Tuesday, March 29, 2011

week Ending March 27

Mon. March 21 - Day off.  Probably could have still found time to run, and considering how beautiful a day it was, I really have no excuse for not getting in a few miles.

Tues. March 22 - Day off.  Laziness.  I suck at this.


Wed. March 23 - 6 miles in 47 min (7:40 pace).  Met Jeff and Patrick for a lunchtime run on the Greenbelt.  It was a little windy and chilly, but otherwise it wasn't too bad.  I didn't feel particularly good or particularly bad.

Thurs. March 24 - 9 miles in 68 min (7:33 pace).  It looked like the weather might not cooperate, but I caught a small window when the wind died down and the sun came out and warmed things up.  I was able to get out to the fenceline in the east prairie.  The 30 min or so back into town and eventually home were wonderful.  Felt absolutely fantastic.

Fri. March 25 - 5 miles.  Form workout with Coach Sanchez.  I went up to 8 x one lap with half lap rest.  Hit even 35 sec reps with a 31 dropped on number 8 for good measure.  I don't open it up very often anymore, so it felt good to have a little speed.  

Sat. March 26 - I wanted to get a longer run in, but I got distracted by painting the bedroom, and I started to have some pain in my foot this week that really started hurting significantly this day.  After some research, my suspicions were confirmed; I'm pretty sure I have some tendinitis in the tendon that connects my left big toe with my cuneiforms over the top of my foot.  Kind of annoying considering I was starting to feel pretty good this week.

Sun. March 27 - Day off.  Decided to rest the foot and not run the Jackalope 5K.  Figures.  

Seems like the last few times I've gotten back into this thing, I get a decent month in and then something gets hurt.  For once my achilles aren't bothering me, but this tendinitis in my foot thing pisses me off.  I guess all I can do is get out there and run.  Oh, but winter decided to return and it's snowing again.  Fantastic.

Totals:
Week's Miles: 20
Running Time: 2:45
Calories Burned: ~2,276

March Miles: 105
Year to Date: 220

Gear: Asics Speedstar 4 (168 miles)

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Week Ending March 20

Mon. March 14 - 4 miles in 29 min (7:15 pace).  I was in Cheyenne for the weekend and took my truck into Auto Electric for an oil change/general maintenance.  I decided an easy run from my parents' house to the shop to pick up the truck would be a good idea.  It was.  This marked the first t-shirt run of the year!

Tues. March 15 - 6 miles in  47 min (7:49 pace).  I went south then west to the new Soapstone Prairie Natural Area that is owned by the City of Fort Collins.  It is out in the middle of freakin' nowhere which, of course, is exactly what I was looking for.  No one around, beautiful day, another t-shirt run, and open, clear trails were much needed.  I'm going to be running here more often.

Wed. March 16 - Day off.

Thurs. March 17 - Day off because I am lazy.  Really should have gone out.

Fri. March 18 - 5 miles.  Form workout with Coach Sanchez.  I ran an extra mile worth of warm-up before getting to work.  Main workout was 6 x one lappers in 35 sec. with 35 sec half-lap jog rest.  Felt good and loose.  Next Friday we will bump it up to 8 reps.

Sat. March 19 - 12 miles in 1:30 (7:30 pace).  Hitched a ride with Nate and Tina down to the Blue Sky trail around Horsetooth in Fort Collins.  I really want to get one long trail run in a week.  Blue Sky was exactly what I was looking for.  Turned into a beautiful day, Sid provided good company for the first five miles, and I felt strong and fast for the whole run.  Great weather; great day.

Sun. March 20 - Day off.  I wanted to get out for a couple miles, but between not sleeping well while camping, getting packed and back to Laramie, and being really sore from the trail run the day before, I decided to be lazy.  I really have to get that out of my system. 

Totals:
Week's Mileage: 27
Running Time: 3:35
Calories burned: ~3,249

March's Miles: 85
Year to Date: 200

Gear: Asics Speedstar 4 (154 miles), New Balance 100 Trail (160 miles)

Monday, March 14, 2011

Week Ending March 13

Mon. March 7 - Day Off.  After the good weekend, I was feeling a little sore and I have decided to take a day off a week on either Monday or Wednesday.  I chose Monday, though I would also end up not running Wednesday.

