This was to be a volume week for me, the plan being to add more volume without doing any intensity. It worked fairly well, and given how difficult it seemed to get in ample running the week before, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was this week.
Monday: Off.
Tuesday: 4 miles. 32 minutes. Opted out of the Tuesday night run, since it tends to be fast-paced, and this week was all about going slowly.
Wednesday: 7 miles, 56 minutes. From home, went down Summit to the Mississippi and back. Nice and easy today, though my legs still seemed overly tired.
Thursday: 4 miles. 32 minutes. Went for a quick run before heading up to Duluth for the next couple days.
Friday: 5 miles. 1:30 (or so). Drove to Wisconsin with the 'rents to go see the ice caves. I will plan to write posts about both this outing, and why I consider walking to be a part of training.
Saturday/Sunday: 12.5 miles. 2:36. The Full Moon Frozen River Run. Again, I'll write another post about this run as well. It was at the same time the most difficult run I've had since coming to Minnesota and the most fun I've had on a run since moving.
Totals: 34 miles, 6hr 13m.
I would consider this a successful week. I intended to add mileage without much intensity, and over all I succeeded. While I only added a couple of miles to the total distance for the week, I added two full hours of time on my feet, which in the end is likely more valuable in any case. I would also consider Saturday/Sunday to be my first race of the year, and I happened to be the first runner in, both at the aid station and at the finish.
More of that will come in the run report.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Week Ending 2/9/2014
This was an interesting week. I'll start with the mileage.
Monday: 4 miles, 32 minutes. Easy on Summit.
Tuesday: 10 miles, 1:11. Went out with the Run'n'Fun crew again. Fairly aggressive pace for me, though for the race team it was a recovery day after doing 1200m repeats the day before. I was still feeling the pace a bit, but it was decidedly easier this time than the time before.
Wednesday: 4 miles, 32 minutes. Easy on Summit.
Thursday: Off.
Friday: 7 miles, 49 minutes. Fartlek along Summit. I wasn't sure I was going to go for a hard workout at first, but, oddly enough, since I was planning to race the next day and I felt good, I went for a true Fartlek. I made this into a proper Fartlek, not looking at my watch and going entirely by feel. I'm not sure how many times I picked up the pace, how long I kept it, or how long I rested, but I blew out the tanks in this workout. Even with the rest periods, I ended up with a 7:05 pace.
Saturday: 3 miles, 25 minutes. I intended to run the Twin Cities Valentines Day 5k with G and some friends. No real racing in this one, just for fun. However, once we got to the lake, we stepped out of the car to -5 temperatures with a decent wind and just weren't feeling it.
Quite literally, our toes were not feeling it, or anything.
So we opted out, and I ran a few miles later in the day just to get some miles in for the day.
Sunday: 4 miles. 32 minutes. After Saturday,
sdfbhggherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
As I said, before my cat sat on the keyboard, after Saturday I had already passed up my mileage from the previous week, so anything I got on Sunday was my additional mileage for the week. And I had put in a hard week with a ten mile tempo and a half-hour fartlek session. So I screwed up my Hokas and ran a few miles around the neighborhood.
Totals: 32 miles, 4 hours even.
This was a solid week. I not only upped the mileage, I put in two really solid workouts.
That said, I did not get a long run in this week. Or rather, I did not get a long, easy run in this week. So, at the risk of throwing my plan off a bit, I think I'm going to switch things up a little bit this next week. I will still plan to run the Tuesday night run with the Run'n'Fun group, but the rest of the week (after an off day Monday) I'll plan to focus more on adding volume and not doing as much speed.
All in all, I think my training is progressing. Naturally I'd love to suddenly be able to run 50+ mile weeks, but I think I am gradually and safely getting my fitness back.
One side note: there are many who recommend against adding in speedwork and more difficult workouts so early in a training cycle. My current theory is that, since I have a fair amount of base fitness, adding in a few speed, strength, and endurance workouts in so early may help me boost my fitness without losing too much speed. And it may just boost my schedule.
I am having something in the way of second thoughts, but rather than toss the theory out, I am going to try alternating weeks where I focus on speed with those where I focus on getting a good long run in.
As I seem to end so many of these: we shall see.
Monday: 4 miles, 32 minutes. Easy on Summit.
