So I was able to scrape together a late week pile of miles last week to finish out the miles I needed for my schedule, and generally I kept to the plan, with minor adjustments. This week is supposed to be pretty cold, and there's yet another potential snowstorm on the way, so we'll see how it plays out. Either way, I'm scheduled to do double-digit runs back-to-back almost every weekend until the Cayuga race, so yeehaw, time to start racking up the mileage. In other news, our little clan is going to start the T25 workouts this week, so between running, the new stuff, karate and whatever surfing I can fit in, I should be in damn fine shape by June...
Monday, 2-24 - 0 Miles. Scheduled rest day.
Tuesday, 2-25 - Scheduled: 4. Actual: 3 Miles (Beach/Road) - Short Misquamicut run. The beach portion was a strong headwind, enough to make my eyes start tearing. Threw some pole-to-pole speedwork in on the way back to the truck. Cold.
Wednesday, 2-26 - Scheduled: 4. Actual: 4 Miles (Trail/Road) - Slippery Champlin trails to Misquamicut roads. Post karate class run. Tried Champlin, and the upper trail was virtually snow-free, and then I descended into an icy, slippery mess. Got to the other side of the property and opted to bail out onto the road. Also poked around in the Lathrop Preserve across the street, looks like they're breaking some new trail, but haven't done much yet. Finished on roads, and increased the pace all the way back to the truck. I have a goal time/pace set for the Ocean's race now as well, so there's that to work on too!
Thursday, 2-27 - Scheduled: 6. Actual: 4-ish Miles (Paved Footpaths) - Mohegan Park, Norwich CT. Had to drop off some plates at the DMV, yuck. Walking in, I see a good friend and former co-worker who I hadn't seen in a while, awesome. Go to turn in the plates and find out I'm getting a partial refund of the registration I paid on the old SUV back in August? Yes, I went to the DMV, had a great experience, and they're giving me money this time...wow. On that note, I figured I'd scope out Mohegan Park in Norwich. All I can say is I can't wait till the snow melts, because all the paved footpaths around the pond were great, but there's a crapload of trails all through the property, which is nice and hilly. Got 4 in and had to head out. Great spot though :)
Friday, 2-28 - Scheduled rest day. Actual: 1.7 Miles (Road) - Short run in Westerly. After taking care of all the things in town I needed to, I had a small window of opportunity for a short run before jetting back to the house to meet the bus. Averaged a 7:18 pace, felt good, and the short run put me over 100 miles for February. I'll take it, given the winter we've had. Glad to see March on the horizon!
Saturday, 3-1 - Scheduled: 16. Actual 10 Miles (Road) - North Stonington roads. Sophia had a birthday party to attend, so I set out early and ran to their house, met Lori and hitched a ride home from there. Couple of big hills made it an honest effort.
Sunday, 3-2 - Scheduled: 10. Actual: 8 Miles (Road) - 8 Mile Local Loop from the house. A sweltering 35 degrees, and I'm out the door in the afternoon for some easy miles. Nothing spectacular, just a steady pace, and enjoying the "heat wave" before the next shot of frigidity sets in...
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Ultramarathon Training Week #4 - Week of 2-17 to 2-23
I feel fortunate to have a motivating group of friends and fellow runners who are staying active through a difficult winter, getting out there and putting in miles, and training through a tough outdoor season. On the news this morning they said we've basically had double our average snowfall totals this winter, and it ain't over yet. The bright side? We'll hit 50 degrees by Friday, and we're just two weeks away from setting the clocks ahead by an hour...so spring is a comin'...
As for ultra training, I had a lower than average week last week, but this week looks infinitely more promising...
Monday, 2-17 - 0 Miles - Winter break for the child = little chance of a run. 1 hour karate class, very productive! Followed by some stretching and weight training at the house.
Tuesday, 2-18 - 1+ Miles (Trail) - Short, straight shot to the top of Lantern Hill in the snow. Good stuff, short on distance but the effort was there. Very quiet, no fresh tracks, snow falling and sketchy as Hell. Awesome. I tried to take some video coming down the hill, but it'd just make you hurl, it was so shaky. Post-holed a good bit of it, but the downhill was so much fun...
Thursday, 2-20 - 9 Miles (Road) - Westerly/Pawcatuck Oil Change Special. Still waiting for the rest of the snow to melt before I venture back into the woods - Lori's car needed an oil change, perfect excuse for a run in town. Easy miles, except for the whole dodging traffic thing...
