I love winter. I love winter. I love winter. Maybe if I repeat it enough, I’ll believe it. No, actually I do love winter. I just wish we could ease into it a little more. Or as Daws would say, “make smooth transitions.” Yesterday morning it was 37 and rainy. This morning it was 20 with 20+ mph winds (with gusts to 40+ mph) making for a wind chill of 0 degrees. We only got a dusting of snow, rather than the 4 inches they predicted. However, when you put it on top of the rain that froze over night, it makes for rough conditions. Luckily I was up early enough to avoid the rush hour traffic. Plus since I run on dirt/gravel trails, they don’t get icy like roads and sidewalks.
I made it 8 miles this morning. I wore my watch because I thought it’d be “fun” to see my splits. See if you can tell which half was into the wind; 36:44/33:03. I ran nearly 1:00 faster per mile during the second half!?!? I’ve mentioned that most of the trail I run on is blocked by trees; however there’s a stretch from 1.5 to 3 miles that is open to the North. Of course, that’s the direction the wind usually comes from. So while I was pretty miserable for the first 3 miles, the last 5 miles were great.
Under the category of “Art imitating Life” (or would it be “Life imitating Art”?); Last night I was watching The Office and in one scene Dwight is sitting at his desk on a Fitness Ball. You know, the kind you use for core exercises. I can honestly say that I’ve had thoughts of bringing my ball to work and using it as a chair while I’m at the computer. Would you think it’s weird if one of your co-workers sat on a Swiss Ball instead of a chair? Of course Dwight was bouncing up and down and annoying the hell out of Jim. The scene ended when Jim asked Dwight how much the ball costs. Dwight says $25 and then Jim proceeds to stab the ball with his scissors. In case you didn’t know, Dwight has a blog.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
WISHFUL THINKING
Before going to bed Sunday night I set my alarm for 4:40. Thinking I’d try to get in 10 miles before work – the day after I got a cold. Ha, that was wishful thinking!!! Sometime in the night I reset my alarm for 5:20 and managed to get in 5 very easy miles. Not spectacular but it was good to be out running. As usual, when I have a cold, being out running was the best I felt all day.
Last night all I kept hearing was “snow is coming.” Fearing the “worst” I laid out a heavier jacket, hat and gloves for this morning’s run. When I turned on the TV this morning the first thing I saw was Operation Winter: Are you ready? Then I looked in the lower right hand corner of the screen and saw that it was 37 degrees outside. It’s too dark to go back upstairs and find my other clothes. So I venture out, knowing I’m going to be overdressed. I managed to get in 7 miles with the last 6 in 51:21 (26:05/25:16). I thought I was “moving” pretty good during the 2nd half, but apparently not. That makes me want to leave my watch at home all winter.
Can someone tell me why the “word verification” for comments is 14 letters long, wavy and italicized? If we’re just trying to keep out automated spam messages, couldn’t it just be an easy-to-read, 3-letter field? Half the time I spend more time typing and re-typing this field than I do posting my comments.
Last night all I kept hearing was “snow is coming.” Fearing the “worst” I laid out a heavier jacket, hat and gloves for this morning’s run. When I turned on the TV this morning the first thing I saw was Operation Winter: Are you ready? Then I looked in the lower right hand corner of the screen and saw that it was 37 degrees outside. It’s too dark to go back upstairs and find my other clothes. So I venture out, knowing I’m going to be overdressed. I managed to get in 7 miles with the last 6 in 51:21 (26:05/25:16). I thought I was “moving” pretty good during the 2nd half, but apparently not. That makes me want to leave my watch at home all winter.
Can someone tell me why the “word verification” for comments is 14 letters long, wavy and italicized? If we’re just trying to keep out automated spam messages, couldn’t it just be an easy-to-read, 3-letter field? Half the time I spend more time typing and re-typing this field than I do posting my comments.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
FIRST COLD
As much as I’d like to have my plan laid out for the next 4 weeks, like Andrew, I just can’t do it. I have a general idea of how much mileage I’d like to get weekly, but I also know that things pop up – things being colds, aches and pains, family stuff, etc. Not to mention not knowing how I’ll respond to the mileage from day to day, let alone week to week.
Just 2 weeks into my training I got my first cold. After weeks of 53 and 60, I was hoping to get between 65 and 70 miles this week. It looks like that will have to wait for another week, as I ended up taking today off. Had I run right away in the morning, I’d probably have been fine. However, I kept putting off my run and by the end of the night I was beat. I’m sure raking my entire yard didn’t help either.
I’m not discouraged though. Heck, after 14 days in a row I think it’s okay to take a day off – gotta build up gradually. I’ll just make this a step-back week before going for 65-70 next week. It looks like I have some vacation to burn before the end of the year too, so I’ll probably take the week after Thanksgiving off. Maybe I’ll live like a Kenyan that week and just run, eat, sleep and play X-Box.
On an unrelated football note: holy cow, the Vikings and Packers both won on the road against teams with winning records. What is the NFL coming to? Since I’ve rattled of 3 wins in a row in fantasy football, I’m happy to report my team is 6-4. Actually I should be 7-3. A month ago I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize that my defense was on the bye week. Of course the fantasy football gods realize stuff like that and I lost by 1 point.
