Saturday, February 12, 2011

Day 74 - Hill repeats

Today I woke up (a good thing) and it was a slow moving day. After some coffee and breakfast I finally made it out the door a little after 9 a.m. The other years I was training for this race I was running by 6 or 7 on the weekends. It is nice to sleep in most weekends this year. I decided to do hill repeats today. The Pulpit Rock road hill is a mile from the bridge to the last telephone pole at the top. To make it fun I decided to take a picture every time I would make it to the top - see pictures below. I am glad I took off from running yesterday because I needed the extra energy to finish these hills. I don't run them for speed only the endurance. You can really break yourself down quick and learn to deal with the discomfort of running when you do a lot of them. I wore my shoes with the screws in them and I am glad I did. The road is still cover with ice and ice foot prints all the way to the top. It was really good training because I had to watch every step like you do running on a rocky trail. I went there to do 10 and I finished them all - not walking one of them. My last hill was tough but kept moving forward. After I snapped the last pic I ran over to the lookout and laid on the ground in the snow for a couple minutes and felt like I could of fell right a sleep. I only used two bottles of my drink mix and no food so I was low on energy by the end. Stopping for a couple of minutes I could feel the legs getting real tight. After hobbling down the mountain I went home and had my favorite recovery drink - Coca-Cola.

2-12-2011 - 21 miles - 4:53 - run - 6,514 feet up - 6,514 feet down elevation













Day 73 - Need trails soon


Today at 6:30 a.m. the temp was around 10°F. With these temps the mountain is going to be a sheet of ice for a while. This weekend I hope it warms up a little to do some trail running. This week was the most I ran on the road in a long time and I need some trails soon. I went for a longer walk today and it felt good. I kept a 12:20 pace for the whole walk. No running for me tonight. Dinner, Valentine's dance and a sleep over for the little ones.

2-11-2011 - 4.1 miles - 50:37 - walk



Friday, February 11, 2011

Day 72 - Cold

It was very sunny, windy and cold on my walk today. I wore my NB101’s today on my walk and my feet were freezing. Of all days I pick today to wear them. I finally paid my entry fee for Bull Run 50 today. That wasn’t the plan to run that event but now that I signed up and paid I am ready for that fun weekend trip. I think I am more excited to see some of the first time runners from our club finish then I am to run the event.

Tonight I left for my run around 8:20 p.m. One thing when you leave for a road run at that time the roads are less traveled. There is still a lot of ice along the roads which makes it a little harder to run at night. The temp was around 18°F and there was some wind. As long as you keep moving you don’t get cold. I did try to change a song on the mp3 player and my fingers were exposed to long to the cold. Then I had to try and warm my fingers up. That is always fun trying to get feeling back in your fingers half way into your run. In the last 5 days I ran 10 miles or more each day and I am starting to feel it. Most of these miles were road miles. I think I found my breaking point on roads. I need to get on the trails this weekend.

2-10-2011 - 3 miles - 39:05 - walk
2-10-2011 - 10 miles - 1:23 - run

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Day 71 - Loops

My legs are feeling really good today on my walk. The ice on the one pond is starting to melt a little more each day. The roads are getting wider now that the snow/ice is melting. I still feel there will be another big storm on the way before the end of winter.

Tonight I did some loops around the neighborhood. They are almost a mile long (.93) all on the road. It felt good not to run down the crazy road I usually run on. I did the first 6 miles with them averaging in the high 6’s which felt good. Then I finished off the last 4 miles with an averaging at an 8:30 pace. The route has a gradual up and a gradual down with and elevation change of maybe 50 feet. I think I might try to do 34 laps someday which would be 31.62 miles or just over a 50k. Right now Sunday’s temps might reach the 40’s. Maybe Sunday would be a good day to try and run it or maybe I will save if for when it gets a little warmer.

