Sweet Melissa

 4.2 @ 11:56 pace.  Struggled the last half.  I know why.  Gonna have to make an adjustment.  My back is still an issue, but two separate stretches are keeping me in the game for now.

The wife has Cat Stevens playing.  Pleasant bonus.

To motivate myself I think I need to start pondering race goals either real or imagined.  One adjustment I made is abandoning walking for brief stretches inside my running.  Takes forever to cover any sort of distance.  I still walk some every day to burn calories and keep limber.

So the two faux events would obviously be the Ice Age 50 mile and a road marathon.  It motivates me to train and then analyze what I am doing and how this would map over these distances.  I’m just starting back running so for now the goal times would be 11:00 and 4:00. That’s 13:12 pace on trails and about 9:09 pace on road respectively.

My last Ice Age was in 2023 with an 11:02.  My last marathon was Lakefront in 2015 in 3:06.  Pipe dreams. 

For Ice Age I’d look at a 48/52 split which is a 5:16/5:44 split.  12:38/13:45 pacing.  That’s an aggressive split, one that would take a lot of work.

So for me that’s getting my everyday training pace to about 10:15 minimum on pavement. I don’t generally take days off unless I have to.  The volume would need to approach 65 miles a week and I would run the same volume every day.  I would probably only do 3 long runs of like 22 - 26 - 30.  Those would be trail.  Mostly everything else on pavement because that works for me.

For grins I searched for aggressive 50 mile trail race training for a 65 year old.  Puff the Magic Dragon advice.  Like Frank Shorter said years ago, “It’s not all good looks and a secret recipe.”  People are soft.  And I am as well!

Time to change that.

Out and back

 4.2 @ 11:09 pace. 

Chumming

 In 2008, Tom Bunk at 66.5+ years old ran the Ice Age 50 mile in 8:35 and change.  That’s a 10:20 pace and the age group record.  Now that I’m 64, it really is an exemplary time that’s hard to get your head around.  My last 6 trail 50 milers on 3 different WI courses were between 11:02 and 11:57.  And that’s been a few years ago.

Most locals knew Tom.  I certainly learned a lot from him.  What secret sauce did he have?  Tom’s training seemed simple.  Almost everything was run on the trails and he ran long every Saturday.  Not to mis lead anyone, Tom routinely put the coals to it the last half.

Just thinking about it, I think Tom and a few others (Clem certainly is at the top of this list) seemed to have shortened the conversion pace per mile from roads to trails.  I’m thinking as much as 50% better than good runners, not the Girl Scouts.  

My only clue to this is Tom’s theory was your Ice Age time should be 2 x your current marathon time plus one hour.  This was never close for me, but it worked for him.  I was more of an add 1:35.

Look at Clem. 2:32 times 2 is 5:04 plus 1:00 is 6:04.  He ran just under 6:00.  That’s insane.

4.0 today @ 11:44 pace.

Sports fans

 4.0 @ 12:31 pace.  4 cups of coffee just to loosen up.

Richard joined the Church today.  96.5 years old.

I can still eat a whole medium pizza.

Donna’s watermelon she grew is fantastic.

Pirates win.  Need bullpen help to make playoffs.  Half game back in wildcard.

Two hour nap.  I must of been tired.  Dreamt I had a full length, asphalt basketball court in the backyard.  I have dreamt in the past I could gorilla dunk.  

John’s Roast Pork.  Sandwich shop in Philly.  Might go up next year for a bite.  Catch the Pirate game as well.

Boundary Waters looking grim with the fires.

Gonna try 4.0 again tomorrow before I ramp up to 4.1.

I know that dude

 4.0 this morning @ 12:44 pace.  Looking to find a way to increase mileage so I can become trimmer.  Not liking the fat body look.  The challenge is my structure.  I’m crooked as hell.

I typed in beast mode training for a trail 50 mile.  Pretty comical.  Is 45-55 miles a week beast mode?  Of course the plan would be more than adequate, but again the main thing is not the main thing.  It seems you spend as much time doing other stuff besides running.

They described the run as a big buffet style eating fest.  That’s not my experience at all.  Calories are important, but it is very personal.  They stress back to backs versus the one long run.  You could sell me either way because I have experience.  I think someone newer benefits more from the long run.

At the end of the day it is volume of miles a week to me.  I believe one could basically go run 2 hours daily and do super well.  You want to know what rubs.  Run 6-7 hours.  You want to know what to carry, what to eat, what electrolytes work.  Run 6-7 hours.  Want to know how to handle cold, hot or rain.  Go run 6-7 hours.

I see electric bike people with water packs.  What you want to bet they have cappuccino machine at home.

Where the grapes of wrath are stored

 The opening to the song Shaft is dynamite.  I’m just saying.

24 official days of work before retirement.  I still have the gas down.  Running through the tape every day.

Boundary Waters trip in jeopardy with the fires.  Might have to do flowage or UP.

I was at the dermatologist and they called for Mrs. Jones.  Of course I said out loud - we have a thing going on!  Pretty well received.  It’s an older crowd.

Working on my gravitas on the electric bikes phenomenon.  I may have used that word wrong, but it is a running blog.

As I contemplate some big adventure, it takes a whole lot of getting in shape and denying oneself.  Which takes me back to my former philosophy of keeping the main thing the main thing. In the day I just pounded miles, worked, and raised a family.  I never stretched, cross trained, lifted, watched what I ate or worried about dipping snuff.  Listen to me, it was damn near Bastille Day everyday.  Come and get some.

Then you age out to a degree and every other week you are going to get after it…I farging swear.  Such BS.  You are never your own Grandpa brother.  Sure…some amazing tune comes on and you drift back into adrenaline phase thinking it is time to release the hounds.  Then you have to mow the damn yard, or put a fuel line on the beater and reality sets in.

Let me tell you something.  I didn’t have this name for it, but in the day it was the general philosophy.  In the 2024 election cycle they called it too big to rig.  You’re damn right.  Can you dig it?  Adopt a workout, double workout, yard work, middle of the 95F weather and just freaking 396 Chevelle SS it. 

P-funk brother.

Anyway…my buddy from HS is calling.  Keep the faith.

3 bricks shy

 4.1 @ 12:12 pace.  Not bad.  If I dropped 15 and maybe figured out a way to become more flexible there might be hope for me.

Going to try and get some canoeing in later.  Maybe I’ll find one stretch to start and go from there.