Week Ending 3/24/2014

Last week, I was not sure whether I had reached a breakthrough in my running. This week, I think I can safely say that's the case. If you remember, I finished last week with an unexpected tempo run the day after a long (2 hour) run. Monday was then an off day, so we'll start this week with Tuesday.

Tuesday: 5 miles, 41 minutes. Easy run.

Wednesday:  7 miles. 55 minutes. 6 repeats of Ramsey Hill. This was a breakthrough workout in itself. I dropped my average time down to 1:42 despite the fact that I added an extra repeat over the last time I'd done these. That's a 6 second decrease for a 400 meter hill, with an extra rep. I was definitely rather proud of this one.

Thursday: Off. I was not actually that tired, but between work and running errands, I didn't have time to get a run in.

Friday: 6 miles, 48 minutes easy. My legs felt much more sore on Friday than they had the day before. I need to remember to run easy the days after hard (or long) workouts.

Saturday: 15 miles. 2:15. I explored a new trail on this run. I ran from home (unusual for my long runs) down summit to the River Gorge trails. Rather than head south from Lake Street, I headed north this time. There's another mile+ of trails along the river that direction (some of which was purely packed ice). I didn't push it on these sections, taking my time to explore and enjoy the feeling of hitting a new trail.

Winter had returned on Saturday, and I ran in 10-15 degree weather with a bright sun, leading to slick conditions all along the river. I managed to run the whole route without falling on my butt, though, and that is an accomplishment in itself. More than that, I remembered my phone for once!

That's right: I have pictures!

The River Gorge trail. Nice, sunny, and icy, with the Mississippi in the background! This is my bread and butter.

Ice Beard!

At the end of the run, on my way back down Summit, I decided to up the pace a bit, just to see whether I could. I dropped it down to sub 6:30 pace without breathing hard. Looks like sea level, and my workouts, are making a difference.

Sunday: 2.5 miles walking. I woke with a huge knot in my calf, and hoped that walking would help it out. Not so much. I woke this morning and it was as bad as ever.

As I said, I felt like this week was a breakthrough. Even though I only managed 35 or so miles (with walking on Sunday), I felt that the quality of my workouts has improved. My legs are feeling generally better than they have, even with the knot in my calf. And the hill workout, followed by the long run, was a huge boost to my confidence.

This week, if I feel up to it, my plan is to do a tempo run tomorrow, followed by a hill or interval workout on Thursday. If I can do that, and a longish run on Saturday, it will be a huge milestone for me. If not, well, I'm still definitely progressing.

4 Minute Mile on a Treadmill

This is one of the more impressive things I've seen. I can't imagine running at that effort on a treadmill. And I love that nobody seems to be paying any attention.

Week ending 3/16/2014

I won't say this week was a breakthrough, though there were parts that felt like one. Nor will I call it a failure, though there were many times it felt like one. I am not sure how to classify this week, but I have a feeling that I will look back at it as a turning point, whichever direction my training goes from here.

Monday: Off.

Tuesday: 5 miles, 41 minutes easy down Summit. Made no effort to push this run at all, but felt decent.

Wednesday: 6 miles, 42 minutes tempo on Summit. I started this run not knowing whether I would be able to put forth a decent effort. A mile or so in, though, my legs decided that they were ready, and I took off. The rest of the effort but fast, but without too much strain.

Thursday: 3 miles "easy, easy, easy" is what I wrote in my training log. I don't know what my time was, but it was not fast.

Friday: 3.5 miles, 30 minutes. My legs, if anything, felt worse than Thursday. I was having doubts about my planned long run the next morning.

Saturday: Approximately 12-13 miles, 2 hours. Long on trails. I had planned to do 15-18 miles on the trails, but that clearly didn't happen. I started my normal loop around the Mississippi River Gorge, but rather than turning back on the Ford Parkway bridge, continued on through Minnehaha Park. I took a good half hour plus wandering the trails down there before turning around and heading back the way I came.

On the way back, I discovered several new ways to drop down into the gorge on the western shore of the river. This was the kind of run I live for. I knew I was not going to get my target workout in, so I let myself relax and enjoy the run without worrying where I was heading. In the end, I discovered several new trails that I plan to revisit, and I finished the run with (relatively) fresh legs.