Just 2 weeks into my training I got my first cold. After weeks of 53 and 60, I was hoping to get between 65 and 70 miles this week. It looks like that will have to wait for another week, as I ended up taking today off. Had I run right away in the morning, I’d probably have been fine. However, I kept putting off my run and by the end of the night I was beat. I’m sure raking my entire yard didn’t help either.
I’m not discouraged though. Heck, after 14 days in a row I think it’s okay to take a day off – gotta build up gradually. I’ll just make this a step-back week before going for 65-70 next week. It looks like I have some vacation to burn before the end of the year too, so I’ll probably take the week after Thanksgiving off. Maybe I’ll live like a Kenyan that week and just run, eat, sleep and play X-Box.
On an unrelated football note: holy cow, the Vikings and Packers both won on the road against teams with winning records. What is the NFL coming to? Since I’ve rattled of 3 wins in a row in fantasy football, I’m happy to report my team is 6-4. Actually I should be 7-3. A month ago I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize that my defense was on the bye week. Of course the fantasy football gods realize stuff like that and I lost by 1 point.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
TEST YOUR LIMITS
Evan met me at my house this morning for his last “long” run before the Philly marathon, which is next Sunday. I’m not sure if Evan has made his goal public, but let’s just say it’s sub-6:30 pace. That means he’s faster than me and Scott, however I don’t get that sense when I train with him. Evan has no problem running my pace, while Scott prefers to go pretty hard when we run together. So even though I ran with faster people two days in a row, it didn’t really seem like it. That’s a good thing considering the 12 miles we covered was my longest run in 11 weeks. That gave me 60 for the week, up from 53 last week.
It was a nice run too. We ran around Lebanon Hills Park for about an hour before heading back to a golf course near my house. This golf course happened to be hosting a USATF Minnesota cross country meet today. Evan and I ran the course and were able to watch the start before running the course in reverse to see the runners a couple of more times. It was an interesting race. It only had about 50 runners, but 45 of them were studs.
I know it’s cross country and it slower, but I think the course may have been long too. The top 2 guys have snuck under 15 minutes this year, however today they were closer to 16-flat. Gals that I normally run with in the 18s were finishing in the 20s.
This afternoon I watched Ironman Hawaii on TV. I’ve ripped on NBC before for their special interest stories during other events, but I think they do a great job with their Ironman coverage. If that show doesn’t make you want to get out and test your limits, I don’t know what will.
It was a nice run too. We ran around Lebanon Hills Park for about an hour before heading back to a golf course near my house. This golf course happened to be hosting a USATF Minnesota cross country meet today. Evan and I ran the course and were able to watch the start before running the course in reverse to see the runners a couple of more times. It was an interesting race. It only had about 50 runners, but 45 of them were studs.
I know it’s cross country and it slower, but I think the course may have been long too. The top 2 guys have snuck under 15 minutes this year, however today they were closer to 16-flat. Gals that I normally run with in the 18s were finishing in the 20s.
This afternoon I watched Ironman Hawaii on TV. I’ve ripped on NBC before for their special interest stories during other events, but I think they do a great job with their Ironman coverage. If that show doesn’t make you want to get out and test your limits, I don’t know what will.
Friday, November 11, 2005
I THINK IT’S CLEAR
From June 2001 to April 2002 I ran 3 marathons between 3:00:55 and 3:03:15. In October 2002 I finally broke 3 with a 2:58:10. I don’t even have to look in my log book to pin point what helped get me to sub-3. No it wasn’t hard track workouts, killer hill repeats or a large increase in mileage. I think it’s clear that it came down to running with people that are faster than me. Not every day, just once a week, usually 10-14 miles. And not super fast, probably close to marathon pace or what Daws would call (and I keep talking about) a strong aerobic effort
If I do look back in my log book, I see it started in early 2002, as I ran with Scott or a larger group of college friends 6 times before Boston. In the 5 months leading up to my sub-3, I ran with these same people 14 times. So what do you do when you figure something like this out? You send Scott an email and say “how can we make running together once a week possible?” Surprisingly, it came together quicker than I thought. I emailed Scott on Wednesday and we were able to get together this morning.
Actually, Scott and I have very similar PRs. He has run 2:56 and you could probably throw a rock from his 5k and 10k PRs to mine. However, Scott likes to train faster than I do (when I’m alone) and that’s what makes him an ideal training partner for me. This morning we ran together for 49 minutes and probably averaged 7:30 pace. Again, not super fast. However, when you’re used to training at 8:00-8:30 pace, you can tell the pace is quicker.
Ideally, I’d like to get back towards the 12-14 mile range for these runs, but since we’re doing them before work we may have to be satisfied with 10-12 miles. In any case, I think it’s a step in the right direction with my training.
If I do look back in my log book, I see it started in early 2002, as I ran with Scott or a larger group of college friends 6 times before Boston. In the 5 months leading up to my sub-3, I ran with these same people 14 times. So what do you do when you figure something like this out? You send Scott an email and say “how can we make running together once a week possible?” Surprisingly, it came together quicker than I thought. I emailed Scott on Wednesday and we were able to get together this morning.
