Okay, so the title really has nothing to do with running, but it does describe what's been dominating my non-running life lately. The local Central Hockey League (a professional minor league roughly equivalent to AA baseball) team, the Rapid City Rush, are in the midst of a title run in only their second year of existence and we've been catching a few of the home playoff games (and watching the others online). By my memory (which is admittedly suspect) we've been to a total of 6 games this year (2 regular season and 4 playoff) and the Rush have won every single one. Caiden is convinced that if we had season tickets, the Rush would go undefeated at home. The playoff run has been an exciting one. The first playoff game we went to was just me and Caid for his birthday. That night, the Rush beat the Missouri Mavericks 7-6 in OT to finish off a first round sweep. A few nights later, the entire family went to game 1 of the Northern Conference finals against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. Again, the game went to OT and, again, the Rush pulled out the win 5-4. That series ended up going to 7 games and Caid and I went to game 7 and saw the Rush dominate the Bugs 7-3 to win the conference championship and advance to the President's Cup finals. A few days later, it was the entire family again at game 2 of the final series against the Allen Americans and, yet again, the Rush won in OT 5-4 after scoring the game-tying goal with only 39 seconds left in regulation. That series stands at 1-1 (Allen won the opener 4-1) and we're eagerly awaiting the outcome of the next three games down in Texas to find out if/when we'll get a chance to watch one more Rush game before the season is over. Of course, if they were to win all three in Allen to clinch the Cup, it wouldn't hurt my feelings too bad.
Okay, on to running I guess. This was a "hard" week in my training cycle and it certainly felt like it. For some reason, the end of the week was pretty rough. Much rougher than last week, which included a 30 mile long run. Such is the mystery of running.
Monday - Rest. I didn't even play basketball. We were supposed to conduct a prescribed burn at work, so I didn't bother to bring my basketball clothes but then the burn got canceled because it had rained too much the night before and we ended up getting back to town just in time to play. Oops.
Tuesday - 9 miles. Don't really remember much about this one. I think I waited and did it at lunchtime, but I can't really remember why.
Wednesday - 10.2 miles w/ 6 at tempo pace. The term "tempo pace" is relative in this situation. I generally don't like doing tempo runs at 4:30 in the morning because it almost never turns out well and this one was no exception. Under normal conditions (i.e. later in the day when my body is actually awake), I would run tempo miles at around 6:30-6:45 pace. On this morning, it was more like 7:00-7:05 pace, although I did finally dip under 7 minutes for the last couple of miles (but just barely).
Thursday - 6.2 miles. Wow. My legs were REALLY sore after that tempo run, which is odd because it's not like I haven't been totally ignoring speed and temp work. But my quads were shot, like I'd just run a downhill marathon even though the route I ran on Wednesday was fairly flat.
Friday - 25 miles. Actually felt pretty decent for most of the run. Well, except for the fact that I got soaking wet. Scattered showers turned into steady showers at approximately mile 22. Around that same time, I started feeling a significant twinge in my left calf, which for some reason is my problem calf....I never get knots or pulls in the right one. It wasn't so bad that it affected my running, but I did notice it. Regardless, I finished the 25 miles feeling pretty good overall.
Saturday - 15 miles. Oh. My. God. Hands down the most miserable training run I can remember from recent history. By mile one I was ready to call it quits and it just did not improve from there. My legs were sore and dead tired and I just was not into it mentally. The only thing that got me through was telling myself that it was good preparation for Lean Horse because I am very sure that I will feel the same way at some point (probably several points) during that race.
Sunday - 6.3 miles. We had spent the night in Rapid City after the Rush game since Shannon was running a 10K on Sunday morning in Rapid (where she rocked out a PR on a pretty damn tough course complete with a frigid head wind heading up the mile long hill at the beginning). Before the race, I headed up to the Hansen-Larsen trail system on M Hill in Rapid and got some trail running in. I spaced out at some point and was convinced that I had actually run 7.3 miles, but when I got back to the car and clicked the screen on my Garmin over to the page that shows total miles it disagreed with me and I didn't really feel the need to tack on another meaningless mile, so 6.3 it was. Felt better than Saturday's run for sure, although the pace was much slower thanks to running up and down a mountain.
Total - 71.7 miles
Exactly two miles shy of last week's total. I ain't losing any sleep over it.
Oh, and hey, while I'm rambling about totally unrelated topics, the NFL Draft was last weekend. Once again, I didn't get selected (bastards), but the Seahawks actually had what appears to be a damn fine draft, at least on paper. Of course, we won't know for a year or two, but maybe there's actually room for optimism about the coming season. For the record, I wasn't a big fan of hiring Pete Carroll as their new head coach but so far, so good I guess. We'll see if it translates to the playing field.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Spring below, snow above
After a cutback last week, the plan was to ramp the mileage back up into the 70s this week. Coincidentally, the temperature also crept up near the 70s for much of the week as spring seems to have a pretty solid foothold in western South Dakota. Unfortunately, the warm temps were accompanied by 20-30 mph winds pretty much all week. Buzzkill. Regardless, I imagined to get in all of my runs with only one hiccup on Wednesday:
Monday - Rest, played basketball.
Tuesday - 9 miles
Wednesday - 10 miles w/ 4 x 1 mile tempo intervals. I had planned on doing a straight up tempo run (i.e. 2 miles warmup, 6 miles tempo, 2 miles cooldown) but after a half mile the howling wind convinced me that that wasn't such a great idea. That and an inexplicably unhappy digestive system. So, I turned back (stopping at the house on my past to take care of some business) and headed to the high school track, which is at least partly sheltered from the wind, to run tempo intervals instead. The first one felt like crap and the urge to just say to hell with it was pretty strong. The next two felt better, but after the third I was forced to run over to the nearby rec center to use the bathroom (again). I went back out and finished off the 4th interval and felt pretty wiped out after that....more wiped out than I should after a relatively easy hard workout (if that makes sense).