Tuesday: 10 miles, 1:11. Went out with the Run'n'Fun crew again. Fairly aggressive pace for me, though for the race team it was a recovery day after doing 1200m repeats the day before. I was still feeling the pace a bit, but it was decidedly easier this time than the time before.
Wednesday: 4 miles, 32 minutes. Easy on Summit.
Thursday: Off.
Friday: 7 miles, 49 minutes. Fartlek along Summit. I wasn't sure I was going to go for a hard workout at first, but, oddly enough, since I was planning to race the next day and I felt good, I went for a true Fartlek. I made this into a proper Fartlek, not looking at my watch and going entirely by feel. I'm not sure how many times I picked up the pace, how long I kept it, or how long I rested, but I blew out the tanks in this workout. Even with the rest periods, I ended up with a 7:05 pace.
Saturday: 3 miles, 25 minutes. I intended to run the Twin Cities Valentines Day 5k with G and some friends. No real racing in this one, just for fun. However, once we got to the lake, we stepped out of the car to -5 temperatures with a decent wind and just weren't feeling it.
Quite literally, our toes were not feeling it, or anything.
So we opted out, and I ran a few miles later in the day just to get some miles in for the day.
Sunday: 4 miles. 32 minutes. After Saturday,
sdfbhggherrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
As I said, before my cat sat on the keyboard, after Saturday I had already passed up my mileage from the previous week, so anything I got on Sunday was my additional mileage for the week. And I had put in a hard week with a ten mile tempo and a half-hour fartlek session. So I screwed up my Hokas and ran a few miles around the neighborhood.
Totals: 32 miles, 4 hours even.
This was a solid week. I not only upped the mileage, I put in two really solid workouts.
That said, I did not get a long run in this week. Or rather, I did not get a long, easy run in this week. So, at the risk of throwing my plan off a bit, I think I'm going to switch things up a little bit this next week. I will still plan to run the Tuesday night run with the Run'n'Fun group, but the rest of the week (after an off day Monday) I'll plan to focus more on adding volume and not doing as much speed.
All in all, I think my training is progressing. Naturally I'd love to suddenly be able to run 50+ mile weeks, but I think I am gradually and safely getting my fitness back.
One side note: there are many who recommend against adding in speedwork and more difficult workouts so early in a training cycle. My current theory is that, since I have a fair amount of base fitness, adding in a few speed, strength, and endurance workouts in so early may help me boost my fitness without losing too much speed. And it may just boost my schedule.
I am having something in the way of second thoughts, but rather than toss the theory out, I am going to try alternating weeks where I focus on speed with those where I focus on getting a good long run in.
As I seem to end so many of these: we shall see.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Week Ending 2/2/2014
This week I finally felt like I was getting back into some real running. I did not end up with a much higher total than previous weeks, but the miles I did get in were higher quality (at least somewhat). I added in two more specific workouts, the long run and the hill workout, and this week hope to add a tempo(ish) run to that. Without further ado:
Monday: Off due to frigid weather.
Tuesday: 2 miles, 15 minutes. And I would not have gone even that far had I not needed to drop off my rent at a nearby blue box. It was again frigid. While the thermometer said zero, it felt far colder than that with a 15-20mph wind blowing the whole time. But I got out!
Wednesday: 5.5 miles, 43 minutes. 4x400m hill repeats up Ramsey Hill in Saint Paul. This hill has roughly 125 feet of gain over about 400 meters, making it a 10% grade. Hills came in at 1:41, 1:40, 1:50, and 1:48. Once I hit them all around 1:45 or so, I'll start adding reps until, well, race day I guess. I hope to make this a regular part of my routine.
Thursday: 4.5 miles, 39 minutes. Easy effort after the hills the prior day. My legs felt surprisingly good after my first real workout in a while. That is, they felt good until I went to Parkour class that night and spent an hour practicing rolls. This led to:
Friday: Off.
Saturday: 5 miles, 40 minutes. Another easy effort. I had thought to do a long run, but did not get my act together. This run reminded me that Parkour Soreness does not necessarily translate over to running Soreness. They overlap, but not as much as one might think.
Sunday: 10 miles, 1:23. Ran down Summit to the river and followed that south on snowy trails for a further 15 minutes before turning around to head back. For the fun of it, I added in a bit of up-tempo running for the last 3.5 miles. The "up-tempo" resulted in a rather slow 7 minute pace. To be fair, I was not gunning it, but I was consciously upping the effort.
