25 July 2009

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

6 comments:

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Just remember: Whatever happened to your Garmin, it CAN'T BE THE GARMIN'S FAULT!1! It HAS to be you.

O, sweet weepin' baby Jebus! In one week, you ran over half as many miles as I'll do for the FREAKIN' MONTH!

Oddly, though, for reasons that can't quite be put into words, I am better than you in every single quantifiable way.

Yeah, I know! ... It's a mystery ...

Carolina John said...

sounds like a heavy week. i can't believe you hit 24 on saturday? geez nic that's nuts.

Matthew Patten said...

Thanks for the Voyageur shout out.

I am going to have to go back up there with my video camera and film the power lines about a mile in from that picture. I think it is the steepest hill I have ever come across in a race. I am afraid of heights, and it stopped me dead in my tracks.

I missed beating Helen by almost 2 hours.

I would love to do Glacial 50M this year, but my wife is saying the same as yours.

At least I finally got a job

joyRuN said...

Your days where you did "nada" comfort me - tells me that you're human.

But then you still manage to pull off 55 miles for the week.

GEEZ!!

Marcy said...

Ummm yeahs can we talk about that? Deerflies. Before moving up to the m*f&*(()&*) boons those b's were no where to be found. And now I can't even go in my dayum backyard without getting attacked. I'm swear I'm going to just have to wear a beekeepers outfit while running.

Also, I'm sorry for not being around lately. I'm sure G has treated you horribly. Never fear, I resume normally commentary starting today.

Helen said...

New house - cool - hope the move goes well! Glacial is MONTHS away - plenty of time to be an extra nice hubby and bargain appropriately (please Steve no commentary). Voyageur was fun but I woulda preferred your idea of a power line!