Week 13/8

In honor of all my friends who ran Voyageur this weekend, or will be running Leadville, I stopped and took a picture of my own trail "Powerlines" from Saturday's run. I think my powerlines are a bit less daunting.

After spending abotut 5 total hours on the Glacial Trail 50K course this weekend, the idea of running that race is really starting to become a nuisance to my overall schedule...especially considering that over dinner Saturday night Ellie looked at me and said, "Please don't sign up for any more races this fall. Okay?"

And I can understand where she's coming from. Business is growing every week. We bought a house, and will be moving in this weekend (!). Still, if I had to pick just one event to run each fall, it may be Glacial Trail. They're my favorite trails to run on and it's 10 minutes from my house! We'll see...

Before I get on to the week that was, I want to again congratulate the runners from the past weekend at Voyageur. After being outside on my own run on Saturday morning, sweating like crazy (and fighting off SWARMS of deerflies), I was happy to be done after about 24 miles. They weren't even half way done at that point. Crazy.

Monday: Nada.

Tuesday: I got in a quick loop after work, with a very quick mile included before Ellie and I had to take off for dinner plans. I decided to label this run Heisenberg because his post is the OBVIOUS REASON my good ol' trusty Garmin went on the fritz big time, right in the middle of my speed work. Fannnnnnntastic.

Wednesday: Quick speed work from the office to yoga, then home from yoga. I'm loving yoga more every week.

Thursday: I ran the 7 Hills Road out and back in my first long (more than 10 miles) road run since Grandma's. It was a doozy. I managed, however, to get back out a bit later in the day and put in 4 more miles. It was hot and humid and I was feeling it big time. Mark this up to ANOTHER reason the trails are the way to go. You'll have a lot less residual soreness after big runs.

Friday: Nada.

Saturday: 24 miles, all on IAT. Exactly 3 hours and 22 minutes into the run I was DONE (I know the time because I looked at the watch for this exact reason). My legs were dead and I was starting to get that loopy feeling, where my eyes seemed a bit blurry. Luckily I had stashed one extra Gu in my handheld pocket. That was the greatest Gu I've ever tasted. I've been craving a Chocolate Outrage Gu ever since. Kinda gross to crave that, now that I think about it. Outside of absolutely HORRIBLE deerflies biting away, the run was great.

Sunday: This afternoon, after being on my feet from 11-4 for a family picnic and eating terrible food the entire time, I made it back out to the trails for another hour. It was raining and thundering the entire run, which added to the fun. I ran the first segment of the Glacial Trail course, out and back, and realized the first 5miles of Glacial is pretty much all uphill. Still, I ran the uphill part at about the same pace as the downhill part, and my legs really didn't feel all that bad!

This was a great week for me, running wise. I didn't get in the speed work I probably need to in order to run sub-3 at Fox Cities, but I enjoyed every run, and LOVED the weekend runs out on the trails. Next weekend will be difficult to run...with the exception of boxes from one house to the other, but hopefully (i. e. Ellie permits it) I can sneak away at some point. I feel like I've got some great momentum going at the moment and want to keep it rolling!

Overall: ~ 55 miles

7 Hills Road

Today I finally did it. Ever since last April I had been wanting to run the entire 7 Hills Road, and I finally got that checked off the list this morning. This road is unbelievable! It's an old township road that runs a total of 8 miles. I tried to run the entire thing, out and back, last April but gave up after only 12 miles. Today, though...success! I was mostly interested in Garmin Connect's Elevation/Heart Rate Profile...pretty cool turnout, and actually somewhat symmetrical (it was an out/back course, with the HR increaseing along with elevation--something Connect Stuggles MIGHTILY with on the trails. Another reason to NOT buy a Garmin).

I reached the halfway point (the northern-most end) in a little over an hour and gladly helped myself to the water bottle I had stashed on that end. At that point I was hoping to run a negative split back to the car. The first half of the trip was done mainly in fog.



