Week Ending March 29

This was a recovery week, as intended, so there wasn't much in the way of running or workouts for the week. After some consideration, I also decided, once again, to abandon my plan of a running streak. I don't know why I keep going back to the idea of running everyday when I've had much luck doing so. Perhaps is just the elegance of running every day. Nonetheless, with even one rest day a week, I feel a thousand times better than I do if I run even a mile on that off day.

Given my goals for the year, taking a rest day ever week just makes sense.

Weekly Summary:  ~23 miles, ~3 hours.

I did manage to get one good workout in this week, however. On Friday, I was feeling all out of sorts, mentally and physically. My legs were not feeling great, despite several days of short and easy runs. Mentally, I was feeling down, and worn out after a hard week of work (without enough running to offset it).

So Friday morning, I opted to head out mid-morning for a run from the River Gorge down to, and possibly around, Pike Island in Snelling State Park.

Feeling good on the first section of trail, I ended up hitting a decent pace even on the difficult trail section. Across the bridge, my route ran along bike paths and sidewalks, and I found myself hitting sub-7 pace without breathing hard on the slight downhill. I cruised though the off-leash dog park (sorry if I startled anybody), hitting 6:30s on the downhill trail, and finally (after a slight bushwhack) down into Snelling proper on the bike path.

By this point, I was over 5 miles into my run. A lap of Pike Island would have made the whole run over 13 miles, but I didn't feel that was a good idea. Rather, I decided to make the second half a good tempo run, pushing myself to the uncomfortable stage.

Retracing my route back up the slight slope to my car, I hit a fairly steady effort, with paces ranging from 8 minutes on the steeper hills to low 6-minutes on the flats and shallow grades. All in all, I hit 10.5 miles in about 1:15, for a decent outing.

And now, since I forgot these last week: pictures!

Morning shot of St Paul from Battle Creek.

Cobbler flavor gel . . .

. . .at Pi

I have an obsession with odd trees.

And finally, good running advice from Old Navy

Fortnight Ending 3/22/2015

These two weeks gave me a massive mental boost over where I had been. In the first two months of the year, despite having a better fitness base coming in and feeling like I was doing plenty, I realized that I was in fact doing less mileage than the corresponding time in 2014. I am quite sure that I was doing the corresponding mileage faster and with less fatigue over all, but it was discouraging nonetheless.

This fortnight left me feeling like I got a solid bit of training under my belt. I also started exploring a new place to run (Battle Creek Park, site of the Night Lights half last fall), which provides a bit more vertical than my standard River Gorge route.

Summaries: 

Week ending March 15: 37 miles, 5 hours, 1800' of elevation gained.

I managed two solid workouts during this period. The first happened by chance: I was running along the hillier of my two routes from home, and saw up and to my left a pair of bald eagles kettling. I ran with them for a few blocks, looking up as much as I could, and found they were moving at about 5:30 pace.

Feeling surprisingly good, I turned my planned easy loop into more of a tempo run, and ended up running about 10k in just over 41 minutes. Not a stellar time, but not bad for legs that had run 14 miles two days earlier, on a hilly course.

The second was a more standard fartlek down Summit. I tried a 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off program, but this was quickly interrupted by the stoplights (spaced every 1/2 or 1/4 mile down the entire route). Nevertheless, I got a good workout in.

Saturday's long run I headed out to Battle Creek, where I proceeded to explore for a while. After a week of warm weather, it was starting to cool off a bit, and I got some stunning visions of the meadows, frosted over, sparkling in the first rays of the sun.

As I remembered, Battle Creek consists of a lot of double track, groomed for skiing in the winter. However, it also has a large amount of single track (mostly for mountain bikes) that provides a good counterpoint. Best of all, at the end, I found another, steeper, gnarlier singletrack section on the far side of the creek from the main park. Since I was meeting friends for a Saint Patricks Day/Pi day combo lunch, I had to save exploring that further for the next week.

Week Ending March 22: 42 miles, 6:16, 4800' elevation.

I hope this week marks a turning point physically as well as mentally. After exploring Battle Creek on Saturday, I realized if I wanted to train properly for the races I have planned, I need to actively seek out steep, technical trails to train on properly.

So this week I did just that. Tuesday, I headed down to the River Gorge. Keeping to the east bank,  I ran south, and every time I saw a trail down to the river, I took it down to the bank, and tempoed back up. Eventually, I found three trails within about half a mile. Two were steep, nearly a 50% grade as far as I can tell from Strava. The third was one I'd done before, shallower but longer. I did a full 18 total hill reps, for about 1500 feet.

The second workout, I headed over to Battle Creek for a hill I found promising. This time I did 10 steep reps, and 5 shallower, longer hills with more vert.

Saturday I hit Battle Creek again. Exploring to the west side of the creek, I came upon what I think is a trail in progress. It was cleared, and blazed, but the trail itself was not yet cut into the ground at all. And, eventually, it just dead-ended. We'll see if the trail-making progresses.

