Superior 50k 2012

A great weekend with new friends.  5:53. Much slower than my goal was going in but I'll adjust my training a bit to hopefully improve my time.  Also, part of this race was the conditions on race day.  It was the hottest and muggiest day yet this spring for me and by mile 20+ it caught up with me and hydration became an issue.  It was really nice to share this trail with some new friends as 4 of us went up and stayed at the Caribou Highlands Lodge,. ate at the Coho Cafe on Saturday afternoon, and hit up Betty's Pies for breakfast on the way back home Sunday morning.

Thanks B for giving my car a place to stay over the weekend and thanks T.J. for driving up the north shore.  Thanks Todd for booking the condo, super nice and perfect for our group.

"Superior 50k"

Tom had a good point later in the afternoon on Saturday.  "Usually early on I'm a little bit cold, but today I felt a little bit too good starting out."  We were warmed up when we walked out of the condo at 7am for the start of the 50k race.  It was even warmer at 9 when the 25k started.

I woke up at 5:20 so I wouldn't have to be in a hurry getting ready, had 4 hard boiled eggs, a banana with peanut butter, some water, and 3 cups of coffee.  I could have drank more water, probably should have, and will next time.  I felt good though, went down to check in, and sat on the sofa to write a bit on my phone.  Here's what I wrote:

"I'm excited today.  It looks like it'll be a beautiful day out on the trail.  My plan is this: use the first section as my warm up, use the rolling hills through the sawbill section to make up some ground, run the peak section until the big boulders begin and scamper as well as I can up to the peak.  On the way down, do the same.  I feel pretty good.  My training was quite different for this race than for previous races in that I was more specific in my daily routine.  Speed intervals, sprints, hills, and a long day on Sunday.  My goal is to run at an overall 10 minute per mile pace.  That'll mean that there will need to be portions that I'll need to really be cookin'.  What a fun trip with Tom, Todd, and TJ.  It's great when you enjoy the company of those around you.  A neat group.  I'm thinking of my family at home.  I wonder what they think of the adventures that I travel and the miles I chose to run.  I love them all and look forward to working some aid with the kids in the near future.  A great experience for them and one that I haven't ever done myself.  I appreciate all of the support I feel from family, friends, clients and know that your supportive words will keep me going today.  I'm thinking about you today Dann.  Praying for you Carlsons.  Missing you back here at home in the north woods where we spent some of my most memorable weeks catching smallmouth, breaking paddles, and eating a ton of fish."

To the here and now...  My legs are on fire today from my hips all the way to my feet.  I probably shouldn’t have sprinted to beat my kids up the hill at the t ball game today.  I was alright before that.  I beat them up the hill and we tied the game.  What fun!!

So, the first section was the warm up.  That’s the way it worked out as I settled in with Dan, a 3^rd time 50k runner from North Dakota for a few miles.  I guess I used the 1st half of the first leg to warm-up, then I was feeling good so I picked it up a little bit and cruised into the first aid feeling great.  I had left water bottles already mixed at the aid stations so I just swooped in, picked up my pre-mixed bottles, dropped the ones I’d carried on the Oberg section, and headed back out on the trail for the section that I thought I would really be able to gain some ground on.  I did cruise on the way out and this section was pretty uneventful on the way out.  I cruised right through the second aid.  I guess I did stop for some water.  Probably 3 glasses.  The peak section wasn’t too bad on the way up, but the way down would prove to be a mistake.  It didn’t show up until 5 miles or so later, but I’m sure the quick-stepping down the peak contributed to the extreme cramping that begun in the adductors. 

Still feeling pretty good, I cruised into Sawbill aid with 13 miles to go, switched out the water bottles for the last time, drank some water, and headed down the trail into the section that I had hoped I’d be able to make up some ground on.  My legs were getting heavy and I was starting to sweat less and less.  That’s not good.  I felt ok and was still able to cruise the hills up until about 2 miles to go in this section.  I was running low on fluid and trying to ration my beans for the final section when I felt my right hamstring/adductor twinge in cramp.  I knew that was not a good sign of things to come at all.  That one twinge came and went and I didn’t feel anything else for about 10 minutes.  Then, the left quad started to cramp with each step.  As you run the trail, different pains come up and then you either just get used to them or they work themselves out.  That must have happened here too but not for miles to come.  It started getting nasty with about 9 to go.  Right before I’d left the condo that morning, I grabbed an empty pack of sport beans and filled it up with EFS powder.  I sure am glad that I did.  I would not have had any electrolyte replenishment for the final leg had I not done that.  My water bottles were empty when I got to Oberg aid and all I wanted were some bananas and water.  The water was great but they were out of bananas at the aid station so I settled for a half dozen orange slices.  It wasn’t enough as I started the last 7.5 knowing this one would not be a walk in the park.  Turned out it was more of a walk through the woods than I would have liked. 