This part of Wisconsin has been littered with enormous windmills...I didn't even realize one was about 100 yards away and was wondering what that "whoosh" was. I tried to photo it...without much luck.



After turning around I wanted to finish in under 2 hours. While I didn't bonk as hard as last time I ran this road, I didn't make it in under 2 hours, either, thanks to a 10 minute mile 15 and a 9 minute mile 16 to finish. It got warm towards the end too, burning off the fog and exposing the edited opinion of wind energy incredibly big windmills.





At one point I decided to sprint (relative term, at that point in the run) up one of the hills to see how hight the HR would get. Garmin Sez 185. I think I've got more than that in me, so I'll be back out to this road again soon, hoping to break 2 hours. Before that, I need to review some hill running tips.

Week 14/9

Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: Nothing.
Wednesday: 1 mile, 1 hour of yoga.
Thursday: Nothing.
Friday: Nothing.
Saturday: 3:30 of on-feet time, 3:15 of moving time. I'm still working through the S!Caps/Gel/ShotBlok/Water intake and really need to work on keeping my pace a bit slower in the beginning of the run. (Duh)

This week should allow more mileage, and I really need to get speed work going for the Fox Cities Marathon in September. Also, I've been told "I'm an idiot" by someone who's opinion I really trust (and Glaven called me an idiot once, too) because I'm thinking about running Glacial Trail 50K two weeks before the North Face 50K. That may be true...and luckily I'm not registered for Glacial yet...but we'll see.

Back With A Vengeance. Ish.

I ran exactly one mile this week. And it was a full-on sprint to make it from the office to the Library for my Yoga Class. The teacher is a real bee-otch (there she is on the left...don't worry, she never reads this crap anymore anyway...too busy at other sites) when it comes to interrupting her asanas, so I did NOT want to be late. That resulted in a 6:07 mile. Not bad!

As mentioned, work was great this week, but there was a lot of it. I pretty much crushed every personal record I had as a chiro in terms of 'business,' so that's a plus. Despite the office being a big obligation, I managed to make it down to Tennessee to make sure all Southern gun control stereotypes were in good form. (Full Disclosure: I received a one year membership to the NRA last Christmas. For reals.) On the way back I sang a lot of great love ballads in my car, alone, while thinking about Jessica Simpson. (Sorry if you don't get any of that. Try to keep up.)

But tomorrow, I return to running, with a Vengeance! Providing good weather, no patient phone call interventions, and my scheduled 8AM to Noon Meeting goes as planned and is actually over at Noon, and an understanding wife, I'm going to have a great day on the trails! (I'm posting this because then I'll feel obligated to actually run, and not just use the ticket in my possession to the Vintage races at Road America, which are actually REALLY cool).

I'm hoping to spend 4 hours on the trails. I'm gonna run 8.9 on the IAT, then 10.9 on these trails, then another 7(ish) on the Greenbush Single Track. Gels will be consumed and water will be inbibed. I will use some hill running technique outlined here that I've never considered. I may even bring a beer along to celebrate the finish. I'm really pumped to get out there and see what 4 trail hours feels like again.

Ish.

Final Result: About 3:15 of trail running, and 3:31 total on the trails. Very tired legs :) Love it.

Week not going as planned...

...business going better than expected!

I haven't even put on a running shoe this week yet. I've been swamped at work and the running is taking a hit. I guess that's a good thing in a way, but I need to get some miles in for the sake of sanity!

Wednesday through Saturday are looking terrible (free time wise) too, so perhaps this will be my first zero week of the year?

Can one still run sub 3 and a fast 50K after taking a week (well, at least a week) off?

Week 15/10 (North Face/Fox Cities)

Monday: 4 easy miles to and from work, with the last two being right around 6:52 pace.

Tuesday: Fail. I was supposed to be out of work by 5 pm. Instead, I didn't leave until 6 and then had to attend a meeting with our 3-legged cat and a vet. All went well, but I missed out on my speed work.