Thursday - 8 miles. Made my first venture of the year up the Tinton Trail. Ran into some snow in the shady spots up higher, but for the most part the trail was in great shape.
Friday - 6.5 miles. Headed up Lookout Mtn. for some more trail running.
Saturday - 30 miles. I planned this one to be a Lean Horse simulation of sorts. I drove to Deadwood so that I could run on the Mickelson Trail. Although this is a totally different section of the Mickelson than the one that Lean Horse covers, the terrain is virtually identical, so as far as my legs know it's basically the same. The plan was to start at the trail terminus in Deadwood and run 15 miles out (backwards on the Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon course) and then turn around and head back down. Problem was, spring hasn't full arrived yet above 5,000 feet. I got about 6.5 miles up the trail and ran into soft, knee deep snow that continued on for as far as I could see. So, I created Plan B on the spot. Lucky for me, the spot where the snow started was also right at the point where the trail forks, creating a loop that goes back past Lead and then toward Deadwood again. As it turns out, this loop is almost exactly 15 miles. So, two loops, 30 miles and 4:49 later, I was done. It actually felt pretty good too. My legs were definitely tired the last 5 miles or so, but not "oh my God this bites I can't take this shit anymore when the hell can I stop??!!" tired (trust me, I know that feeling).
Sunday - 10.2 miles. Just an easy cruise around the countryside. My legs felt really heavy at first, but they loosened up after awhile and I actually pushed the pace down to 6:48 for that last 0.2, just for the hell of it.
Total - 73.7 miles
This coming week should be pretty similar mileage-wise. The only real difference will be the weekend, which will feature 25/15 instead of 30/10.
Oh, and today was the Boston Marathon. Hard to believe that at this time last year I was out there, my race done, probably hobbling my way back down Boylston St. to find meet up with some friends for a post-race beer (or ten). Sounds like perfect running conditions this year....Ryan Hall ran the fastest time ever by an American at Boston but still finished in 4th (one place lower than last year). Robert Cheryiout absolutely crushed the course record in 2:05:52. That is insanely fast for that course. Man, being away makes me want to go back, but I've got some other (much longer) business to take care of first.
Monday - Rest, played basketball.
Tuesday - 9 miles
Wednesday - 10 miles w/ 4 x 1 mile tempo intervals. I had planned on doing a straight up tempo run (i.e. 2 miles warmup, 6 miles tempo, 2 miles cooldown) but after a half mile the howling wind convinced me that that wasn't such a great idea. That and an inexplicably unhappy digestive system. So, I turned back (stopping at the house on my past to take care of some business) and headed to the high school track, which is at least partly sheltered from the wind, to run tempo intervals instead. The first one felt like crap and the urge to just say to hell with it was pretty strong. The next two felt better, but after the third I was forced to run over to the nearby rec center to use the bathroom (again). I went back out and finished off the 4th interval and felt pretty wiped out after that....more wiped out than I should after a relatively easy hard workout (if that makes sense).
Thursday - 8 miles. Made my first venture of the year up the Tinton Trail. Ran into some snow in the shady spots up higher, but for the most part the trail was in great shape.
Friday - 6.5 miles. Headed up Lookout Mtn. for some more trail running.
Saturday - 30 miles. I planned this one to be a Lean Horse simulation of sorts. I drove to Deadwood so that I could run on the Mickelson Trail. Although this is a totally different section of the Mickelson than the one that Lean Horse covers, the terrain is virtually identical, so as far as my legs know it's basically the same. The plan was to start at the trail terminus in Deadwood and run 15 miles out (backwards on the Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon course) and then turn around and head back down. Problem was, spring hasn't full arrived yet above 5,000 feet. I got about 6.5 miles up the trail and ran into soft, knee deep snow that continued on for as far as I could see. So, I created Plan B on the spot. Lucky for me, the spot where the snow started was also right at the point where the trail forks, creating a loop that goes back past Lead and then toward Deadwood again. As it turns out, this loop is almost exactly 15 miles. So, two loops, 30 miles and 4:49 later, I was done. It actually felt pretty good too. My legs were definitely tired the last 5 miles or so, but not "oh my God this bites I can't take this shit anymore when the hell can I stop??!!" tired (trust me, I know that feeling).
Sunday - 10.2 miles. Just an easy cruise around the countryside. My legs felt really heavy at first, but they loosened up after awhile and I actually pushed the pace down to 6:48 for that last 0.2, just for the hell of it.
Total - 73.7 miles
This coming week should be pretty similar mileage-wise. The only real difference will be the weekend, which will feature 25/15 instead of 30/10.
Oh, and today was the Boston Marathon. Hard to believe that at this time last year I was out there, my race done, probably hobbling my way back down Boylston St. to find meet up with some friends for a post-race beer (or ten). Sounds like perfect running conditions this year....Ryan Hall ran the fastest time ever by an American at Boston but still finished in 4th (one place lower than last year). Robert Cheryiout absolutely crushed the course record in 2:05:52. That is insanely fast for that course. Man, being away makes me want to go back, but I've got some other (much longer) business to take care of first.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Back on the trails
We're finally reaching the point where the trails are clear enough of snow to get off the roads and do some trail running. Running roads is all fine and dandy, but as I learned the hard way on Friday, it does little to prepare you for running trails and if I'm gonna get through the Big Horn 50 in June, I'm gonna need to hit the trails more often.
This was a cutback week, as it turns out my first real one since late January. I hadn't planned on going that long without a big cutback, it just kinda happened. But, I knocked the mileage back this week in preparation for another couple of big weeks coming up.
Monday - Rest, played basketball at lunchtime.
