28 February 2010

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Well, there really wasn't supposed to be a race today, at least not accordining to my schedule. I came across this race last week while reading various websites of regional track clubs. They were offering a 5K, 10K and 10 Mile race and I figured it would allow both my fiancee and myself to enter races that we felt comfortable with and that would help both of us with our current training goals. We decided Friday night that she would do the 5K in preparation for a 10K race we entered next weekend and I would enter the 10 mile race as kind of a long distance speed workout in preparation for my 12 hour race in two weeks. The forecast predicted low 50s which would have been perfect, but the morning hours where more like low 30s, so it was definitely cold prior to the start of the race.

26 February 2010

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Got up at 5 AM to find out that it was 24 degrees outside. Rich's wake-up text consisted of "BRRR". I need to find a warmer place for my running gear. The garage is just too cold in the winter. I met Rich at his office and we had planned to run aroud 10 miles. Those plans were quickly scrapped after we started running and Richard realized that his legs were actually quite heavy from yesterday's spped workout. Well, he didn't hear me complain so we just shortened our run to a short 5.5 mile loop around Research Park, Indian Creek Greenway and the new Midtowne neighborhood. We kept a leasurely pace aroud 10 minutes per mile and called it a day. Right now, I am contemplating running a 10 mile race in Birmingham tomorrow. I know I have to get in some miles this weekend and a race is just more fun that my usual training runs.

25 February 2010

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Today's workout can be described in two words: Speed Workout. Those are not two very popular words in my running vocabulary. Actually, quite the opposite is true. These terms are about as unpopular as the words "hill" and "workout" used in conjunction with each other. I like slow long runs and would prefer "junk miles" over a speed workout any day of the week. However, I have learned that adding proper speed and hill workouts to my training schedule really has a positive impact on my training progress.

24 February 2010

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It was 5:15 AM in the morning, cold, dark, and foggy on top of that. Temps were in the low 40s when I arrived at Rich's house to pick him up for our recovery trail run on Monte Sano mountain. We had planned to run 8 miles or so along the North and South Plateau Loops to stretch out our legs. Driving up the mountain was interesting. The visibility was extremely poor, maybe 50ft? I would have missed our turn to the state park had Rich not shouted to "turn right now". Once we got to the parking lot around 6 AM, we were the only ones there. We started our run and while Richard actually felt great, I was struggling with some sore muscles. However, this was not due to the 50K on Saturday, but rather due to a soccer match I played on Sunday. I hadn't played in almost 6 months and that layoff reminded me painfully of some muscle groups I had almost forgotten about. The trails on the mountain were beautiful. Everything was covered in a fog and the limited visibility just made for very interesting scenery out there. Another first for me; running on muddy trails in the fog.
It became clear to me very early into the run that I wasn't going to run anywhere near 8 miles today. While I kept my heart rate at a very comfortable level in the low 140s, I just did not have any spring in my step. I hated to disappoint Richard, who had a busy week ahead of him with little time to get training runs in, but I had to be smart about it. After about 3.5 miles, Richard suggested to cut the run down to a short 4 miler. I was very happy to oblige. At least we were stretching our legs out. Hopefully, my muscles will recover enough for some training runs later in the week.

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It was 4:30 AM in the morning and time to get out of bed. Richard was going to be here at 5:15 AM and we were going to drive my car to the race. I had to get up early, because I decided Friday night to wait and pack my running gear, food supplies and drop bag in the morning. I sometimes get consumed with the "planning and packing phase" so I decided to force myself to wait until morning, when I wouldn't have the opportunity to spend endless hours on packing and repacking. And it worked; I only spent about 15 minutes to pack my stuff. I also packed a drop bag for the first time. Rich had told me that runners were able to leave a drop bag that would be placed at aid station 2/4 (miles 12 and 22) for them. The reason it was a good idea to utilize a drop bag was the number of creek crossings runners had to deal with.
According to Richard, who had run this race before, it was really nice to have a change of clothes and shoes at aid station 4 after crossing a significant number of creeks. Dry shoes can make all the difference on the last few miles of an ultra run. Especially when you frequently struggle with blisters like myself. My drop bag included a spare pair of Mizuno Wave Ascend 3 trail shoes, Thorlos Level 1 padded running socks, a pair of running shorts and a short sleeve tech shirt. This would come in handy on the first "warm" day of the year at mile 22 of a 31 mile race.

