30 April 2010

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Richard and I met for a short 2 miler to loosen up our legs for tomorrow's challenge, the Strolling Jim 40 Miler in Wartrace, Tennessee. The weather forecast shows nothing but rain and strong thunderstorms. Should be fun. Our goal will be a sub 7 hour finish, but after talking to some previous participants, that goal might have to become a secondary target. Finishing the race is now the first priority. Apparently, there are some serious hills in addition to a course that consists purely of rolling hills anyway. I can't wait.

27 April 2010

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The countdown continues, four days until Strolling Jim. I went for an easy 6 miler during lunch today. Perfect running weather. Low 60s with overcast skies and a light drizzle. It would be great to have this type of weather on Saturday, but the forecast is predicting thunderstorms all day and that is not what I call perfect running weather. Well, well, still better than 100 degrees with 99% humidity and no wind;-) Anyway, tapering continues. My cross training for tomorrow is actually a socer game with my men's team. Thursday, Richard and I will be going for our final run of the week prior to the race. We figure it is better to rest at this point. We'll do plenty of running on Saturday.

26 April 2010

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While a long run was on our schedule, Richard and I opted for a new, shorter run with lots of uphill early on. We ended up running about 7 miles with the first 3 miles uphill. Not a bad run. We ended up running a section on Monte Sano I hadn't run before, the Flat Rock Connector trail section from Bankhead Parkway. Once we reached the end of the road near Highway 72, we headed back through Oakwood and a couple of other roads I don't recall. Anyway, it was a decent workout to ring in our taper week. My body is telling me to rest, while my mind tells me that I'm not ready, I need more miles. Saturday is coming up fast and I am really excited about Strolling Jim, but I am also worried I did not log enough miles. I only have about 200 miles over the last 4 weeks. I hope that's enough. I'm just running to finish ayway. Well, in the upper half of the field, at least.

24 April 2010

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Well, well, a 12-15 miler planned for today turned into a 4 1/2 mile tempo run. Not by choice. Rather, the impeeding weather forced me to cut my run short. As a result, I tried to at least push the pace a little more than usual on my training runs. I really need to do that more often. I usually find a comfortanle pace and stick with it on longer runs. I should inject some pick-ups and tempos runs into those longer runs for sure. However, today I had to head home. Lightning and tornado warnings are a good indicator that it is time to cut a training run short. Anyway, that just means I have to get up early in the AM to get a longer run in. After that, it's time to taper for the Strolling Jim 40 Miler next weekend. I am really pumped about that one. Running 40 miles on my 39th birthday seems like an appropriate birthday present. In addition, it's been a while since my last ultra, so I am just ready to get back out there. My last ultra was the Delano 12 Hour Race in March.

22 April 2010

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'Twas that time again...hill work. Man,was it tough today. Richard and I opted to head towards the infamous Cotton Row hill. No "Eye of The Tiger" tonight (Sorry, you'll only get that reference if you've run the Cotton Row 10K before). One and a half miles there, all uphill already. the "hill" ten times and one and a half miles back. That was the plan anyway. Unfortunately, Richard "croaked" during the sixth uphill sprint. Sorry, Richard, I did feel for you;-( Hope you've recovered by now. So this is how my workout went. First time up the hill, I was definitely sprinting.Yet, Richard did beat me. I think he might have pushed just a little too hard early on. Second time up, I was still sprinting...though with a little less intensity, not for the lack of trying though. Third time, still sprinting...well, kinda. I know I was still thinking in my head that I was sprinting. And there were a couple of people that lived on the street that were shaking their heads while watching us run.So I am certain they also thought I was still sprinting...well, at least running. The fourth time, I was charging up the hill still, well...i meant to. Maybe it looked more like crawling but hey, the first letter was the same. Runs 5, 6 and 7 are a blurr. With the exception of loosing my running buddy half way up the hill on the sixth run. The eighth run marked the final climb up the hill, legs burning, lungs hurting, and heart rate near exploding. We had already run uphill all the way on our warm-up lap, so I figured we could cut out the last 2 uphill runs. It was a pretty tough workout after all and we deserved a break.

