Careful what you wish for

12/20/08
Saturday

Saturday morning, 8 degrees outside and a fresh coating of snow....I figured about 8 or 9 inches. How could I not go for a run? I left the house around 7:00 Am and I found the world pretty much undesturbed. I ran about 3/4 mile down the road to one of my favorite trails.

I found the trail running fairly tough as the fresh snow covered up every imperfection of the ground. I felt as if I hit all the uneven spots and worried a little about twisting my ankle...but I didn't.

I wore my "spring cleats" which are similar I think to Yaks, even though I have not seen a pair of Yaks, by description I think they are. They worked quite well and I didn't slip around much at all. I had no problem with them coming off my Northface Gortex trail runners like they did last year on my Nike runners.

I wore water proof sox with the trail runners and my feet didn't get wet at all. I did however have a problem with snow getting into my shoes and creating a very uncomfortable situation.....I needs some gaters.

Also I found the sox were causing hot spots and worried about blisters. Luckily I didn't really run long enough to get any. I passed two spots were deer tracks crossed the trail so I guess I wasn't first out this morning. I didn't see any deer though.

The running in soft fresh snow was quite tiring and the footing dificult. This reflects the slower pace in my second mile. By mile three I settled in much better and my pace quickened. Though only a short run, it was a fairly good workout.

I increased the value of the workout by shoveling the steps, walkway and pertinant areas before plowing. Overall a good workout but a little warmer temp would have been nice.

3.8 miles @39:52
average pace 10:29
141 av heart rate 166 max

My Snow Shoes Keep Staring At ME

December 18
Thursday
As I ran the four miler,I could feel the cold breeze lapping against my face and the smell of the cold fresh air freezing the tiny hairs as it passed through my nose. Fluttering snow flakes trying hard to change my outer apearance wanting more than ever for me to be white.

These are the thoughts that rambled through my mind as I stared at my lonely pair of snowshoes hanging on the cellar wall. Oh how I long for a nice long quiet treck through the woods. Again it's a boring treadmill run but I shouldn't complain....at least I am getting a run in.

I can hardly hold back my excitement as I make a guarded promise to my snow shoes.......a big storm this weekend ...yes huge. As a matter of fact, snow Friday night and Sunday too. A smile grows and my spirits are lifted. Yes Satuday morning is not far away. My wife is working and I am not.....there is nothing stopping me from putting on a bunch of layers and hitting the trails or roads or snow...whatever, I will be there.

I am thinking of putting screws in a pair of my older shoes...plenty have done it and it seems to be a good option. I do have a pair of Yaks...well they are not that name brand but very simiar. They are a bunch of stainless steel springs runing in a criscross pattern held on the shoe with a rubber border...like a bungy I guess. These work quite well but are a little slipery on tar or hard surfaces and they tend to come off if pushing off while running and getting too much traction.

treadmill 5% grade, 5 speed
4 miles 9:49 pace

I plowed last night.

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with running. It was sent to me and I liked it ....so I thought I would share it. The thing to remember is the speed they are traveling plus the fact that the picture was taken by a pilot in the third plane...while flying! A weak comparison would be to think of how difficult it would be to take a picture while driving a car in heavy traffic

I have been finding it more and more difficult to get my runs in. The holiday tasks of shopping, putting up a tree and decorating, a few other distractions and my week time nights are all shot.

Yesterday morning I threw my ass out of bed at 3:30 am (again) and pulled off a quick speed run of 2.5 miles and an easy cooldown of .5 It actually felt good to do some speed work. I mainly did that because my time was limited before work.

I wish I could do that every day but I need at least some beauty sleep. last night after I plowed, I convinced myself that I would get up early this morning and run.
I woke up at 3:10, 3:28, 3:41, 3:55 and finally rolled out of bed at 4:05 ....took a shower and headed for work. I guess I just couldn't get the rolling out of bed technique working....I did fine with the waking up part though.

After rethinking my position and forcing the sandmans gunk from my eyes, I decided I will shoot for tonight when I get home and if that fails I will surely get up Friday morning.....yeah that will work.

I am pretty excited about the fact that a second and possibly third snow storm is coming this weekend.....I have my snow shoes ready and I am geared up!

Treadmill -- morning speed run
5% grade and #5.5 - 6 speed
1st mile 7:35
2nd mile 7:22
last half and kick 6:33

Anouther Busy Weekend

Friday......ice day
11/13/08
Saturday

I crawled out of bed at 3:30 Am.....Why so early one might ask? Well I knew if I didn't get a run in at that time I would probably not get one in. 3:30 Am on the treadmill is not really my idea of a fun run but you do what you gotta.