17 February 2010

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So, the original plan for today was 10 easy miles, meaning at a slow and relaxed pace. I was going to run 6 miles with Rich at lunch followed by another 4 miles this evening with the local youth club soccer team I train. I have been taking them on conditioning runs every Wednesday evening during the spring and fall soccer seasons. However, Richard had to cancel on our run so I decided to only run the 4 miles with the soccer team. We started the run at a leisurely pace on Indian Creek Greenway and followed the greenway for about one mile until we turned onto a short natural trail section that runs along a creek and in parallel to the greenway. This made for an interesting little detour on our usual greenway run. At the end of this short trail section, we had to cross the section of a stream by walking across a dead tree. After I crossed the stream first I went back to make sure none of the guys would slip. Instead, I experienced a first for me. Yes, I managed wipe out. Not while I was on the trails on a long run in solitude. Not during a big ultra trail race. Oh no, instead I waited to land on my back in front of a bunch of 11 to 12 year olds, who were just too happy to be the audience for their coach. However, I was impressed that smart comments were kept to a minimum. I somehow managed to get mud into and onto everything. My pants, gloves and top and even my Forerunner. Thank god it's waterproof. Otherwise the clean-up would have been much more difficult. When I hit the shower after the run, I realized I even got dirt in my mouth. The taste wasn't so bad, but the crunching between my teeth was annoying. Anyway, tomorrow is a rest day and Friday will be a light 2 miler as warm-up for Saturday's Black Warrior 50K.

16 February 2010

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Enough with the cold temps already. Really! Rich and I met up during lunch to finally get back into our speed and hill workouts on a weekly basis. This week, a hill workout was on the training schedule and we found a nice hill at the end of Indian Creek Greenway to use for this purpose. We started the workout with a 1 mile warm-up run on the greenway, which would be followed by 10 sprints up the hill with each sprint followed by a recovery jog down the hill. Finally, we would run another mile on the greenway to cool down.
The wind was really cold and our lungs were already hurting during our warm-up. The first uphill sprint was next, followed by our first recovery jog back down. One down, nine to go. After the second uphill sprint Rich was cursing me already, followed by the third sprint and a curse for the hill, followed by the forth sprint. At this point, Rich had no energy left to curse anything. Actually, we had no air left to do any talking, let alone cursing. Our recovery jogs felt shorter and shorter. As our energy diminished, our downhill jogs became faster and faster, because we did not try to slow ourselves down. Funny how that works. With 4 sprints up the hill to go, Rich was certain that we only had 2 or 3 sprints at the most to go. Sorry, Rich. We kept going and somehow breathing as well. After the eighth sprint, I was certain I was going to leave last night's dinner on the side of the road. Recovery came slower and slower and the bottom of the hill approached faster and faster, only to have to turn around again for another sprint uphill. Our speech became slurred and the conversation consisted of one word exchanges, where each of us would have to fill in the ten missing words. Richard's "Walk"..."Bottom"..."Hill" actually meant "Let's walk all the way down to the bottom of the hill before we start our final one mile cool down run". No further explanations necessary, I was right there with him and knew exactly what he meant. I am just glad he had to utter the words and not me. Everything was an effort at this point. The one mile cool down literally functioned as a cool down in the worst sense of these words. It was cold and our exhausted bodies quickly started to freeze running into the wind. Once we finally completed our cool down, we were both glad it was over. By the way, we covered 5.5 miles during this speed/hill workout and we definitely felt every single yard of it.

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The timing could not have been more perfect. I arrived at Richard's house at 5PM in order to go for a 7-8 mile trail run. We both grabbed our headlamps and I tried out a new red safetly light as well, figuring we might need it running to and from the trails. We also had to bundle up, as temps where in the low 20s. We stepped out of the door to start our run at 5:05 PM. At 5:06 PM, snow was coming down at a steady pace. We were in for a night trail run, with mud, ice and snow. The mountain was a winter wonderland. Man, it really was a ton of fun. I am sure it helps when you don't get seriously hurt, even though Rich did turn his ankle pretty badly during the run. But he was able to continue. Rich happens to be a member of the Land Trust Board that owns part of the trails on Monte Sano mountain and he had been tasked with looking for an illegal trail someone had apparently cut between some official trails. This would make the run even more interesting, especially considering that we could barely see the trail in front of our feet. 5 miles into our run, we actually spotted the trail. Mission accomplished. We continued our run without any further major injuries. When we reached the road leading down the mountain, weather conditions had worsened and the roads were iced over already. Thankfully, the sidewalk was still fairly safe to run on. This was a fun trail run with anything you can wish for, snow, ice, mud, and a great view of the city lights. Tomorrow, we have a hill workout near Indian Creek Greenway on the calendar. Because of the icy conditions, we are going to wait until our lunch break to take care of that.