My goal going into this race was a 10 minute pace.  If I’d have been able to do that, I would have finished #22 in the race overall.  As it turned out I would finish #45 at 5 hours and 53 minutes.  The last section was a brutal one for me on this day.  From the moment I left Oberg aid I was forced to mostly walk as my legs just wouldn’t work the way I wanted them to.  I would take 4 or 5 sport beans and 5 minutes later I would be able to run for 5 or 10 minutes.  Then, I would need to repeat.  When I finally reached the lodge I had nothing left in either water bottle and no beans left either.  I was completely out of fuel.  There was a moment coming up the switchbacks on moose where I was passed by a couple of other 50k racers and I just had nothing left to keep my place.  I walked with stiff legs for a good portion of the last 5 miles otherwise, my legs would lock up completely.  There were a couple of times where I was unsure if I would be able to continue walking when everything would seize up at the same time.  Fortunately it seemed that if I forced myself to move and keep gaining on my target, I would loosen up and be able to continue on.  The last miles here are a bit of a fog really but I knew that once I heard the Poplar River I would make myself run the road and pass as many people as I could see.  I had about 3 sips of drink left when I hit the road and I saw 6-8 people.  The previous night I had written the names of my children on the tops of my water bottles as I knew they would help to motivate me as I got tired at the end or in moments of difficulty.  They definitely did and in this instance, I looked down and saw Caden’s name on the top of my water bottle.  A tear came to my eye and I was able to focus in a way that I was unsure I was able.  It no longer became an option to run and catch each and every person I could see on the road ahead of me.  It became my mission.  I caught and passed each one moving up 3 or 4 spaces in the 50k finishers. 

After resting a bit and hearing the last of the racers coming in past the finish line, the 4 of us drove down the coast to Coho Café.  Three of us ordered 14” pizzas and TJ got a 6 incher.  Tom and I ate all of ours, Todd had about half, and TJ downed his 6 incher too.  Good food and the temperature dropped over 10 degrees in the mile between Lake Superior and the Caribou Highlands Lodge.  It was a nice surprise to see the Twin’s pull out an extra inning victory while sitting in the bar at the Lodge with a cold Bavarian Wheat brew and talking over the morning’s adventure.

We were in bed by 9:30 and up to head back by 6:30 Sunday morning.  After stopping at Betty’s Pies for breakfast just north of Two Harbors, we zipped back on 61 and headed back to the Twin Cities.  I got back to pick up the car in Forest Lake at noon and headed to Life Time Plymouth to pick up Caden from a birthday party.  Then it was home for rest time and off to our T Ball game at Kimberly Lane.  So fun to see the kids improving already so early in the season. 

There’s nothing like a few hours alone in the woods to recharge one’s batteries.  Always a beautiful day on the trail up there.  I truly do appreciate all of the support from my family and friends in going on these adventures.  It means a lot to be able to share these experiences with ya’ll.  My next race is Afton 50k on July 7^th if anyone is interested in joining me.  They have a 25k version too:

https://www.aftontrailrun.com/race-info/50km-info/

eat your veggies!

It seems like the last two weeks have flown by.  I’ll start this post by giving some advice that I have learned through my experience as a Personal Trainer.  Drink more water (half you body weight in ounces each day) and eat healthy fats NOT PROCESSED CARBOHYDRATES OR FAKE SUGARS.  One more thing… I’ve never heard of anyone with a weight problem ending up that way from eating too many vegetables.  Eat your veggies!!  They’re good for you.