Friday, 2-21 - 0 Miles. Planned long run on Saturday?
Saturday, 2-22 - 15 Miles (Road) - NoSto to Hopkinton out/back. Thwarted. I put together a potentially epic loop on Map My Run http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/361887957, and was gonna give it a go. If Strava could offer this course-mapping feature, I'd be pretty stoked. Got 7+ miles in on North Road and realized my error: the long dirt portion was still snow and ice and I'd be basically asking for trouble trying to run it. I stopped, thought about it for a bit, and decided to turn back and shorten the run. No worries, I'm supposed to do a medium-length run tomorrow anyway, so I'm ahead of the game as it is. Gorgeous day out there, sunny and 50-ish degrees. The big melt continues, and I kept a nice, easy pace. Tomorrow? Not so much...
Sunday, 2-23 - 4 Miles (Trails/Dirt Roads) - Yawgoog Scout Camp Roads and Trails. In a word, slippery. Jim and I headed down toward Green Falls, where the road was a sheet of ice. Probably not the best idea, but we parked up on Denison Hill Road and headed toward Yawgoog. Decided to run part of the Yellow and White trails, which were icy, and post-holed some trail through the campground to the road. Warm, no wind, and nice to be out there, although I'm ready for the snow to go away at this point...
As for ultra training, I had a lower than average week last week, but this week looks infinitely more promising...
Monday, 2-17 - 0 Miles - Winter break for the child = little chance of a run. 1 hour karate class, very productive! Followed by some stretching and weight training at the house.
Tuesday, 2-18 - 1+ Miles (Trail) - Short, straight shot to the top of Lantern Hill in the snow. Good stuff, short on distance but the effort was there. Very quiet, no fresh tracks, snow falling and sketchy as Hell. Awesome. I tried to take some video coming down the hill, but it'd just make you hurl, it was so shaky. Post-holed a good bit of it, but the downhill was so much fun...
Quiet trails...
Foxwoods is right there!
Squinty...
Wednesday, 2-19 - 3.7 Miles (Road) - Short post-karate run in Westerly. Let the big melt commence! 35-40 degrees, and the snow is finally starting to melt. Wet roads, slushy, and big puddles? No problem!
Thursday, 2-20 - 9 Miles (Road) - Westerly/Pawcatuck Oil Change Special. Still waiting for the rest of the snow to melt before I venture back into the woods - Lori's car needed an oil change, perfect excuse for a run in town. Easy miles, except for the whole dodging traffic thing...
Friday, 2-21 - 0 Miles. Planned long run on Saturday?
Saturday, 2-22 - 15 Miles (Road) - NoSto to Hopkinton out/back. Thwarted. I put together a potentially epic loop on Map My Run http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/361887957, and was gonna give it a go. If Strava could offer this course-mapping feature, I'd be pretty stoked. Got 7+ miles in on North Road and realized my error: the long dirt portion was still snow and ice and I'd be basically asking for trouble trying to run it. I stopped, thought about it for a bit, and decided to turn back and shorten the run. No worries, I'm supposed to do a medium-length run tomorrow anyway, so I'm ahead of the game as it is. Gorgeous day out there, sunny and 50-ish degrees. The big melt continues, and I kept a nice, easy pace. Tomorrow? Not so much...
Sunday, 2-23 - 4 Miles (Trails/Dirt Roads) - Yawgoog Scout Camp Roads and Trails. In a word, slippery. Jim and I headed down toward Green Falls, where the road was a sheet of ice. Probably not the best idea, but we parked up on Denison Hill Road and headed toward Yawgoog. Decided to run part of the Yellow and White trails, which were icy, and post-holed some trail through the campground to the road. Warm, no wind, and nice to be out there, although I'm ready for the snow to go away at this point...
Yawgoog Pond, froze over...
Monday, February 10, 2014
Ultramarathon Training Week #3 of 18
Well, here we go - I started a training schedule a couple weeks ago, but didn't really say much about it, because it started at a lower mileage than I'm already doing. That said, there are a million free schedules out there, and this program allowed me to punch in the date and distance of the race, and instantly generated a spreadsheet to follow. Much like the one that Beth is doing, and I input my actual miles next to the recommended miles. Gives me some structure, as opposed to my first ultra, where I had no structure and bombed out big time. I'm also supposed to run a 50K six weeks out from the big race as part of the training, so I'm thinking about adding in the Traprock 50K in CT for that? Not sure yet, I already have a pretty robust schedule as it is for 2014...
