Pre-race nightmare...

They have started already!!!! I typically start having some 'strange' dreams about 3 weeks out from a major event. Well, last night I had my first Burning river 100 nightmare. ( early I hope!!!)

I was running in the race and had caught up with a small group of people on the trail, which is good, because I was lost! Then suddenly it was dark and my headlamp was not working! And we were inside some building where there were lots of yoga classes going on. Each of the classes had some chant or eerie sounds coming from them. I was running as fast as I could w/o tripping over people, clicking the switch on my headlamp, praying for light!

Thankfully my alarm sounded and that nightmare ended... I may need to find another hobby... :)

More motivation...

Wow! We watched the recap of the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team this afternoon!!! Two things: 1) Lake Placid. What a beautiful area and it was fun to say "We have been there" as the coverage showed the area. 2) What a game and time in history!

I had a great week of running with 43.6 miles; highest weekly volume for the year so far! There will be much much more to come... :) The 16 miles yesterday went very well and the snow was nice and firm until the last 30 minutes. Today, I ran 8 miles with Denise on the asphalt since I knew the snow would be very mushy in the 40+ degrees. The sun shine both days was wonderful and I have the 'glow' in my face to show for it! (Honest, I did use sun screen! I would hate to see what I would look like if I had not!)

My build up of running volume is going well. This coming weekend's long run is 18 miles and next week's will be 20. I know, low miles compared to some of you, but I want to take the ramp up slow and keep healthy. My goals are to have a solid race for the "Forget the PR 50K" in April, and then complete a 50 mile training run Memorial day weekend. I am thinking of the Run with Scissors course since it is pretty hilly and has some good spots for aid drops. Another 50K or two late June, early July and taper can begin. I like to taper... :)

More winter weather coming this way tonight. There is still a lot of winter left, but the past two days of sunshine helped to remind me that Spring is coming...

Inspiration

The Olympics have always been a good source of drama and inspiring stories. I watched Apolo Ohno and JR Celski win the silver and bronze medals in the short track speed skating saturday evening. The little feature about Apolo showed some of his training where he was running up a steep hill as hard as he could go. This was not too bad until you noticed that the hill consisted of loose dirt and he was barely moving up it. I took notice of this since it reminded me of my attempts at running up the snow-covered hills lately. Sunday's run I found new motivation and shaved almost 10 minutes off of my time for the same 10 mile loop from saturday!

Today was the 15Km cross-country race and those men are complete animals! Incredible aerobic strength and they leave it all on the course. Almost everyone collapses as they cross the finish line, chests heaving for oxygen. Gutsy efforts by everyone of them.

The mens' mogul skiing makes my knees hurt just to watch!

Great week of running capped off with a back-to-back 10-miles in the sloppy snow saturday and sunday. Not huge miles but I feel good given the conditions and am working on getting my base established. That is good because August is coming fast...

Snow, snow, and snow...

This past weekend was a bit disappointing from a milage standpoint but a great success from an aerobic standpoint. The snow storm that the weather folks were predicting actually arrived and we caught the edge of it for approx 8-10 inches. It was a heavy snow, unlike the fluffy lake-effect snow we had a few weeks ago. I headed out Saturday morning to see if anyone had ventured onto the trails ahead of me.

There were two sets of foot-prints, human and canine, that had broken a path through the snow. Unfortunately, the only benefit was that my shoes did not fill with snow as quickly. The footing was pretty poor and it felt as if I was running in sand. I decided to stay out at least an hour, and get a good anaerobic workout. I sure was not going to cover many miles in this slippery stuff.

The loop took me right at 1:17 to complete and I returned home to shovel the driveway. One hour later, I had finished and the sun had already started to melt the remaining snow from the drive and streets. The rest of the ground had a milk-white covering of snow! It was a very pretty sight! 30 minutes of yoga completed the morning.

Sunday, the girls all had places to go and I took advantage of it for 1:45 more in the snow. The snow had settled a bit and a few more people had been out on the trails. The footing was still poor, but not quite as bad. I ventured onto the Old Hickory trail and followed a set of foot-prints. It was slow going and eventually caught up with the walkers. I jokingly suggested that they lengthen their stride a bit to make my run easier and they responded with "Now, we'll follow YOU!". I have always enjoyed seeing a single set of tracks through fresh snow. It was hard work creating the tracks, but well worth it. The sky was bright blue and the sun was shining, making it look much warmer than the thermometer reported.

More snow is coming. I will run tomorrow morning before work and then maybe I'll be forced to the dreadmill for a day or so...

Think spring!!!