Total: 27 miles.
As I said, I finally felt this past week that I was getting my training into a higher gear. Despite the forced off/short days due to the impressively cold temperatures, and one day off after Parkour, I managed to hit 27 miles. The addition of specific workouts always helps my motivation. My motto so far this year has been "Focus on the process, not the goal."
What that means to me is that, rather than see ever workout, or missed workout, as an indication of how I will do in my goal race in May, I see each one as part of the overall process of getting in shape. I focus more on what each day brings me rather than worrying about my race so far in the future. Sure, I have a general training plan in mind, and it is getting more focused all the time. But what really matters is getting out the door each day, or taking a rest when necessary. I have pretty much decided that I"ll plan to take Fridays off for the time being, though that may change as my training progresses. If I move Parkour to Wednesday, I may take an off day Thursdays and push the hills to Fridays.
As I said, it's the process that counts. That way, each step I take at a run is a fulfillment of a minute goal.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Week Ending January 26
I went into this week thinking that, after upping the miles quickly, I should take it back or at least hold it steady. With my travel plans, I figured it might be a bit hard to get as much time running in as usual in any case. I ended up holding the mileage steady and increasing the vertical.
Monday: 5.5 miles, ~1000', 50 minutes. I discovered a new trail through the Mississippi River Gorge. I will write this up on the 14 project page later. The short version is that I did not expect to move from Colorado to Minnesota only to be worried about the exposure on my first trail run.
Tuesday/Wednesday: Off. Wednesday this was somewhat unintentional. After traveling all day, I ended up standing around talking to my brother in law rather than running during the only time I had. Well worth it.
Thursday: 5 miles, 600', 43 minutes. Went up Viewpoint from the Boulder office. I was glad to find that I didn't really feel the altitude at all. It was, however 15 degrees out and I found it warm.
Friday: 5.5 miles, 500', 45 minutes. Ran up Sunshine from work. Managed to keep my footing on all of the icy spots only to fall on my ass in the mud at the trailhead. This resulted, somehow, in several splinters embedded in my right forefinger. It took an hour with tweezers to get them out on Saturday night.
Saturday: 8.5 miles, 200'. 1:08. Ran Davidson Mesa with Knud. This run reminded me that, bar none, going for a run is the best way to catch up with somebody. We certainly didn't push the pace at all as we meandered
Sunday: off.
I hope to kick things into a little higher gear this week if I can. I still have ample time to get ready for the 50k, and plenty of fitness. I'm trying really hard not to overdo it.
Fortunately, Nature seems to be cooperating with me in this goal. Yesterday it was 10 below with winds of 20mph. We attempted to go to our Parkour gym, only to find out when we got there that it was closed due to the cold. So one unintentional day off down.
Today it should be a tiny bit warmer and a good deal less windy. I hope to be able to go for a short run today, and then get a real workout (hill repeats!) in tomorrow.
Monday: 5.5 miles, ~1000', 50 minutes. I discovered a new trail through the Mississippi River Gorge. I will write this up on the 14 project page later. The short version is that I did not expect to move from Colorado to Minnesota only to be worried about the exposure on my first trail run.
Tuesday/Wednesday: Off. Wednesday this was somewhat unintentional. After traveling all day, I ended up standing around talking to my brother in law rather than running during the only time I had. Well worth it.
Thursday: 5 miles, 600', 43 minutes. Went up Viewpoint from the Boulder office. I was glad to find that I didn't really feel the altitude at all. It was, however 15 degrees out and I found it warm.
Friday: 5.5 miles, 500', 45 minutes. Ran up Sunshine from work. Managed to keep my footing on all of the icy spots only to fall on my ass in the mud at the trailhead. This resulted, somehow, in several splinters embedded in my right forefinger. It took an hour with tweezers to get them out on Saturday night.
Saturday: 8.5 miles, 200'. 1:08. Ran Davidson Mesa with Knud. This run reminded me that, bar none, going for a run is the best way to catch up with somebody. We certainly didn't push the pace at all as we meandered
Sunday: off.
I hope to kick things into a little higher gear this week if I can. I still have ample time to get ready for the 50k, and plenty of fitness. I'm trying really hard not to overdo it.
Fortunately, Nature seems to be cooperating with me in this goal. Yesterday it was 10 below with winds of 20mph. We attempted to go to our Parkour gym, only to find out when we got there that it was closed due to the cold. So one unintentional day off down.