Thanks for listening.  Here’s what I have been up to in the last couple of weeks.  Last time I wrote, I said I was going to try and ride my bike more.  I didn’t.  I was able to get out on Thursday the 26^th for a nice ride with Nikki.  She wanted to go for a bike ride for a session so that’s just what we did.  We went from Bryant Lake Park to Lone Lake Park; conquered watertower hill twice, did my .5 mile repeat track at a walking pace, and headed back to Bryant Lake.  It was a bit chilly, but did my legs good since the day before I ran at Hyland.  Here’s a bit more about that workout:

I zipped over to Hyland Park Reserve for a run on Wednesday the 25^th not really sure what I was going to do for my workout.  When I got there I decided I would head up the tallest hill I could find and maybe then, I would have a better idea.  I didn’t really and my legs weren’t feeling all that good when I got to the top anyhow.  I figured to settle into an easy pace and get 6 or 8 miles in.  After 3.5 miles I started to feel a bit better and knew that I needed to start incorporating a bit more speed into my training, and with this being my heaviest week of this 8 week Superior prep block, I decided to do some intervals.  Call it a pyramid workout if you’d like.  I started off with a .5 mile sprint.  I don’t have the times anymore as my HRM only stores 19 workouts, but it was pretty quick.  Quicker than the repeats I had been running at Lone Lake, I know that much.  Then, after about 8 minutes of easy running, I went .75 miles at a clip as fast as my legs would take me for that distance.  Another 8 minutes of easy, then to a mile repeat.  7:14 for the mile which I thought was pretty decent.  There were a lot of steady uphills on the mile course, up from Richardson Nature Center towards ski jump hill.  The mile ended just at the bottom of ski jump hill, so I walked up the hill and found a little trail through the back side which is single track and reminded me a bit of the Superior trail I’ll be on in less than two weeks now.  I needed to run that.  I started off easy and jogged off .75 miles as I headed over towards the ski hills.  I wound around on the west side of the ski hill on an access road and took it down the hill to the fence just west of the driving range.  As I touched the fence, the gps told me it was .75 miles so it worked out just perfect.  I don’t remember what the time was on this particular portion, but I started up the access road which was a mini version of the ski hill… a great way to start my 4^th repeat of the day.  I made it up to the top of ski jump hill the back way, cruised down the hill, jogged a bit, and brought it home with a .5m survival sprint across the top of the ski hills.  A satisfying workout that left me with very little left in the tank until of course I got back to the club, showered, and filled my face with as much food as I had brought with me for the day.  I’d used up almost 2000 calories in the 1:51 that I was on the trail.  Nitrite and Nitrate free deli turkey, 6 slices of Muenster cheese, a half a cup of cashews, and a cup of carrots dipped in peanut butter, and a yellow pepper with roasted pine nut hummus… with water.  Yum!

On the 27^th, I didn’t have much time to run at all so I squeezed in 6 miles through the Park Reserve from home after work and before dinner.  The house was transitioning when I got home, so I suited up as soon as I could so I could be home for the evening.  My goal of this run was just to get my legs moving again and bridge the gap between Wednesday and my longest run of this training cycle of 20+ miles.  It was a beautiful night to be on the trail.

            Moving on the Sunday the 29^th, I had a busy day planned.  I would get up to start a 20+ miler at 6am with a friend of mine Todd.  We’ll be going up to Superior with a couple of other friends.  I’ll do the 50k and others will do the 25k.  Todd came out to join me for my first 12 of the morning.  This would be his longest run of the prep too before the 25k in two weeks now.  It was a beautiful morning and so nice to have some company through Elm Creek Park Reserve, which I consider just an extension of my back yard.  We saw a few deer, got to experience a little bit of mud and hills, but I really enjoyed his company.  After heading out 6 miles and back on pretty much the same track, we cruised back into the neighborhood, and I would have been foolish not to poke my head into the house to have a banana since I only had water on the trail.  I probably spent more time in than I should have, but got back on the trail for what turned out to be another 90 minutes.  I had a busy day planned ahead and needed to be back home and ready for church by 10:40.  I made it home after about 9 more miles at 9:45 with just enough time to eat, shower, and get ready to go for the day.  We made it just in time to church and my father in law with my brother’s in law were waiting for me in the parking lot to go to Target Field.  We actually got to see the Twin’s win that day and it was great to spend some time with the guys.  So fun!  I was pretty exhausted at this point, but you know if you’ve got little ones, there is no rest for the weary, so when we got home it was supper, tubs, and bed.  I slept well that night and wasn’t up too late either.

