Thanks 'deer'....

I am really pleased with how my training has progressed this winter; until this past weekend... My mileage was building and I was planning an 18 mile run for Saturday. Then yet another winter storm dumped more snow on us and I was not liking the thought of slogging through the wet snow for 3 hours...

I shoveled the driveway, assembled a desk/vanity for Abby's room, and then finally decided to suck it up and get outside for a run. I thought that I would try the trails and then could always bail out onto the bike path if it was as crappy as I thought it would be. My goal was at least 6 miles. Mentally, I was already beat... not a good place to be.

Surprise, the trail was not too bad! A couple of walkers and dogs had been through and the packed snow trail was visible as a rut in the new snow. As long as I stayed on the 'packed path', it was ok. If I wandered an inch or two to the side, it was deep slop. Focus was the word.

Ventured up to Old Hickory trail where I had the pleasure of blazing through the fresh snow. I was out of my 'funk' and was enjoying the run. The hardest part of any run is the first 15 minutes...I seem to keep having to learn this over and over again... Completed the out and back and kept going through the park. I ended up completing 9.5 miles, far short of the 18 that I had originally planned, but good miles nonetheless.

I was hoping to complete the same route on Sunday, but my stomach had other plans. We went to IHOP for lunch after church and something did not sit well at all... I was pretty wiped-out for the afternoon. Oh well, I guess my recovery week arrived a bit early...It is all good.

Tonight, I ventured out after work and repeated the route from Saturday. No one else had ventured onto Old Hickory trail since Saturday except for several deer. They had followed my tracks through the woods, helping to pack the snow. Unfortunately, their tiny hooves do not do a lot of packing, but it was fun to see my tracked mixed with theirs. I heard my friend the Owl hooting off in the distance but was unable to see him. It was still light enough to run w/o my headlamp, which is a good sign that Spring is close. Daylight-savings time starts in two weeks, which will allow for some longer evening routes.

I am ready for spring. The snow has been nice, but I am ready to see some grass. I know that we first have to get through some mud, but that will be a small price to pay.

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!!!

Cold weather running

I ventured out this morning for 16 miles in 7 degree temps. Wind chill was -2 and it actually did not feel that bad. I was originally going to join some hearty souls at 7am to run the summer BT50K course. I would turn back at Columbia road since I am no where near ready for 50k. Instead, I chose to stay at home and run loops in the park near our house.

The snow was perfect, the trail was frozen nicely, and the sun was actually shining a bit! A near perfect run.

My clothing choice was perfect with layers being the key. I started with a short-sleeved shirt covered by a long-sleeved shirt. Shorts and windpants for the legs, and my Gore-Tex shell for the top layer. I wore my fleece headband and my balaclava to cover my face. Besides the advantage of covering my face, the balaclava will moisten the air a bit before it enters my lungs, helping to reduce that dry-raspy feeling from cold air. I alternated between my heavy fleece gloves and my regular cold-weather gloves.

I carried my waist pack with water today and I worried about the bottles freezing. I covered them with my jacket, thinking that my body heat would be enough to keep them from freezing and it worked! However, I cannot say the same about my GU... It was frozen pretty solid at the end of my run.

One of the fun things about cold-weather running is how the frost will form on your clothes as you run! I know, I have a strange idea of fun... Anyways, I had pushed up the sleeves on my jacket and I had frost forming on my long sleeved shirt, gloves, and my balaclava.

I was feeling pretty good for the first 13 miles, which is about right where my training is now. The last 3 miles were harder, but that is what training is intended to do: Push your body just past the comfort zone, recover, repeat. Before long, your comfort zone is increased making today's long run, tomorrow's water stop!

Tomorrow will be a short 6 mile recovery run. Burning River is coming up fast...

The day that wouldn't end...

Yesterday was one of those rare days that seemed to last forever! We attended the Saturday evening service at church, leaving sunday morning available for resting and sleeping in. I woke up at 7:30am, which is sleeping in for me, and wanted to get a quick run completed before the rain started falling. A quick check of the radar map showed that I had a very narrow window so I dressed and started running down the street.

I was not 2 minutes down the street when I looked ahead and saw a wall of rain approaching, fast! It was a short squall-line of showers and it was cold! I was dressed for the 40 degree temperature, but not 40 degrees and WET! I turned around, tucked my tail between my legs, and ran home. Of course, the rain stopped shortly afterwords, but I had already decided to finish my run on the dreadmill.

It was a good interval workout for 6 miles and I treated it like I used to treat my indoor bike workout: Mental training. I was visualizing parts of the Burning River 100 course and how I was (hopefully) going to feel as I ran through them. Any endurance event, whether it be a long hike, Ironman, or a 100-mile trail run, is just as much a mental test as a physical one. The monotonous indoor workouts are a great way to get the 'head-game' straight.

I watched parts of the Flyers/Penguins hockey game, which is another thing that I don't do much of, and then watched football. I now have had my fill of sports TV...

Prepared some stuffed acorn squash for dinner and then help Gina and Abby bake an apple pie! Now that was fun! They had asked me earlier this year to teach them to make a pie and we decided that an apple pie would be a perfect start!

I used my grandmother's "31 1/2" recipe for the crust: 3 cups flour, 1 cup shortening, and 1/2 cup of water. Gina mixed up the crust while Abby and I sliced the apples and mixed the sugar and cinnamon together. Gina rolled out the bottom crust and Abby the top. We put it all together and then waited anxiously for it to bake. It turned out great and tasted wonderful with a scoop of Breyer's Ice cream!!!

Gina has requested that we bake a cherry pie next... I can't wait!