Tuesday - 7.3 miles
Wednesday - 9 miles with 5 hill intervals. The new issue of Trail Runner magazine has a "Beginner" section. I'm not sure if I'm still considered a beginner when it comes to trail running, but there was some good advice in there including the suggestion to run hill workouts every once in awhile. This isn't anything groundshakingly new, but I've never done hill intervals and reading that article planted the seed in my head that maybe I should, so I did. I found a hill in Belle and ran up it (about 0.3 mile) hard and then jogged back down for recovery.
Thursday - 7.2 miles. I headed back up onto the Lookout Mtn. trails and this time encountered much less snow (hardly any, in fact). I made a big loop around and eventually over the top of the mountain that ended up being longer than I had planned on running (the plan was 6), but who's counting? Oh, wait, I am....oh well.
Friday - 18.66 miles. I find it highly ironic that in the last few years of training for and running marathons, I have never been able to find a training partner. There just aren't a lot of marathoners around here, much less many that run at around the same pace as me (not that I'm blazing fast, just faster than average). But then, after I decide to run a 100 miler, I find a training partner right away. I just had to quadruple the mileage, I guess. In any case, I met up with another local runner, Ryan, in Sturgis and we ran an out and back on part of the Centennial Trail. According to my Garmin (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29481251) we gained about 2,500 feet of elevation (and lost it all too) and let me tell ya, my quads were feeling it. Later that day and the next I felt like I had just run a marathon. My legs definitely aren't in trail shape right now, something I need to remedy soon as the Black Hills Trails Series kicks off in a little over a month. As luck would have it, we covered the route of the first race in the series (Alkali Cr.) during our run, so at least I know what I'm in for.
Saturday - 8 miles. Like I said, my quads were mighty sore but once I started running everything loosened up nicely. I actually only meant to run 7 but again misjudged a loop (seems to be happening a lot lately) so I picked up a bonus mile.
Sunday - 4 miles. Just a short easy run to flush some crud out. The quads felt much better, ready for another week of abuse.
Total - 54.16 miles
The goal is to bump the mileage back up into the 70s this week with my biggest long run yet, a 30 miler, planned for either Saturday or Sunday (depending on when I can best fit it in....5 hours is a big chunk of time to account for).
How about some non-running rambling? This past Saturday was my kids' first soccer game of the spring. If you've never witnessed U-6 soccer, you haven't really lived. It's more like rugby than soccer in that there's usually a big scrum with the ball in the middle, eventually the ball pops out and then everyone gives chase. As luck would have it, I got recruited to be the assistant coach for my kids' team and, since the real coach was out of town this weekend, I also got to be the interim head coach for the first game. At this level, it's less about strategy and winning the game and more about time management and trying to get everyone on the field for roughly an equal amount of time. So, in the midst of shuffling kids in and out, I kind of lost track of the game but Caiden tells me that we won 8-6 (with him accounting for 6 of our goals). Chloe did good too....she actually went after and kicked the ball (last year she just ran around but never tried to play the ball, even when it was right in front of her). So, I can now end my head coaching career with a perfect record. It's always good to go out on top.
Also on Saturday, we drove to Rapid City for game 1 of the CHL (that's the Central Hockey League, which is a professional league roughly equivalent to AA minor league baseball) Northern Conference finals between the hometown Rush and the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (how a team from Louisiana ended up in the Northern Conference is beyond me, but whatever). For the 2nd straight game, the Rush came back from a 3rd period deficit to tie the game and send it to OT. Just over 5 minutes into OT they scored the game winning goal to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Unfortunately, the Mudbugs came back last night and won 4-3, knotting the series at 1-1. Buzzkill.
This was a cutback week, as it turns out my first real one since late January. I hadn't planned on going that long without a big cutback, it just kinda happened. But, I knocked the mileage back this week in preparation for another couple of big weeks coming up.
Monday - Rest, played basketball at lunchtime.
Tuesday - 7.3 miles
Wednesday - 9 miles with 5 hill intervals. The new issue of Trail Runner magazine has a "Beginner" section. I'm not sure if I'm still considered a beginner when it comes to trail running, but there was some good advice in there including the suggestion to run hill workouts every once in awhile. This isn't anything groundshakingly new, but I've never done hill intervals and reading that article planted the seed in my head that maybe I should, so I did. I found a hill in Belle and ran up it (about 0.3 mile) hard and then jogged back down for recovery.
Thursday - 7.2 miles. I headed back up onto the Lookout Mtn. trails and this time encountered much less snow (hardly any, in fact). I made a big loop around and eventually over the top of the mountain that ended up being longer than I had planned on running (the plan was 6), but who's counting? Oh, wait, I am....oh well.
Friday - 18.66 miles. I find it highly ironic that in the last few years of training for and running marathons, I have never been able to find a training partner. There just aren't a lot of marathoners around here, much less many that run at around the same pace as me (not that I'm blazing fast, just faster than average). But then, after I decide to run a 100 miler, I find a training partner right away. I just had to quadruple the mileage, I guess. In any case, I met up with another local runner, Ryan, in Sturgis and we ran an out and back on part of the Centennial Trail. According to my Garmin (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29481251) we gained about 2,500 feet of elevation (and lost it all too) and let me tell ya, my quads were feeling it. Later that day and the next I felt like I had just run a marathon. My legs definitely aren't in trail shape right now, something I need to remedy soon as the Black Hills Trails Series kicks off in a little over a month. As luck would have it, we covered the route of the first race in the series (Alkali Cr.) during our run, so at least I know what I'm in for.
Saturday - 8 miles. Like I said, my quads were mighty sore but once I started running everything loosened up nicely. I actually only meant to run 7 but again misjudged a loop (seems to be happening a lot lately) so I picked up a bonus mile.
Sunday - 4 miles. Just a short easy run to flush some crud out. The quads felt much better, ready for another week of abuse.