Actually, Scott and I have very similar PRs. He has run 2:56 and you could probably throw a rock from his 5k and 10k PRs to mine. However, Scott likes to train faster than I do (when I’m alone) and that’s what makes him an ideal training partner for me. This morning we ran together for 49 minutes and probably averaged 7:30 pace. Again, not super fast. However, when you’re used to training at 8:00-8:30 pace, you can tell the pace is quicker.
Ideally, I’d like to get back towards the 12-14 mile range for these runs, but since we’re doing them before work we may have to be satisfied with 10-12 miles. In any case, I think it’s a step in the right direction with my training.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
WE'RE GOING TO THE CHAPEL...
All right, apparently 2006 Budgeting and Blogging at work don't go hand-in-hand. So I've either been skipping entries, combining entries or blogging at home.
I don't really have anything too exciting to report about my last 2 runs; both 8 miles without a watch. I emailed my friend Scott and said we should try to meet before work sometime for a run. We're going to meet tomorrow at 6 AM and see if we can make that work.
Tuesday I was going to mention how great the weather has been lately. Normal highs for this time of year are 45 degrees. Lately it's been 40 at 5 AM with highs around 55-60. And the winds have been calm, which I think is unusual for this time of year. Well that changed overnight. Wednesday morning it was still 40 degrees, however we have 30 mph winds to go along with that. Luckily my trail is fairly well sheltered by the trees, so the wind didn't bother me much. Today it was calm again, but the temp dropped down to 30.
I get home from work today and my 4 1/2 year old is telling me she's in love and going to get married. There's a boy in her pre-school class that she was holding hands with today. At dinner I was asking her about him and she said he had a twin brother. So I asked if she could tell them apart and she said no. I guess they break into smaller groups and he's in her group, that's how she can tell who's who. When I tucked her in she said she kissed him then she said, "I just can't stop thinking about him." Oh boy...here we go. I'm sure it doesn't help that the neighborhood kids she plays with are 6. I was raking leaves the other day and they were all talking about who liked who.
On my list of things to do was set up a bloglines account then I read Brent's advice and set up a google reader account instead. Now I just have to figure out what it all means and how it works.
I don't really have anything too exciting to report about my last 2 runs; both 8 miles without a watch. I emailed my friend Scott and said we should try to meet before work sometime for a run. We're going to meet tomorrow at 6 AM and see if we can make that work.
Tuesday I was going to mention how great the weather has been lately. Normal highs for this time of year are 45 degrees. Lately it's been 40 at 5 AM with highs around 55-60. And the winds have been calm, which I think is unusual for this time of year. Well that changed overnight. Wednesday morning it was still 40 degrees, however we have 30 mph winds to go along with that. Luckily my trail is fairly well sheltered by the trees, so the wind didn't bother me much. Today it was calm again, but the temp dropped down to 30.
I get home from work today and my 4 1/2 year old is telling me she's in love and going to get married. There's a boy in her pre-school class that she was holding hands with today. At dinner I was asking her about him and she said he had a twin brother. So I asked if she could tell them apart and she said no. I guess they break into smaller groups and he's in her group, that's how she can tell who's who. When I tucked her in she said she kissed him then she said, "I just can't stop thinking about him." Oh boy...here we go. I'm sure it doesn't help that the neighborhood kids she plays with are 6. I was raking leaves the other day and they were all talking about who liked who.
On my list of things to do was set up a bloglines account then I read Brent's advice and set up a google reader account instead. Now I just have to figure out what it all means and how it works.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
WHERE AM I?
Okay, enough about the high school kids and all the 6-pack abs on Team USA Minnesota. Where am I at and/or where am I going?
This is my second week "back". Last week I ran 53 miles and this week I'm shooting for 56-60 miles. I'm trying to follow Daws' advice of keeping my daily efforts the same. To do that I keep my mileage in a narrow range, like 7-9 miles per day and keep the effort easy to moderate. Again, the idea is to get comfortable with the mileage before adding in hard/easy days and long runs.
Yesterday I ran 9 miles around 8:20 pace. I took my 2-mile splits during the last 8 miles just to see what was happening. It turns out I start out really slow, 8:40 pace for the first 2 miles. Then it looks like I drop to 8:20 pace, then 8:00 pace before finishing at 8:15 pace. What does it all mean? I don't know; it just takes up space in a blog entry. Actually it makes me think I need more "no watch" runs at this point in my training.
Today I ran 8 miles. As I mentioned last week, I decided to add some hills a couple times during the work-week. Today I added 4 "hills" at the end of my run. I'm almost ashamed to call them hills, but they're the best I've found for my current running situation.
Random thoughts:
Is there a worse vegetable than brussel sprouts?
How come you don't see more Subaru Bajas on the road?
There were 300+ high school kids that ran sub-6:00 pace 5Ks at the state meet (not including the kids that didn't qualify). That kind of time will place you near the front of most local 5Ks. What happens to all these kids?
