Ice Running

I spent all day thinking about getting in a run. I somehow managed to get out early enough to hit Bradbury before dark. I wanted some hill work so I hit the Mountain side.

Last winter I used my Northface trail runners with screws in them for the slippery runs and honestly felt they worked fine. I had to retire them because the heels completely separated and though I tried gluing them, they are just plain spent

On my last run at Pratts Brook I knew I would encounter ice so I decided I needed new screw shoes. I had bad luck putting ice spike in my shoes last year so I didn't use them and had a bunch left over. I figured in shoes that had never had screws they might work better.

I had a pair of New balance 621 trail runners that I didn't use much in the past so I loaded them with the ice spikes. They worked well at PB but I didn't feel they really were that much better than the hardware screws.

Last night brought on a whole new meaning to secure ice running. As I hit the Mountain side, I quickly realized that the conditions couldn't be much worse. The completely ice covered trail had a sheen of running water on top.

This is were the ice spikes really shined. I literally had zero moments of slipping on the ice and felt no danger of falling. I ran my normal stride and these things just gripped.

I had a fantastic run and only wished the dark would have held off so I could run a bit longer. Felt great on this run.

Finally... A Real Running Report.

When I made the commitment to attend the 3rd annual Mockingbird Fatass I had hoped for at least a few laps. That didn't happen this particular day as I only ran one lap. but I can say it was the best run I have had in months.

I missed two Bradbury races and was determined not to miss this run. it was great to see everyone and I couldn't wait to hit the trail.

I read on Vals blog that the terrain was difficult, wet. possibly muddy in places and a fair amount of ice and snow.....sounded like a good mix of "better pay attention" and I worried a little about the ankles where I haven't run much lately.

I hate to admit this because I am supposed to be a hard core trail runner, but I opted to wear my Ino-8 212s today rather than my new 295s because....gulp.....well I am just not ready to get them muddy yet and my 212s were still mud covered from my last run. As it turned out, I didn't hit much mud anyway.

The 212s did a great job as usual and even handled the ice spots (as long as I was careful) I felt great during the run, had good energy on the hills and the breath came back strong after each climb. The terrain was no where near as difficult as I envisioned ( though the deeper snow areas did slow me down a bit)

This run was great....what else can I say. The only difficult part was not heading out for a second lap. I had some commitments to attend to so time was a bit tight, but I left the run feeling great and knowing full well I could have easily run a second lap.

I was pretty excited all day because I felt so good. I really thought that this run would show me how far my cardio had regressed in the last two months with very little running under my belt.....but instead I enjoyed every step of the way I really felt good and could have run faster.

Thanks, Linda, Val, Rick and Gerry for such a great time. I only wish I could have hung around a bit longer.

Started about one minute behind the group
6.2 miles @ 1:07:40

20 LBS of Uselessness

In December I had a plan. It was well thought out and I merely had to impliment it. Winter would be my base period where I used snow shoe races and such to work on base running, Incorporate core workouts, crosstraining and a serious effort to drop some weight.

The success of this plan should catapalt me to great spring and perhaps the chance to find a PR somewhere. After decifering many of my best races and best years, I found that 15 lbs lighter (than my chubby norm) is a good racing weigtht for me......my goal is to drop 20 lbs.

This all sounds good on paper but by the end of December I had not accomplished much. Like any good distance goal, I knew one month was not going to affect me so January was my new focus.

Well, as it turns out, January was a bust too as I had run very little, cross trained minimally and actually gained about 5 lbs. In my defense, there were some circumstances that played a roll in my inability to get with the program.

OK, it's not too late, I figured February could be my breakout month and I surely would be able to get things on track. Starting the month with a weight loss plan that was very simple and easy to follow helped me feel like I was progressing.

As far as dieting goes, I am totally against it. You can't deprive your body of the things you love and need for very long without falling off the wagon. It is inevitable that unless you change your lifestyle with eating, you will spend it on a YO-Yo trip.

I actually think everybody knows this but doing it is another matter all together and the older one gets, the more dificult it is to trim up. For me it is really simple, I only need to limit my calories to a reasonable amount and get running. the rest will fall into place.

So, finally I am feeling like I am progressing. In the first two weeks of February I have lost 8 lbs, got in a few good runs (though I missed the second Bradbury snowshoe race), worked pretty hard on the crosstraining and expect to ramp up the running now that I am past a few hurtles.