21 April 2010

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Another 4:30 AM wake-up call, another night cut short. At least that's how I feel. But I do love getting the workouts done in the morning before heading to work. After leaving the usual meeting place at the office of my compadres around 5:15 AM, we kept a leasurely pace due to different ailments and pains within the running group. It seemed only James had fresh legs or at least he was acting that way, pushing at every hill. Well, that's really not unusual for James at all. In any case, we kept a slower than usual pace to stay together. The temperatures weren't really inviting you to the outdoors this morning either. How could it be down in the 40s again? Never mind, I just added an extra layer (wind breaker) and that kept me warm. Richard, on the other hand, did not and his "cold -blooded" genetic predisposition (I never used that term before;-) really made him miserable, to say the least. Apparently, his upper extremeties started to go numb on him, moving from the hands up to the elbows. Poor guy, especially with me more or less asking him to suck it up. We ended up running our usual Rainbow loop, a short two mile trail loop sandwiched between 8 miles of road running. It's a really nice way to break up the consistent pounding of the asphalt. Anyway, we all finished the run together, logging a little over 10 miles as planned. I did another short 4 miler after work on Indian Creek Greenway, which should keep me on target for my goal mileage for this week.

20 April 2010

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After resting yesterday, I felt like I needed to crank it up a notch today. So after joing Richard on his run to the office and running back to my house to get ready for work, I had only logged 8 miles and felt like I neded to head out again for another 6 or so miles or so later in the day. At luch, I headed home to go for a quick 6 miles, but I really felt tired after just a mile into my usual UAH loop run, so I decided to cut it short and just run one 4.3 mile loop. Oddly enough, after mile 2, I got my energy back and I felt ok. But now I was already mentally prepared to head home after one loop. On top of that, I got hungry, really hungry. That is very unusual for me as I generally just get thirsty, especially as it gets hotter and hotter every day here in the South. As a result, I headed back after 4.5 miles and immediately raided the cereal boxes once at home. For some reason, I felt like eating huge bowls of cereal with ice cold milk. No idea why. Anyway, I logged 12 1/2 miles for the day and I am ready for more. I'd like to get 60 miles in this week before starting to taper next week for the Strolling Jim 40 Miler. I am excited and very nervous at the same time. For some reason, the race results posted for this race from previous years seem just a little too long for a road race. Well, well, I better be ready for anything. I hear a lot of "real" ultra runners participate in this event and it will be interesting for a newbie like me to participate in an ultra road event like this.

19 April 2010

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The weather was perfect for a nice short family trail run today. We opted for the South Plateau Loop this afternoon to see how everyone liked running on trails. This loop is perfect for a family run on the trails. It is long enough to be considered a workout, yet level enough not to be too difficult for young runners. It ended up being 3 1/4 miles, mostly shaded with a nice view off the South side of Monte Sano Mountain. I think I've managed to turn my fiance on to running for good. I'm just not sure about my son, yet. He is an athelete for sure, but running does not quite yet have the allure to him that baseball and soccer have, I think. Next weekend, we'll try for another trail on the mountain and see how that goes.
On a side note, on our drive up Bankhead Parkway towards the state park we saw David Riddle running up Pratt Ave, on a training run up the mountain, I assume. Doing our speed work last week, I remember thinking that my Yasso 800s were slower than the average pace David ran during the entire Rocket City Marathon. One man's speed work is anlother man's marathon pace. That is one scary thought, to say the least. It can also be kind of depressing, if you consider yourself a competitive athlete of sorts;-) I wonder what his next big race is going to be.

17 April 2010

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Richard and I decided to make the local 5K race count as a training run for our upcoming Strolling Jim 40 Mile Run in two weeks. How did we do that, you ask? Well, we added a 14 mile warm up run to the start of the race. We met and my house at 4:45 AM and left from there to run a route Richard had worked out the day before. We would basically be able to run anywhere between 14 to 17 miles prior to the race and shorten it, if we needed or wanted to. We ended up running 14 miles to the start of the race. We had perfect running weather with temps in the upper 50s when we left my house. My legs felt a little heavy early on from this week's mileage. We cruised at a comfortable pace of just under 10 minutes per mile. Since I wasn't going to race the 5K for a PR, I opted to pace my fiancee to reach her personal best and it worked. Once we reached the finish, we enjoyed the largest selection of cookies I have ever seen. There must have been at least over 50 different cookies to choose from. A nice way to refuel after a long training run. This run also gave me the opportunity to try out the new Nathan 2 liter hydration vest I recently purchased and had yet to try out and review. You can read details about my experience in the gear review I will post on this blog. There are only two weeks left until the Strolling Jim 40 Mile Run, an ultra marathon road race in Southern Tennessee, just about an hour north of Huntsville. I'll shoot for another 50-60 mile week before tapering the last week prior to the race. The Strolling Jim will be my last training race prior to the 108K race I am running in Germany in early June.