I ran a good workout of 5 miles and watched something on Tv but honestly I can't seem to remember what it was. A cup of coffee and a quick shower later and my son and I are driving to the shop (my work) to get a large van truck. My daughter is moving today and I volunteered to do the hauling.

The drive to Farmington was about an hour and as I was turning onto her long..windy...hilly...icey...narrow driveway/road. I lost the power steering. Actually this is not good, The powersteering is pretty darn important when driving a fairly large truck and negotiating narrow windy roads in the winter.

The second problem I encountered is a small steel bridge only a slightly wider than
the truck tires and a posted sign that read 5 ton limit. My daughter said a pretty big truck plows her drive so she thought the bridge would hold me. Problem is the big truck she was talking about weighed about 6 ton....this 24 foot van with a deisel engine weighs 20 ton empty.

I figured if I drove fast enough, I should have the momentum to make it and not be on the bridge long enough to colapse it....I made it so I was half out of danger. The trip back I would be heavier with a full load of house stuff.

The road/driveway was about a mile long and had me worried a couple times on the icy hills. I was glad to crest the last one and see the old farmhouse. I stepped out of the truck and was immediately hit with a strong cold wind that seemed at least 20-30 mph. This made the morning temps feel like 20 below.

I backed up to the porch, put the hydraulic lift gate down then proceeded to remove the broken powersteering line. The right type of tools and some warmer clothing would have been a welcome asset. This place was full of tools but they were farm tools...so a lot more difficult to find something that would work.

I got the line changed and we worked our butts off loading all of her furnature. Anyone that says these moving guys have an easy job appearantly has never moved a house full of furnature. By noon we were all dragging our asses and darn glad that the last piece was packed in.

A two hour drive to Portland and we would have the pleasure of reversing the whole process. Finally the truck was empty and though normally this would be a great time to sit down and have a celibrationary beer, I still had to drive the truck back to Auburn and then work on the rental house.

So, no fun, no rest, no beer just an uncomfortable ride up the turnpike with the sun in my face. I dropped the truck off and in the process of getting out, I hit my glasses and broke the rim that holds the lense in. I glued them the best i could to allow me the privaledge of driving home instead of calling for a ride.....only problem is that the super glue somehow got all over the lense and ruined it....lucky I have another pair at home.

Once I got home, I checked out the rental house and found still no power and there was no residual warmth left inside. I had to do something or face broken water pipes.
I ran a cord 180' from my garage, squeezed the cord through an opening that used to be quite small and now was considerably larger (due to me shoving this cord through) and I wired up the furnace. I was quite relieved to hear that furnace start up.

Ok.......now I had a beer as I dropped my dying body onto the couch for a much needed rest....right now, I couldn't vision accomplishing my normal long run in the morning....I guess I will see if I can get out of bed in the morning.

5 mile run 50 min @4% grade 5 speed (9:18 pace)
crosstraining ....4-5 hours of carrying heavy objects.

11/14/08
Sunday

I woke up at 7 Am ....why is it I can't seem to sleep late? I surely could have used the rest. The temp outside was a balmy 12 degrees and I honestly didn't know if I could pull off a long run out in the cold as I still didn't feel warmed up from yesterday.

I decided to hit the treadmill again and just run as long as I felt like it. I hoped for at least a 3 or 4 mile run. As usual I set the treadmill on a 5% grade but after a second thought put it down to 4%.......this would be an easier run today.

Somehow after a couple miles, I began to feel pretty darn relaxed and my energy level was good. I ran 6.5 miles and then a half mile cooldown. I think I suprised myself. At this point I felt quite refreshed and a side of me wished I had run outside today.


I dressed, ate breakfast and then went tree hunting. This was quite enjoyable not only because of feeling the Christmas spirit a bit but because I had a good run behind me the day was still young.

Little did I know that I would be dragged to the dreaded stores and spend the rest of the day shopping......what a killer of a good mood. Oh not that I don't have some Christmas spirit.....it's just fighting with all those people.....most of them just seem to be in no hurry to do anything...merely walking around very slowly and gawking at the stores...not really buying anything. I like to buy what I came for and then leave.

There was one highlite of the day when we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays and grabbed a burger and a couple beers.....for some reason the rest of the afternoon was not so bad and I made it home in time to watch the Patriots game. Funny how the weekend just flys right by?

6.5 miles
treadmill 4% grade 5-6 speed.
1/2 mile cooldown.

Crosstraining?

A picture speaks a thousand words......this is how I felt last night.