Sunday: 5 miles, 36 minutes. This was the breakthrough. I had run long the day before, and my legs were tired. Rather than slogging along, though, I found myself accelerating, reaching tempo pace before I knew what was happening. This has happened before: sometimes, after a long, slow run, I need to pick up the pace to stretch my legs.

And a little bird by the name of Frank Shorter used to suggest doing speed work the day after a long run, and it seemed to work well for him.

Totals: 35 miles, 5 hours.

While I didn't hit the mileage I intended, I did get one long run and two tempo runs in this week. I definitely feel like I'm getting fitter and faster. Two hours of running barely left my legs tired, and primed my legs for a tempo run the day after. My plan still gets me to a 30 mile weekend around April 26 (still 5 1/2 weeks away), which is the benchmark I want to hit before the race on May 17.

Week Ending 3/9/2014

Any of you who read my post last week will know that I was feeling a little down on myself, not getting the mileage I had wanted to, not getting a long run in, and in fact not running at all on the weekend. I was feeling discouraged particularly because I did not feel as though I had been pushing the mileage all that much overall in the past couple months, and yet I was still not progressing the way I had hoped or had expected based on past experiences.

There are likely several underlying causes for this, for lack of a better word, malaise. First and foremost, I moved to a new place in December. While moving can be a great inspiration, it is also mentally and physically exhausting. That move triggered two other differences that I believe are making more difficult for me to increase mileage. It's been a rough winter for everybody here in Minnesota. By many counts it's been the coldest winter in over a decade. By some other counts it's been the coldest winter since records have been kept. It is a constant mental game to get yourself out and running in this sort of winter: the daily grind of psyching yourself up for the cold each run is wearing on anybody. Thoughts creep in: "I don't want to layer up again\" or "I just don't want to be cold today."

Because, if you're dressing correctly for a run in below-zero temperatures, there is no way to avoid being cold for the first several minutes. If you're not cold then, you will be overheating later, which leads to sweating, which in turn leads to, you guessed it, being even colder later on in the run.  That initial shock of getting out the door and breathing that first breath of frigid air is a mental challenge each and every day. I count getting out the door a victory many days.

The second underlying cause is that, while there are a large number of trails in the Twin Cities area, there are very few that I can reach from my doorstep. To somebody coming from Boulder, where trails lead up into the mountains a mile from my office door, this is a major adjustment. I either have to drive to a trailhead, which I avoid doing, or run a fair amount on roads, which I prefer to avoid doing. Because of this I have done the majority of my training on the roads for the first time in 5 years.

This takes adjustment.

But after this past week, I am more confident that I am adjusting to the new situation. I am also confident that my body is adjusting to the demands I'm placing on it.

The fact that spring is finally breaking the grip of winter, with actual puddles on the roads and sidewalks, helps more than I can say.

Weekly Summary:

Monday: 3 miles, 24 minutes. Easing back into it after the two days off.

Tuesday: 6 miles, 50 minutes, easy on trails. Decided that I should drive down to the River Gorge, my go-to trail, to get some quality off-road miles in. Much needed nature (ish) break.

Wednesday: 7 miles, 54 minutes. 1.5 mile warm up, 4 miles of Fartlek No idea how many up-tempo sessions, or how long/far they were. By the last interval, though, I was grimacing, so the effort level was high.

Thursday: Off. Decided to go to the Science Museum in St Paul in the afternoon rather than run. Excellent choice.

Friday: 4 miles, 34 minutes. Slipped a quick run in after a trip to the Waterpark of America in the early afternoon. I need to visit the pool more often now that I have a fitness club membership. I think it helps my muscles loosen up.

Saturday: 13.5 miles, 1:50. Took two laps of the River Gorge loop, first in 0:48:30, second in 0:47:30, plus an extra 14 minute add on. There was some other training group out there doing a long run on the bike path either side of the river. It was good to see so many out enjoying the weather, which that morning ranged from 15 degrees to 30 in the course of my run. All in all, for pushing myself a good three miles farther than I had so far this year, I felt strong.