15 April 2010

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It was that time again; speed work. I really don't like it, but it does the trick. And I always feel much better after I complete it. It's just one of those things that hurts, but the results are really worth it. We ended up meeting at lunch time and the mileage for the entire workout totalled 7.5 miles including the warm up and cool down. The temperatures were already in the lower 80s. The workout consisted of a one mile warm up, which we ran from my running mates' office to a new road section in Research Park. We figured all school tracks would potentially be in use during the lunch hour, so we opted for a still closed stretch of road. James brought some chalk so we could mark the turn around points, etc. The training schedule I created called for seven 800m sprints, each followed by 400m recovery jogs/walks. At the end, we would do another one mile cool down back to the office. This workout is also called the Yasso 800s, which I explained in an earlier training log entry. It has all kinds of race related benefits. Aside from allowing you to become a faster runner (who doesn't like that), it also allows you to unscientifically predict your marathon pace. If you want to know more about that particular benefit, google "Yasso 800" and you will find your answer. Speed work in the mid day sun is so much fun. No, not really. But it gets you ready for those races during the hot summer days. Even better, speed work makes you a faster runner, no matter what your preferred race distance, from 5k to ultra distances. I sure am glad though that I did not have to do this workout by myself. There is nothing worse to me than doing hill work or speed work by yourself. While I don't mind doing long runs alone, I prefer company during those high intensity workouts. Hopefully, I am again another step closer to being a faster marathoner and ultra marathoner.

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Three of our usual running group members got together at lunch time for a quick six miles at Indian Creek Greenway and up and down the Rainbow Mountain trail loop. The heat really requires some getting used to again. We ended up running it at a decent pace, considering that we also had to run up the mountain as part of this run. Aside from being desperately thirsty, I was feeling pretty good. So good, in fact, that I added another 3.5 miles after work, making it 9.5 miles for the day. I ended up doing a bit of a tempo run, which definitely had me struggling towards the end. Overall, not a bad day for me. Tomorrow, real speed work is on the schedule. Let's see how that goes.

13 April 2010

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It seems I get up earlier and earlier every day. Today, I had meeting schedueld to start at 8 AM, so I decided to get my run in early. I got up at 4:30 AM, had a cup of coffee, ... and left the house by 5:15 AM. It was dark and the temps were already very mild. Once I got to the UAH campus, I had already warmed up nicely. As I was running, I decided to get 4 loops (or 12 miles total) in for today. I was still feeling bad for not having run at all yesterday. But hey, that just means I already had my rest day for the week. 60 miles is the goal for the week. While the Strolling Jim 40 Mile Run on May 1 is meant as a birthday present to myself as well as a training run for my 108K in June, I still want to get my mileage back up to my personal max.

11 April 2010

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I finally took a rest day yesterday after six straight days of running. That meant back on the road again today. Since it was family day, I took this opportunity to run with my better half for the first 7 miles. Afterwards, I added another loop to make it a 9.5 mile training run. Since I ran the first 7 miles at a slower than usual pace, I opted for a significant pickup run at the end. I turned out to be a great training run. The weather was sunny and mild and when we got to the first turn of our UAH loop, the road was closed off for a collegiate cycling road race. When we came around for our second loop, we actually got the "final lap" bell from the cycling race administrators. Well, not really. We just happened to "start" our second lap at the same time as the cyclists came through for the final lap of their race. In any case, it made our run more interesting.