Total - 54.16 miles
The goal is to bump the mileage back up into the 70s this week with my biggest long run yet, a 30 miler, planned for either Saturday or Sunday (depending on when I can best fit it in....5 hours is a big chunk of time to account for).
How about some non-running rambling? This past Saturday was my kids' first soccer game of the spring. If you've never witnessed U-6 soccer, you haven't really lived. It's more like rugby than soccer in that there's usually a big scrum with the ball in the middle, eventually the ball pops out and then everyone gives chase. As luck would have it, I got recruited to be the assistant coach for my kids' team and, since the real coach was out of town this weekend, I also got to be the interim head coach for the first game. At this level, it's less about strategy and winning the game and more about time management and trying to get everyone on the field for roughly an equal amount of time. So, in the midst of shuffling kids in and out, I kind of lost track of the game but Caiden tells me that we won 8-6 (with him accounting for 6 of our goals). Chloe did good too....she actually went after and kicked the ball (last year she just ran around but never tried to play the ball, even when it was right in front of her). So, I can now end my head coaching career with a perfect record. It's always good to go out on top.
Also on Saturday, we drove to Rapid City for game 1 of the CHL (that's the Central Hockey League, which is a professional league roughly equivalent to AA minor league baseball) Northern Conference finals between the hometown Rush and the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (how a team from Louisiana ended up in the Northern Conference is beyond me, but whatever). For the 2nd straight game, the Rush came back from a 3rd period deficit to tie the game and send it to OT. Just over 5 minutes into OT they scored the game winning goal to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Unfortunately, the Mudbugs came back last night and won 4-3, knotting the series at 1-1. Buzzkill.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Spring snow (sucks)
In South Dakota, you're never really sure if spring is here until, oh, July. By then, it's pretty safe to assume that the last snow has fallen, at least until September or October. Inevitably, April rolls around and teases us with awesome running weather only to pull the rug out with a spring snowstorm. Last year was a good example as we got hammered with three blizzards in a 10 day span during the last week of March and first week of April. It wasn't that bad this year, but we did have a winter storm roll through Thursday night and Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, the roads were clear again and in many areas the snow had melted away, but the Hills (and, consequently, the best running trails) are still covered in a fresh layer. Of course, spring is far from over, so I would be hesitant to call this winter's last gasp, but one can dream.
Monday - Rest. Played basketball at lunchtime.
Tuesday - 9 miles. Ugh. Tuesday's have proven to be rough for me ever since I started Lean Horse training. Something about back to back long runs on the weekend combined with a rest day on Monday (and basketball too) leaves my legs dead on Tuesday.
Wednesday - 10 miles. Headed to the track and ran 4x1 mile tempo intervals. My tempo pace isn't what it once was (like when I was peaking for Boston last year), but I guess that's to be expected when I'm trying to teach my body to run a long damn ways.
Thursday - 8 miles. Inevitably there's a run from the previous week that I really don't remember. I can't recall much of anything about this, I just know that my calendar says I ran 8 miles, so I guess I probably did.
Friday - 5 miles. I definitely remember this one. The aforementioned snow struck overnight. Typical of a spring snowstorm, it was barely cold enough for the rain to switch over, so the snow was of the heavy, wet variety. When I headed out for my run, the streets were covered with an inch of slush. Within one block, my feet were soaked.
Saturday - 15 miles. After staying up late the night before at the Rapid City Rush hockey game (a 7-6 OT win!), I had to get up at the buttcrack of dawn on a Saturday morning to squeeze in a run before heading back to Rapid yet again where my wife and kids were all running the Fools 4 Mile race (well, the kids ran the 1K). After that, it was back home for my son's 6th birthday party. I knew if I didn't get this run in early in the morning, it might not get done at all, so I forced myself out of bed and headed out. I probably ran this faster than I should when I'm ultra training, but because of the time crunch I felt compelled to get it done.
Sunday - 20 miles. I felt the overly fast pace from Saturday early on in this one, but eventually my legs loosened up. I also ran this one on a fairly tough, hilly route, just for kicks. Rather than incorporating a set run/walk ratio like I have been for my 25 milers, I decided I would run the entire way up until about 14 miles where it gets really hilly and then I would walk the uphill and run the downhills, which is basically what I'll end up doing for the first hilly 16 miles of Lean Horse. Well, turns out the road I was running on totally went to hell right at 14 miles. It was pure mud for over a mile. I was able to run some shorts stretches of it, but ended up walking most of it with what felt like 20 lbs. of mud caked on my shoes. Finally, I reached a more solid stretch of road and was able to run again. When I got done I actually felt really good, definitely didn't feel like I'd just run 15/20 back to back and the soreness afterward was minimal. Maybe this ultra training is really working...
Total - 67 miles
This coming week is a planned cutback week, as is every 4th week of my training schedule. I'm hoping to hit the trails this weekend for a long run with another guy who's training for Lean Horse, but we'll have to see how cooperative Mother Nature is in that regard. Right now, the forecast looks good for later in the week, so I guess there is hope.
Monday - Rest. Played basketball at lunchtime.
Tuesday - 9 miles. Ugh. Tuesday's have proven to be rough for me ever since I started Lean Horse training. Something about back to back long runs on the weekend combined with a rest day on Monday (and basketball too) leaves my legs dead on Tuesday.
Wednesday - 10 miles. Headed to the track and ran 4x1 mile tempo intervals. My tempo pace isn't what it once was (like when I was peaking for Boston last year), but I guess that's to be expected when I'm trying to teach my body to run a long damn ways.
Thursday - 8 miles. Inevitably there's a run from the previous week that I really don't remember. I can't recall much of anything about this, I just know that my calendar says I ran 8 miles, so I guess I probably did.
Friday - 5 miles. I definitely remember this one. The aforementioned snow struck overnight. Typical of a spring snowstorm, it was barely cold enough for the rain to switch over, so the snow was of the heavy, wet variety. When I headed out for my run, the streets were covered with an inch of slush. Within one block, my feet were soaked.