11/10/08
Wednesday

A month ago I ordered two loads of crushed gravel for the rental house next door. The drivway had finally sunk to a new low (literally) and the combination of standing water and clay based soil created a very new and mucky substance.

For some reason the guy I ordered it from came up with multible excuses as to his failure to drop off my gravel. As time went on the weather became colder I felt my window of opourtunity was closing fast.

Honestly, I kind of forgot about it until he called yesterday to inform me that both loads of gravel (28 yards) were sitting in the middle of the driveway. My visions of a wet soaked gravel not only being in the way of the vehicles parking but freezing if left overnight got the best of me and I left work early.

I guess best laid plans are meant to be disrupted as my plow truck, which was the mechanism I planned on using to level this gravel was gone when I got home. My son had planned on putting new snow tires on it for plowing this winter and as Murphy's law simply states, he picked this day to do it.

I slipped on a hat and raincoat, grabbed a shovel and rake then proceded to attempt leveling this huge mountain of wet material. I knew I would have help when the plow truck arrived but that would not be until 5:30 or so and it would be plenty dark by then.

I couldn't take the chance that Murphy would frig things up any further so I started the task without the truck with hopes that I could get it done. I managed to level approximately 8 yards of this heavy stuff when my son pulled in. I was so happy to see that truck!

We scurried down to my house and mounted the plow. I finally got the whole thing leveled and I must say, that even though I had a plow truck instead of a bulldozer, the driveway came out quite well......now the ground could freeze all it wants to.

Needless to say, after working all day then shoveling 8 yards of heavy wet gravel, the picture above easily protrays my energy level as I finally ate supper. I guess this would qualify for cross training! YOU THINK!

Kinda Speed Work

Grass roof is a good insulator....





11/09/08
Tuesday

Treadmill night ...if this keeps up my entries will be even more boring. Again I kept the incline at 5% grade and ran a tempo style speed run of 3.1 miles.

As a cooldown 1 mile at an easier pace and finished with a mile at an even slower pace but with 5 lb hand weights to work on upper body

5K @ 25:13 (8:09 pace)
1st 8:17
2nd 7:48
3rd 7:23

1 mile cool 9:54 pace.
1 mile w/ weights

Fatigue Recovery Run

11/07/08
Sunday

My battle plan was to run 5 miles on the treadmill with fatigued legs from yesterdays trail run. I set the speed on a little too fast to walk which is a little too slow to run comfortably. Thus I would workout different muscles than the trail run and practice a walk/run combination to simulate a fatigue body during distance running.

In theory in sounds real good.....honestly I don't know if it is good training or not. I mixed up at a ratio of about 3 to 1, running three times as long as walking and had the incline on 5%.

I actually worked up quite a sweat and felt like I accomplished a good workout. I started out with soft feeling legs, sore ankles and tight calfs. At the end of five miles, I felt loose and the ankles were fine.

The rest of the day I was busy with various activities and my legs felt fine. It seems the workout did help with fatigue recovery.

I thought of this type of training because I trained with only running for the 25K and ended up with cramps and tight quads in the last 5 miles because of walking. I didn't train for any walking what so ever and I think that was a mistake.

My sites are set on my first 50k in May and I plan on mixing in plenty of walk combo training for it.

5 miles treadmill
5% grade at 4 speed
12:21 average pace.

10 miles of trails

11/06/08
Saturday

I had an early start today as I planned a two hour trail run and still had a full plate besides. The decision was to go out and just enjoy the trails while getting some time on my feet. The tricky part was dressing right, the temp at 6:30 AM was a mere 15 degrees and there was no way of telling how much it might warm up in two hours.

I felt I might be overdoing it.....I wore under-armer, long sleeve running shirt, long sleeve heavy shirt, running vest, heavy winter running vest, long pants, gloves and hat. I felt surely I would be shedding some of this stuff and have to carry garments through the run. But if I didn't wear enough it I might be in a tough spot as I will be a long ways from the house.

Turns out that the sun didn't really break through the clouds much and the temps didn't gain but a couple degrees through the run. Speed was not a factor today so I brought some goodies to eat, my camera, I-pod and a power drink.

I had suspicions that an old dirt road across from the firebarn would allow me to connect with the powerlines and today was a perfect time to explore it. The only draw back was the elevation as it was a fairly steep climb. Turns out according to the garmen, a whopping 19% grade and an elevation of 519 feet. This was about a mile and a half total climb but funny thing,my pace was 12:57 but it was not my slowest mile.