Monday, 2-10 - 0 Miles - 1 hour karate class this morning, and the Super 5K team victory celebration at the Mews Tavern this evening. Great time at both!
Tuesday, 2-11 - 0 Miles.
Wednesday, 2-12 - 4+ Miles (Road) - Short spin around Westerly, post karate class. Worked weapons the entire time. It's the only facet of my training that's been lacking, and I'm feeling more confident that I'll test for Nidan (2nd degree) in June. After karate class, I changed straight into my gear and hit the road. With single digit wind chills, I didn't want to give myself a chance to lose motivation. I've also been using the hill segment from the Pumpkins 5K as a performance indicator - it's fairly close to the dojo and has some pretty impressive names at the top, with paces that I'm trying to get to (especially on hills). Was able to get into the sub-2:00 range with a 1:58! Very happy with my effort today...
Thursday, 2-13 - 0 Miles. This weather, coupled with school cancellations, is lending to a low mileage week for me...
Friday, 2-14 - 3+ Miles (Road) - Short out and back from the house. Whipping winds, but upper 30's and the Sun was out. Got a couple of sprints in, and felt pretty good overall. Hopefully I can get some distance in tomorrow before the next round of snow? Otherwise I'll need to pull out some serious mileage on Sunday...
Saturday, 2-15 - 7.75 Miles (Road) - Loop from the house. And the word of the day is...Bombogenesis, one of those weather phenomenon that cause meteorologists to salivate and repeat the word continuously until the storm's over. Basically it's just a sexy term for a rapidly intensifying low pressure system (24mb drop in 24 hours), but it sure is fun to say! Anyway, this is the latest round of impending doom (read: snowfall) that's headed our way...so on that note, I headed out and got some easy miles in this morning. Just short of eight, but keeps me on schedule for training.
http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc2004/pub/includes/columns/newsstory/2014/650x366_01212146_bombogenesis-hd.jpg
Sunday, 2-16 - 4 Miles (Road) - Slushy spin in Mystic. Wanted to get a run in, and wound up in Mystic. I scoped out a segment there, Clift Street, which starts at the river and runs up to the top of the west side hill, a half mile at a 7% average grade. I remembered that Amby Burfoot mentioned this hill as part of a run he'd do with John Kelley, so it seemed like a good hill to try. After a couple miles, I hit the hill, which is relentless and I was sucking wind by the time I reached the top, but it's a solid test and I'll hit it again. Missed the CR by 13 seconds, so how can I not go back? Bonus? The biting wind had totally died down by the time I started my run, so it was a really comfortable run, in spite of the slush, hidden puddles and general wetness :)
Monday, 2-10 - 0 Miles - 1 hour karate class this morning, and the Super 5K team victory celebration at the Mews Tavern this evening. Great time at both!
Tuesday, 2-11 - 0 Miles.
Wednesday, 2-12 - 4+ Miles (Road) - Short spin around Westerly, post karate class. Worked weapons the entire time. It's the only facet of my training that's been lacking, and I'm feeling more confident that I'll test for Nidan (2nd degree) in June. After karate class, I changed straight into my gear and hit the road. With single digit wind chills, I didn't want to give myself a chance to lose motivation. I've also been using the hill segment from the Pumpkins 5K as a performance indicator - it's fairly close to the dojo and has some pretty impressive names at the top, with paces that I'm trying to get to (especially on hills). Was able to get into the sub-2:00 range with a 1:58! Very happy with my effort today...
Thursday, 2-13 - 0 Miles. This weather, coupled with school cancellations, is lending to a low mileage week for me...
Friday, 2-14 - 3+ Miles (Road) - Short out and back from the house. Whipping winds, but upper 30's and the Sun was out. Got a couple of sprints in, and felt pretty good overall. Hopefully I can get some distance in tomorrow before the next round of snow? Otherwise I'll need to pull out some serious mileage on Sunday...