14 February 2010

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After the 2 mile race at 2:00 PM, I decided to run the 4 mile race with my fiancé at 2:30 PM. This was the first time she ran a 4 mile race, so I wanted to be sure to run it together with her for moral support. The course for this race shared the same first 1.5 miles as the 2 mile race and then changed direction. During the entire race, we had a nice view of a small local mountain while running through nice and quiet residential neighborhoods. We ran the entire 4 miles at a very consistent pace from start to finish. It was a very enjoyable race since the weather conditions were really perfect for a race. We had a slight overcast with temps in the high 40s and no precipitation. This was a welcome surprise, because we have had winter weather advisories and warnings all weekend and the morning actually started with snowfall followed by rain and sleet. However, it all cleared before noon. Just by coincidence, I had the chance to meet the gentleman that actually designed both race courses just before the race. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him and the other race volunteers for putting this event together and for supporting us runners before, during and after the race. On a side note, my fiancé already asked me to sign us up for another race next month. I think she might be hooked.

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I did not really prepare for this race the way I should have and normally do. I did not get enough sleep last night and I used the wrong type of fluids to hydrate. To be more specific, I ended up heading out with the boys for a few drinks last night. Not a good idea at all and not something I recommend anyone ever do. So while I had initially planned to go all out at the 2 mile race and run the 4 mile race with my fiancé at a more conservative pace, I adjusted my plan to "just finish it without incident". However, when I lined up in the second row at the starting line, my competitive nature took over and I decided to push hard until I would feel the need to back off the pace. I felt pretty good the first mile, but started to struggle a bit during the second mile. The first mile included a longer incline section followed by a nice downhill slope that allowed me to recover and pick up the pace a little. I tried to keep a consistent pace and managed to do it without blowing up my heart rate. Whohoo, I realized after looking at my Garmin data once I got home that I actually managed to run negative splits. That was definitely a first for me. I even had some energy left to push a little harder on the final quarter mile. Because I had checked the race guidelines before the race, I realized that my age group was much larger than usual covering a 10 year age span, so I did not expect to place at all. Imagine my surprise when I checked the official results that were posted at the race venue to see that I finished 20th overall and 3rd in my age group.  Not too bad a start for a Sunday afternoon of races. Maybe I can do even better with the appropriate race preparation next time around.

13 February 2010

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Getting up at 5AM on the weekend really isn't as much fun as you would think. I woke up to temps in the high 20s. The most difficult part of my run this morning was the walk into my garage to grab my running clothes. I just did not want to go out there. Once I got dressed I drove over to Richard's house, where we would start our trail run. While Richard had originally planned to go for 10 miles, I opted for a 6-7 mile run. I just don't want to overdo it. He was happy with the shorter route and we got in a quality trail run. We ran a section of the Railroad Trail and looped past Fagan Spring to pick up the infamous "Cotton Row" hill towards the end of our run. We both managed to run it and I did recover rather quickly. Of course, Richard figured I must be overtraining since my heart rate did not exceed 170 running up the hill. I obviously disagree. Overall, a good run today. I am looking forward to push the pace in the 2 mile race tomorrow, followed by a 4 mile race with my better half, where I will be running with her in an attempt to keep her motivated through her longest race, yet.

12 February 2010

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Please please please, I need some warmer temps. Well, at least it wasn't as cold as Wednesday morning. Two layers worked well and my face mask was overkill, so I took it off after the first mile. I managed to get my heart rate into its target zone after just half a mile. How did I do that you ask? I got barked at by two enormous dogs that were standing in a neighborhood front yard without any type of leash. I guess their owners thought that no one was crazy enough to be out and about at 5 AM in the morning. At least the barking wasn't followed by a chase. Thank god, I was not in the mood for a foot race with two dogs this early in the morning. Actually, I don't think I will ever be in the mood to be chased by dogs, even though I had been informed many times that that would be the only reason anyone should ever run. Richard was running late this morning, so he drove to meet me half way between my house and his office, where we would meet up with the rest of our running group, Mike and James. Once at the office, we ran a route new to me, which made the run much more entertaining. We included the local outdoor mall "Bridge Street" in our loop which allowed us to integrate some stairs as well as a non-working escalator into our workout. Hey, anything to keep the runs entertaining. Twelve miles total for the day. During the run, Rich and I also decided that it was time to get back to working speed and hills into our workouts again starting next week. He dared to call some of our miles "junk mileage". You got it. Starting next week, we will be alternating speed one day a week and hills the following week.