09 April 2010

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Since Richard was somewhat indisposed today and James was out as well, Mike and I ended up meeting at the hikers' parking lot at Monte Sano State Park to go for a run on a section of the Dizzy Fifties loop (the easy loop;-) We ended up logging a little over seven miles on a beatiful morning. At the start of the run, I used my headlamp to point the way as it was still pretty dark. After about twenty minutes, the sun started to provide enough light for the trails and Mike and I were able to run without any additional light source. With temperatures in the low 40s, it was perfect running weather. Mike and I had decided to take it easy after yesterday's hill workout, but the conditions were good enough to comfortably run a sub 10 minute pace, which isn't too bad for us on a trail training run. Anyway, the views of the surrounding mountains were spectacular today. Fog was hanging between the mountains and gave you the illusion of large lakes between them. It really was fantastic. Too bad I never bring a camera on my runs. This would have been worth it. The run felt great, no stiffness to speak of, just a little soreness from yesterday's workout. This time, I did bring Gatorade to hydrate during our run. I need to remember that it is just too sweet/sugary for my taste. I should stick to water or Heed.

08 April 2010

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Two words, hill workout. Richard, Mike and I meet at Indian Creek Greenway for the much dreaded hill workout we have been putting off for a while. Each one of us had already worked out an excuse not to make it, but in the end, we all opted to just get it done. We started with a one mile warmup and headed to the hill. The hill is actually the road leading into this neighborhood park and greenway. It is a 0.15 miles hill with the first half of it being very steep. If you're local, think Cotton Row 10K, slightly less steep, but longer. The first one went ok. After the second, we started to count already. This felt pretty rough. The temperatures had warmed up again after an overnight thunderstorm and we were still adjusting to the warmth of the midday sun. On the third run, we all started to feel it. At this point, three down, seven to go sounded really unappealing. It didn't feel much better, either. We continued to push each other up the hill, over and over agin. Not in words, just by trying to beat each other or hang with each other. Before we knew it, we had climbed the hill for the tenth and final time. After our recovery downhill jog, we finished with a one mile cooldown. It all added up to just over 5 miles. As bad as I physically felt, heavy legs, headache, etc. I was really glad we did it. The value of hill and speed workouts cannot be overemphasized, no matter what type of event you train for, be it a 5K road race a 50 Mile trail run. Next week, it's a speed workout on one of the local tracks. Oh joy.

07 April 2010

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Another warm morning. Looks like we might go straight into summer again, skipping spring all together. Three of us assembled at the office again for a Rainbox Mountain trail loop tugged in between a 8 mile out & back on the road to and from the office. Both Richard's and my legs felt slightly heavy while Mike, not having run since Friday, was ready and fired up to go. I realized that I have to start to either stash drinks on the way or start using that neat little Nathan HPL #020 2.0 Liter Men's Hydration Race Vest that I purchased a few weeks ago. Once I've used that vest, I will provide a gear review on this blog as well. We had a slow going today, a couple of shoe and stomach malfunctions (that's all I'm going to say on that). As a result, we did log our 10 miles, just a little slower than normally would be expected. The trail section slowed us down more than usual as well. I never realized how technical (roots, rocks, the works) the Rainbow Mountain trail was. Must be because this was the first time I ran it in actual daylight. All the other times, we ran so early you needed headlamps to see. It is probably better that I started running this trail in the dark anyway. Otherwise, I am sure I would have questioned why we chose to run this trail at all. Now, I just love it.

06 April 2010

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What a day for a lunch time run. Only 3 degrees below a record high of 89 degrees. What was I thinking going for a 10 miler during lunch on the hottest day of the year so far? I literally lost 6 pounds during the run. I'm sure it's all water and I already replenished, but that is some serious water loss on a 10 mile run. At least I got my mileage in for the day. I was feeling a little down on myself for not running at least 10 miles yesterday. I have to get back to 60 mile weeks and I am already behind again for the week. This is especially important since I mailed my Pinhoti 100 Endurace Run application in last night. Hopefully, I did not jinx it by blogging about it before receiving notification that my application has been accepted and all goes well and I will have my spot secured. 100 miles, what am I thinking. At least I was able to suck Richard into it as well. Now I can only hope that Mike and James will consider it as well. If not, I definitely want them to consider pacing Richard and me during the last 25 mile section of the race. God, that sounds insane. The last quarter of the race still adds up to a full marathon (almost;-). The next ultra race is already on the horizon, the Strolling Jim 40 Mile Run on May 1.