Saturday - 15 miles. After staying up late the night before at the Rapid City Rush hockey game (a 7-6 OT win!), I had to get up at the buttcrack of dawn on a Saturday morning to squeeze in a run before heading back to Rapid yet again where my wife and kids were all running the Fools 4 Mile race (well, the kids ran the 1K). After that, it was back home for my son's 6th birthday party. I knew if I didn't get this run in early in the morning, it might not get done at all, so I forced myself out of bed and headed out. I probably ran this faster than I should when I'm ultra training, but because of the time crunch I felt compelled to get it done.
Sunday - 20 miles. I felt the overly fast pace from Saturday early on in this one, but eventually my legs loosened up. I also ran this one on a fairly tough, hilly route, just for kicks. Rather than incorporating a set run/walk ratio like I have been for my 25 milers, I decided I would run the entire way up until about 14 miles where it gets really hilly and then I would walk the uphill and run the downhills, which is basically what I'll end up doing for the first hilly 16 miles of Lean Horse. Well, turns out the road I was running on totally went to hell right at 14 miles. It was pure mud for over a mile. I was able to run some shorts stretches of it, but ended up walking most of it with what felt like 20 lbs. of mud caked on my shoes. Finally, I reached a more solid stretch of road and was able to run again. When I got done I actually felt really good, definitely didn't feel like I'd just run 15/20 back to back and the soreness afterward was minimal. Maybe this ultra training is really working...
Total - 67 miles
This coming week is a planned cutback week, as is every 4th week of my training schedule. I'm hoping to hit the trails this weekend for a long run with another guy who's training for Lean Horse, but we'll have to see how cooperative Mother Nature is in that regard. Right now, the forecast looks good for later in the week, so I guess there is hope.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Lean Horse: Week 2
I imagine at some point I'll come up with more imaginative post titles than "Lean Horse: Week X" but for now I'm being lazy about it. I could call it "Free beer for anyone who comments on this post" but then I'd just have an angry mob on my hands when you all found out that I had drank all the free beer while sitting in the recliner and switching back and forth between the college hockey and college basketball (which was my default post-run activity this weekend). So, you'll have to deal with the generic titles for now.
Anyhow, what the hell was I going to write about? Oh yeah, running.....well wait, how about the thing I like most about the NCAA hockey tournament. It almost never fails that I end up watching a team play whose school I've either never heard of or is from a school that you wouldn't imagine to have hockey. Two examples are RIT (that would be Rochester Institute of Technology and 99% of you are lying if you say you knew that without the aid of Google) and Alabama-Huntsville. RIT is in the Frozen Four and Alabama-Huntsville, the only team from south of the Mason-Dixon line, qualified for the tourney despite a losing record (they won their conference tournament) but then were summarily ousted by the overall #1 seed, Miami (Ohio, not Florida). What makes college hockey even more interesting this year is the fact that I did not get a single Final Four team correct in my basketball bracket. I woulda been better off making my picks based on who had the cooler mascot.
Okay, between all the basketball and hockey watching, I did actually run some this past week:
Monday - Rest. But I played basketball, so it wasn't full rest. Just rest from running.
Tuesday - 9 miles. I honestly don't really remember much about this run, so it must not have been all that spectacular (or all that horrible, for that matter).
Wednesday - 9 miles with 6x800m. I fully intended to do 8 intervals, but after 3 I could tell that that would be reaching and the last 2 were pretty ugly, so I called er good at 6. It's not like I'm training for a 5K anyhow.
Thursday - 6 miles. I fully intended to do 8 miles, but I absolutely could not resist the urge to try out my new trail shoes (Brooks Cascadia 5) and explore a new trail (Lookout Mtn.) all at the same time (and during my lunch hour). As it turns out, the trail was still under snow (knee deep) in the shadier spots and I ended up losing it a couple of times and wandering aimlessly around the mountain before I picked up the trail again. This slowed my pace significantly (we're talking 11 minute plus here), which meant that I ran up against a time barrier before I got to 8 miles, so I settled for 6.
Friday - 25 miles. The temp was just about perfect for running, but the 20-30 mph winds weren't. I ended up running 4 loops around town to try and stay sheltered from the wind. This actually wasn't as bad mentally as I thought it would be and it allowed me to return to the house and refill my handheld with Perpetuem along the way (which worked well, by the way). I did a run/walk ratio of 10 minutes to 2 minutes, which I think worked much better for me than the 25:5 and 20:4 I experimented with last summer. I didn't really start to feel fatigue set in until about mile 22, but even then it wasn't bad. I also set a new record for taking a leak during a run. Between the 70 ounces of water in my hydration pack (I didn't finish all of it, but close) and the four, 22 ounce bottles of Perpetuem I consumed, I was most definitely hydrated. I ended up stopping to pee 6 times during the run.
Saturday - 15 miles. The goal here was to run the whole way at a pace that felt very easy. Again, it was windy so, again, I had to run loops around town. My legs felt pretty good considering and I ended up with a fairly easy feeling run. I started to feel the accumulated miles at around mile 12, but not horribly so.
Sunday - 7.2 miles. I expected this one to be a very slow recovery paced run, but immediately after starting I could tell my legs had more energy than it seemed like they should after covering 40 miles the previous two days. Instead of the 9 minute/mile pace I was expecting, I fairly easily clocked 8:02 pace.
Total - 71.2 miles
My Lean Horse plan generally follows a "hard, hard, medium, easy" pattern, so after two "hard" weeks, this next one will be a little lower mileage followed by a bigger cutback the following week before the cycle starts all over again.