The big question right now is, how much of my base have I lost this winter with little to no running? Though I did accomplish some crosstraining, was it enough? I am going into spring optimistic and if things feel well, I am planning a big race in May.

Bi-Polar....A Love / Hate Relationship

I spent the day in anticipation of my planned FIRST trail run since Stone Cat. It is hard to believe I haven't run outside since November. Actually I had planned on getting out much sooner but as with many things in life, The decision was not mine alone to make.

As I prepared to leave work, many thoughts were rambling through my head, how would I feel? Would the rusty running legs hold me back? I kept thinking I should run a few times on flat roads before hitting the trail, but that thought was overridden by my desire to be in the woods.

The plan was to hit the campus trail at Pineland which is close enough to work for me to get in an hour running with daylight. The trail is fairly open and would allow me the room to dodge hazards like ice and at the same time give numerous places to abort if things aren't going well as there are campus roads close to the loop in many places.

As I approached the entrance, I slowed way down as if to start negotiating the turn, but I just couldn't and hit the gas .......I really craved single track and even though I enjoy running the Pineland trails, it was not what I wanted today.

A wave of excitement rushed over me as I quickly weighed options. I decided to keep it close to home and run the mushroom trail. The plus with this trail is that it has probably not been used much this year so there is likely very little ice, The drawback is the half mile incline at Town Forest ( which I would be running twice)

I hit the parking lot and changed up. I purposely left all tracking and timing equipment behind so I wouldn't be tempted to analyze this run. This also would be a good break-in for the new Rocklite 295s, I couldn't wait to see how they felt.

Have you ever had two opposite emotions fighting for recognition? As I started running, I took in a deep breath, the air was cool and fresh. I couldn't think of one thing I would rather be doing at this very moment than trail running. In a very short time I was gasping for breath, but every gasp brought continued excitement.

The legs moved like lead weights, I felt totally out of control. Like a kid on his first carnival ride, my body hated every moment and though it was yelling stop ......you couldn't rip the smile off my face with a chainsaw.

I loved how hard it was to push forward, climb the hills without walking, every gasp of breath not supplying enough oxygen to satisfy the demand.

At the end of the run I threw in pit hill which is fairly short but almost 40 degrees......very much like the last degrading bump at Mount Washington. It was horrible and fun at the same time.

Though a comparatively short run of only 3.5 miles, it did have a good grade of difficulty for a first run. I have to admit that even though I was not timing, I did check the clock upon return (it is hard to break old habits) I calculated about 11:28 mile pace.....not too bad for this terrain.
After the run, the body rebounded fast, much faster than I expected, probably has a lot to do with the cross training I have been doing. Overall........great..great run.

2012...so far a year of didn't....yet

It feels strange sitting here looking at my running log and seeing only cross training workouts for 2012 so far. Not that I don't want to run but things have gotten in the way this year.

I had surgery on Thursday and was told no raising the heart rate in any way shape or manner for at least two weeks....?????? what the .......I figured the doc didn't realize that I was a fast healer and a runner. Even though I haven't been running this month, I have been working out and cross training. It is highly unlikely that I will sit totally idle for two long weeks.

So...of course I missed the snow squall for a second year in a row, not that I was prepared to race it but it would have nice to at least show up and help out.

Doc said, for four days, sleep sitting up or propped, no bending at the waist or dropping my head lower than my heart, no blowing the nose or sneezing, no physical activity ....might as well wrap me in a sheet and prop my body up in a corner.

I honestly believe a large part of long recovery and healing relates to drugs and pain meds. I don't take them and I heal very quickly. Yeah, it hurts but the degree of hurt guides one to realize where that fine line is between what you should and shouldn't do.

Day 1, Friday I wake up with minor pain and feeling pretty good.  Wife yelled at me for cleaning and filling the stove (not supposed to lift over 20 lbs). There was a good amount of snow and it seemed sitting in my chair and sitting in the plow truck was very similar so I chose the plow truck. I spent about three hours plowing with minor moments of shoveling stairs and such .....all with very little extra discomfort. The shoveling did raise my heart rate a bit but being a runner, it wasn't really that much compared the effort I was putting in.