I got lucky on this run. Coming down a hill, the same switchbacking slope I did repeats on earlier in the week, I startled a coyote. It proceeded to bounce (not bound, but bounce on all four legs) down the hill just quickly enough to evade my camera. Later on, I struggled up a different hill to see what I think was a pair of red tailed hawks courting ahead of me. Naturally, they also flew off before I could snap a picture.

All in all, though, it was a good run, coming in at 14 miles. And after a 4 mile run the next day, I started a much-needed recovery week.

Week Ending 3/8/2015

Weekly Totals: 36 miles. About 5 hours.

It was only about 40 degrees warmer than the last time I took a picture from this spot. 

Looking west from the opposite bank. For some reason I really liked this broken stool, sitting out on the ice. 

As a runner, I have never been big on the phenomenon known as "streaking." (Well, depends on the type of streaking, but that's a long story from a while ago now). I know some people who have kept their mile-a-day streak up for a very long time. One is on day 250 or so.

I kept one going for almost two weeks once . . .

But I've been thinking. I'm in good shape, injury-free at the moment, and I'm curious about this. I also happen to be coming up on my 32nd birthday. So I think I might combine the two, and try a short streak, running the 32 days preceding my birthday.

Seems appropriate.

Some rules and guidelines:

1. Each run must be a mile, documented. Unless my GPS breaks down, in which case I will do 10 minutes.
2. It has to be a run, where I change into running clothes and shoes. 
3. If I think that running that mile, or ten minutes, will affect me negatively, I can bail: no harm, no foul. 

That's all. I will start no later than March 18. 

(Did I mention I have two races during that period?)

Fortnight Ending March 1st.

Week Ending February 22: 29 miles,  about four hours. 

This was the week that winter finally caught up to me. The past week had already been cold, with single digits above and below zero common, and 10+ mph winds consistent. Nonetheless, I managed to get out and increase my mileage that week. 

This week not so much. I ran longish Tuesday, and was all set to head out for a similarly long run on Wednesday. Less than a mile in, though, heading down Summit and into the wind, my fingertips were already getting frost nip and I couldn’t feel  my cheeks. I decided enough was enough, and turned back. 

The rest of the week was a little better, culminating in a 12.5 mile run on Saturday.  I opted for a full River Gorge loop, starting at home, which conveniently made for my planned 12.5 miles. Northbound from Ford Bridge (which I took at a low 5-minute pace) I glanced back to see a couple other runners clearly looking for the drop-down point to the trail. 

This led to me showing them the “ledges:” the portion of the River Gorge north of Ford and south of Lake. Through this section, the trail often has an 80+ foot drop to the left, and no escape up the bank to the right. It’s a place where, even after running in Colorado for so many years, I occasionally worry about the exposure and bad footing. 

One wrong step and you’re in the river, or, since it is winter after all, a red mark on the ice. 

Even so, it was nice to have some company on my run for once. I dropped my pace a bit to run with them, but not too significantly, and it was fun to meet some new people. 

So thank you, David and Terrence. It was a pleasure. 

Sunday was again below zero with a strong wind, and I gave in to the elements. 

I’m not proud, but I have all my digits!

Week Ending March 1: 20 miles. Just over 2.5 hours. 

As should be clear, this was my rest week. I focused on keeping mileage up during the week, knowing that I would likely not get any running in on the weekend. 

The reason for that was that G and I headed up to Lutsen, Minnesota (starting and ending location for the Spring Superior races, and finish of the Superior 50 and 100 in the fall) to chaperone a ski trip for my mother’s church. Since she doesn’t ski, we were the designated on the slope adults. 

Since I telemark, I wasn’t too worried about missing a longish run. 6 or so hours of tele skiing is a phenomenal eccentric strength workout for your legs, which is a great way to train your legs for the downhills in races without the accompanying pounding on your joints that running downhill entails. 

Compared to Colorado skiing, Lutsen is not all that impressive, but it’s as good as it gets in Minnesota, and a more than suitably enjoyable way to spend a day. 

Fortnight ending 2/15: WINTER!

Ice Beard! 11 miles in single digits will do that. 

Week 1: 26.2 miles. 3 hours 37 minutes. 

Week 2: 30 miles. 4 hours 10 minutes. 

These two weeks brought the worst weather, temperature-wise, of the winter so far. They were also the first two of a three-month buildup period, which means I was ramping up the mileage reasonably heavily the whole time. 

I generally like running in winter, and these two weeks were no exception. I think that having an adversary (of any sort) to run against is what really makes winter running easier for me. Weather gives you an adversary, and the resulting motivation to run against it. 

The last two weeks also marked the introduction of more quality workouts into my routine. Each week, I did a hill workout on Tuesday, and a strength routine following my run on Thursday. I took a different take on the hill workouts this time: rather than repeat one hill over and over, I progress from one hill to the next. For my particular route, the first “hill” is a set of stairs, which rises about 100 feet up the bluffs. The second is a half-mile long, shallow hill that rises 125 feet. Ramsey hill marks the third. And the fourth, which I only ran the second week, is another longer, shallower hill. I still have a good 3 or 4 hills I can add on to this run as I go along. By the time racing season comes along, I should be good to go. 

