Monday, March 26, 2012

Week ended 3/25 Recovery Week

The statement "recover week" might seem odd  - 159 miles on 12 runs - Total time 22:47.

I guess it was really more of a recovery weekend.  I skipped Friday nights 30+ mile run, I only did a 4 mile run Saturday.  Sunday was a nice 26 mile technical trail run with my friend Andy.  I road down to the Ice Age trail with Andy and his wife Shannon.  Shannon ran a few hours on the trail at her own pace while Andy and I ran Mauthe Lake to Parnell Tower and back.  It's nice to share my favorite trail run with friends.

There are really 2 types of recovery:  Recovery of the body and recovery of the mind and spirit.  I feel I have accomplished both of these over the weekend.  I was able to spend many hours playing inside and out with my family.  Running beautiful technical trail with friends may leave you a bit physically tired - But it always brings a certain serenity to the mind and spirit.

I have run nothing but flatish roads, trails or treadmill since early November.  My favorite trail run has left my quads and knees a bit banged up - But it is a pleasant soreness.

The original goal was to be > 200 miles this week and by that measuring stick it was a big fail.  The overall goal of getting into good 24 hour race shape is still on  track.  In fact this was a needed reprieve from the constant grind of all out training.

This coming week is a little in flux.  I would like to get in 110 miles in the 5 days before Mad City 50k.  That would mean going long (Hard Day) tonight and Wednesday.  I really do not like back to back hard days (Sun-Mon), but that would allow 2 easy days before Mad City. 

Mad City 50k will be run at a good effort - But it will fall into more of a training run than race.  If I feel good at the end I will try and get in 2 more 10k laps. 

Good running to all -

Monday, March 19, 2012

Week ended 3/18

Another good foundation week - 182 miles on 16 runs - Total time 24:42 = 7.38 MPH. 

I tapered 2 days, TH 10 mi /7mi  & FR 6/5, for the Fox Cities Marathon - Backward.  This is a fat-ass type event that my local running club (Appleton Pacesetters) puts on.  It was nice to run with a few people; Mike, Anthony and Alisha for parts of the race.  We started @ 8:00ish pace and rolled along - I wore my camelback and had 8 gels in my pockets.  We broke apart mostly because of bathroom breaks ~ But Anthony and I ran to 17 together.  At that point I am not sure what happened - did he had dropped something? but all of a sudden he was 20 seconds behind.  I did not slow down and he did not catch up - At mile 22, I looked back and he was still 20 seconds behind, so I decided to push the last 4 miles and finished in 3:13:25. 

Sunday I felt pretty good, so I did 32 easy trail miles in the afternoon and then foolishly did 8 more night time TM miles watching basketball.  So I start this week a little crisp with a bit of over training going for me.

I am making good progress toward my 2 spring goals.  Break 3 hours @ Carmel Marathon April 21st and be ready to run a decent 24 hour race @ FANS24 June 2-3.

As I sit here Monday morning, I still want to hit a big mileage week this week.  I am just not sure how it will go.  But I do look forward to a nice Technical 4+ hour trail run with a friend or a few friends this coming Sunday.

Weight this morning was a beat down, slight dehydrated and glycogen depleted 211#

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Foundation Week Ended 3/11/2012

Last week was hard.  It was a lot of grinding out slow, fat burning miles.  Building the aerobic engine, but more importantly burning calories.

My biggest concern for the FANS24 hour race in June is weight.  By my estimation, each pound is worth 1-2 miles.  Weight at the end of the week was 220# - Goal weight is to be below 200#.

I ran 203 miles in 16 runs.  Saturday also included 10 hours of downhill skiing and Sunday a nice bike ride with my 6 year old daughter.  I spent 28 hours and 38 minutes running = 7.08 Miles per Hour.  Being slow sucks ... up a lot of time.  The last time I tried to run this much I was running > 8 MPH avg. 

I am looking forward to 2 easy days in a row this Thursday and Friday leading up to the Fox Cities Marathon - Backward.  It is a training run that I plan to run with my friend Mike ~ Hopefully @ 7:30 pace.  If I feel strong at the end I want to throw in an extra 15 miles.

I ran 320 miles in the 1st 11 days of March -

Sorry - Not time to write more ... I have to run - I am hoping for 35 tonight.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

AWOL

I have been through the range of running emotions since I last posted. 

November 11th I was at my DD#1 11th birthday party and had a "Why" moment.  Why am I running?  Why have I given up all the other things I love to do? 

I could not answer the question - So I stopped running.  To be fair, I started to run only 50-60 miles per week with no training focus.  I drank (Booze) and ate what I wanted to.  I played racketball, I downhill skied, I played volleyball and put on weight.  By the time January 1st came around I weighed 242#. (+33 pounds)

Next up was the thought of running 10 hours or less a week and do all those other things I enjoy doing.  I followed this for the month of January.

February 4th I ran the John Dick Crusty 50k - A beautiful, icey, sunny day to run on the trail.  I was slow - But I smiled almost the whole time.  I decided I miss being in shape, I miss running effortlessly for hours on end and finally ... I miss being competetive.  Oh, I could have never beat Zach - But I mean in a general sense of competetive.

February 6th - I decided to start training ... But for what?  I need to lose a bunch of weight = lots of miles.  I can run more miles if I run slower ... So I decided to train for FANS24 hour race.  With the caveat that I will not sign up for it or run it unless I am < 205#. 

February 13th - I gave up alchohol (No not forever - But I am in training!).

February I ran 536 slow miles - Weight 2/29 = 224#

Last 3 weeks - All slow miles - A lot of walk breaks

Feb 13th - Feb 19th = 131 miles
Feb 20th - 26th = 171 miles
Feb 27th - Mar 4th = 168 miles

I will not post as much as I did before I lost my way - But I will track my weekly progress toward FANS24 - June 2-3rd.

If anyone is still out there - Thanks for reading.