Day 2, Saturday feeling good and slept much better. Wife yelled at me for cleaning and filling the stove. Cleaned off the trailer and took all the wood out of the garage and stacked it on the trailer......finally I have my garage back. With the help of the boys for the bending down and heavy lifting part, I didn't feel like I overdid it at all. Wife thought I did too much and made me take it easy for the afternoon.

Day 3, Sunday, feeling pretty good. Wife yelled at me for cleaning and filling the stove ( I swear the doc said 40 lbs but not arguing) went to home depot and picked up lumber for the garage, went home and used the lumber up. Changed the brakes on daughter's care, did some cleaning and organizing in the garage, went in the house to take it easy for the afternoon( aka watch the game), filled the stove, wife gave up and didn't yell at me.

Day 4, woke up feeling very good, filled the stove,  no complications, went to work and did all my normal stuff. No pain, no bleeding and no concerns.........I am pretty sure I will get in a short run this weekend, I promise I will take it easy and stop immediately if I sense anything wrong. I am sure my wife will yell at me.

2012.....it better be better

I started 2011 with so many goals. Through the year I zig zaged all over the place and ended up with accomplishing....well kinda accomplishing ....only one goal. How does that happen? How can a whole year go by before one realizes how unorganized it was?

Lucky for me, I had a great time on the trails this year and even though I didn't reach my expectations, I had so much fun. It seems perhaps in 2012, I should put much more emphasis on running for fun and much less on specific goals.

I did prove one thing to myself this year, I went into the Stone Cat totally untrained and was able to finish respectfully ....but most of all finish. Of course not the time I had hoped for when I signed up, but non the less it was a high light of the year for me.

In my mind, I can see the fast me running all over the place and sending all my old PRs packing. Unfortunately, my mind forgets sometimes that the body ages and can not do the things it used to. I think my mind and body have to do a little soul searching and come to some agreement that is reasonable.

It seems I should not worry about 2012 goals right now and just get out there and run......create a base and just enjoy the scenery. I guess that will be my focus for now and see how things unfold.

The Not Running Run Report

This is the first time in at least 5 years that I didn't run for a whole month. It is very difficult and if it weren't for the cross training, the busy schedule and the holidays, I suspect the withdrawals would drive me crazy.

The plus is that my body should be pretty well rested and in a couple weeks things will be back to normal. Minus is that will make it two months total and I will be so out of shape that my old slow pace will seem way too fast and unreachable!!

I put my name into a lottery for The Boston marathon ( as I have done every year since I ran my first one)
I hope someday I will win and get a chance to run it. I was hoping that my times would be good enough to qualify as my first one (when I was 46) would have got me in if I was in the 70 plus category. 

So my thinking was, if I wait long enough, the age group might catch up to my times......problem is, I been getting progressively slower every year and right now I have to wait until I am 80 ...or win the lottery. I think my odds are better with the lottery.

If I win, I better get my butt running... real soon! I don't want to be running down heartbreak hill during the awards ceremony.

On The Run and Mental Rehab

I want so much to be that guy, you know, the one who runs like a rabbit year round and never seems to have anything else to do but go running. Well unfortunately not only am I not that guy, but some some reason, I am living in a hectic world right now.

Thanksgiving-Christmas has always been a drain on me as far as time restraints goes but this year seems so much worse. Is it me or has someone pushed the fast forward button on the remote?

I just barely stayed in good enough running shape to finish the Stone Cat Marathon and though I have been nothing but on the run since then, other than a few crosstraining workouts, I have not run a mile. It is a catch 22 as when I become mentally drained, the best remedy for me is going for a run.

On my behalf, I do have a lot of outside influences right now and that combined with my own agenda, do alot to hamper my spare time. I guess I have to accept that there are more important things that require my attention right now, so I will have to view this short period of time as rehab......a sort of mental rehab.

A time to allow my body to recharge for some easy winter running and at the same time let me slow down a bit mentally and find a way to catch up to the world around me. Perhaps I will get a run in this weekend....

Stone Cat Marathon Report

It would be a much longer list of the things that I did not do in preparing for Stone Cat than the Things I did. Not that I planned it that way or just blew things off, quite the contrary I had a great and well thought out plan, I just didn't accomplish the execution of it.

