with 8 strides.
Sunday - 22 miles. I ran an out and back east of Belle on a route that featured some hills in the first 6 miles, then some flat for the next 10 miles or so and then back over those hills during the final 6 miles. The longest, steepest hill almost brought me to a walk at about mile 17.5 on my way back, but I made it and was able to finish strong thanks to about 4 miles of downhill to finish things off. Afterwards, I was sitting in the recliner watching the Giants-Eagles playoff game and I looked down at my calves and they looked like a couple of bags of snakes, they were twitching so much and so fast. Crazy.
Total - 91 miles
14 weeks til Boston!!
Monday - 10 miles in the morning, 5.1 miles in the afternoon.
Tuesday - 12.77 miles. It was supposed to be 12, but I misjudged the distance of the loop I ran. Oops.
Wednesday - 8.13 miles w/ 8 strides. Purposefully tacked on an extra 0.13 to bring my mileage up to a full number (no decimals). Don't ask me why.
Thursday - 10 miles including 5x1200m intervals. It was an amazing 51 degrees, so I ran in the afternoon in t-shirt and shorts. The track at Belle Fourch High was about 95% clear; there were just a few spots of snow that I had to trudge through on each lap. Overall, a good workout.
Friday - 8 miles in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. The high temp was half of what it was on Thursday, with a 30 mph breeze thrown in for good measure. I did the afternoon run at the Black Hills St. University indoor track, where the college track team was practicing. After getting assurance from the coach that I wouldn't be in their way, I proceeded to feel like a tortoise racing a bunch of hares as I shuffled around the track at about an 8:40 recovery pace as the track team was doing speedwork.
Saturday - 10 miles with 8 strides.
Sunday - 22 miles. I ran an out and back east of Belle on a route that featured some hills in the first 6 miles, then some flat for the next 10 miles or so and then back over those hills during the final 6 miles. The longest, steepest hill almost brought me to a walk at about mile 17.5 on my way back, but I made it and was able to finish strong thanks to about 4 miles of downhill to finish things off. Afterwards, I was sitting in the recliner watching the Giants-Eagles playoff game and I looked down at my calves and they looked like a couple of bags of snakes, they were twitching so much and so fast. Crazy.
Total - 91 miles
14 weeks til Boston!!
Monday, January 5, 2009
2008 Year in Review
Now that we're into 2009, it's as good a time as any to take a look back at my 2008 year of running:
Miles Run - 3,599 (if I'd have known this before Jan. 1st, I would have tacked on one more)
Highest Mileage Month - November (384)
Lowest Mileage Month - July (180)
Highest Mileage Week - 102.2
Lowest Mileage Week - ?? (I think it was in the 20s after one of my marathons)
Avg. Miles per Day - 9.83
Avg. Miles per Week - 69.2
Avg. Miles per Month - 299.9
PRs - 4 (5K, 10K and 2 marathon)
BQs - 1 :)
Injuries - 0 :)
What lies ahead in 2009? I honestly don't really expect my mileage to get much higher....3,600 miles is a lot of damn running. Obviously, the big date that's circled on the calendar right now is April 20th. After Boston, I'm planning on shifting my focus to the wild world of ultras, with my primary post-Boston goal race being the Lean Horse Half Hundred on August 22nd. I'll also run the Missoula Marathon again in July and will run either the half or the full at Deadwood-Mickelson in June (I'm kind of leaning toward the half since I didn't run any halves in 2008 and I really think I can break 1:30 on the Deadwood course). I'm also considering the Bighorn Trail 50K on June 20th over in Wyoming as a training run for Lean Horse. Add to that the various 5Ks, 10Ks and other races of various distances and I'm sure I'll be able to keep myself occupied.
Miles Run - 3,599 (if I'd have known this before Jan. 1st, I would have tacked on one more)
Highest Mileage Month - November (384)
Lowest Mileage Month - July (180)
Highest Mileage Week - 102.2
Lowest Mileage Week - ?? (I think it was in the 20s after one of my marathons)
Avg. Miles per Day - 9.83
Avg. Miles per Week - 69.2
Avg. Miles per Month - 299.9
PRs - 4 (5K, 10K and 2 marathon)
BQs - 1 :)
Injuries - 0 :)
What lies ahead in 2009? I honestly don't really expect my mileage to get much higher....3,600 miles is a lot of damn running. Obviously, the big date that's circled on the calendar right now is April 20th. After Boston, I'm planning on shifting my focus to the wild world of ultras, with my primary post-Boston goal race being the Lean Horse Half Hundred on August 22nd. I'll also run the Missoula Marathon again in July and will run either the half or the full at Deadwood-Mickelson in June (I'm kind of leaning toward the half since I didn't run any halves in 2008 and I really think I can break 1:30 on the Deadwood course). I'm also considering the Bighorn Trail 50K on June 20th over in Wyoming as a training run for Lean Horse. Add to that the various 5Ks, 10Ks and other races of various distances and I'm sure I'll be able to keep myself occupied.