This fortnight was remarkable in how much fun I had running as well. It was consistently sunny, and snowed just enough that I was often breaking trail on my morning runs. That is, if you count punching through a scant half-inch of snow “breaking trail.” I remember coming back from runs feeling more refreshed and happy than when I left. 

Towards the end of the two-week period, though, winter got a little old. I was planning an 11-mile run the last Saturday of the fortnight, but awoke to find the temperature in the single-digits below zero and the windchill at -25. I chose to run three miles on Saturday and punt the long run till Sunday. 

Sunday I did the planned 11-mile double lap of the River Gorge loop along the Mississippi, and despite the single-digit temperatures and still-significant windchill, I saw more people out and about on the trails than I ever have before. This included another runner, which marks only the third time I’ve seen another runner out on the trail portion of the Gorge. 

I also, despite the temperature and the wind, managed to overheat. 

All in all, it was a good couple of weeks, culminating in a long run that felt, over all, quite good. 

Things are progressing the right direction. 

From long run #1. Morning light over one of my favorite spots on the River Gorge Loop.

I'm sad the focus on my phone couldn't handle this. Just down by Summit ave, this is apparently a place where people come to ice climb in the winter. 

Week Ending 2/1: Rest Week

I’m going to stop posting daily summaries here. The weeks tend to be pretty similar, all told. So from here on out, I’ll still post weekly mileage and time totals, but unless there’s something particularly interesting, I’ll limit it to that. 

Totals: 18 miles. 2:27. ~1000’ 

I find rest weeks difficult. I don’t think that separates me from most runners. I know they’re necessary, and they definitely help my training over all. Strangely, though, despite the lower mileage and the easier intensity, my legs never feel very good on my rest weeks. If anything, they usually feel worse. 

From what I understand, that’s pretty typical. The rest weeks give your legs a chance to heal the damage from the preceding weeks. Naturally, when they’re busy healing, they don’t feel all that great. 

It’s hard from a mental standpoint, too. I know, logically, that the rest week is good. I know in my head that I’m not losing any fitness by taking it easier for a week. But mentally, it’s hard to get past the “I should be running more” block. 

We runners are obsessive by nature, but that obsession does not always extend to resting. 

The Uphill Challenge: I signed up for an Upper Midwest Trail Runners (UMTR) challenge for the first three months of the year. The challenge: to do at least one uphill challenge on the treadmill each month for the first three months of the year. Prizes will be awarded at Zumbro (for which I still have to register). 

For those who don’t know, the Uphill challenge is a treadmill exercise. You set the treadmill at 15% grade, and go as far as you can in 15 minutes. 

This month I went for 1.21 miles. I set the treadmill far to slow for most of it, though. I think, this month, I should be able to hit more like 1.30-1.35. 

It’s not particularly fun while you’re doing it, but I think it makes a good fitness test, and an excellent exercise in mental toughness.

Week Ending 1/25/2014, and dogs.

I am less than inspired to write a post this week. I think it's because, after ramping up the miles 4 weeks in a row, I opted to cut back a little this week. Whenever I do that, I feel a little less like writing about my running for the week.

So, I ran a total of 22 miles this past week, which was at the lower end of my goal mileage spread. But I'm ok with that. I added a mile and a half on to my long run for the week, running 7 on Saturday prior to heading up north for an impromptu visit to Duluth.

The 31st running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon started in Two Harbors on Sunday, despite low snow levels which forced them to use a shortened (319 mile) route this year. G had never seen the start of a Dogsledding race before, and both being animal people we decided to watch it.

I had forgotten how much fun that is. This year, it started out in a gravel pit, in the woods, and felt even more true to mushing's roots than usual. All the mushing trucks were lined up with their exciting, yapping cargo of high-energy running dogs. If you've never been to one of these events before, those dogs want to run. By the time the race starts, the dogs have been well rested, and their energy cannot be contained, so they yelp and howl, but are still calm enough that young children can come up and pet them.

After a beautiful rendition of the Canadian and American national anthems (seriously, this woman sang like an angel, if that angel were accompanied by 600 or so yapping dogs) the first mushers took to the course.

If you doubt that these dogs are true runners, each dog is held back at the start by one person until it is time for them to shoot of the course. To make sure the dogs don't run too quickly too soon (dogs, too, suffer from starting too quickly), most mushers will deploy a snow anchor to slow the sled in the beginning miles until the dogs settle down into their races.

Being myself, I quickly tired of the crowd and ran down the trail a ways to get clearer shots of the teams.

The short course teams were limited to 8 dogs, the long-course teams had 12. Once out on the course, dogs may be dropped from the team at checkpoints, usually due to vet checks, but not swapped out.

Further into the woods. 

All in all, it was a uniquely north-woods experience, and I'm glad I got a chance to go.