Getting back at it

Last night I knew I wasn't running outside. The roads are terrible and it's F.C., as a fellow Wisconsin Runner would put it. So I went up to the ole Alma Mater (PHS) and started running in circles.

That's right, 7 times around the main part of the school is a mile. Makes it pretty easy to run a solid 7:00/mile pace, which I did for 4 miles. The knee put up a bit of an argument, but nothing all that terrible.
This morning I went to work with my wife (she said it's "Take Your Husband to Work Day") and used their facility's elliptical machines to put in 7 miles in 50 minutes. At that point, I bundled up and hit the above-mentioned cold and terrible roads for a 6 mile run home. I actually quite enjoyed the run--in a winter coat, with a backpack on (I changed out of the sweaty clothes before leaving), listening to my shuffle for the first time in ages. Ahh, now that was probably the best run of the year so far. Not a bad time, either, for all those layers: 42:10.

Shortest training run yet

Yesterday I ran to the end of my driveway, turned around, and came back in. I could tell all morning my knee was sore, and it acted up with the onset of running, so despite Doug's inspirational tempo run yesterday (including a 6:02 mile) and my ambition to crank out a couple fast miles myself (after all, we're supposed to be running 3:00 in Chicago together this fall), I played it smart and took a rest day. Plymouth just got hammered with 60 mph winds and sleet/snow that cancelled school today, so even I will not be running outside tonight...perhaps some hamster time though. In the meantime, check out these videos. The first is a recent post on Science of Sport (really cool blog) about a really fast half marathoner completing her first full marathon after going out WAY too fast: LINK

And the second is Parsenn and me (Ellie filming) running around in a foot of powder. The little guy tries to jump from footprint to footprint and loves every second of it:

The Furgdon Training Plan

What? You've never heard of Furgdon?
There's a good reason for that. It's the combination of Furman and Higdon and it's the template for my training this spring. Last year I stuck to the Furman FIRST training plan after reading about it in Runners World. The basic idea is quality over quantity--3 runs a week, but these three runs are done with the intention of kicking your rear end. On "off" days you cross train. I really liked it, but I found myself not doing much cross training (ahem...lazy) so this year I wanted to increase my mileage and relied on what I originally used for training..Hal Higdon.
Basically, I'm trying to put in miles every day, anchored by the Furman workouts. Non-Furman days are runs that get my HR up but don't burn me out too much.
Tonight was the first track workout of the program, but considering the local track is under 6" of snow I searched for and found the one strip of sidewalk in this town that is mostly cleared off and used that. 4 800 repeats, hoping for sub 3-minutes each, with a mile warmup and cooldown:
Warmup: 1 mile (8:00)
Repeats:
1: 3:00
2: 2:50
3: 2:58
4: 3:02 (Grrrrrrrrrrr)
Cooldown: 1 mile (7:56)

The knee felt pretty good...hopefully I'll be saying the same thing tomorrow...

Ellie: "Bring it, Grandma!"

Last night my parents, Ellie, and I went to see "Spirit of the Marathon" and it was fantastic. I think it meant a little more to me because it takes place in Chicago 3 years ago, following runners of different abilities as they prepare for the marathon. I loved it. I highly recommend it (encore is sometime in February), especially if you've ever run Chicago.
I wasn't the only one that enjoyed it, though. On the way home, Ellie asked if I thought she could run a marathon. I said, "Of course you can. It's all about the training and preparation--mental and physical."
The seed had been planted.
Today I checked on marathons coming up this spring/early summer, as that is about the only window for Ellie to run one (We're traveling to Ireland in July, and it may be 'baby time' after that...). I checked on Grandma's, which I had heard good things about.
Several emails and conversations later, Ellie is officially signed up. It will be a role reversal for us, as I'll be lead cheerleader on the route and won't be running.
It's gonna be fun! I have already let her family know that this is her idea...I'm just along for the ride.

(As for my running...my knee was NOT happy with me the rest of yesterday, so I am taking today to rest again and will likely turn my weekend long run into a weekend elliptical session. None of this really matters to me right now, though. Ellie's running a marathon! Woo Hoo!)

This just in: It's still cold out.