2-9-2011 - 3 miles - 38:28 - walk
2-9-2011 - 10 miles - 1:16 - run

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Day 70 - 10 weeks down


Today finishes 10 weeks of training. Wow that went really fast! This blog thing is a great way for me to keep track of what I have been doing and share with others. It also keeps me honest with my training. I feel I built up a good base up until now. I have to work on more hill training, some more speed work and staying healthy for the next 12 weeks. It sounds easy but it’s going to be a challenge. Last week I felt I didn't have a lot of energy. The nights are staying lighter longer and it is great to run in daylight for a little part of my runs. By this time of the year it gets harder to run in the dark. Right now the only issues I am have is a little pain on the inside of my left ankle. I think it is from pushing my walks to hard.

For some reason my legs were very sore when I woke up today. My walk at work felt good and loosened my legs up from last night. I left the house tonight around 5:30 and it was still light out. I changed my route and ran on some different back country roads that were pretty hilly. The wind wasn’t too much of an issue like some areas. Now we need some more warmer days to melt some of the ice on the sides of the roads.

2-8-2011 - 3 miles - 38:53 - walk
2-8-2011 - 10.30 miles - 1:25 - run


Below is my training for the last 10 weeks.




Week 1
Walk = 4.5
Run = 72.25
Total Miles = 76.75

Week 2
Walk = 10.6
Run = 68.7
Total Miles = 79.3

Week 3
Walk = 14
Run = 69.5
Total Miles = 83.5

Week 4 (Disney 3 days off of running)
Walk = 5.8
Run = 21.35
Total Miles = 27.15

Week 5 (Disney 3 days off of running)
Walk = 5.6
Run = 38.75
Total Miles = 44.35

Week 6
Walk = 14
Run = 68
Total Miles = 82

Week 7
Walk = 11
Run = 56.75
Total Miles = 67.75

Week 8
Walk = 15.4
Run = 62
Total Miles = 77.4

Week 9
Walk = 15.8
Run = 61
Total Miles = 76.8

Week 10
Walk = 15.6
Run = 51
Total Miles = 66.6

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Day 69 - Are you alright buddy?


On my walk today the temperature was around 38°. After the first quarter mile it really warmed up. I was walking with no gloves, no winter hat or no jacket for the first time in a long time and it felt great. A truck slowed down and some kid yelled “Are you alright buddy?” I just nodded and he drove off. I thought it was nice of him to ask. When people around here see people walking I guess they think your car broke down and exercise is unheard of to them.

I left the house around 6 for a road run. 10 miles was the distance I was trying to hit tonight. It was still very warm out with very little wind. Half way through it started to rain. I looked at my watch on my way back home and I thought it read 9.85 miles and I finished in my drive way to finish with 10 miles - so I thought. It didn’t feel like 10 it felt short. When I got inside I sat down and looked at my watch again and the calories I burned was 1000 not 10 miles. I only ran 9.15 miles. So I hopped on the treadmill and finished my run. Not what I was planning on doing but I really wanted to hit 10 miles.

2-7-2011 - 3 miles - 37:42 - walk
2-7-2011 - 10 miles - 1:25 - run

Monday, February 7, 2011

Day 68 - Slippery to nice

The sun was beaming when I woke up today and the temps were to go above freezing. I arrived at the mountain around 9 a.m. to run with a group of other runners. After the ice yesterday and other plans that other runners had for the day it was only Dan and I. We tried to get up the mountain but it was too icy. I changed shoes and we went out for a nice 8 mile road run. After the run we went back to a friend’s house for lunch.

Around 3 I went back up to the mountain to see what the conditions were like after the temps went over 40. The ice started to soften up a little and it was very nice running. No solid ice as long as I stayed on the trail. There was some ice hanging onto the trees. On my way back down the road hill the sun was reflecting off of the fields making the reflection look like a big lake. It looks like some more cold and a little snow is on the way again.



The Appalachian Trail

The chunks of ice at the top on the AT


Pulpit Rock road hill

Pulpit Rock road hill


2-6-2011 -  8 miles - 1:10 - run
2-6-2011 -  4 miles - 1.00 - run