Daniels Week 3
My Boston training has gotten off to a kind of ragged start thanks to the holidays. Included in the first two weeks of my training was a trip across Montana and back, which caused me to miss a couple of runs. But, now that I'm hunkered down back in South Dakota, I finally got a chance to buckle down and really get into it this past week.
Monday - 8 miles in the morning, another 4 in the afternoon.
Tuesday - 10 miles
Wednesday - 8 miles with 8 strides.
Thursday - 10 miles total, including 2 miles warmup, 6x1000m intervals with 3 min. recoveries and 2 miles cooldown. This was a tough workout, especially since the high school track was snowed in so I ran back and forth on one fairly flat stretch of road, but still ended up running every other interval slightly uphill and into the wind.
Friday - 8 miles in the morning, another 4 in the afternoon.
Saturday - 8 miles with 8 strides. Had to head to the indoor track thanks to -15 windchill.
Sunday - 16 miles total including 4 miles warmup, 5x6 min. tempo intervals with 1 min. recoveries and 1 hour (about 7 miles) easy. This one was tough too. The first 4 intervals went pretty well, but when I made a turn just before starting the last one, I started running into the wind. Running fast into the wind just sucks.
Total - 76 miles
Monday - 8 miles in the morning, another 4 in the afternoon.
Tuesday - 10 miles
Wednesday - 8 miles with 8 strides.
Thursday - 10 miles total, including 2 miles warmup, 6x1000m intervals with 3 min. recoveries and 2 miles cooldown. This was a tough workout, especially since the high school track was snowed in so I ran back and forth on one fairly flat stretch of road, but still ended up running every other interval slightly uphill and into the wind.
Friday - 8 miles in the morning, another 4 in the afternoon.
Saturday - 8 miles with 8 strides. Had to head to the indoor track thanks to -15 windchill.
Sunday - 16 miles total including 4 miles warmup, 5x6 min. tempo intervals with 1 min. recoveries and 1 hour (about 7 miles) easy. This one was tough too. The first 4 intervals went pretty well, but when I made a turn just before starting the last one, I started running into the wind. Running fast into the wind just sucks.
Total - 76 miles
Thursday, January 1, 2009
What a Rush!!
Another non-running post and, amazingly, this one is also non-football. This one's all about hockey.
For New Year's Eve, we decided to head down to Rapid City to watch a hockey game. Rapid just became home to the Rush, a CHL expansion team, this season. The CHL is a minor hockey league, with the players in the league ultimately hoping to get picked up by a team in a higher level of minor league hockey and, someday, maybe by an NHL team. Shannon and I have been to several Billings Bulls games (a junior hockey, semi-pro team) but neither of us had ever been to a professional hockey game and Caiden and Chloe had never been to any hockey game of any kind.
To accomodate the Rush, Rapid City added a brand spankin new ice arena onto the existing Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. It was a pretty nice facility and I thought they did a great job of creating a good atmosphere and getting the crowd involved. Of course, being an expansion team, the Rush have had a kind of rough go of it in their first year.
Last night, the Rush were playing the Rocky Mountain Rage from Broomfield, CO (a suburb of Denver). The Rage just so happen to be just ahead of the Rush in the division standings, so a win by the Rush would draw them closer. The celebrate New Year's Eve, the Rush played the game in special, one time only, New Year's jerseys, which they auctioned off after the game (for a very high amount, I'm sure).
The game started out well for the Rush as they scored a goal early. Not long after that, the first fight broke out, and it was a doozy, with at least 6 different guys throwing punches at some point. Caiden was of course slightly confused as to why it was okay for them to fight, but he still thought it was pretty exciting. The score at the end of the first period was 1-0 Rush.
Rocky Mountain came out in the second period and pretty much shut down the Rush and played most of the 20 minutes on the Rush side of the ice. The result was a 2-1 lead for the Rage at the end of the second.
The third period is where things got exciting for us personally. About halfway through the period, the puck went sailing, hit the top of the protective glass and careened straight down toward our 4th row seats, hitting Chloe smack dab in the right buttcheek. Of course, she screamed bloody murder because, well, a frozen chunk of rubber hurts no matter where it hits you. But, she wasn't hurt seriously and quickly recovered. I think she was more scared and embarrassed than anything. Caiden thought it was awesome that we got to keep the puck. Right after that happened, the Rush broke out of their dry spell and tied the game up. Later in the period, they scored again on a 5 on 3 power play to take the lead and then added an empty net goal with less than a minute left to win 4-2. Caiden was ecstatic that they won....already at the age of 4 he can't stand losing. Wonder where he gets that from ??
It was a great night overall. Even considering Chloe getting smacked by a puck. If nothing else, it'll give us a good story to tell about our first family hockey game.
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