            Monday was great as I got all of the grass pulled out of the main flower beds surrounding the fire pit.  Now to finish them off with a few inches of cocoa bean mulch.  I’ve got some of it done and boy does it look nice!

Tuesday the 1^st I did some legs exercises as well as an upper body workout of the muscles that I typically feel the most when running.  Mostly around the rotator cuff, deltoids, lats, traps, stomach, oblique’s, posterior shoulder, and hips.  I also took a 6 kg vipr for a run on the treadmill.  That’s pretty tough carrying that thing while running at even 6mph.  I went for .25 miles on, .25 miles off, .25 miles on, and .25 miles off again.  I don’t know if that carried over, but I’ll probably try it again to train the core, shoulders, and biceps.

On Wednesday the 2^nd, I didn’t have as much time as I usually do on Wednesdays but I still wanted to squeeze in a quality run in the early afternoon so I called my friends at TC Running to find out how to get to the Minnesota River Bottoms.  They led me right to it so I headed over that way.  I’d never been to the river bottoms before, so it was neat to explore an area that I hadn’t seen before.  The only footprints I saw were my own as I think the track over there is primarily used for mountain biking.  With the lack of rain heading into Wednesday last week, the trails were pretty dry too.  Sometimes it’s the flat trails that end up biting us the most.  That was the case on this day about 2 miles into my run I found myself looking up at the beautiful blue sky from my back on the right side of the trail.  When the trail is technical and rough, we are focused on our footing to not miss a step and end up on our faces.  When the trail is “smooth” we settle into dragging our feet across the trail, not thinking that there are still roots that come up an inch or two off the dirt.  You never expect to hit the trail, and this time there were no rocks to break my fall, just some grass on the side of the trail so I was pretty fortunate.  I’ll need to be more careful in a couple of weeks though because there aren’t any trails that don’t have rocks running along the sides of them.  All in all it was a beautiful run on a warm day, and it was real fun to explore some new ground that I hadn’t run on before.

T ball practice on the 3^rd and that was a blast.  I just love working with these kids.  We had some drills that were to challenge their abilities to work together and that it did.  I love teaching kids and being around them energizes me whenever I have that opportunity. 

On Friday, the 4^th I was able to attend a Leadership Conference, the Chic fil a Leadercast.  This was the third year in a row that I’ve attended the conference held live in Atlanta and broadcast all across the nation via simulcast.  Tim Tebow was among the speakers and John Maxell too.  It is so important that we make time to invest in ourselves, not just one and done, but continually.  I really needed the encouragement that the Leadercast provided on Friday and I’ll be going again next year I’m sure.  To running that day, I ended up doing 10.5 miles to the chalet, a round through the Frisbee golf course, and back around the park home again.  A fairly easy day where I was not out to break any speed records for sure. 

Saturday to Jeffers for some family time.  It is always good to spend time with family.

This morning I was woken in the middle of the night by some rolling Texas thunder.  I hadn’t heard thunder since we lived in Frisco.  It must have dumped to because I was out of the house by about 7:30, driving to the north side of the Nature Center to cover some new ground on the snowmobile trails north of even the park reserve.  It was wet, like running through 8 inches of water in some spots wet.  One cool thing though, I came to a little wooded area at about mile 4 and it felt a little closed in.  It was a short stretch of woods.  As I entered, I heard a branch snap! Overhead and heard the flapping of some serious wings flapping.  I don’t know what kind of bird it was, but that bird did not want to see any more of me than it absolutely had too and it was off.  HUGE!  It could have been a bald eagle or a big owl or something like that.  The branch itself landed just next to me on the right and it was probably 4 inches across.  So, it was a wet morning and my legs have felt good all day today which is a good sign.  I’ll do some more weights for legs next week, probably do 10-12 again next Sunday, then really taper to race day the following weekend. 

I’m looking forward to a couple days away with friends and I love the north shore so that’ll be nice to spend some time up there too.  We have a busy week coming up.  I am thankful for my many blessings each day.  Remember to eat your veggies!!