After playing in my city league basketball game last night, my knee was only slightly tender to touch and the pain I had been feeling in flexion wasn't present. Things were looking up, at least for running--we lost by 20 in the game.
This morning the scheduled workout was 6 miles, with the middle 2 miles at a Short Tempo pace, which I decided, with the help of the McMillan Running Calculator, is 6:30-6:45 for me. Considering the weather and my knee, I decided it would be a 4 mile run, with the middle two at a faster clip. This morning's temperature in Plymouth, WI is somewhere between the-hairs-inside-my-nose-have-frozen and I-better-get-inside-soon-or-my-you-know-what-is-in-serious-trouble. I took off for a one mile warm-up (ha ha) and clocked 7:00 on that downhill stretch. I could feel the knee at this point and was considering turning around, but by the time I was into the second mile, it was fine and didn't cause me any more trouble the rest of the way.
Just checked weather.com...it's -6 out. I don't put much stock in "Wind Chill," but for those that do, it's -26 with that.

My splits:
1: 7:00
2: 6:42
3: 6:36
4: 8:00

Off to a great start! Or not.

Well, as I mentioned, yesterday was day 1 in training for Journeys. That makes today, stay with me folks, day 2. And I had to skip my workout.
Last night, after an hour and a half of basketball, I took the long way home running and covered 3 miles (26:25/8:48 pace). Plymouth got 8 inches last night in the lightest powder I've ever seen in Wisconsin--It was like I was running in a snowglobe! Unfortunately, about 2 miles in, my right medial kneecap really started to hurt as my knee bent in my stride. This is the same spot that really bothered me skiing--where my left ski collided with my right knee as I tumbled down the hill. While that ski trip seems like it was a month ago, it has barely been a week since I banged my knee up, and it isn't better yet. I woke up today to a lot of stiffness, went and played basketball for an hour (after shoveling for 45 mins), and then came to work. It loosens up, but is very tight if I sit for too long. Working diagnosis: Patellar Contusion. Treatment: Self ART, Ultrasound, and...yep...rest. Ugh.
Today was supposed to be a track workout. 3-1 mile repeats will have to wait (until hopefully only tomorrow).
In other news, remember me mentioning that adventure race going on out on the Ice Age Trail this past weekend? Well, the "winner" covered 49 miles out of 54. He got disoriented out there and turned around too early. He still won, however, because everyone else quit at the half way point (32 miles). It took him 14 hours to cover those 40 miles. I know what you're saying--that's a long time to be in -15 degree weather. And I agree. And he does too. You see, he had to have 2 friggen toes cut off because of frostbite!
The best part? He's a chiropractic student.
Man, those guys are messed in the head :) .

ouch.

Congrats to the lam and Marcy. I'm going on a run.

But this time the run has a purpose, as today is the beginning of my 16-week build up to the Journeys Marathon! It starts pretty simple...3 miles. I'm giddy now that there's a schedule for me to follow and very soon some hard speed workouts to make my lungs scream. Woo Hoo!

A Favre-lous Route

After work yesterday I ran a wonderful little 2 miler to end up at the Mile 25 Aid Station from my 27 on the 27: Ellie's Parents' House. And, in honor of the inevitable drubbing Lam's Giants are going to take this weekend, I got creative with MapMyRun:

2 miles, 15:55.

In other news, check out this event being held on my favorite trail, The Ice Age Trail, Northern Kettle Moraine Unit, this weekend. These guys are nuts...especially when you consider the high temp this weekend is scheduled to be 7. Here's another blog entry describing the event.

New season, new shoes!

Yesterday, courtesy of Zappos.com, my new training shoes arrived. I was so enamored with my racing shoes, the Brooks Racer ST3, that I went with another highly recommended pair of Brooks--the Radius.
I have really grown to love Zappos for the simple fact their customer service is second to none, and I can recieve and send back shoes free of charge. I'm very picky when it comes to shoe fit, so that feature comes in real handy.
My Racers are the most comfortable and lightest shoes I've ever run in. I have to always remind myself to wear them only sparingly--they almost guarantee a great run. Hopefully the Radius (or is the plural form Radii...Doug...a little help?) live up to these lofty expectations. Through 3 miles yesterday they have not disappointed. I took Parsenn on his normal 1.33 mile jaunt and then ran in them to and from work (2 miles round trip) and have no complaints. I'm very excited to break them in to 20-mile territory.
As for the Asics Foundations, they've been sent out to stud. In the shoe world, that means lawn-mowing duty.
Several factors led to the Foundies' (as their owners lovingly refer to them) demise.