10 February 2010

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An early morning run coupled with a late afternoon run, what a treat. I managed to get my 10 miles in today, even though it took two attempts. It is ridiculously cold these days. Another low 20s on this one. I managed to run the Indian Creek Greenway up and down a couple of times. I noticed some other runners out tonight as well. At least I'm not the only nut out there. If I can run through the winter, I believe there is no reason not to keep up running throughout the entire year, at least as far the weather is concerned. I am still shunning the speed and hill workouts, but I decided to give it another shot tomorrow. If not tomorrow, next week for sure. I want to continue to work on speed at least once a week. It really helps my overall running, not just my overall speed. I am already being challenged to go out and run with my fiancé in the morning. I'm feeling pretty good and I have a feeling she won't let go until I agree to join her. It's my own fault; I turned her on to running.

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What a morning, temps in the low 20s as I walked out the door at 5:45AM. I was wearing three layers from top to bottom. Hey, at least I got to try out the face mask I recently purchased for just this case. I met James at his office and we took off to meet Mike a mile into our run. He had taken off running from home and was running late. This run started as a pick-up run and turned into what I would call a speed workout. We continued to pick up speed throughout the entire run (3.9 miles), followed by a sprint with a tenth of a mile to go. Not really how you are supposed to finish a run, but it definitely got my heart rate up there. I will follow up this "speed" workout with an easy jog of 4-6 miles tonight. I've got to get my miles in.

09 February 2010

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The Delano Park 12 Hour Race in Decatur, Alabama is just a little over a month away and I figured I'd provide a quick update. While I initially mainly registered for this race out of curiosity, I now have multiple other reasons to participate and to try to do well, personally and mileage-wise. First, shortly after I registered for this race, I was "invited" to participate in a really cool ultra marathon, the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal (Kiel Canal) 108K Run. I figured a 12 hour race would be great preparation for this type of event. Also, I decided to associate myself with a worthy cause for the 12 hour race, Team ACS (American Cancer Society) in honor of my grandmother, a two-time cancer survivor herself. I hope to raise awareness as well as funds to further the research to find a cure for cancer. So far, a lot of friends and family have already stepped up and graciously donated money upfront. Some brave folks decided to take me up on my challenge to match every lap (1 mile) I finish during these 12 hours with a 1 dollar donation. It is my goal to run 50 miles for this worthy cause. Please feel free to participate and support this cause by visiting my personal Team ACS page.

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I had originally planned to take off this morning at 5:15AM and run 4 miles to Richard's house, return to my house and pick up my fiancé for a 4.3 mile look around UAH while Richard would continue his run on to his office. However, when I woke up at 4:45AM to get ready, I had received a text from Rich stating that he was sick and would try to get over it with some extra sleep. He planned to join me after work for some hill training. Well, when 4 o'clock came around, Richard had texted me again to let me know he was out sick indefinitely. So what was I to do? Earlier that day, I also received the heads up from my better half that she was in no mood to run today either. That left me. The weather wasn't very inviting either. Temperatures had dropped significantly over the afternoon to just below freezing and the wind made it even worse. So much so that I was literally cussing out loud to the wind (or rather myself) every time I made that turn into the wind on my loop around the university. As I plodded along, it got darker and darker and colder and colder. The wind felt like it was cutting my face. But I was out here now and I wanted to log my mileage as planned. I am a sucker for stats and mileage and I was going to stick to my plan of 10 miles minimum for today. I wanted to make sure to match or exceed last week's daily mileage to stay on track with my training. During this run, I managed to listen to 3 entire podcasts related to running, Ashland Dave's "Running in the Center of the Universe", Chad W. & J. Peter H.'s "Running the Distance" and last but not least Chris Russell's "RunRunLive 2.0". I originally tried out about 25 different running related podcasts and found that about 10 of those kept my interest. The three listed here are part of that select group. I am sure I will mention the other seven in my future blogs. One thing I've found while listening to these podcasts is that I am not as special as I thought I was. Actually, I am quite average. Why do I now think that I am average? Well, while listening to these podcasts, I always find one thing (quite often the major topic of the conversation) that I have in common with one of the authors, hosts or speakers. Whether it is the 10 extra pounds I can't seem to lose even though I run almost 60 miles a week now, or the urge to indulge in massive amounts of food after running, or the love hate relationship with running, and on and on, the similarities are endless.  Anyway, this was my first solo run in over a month and I have found these running podcasts to be welcome entertainment, even stimulating. I find that listening to them on a low level while running allows me to still be aware of my environment, be it cars or the occasional dog chasing after me.
I am still wussing out on my speed and hill work but I will integrate it back into my training soon. Physically, I felt pretty good on tonight's run. No twitches or pains. I managed to run almost 13 miles. Not too bad for a Tuesday evening run. Tomorrow's temps are even less promising than today. 26 degrees with wind chills making it feel like 14 degrees. The joys of running in the winter. I know I sound whiny but this is Alabama, the Deep South, it is not supposed to be cold here.