More Miles/ Less Speed

More miles/ less speed

So this week I was feeling a bit run down.  I can’t quite pinpoint why.  A couple of possibilities:

·         Accumulation of 3 weeks of a lot of speed work/ I don’t think that’s it

·         Milk in my diet/ haven’t been as tight with nutrition as I need to be-probably plays a role

·         Pounding on the downhills/ specifically last Friday  at Hyland-almost a 2 hour run with a lot of hills

·         Not enough slower steady running/ active recovery base work

Monday this week was a great day.  Mimi was nice enough to watch Hannah while Elli and I went to Orchestra Hall for her field trip.  What a great trip and a wonderful experience for the kids to learn about the different instruments and even play a few of them.  I love spending time with Elli and cherish every moment we get to spend together.  Caden had chess club Monday afternoon and earned 3 chess club dollars so he was pretty pumped about that.

Tuesday-back to work for the week.  It turned out to be a pretty good week on the work front.  I’m doing small group training and had a couple good groups this week so it’s fun to see the classes and the concept growing.  I’ll have some groups this week that’ll be pretty full too.  I really enjoy working with the groups of people.  I did a lot of small group when I was coaching baseball in Dallas too and I really enjoyed that as well.  From a training standpoint, I was purposeful in slowing down a little bit this week to let my quads in particular recover from the hills last Friday.  I did 1:51:00 hills Friday last week and another 12 miles on Sunday morning on a great new trail for me.  I’d do that again this week too.  So, I ran 35 minutes on Tuesday morning, then did some core work and stretching in the Ed Center before heading back up to work.  Then, having gotten the bike working again last week, I brought that out for a 60 minute bike ride after work.  It feels good to do something besides run for a change, but I don’t know if my legs like be fixed into the pedals like that.  I was tired.

Wednesday it was back to Lone Lake Park again and with the theme of this week and I’m thinking the next too now slowing down and adding more low intensity, I extended my repeats to .75 miles and worked in some steady base activity between the first two and second two repeats and then again at the end of the workout too.  A windy day and not nearly as warm as it has been, and my legs felt tired going into the workout.  I did the repeats in:

552 and 549 to the left

Going to the left I started with the .5 mile loop I’ve been doing the last 4 or 5 weeks and finished down the big hill around the tree to the picnic area and back up to the fence of the tennis courts.

610 and 611 to the right.

Going to the right there is a hill to a playground.  I started off going down that, around a tree coming up on the picnic area, then back up the hill to the tennis courts and through the .5 mile loop I’ve been doing for the last 3 or 4 weeks. 

I split repeats 2 and 3 with 15 minutes of easy running/ walking around Lone Lake and did the same after #4 to cool down and flush some lactic acid out.

Thursday was an easy day, again no running, just some ViPR work to get the hips loosened up with core and active recovery.

Friday was a beautiful day.  I went in to work for the morning and was able to get out and run in the afternoon.  Mom was with the girls when I got home and I headed out the door planning to do 12 miles or 2 hours (I didn’t bring the GPS out) nor did I wear headphones.  I would do 5 miles to the chalet, 4 frisbee golf hill repeats, then the 5 miles back home from  there.  What a beautiful day to be on the trail and I’m so thankful for mom watching the girls and it’s great to work for a company that really puts fitness and achieving personal goals at such a high priority.  The hills are rolling compared to what I’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks.   

The tubing hill and some of the others that go into the cross country ski loop that so many skiers got to know so well this winter with the other trails not having enough snow on them to even ski.  I really need to watch my pace and control on the downhills though.  It’s really easy to just let yourself go when it’s really important to be under control all the way down.  My knees thank me when I don’t pound em’ down the hill. 

Saturday I played a friend in basketball at the club.  A great game, then worked out with another doing some strength.  1 set of hack squats, lunges w curls, and a few good core exercises before hitting the shower looking forward to my Sunday run and festivities.  When I got home Saturday, it was time to get the yard ready for Hannah’s party on Sunday.  I spent a good 3 hours out there mowing the front yard for the first time this year, weeding the flower beds and getting some of the grass out of there, and pulling weeds to make the place look presentable.  It was a good day.