Sunday: 4 miles, 34 minutes. One of my goals for this year is to always run the day after my long run for the week. I would like to get to the point where I'm running more on the two days of the weekend than I will be in the 50k in May. Ideally I will hit this mark the last weekend in April, to give myself ample time to sharpen and recover before the race.

I finally feel on track again. I got one quality workout in, and one long workout in, and while my legs were tired at the end of the week, I was able to take Monday off and run Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (with a progression run on Wednesday). Hopefully this pattern continues and I can run long this weekend as well.

There is one more ingredient to my recovery that I believe was critical: I left my watch at home for all but the long run, and only looked at it then to keep aware of what time it was. I have always found that I tend to run best when I run by feel rather than by a clock. With a watch, I inevitably find myself checking it more often than I probably should, comparing myself against other runs and, far too often, pushing myself to keep up with where I think I should be running.

Sometimes that's a great thing, but most of my runs are easy or recovery runs, when pushing yourself is highly counterproductive. Without the watch, I let go of my drive to compete against myself and actually give myself a chance to recover.

For some time I was considering replacing my GPS watch, but with that added information, I find I check myself yet more often, leading to yet more difficulties. Instead, if I really feel the need to keep track of my progress, I will use my phone, which is harder to access on the run. In the meantime, I will run by feel.

After all, I did beat my personal best half time without a watch.

Week Ending 3/2/2014

This week has been tough. I had high hopes for increasing mileage and a little intensity, but a combination of factors led to that not being the case. In the end, I only managed to run four days for a total of 22 miles.

The week started out cold, and only got colder from there. I will admit, even as a northern Minnesota boy, born and raised, this winter is beginning to get me down. It's the second-coldest winter I can remember, with snow to go with the temperatures, and I am getting tired of psyching myself up each day to get outside and run on icy sidewalks in the single digits above and below zero. On that horizon, there's hope: the weather forecast calls for rising temperatures this next week, although it still won't get up to the average (35 or so degree) temperatures for this time of year.

I had intended a long run today, on the order of 13 miles today, which would have pushed me to 35 for the week, but on Saturday I woke up with a cold, and legs that did not really feel recovered from my hill repeats on Wednesday. So opted to take the day off.

Today's day off was less planned, but I think it will ultimately be good for me. I wonder if I did not give myself enough recovery from the Frozen River Run, and my legs had not yet caught up. Either way, I had planned all day to go for a run once it got a little warmer out (something I am also tired of doing. I prefer to run an hour or two after breakfast).

Again, this did not happen. I still feel a bit sick, and I am not particularly psyched to run in single degree, not digit, but degree, weather. And again, my legs feel tired.

This last has me worried, because I can never remember it being this difficult to build up my mileage. But looking back at my running logs for the past several years, I have always had low weeks, and buildup periods, and illnesses. And I tend to bounce back well from them. Last year, this happened in the two months prior to my 50k, and I ended up with no real long runs prior to the race. I think that ultimately is what made the race so difficult for me.

So I am taking two things out of this week. First, I need to let myself rest and not get discouraged when I have a few days off. My run on the river two weeks ago was phenomenal. And I got three hours on my feet out of the deal, which is a solid long run even if the distance was not extreme. That is money in the bank.

Second, I need to focus on the long run. Not only will that help my overall fitness and accumulating mileage, it will help me gain confidence for the longer races. So I will try for two "focus" workouts each week, one speed or hill and one long, and the other five days will be doing my best to take care of my legs. Whether this requires taking days off, easy, or cross training (I splurged on a pass to a local fitness center), I will take care of my legs.

Finally, and I know I said I was taking two things out of the week so forgive me, I am going to take an OCD break. What I mean by that is this: running distances takes a certain amount of obsession. You need to be focused and get out the door every day (except your rest days!). You need to have a plan and try to stick to it. You need to be a bit obsessed by mileage.

But taking it too far is never a good idea. And when your body says take a break, you take a break. So that's what I did.

Week Ending 2/23/2014

This week saw an intentional reduction in mileage after three weeks of increased mileage and intensity.