Today it should be a tiny bit warmer and a good deal less windy. I hope to be able to go for a short run today, and then get a real workout (hill repeats!) in tomorrow.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Week Ending January 19
Suffice to say this was a much more interesting running week than the prior one. I feel like I am getting back into my groove, progressing towards my goal.
Which I now know: I have signed up for the Superior Spring 50k on May 17. I have long wanted to race on the Superior Hiking Trail, and this will give me a chance to do so while racing my second Ultra. With a total of 4200' of elevation gain, and a top elevation of 2000', this should be a little easier (I hope) than my first.
Of course that also means that in four short months I'll be hauling myself over more miles in one day than I did this whole week. And with that, the summary:
Monday: 4 miles, 30 minutes from home.
Tuesday: 9.5 miles, 1:09 from Run'n'Fun. I took the opportunity to run with the Run'n'Fun folks. Turns out it was their race team, so they ran fast. You can read about it here.
Wednesday: Off. After the unexpected tempo run the night before (we came in at about 7:15 pace. Not terribly fast in general, but with 3 inches of new snow on the ground that's pretty quick), I opted to take a day to recover.
Thursday: 3 miles, 24 minutes. Easy from home. Still feeling Tuesday a bit.
Friday: 4 miles, 30 minutes. Easy from home. I actually felt pretty good on this one and maybe could have gone farther, but I was already looking at 10 miles over last week and decided to take it slow.
Saturday: 4 miles, 32 minutes. Easy(ish) from home. There is no "easy" in four inches of fresh snow.
Sunday: No running. 3+ miles and 1+ hours of snowshoeing. Wandered around the U of M Arboretum with some friends in the sun for an hour or two. Even at a wandering pace, snowshoeing an be some effort.
Totals: 24.5 miles, 3:06 running. 27.5 miles, 4:26 or so total.
The run on Tuesday showed me that I'm not in as bad of shape as I had thought. The mere fact that I could run that far was encouraging. The fact that I could run it at a decent clip in rather difficult conditions made me feel that much better.
I suffered for it for a few days, but that doesn't surprise me in the least. I just hope I didn't push it too hard, too soon. I have been doing a lot of running on pavement lately (well, all of it really), and my legs can tell. I had planned to run a trail Saturday morning, but the snow foiled those plans. Since I didn't know the trail at all in any case, I decided not to try it in fresh snow.
Since I have tomorrow off from work, I will try and hit the trail then. With any luck, I'll bring my phone along and grab some pictures on the way.
Which I now know: I have signed up for the Superior Spring 50k on May 17. I have long wanted to race on the Superior Hiking Trail, and this will give me a chance to do so while racing my second Ultra. With a total of 4200' of elevation gain, and a top elevation of 2000', this should be a little easier (I hope) than my first.
Of course that also means that in four short months I'll be hauling myself over more miles in one day than I did this whole week. And with that, the summary:
Monday: 4 miles, 30 minutes from home.
Tuesday: 9.5 miles, 1:09 from Run'n'Fun. I took the opportunity to run with the Run'n'Fun folks. Turns out it was their race team, so they ran fast. You can read about it here.
Wednesday: Off. After the unexpected tempo run the night before (we came in at about 7:15 pace. Not terribly fast in general, but with 3 inches of new snow on the ground that's pretty quick), I opted to take a day to recover.
Thursday: 3 miles, 24 minutes. Easy from home. Still feeling Tuesday a bit.
Friday: 4 miles, 30 minutes. Easy from home. I actually felt pretty good on this one and maybe could have gone farther, but I was already looking at 10 miles over last week and decided to take it slow.
Saturday: 4 miles, 32 minutes. Easy(ish) from home. There is no "easy" in four inches of fresh snow.
Sunday: No running. 3+ miles and 1+ hours of snowshoeing. Wandered around the U of M Arboretum with some friends in the sun for an hour or two. Even at a wandering pace, snowshoeing an be some effort.
Totals: 24.5 miles, 3:06 running. 27.5 miles, 4:26 or so total.
The run on Tuesday showed me that I'm not in as bad of shape as I had thought. The mere fact that I could run that far was encouraging. The fact that I could run it at a decent clip in rather difficult conditions made me feel that much better.