This is my second week "back". Last week I ran 53 miles and this week I'm shooting for 56-60 miles. I'm trying to follow Daws' advice of keeping my daily efforts the same. To do that I keep my mileage in a narrow range, like 7-9 miles per day and keep the effort easy to moderate. Again, the idea is to get comfortable with the mileage before adding in hard/easy days and long runs.
Yesterday I ran 9 miles around 8:20 pace. I took my 2-mile splits during the last 8 miles just to see what was happening. It turns out I start out really slow, 8:40 pace for the first 2 miles. Then it looks like I drop to 8:20 pace, then 8:00 pace before finishing at 8:15 pace. What does it all mean? I don't know; it just takes up space in a blog entry. Actually it makes me think I need more "no watch" runs at this point in my training.
Today I ran 8 miles. As I mentioned last week, I decided to add some hills a couple times during the work-week. Today I added 4 "hills" at the end of my run. I'm almost ashamed to call them hills, but they're the best I've found for my current running situation.
Random thoughts:
Is there a worse vegetable than brussel sprouts?
How come you don't see more Subaru Bajas on the road?
There were 300+ high school kids that ran sub-6:00 pace 5Ks at the state meet (not including the kids that didn't qualify). That kind of time will place you near the front of most local 5Ks. What happens to all these kids?
Sunday, November 06, 2005
NAME DROPPING
I was pretty excited about dropping a couple of names in this post but then I read Alison’s recent post and I knew I couldn’t compete. But I’ll still tell my story.
As I started walking the mile from the parking lot to the course yesterday at the state meet I saw a group of people, including Dana Coons and Matt Gabrielson of Team Minnesota fame. While the thought I just walking behind Dana was very inviting, I got up the courage to talk to her. Since she just ran her first marathon 5 weeks ago, it was easy to come up with at topic. She’s still in recovery mode which doesn’t surprise me. She was very nice and we probably spoke for 5 minutes or so. We didn’t get around to exchanging phone numbers or email addresses – yet.
Today’s run was a family affair. First I took Bailey for a mile and then I pushed Kinsey in the stroller for 5 miles. When we got back Katie was just waking up, so I threw her in the stroller and went another 2 miles. It was nice to take Katie last since she’s so much lighter than Kinsey. I can’t imagine trying to push them both at the same time.
As I started walking the mile from the parking lot to the course yesterday at the state meet I saw a group of people, including Dana Coons and Matt Gabrielson of Team Minnesota fame. While the thought I just walking behind Dana was very inviting, I got up the courage to talk to her. Since she just ran her first marathon 5 weeks ago, it was easy to come up with at topic. She’s still in recovery mode which doesn’t surprise me. She was very nice and we probably spoke for 5 minutes or so. We didn’t get around to exchanging phone numbers or email addresses – yet.
Today’s run was a family affair. First I took Bailey for a mile and then I pushed Kinsey in the stroller for 5 miles. When we got back Katie was just waking up, so I threw her in the stroller and went another 2 miles. It was nice to take Katie last since she’s so much lighter than Kinsey. I can’t imagine trying to push them both at the same time.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
STATE MEET
First off, I need to correct what I said yesterday about my friend Eric’s daughter, Sal. This is Sal’s 4th trip to the state meet. She finished 100th, 50th and 88th the last 3 years. I should have remember that because after finishing 50th, Eric and I predicted 25th last year.
There were 4 races today; boys and girls AA (big school) followed by boys and girls A. I just recap them in order.
Boy AA
From 2002 to 2004, Garrett Heath had a stretch where he was undefeated in cross country running, cross country skiing and track. Garrett is at Stanford now, but he has a younger brother, Elliott who’s a junior. While Elliott wasn’t undefeated this year, he won the “big one” by just over 2 seconds with a time of 15:32. Garrett has the course record of 15:11.
Girls AA
Speaking of course records, a gal named Carrie Tollefson owns the 11-year old girls record of 14:09. That was broken today by senior Elizabeth Yetzer with a time of 13:59. Two years ago Yetzer broke Tollefson’s 1600 mark and last year she broke Shannon Bergstedt’s (who’s now at Stanford) 3200 mark. I don’t know about other states, but Minnesota allows kids to run varsity from the 7th grade on. Yetzer has now place first twice, second, third, fourth and fifth at state.
At this meet her last 800 meters was amazing. She was with another gal at 3200 meters and went on to win by 18 seconds – that’s like covering the last 800 meters while the second place gal only covered 700 meters. Wow.
One final thing on Yetzer, she’ll be heading to the University of Minnesota next year.
I’m happy to report that Sal ran an awesome race. We saw her at about 800 meters and she was probably in about 50th place. Then the runners do a loop in the woods and come back by us again around 1800 meters. During this time Eric and I said she needed to really move up and be in good position by the time we saw her again. Well, she did just that as she ran passed in 9th place. Eric and I ran to another spot and during that time it looked like she made it all the way to 7th place. A different loop through the woods and we see Sal in about the same position with 400 meters to go. She’s looking good but within 15 seconds of her are about 20 other girls. We sprint to the finish in time to see Yetzer’s sub-14 and we start counting places. Sal ends up coming in 10th with a 14:45!!! What a great way to end her high school cross country career!?