Sunday woke up looking forward to a blessed day with Hannah turning one tomorrow and all that goes along with your baby growing up, knowing I’d do 12 before getting into party mode.  It was an even muddier morning this than last Sunday but nice to not need to deal with rain.  It actually was quite pleasant although I think I was a bit overdress with my North Face coat and gloves which didn’t make it but 3 miles before they ended up in my pocket.  Kate had me try her app this morning though (some nike running app).  It took a mile to figure out so when I finally did, it showed mile one having taken 22 minutes plus and I’d already done 2 miles.  My goal, as some of you know, is to run Superior averaging 10 minute miles so I challenged myself even having gotten off to such a slow start, to finish this morning’s run averaging 10 minute miles.  This app tells you when you reach a certain mile mark, what your overall time is, and what your overall pace is too, so it was great to hear the pace getting quicker and quicker as the run went along.  When I got to about 4 miles to go, I was averaging 11 minutes or something real close to that.  My competitive juices got going and I was on a mission to get that pace down to 10 minute/mile pace.  It has never happened I don’t think in my running career that I’ve gotten that competitive about running, beating a time or the clock.  I’ve competed with the course, but never with the clock like I did this morning.  It felt good to attack the trail like that even though my body was telling me to practice my walking.  I got to 97^th and picked up the pace determined to get to 10 minute/ mile pace.  As I heard the music fade, knowing I would hear “the voice” telling my I’d reached “11” miles (actually 12-the gps didn’t start til mile 2 which is why the time for the first leg was so long), I was wondering if I’d done enough to reach my goal.  The female voice said, “you have completed 11 miles.  Your time is 1 hour forty nine minutes and fifty six seconds for an average pace of ten minutes and zero seconds.”  After a fist pump and an emphatic “YES!”, I turned around and walked the 200 yards or so home and made it back before 10.  The party started at 11:11 so I had some time to get ready and finish tidying up, carrying chairs, and overseeing the bigs “keep the basement clean”. 

What a wonderful day with family today.  Hannah’s party had a very hungry caterpillar theme so we ate all the foods the very hungry caterpillar ate on her journey to becoming a butterfly.  Hannah woke up this morning to balloons and butterflies hanging from the ceiling and she was giddy with excitement to explore all the things that Kate put out for her to celebrate her special day.  We are so thankful for our beautiful, curious, foot and shoe loving Hannah.  What a Joy!  Happy Birthday Baby.

muddy morning

12 this morning.  I didn't know what it was going to look like last night with the forecast calling for thunderstorms.  It ended up being about perfect with a gentle mist.  The trails were a bit muddy, but even they were not in too bad of shape.  My legs are tired from the hills on Friday and I could feel calves and quads this morning.  My foot is going to need a little rest too.  It will be challenging to figure out how to rest up, but still get in the training necessary to compete at Superior.  I'm scheduled for 24 in two weeks so I've got that time to prepare for that run.  I'll probably back off the speed a little bit, for sure ease back on the intensity on the non running days, and work my running cadence on the mountain bike a bit more here in the next couple weeks.  I've got some new tires to put on that maybe this evening.  Either that or have em' do it a Maple Grove Cycling for a small fee.  

Once I got back from running this morning, it was Kate's turn.  She did 6 inspired by becoming a aunt for the third time last night.  Way to go Kate!  Here's what I had for breakfast followed by the aftermath:  

6 eggs, three sausages, and about a cup of shredded cheese.

10 minutes later with a monster glass of water...

Achieved while feeding the baby and listening to what seemed like a thousand requests from the bigs of foods they would have preferred to the muenster cheese slice, spoonful of peanut butter, little pack of carrots, and cliff bar.  I made them finish their entire water this morning.  Often times what triggers us to feel hungry is dehydration.  If we can have a glass of water when we feel hungry, we won't feel hungry anymore.  We probably weren't really hungry after all, just thirsty. 

training week 4.2 and 4.9

Happy Birthday Roman!  We are so blessed and thankful for a safe arrival.

What a crazy couple of weeks around here with Easter last weekend in the middle.  From a training standpoint, it’s a good thing I took notes this last week.

I’ll do 12m tomorrow.  I think the speed has finally kind of caught up with me a bit.  It’s been a lighter week with Thursday off and Well Wave today at Back In Line @ Hopkins Crossroad.  That machine is a great tool for recovery, especially with acute injuries (I had some ligament damage in my right foot last fall) and it had flared up a bit this week because of the INSANE ViPR workout from Tuesday.