Saturday, 2-15 - 7.75 Miles (Road) - Loop from the house. And the word of the day is...Bombogenesis, one of those weather phenomenon that cause meteorologists to salivate and repeat the word continuously until the storm's over. Basically it's just a sexy term for a rapidly intensifying low pressure system (24mb drop in 24 hours), but it sure is fun to say! Anyway, this is the latest round of impending doom (read: snowfall) that's headed our way...so on that note, I headed out and got some easy miles in this morning. Just short of eight, but keeps me on schedule for training.
http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc2004/pub/includes/columns/newsstory/2014/650x366_01212146_bombogenesis-hd.jpg
Sunday, 2-16 - 4 Miles (Road) - Slushy spin in Mystic. Wanted to get a run in, and wound up in Mystic. I scoped out a segment there, Clift Street, which starts at the river and runs up to the top of the west side hill, a half mile at a 7% average grade. I remembered that Amby Burfoot mentioned this hill as part of a run he'd do with John Kelley, so it seemed like a good hill to try. After a couple miles, I hit the hill, which is relentless and I was sucking wind by the time I reached the top, but it's a solid test and I'll hit it again. Missed the CR by 13 seconds, so how can I not go back? Bonus? The biting wind had totally died down by the time I started my run, so it was a really comfortable run, in spite of the slush, hidden puddles and general wetness :)
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Belleville Pond 10K Week! Week of 2-3 to 2-9
Looking forward to this race, as it looks like the phrase "Snowy Sufferfest" might get thrown out there again to describe a winter trail series race. Snow today, snow Wednesday, and another storm scheduled for sometime this weekend...hmmm, should be a seriously interesting week for running, but I'm still not gonna use the treadmill! Not a chance!
Monday, 2-3 - 0 Miles
Tuesday, 2-4 - 4 Miles (Roads) - Snowy streets of Mystic, CT. - Nice day, sun was out, and I almost went for a trail run, but switched it up at the last minute. Very picturesque in Mystic with all the snow, and I almost wished I'd brought a camera along...
Wednesday, 2-5 - 0 Miles. Shoveled the driveway, and shouldn't that be enough?
Thursday, 2-6 - 4 Miles (Trails/Beach) - Rocky Neck State Park, CT. Had to drop off a family member for an appointment, and realized I'd have a fair amount of wait time. Thankfully, I thought ahead and packed my running gear! Except my running shoes??? Dammit! So I drove to the nearest Target and dropped twenty bucks on a crappy pair of running shoes, which turned to be not so crappy, and used my park finder app to locate the nearest trails, which turned out to be at Rocky Neck State Park. Nice, hilly trails, and about 10" of snow with a nice crust on top to break through. There were snowshoe tracks on some of the trails, which made for easier going, but it was a slog. Good training for Sunday! Finished up in the woods, and ran the short section of beach they had there. Gorgeous day, 25 degrees and light winds, sun shining...
Friday, 2-7 - 5 Miles (Roads/Beach) - Misquamicut beach run with Gazelle. Met up and set out toward the beach, which, although it was at high tide, made for a nice break from the roads. Slogged through the State Beach parking lot (unplowed), then cruised back on the roads. Good run, conversational pace (Mid-8's is chatting pace now? Just occurred to me how far removed that is from a few years ago...), and a perfect running day - Sunny skies, 30-ish degrees, light breeze? I've run on the beach two days in a row, in February, and couldn't be more pleased about it. Love living here! Jeff and I, notably, were also the only souls on the beach as far as we could see...love winter!
Looking at my map, you can tell the GPS went a bit haywire, or is trying to suggest that I'm doing sort of freakish TRI training (I'm really not, I swear!):
Saturday, 2-8 - 2.3 Miles (Road) - Short post-lunch shakeout run, Mystic. My daughter had a birthday party to go to in Mystic, so after I dropped her off, Lori and I met for lunch at the new restaurant The Engine Room. I'd been anxious to check it out, since it's owned by the same dudes who own The Oyster Club, which is our favorite "Special Occasion" place to go to. The food, as well as the atmosphere, was awesome. Pretty decent beer menu as well - nothing along the lines of The Malted Barley or The Mews Tavern, but pretty substantial nonetheless. We ended up having a couple of apps and splitting the French Onion burger, which was damn good, probably because they're using locally sourced meat, like they do at their other restaurant. Delicious. I had a few errands to do in town before Soph's party was over, and still had some time to kill, so a short pre-Belleville shakeout run through Mystic was the call. I did some segment research on Mystic, there are a fair amount of segments down there, and I have the ability to snag any of them if I'm fast enough...
Sunday, 2-9 - 6.2 Miles (Trail) + 1.2 Miles (Road) - Belleville Pond 10K Beat Down trail race + Cooldown run, North Kingstown, RI. Another snowy sufferfest? Sure! This was by far the most challenging race I think any of us have had in a long time, and I loved every minute of it. Nice day, upper 20s, lots of snow on the ground, and the toughest 10K I've ever done? 99 runners at the race, I went out at a pretty easy pace, and gradually increased the pace as I got more comfortable in the conditions. Had to use Yaktrax - I don't know how the people without extra traction were able to make it up some of the hills out there! Found myself slowly reeling in some other runners, and came in at a respectable 1:06, good for 37th place overall. After a short group cooldown run with some of the crew, the awards were presented, including the team award, which we won. Race director Mike Galoob, who puts on a great race, was able to acquire a LOT of beer for awards, and I even ended up walking away with some! Great race, excellent team turnout, and I'm looking forward to the next one!!!