Boys A
In this race report I mention the winner being a 17-year old kid (Mike Torchia) who’s won the race 5 years in a row. He also happens to be the defending class A champ. Now he’s fastest boy in the state as his 15:28 was the fastest time of the day. He also had the largest margin of victory, 39 seconds, on the day. Torchia is looking at Minnesota, Dartmouth and Princeton for colleges.
Girls A
Oh, that record that Yetzer set, it lasted about 3 hours as senior Bria Wetsch (who’ll run for Oregon next year) turned in a 13:54 to win her race by 21 seconds. Wetsch was the only girl able to defeat Yetzer during the season. A week later Yetzer avenged that loss. I guess the “rubber match” will have to be at Footlocker.
As for my own running, there were 2 hours between the AA and A meets, so I managed to get in 8 miles. That gave me 53 for the week. I’m feeling good and have been reminding myself to be patient.
There were 4 races today; boys and girls AA (big school) followed by boys and girls A. I just recap them in order.
Boy AA
From 2002 to 2004, Garrett Heath had a stretch where he was undefeated in cross country running, cross country skiing and track. Garrett is at Stanford now, but he has a younger brother, Elliott who’s a junior. While Elliott wasn’t undefeated this year, he won the “big one” by just over 2 seconds with a time of 15:32. Garrett has the course record of 15:11.
Girls AA
Speaking of course records, a gal named Carrie Tollefson owns the 11-year old girls record of 14:09. That was broken today by senior Elizabeth Yetzer with a time of 13:59. Two years ago Yetzer broke Tollefson’s 1600 mark and last year she broke Shannon Bergstedt’s (who’s now at Stanford) 3200 mark. I don’t know about other states, but Minnesota allows kids to run varsity from the 7th grade on. Yetzer has now place first twice, second, third, fourth and fifth at state.
At this meet her last 800 meters was amazing. She was with another gal at 3200 meters and went on to win by 18 seconds – that’s like covering the last 800 meters while the second place gal only covered 700 meters. Wow.
One final thing on Yetzer, she’ll be heading to the University of Minnesota next year.
I’m happy to report that Sal ran an awesome race. We saw her at about 800 meters and she was probably in about 50th place. Then the runners do a loop in the woods and come back by us again around 1800 meters. During this time Eric and I said she needed to really move up and be in good position by the time we saw her again. Well, she did just that as she ran passed in 9th place. Eric and I ran to another spot and during that time it looked like she made it all the way to 7th place. A different loop through the woods and we see Sal in about the same position with 400 meters to go. She’s looking good but within 15 seconds of her are about 20 other girls. We sprint to the finish in time to see Yetzer’s sub-14 and we start counting places. Sal ends up coming in 10th with a 14:45!!! What a great way to end her high school cross country career!?
Boys A
In this race report I mention the winner being a 17-year old kid (Mike Torchia) who’s won the race 5 years in a row. He also happens to be the defending class A champ. Now he’s fastest boy in the state as his 15:28 was the fastest time of the day. He also had the largest margin of victory, 39 seconds, on the day. Torchia is looking at Minnesota, Dartmouth and Princeton for colleges.
Girls A
Oh, that record that Yetzer set, it lasted about 3 hours as senior Bria Wetsch (who’ll run for Oregon next year) turned in a 13:54 to win her race by 21 seconds. Wetsch was the only girl able to defeat Yetzer during the season. A week later Yetzer avenged that loss. I guess the “rubber match” will have to be at Footlocker.
As for my own running, there were 2 hours between the AA and A meets, so I managed to get in 8 miles. That gave me 53 for the week. I’m feeling good and have been reminding myself to be patient.
Friday, November 04, 2005
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Okay I figured out the header. I’m done tinkering with it for now. I have a few color changes left (I’m going for this look) but that’s it.
I’m only 10 days into my training and I’m already noticing that I’m “worrying” about pace and splits way too much. So today I decided to “leave my watch at home” (actually I wore it, but I didn’t use it – but “leaving it at home” sounds so much better). I can’t remember EVER doing that before. I also decided to “only” run 6 miles today because I don’t want to increase mileage too quickly. I’m at 45 miles now and I’ll figure tomorrow’s run will give me 53 for the week. I haven’t run that much since the last week of JULY. Man, what the hell was I doing all summer? No wonder I raced so poorly.
On my way back to my car the trail I run on crosses a road about a half mile before my run ends. I thought I’d be “wild and crazy” and take the road back. It turns out there’s a nice little hill along the way. Since there aren’t any hills on the path I think I’m going to run this hill 1-2 times during the work week, just to make sure I don’t “go soft” by just running on the flats.
A few weeks ago I wrote this post about my anniversary of running and how I thought it was earlier in October. It turns out I was right. Last night I was reading through my old log book and way in the back it says “Started running Oct. 2nd, 1979. There was also more info on my first “race.” There were 3 people in the race. I came in 2nd, one second behind the winner. I hope he felt good about sprinting to beat a 10 year old. I also found my dad’s time from the 1983 Grandma’s marathon. He was 43 at the time and ran 3:12 – not too shabby.