Two weeks:

Tuesdays are ViPR reconditioning days for me with core, foam roll, and movement prep for Wed, Thurs, and Friday.  Sauna, Hot tub, shower and back to work

Wednesday-6-.5 mile repeats at Lone Lake.  It has been beautiful weather these last couple of weeks.  That’s supposed to change tomorrow with some thunderstorms.  Speeds for Wednesday

·         345

·         344

·         329

·         333

·         323

·         307

I’ll attach pictures of the track below next week.

Thursday was sprints out back of LTF CRT -83 paces x 4 after my test.  I did my Heart Rate Efficiency Test (cardio point) this morning and learned that I can actually train faster on my long runs in particular and burn the same amount of fat for fuel.  AB=155/AT=165  This is great information to have.

Friday Hills.   

Brent and I took a trip to Hyland for some ski jump repeats.  I’d done this once last season and really enjoyed it, then in talking to a few of our members at the club, this hill came highly recommended once again.  We had a great time and it was nice to have some company.  Our last of 8 today was up the hill directly under the ski jump.  That hill is a beast (probably 70 degree incline on all fours for sure) Speeds for Friday

·         109

·         116

·         116

·         113

·         115

·         126 more walking

·         114

·         Over 2 minutes up the ski jump hill

tough training week

This week was a tough week on the training front.  I had my second to longest training run yesterday morning beginning at 5:30 and ended up doing half of it in the dark.  What a great way to greet a new day... on the trail with the birds chirping and the hills begging for more. 

Tuesday consisted of ViPR training.  This is by far my new favorite training tool.  There are endless possibilities for exercises from beginners to professionals.  In fact, I was out Sunday throwing baseball with my friend Ryan and we were airing it out.  Like, I haven't thrown like that since college.  Hundreds of feet between us and it felt great.  I'm convinced that it is the ViPR training that has my arm feeling great one day after taxing my arm like that.  Tuesday's are 20-30 minutes ViPR circuit after a warm up and light foam roll, then core for 10-15 minutes followed by a good 15-20 minute foam roll, 10-15 minute sauna and 5-10 minute hot tub.  The goal is to feel 100% going into Wednesday when the real work begins.

Wednesday this week I added a interval still topping out at 3:23 for my best time.  That was the 6th when I let it all hang out.  The first I wasn't real concerned with time then, 326, 327; I then turn around and run it the other way 357, 339, 323 to finish it up.  I felt pretty good after that one.  It just took about an hour to finish; after and hour 15 I was back ready for work. 

Thursday I was to the run and back in  30-40 minutes.  I finished with one set of chest press 30lbs x 30 reps with feet up, then stretch and core, then to the showers.  6 sprints Thursday.  I drove out to graffiti bridge, .75m warm up, sprints with full recovery between 12 and 16 seconds.  What a beautiful day to be outside.  Here's the track.

Friday was hills.  I went over to water tower hill and did 8 repeats.  My goal was to run the last all the way to the top.  I did it but wasn't quite sure for the first 30 seconds if I would be going down the hill under my own power.  123, 118, 121, 122, 123, 121, 115, 109.  I started in on the EFS water bottle after number 4 and I'm glad I had it.  This was a tough day on the trail.  I felt a real sense of accomplishment after finishing Friday.  I finished "The Hunger Games" at night with my eyes half open.  Pre race (2 hours prior) I had a salad with 2 chicken breasts and post workout after my pro. shake I had a full double chicken BBQ chicken pizza from the Life Cafe.  Yum!  Here's the hill.

Saturday was an easy day mostly active recovery like Tuesday minus the ViPR.  Some core, mostly rolling, stretching, sauna, hot tub and recover.  Saturday night I went to see the movie "The Hunger Games".  It was good except for the guy to my left who, even after the Lorax had told us at the beginning to resist the urge to text during the movie (I'm pretty sure he was talking to the kids, not the 50+ year old man watching with his wife), the bright texting screen of a Blackberry takes me right out of the movie.  I mean, this is the first movie I've looked forward to for 10+ years for myself (except maybe Star Wars in 3D; it was awesome).  A good movie though.