Monday: Off due to cold.

Tuesday: 5 miles, 40 minutes easy down Summit.

Wednesday: 6 miles, 46 minutes, easy down Summit.

Thursday: 6 miles, 42 minutes. Easy out, tempo back on Summit. Snowy, windy, and slushy.

Friday: 3 miles. Easy as it could be in the cold snap after the snow.

Saturday: 3 miles of walking, to and from the Red Bull Crashed Ice event.

Sunday: 6 miles, 750 feet, 56 minutes. A much needed trail run in the River Gorge.

There's not too much to say about this week. It was a bit of a week off, so I stuck to the basics. The tempo on Thursday was unplanned. I just love running fast when snow is falling.

I was, however, feeling flat all week. I was understandably tired from the run on Saturday/Sunday, which closed in on a race effort, and needed a break. Despite this, I had thought to do a long run on Sunday. When it came to it, though, my legs still felt a bit flat, and I didn't feel like running for hours on end.

Man did I need that run. I got on the trail, and to my surprise, despite the recent storm, the trail was well packed down. My legs immediately felt better. In places, trees had been iced enough that they bowed over the trail, making for a sparking tunnel to run through. I wish I had thought to bring my camera.

All other things being equal, trails trump roads any day of the week.

"Race" Report: Full Moon Frozen River Run

The view back, halfway home from the first turnaround. 

This was not a race, per se, but rather one of the breed of "Fat Ass" runs that have sprung up around the country in the past several years. As you can see in the post about the run here, this was a minimally supported, adventure type run taking place at night. The general idea is to run around a half-marathon distance in two legs, at night, on a frozen river.

When I read about this on the Upper Midwest Trail Runners Facebook page, I knew I had to do it. So after driving up to Duluth to visit the ice caves the day prior, we drove back on Saturday, February 15th and, while G went to babysit for a friend, I prepared everything I thought I'd need for a 9-12PM (I figured I was being generous on time, you'll see whether I was later on) run on a frozen river. I will share the gear list at the end of this post.

I realized, as I drove in the dark and light snow, that I did not remember ever going to Stillwater before. I have been many places in Minnesota, but unless my parents are reading this and will correct me, I do not believe I've been to that area along the St Croix River. Arriving in the town for the first time, I emerged from my car at the same time as another runner (Ben, who it turns out is trying his hardest to move to Boulder) and we joined a third runner in looking for Joel's office. This turned out to be a beautiful loft in an old brick building, where around a dozen other runners had already gathered.

As it got closer to the 8:35 (not 8:30) briefing, more runners trickled in, until the total of 37 runners, more than twice as many as the year before, were packed into the conference room. Joel proceeded, and there's no other way to put it, to warn us about the myriad difficulties we would encounter. It had warmed up, then snowed, leaving a semi-crust of 4-8" of snow on top of the previously clear snowmobile "highway." He warned us repeatedly not to go out too fast, and told us stories from last year about a major bonk by a road runner who had gone out too quickly. He also repeated his early statement that running on the river was like "riding a trike with one wheel the shape of an egg and one the shape of a triangle."

With some trepidation, we proceeded to head out the door, out to the aid station (and bonfire!). From here, we proceeded to run out over the lift bridge to the Wisconsin side of the river (where we would run for the rest of the night) and took a right, heading south out on to the frozen ice for the first 6-mile out and back. We immediately found out just how hard this was going to be. The snowmobile highway was difficult, but if you slipped off it, which was easy to do, it was more like running in 4-6" of mashed potatoes.

I was consciously keeping the pace really slow at this point, having been suitably warned about taking it out too quickly. Nevertheless, I was near the front of the pack and, when another runner stopped to adjust a piece of gear, I ran up to the frontrunner, a guy named Dave, and we proceeded to run together. Around the halfway point, the piers of an unfinished bridge rose up to either side, and we found a truck track on the ice (I would have liked to see the truck that made it), and while it wasn't easy running per se, it was easier than no track at all. We followed it almost the whole way to the point of land where we turned around, increasing both our pace and distance run by doing so.