Anyhow, what the hell was I going to write about? Oh yeah, running.....well wait, how about the thing I like most about the NCAA hockey tournament. It almost never fails that I end up watching a team play whose school I've either never heard of or is from a school that you wouldn't imagine to have hockey. Two examples are RIT (that would be Rochester Institute of Technology and 99% of you are lying if you say you knew that without the aid of Google) and Alabama-Huntsville. RIT is in the Frozen Four and Alabama-Huntsville, the only team from south of the Mason-Dixon line, qualified for the tourney despite a losing record (they won their conference tournament) but then were summarily ousted by the overall #1 seed, Miami (Ohio, not Florida). What makes college hockey even more interesting this year is the fact that I did not get a single Final Four team correct in my basketball bracket. I woulda been better off making my picks based on who had the cooler mascot.
Okay, between all the basketball and hockey watching, I did actually run some this past week:
Monday - Rest. But I played basketball, so it wasn't full rest. Just rest from running.
Tuesday - 9 miles. I honestly don't really remember much about this run, so it must not have been all that spectacular (or all that horrible, for that matter).
Wednesday - 9 miles with 6x800m. I fully intended to do 8 intervals, but after 3 I could tell that that would be reaching and the last 2 were pretty ugly, so I called er good at 6. It's not like I'm training for a 5K anyhow.
Thursday - 6 miles. I fully intended to do 8 miles, but I absolutely could not resist the urge to try out my new trail shoes (Brooks Cascadia 5) and explore a new trail (Lookout Mtn.) all at the same time (and during my lunch hour). As it turns out, the trail was still under snow (knee deep) in the shadier spots and I ended up losing it a couple of times and wandering aimlessly around the mountain before I picked up the trail again. This slowed my pace significantly (we're talking 11 minute plus here), which meant that I ran up against a time barrier before I got to 8 miles, so I settled for 6.
Friday - 25 miles. The temp was just about perfect for running, but the 20-30 mph winds weren't. I ended up running 4 loops around town to try and stay sheltered from the wind. This actually wasn't as bad mentally as I thought it would be and it allowed me to return to the house and refill my handheld with Perpetuem along the way (which worked well, by the way). I did a run/walk ratio of 10 minutes to 2 minutes, which I think worked much better for me than the 25:5 and 20:4 I experimented with last summer. I didn't really start to feel fatigue set in until about mile 22, but even then it wasn't bad. I also set a new record for taking a leak during a run. Between the 70 ounces of water in my hydration pack (I didn't finish all of it, but close) and the four, 22 ounce bottles of Perpetuem I consumed, I was most definitely hydrated. I ended up stopping to pee 6 times during the run.
Saturday - 15 miles. The goal here was to run the whole way at a pace that felt very easy. Again, it was windy so, again, I had to run loops around town. My legs felt pretty good considering and I ended up with a fairly easy feeling run. I started to feel the accumulated miles at around mile 12, but not horribly so.
Sunday - 7.2 miles. I expected this one to be a very slow recovery paced run, but immediately after starting I could tell my legs had more energy than it seemed like they should after covering 40 miles the previous two days. Instead of the 9 minute/mile pace I was expecting, I fairly easily clocked 8:02 pace.
Total - 71.2 miles
My Lean Horse plan generally follows a "hard, hard, medium, easy" pattern, so after two "hard" weeks, this next one will be a little lower mileage followed by a bigger cutback the following week before the cycle starts all over again.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Lean Horse Training: Week 1
This was my first official week of ultra training as I started in on a 24 week long plan leading up to the Lean Horse 100 with the Bighorn 50 wedged in as a training run. All in all, it was a good week and, in some ways, actually easier on the body than the basebuilding I've been doing for several months now.
Monday - Rest. Nothing like kicking off ultra training with a bang, huh?
Tuesday - 9 miles. I also took the pack test at work in the afternoon. For those not familiar, in order to be "red-carded" as a wildland firefighter, you have to pass the pack test each year, which consists of walking (no running allowed) 3 miles in under 45 minutes while carrying a 45 pound pack. I no longer fight fire as my primary line of work, but I do work for the Forest Service and have the opportunity to help out with fire suppression and prescribed burning as needed (i.e., the opportunity to rack up some overtime). I also walked/jogged a mile each with the kids after I got home as they started accumulating miles for the Deadwood-Mickelson Kids Marathon in June. The idea is that they run/walk a total of 25 miles leading up to race day and then run the final 2K (1.2 miles) the day before the actual marathon. This will be Caiden's third kids marathon and Chloe's first.
Wednesday - 10 miles w/ 8 strides. Wednesday is supposed to be an optional day for some form of "quality" running (i.e. intervals, tempo, or progression) but I was not feeling it on this day, maybe because of the long day on Tuesday. I compromised by throwing in some strides at the end of the run. I haven't done strides in eons and it's something I really should do more often.
Thursday - 8 miles. I just was not feeling it on this run....much more tiring than an easy 8 miler should be. Plus, all kinds of shit went wrong. My heartrate strap would not stay in position so I had to stop and tighten it. After I did that I ended up with my headphone wire wrapped around it so had to stop to fix that. On the way back, I had the wind behind me so I took off my hat and put it in my shorts pocket. Within 30 yards, it fell out but I didn't notice immediately and ended up having to drive back along my route later that afternoon to look for it (luckily, I found it).
Friday - 6 miles. Again, I started off feeling not so great, but things improved as the run went along. Maybe the pack test on Tuesday took more out of me than I thought it did?