Tomorrow I’m going to watch the Minnesota State High School cross country meet. My friend Eric’s daughter has qualified 3 years in a row. As a sophomore she finished 100th. Last year she probably ran her worst race of the year and only managed to finish in 88th place. This year she’s running awesome, having just won her conference and section meets. She’s currently ranked 12th in Class AA. Good luck to her. I always liked what Mark Wetmore (Colorado’s coach) said in “Running with the Buffaloes” it was something like “I don’t ask my kids to run Herculean-efforts (in the big meets). I just want them to run as they’re capable.” Good advice for anyone prior to a race.
I’m only 10 days into my training and I’m already noticing that I’m “worrying” about pace and splits way too much. So today I decided to “leave my watch at home” (actually I wore it, but I didn’t use it – but “leaving it at home” sounds so much better). I can’t remember EVER doing that before. I also decided to “only” run 6 miles today because I don’t want to increase mileage too quickly. I’m at 45 miles now and I’ll figure tomorrow’s run will give me 53 for the week. I haven’t run that much since the last week of JULY. Man, what the hell was I doing all summer? No wonder I raced so poorly.
On my way back to my car the trail I run on crosses a road about a half mile before my run ends. I thought I’d be “wild and crazy” and take the road back. It turns out there’s a nice little hill along the way. Since there aren’t any hills on the path I think I’m going to run this hill 1-2 times during the work week, just to make sure I don’t “go soft” by just running on the flats.
A few weeks ago I wrote this post about my anniversary of running and how I thought it was earlier in October. It turns out I was right. Last night I was reading through my old log book and way in the back it says “Started running Oct. 2nd, 1979. There was also more info on my first “race.” There were 3 people in the race. I came in 2nd, one second behind the winner. I hope he felt good about sprinting to beat a 10 year old. I also found my dad’s time from the 1983 Grandma’s marathon. He was 43 at the time and ran 3:12 – not too shabby.
Tomorrow I’m going to watch the Minnesota State High School cross country meet. My friend Eric’s daughter has qualified 3 years in a row. As a sophomore she finished 100th. Last year she probably ran her worst race of the year and only managed to finish in 88th place. This year she’s running awesome, having just won her conference and section meets. She’s currently ranked 12th in Class AA. Good luck to her. I always liked what Mark Wetmore (Colorado’s coach) said in “Running with the Buffaloes” it was something like “I don’t ask my kids to run Herculean-efforts (in the big meets). I just want them to run as they’re capable.” Good advice for anyone prior to a race.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES
As I was typing yesterday’s post last night, my computer re-booted itself. Of course I was on the last paragraph and I ended up losing everything. Rather than re-typing it, I went to bed. This is the same computer that won’t read the software for our digital camera. We have to take the camera in, get prints made and then scan them into the computer. So I should have Halloween pictures back by Thanksgiving.
Here’s a quick recap of the post I lost. I’m still working on my header. I’m not sure why the image got squished. I have some theories that I’m going to explore tonight.
Yesterday I ran 7 miles in the morning at 8:25 pace. Towards the end my legs were really heavy and I was beginning to think that maybe I’m doing too much after having 10 days off. I made a mental note to really pay attention to my next run and be prepared to cut back on the pace and/or distance.
Well, 24 hours later I felt great. I started easy and after awhile it felt like I was moving faster than normal, however, my breathing was still very relaxed. As I got closer to my turn-around point I looked at my watch and figured I could get in another mile and still make it to work on time. I ended up running 9 miles with the last 8 just under 8:10 pace – the last 4 of that were sub-8 pace.
Here’s a quick recap of the post I lost. I’m still working on my header. I’m not sure why the image got squished. I have some theories that I’m going to explore tonight.
Yesterday I ran 7 miles in the morning at 8:25 pace. Towards the end my legs were really heavy and I was beginning to think that maybe I’m doing too much after having 10 days off. I made a mental note to really pay attention to my next run and be prepared to cut back on the pace and/or distance.
Well, 24 hours later I felt great. I started easy and after awhile it felt like I was moving faster than normal, however, my breathing was still very relaxed. As I got closer to my turn-around point I looked at my watch and figured I could get in another mile and still make it to work on time. I ended up running 9 miles with the last 8 just under 8:10 pace – the last 4 of that were sub-8 pace.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
DO YOU SEE ANYTHING DIFFERENT?
As you can probably tell, I have a new header. I was going to say I updated my header; but Susan did all the freelance work for me. The emphasis is on “free” however if by some miracle I have a 3rd daughter, I have to name her Susan. Anyway, I was going after an image that reminded me of the trails I love to run on. I need to do some more tweaking with the size and colors, but it’s getting there. Thanks Susan!
I didn’t mention this yesterday but Evan and I had lunch with Nobuya "Nobby" Hashizume yesterday. If you’re not familiar with Nobby, hopefully you will be soon. He’s in the process of organizing the Five Circles foundation which will be designed to carry on the Lydiard name and training philosophies. Here’s another article I found written by Nobby.