05 April 2010

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A new week, another early morning run. James, Richard, and I meet at Richard's house at 5:30 AM to run the Cotton Row Run course. However, I figured I'd suggest a little change and ended up running the course in reverse. While that eliminated the climb up Mountain Brook, it did turn the usual 1 mile Bankhead Parkway downhill run into a climb. I liked that fact of climbing early and coasting later in the run. We ended up adding another three quarter mile to the run by running past the "Heart of Huntsville" for a 7 mile run. The streets are definitely getting busier with other runners and walkers this time of year. We ran in temps in the low 60s and today's high is projected to be in the upper 80s. This will make for a very hot lunch-time run, should I choose to accept the mission;-)

04 April 2010

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What a beautiful morning for a run. It is Easter Sunday and I went for a father & son run this morning. It had been a while since he'd been out running with me so we took it easy. We went for a 3 1/4 mile run and the weather was just fantastic. The sun was shining and the temps were in the low 50s with no wind to speak of. We plan to hit the trails on Monte Sano Mountain later this afternoon for a family mountain bike ride. That should be fun.

03 April 2010

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I finished the day with a short and sweet 3 miler, allowing my muscles to loosen up from this morning's workout. I left work, headed home and changed and then drove to the Indian Creek Greenway in Madison to meet my soccer team. The greenway was once again packed. It's great to see people out walking and running. During the winter months, it seemed like no one else existed when we hit the greenway and trails. Now that the temps are warming up, the parks and trails fill with live again. Note to self, I need to be sure to start packing more fluids again. The rise in temps means an increased need for fluid intake, during and after my runs.

02 April 2010

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Today was going to be a multi-stage, multi-event training session. We met up at the Madison Skate Park at 5 AM to park our bikes there. We then returned to Mike's and James' office (Richard wussed out) to park our cars and to run to the bike location. This would be a 7 mile run out to the skate park and a 7 mile bike ride back to the office. All in all, it was an interesting workout. I just wished I'd had a little more engery for the run. I was still a little spent from the evening run the day before. However, I am glad I did it. Most of the run was along quite roads (due to the early time) and on the Indian Creek Greenway. It was still completely dark when we reached the Greenway about half way into our run. Yet, there were already quite a few folks out running and walking. Summer is definitely coming. I also finally got back on my mountain bike again. It had been left in the garage all winter and it was finally time to dust it off again and take it for a spin. This should also provide for a nice cross training option during the summer and break up the weekly training a bit. Tonight, I'm out for a short jog with the youth soccer team. I will use that opportunity to get the legs loosened up a bit.

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Richard and I met up at Five Guys at Jones Valley to drop off my car and take his car to the Land Trust parking lot off of Banhead Parkway on Monte Sano Mountain. From there, we went up Tollgate Trail onto Bluffline Trail to start our run. Straight uphill to start with many more hills to follow. The plan was for a point to point run back to Jones Valley to finish with a big juicy burger, fries and a coke as a reward. After reaching the end of B luffline, we went onto Monte Sano Boulevard towards and across Highway 31/Governor's Drive. After crossing 31, we went down Asbury Road. For some reason, I don't think we were supposed to be here. I guess the big gate should have been a sign. Anyway, we continued to run through this neighborhood until we reached a jeep road (still Asbury Road) that we followed until we reached yet another gated community (The Ledges). Aside from the initial climb up Asbury Road, the jeep road also offered lots and losts of climbs withe the biggest one right before we reached the Ledges. This was definitely a hill run. Once we reached the Ledges, we made our way through the neighborhood and won the main entrance road. What followed was a 2 mile descent into Jones Valley on concrete sidewalks. Not the best running surface for your joints but a lot safer than the road. All in all, a really fun training run with lots of hills. For tomorrow's training schedule, James has come up with a great workout. We're going to stash our bikes at the Madison Skate Park to combine a seven mile run with a seven mile bike ride.

01 April 2010

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Finally, I went for a run again after a two day layoff. I almost feel guilty not running for two days. But I could not weasel out this morning. I had promised my better half that I would "encourage" her to get up for a run and we did. We ran a little over 4 miles at a nice relaxed pace that felt great to both of us. We ran the usual UAH loop close to our house. You can tell summer is coming. The sun was up and almost blinding us during some parts of our run. The mornings are already starting to be much milder. Let's hope this trend continues. The goal for our next run together, less talking and faster running;-) By the way, that was not my suggestion. Tonight, it's another training run fr me, this time with Richard. He worked out a nice 9 mile point to point run incorporating trail and road running and finishing at Five Guys for dinner. Counter-productive, you say? Who cares, being able to eat whatever I want is why I started running in the first place years ago.

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