Saturday - 25 miles. I was uncertain how this day was going to pan out. My wife headed to Rapid City early in the morning to run the Dublin Dash 5K and then do some shopping. Knowing that she wouldn't be home until early afternoon, I wasn't sure if I wanted to run the planned 25, which would take up to 4 hours, or if I would just do 15 and then do the 25 on Sunday. She got home at around 2:30 and I headed out the door by 3 planning on covering 15 miles. I ended up misjudging the length of the loop I was running and by the time I got home I had covered 16 miles. When I got there, I was still feeling pretty good and I discovered that my wife and kids had gone to the store, so I made an on the spot decision to go ahead and knock out the 25 miler. I quickly refilled my hydration pack, grabbed some more Hammer Gel and mixed up a bottle of Perpetuem and headed back out. Naturally, my pace began to slow some as the final 9 miles progressed, but not too bad. And, although I started to get pretty tired at the end, I didn't feel too beat up. I did take a few 2 minute walk breaks, not because I felt like I needed to but because I know that I will have to walk quite a bit during the 100 and need to practice not only walking with purpose (i.e. not just casually strolling along) but also transitioning from walking back to running. I ended up covering 25 miles in about 3:45.
Sunday - 15.5 miles. I woke up in the morning feeling surprisingly okay considering I had just finished a 25 mile run at about 7:00 the previous night. I took some time to eat breakfast and get good and awake before heading out at around 11:00 for the second long run of the weekend. My legs definitely felt heavy, especially on uphills, but I didn't feel bad at all. I just chugged along at what seemed like an easily sustainable pace and ended up running a little bit (10 seconds/mile) faster than the day before. 40 miles in less than 24 hours in the books and no worse for the wear.
Total - 73.5 miles
This week was fairly typical of what my training will be like for the next 23 weeks. This is about what my maximum weekly mileage will be, I'll just be shifting the miles around on the weekends a little bit (like running a 30/10 double instead of 25/15).
Hey, maybe spring has actually arrived in South Dakota (do I dare say, or type, that out loud??). A predicted snowstorm on Friday skirted away from us and I had good weather for both long runs this weekend (my first runs in a sleeveless shirt this year...i have a minor sunburn to prove it). And the forecast for this week looks good. Hope springs eternal, but I just know there's a spring blizzard lurking somewhere on the horizon...
Monday - Rest. Nothing like kicking off ultra training with a bang, huh?
Tuesday - 9 miles. I also took the pack test at work in the afternoon. For those not familiar, in order to be "red-carded" as a wildland firefighter, you have to pass the pack test each year, which consists of walking (no running allowed) 3 miles in under 45 minutes while carrying a 45 pound pack. I no longer fight fire as my primary line of work, but I do work for the Forest Service and have the opportunity to help out with fire suppression and prescribed burning as needed (i.e., the opportunity to rack up some overtime). I also walked/jogged a mile each with the kids after I got home as they started accumulating miles for the Deadwood-Mickelson Kids Marathon in June. The idea is that they run/walk a total of 25 miles leading up to race day and then run the final 2K (1.2 miles) the day before the actual marathon. This will be Caiden's third kids marathon and Chloe's first.
Wednesday - 10 miles w/ 8 strides. Wednesday is supposed to be an optional day for some form of "quality" running (i.e. intervals, tempo, or progression) but I was not feeling it on this day, maybe because of the long day on Tuesday. I compromised by throwing in some strides at the end of the run. I haven't done strides in eons and it's something I really should do more often.
Thursday - 8 miles. I just was not feeling it on this run....much more tiring than an easy 8 miler should be. Plus, all kinds of shit went wrong. My heartrate strap would not stay in position so I had to stop and tighten it. After I did that I ended up with my headphone wire wrapped around it so had to stop to fix that. On the way back, I had the wind behind me so I took off my hat and put it in my shorts pocket. Within 30 yards, it fell out but I didn't notice immediately and ended up having to drive back along my route later that afternoon to look for it (luckily, I found it).
Friday - 6 miles. Again, I started off feeling not so great, but things improved as the run went along. Maybe the pack test on Tuesday took more out of me than I thought it did?
Saturday - 25 miles. I was uncertain how this day was going to pan out. My wife headed to Rapid City early in the morning to run the Dublin Dash 5K and then do some shopping. Knowing that she wouldn't be home until early afternoon, I wasn't sure if I wanted to run the planned 25, which would take up to 4 hours, or if I would just do 15 and then do the 25 on Sunday. She got home at around 2:30 and I headed out the door by 3 planning on covering 15 miles. I ended up misjudging the length of the loop I was running and by the time I got home I had covered 16 miles. When I got there, I was still feeling pretty good and I discovered that my wife and kids had gone to the store, so I made an on the spot decision to go ahead and knock out the 25 miler. I quickly refilled my hydration pack, grabbed some more Hammer Gel and mixed up a bottle of Perpetuem and headed back out. Naturally, my pace began to slow some as the final 9 miles progressed, but not too bad. And, although I started to get pretty tired at the end, I didn't feel too beat up. I did take a few 2 minute walk breaks, not because I felt like I needed to but because I know that I will have to walk quite a bit during the 100 and need to practice not only walking with purpose (i.e. not just casually strolling along) but also transitioning from walking back to running. I ended up covering 25 miles in about 3:45.
Sunday - 15.5 miles. I woke up in the morning feeling surprisingly okay considering I had just finished a 25 mile run at about 7:00 the previous night. I took some time to eat breakfast and get good and awake before heading out at around 11:00 for the second long run of the weekend. My legs definitely felt heavy, especially on uphills, but I didn't feel bad at all. I just chugged along at what seemed like an easily sustainable pace and ended up running a little bit (10 seconds/mile) faster than the day before. 40 miles in less than 24 hours in the books and no worse for the wear.
Total - 73.5 miles
This week was fairly typical of what my training will be like for the next 23 weeks. This is about what my maximum weekly mileage will be, I'll just be shifting the miles around on the weekends a little bit (like running a 30/10 double instead of 25/15).
Hey, maybe spring has actually arrived in South Dakota (do I dare say, or type, that out loud??). A predicted snowstorm on Friday skirted away from us and I had good weather for both long runs this weekend (my first runs in a sleeveless shirt this year...i have a minor sunburn to prove it). And the forecast for this week looks good. Hope springs eternal, but I just know there's a spring blizzard lurking somewhere on the horizon...
