Sky dump

I recently used these words in my head. The meaning was explain by a member of the wrestling team at Slippery Rock well over 30 years ago. I will leave it at that. Had really been enjoying the low key running. It was some effort with the cold and snow and all, but I was getting decent trail time. I was on the road last week and due to the extreme wind chills up North I hit the treadmill. Of course I was inclining and running too hard. Soon after I developed tendinitis on the top of my right foot down to my big toe. Now I am not running and miss it already. Just another sign you can't P-funk uncut the bomb any longer. This makes it difficult to trim down. In the winter when it comes to food I am like a german shepard on a rib roast. I was up to 186...and okay...183 isn't dynomite!, but I was not gaining. So I decided I would try and count calories and picked a round number of 1,200 calories a day as a target. Maybe this is too severe, but I need to make something a challenge. If I can't run for awhile I will try and at least work on trimming down. Went to the grocery store yesterday. Somethings surprise you on how many calories they have. A quarter pound of mixed nuts is 240 calories! A Big Mac is 550 which was less than I thought. I did not go that route, but was curious. At the crack of nuts this morning I had 2 cups of corn flakes and 1 cup of 2% milk. That is 320 calories and a total rip off. I bought lite Italian bread at 40 calories a slice and I think having 8 slices of that would have been better. This is all new to me which is kind of interesting. You really do try and get the best bang for your calorie buck when your keeping tabs. I'm thinking one of the best deals is the 80 calorie lite greek yogurt. It's just hard not eating 7 at once.

Tiny little moustache

Cold busy week so I managed 6:10 on 3 runs. Lapham was crappy Saturday, but good on Sunday except going the other direction which was choppy. Wed = 1:46:30 at Lapham. Mostly ran alone as everyone else seems to be much faster than I am. It was still darn cold, but trail was in Indianapolis 500 conditions. Ran 30 minutes prior to joining group at start. Sat = 2:03:30 at Lapham with Deno. 1:02 straight out Ice Age and across 18 to snow mobile trails and back. Stairs are a disaster. We enjoyed the day and chatted about the upcoming Kettle 100 and high school cross-country whoppers. Mostly on his part my stuff is all true. The rain had a negative bend on the trail surface. Sun = 2:20 at Lapham with Andrea. 1:23 out and back to 18 and the trails really firmed up in one day. Not Indy conditions, but perhaps Slinger Speedway. Andrea proposed we go the other way which we did for a 57 minute out and back. It was choppy, but provided different scenery. We also discussed the Kettle 100. I came to realize I have no idea how to tackle the thing right now. It does appear Deno, Andrea, and I will be trying some night training adventures.

Stack it high and watch it fly

I did not run Ice Age in 2008 because of a stress fracture. In 2009 the goal was just run by time, do a bit of faster running and go out at Ice Age at training run pace.  I pulled weeks like this starting from January:
6:46:44
7:12:37
7:22:34
7:37:27
7:59:30
8:44:28
7:48:17
10:56:28
6:22:33
10:04:11 w/ 10k 41:53 and 4 x 100 (2)
8:52:28 w/  8 x Lowell Hill
10:19:21 w/ 6 x 100 and 8k 32:00...6 x Glacial Cone hill
9:08:19 w/ 6 x 100 and 8k 31:55
7:02:15
7:34:41 w/ 30:00 tempo.......6 x Lowell Hill
8:34:01 w/ 5k 19:32
4:13:20 w/ 15 x Horab hill
4:17:40 w/ 10 x Horab hill
Week of Ice Age ran 5.0 Tuesday and 3.4 Wednesday and finished Ice Age in 7:20:57 with virtual even split pace in the first and second halfs of race.

Here are the runs around 2 hours or more:
1/18 = 2:20
1/25 = 1:54
1/31 = 1:57
2/1 = 1:51
2/7 = 4:21
2/15 = 2:04
2/20 = 3:06
2/22 = 2:01
3/1 = 2:30
3/6 = 3:10
3/15 = 3:21
3/21 = 3:10
3/22 = 3:12
3/28 = 3:07
3/29 = 2:05
4/4 = 4:06
4/11 = 3:00
4/18 = 4:30
4/25 = 3:00
5/9 = 7:20:57 Ice Age.

I look at this and yes...it is consistent solid work, but it is not over the top.  It was doable and possibly without knowing it I was going to just the point where it was enough and stopping.  I mean I only did 10 speed/hill type workouts and the hills were small to medium.  Like most I want and can train way beyond this, but does it always work?  It's looking at stuff like this that makes me evaluate stuff all the time.