I had an easy 8 mile run this morning. I did the same course as yesterday and it took a minute longer. My quads were sore, probably from running pretty hard during the Big 10 meet.
There’s this gal I see on the trail quite a bit, but haven’t had a chance to talk to her because we’re usually going the opposite directions. I saw her this summer too because she worked out with the Minnesota Distance Runner’s Association at the Macalester track on Tuesday nights. This morning I caught up to her with about ½ a mile to go in my run. We only ran together for about 4 minutes but still had a nice conversation. It was the highlight of my otherwise uneventful run.
I didn’t mention this yesterday but Evan and I had lunch with Nobuya "Nobby" Hashizume yesterday. If you’re not familiar with Nobby, hopefully you will be soon. He’s in the process of organizing the Five Circles foundation which will be designed to carry on the Lydiard name and training philosophies. Here’s another article I found written by Nobby.
I had an easy 8 mile run this morning. I did the same course as yesterday and it took a minute longer. My quads were sore, probably from running pretty hard during the Big 10 meet.
There’s this gal I see on the trail quite a bit, but haven’t had a chance to talk to her because we’re usually going the opposite directions. I saw her this summer too because she worked out with the Minnesota Distance Runner’s Association at the Macalester track on Tuesday nights. This morning I caught up to her with about ½ a mile to go in my run. We only ran together for about 4 minutes but still had a nice conversation. It was the highlight of my otherwise uneventful run.
NEW FAVORITE PHOTO
Here's my new favorite photo. I love the expression on Katie's face and the way she's lying on Amy. I wish I could take credit for taking the picture but I can't. Kinsey, who's 4 1/2 years old, took it. I'll have to ask her for some tips.
Monday, October 31, 2005
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Now that I tried my headlamp out last week, I don't need it due to day light savings ending. It looks like there are 2 sides to every story. The morning runners are happy because they can see again, while the evening runners are upset because now they have to run in the dark. Oh well, in a month we'll both be running in the dark and we'll be envious of those day-time runners.
During my mile run with my dog, my legs felt like lead - probably because I was running only 8 hours after my last run ended. That's like doing a two-a-day and my body is not ready for that. But then I was surprised by how good I felt during the main portion of my run. I went another 7 miles with the first half at 8:30 pace and the second half at 8:00 pace.
During my mile run with my dog, my legs felt like lead - probably because I was running only 8 hours after my last run ended. That's like doing a two-a-day and my body is not ready for that. But then I was surprised by how good I felt during the main portion of my run. I went another 7 miles with the first half at 8:30 pace and the second half at 8:00 pace.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
TOTAL DOMINATION
The Big 10 Cross County meet was in town today and if you haven’t heard, the Wisconsin Badgers (rank 2nd in the nation) totally dominated the meet.
Ever see the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is “even-Steven”? He loses $20 and then finds $20 in a coat he hasn’t worn in awhile. That was me at the meet Sunday. I put my car key in my jacket pocket but forgot to zip it up. 2 hours later while standing around waiting for the awards I realize I lost my key. I tell the guys I’m with and they say that 20 minutes ago they announced that someone found a Subaru key. I go up to claim it and sure enough it’s mine. What luck!?
After 3 days in a row, I took yesterday off. Today kicked off the first full week of my new training program. You can look at this program in one of two ways; 1) I have 7 weeks to get my miles up before following Lydiard’s “standard” 12-week conditioning phase, before adding hill, anaerobic, sharpening, etc. or 2) I have a 19-week conditioning phase before adding that other stuff. I’m not sure there’s really a difference between the two. Anyway, I managed to hop on the treadmill at 8 PM and get in 7 miles.
- They scored 16 points (15 is a perfect score).
- Each team runs up to 9 guys. Of the first 9 guys across the line, 8 of them were Badgers. Their 9th guy finished a “lowly” 25th place.
- They’re young. Their top-7 look like this Senior, Junior, Freshman, Freshman, Senior, Freshman, Junior.
- For 8K, their top-5 averaged 24:01 (the next closest team was 25:06), top-7 averaged 24:08, top-9 averaged 24:18.
- Word is they held 2 guys out from this meet that they run at Regionals.
Ever see the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is “even-Steven”? He loses $20 and then finds $20 in a coat he hasn’t worn in awhile. That was me at the meet Sunday. I put my car key in my jacket pocket but forgot to zip it up. 2 hours later while standing around waiting for the awards I realize I lost my key. I tell the guys I’m with and they say that 20 minutes ago they announced that someone found a Subaru key. I go up to claim it and sure enough it’s mine. What luck!?
After 3 days in a row, I took yesterday off. Today kicked off the first full week of my new training program. You can look at this program in one of two ways; 1) I have 7 weeks to get my miles up before following Lydiard’s “standard” 12-week conditioning phase, before adding hill, anaerobic, sharpening, etc. or 2) I have a 19-week conditioning phase before adding that other stuff. I’m not sure there’s really a difference between the two. Anyway, I managed to hop on the treadmill at 8 PM and get in 7 miles.