Wednesday: After missing out on Tuesday, I decided to cram as much activity into as little time as possible. This resulted in leaving work at 6:20 PM (I need to talk to the boss about these long hours), running a mini tempo run (including a 6:06 mile!) until Yoga at 6:45, then begging for "savanasa" for an hour, then running back to the office (with a surprisingly easy 6:40 mile in there!), then biking home. Not bad! I tapped a beer soon after my arrival home and started getting ready for Thursday.

Thursday: I was hoping for another 3 hour trail effort but managed 2 and was approaching that lovely landmark known as WALL so I stopped. I didn't want to be stuck out halfway through another loop when the wheels really came off. Teh first loop was my standard loop, which Garmin said was 5.62 miles this time. Normally Garmin reads someplace around 6-6.5, and I think it's more like 7. I wish it was 7.5. I may just rent a distance wheel to find out for sure at some point. After a gel/SCap/Water refill I took off 7 miles on the IAT in around an hour--I was hoping it would be under an hour--but I finished up in 1:03 for a 8:46 pace. I'd like to get that pace DOWN as the summer rolls along. Had I run the IAT portion first, I think it could have been closer to 8 or 8:15.

Friday: Busy day, but found some time for a long walk with Parsenn.

Saturday: 3 hours total, one hour running the IAT, then an hour hiking with Ellie and Parsenn, then 57 minutes back to the car. Loved it.

Then, off to Milwaukee for a great tailgate party and the Brewers game, and then some time at a friend's cottage.

Part of the baseball game was spent trying to keep Ellie interested.

The rest was spent doing...other stuff.

Stay Away From Young Girls

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/50468897.html

I'm hoping to spend 3 hours on the trails tomorrow...we'll see!

Wisco Pride

I can't say I've ever heard a story of a Golden Gopher getting drunk and stopping traffic.

Then again, Minnesota just elected (and that term is used very loosely) Al Franken to the UNITED STATES SENATE, for SBJ sake. Yikes.

Here's the story, which I noticed when reading this.

Post-post Edit: Had to add a link to this picture.

Week 16 North Face Training (Week 11 Fox Cities)

In an attempt to keep track of my training a bit more precisely, I'll be posting weekly wrap-ups of my training for my two main events this fall. (yes, I know...training for a fast marathon and a fast 50K may not be the best way to go about things. But I love doing stuff like this, so I don't care.)

Thought of the week: Ellie asked me a great question the other day. If I could run any race as the last race I'd ever run...and I'd voluntarily stop running after that, what race would it be. I knew the answer immediately, and after reading this report, I'm 100% certain about that answer.

Mon: Nada.

Tues: Greenbush Single Track Loop. I kept it easy, for the most part, and felt pretty darn good and ended up running my 2nd fastest time for that particular loop. My soleus muscles are still pretty sore, but other than that I'm feeling good! I added a 30 minute out/back on the IAT to get the time up to an hour and a half. I kept the pace on those miles at around 8 minutes. Felt good!

Wed: 1 hour of Yoga with Ellie (best. teacher. in the Tri County Area.). I wanted to run a bit but called it off after still feeling sore in the calves and left shoulder (job related). Yoga really helped out those areas and got me ready for a big day on Thursday.

Thurs: Today was the first long effort since Grandma's and I'm happy with it. The temp/humidity got up to 70/80% today and I felt it. I ran the my favorite single track loop 3 times, with breaks between each for water, gel, and S!Caps. Beautiful scenery, but it was kind of dark out there because of the overcast skies and dense tree canopy.

This is from the trailhead and shows how dark it gets in the woods.

The second loop was the fastest, but I made sure to keep this run easy and not push too hard.

Fri: Nada. Had a blast at a 4th of July party.

Sat: 6 road miles sweating out the 'refreshments' from Friday night.

Sun: I wanted to do another long road run but family stuff got in the way, so instead Ellie and I enjoyed a 15 miler on our bikes. I actually got a little sunburned too...first time this year!