I suffered for it for a few days, but that doesn't surprise me in the least. I just hope I didn't push it too hard, too soon. I have been doing a lot of running on pavement lately (well, all of it really), and my legs can tell. I had planned to run a trail Saturday morning, but the snow foiled those plans. Since I didn't know the trail at all in any case, I decided not to try it in fresh snow.
Since I have tomorrow off from work, I will try and hit the trail then. With any luck, I'll bring my phone along and grab some pictures on the way.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Week Ending January 12
Recently, I have been forced to remind myself often that 1) I am easing back into training after a significant break 2) I am in a new place, training on pavement far more than I am used to and 3) that I have also started working 8 hours a day at a standing desk. So of course I am more tired off of fewer miles than usual and need more breaks.
That said, things are moving the right direction, but are decidedly not there yet.
Without further ado:
Monday: Rest. Also, it was -15 with a -50 windchill.
Tuesday: 3.2 miles, 24 minutes on roads from home. I also added in an hour and a half or so of climbing at Vertical Endeavors. Temperature 2 degrees.
Wednesday: 3.2 miles, 24 minutes on roads from home. Added 1 hour of Parkour at Fight or Flight Academy. Temperature 0 degrees.
Thursday: 3.2 miles, 24 minutes on roads from home. I'm beginning to sense a pattern. Temperature ~12 degrees. Managed to avoid getting hit by a Cadillac
Friday: Off. I ended up super stressed out by work, and had to run to the post office to grab the remainder of my deposit from the apartment we just left.
Saturday: No running. I instead helped a friend I've known since first grade move. Later at night did about 1.5 hours of ice skating in downtown Saint Paul. Not an off day by any means.
Sunday: 7 miles, 54 minutes. Ran from my door down Summit to the Mississippi and back. This will likely be a staple run for me.
Total: 16.5 miles and 2:07 running, 7:37 total workout time.
I have not managed yet to get into a very good routine. But I am heading that direction. The Polar Vortex that descended on the country didn't help. While I rarely avoid running due to the cold, Monday was too much even for me. Add to that the cold that's been lingering for the past week and a half, and I feel like I'm starting the year fairly well.
Monday, January 6, 2014
2014: New Beginnings
2013 was an interesting year for me. I ran less than I had the year before, by about 300 miles or so, yet still managed to run almost as much vertical and averaged significantly more vertical per mile than I ever have before. I ran my first Ultra, and subsequently wrote what I personally think is my best-ever race report about the experience. I lowered (again) my half marathon time, and still have never run one on roads. I added Parkour into my training regimen, which at times both helped and hindered my trail running.
November and December were tough months for me. I finished 9th in my age group in the USATF trail half marathon national championship at the beginning of November, and subsequently pretty much stopped recording my running for the rest of the year. There were two reasons for that. First, there was an incident in the Parkour gym where another athlete took me out in a bit of a douchebag move. That kept me off the trail for several weeks. Second, I was in the midst of a move across the country, and while I didn't run anywhere near as much as I would have liked, I feel I got plenty of exercise simply moving my stuff out to the POD, and then back in from the POD. I still ran some number of miles in there, but did not bother to record my workouts any further.
Looking ahead to 2014 now, a lot of things are changing.
The most obvious of these, of course, is that I'm in a new state. Or rather, I have moved back to my home state of Minnesota. There are some obvious and not as obvious results of this fact. First, it will undoubtedly be more difficult to run trails every day. Second, it will be difficult to get in as much vertical, and I will have to search hard for proper hills on which to do repeats (recommendations are accepted and indeed encouraged). However, and thirdly, since I now work from home, I have no commuting time to deal with. This means I have an extra 2 hours or so every day in which I might be able to fit in either more running or more sleep. And a side affect of numbers 1-3 is that I will hopefully be running more miles in 2014 than I did last year.
In the interest of a fresh start, and in acknowledgment of a new situation, I changed a few things around my blog as well. For some time, I have considered changing the name of my blog from the "Racing Through the Wilderness" and "Shamelessrunner" titles it has had the past decade or so. This year I finally decided to do so.
I have often adopted the "Falcon" moniker, primarily because that's where my last name originates. I went back and forth for a long time between "Running Falcon" and "Racing Falcon," but the image of a running falcon was too hilarious to cast aside. So Running Falcon it is. That is also my Twitter handle (@runningfalcon), though I have yet to tweet anything. So let this serve as the introduction to the new title of the blog: The Running Falcon. The address has also changed to runningfalcon.blogspot.com, which so far decreased the readership significantly, but I hope that will change soon.