08 February 2010

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So it looks like I got my morning run in just in time today. It actually started to snow literally one minute after I walked in the door after my run. Go figure that one out. This was definitely not in the forecast. When I left the house shortly after Richard arrived from his house shortly after 5AM this morning, the temps were below freezing, but the forecast predicted a warm-up of 5 degrees by the time I was going to get back from my run. I was bundled up with a base layer shirt and my winter running jacket, reflective vest, running tights, gloves and a hat. My reflective vest has become a staple item for almost every run since I started running this early during the winter.
By the time we left my house, Richard had already logged 4 miles running from his house with a full backpack in preparation for his Chile race. Once we got closer to the office, James and Mike met up with us to run back to the office to drop of Richard's backpack before we would go on another 4 or 5 mile run around the Explorer Blvd loop. All in all, it was an easy run. Once we got closer to the office, I decided to break from the group and turn back home. This added another 3.5 miles to the 8 miles I had just completed. I was on track for my weekly goal mileage of 60.

06 February 2010

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Richard and I had just finished our 11 mile "warm-up" run when we arrived at the starting line and my fiancee and my son had arrived just minutes before us and I was able to add another layer of clothing for the wait of the race. I had decided to run the race alongside my fiancee for "moral" support on her first race in years. Rich and my son took off after about half a mile into the race. Less than a mile into the race, we saw the race leaders already returning from the turn around point, which was way too early. Well, I figured we'd just be running the same out & back stretch on the greenway twice to make up the distance. Imagine my surprise when people started cheering for us at what I thought would be another turn around point. Apparently, the recent rainfalls had flooded part of the greenway which had forced the race director to cut the course short. I just figured they would make us run the stretch out and back twice rather than finish the race after 1.6 miles. While I certainly understood that weather is unpredictable, I had really wished they would just let people run the shortened course twice. The disappointment was even greater for my fiancee, who had hoped to use this 5K race as a test for next weekend's 4 mile race. Hopefully, they will come up with a better alternative should next year's event experience a similar fate. However, the post race food and drinks were excellent. Subway sandwiches, hot chocolate, bananas, etc. Well done. I just wish it had been a longer race. While I was afraid that my training schedule for today was too ambitious, I am very glad I did run 11 miles before the race. Better luck next year. By the way, the official results showed that my fiancee finished second in her age group. Not bad at all.

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I woke up to yet another cold morning and the weatherman predicted no warm-up in temps for the rest of the day. That meant an early morning drizzle followed by a chance of light snow. Oh fun, that's what I want for my weekly long run at 6 in the morning. Anyway, I drove over to Rich's house so we could start our run there. Yesterday, I decided spontaneously to run the Grissom High School JROTC Wounded Warrior 5K with my fiance and son and figured it would be great to tie that in with our weekend long run. So Rich and I decided to leave his house and run along sections of the Rocket City Marathon course for about eleven miles to the starting line of the 5K race. We thought it would be kind of cool to run an 11 mile warm-up for a 3.1 mile race. Everything went well, Rich and I ran an easy pace and reached the starting line exactly 20 minutes prior to the start of the race. We only struggled a bit on the final mile of that warm-up run since it consisted of a serious uphill run that really challenged our knees and quads. So far, so good.