Mostly farmers

Cashed in on the FA 50k and ran with Deno for 2:40:40 at Lapham. Good workout. It was what I really needed. Kind of pooped last 40 minutes, but it was worth it out on the Ice Age trail. I am at 183 pounds and with a bit of common sense I should get under 175 by February. I am trying to convince myself to take on 15 minutes of core 5 days a week, but motivation is low. I read a few old 100 reports last night and saw a fair amount of people mention they believed this helped. Does not seem like a huge investment time wise. I'm already twisted steel, so a bit more galvanization might not be a bad thing. Does time appear to be screaming by? 2014...are you kidding me...how was college over 30 years ago? I guess that's why I want to do a hundo this year. I will treat Ice Age as my A race and Kettle 4 weeks later will get what is left. I have a busy day Sunday, but I am going to try and squeeze in an hour around 6AM. The high currently for Monday is -17F not counting the wind chill. Tuesday will be brutal as well plus I will be on the road all day from 6AM to 7PM. I'm going to have to go to the mattresses to get something in. I dislike cutback weeks, but with everything else I have going on this week I might have to put the skirt on. No matter, twern't no Grizz left anyway.

Meet the Flintstones

I cashed it in on the small davenport at 8PM yesterday and awoke at midnight. Then out of sheer habit I checked my phone to see if all was right in the world. It is embarrassing to admit this and I feel myself being weaved into this web without any power to move against it otherwise. Why do we have to have the phone with us 24/7? Anyway I went to bed and laid there for almost 2 hours. Obviously versions of running schemes ran through my skull. As I tried to include all the other items I am responsible for and want to do it seemed...well over whelming. Sure I can begin to organize everything to the tee, but after awhile this makes Double a dull boy. I will spare all the details because you who are reading this now have the blueprint at home. At the end of the day it is what's important in life which matters most. Competitive (if you can call it that) running requires boat loads of the various energy streams we pull from. Running is good. Running which requires over 15 hours of our time a week, (add in all the tangibles) is a grinder. So I settled back to sleep and when I awoke a decision was made. Last week I came across a quote that went something like this, "Never tell people your problems because 20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them." I are not smart enough to comment, but it sure does feel that way sometimes. Not sure how much of the 50k I will participate in tomorrow. It was -13F when I awoke this morning. I'd like to get in at least 3 hours. There is a bottle pack around here somewhere which needs to be found. Looking to move around comfortably for as long as possible. Not sure this equals 31 miles, but it could happen.

I didn't ask for sunshine

I roughed out a draft of how I want to train for Ice Age. Nothing out of the ordinary. Spend the next 6 weeks getting in base shape and thinning out. Spend 9 weeks working on the long runs and get in a bit of strength/speed work. Taper for 3 weeks and make a go of it. I went through the list of who's registered and wrote down some names. Some mean different things to me. Not sure why I wrote a couple of the names down, but I was compelled to do it. I guess it is like A, B, and C goals you read about except this is about beating people. This is how I motivate myself. Sad...I know, but it's all I have at this point. Last I checked it is still a race. There is no science to the list. In fact I like everyone on the list. If I had to label these people you might see stuff like this: Legend - Grinder - Nemesis - Solid - Talented - and other unflattering tags just for my personal entertainment. Some people already know there on the list and some don't even know me. Everyone on the list has beat me except one. Two people I have never beat and probably never will, but that's what you get with an unscientific list. This is healthy...right?

Why do I love you people so much

I don't know much about music, but they claim you lay down the melody first and add the words later. I have the melody part down in my running, but this year it's time to start adding a few words. Getting out the door can be a struggle. A never ending one-on-one match. I have strategies to defeat the life me and life me is a very crafty adversary. We all face this and the more one wants to take on in the running world the more swashbuckling life me becomes. Offering advice here is like offering advice on how to race the last 3 miles of a marathon...you need to climb up into your brain and operate what working parts are left to the best of your ability. Since my 4 week IT holiday: 12/12 = 31:32 12/14 = 1:58:40 12/15 = 1:15 12/16 = 1:00 12/17 = 1:04 12/18 = 1:00:15 12/19 = 51:00 12/21 = 1:31 12/22 = 1:08 12/24 = 1:00 12/25 = 1:14 12/26 = 1:24:30 12/27 = 1:17 12/28 = 1:21:15 12/29 = 1:00:15 12/30 = 1:11:13 12/31 = 1:34:07 Now much of this was through the many versions of snow running we have in Wisconsin. Let's just say it wasn't all "blue skies." The next 6 weeks will be largely the same well clothed fat man lumbering through the woods. When he comes out the other end he better be at least 10 pounds lighter.