Like my training for the Pineland Challenge 50k, I planned on at least 4 or 5 runs in the area of 4 plus hours with the addition of a couple 30 mile runs within the final 2 months before Stone Cat. These runs combined with a good base would surely catapult me into a very agreeable time in the 50 miler. On top of that I figured on a few more tempo and speed runs to help me run a little faster mile pace that would also allow me to make adjustments, not knowing the terrain of this race or ever running this distance.

By the time I signed up, I knew the 50 miler was out of the question so I chose the marathon instead. Even with the step down to the marathon, my training was way off track and probably someone in their right mind would have skipped it altogether. I rationalized that I would find a way to get in the runs I needed, but as the weeks ticked by, the longs runs just didn't come and neither did the weekly miles.

I could sit here and list all the great excuses I had but actually they are still just excuses......so I decided to run regardless of my condition and see what happened. The closer the date came, the more I worried about actually finishing the marathon. Two weeks  ago I ran one of my longest runs of only 5 trail miles, which felt great until the next day  ( I hobbled around lame as hell), then It dawned on me that if 5 miles caused lameness then 26.2 might be a problem.

So.....day of the race comes and I get there late because I couldn't find my Nathan vest which I was certain I put in my bag. In this vest was all the gear and food I needed for this race...all prepacked and ready for me, except the bladder which was in my son's fridge (of course the bladder isn't much good without the vest) Oh well, I will just have to depend on the aid stations and hope I can get what I need from them.

We drove up to the school right at 6:00 and as I started sprinting down the drive, my son yells out that I might want to put on my trails shoes......oh great, I run back and as I am rushing to change, I rip the holes on my bid so I now have to mount it upside down.

In the process of testing my headlamp, I realize that two of the LEDs are not working and I have to depend on just one to light my way. I begin to wonder if the world is trying to tell me to give up and go home. Ok, no big deal, it is going to be light in an hour so I will just follow someone if I can't see well enough.

Lucky for me the start was about fifteen minutes late and though it was quite cold, the first 1.2  mile loop around the school was just perfect to warm me up and allow me to acclimate to the darkness before having to negotiate the trail.

At this point, I really had no battle plan but I did have the trail monsters cheering me on, my son supporting me and the desire to finish at all costs. From the first step in the darkness, there was no quit in me. I decided to run when I felt good at what ever pace that may be and the rest of the time just keep moving forward toward the finish.

In my mind I calculated that if I kept moving and my leg muscles didn't lock right up from the lack of training, I should be able to finish in 6:30-6:45 or so. The first lap (13.7 miles) went really well and I came into the start/finish area at about 3:05 with trail monsters galore cheering me on. This got me pretty excited as I was more than half way. At the same time I was realistic and knew the next 12 miles were going to be much tougher.

I have to say, the aid stations were perfectly placed and stocked so well that I didn't really miss the vest or it's contents. my son joined me for the second half which was a great help and probably the biggest reason I kept moving forward.

I was some happy to see the finish line and somehow managed a little bit of a kick at the end. I definitely earned the jacket and at the same time proved to myself that I have what it takes to move the body when it seems so physically impossible.

I did much better than I planned with 6:11 at the finish line. I am fairly satisfied with this race but still have that 50 miler lingering in my head .........maybe it will be a 2012 goal now.

Not Sure

Not sure where I am heading lately as my running is virtually non existent, not because of lack of Mojo, though real runners (like jeff) actually still run like crazy without it, but more of a lot of outside interference (like 74 hours this week at the job).

When I trained for the Pineland 50K, I did an excellent job and was very happy with the results. Now with the Stone Cat marathon only a couple weeks away, I am wondering what abyss I will fall into on the second lap. I think I will do fine with the first 12 miles but fear the lack of any consistent training will catch up to me quite quickly after that.

I assume I will find out just how much base I really have and probably will be cursing my lazy training plan through out the race. That being said, I hope to enjoy myself (is that possible) and at the end be glad that I had the nads to show up.

After only crosstraing this week, I finally found the time to head out at 6:30 AM on Sunday and actually get in a short run. It was a bit chilly but the trails were quite nice and I felt pretty darn good. Of course after the 5 miles were behind me, I felt the lack of running throughout the whole day (lame muscles and such).....and it was only 5 miles....holey crap! what is going to happen at StoneCat.

I want to run long trail races....I really do, as I have the desire to complete a 50 miler.....but something is going to have to change in my life before that can happen. I have been looking for a few extra hours a week to get my runs in and just can't seem find them.