1: They're named "Foundation" for a reason--they're motion-control shoes. Wide, solid, and bulky looking, I was never sure about them. I remember telling Ellie when I first wore them that it would be "interesting." My stride, while showing some tendencies to over-pronate, do not need motion control.
2: They didn't perform all that bad until my mileage added up a bit and I ran into some Plantar Fascia, which I blame mostly on the Foundies and partly on my lacing technique (wayyy too loose.)
3: They really started to smell. And I mean baaaddd. I would open up my closet door and it would hit me. Finally I realized that my work clothes (shirts/pants/ties) were directly above the source of a smell I really hope my patients didn't pick up on.
4: I had exactly "351" miles on those shoes. So what, you say? It just so happens 351 has a history with me. Back in high school, the "pro-medicinal-marijuana" crowd always talked about 4:20. The group I tended to socialize with--no, Ellie, not the nerds, the athletes--would make fun of the 4:20 crowd and talk about the time Michael Jordan (my childhood idol) launched himself into orbit from the free thrown line in the dunk contest (a poster that hung on my wall throughout childhood)...

Any time 351 shows up, I think of that poster.

The Foundies are currently defumigating on our back porch overnight. After they have received approval from Ellie, they'll be allowed to enter the mud room, where they will take up residence (in a Lawn-Mowing Duty capacity) next to my Sorel Boots (Snow-Blowing Duty) and old slippers (It's-3-AM-and-Parsenn-needs-to-poop Duty).

Remember the Oregon Trail, where you could write your own epitaph after dying of Cholera? I loved that game!

What a week!

We had fresh snow every day out there, and about 30" total in the 6 days. It was amazing. If you like to ski bumps you need to be at the Mary Jane portion of Winter Park. Absolutely amazing. My right knee and hip are a bit sore, but the injury is nothing serious. I was making my way down Sky Pilot in the Parsenn Bowl when my left ski, which should have been attached to my left ski boot, banged into my right knee cap as I tumbled through a foot of powder. It's bruised and hurts quite a bit in knee flexion, but it's already doing better. Other than that, I actually skiied under control for the most part and had a blast. The first day we were out there Ellie and I backcountry skiied, making three runs down Berthoud Pass after hiking the 45 minutes to the top. Talk about a workout! And, no, chivalry is NOT dead--I carried Ellie's skis to the top each time.
I'm going to add pictures at some point, so stay tuned!
As for running, I ran 5 miles on the Ice Age Trail yesterday and it was splendid. Other than that, there's no news. Next week the real training starts for Journeys. I was thinking about running two half marathons in preparation--one in March and the other in April. Instead I'm going to take a weekend trip up to Eagle River, where Journeys is, and run some of the course so I have an idea what the first half hills are really like. It'll help me to know what kind of work I need to put in for a "3:10 to Yuma Eagle River."

Here's to skiing smart...and staying upright

3 miles down, 1797 to go

I've got some real dead legs right now. 27 miles on Saturday, less-than-optimum nutrition Sunday through Tuesday, 3 hours of basketball on Wednesday, and another hour today have me drained. Thankfully, I'm heading to Winter Park tomorrow night for a week of skiing, and I can't wait. Thus, the 3 miles covered so far this year have been on short runs with Parsenn.

Looking back at the 27/27, I've got the same feeling in my head that I had shortly after our Fall 50 in October...why in the world am I thinking about running 50 miles solo, let alone 100? These thoughts are music to Ellie's ears, as she's really really not fond of the 100 mile idea. It just reinforces the idea that I've got a LOT to accomplish at the 26.2 mile distance first. I mean, if 26.2 is (click), what is 100?

I also really encourage all my fellow runners to acknowledge the auto drivers that show you the smallest bit of courtesy by either slowing down a bit or moving over when they're passing you. I did 22 of the 27 miles on country roads, and every time a car approaching me made any movement to the opposite lane (obviously, when there wasn't oncoming traffic) I was sure to give them a "thank you" wave. And then there are the people who apparently are in too much of a hurry, or are disgusted with seeing someone exercising, or just so far removed from their surroundings that they simply fly by, sometimes causing said runner to retreat to the ditch. This happened on several occasions, I and kept thinking, "what acronym would Marcy use in this situation?" I'm sure she'll let me know in her comment...

As for Colorado, I'm going to get one day of trail running in, probably on Wednesday, so that will be the last run before my training starts for Journeys. I'm hoping to PR twice during my training--at the 15K in February and at the Half Marathon in March. I'll be gone for a while, so log some miles for me in between!