05 February 2010

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The mornings seem to start earlier and earlier, but once I get going it's alright. Temps are in the low 40s this morning and it's still drizzling outside. I stepped outside my door at 5:15AM. I had new route on the menu for today. I went from my house near UAH to Richard's house at Five Points, picked him up and returned back to my house, where he proceeded to continue his run to his office, after running my neighborhood loop for good measure. He is even less stable than me. Anyway, the temperatures on today's run were fine and I also wasn't bothered by the rain. What did bother me was the headwind I had to deal with for the entire run over to Rich's house. That really blew. I got my 8.8 miles in and we have something even more interesting planned for Saturday, which you will be able to read on tomorrow's training log/race report blog.

04 February 2010

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So much for a rest day. I just couldn't help it. After I got off work I felt like going for a run. And most of the ultra training plans I found online and reference for my own training schedule all suggest resting or running an easy 4 miles. I opted for the 4 miles, 4.7 miles to be exact. I felt really good. However, the weather was not very inviting, low 40s with a constant rain. And more rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. But I wasn't deterred. However, it did keep me from being stupid and running further than would have been good for me. I was comfortable for most of the run, but my quads did feel kind of numb from the cold on the final mile. Hopefully the rain will subside overnight. I have another 9 miler planned for 5AM tomorrow.

03 February 2010

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What a glorious morning...NOT. 4:30AM came way too quickly this morning and temperatures had dipped down closer to freezing again. At least it was dry. I had prepped two bottles of Cytomax the night before as this morning's run was going to be a longer one. I opted for shorts, a long sleeve tech shirt with a fleece over it and thin gloves. From the distance I must have looked like a wobbling bicycle coming down the road this morning. I was wearing both my headlamp and a red flashing light for the rear as I headed out the front door of my house. Out of our running group of four, three of us had decided to start our runs from home and basically meet at the top of the Rainbow Mountain trails to finish the run together back at their office. However, I decided to meet up with Richard at his office on my way to Rainbow Mountain, so we could run together. I should have thought that through. This time commitment to meet him at his office at 5:30AM sharp to make it up the mountain trails by 6:30AM meant that I could not be late. Unfortunately, I did leave the house ten minutes late which meant that I had to run what I'd call a four mile pick-up run in order to get to the meeting spot on time. And I did get there in time, exhausted but punctual. From there, Richard and I ran through Research Park straight towards Rainbow Mountain and its trail. Richard had forgotten his headlamp at home and still decided to lead us up the mountain. After barely 20 yards on the trail he took his first, and only, dive of the day. I gave him a 9.9 technical score his ability to recover quickly. As we approach the top of Rainbow Mountain, James and Mike had already arrived, shouting at us from the distance to hurry up. Hey, we arrived at the meeting point at exactly 6:30AM, just as planned. We descended down the mountain trail at a blistering pace. For some reason, James was feeling just that good. Anyway, by the time we reached the bottom of the mountain, we had all regrouped again to finish the run together. At around mile 10, my right quad started to twitch again. I hope to get over this soon. Some regular stretching and good old Ibuprofen should do the trick. Over 13 miles for the day. It is Wednesday morning and almost all of us already logged over 30 miles these past three days. We are all well on schedule with our training and decided a rest day was in order for tomorrow.

02 February 2010

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Another great morning for a run. The temps have finally climbed up enough to ditch the hat and gloves, at least for now. The weatherman said its 44 degrees outside. Good enough for me. My usual 5AM running buddies were either running on their own today or taking a day off. I decided last night to use this opportunity to run with my fiancé on her first 4 miler on the road in preparation for her first 4 mile race in a couple of weeks. I also wanted to get outside to give my new toy (Garmin Forerunner 310XT) a trial run. Read my review here. In order to keep my weekly mileage up in preparation for my next ultra, I went ahead and ran a 4 mile loop on my old stomping ground, the UAH campus. I've logged so many miles on this campus running from my house, that I know every distance by heart, regardless of where you decide to turn to extend or shorten your run. Running this course also allowed me to run back to my house to pick up my fiancé for her 4 miler. After pushing quite a bit on yesterday's first run, I decided to take the foot of the gas on both loops today. However, we still managed to run quite a decent pace for the second half of my run. Not bad at all for her first 4 miles of continued running on the road. By the way, I was hoping to come across Richard on his way to work but our paths never crossed. Maybe he's running a different route. 8 miles total for the day.