The turnaround took us through an ice fishing camp, and the sounds of drinking and music, with the sight of lights through the cracks in the doors, tempted us to stop, but we turned around and headed back the way we came. Back into the night and the narrow illumination of our headlamps.

It was about this time that I realized that it was no harder for me to go a little faster, and I started leaving everybody behind. Runners passed me on their way out, cheering each other on and generally laughing and having a good time, while I pointed out a more direct route to the turnaround.

Running easy still, or as easy as you can on the river, I left the other runners farther and farther behind as I made my way back towards the lantern that marked the turn into the aid station. The left turn at the lantern, across to the Minnesota side of the river, and up the bank was easily the hardest part of the course, with deep, unconsolidated snow sucking your shoes down at each step.

I did not exactly rush the aid station, as this wasn't an official race. I probably took 5+ minutes chatting, drinking some broth, and having a couple snacks while the volunteers filled my water bottles and helped the other runners. Kudos to them for putting on a great aid station, complete with bonfire, and taking their Saturday night to help a bunch of freeloading runners! That was awesome!

Since I didn't really know where to go next (it was an unmarked course), I waited for Dave again before we took of on the Northward leg of our trip. Avoiding the slush under the roadway (the road salt tends to melt the ice under the bridge), we made our way under the lift bridge and onwards.

The footing was immediately worse. Clearly there had not been as much snowmobile traffic this side of the bridge, or the wind was worse, or something. But regardless, the footing took a decided turn to the mushy. At the same time, I started getting the hang of running on the river. Joel had warned us that it would be impossible to get into a groove on the river. I found differently. It's impossible to get into a groove if you run by sight, but if you run by feel, finding the firm sections with your feet and following them as long as they led, it was possible for me to get into a groove for 100 yards or more at a time, before the firm snow inevitably disappeared and I had to find another "groove."

I had to hold myself back a bit here, as I didn't want to outdistance Dave, who was carrying the marker glowstick to mark the turnaround, and was planning to run a full 2 miles farther than I was out on the river. Two or so miles in, we ran into a pack of snowshoers who had headed north instead of south at the outset, who informed us that the ice fall was about half a mile away, and also solved the mystery of whose tracks we had been following the whole way north.

We ended up running just a bit too far north. Since neither of us had a GPS (oops), we weren't sure exactly how far we'd run. But after running by a point of land jutting out from the Wisconsin side, which I thought had to be the turnaround, we took a look at the map, and sure enough, we'd gone a quarter mile too far. As Dave ran on to mark the rest of the course (fruitlessly, as everybody else decided to turn around at the falls), I took a glowstick and ran back to the turnaround point, and from there headed back towards the finish.

I didn't see anybody else for almost ten minutes on my way back (meaning I was at least two miles ahead at this point), and I ran into only three groups of runners, totaling about 7 more people, on the way back. It seems everybody else had decided 6 miles was enough for the night, and gone back to the potluck earlier. It was only in the last half mile or so that fatigue really set in, and I was glad to be able to see the lift bridge, and its accompanying lantern, from a good ways away, guiding me in after a long night on the river.

I finished in 3:06 total elapsed time, 2:36 running time, for an average pace of almost exactly 12 minutes per mile running. While it wasn't officially a race, I pushed reasonably hard: it probably would have been race pace had the distance been ~18-20 miles rather than 12 or so.

The after-party was well under way when I finally got back up to the loft/office. People had come loaded with meatballs, pulled pork, chips and salsa, and all sorts of adult beverages. I milled around for a while, settling down after the night's effort, and to my surprise one of the snowshoe pack turned out to work for the Star Tribune and wanted to do a quick interview.

That was a first for me.

My hope in this is that I came off well, and didn't seem like a jerk for hitting the pace so hard. As I mentioned, once I realized it didn't seem any harder to run a bit faster, I opted to go at my comfortable pace and be out for a little less time. I made a point of stopping to chat with the three groups I met on the way back for a minute or two each time, and all in all enjoyed myself thoroughly.

After all, how often do you get to join a group of 36 other people for a 6-16 mile run on a frozen river at night?

An adventure for sure.