Monday, 2-3 - 0 Miles
Tuesday, 2-4 - 4 Miles (Roads) - Snowy streets of Mystic, CT. - Nice day, sun was out, and I almost went for a trail run, but switched it up at the last minute. Very picturesque in Mystic with all the snow, and I almost wished I'd brought a camera along...
Wednesday, 2-5 - 0 Miles. Shoveled the driveway, and shouldn't that be enough?
Thursday, 2-6 - 4 Miles (Trails/Beach) - Rocky Neck State Park, CT. Had to drop off a family member for an appointment, and realized I'd have a fair amount of wait time. Thankfully, I thought ahead and packed my running gear! Except my running shoes??? Dammit! So I drove to the nearest Target and dropped twenty bucks on a crappy pair of running shoes, which turned to be not so crappy, and used my park finder app to locate the nearest trails, which turned out to be at Rocky Neck State Park. Nice, hilly trails, and about 10" of snow with a nice crust on top to break through. There were snowshoe tracks on some of the trails, which made for easier going, but it was a slog. Good training for Sunday! Finished up in the woods, and ran the short section of beach they had there. Gorgeous day, 25 degrees and light winds, sun shining...
Nice trails!
Fogged-up view of the Sound
Short beach run to finish up!
Friday, 2-7 - 5 Miles (Roads/Beach) - Misquamicut beach run with Gazelle. Met up and set out toward the beach, which, although it was at high tide, made for a nice break from the roads. Slogged through the State Beach parking lot (unplowed), then cruised back on the roads. Good run, conversational pace (Mid-8's is chatting pace now? Just occurred to me how far removed that is from a few years ago...), and a perfect running day - Sunny skies, 30-ish degrees, light breeze? I've run on the beach two days in a row, in February, and couldn't be more pleased about it. Love living here! Jeff and I, notably, were also the only souls on the beach as far as we could see...love winter!
Looking at my map, you can tell the GPS went a bit haywire, or is trying to suggest that I'm doing sort of freakish TRI training (I'm really not, I swear!):
Saturday, 2-8 - 2.3 Miles (Road) - Short post-lunch shakeout run, Mystic. My daughter had a birthday party to go to in Mystic, so after I dropped her off, Lori and I met for lunch at the new restaurant The Engine Room. I'd been anxious to check it out, since it's owned by the same dudes who own The Oyster Club, which is our favorite "Special Occasion" place to go to. The food, as well as the atmosphere, was awesome. Pretty decent beer menu as well - nothing along the lines of The Malted Barley or The Mews Tavern, but pretty substantial nonetheless. We ended up having a couple of apps and splitting the French Onion burger, which was damn good, probably because they're using locally sourced meat, like they do at their other restaurant. Delicious. I had a few errands to do in town before Soph's party was over, and still had some time to kill, so a short pre-Belleville shakeout run through Mystic was the call. I did some segment research on Mystic, there are a fair amount of segments down there, and I have the ability to snag any of them if I'm fast enough...
Sunday, 2-9 - 6.2 Miles (Trail) + 1.2 Miles (Road) - Belleville Pond 10K Beat Down trail race + Cooldown run, North Kingstown, RI. Another snowy sufferfest? Sure! This was by far the most challenging race I think any of us have had in a long time, and I loved every minute of it. Nice day, upper 20s, lots of snow on the ground, and the toughest 10K I've ever done? 99 runners at the race, I went out at a pretty easy pace, and gradually increased the pace as I got more comfortable in the conditions. Had to use Yaktrax - I don't know how the people without extra traction were able to make it up some of the hills out there! Found myself slowly reeling in some other runners, and came in at a respectable 1:06, good for 37th place overall. After a short group cooldown run with some of the crew, the awards were presented, including the team award, which we won. Race director Mike Galoob, who puts on a great race, was able to acquire a LOT of beer for awards, and I even ended up walking away with some! Great race, excellent team turnout, and I'm looking forward to the next one!!!
Out of the woods, crossing the finish - photo by Jana Walker!
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