Monday, March 15, 2010
The end of basebuilding
This past week was my last one of basebuilding before I officially begin a 24 week training plan for the Lean Horse 100 on August 27th. I guess it's fitting that I close out basebuilding with my highest mileage week in quite some time.
Sunday - 10 miles
Monday - 6 miles in the morning, 5 in the afternoon.
Tuesday - 10 mile progression run. I ran the same loop that I always run for this workout but I ran it backwards. It seemed like it was harder that direction because of where the hills are located, but my overall average pace actually ended up being faster than the last time I did a progression run.
Wednesday - 8 miles in the morning, 6 in the afternoon. I fully intended to run a full 14 in the morning, but I was thwarted by several inches of fresh snow. On some streets, there weren't even tire tracks to follow, I was just blazing my own trail. Eventually, that took it's toll and I was pretty whipped by the time I returned home after 8 miles. By the time I ran the 6 miler in the afternoon, most of the snow had melted off and the streets were mostly just wet.
Thursday - 10 miles. Kind of a repeat of yesterday except the roads were more slick than snowcovered. I would've been better off with ice skates on some stretches.
Friday - 21.2 miles. Finally, the weather broke and it was actually fairly nice outside (sunny, mid-40s). I mapped out a huge 21 mile loop on mapmyrun.com and headed out. Several miles of this loop were totally foreign territory to me. One of the dangers of running on roads you've never been on before is you don't really know what the terrain is like. The first 8 miles of this looped featured almost constant ups and downs, with more up than down. At one point, just before reaching the high point of the loop, I passed a sign that said "Minimum Maintenance - Travel at Your Own Risk). Awesome. And they weren't lying. The next mile or so of road was sloppy, muddy, slushy, snowy and rutted from where people had attempted to travel at their own risk. It was actually kind of fun. After that section I had a net downhill for the remainder of the run (13 miles) but for some reason I hit a rough patch at around 15-17 miles. Don't really know why, but my slowest splits were in that stretch and then I recovered a little and managed to finish the last few miles fairly strong.
Saturday - 8 miles. Felt remarkably good after the tough long run the day before.
Total - 84.2 miles
So, there you have it. Basebuilding is done and now the real work begins. I probably won't be logging any higher mileage than what I have during basebuilding, I'll just be structuring my weeks differently. Mondays will be rest days and Tuesdays through Fridays will be fairly easy mileage with no runs longer than 10 miles. I plan on doing some sort of quality work (tempo run, intervals, progression run) every Wednesday to keep my legs from getting to used to the slow easy pace I'll be running the rest of the week. The bulk of my weekly mileage from here on out will come on the weekends, with a long run (25-40 miles) on Saturday and a shorter run (up to 15 miles, depending on how long Saturday is) on Sunday. I'd like to start doing some of those weekend runs on trails if the friggin snow would ever melt off. The basic idea is that I need to start teaching my body to move forward for longer periods. Hopefully it wants to learn. Otherwise this is gonna suck.
Sunday - 10 miles
Monday - 6 miles in the morning, 5 in the afternoon.
Tuesday - 10 mile progression run. I ran the same loop that I always run for this workout but I ran it backwards. It seemed like it was harder that direction because of where the hills are located, but my overall average pace actually ended up being faster than the last time I did a progression run.
Wednesday - 8 miles in the morning, 6 in the afternoon. I fully intended to run a full 14 in the morning, but I was thwarted by several inches of fresh snow. On some streets, there weren't even tire tracks to follow, I was just blazing my own trail. Eventually, that took it's toll and I was pretty whipped by the time I returned home after 8 miles. By the time I ran the 6 miler in the afternoon, most of the snow had melted off and the streets were mostly just wet.
Thursday - 10 miles. Kind of a repeat of yesterday except the roads were more slick than snowcovered. I would've been better off with ice skates on some stretches.
Friday - 21.2 miles. Finally, the weather broke and it was actually fairly nice outside (sunny, mid-40s). I mapped out a huge 21 mile loop on mapmyrun.com and headed out. Several miles of this loop were totally foreign territory to me. One of the dangers of running on roads you've never been on before is you don't really know what the terrain is like. The first 8 miles of this looped featured almost constant ups and downs, with more up than down. At one point, just before reaching the high point of the loop, I passed a sign that said "Minimum Maintenance - Travel at Your Own Risk). Awesome. And they weren't lying. The next mile or so of road was sloppy, muddy, slushy, snowy and rutted from where people had attempted to travel at their own risk. It was actually kind of fun. After that section I had a net downhill for the remainder of the run (13 miles) but for some reason I hit a rough patch at around 15-17 miles. Don't really know why, but my slowest splits were in that stretch and then I recovered a little and managed to finish the last few miles fairly strong.
Saturday - 8 miles. Felt remarkably good after the tough long run the day before.
Total - 84.2 miles
So, there you have it. Basebuilding is done and now the real work begins. I probably won't be logging any higher mileage than what I have during basebuilding, I'll just be structuring my weeks differently. Mondays will be rest days and Tuesdays through Fridays will be fairly easy mileage with no runs longer than 10 miles. I plan on doing some sort of quality work (tempo run, intervals, progression run) every Wednesday to keep my legs from getting to used to the slow easy pace I'll be running the rest of the week. The bulk of my weekly mileage from here on out will come on the weekends, with a long run (25-40 miles) on Saturday and a shorter run (up to 15 miles, depending on how long Saturday is) on Sunday. I'd like to start doing some of those weekend runs on trails if the friggin snow would ever melt off. The basic idea is that I need to start teaching my body to move forward for longer periods. Hopefully it wants to learn. Otherwise this is gonna suck.
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