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I was as giddy as a 5 year old when I arrived home from work last night. Before I left the office, I had checked the tracking number of a package I was expecting and it was due to arrive that afternoon. Sure enough, the package was at the front door when I got home. After having received a Garmin Forerunner 305 as a birthday present 2 1/2 years ago, I have not been running without it. It has become as essential as my running shoes, at least for me. However, 6 months ago I decided to upgrade to the Garmin Forerunner 405, for which I had found an absolute steal of a deal on Craigslist.org. I just liked the new smaller design and the touch bezel and all of the other cool features. As you can tell, I am a sucker for tech toys. I plan to review both of those devices in the near future as well. In brief, while I certainly liked the 405 with all of its great features, it was exactly some of those new features that also became its biggest drawback. The touch bezel, for example, while certainly a cool feature, also created big problems on my runs. Any type of sweat or rain would cause it to activate and select random features. To avoid this, I was able to lock the bezel while still being able to start and stop my workouts with the side buttons. However, locking the bezel also locked the back light feature, so I was unable to read my Garmin during my early morning runs without deactivating the bezel, etc. In short, it was not worth the effort. Second, I had just finished my second 50K ultra trail marathon and realized that the battery life wasn't quite up to par either. While the 405 made it all the way past the finish line, it did die on me shortly thereafter. If you look at my upcoming races at the bottom of my blog, you will realize very quickly why that is a problem. I have a 12 hour race and a 108K race coming up and I really do not want to run out of juice during these runs. Enter the Garmin Forerunner 310XT.

01 February 2010

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This was a first for me. Two training runs in one day. I figured I'd start taking every opportunity to go running right now. I have some long races coming up within the next 5 months and who knows how busy I'll get in the next few weeks. Anyway, by midday today the temperatures had heated up a bit, so I no longer needed long running pants. Just shorts and a long sleeve tech shirt with a long sleeve fleece top for the warm-up mile. But I ended up not getting much of a warm-up lap. As it turned out Richard was feeling really really good and it showed in his pace. I kept hearing how the three days of rest over the weekend had helped him, etc. and how he felt like pushing. It's my own fault. You can't go running twice in one day and complain that your legs might not be as fresh as your running partner's. In any case, we ended up settling in at a nice pace on Indian Creek Greenway, so that I got another brisk run in for the day. This run turned out to be 5.7 miles, since we ran the entire greenway trail out and back. That adds up to 10 1/2 miles for the day.

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It was yet another chilly morning in Alabama and I wasn't quite sure where I was as the alarm clock ripped me from another wonderful night of sleep. Well, the temperatures were in the low 20s and I still have to get my running gear from the garage. First, it's time for that morning cup of coffee. After that, the temps would have warmed up a couple of notches to a more tolerable 24 degrees. Who was I kidding, I should have just gone to get my stuff from the garage to get ready. Anyway, I meet two of my running buddies at the usual meeting spot, their office. Richard plans to run later today due to family commitments, so I decided for some reason to join him for his run later today as well. What was I thinking? Anyway, it is definitely long sleeve two layer all around weather this morning. We decided to run a rather short distance this morning with maybe a couple of pickups in between. Mike had already run 5 miles from his house to the office and I had another run today, so I was fined with that. Well, someone should explain to Mike and James that a couple of pickups do not mean to keep running faster and faster as the run continues. I kept waiting for the slowdown that never came. Anyway, we got in a nice and fast 4.8 miles and I hopefully have some legs left for the second run of the day at noon.

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So I finally convinced my fiancee to go for a trail run with me. However, I almost turned her off of it before we ever really got going. For people who do not know me, I am LOST without any type of GPS device, be it running, driving or doing anything else that requires some sense of direction. As a result, I turned what was meant to be an easy 2 mile introduction to trail running into a 4 1/2 mile trail adventure that included significant climbs as well as icy slopes. Not really the best way to convince someone that you are not crazy and that this is actually fun. Anyway, my getting lost allowed us to drop a layer of clothing when we passed our car during the unscheduled detour. The temps atop of Monte Sano Mountain where in the low 30s and required two layers on top as well as gloves and a hat.

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