Tues. March 8 - 6 miles in 44 min (7:19 pace).  Ran with Martisius in the morning.  We ended up not doing all the extra hills originally planned since I was still a little tired and sore and he decided that with a marathon coming up on the weekend that maybe it was a good idea to take it easy.  And so we did.

Wed. March 9 - Day off.  This was not intentional.  Though now I'm not sure why I didn't run.  I did start to come down with a cold this day.  Still fighting that a little.

Thurs. March 10 - A.M. 3.5 miles in 29 min (8:17 pace).  I wanted to get out for a few miles to loosen up a bit before the Pub Run in the evening.  Martisius ran with me then continued for more on his own.  Didn't feel particularly good on this run.  I was operating on about 4 hours of sleep and a lot of stress.

P.M. 5 miles in 41 min (8:19 pace).  Joined the Pub Run ranks (for some inexplicable reason I had never done a pub run) for some running and drinking.  Got some strange looks from the other patrons at the bars.  One guy asked if our drinking club had a running problem to which I responded, "yes."  We met at the Alibi, took a long loop to Mulligan's, ran up 3rd St. to the Ranger (shuffleboard!), then crossed the viaduct to Bud's Bar in west Laramie.  Finished the festivities with dinner at Lovejoy's.  It was a fun way to get in some miles, socialize, and take my mind off other crap going on.

Fri. March 11 - 4 miles in ~ 28 min.  Form workout with Coach Sanchez at the fieldhouse.  Coach wanted me to do 6 x one lap with half lap jog rest; the one laps in 30-32 sec. and the jog rest in 35 sec.  I did pretty much the opposite.  I haven't run fast like that in so long that I have no concept of pace anymore.  I started out thinking I was running pretty fast, but was only hitting 35-36 sec on the laps.  So I picked it up, but was still only at 34 sec.  So, I picked it up again and was finally able to hit 31 sec on the last one.  My rest was all done in about 30 sec.  I just couldn't slow down anymore.  Oh well, we'll get there.  And I felt really good after.

Sat. March 12 - Day off.  Again, I had wanted to do 4-6 easy miles, but I got a little sicker on Friday and I went to Cheyenne to spend the weekend with my parents.  So, I slept in and then decided I needed to run errands, then I decided a nap sounded like a better option than a run.  So, no run.  The left achilles was a little touchy this day for some reason, and as I've said, right now my focus is to stay healthy.  If I miss out on five miles, so be it.  I'd rather be able to run later.

Sun. March 13 - 9 miles in 65 min (7:13 pace).  I ran one of my old favorite routes in Cheyenne; down around both parks (Lion's and Frontier), then down around the state capital and back.  I wanted to do 10 or 11 miles, but the wind picked up (as it always does) and I decided I didn't want to fight it just to get in an extra mile or two.  Fighting the wind like that is a great way to do something like strain your achilles.  Not worth it.  Fighting the wind for 9 miles is the same effort-wise to running 10 or 11 anyway. 

Totals
Week's Miles: 28
Running Time: 3hrs 27min
Calories burned: ~3,226

March's Miles: 52
Year to Date: 167

Gear: Asics Speedstar 4 (133 miles)

Monday, March 7, 2011

Week Ending March 6

Mon. February 28 - 6 miles in 47 min (7:49/M pace).  Met Jeff at lunch for a run on the north end of the Laramie Greenbelt.  I had only run twice the previous week (for a grand total of 10 miles) and generally felt like 10 pounds of poo in a five pound bag.  Never loosened up, never caught a groove, and struggled all the way home.

Tues. March 1 - 7 miles in 52 min (7:25/M pace).  Met Brian and Sam at 6am at half acre for the north loop.  Brian switched the route up a little to add a couple more hills.  Poor Sam fell off with some sore and cramping calves.  I felt pretty decent for most of the run until the last mile stretch down Garfield.  That was a struggle!