Enough of all that: to the actual running. My main focus at the moment has just been getting some consistency back into my running again. That led to three days of short (20-30 minutes) runs in a row. This was followed by the realization that this is more road running than I normally do in two to three weeks. It is definitely taking some adjustment.
Of course, the -20 temperatures, with -50 windchills, that hit the area today have put a bit of a damper on my consistency. But with highs above 0 again tomorrow, I will be back out and running again, rested and ready to add time and distance on to my workouts.
And that's much needed, because I have ambitious hopes for this year. I recently became a member of the Upper Midwest Trail Runners and hope to participate in at least one of their series. I also continued my 13 Project, advancing it by one year and making it the 14 project. I added some new items, and took off some old ones, but one that stayed the same was the desire to do 14 races this year. I'f I'm going to do that, I need a) motivation and b) fitness. Since this is the Midwest, none of the races start until April, so I have a good 3 months to get some solid base miles in. As long as I don't get over-enthusiastic and mess it up (always a possibility), I should be good to go.
I hope to have one other piece of exciting news soon, but I am waiting for word.
So on that ambiguous note, I am off.
November and December were tough months for me. I finished 9th in my age group in the USATF trail half marathon national championship at the beginning of November, and subsequently pretty much stopped recording my running for the rest of the year. There were two reasons for that. First, there was an incident in the Parkour gym where another athlete took me out in a bit of a douchebag move. That kept me off the trail for several weeks. Second, I was in the midst of a move across the country, and while I didn't run anywhere near as much as I would have liked, I feel I got plenty of exercise simply moving my stuff out to the POD, and then back in from the POD. I still ran some number of miles in there, but did not bother to record my workouts any further.
Looking ahead to 2014 now, a lot of things are changing.
The most obvious of these, of course, is that I'm in a new state. Or rather, I have moved back to my home state of Minnesota. There are some obvious and not as obvious results of this fact. First, it will undoubtedly be more difficult to run trails every day. Second, it will be difficult to get in as much vertical, and I will have to search hard for proper hills on which to do repeats (recommendations are accepted and indeed encouraged). However, and thirdly, since I now work from home, I have no commuting time to deal with. This means I have an extra 2 hours or so every day in which I might be able to fit in either more running or more sleep. And a side affect of numbers 1-3 is that I will hopefully be running more miles in 2014 than I did last year.
In the interest of a fresh start, and in acknowledgment of a new situation, I changed a few things around my blog as well. For some time, I have considered changing the name of my blog from the "Racing Through the Wilderness" and "Shamelessrunner" titles it has had the past decade or so. This year I finally decided to do so.
I have often adopted the "Falcon" moniker, primarily because that's where my last name originates. I went back and forth for a long time between "Running Falcon" and "Racing Falcon," but the image of a running falcon was too hilarious to cast aside. So Running Falcon it is. That is also my Twitter handle (@runningfalcon), though I have yet to tweet anything. So let this serve as the introduction to the new title of the blog: The Running Falcon. The address has also changed to runningfalcon.blogspot.com, which so far decreased the readership significantly, but I hope that will change soon.
Enough of all that: to the actual running. My main focus at the moment has just been getting some consistency back into my running again. That led to three days of short (20-30 minutes) runs in a row. This was followed by the realization that this is more road running than I normally do in two to three weeks. It is definitely taking some adjustment.
Of course, the -20 temperatures, with -50 windchills, that hit the area today have put a bit of a damper on my consistency. But with highs above 0 again tomorrow, I will be back out and running again, rested and ready to add time and distance on to my workouts.
And that's much needed, because I have ambitious hopes for this year. I recently became a member of the Upper Midwest Trail Runners and hope to participate in at least one of their series. I also continued my 13 Project, advancing it by one year and making it the 14 project. I added some new items, and took off some old ones, but one that stayed the same was the desire to do 14 races this year. I'f I'm going to do that, I need a) motivation and b) fitness. Since this is the Midwest, none of the races start until April, so I have a good 3 months to get some solid base miles in. As long as I don't get over-enthusiastic and mess it up (always a possibility), I should be good to go.
I hope to have one other piece of exciting news soon, but I am waiting for word.
So on that ambiguous note, I am off.
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