Friday, October 28, 2005
AUTUMN CUTIES
Here are Katie and Kinsey playing in a pile of leaves recently. It probably triples the amount of work because I have to keep raking the leaves back into a pile, but I don't mind. On my way home from work today I noticed a lot fewer colors and a lot more bare trees. One of the trees in my front yard is still green (no it's not an Evergreen - I know that's what you were thinking).
ROUTINES
Three days of running in a row and my little routines are already starting to appear. As soon as I get home from work and change my clothes, I get out both my work and my running clothes for the next day. After dinner I get my breakfast ready for the next day. When my alarm clock goes off at 5 AM I don’t even think about going back to sleep until 6. I think part of the reason I get like this is because I like base-building. Maybe I’m just one of those runners that likes to train rather than race. However, if I didn’t race I know I’d miss it.
I updated my log-book yesterday for my 10 days off. Wow, it felt weird crossing out an entire week and writing a big ZERO (then doing it again on the first 3 entries of the next page).
I ran another easy 7 miles this morning with the last 6 in 51:00 (25:53/25:07). Given my comments yesterday about not being able to see some of the people on the trail, I decided to try running with a headlamp. I bought it last year just as the days were getting longer, so I never wore it. I really like running with it. It produces a halo of light about 5 feet in front of me. My main goal in wearing it though is to scare the shit out of the rabbits before they scare me.
I don’t think I’m mentioned this yet, but I’ve been leaning towards running Grandma’s Marathon again in June. I was planning on just running a bunch of 15K-30K races, but I know I’ll kick myself if I don’t sign up. Besides, I’m going to be in such tremendous shape next year, why “waste” it on a 30K that no one cares about.
I updated my log-book yesterday for my 10 days off. Wow, it felt weird crossing out an entire week and writing a big ZERO (then doing it again on the first 3 entries of the next page).
I ran another easy 7 miles this morning with the last 6 in 51:00 (25:53/25:07). Given my comments yesterday about not being able to see some of the people on the trail, I decided to try running with a headlamp. I bought it last year just as the days were getting longer, so I never wore it. I really like running with it. It produces a halo of light about 5 feet in front of me. My main goal in wearing it though is to scare the shit out of the rabbits before they scare me.
I don’t think I’m mentioned this yet, but I’ve been leaning towards running Grandma’s Marathon again in June. I was planning on just running a bunch of 15K-30K races, but I know I’ll kick myself if I don’t sign up. Besides, I’m going to be in such tremendous shape next year, why “waste” it on a 30K that no one cares about.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
STILL AMAZED
Since today was only my second day back, I was a little worried about running 12 hours after my last run. But one of my goals is to get back into the routine of running in the morning, so I ventured out for another 7 mile run. My hip/groin ached a little during the second half, but it wasn't too bad.
I’ve mentioned this before, but probably have some new readers since then, so I’ll mention it again. When I run in the morning, for the most part, I jog with my dog for a mile and then I drive 25 miles across town towards my office. I park at a coffee shop and run out-and-back on 1 of 3 trails that are old rail road beds. Two are crushed limestone while one is pavement. They’re perfect for running in the dark because they’re flat with good footing. After the run, I grab a cup of coffee and head to work where I shower.
Some people probably wouldn’t count the mile jog with my dog, but I do. I consider it a warm-up mile, even if I’m cooled down before I start my “real” run. With some of my newly measured routes, I think I’ll start posting my time for that stretch. Hopefully I’ll be able to see the pace go down as my aerobic conditioning improves. So today I ran 7 miles with the last 6 in 50:47, 8:28 pace (25:37/25:10).
It still amazes me what some people will wear while running, walking or biking when it’s pitch black outside. Sure these trails are closed to motorized vehicles, but you still have other people exercising and you have to cross roads. One gal this morning was walking by herself, dressed in all black without any reflective vest or light. I’m not positive, but I think she had on headphones too. I suppose if I was going to get run over by a bike, I wouldn’t want to hear it coming either.
I’ve mentioned this before, but probably have some new readers since then, so I’ll mention it again. When I run in the morning, for the most part, I jog with my dog for a mile and then I drive 25 miles across town towards my office. I park at a coffee shop and run out-and-back on 1 of 3 trails that are old rail road beds. Two are crushed limestone while one is pavement. They’re perfect for running in the dark because they’re flat with good footing. After the run, I grab a cup of coffee and head to work where I shower.
Some people probably wouldn’t count the mile jog with my dog, but I do. I consider it a warm-up mile, even if I’m cooled down before I start my “real” run. With some of my newly measured routes, I think I’ll start posting my time for that stretch. Hopefully I’ll be able to see the pace go down as my aerobic conditioning improves. So today I ran 7 miles with the last 6 in 50:47, 8:28 pace (25:37/25:10).
It still amazes me what some people will wear while running, walking or biking when it’s pitch black outside. Sure these trails are closed to motorized vehicles, but you still have other people exercising and you have to cross roads. One gal this morning was walking by herself, dressed in all black without any reflective vest or light. I’m not positive, but I think she had on headphones too. I suppose if I was going to get run over by a bike, I wouldn’t want to hear it coming either.
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