Wed. March 2 - Mandatory day off.  To explain; I was consulting some of my old running logs from college and I realized that even during the XC season, Coach Sanchez had us taking one day off a week.  I also recall not being injured and also being tapered nicely at the end of the season.  So, right now, mandatory days off are back.  First, I need to ease back into running full time since I have been the definition of inconsistent for going on four years.  And, I figure it worked well once, it could work well again.  These days off will either be Monday or Wednesday.

Thurs. March 3 - Non-mandatory day off.  Some proclivities from Wednesday evening left me feeling like crap in the morning.  Altitude beer is evil.  There is something wrong with it.  I had one and it wrecked me.  Anyway, if I were a real dedicated individual, I would have still gone out for a few miles.  I need to stop being such a candy-ass.

Fri. March 4 - 3 miles.  Form workout with Sanchez at the fieldhouse.  This was week four of our work with Coach.  Things are going very well.  It's great to work with Coach again, picking his brain, learning some things, and getting the coaching and opinions that I've been missing since college.  We've been doing form drills (high knees, butt kicks, etc.) followed by  6 x one lappers with half-lap rests.  All of these are done with PVC batons in hand in order to focus on moving our arms and keeping our form.  We jogged the rest and timed the intervals so that next week we can run everything with a time to hit.  These workouts keep me sane.

Sat. March 5 - 10 miles in 75 min (7:30/M pace).  Went south to Spring Creek, out to the prairie, through Indian Hills, up onto the north ridge, and home on 9th street.  Felt great from start to finish.  It is the rebirth of the weekend long run.  I figure if I'm going to be running 25K/50K races, I should probably start running some miles.

Sun. March 6 - 4 miles in 32 min (8:00/M pace).  Quick, easy run to loosen up a bit.  I was pretty sore from Saturday's run.  

Weekly Totals
Miles: 30
Running Time: 3hrs 46min
Calories burned: ~3,521

Current shoes: Asics Speedstar 4

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Concerning the Race Schedule

I added the race schedule at right for two reasons: to let everyone know what races I will be attending and to remind myself to get my lazy ass outside and RUN!

This is the first time since college that I have planned out a race schedule.  Over the last four years or so, I have just jumped into races when I felt like it, ran races out of shape, lucked out in a few others, and have registered for races only to miss them due to being injured.  I also think that having a schedule to see makes it easier to get the work done in order to be in shape for those races.

Now, what was the thinking behind the races on the schedule?  Why those races?  Most of them were already on a hypothetical list.  The Big 3 Laramie trail races (Pilot Hill, Jelm Mountain, and Silent Trails) are races I love and try to run every year.  I missed all three last year, and haven't run Silent Trails since 2008 (2009's race was cancelled due to a massive snow storm).  Wyoming Race for the Cure is important since I have to represent Team Green and its incredible breast cancer survivors, my aunt Melody and my mama.

I chose Greenland because a contingent from Laramie will be there and I felt a relatively flat trail 25K would be a good benchmark a month before Pilot Hill.  As for Cheyenne Mountain, I just thought it sounded fun.  

Oh, and the Wyoming Half-Marathon seemed like something I should do.  My old junior high XC coach (and 7th grade social studies teacher) puts on the four races that weekend.  



However, this schedule is not complete.  I want to do at least one race a month, if not two (when reasonable).  I want to build-up to the 50K or 50M range eventually, so I hope a succession of 25Ks (and some mileage) will get me there.  I may try to find a 50K toward the end of July or end of August.  The beginning of September is still open.  I was thinking something relatively easy before Jelm.  And November and December are always good times to save a little money and find a nice race somewhere warm.  If anyone knows of a good half or 25K or something in the southwest then, let me know.

This schedule is a work in progress, but it is nice to have it there in print, staring back at me, reminding me to go train.  Races are so much more enjoyable when one is in shape and they don't kill you.  I haven't felt that way in a long time.  I miss it and want it back.