Sunday was 16 miles and what a great way to kickoff my weekend.  I was up before the house even thought about it and was home as they were waking.  A perfect morning to run.  I took off with a long sleeve and long pants, shed them at 1 mile, had both water bottles, one full of water and one full of EFS, and I was carrying my flag bandana.  I really had good legs under me and am really starting to tell that the speed work and hills by themselves is going to be a key to fast times at Superior and will more than likely change my program  and the way I prepare for races indefinitely.  And the extra time that I have.  We'll see how it carries over though... It took 2:25 averaging 9:05 per mile.  I practiced my walking a bit, not much though, ran most hills.  I was pretty gassed by the end and don't know if I can keep that pace for much longer than the 16 this day.  It was good to go fast though. 

I just finished probably my most productive yard work day ever as I got the raspberries separated and the strawberries hopefully now will be safe from the bunnies and mice this summer.  I finished the day with a nice fire as I reminisced about the weekend and the fun week ahead with a yard sale Wednesday and Thursday and a busy week at work with ViPR small group demos. 

That will be my business in the future.  Small group training is the way to go and the ViPR is so versatile it can be modified very easily.  Time to get some rest.  It will be a challenge on Wednesday this week to get my repeats in.  I might swap tomorrow with Wednesday.  I'll have more time Tuesday.  I Love my family and am thankful for my many blessings.

Elm Creek Chalet Area

Sunday 9.5m Long Slow Distance
Monday -
Tuesday 5-.5m intervals (fastest 3:23 slowest about 8 minute walk).  Conditions; leaf coverage, but ideal ground, trees covering the trail; was able to see 2- pilleated woodpeckers on the ground 10 feet to my right.  I watched them for about 30 seconds and they flew off in separate directions.  I saw a cardinal, a bluejay, and a large group of crows caw-cawing away.
Wednesday Impacting Lives at SSH- what a great opportunity to serve
Thursday sprints x 4 (50 yds) in the parking lot behind Life Time Crosstown-5 minute warm up-cool down meeting with Jud about small group training.
Friday SSH Carnival; very fun and the bigs came home with me eating popcorn, talking about Ninjago and their favorite things.
Saturday hills; 

on my way home from work today I drove up to the chalet to survey the land.  The snow is mostly gone, but it's still pretty wet in spots.  I did a 60 minute workout around the ski chalet today.  warm up-.75m; hills to the snowboard hill through the frisbee golf course:

8 repeats

43S first all walking

20S last all out

1 last 45S bowl sprint 

core on the tee box

cruise home working on footwork

stretch quick and dynamic

12 tomorrow LSD 10 minute pace

I worked a lot on the downhill running today. It's usually half the race.
Sunday LSD 12 miles on the nose; out and back across the wooden bridge then follow the trail to just beyond the mountain bike track.  Uncharted territory for me.  That'll be my next weekend's 16 miler to go explore some of those woods.  I brought one bottle of EFS and one bottle of just water, dropped the EFS at mile 2.5 to be picked up on the way back.  It was real cold this morning to start.  Probably should have worn gloves.  After about 2 miles, and I was able to drop the one water bottle, it wasn't too bad.  I practiced my walking... fast uphill and flat.  I'm going to try this year running up the hill, walking the top, then running the down under control but fast then cruise the rolling hills walking fast and running.  Was able to walk at around a 13:30 pace for awhile.  Make it up then on the downhill to average 10 minute miles.  

I finished today in 1:58, just under that 10 minute mile pace.  That's my goal for Superior is 10 minute pace miles. 

I then went with Caden to the park to teach him how to ride his bike.  He did great and by the end of the day, having worked on it for probably 2 hours today, steered and rode his way to half court.  I'm so proud of him!

I was able to attend a coaches meeting for my son's T-ball team that I'm coaching this summer.  What a great clinic with Scott Leius and Terry Steinbach teaching among others.  It's great... the head coach teaches the coaches what he wants the players to learn, then by the time they get to him, not only do they know what the coach is talking about, they know how to do it already too!

I just finished, after putting the bigs to bed and saying goodnight to Hannah, watering the trees in the back yard (I want the clump birch to grow), clearing off the patio, and prepping to vacuum that glass out from under the deck.

The new training program that I'm doing, I liked for the first week.  With that variety, there is always something new to look forward too.  What I will do though from now on, is try to get hills in on Friday and LSD then on Sunday.  The back to back hill-LSD was probably good, but tough on the legs.  I'll take tomorrow off.