Monday, December 26, 2011

Training Week 12/19-12/25

M- 7.0 miles up and down Black Cap in 1:12:42, 40:19 to summit, felt a little quicker, but nice run

Tu- 0 pretty dehydrated from the last two days at work. I know I should have done something minimal, but I was pretty drained and figured I would be putting myself into a hole.

W- 2.5 mi wu in 20:41, then 6 x 5 min, 3:00 recovery in Whitaker Woods. Covered 6.8 miles in 45:00 (6:37 pace). Solid workout. 1 mile (8:43) cd. 10.3 total

Th- AM: 6 miles in 57:58 on the streets of Conway Village and the trails behind Kennett Middle School in the dark with Tim Livingston. Roads were pretty slick from all the freezing rain yesterday.

PM: 3.4 miles in 35:14 with Roger around NoCo. Felt like I was bonking! Lunge routine after.

F- AM: 6.0 miles in 59:02 on Corridor 19 snowmobile trail with Tim. 6" of fresh snow!

PM: 4.0 miles in 41:33 w/ Roger around the KHS parking lots. More miles for the bank. Drills and strides after.

Sa- AM:6.4 miles in 1:00:11 for the annual Thanksgiving/Christmas run with Mike Lansing on the Corridor 19 trails. Fun running through the unpacked snow.

PM: 3.0 mi wu in 22:30, then 4 mile tempo in 23:02 (5:45 pace), 2:17 rec, then 8x1:00 hills. Solid workout, nothing to brag about, but just putting the work in. 1.2 mi cd, 11.4 total

Su- 0 was planning on a short morning run, but if Haile Gebrselassie can take Christmas off, then so can I.

Totals: 54.5 miles, 7.97 hours. Nothing spectacular, especially with the two days off, but got in a couple of good workouts and got into a good morning routine. It was good running a couple of mornings with Tim, which we are going to try to make a regular occurrence. It was nice to get some snow too. Not enough for snowshoeing, but the ground is frozen, so hopefully this stuff stays for the winter.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Training Weeks 12/5-12/18

12/5-12/11

M- 6.0 miles on Hurricane Mt. Rd., 54:55, 1600 ft. gain, nothing special, just wanted to get some climbing in.

Tu- 3.8 mi warm-up w/ Roger, then the plan was to do 5x5:00 on, 3:00 off. I did one in the dark and the rain and called it quits. 5.8 miles total.

W- 0 Chickened out. Was planning on trying the workout again, but still cold rain.

Th- 0 In a pissy mood after a long week at work. Poor me.

F- 0

Sa- 0 Spent the day doing field work, which is a first in my 6+ year career, so I shouldn't complain too much.

Su- 7.3 miles on the Nanamacomuck with Double J in 1:08:38. Felt good to run in the sun!



Totals: 19.1 miles, 2.91 hours, 1600 ft gain. I was pretty much in a foul mood all week and my training shows it. I was struggling with trying to balance work and personal life demands and my running suffered. Ultimately I have to pay the bills, but it doesn't make taking zeroes any easier. The good news is that my crappy week really lit a fire under my ass and set me up for a good comeback this week.

12/12-12/18

M-AM: Black Cap via Red Tail Trail, 1:14:00, 40:29 to the summit. Started this run in the dark, but it was pretty light by about 10 minutes in. 1700 ft gain.

PM: 3.4 miles on the Kennett track. Holy shit! A double! Just cruised around the track in the dark with the iPod and did 8 strides in the last 1.5 miles.

Tu- 2.2 mi warm-up from home to the Kennett fields on the Rec Trail, then 41:09 (6 miles) of 3:00 on, 3:00 moderate. The pace of the fartlek was nothing spectacular (6:52 pace), but I was happy to get a workout in at 6:30 in the morning.

W- Black Cap via the Red Tail, 1:15:49, 41:24 to the summit. Wow, that was slow. I may have had one too many Shipyard Preludes last night. 1700 ft gain.

Th- 3.9 mi warm-up with Roger, then 8x1:00 Mechanic St. hills with jog down recovery, then 5k tempo in 18:32. Wow, the hill repeats definitely blasted my legs. The tempo was hard as hell. I was only planning on running with Roger, then doing some drills and strides after a long day of field work, but the weather was nice and I felt good doing the drills so I went for it. 400 ft gain.

F- Black Cap via Red Tail, 1:12:38, 39:40 to the summit. Do you see a theme here? I really like this trail, and it's motivating me to get out of bed and get on the trail by 6:30AM, so it will probably be a staple until the snow finally falls. Lunge routine after. 1700 ft gain.

Sa- 3.0 mi warm-up, then 9 mile tempo on the Corridor 19 snowmobile trail sans snow in 58:16 (6:28 pace). Nothing mind boggling, but this 12 mile out and back has 900 ft. of elevation gain. I think I've gone as fast as 6:20's on this, so I am pleasantly surprised how it went considering I felt like poop on the warm-up and the temperature dropped and the wind picked up with every mile. Not to mention that my ass and hamstrings were pretty sore from the lunge routine yesterday.

Su- 9.3 miles in 1:51:29 with Paul Kirsch and Leslie Beckwith on the Trout Pond and Purity Springs trails. My butt was still pretty sore from the lunges. A surprising 1700 ft of elevation gain. Drills and strides after.

Totals: 63.4 miles, 9.63 hours, 8100 ft gain. That was a pretty damn good week. The workouts weren't spectacular, and the mileage is modest by a lot of people's standards, but if I do that every week until June, I will be a monster. The best part about it was that it wasn't that taxing mentally. During the last few years running has seemed like a second job. I have enjoyed a lot of what I do for runs, but it has always been an internal struggle of how much effort do I want to put into this? I know I still have the physical tools and the ambition to still have lofty goals, but the whole hard and consistent work part has eluded me recently. My crappy last week made me realize that if I want to even think about any of my goals, I need to get my act together and make running a real priority. It does not mean that I am going to quit my job or leave my wife in pursuit of PR's, but to make my run the first thing I do every day. It was a great feeling each day this week when I had summited a mountain by the time most people had breakfast. I felt so much better about my training, really enjoyed my run, and it allowed me to enjoy my work and not have to worry about cramming in a workout in the cold and the dark after being physically and mentally drained from a day of field work. It was only one week, but I really think this was the start of something good.



Rainbow from clearcut on Red Tail Trail Friday morning