My slowest mile was the decent as the ascent peaked at the trail end on the power lines and the decent was quite tricky. I hit ice on the rocks, running water, deep mud churned up by many 4 wheelers trying to climb this area which left huge endless puddles of standing water. I lost my footing many times as the stalagmite frost was 5 or 6 inches tall and would give way without notice. This was my ninth mile and once I reached the bottom I had gone from the highest point (519 feet) to my lowest point of 115 feet. This mile ended up 13:28 pace.

I took the picture above about 1/2 mile from my house. I thought it showed a majestic sillohette of a living thing withstanding all that nature can throw at it.
Unfortunately my camera went dead and I was reduced to carrying the darn thing for 10 more miles and no benefit. I would have loved to have a picture of the power line descent.

Overall, my 10:42 mile run had me experiencing a bit of everything (well except warm radiant sunshine) I ran on some dirt roads, on some sandy base material through a gravel pit, heavy wooded single and technical trails, along the rail road tracks, beside a beaver bog, through a grassy field, back to heavy woods, hills, valleys, a couple tar spots and of course the powerlines which always offer a large mix of technical running.

I was very happy wth this run and how I felt through out. I had exactally the right layers of clothing. My energy level and stamina was right on. I did't revert to walking at all and I actually managed to speed things up after the "hill" and pulled off a kick at the end. My last 1/2 mile was my fastest overall(8:38). In the end I walked a mile cooldown and can't think of a more enjoyable cup of coffee upon my return.

2:00:01 hour run 10.42 miles 11:30 average pace 145 av HR and 162 max.

mile ....pace ...av hr ...max HR
1 .....10:30 .....140 ....145
2 .....10:37 .....146 ....154
3 .....12:08 .....139 ....148
4 .....11:11 .....145 ....151 ..almost the lowest elevation 116 feet
5 .....10:43 .....148 ....159
6 .....13:05 .....140 ....156 ...elevation 289 feet.
7 .....11:40 .....150 ....160
8 .....12:57 .....150 ....162 ...elevation 519 feet 19% grade
9 .....13:28 .....142 ....154 ...elevation 115 feet
10 .....10:25 .....148 ....155
11 ......8:38 .....158 ....162

Rock and Roll

Last January, I ran the P F Chang's rock and roll half marathon with my daughter. She was living in Arizona at the time and we flew out there for the race. It was by far the biggest race I have ever run. About 20,000 runners for the half alone.

Now that winter is closing in, the thought of that race enters my mind. The bands playing each mile, the hundreds of spectators, the contentment of watching my daughter experience not only her very first race but one that is very eventful and exciting.

I had so much fun then and as I ran on the treadmill yesterday the thought keep rolling through my mind. I should make it a point to travel somewhere very warm every winter and run.....just for a little break in the hectic schedule.

Last night my plans of getting a run in was shattered by more car repairs for my kids and the furnace in the rental house quitting....instead of running a few miles, I'm cleanning furnace nozzles.

So to fight back I got up at 3:00 this morning and kicked off 2.5 miles before leaving for work. It actually was quite refreshing and I might consider doing it a couple times a week. Though maybe getting up a little earlier so I can get it at least 3 miles.

This week so far has ben such a bust.......re-cap since Monday;

Tuesday: 3.5 miles on the treadmill ....boring but warm
Wednesday: Funeral
Thursday: car repairs and furnace
Friday (morning): 2.5 miles @ 8:20 pace

I better get some running in this weekend.......Oh, did you notice that ponch hanging on to the front of me in the picture? No wonder why I run so slow....I have got to lose that blubber...and soon!

Old Fashion workout

11/28/08
Friday

Yesterday I drove down to my brother in-laws in Massachussetts for Thanksgiving dinner and to pick up a load of lumber. He is a farmer, a pilot (private), A plane inspector/mechanic, A boiler tech by trade and he has his own portable lumber mill.

The start of my day was at 4:30 Am and heading south for Mass. Then a workout of loading this huge pile of lumber, having a great dinner and heading back to maine.
I pulled into the yard at 7:30 Pm and honestly was a very tired soul after driving in holiday traffic for 6 hours.

Friday morning my son and I began the job of unloading this lumber by hand and stacking it in the garage to keep it dry for the winter. The steady rain did not help matters much and we only got about half of it unloaded before we gave up and went inside to dry off.

My muscles and bones could feel the workout as this wood is still green and quite heavy. By evening I finally convinced myself that reguardless of my body screaming in agony, I had to get in a run. So my son and I took off with my little head lamp shinning the way and kicked off a fairly fast 2.5 mile run.

I can't believe how much better my whole body felt! The run was just what I needed and the fresh air gave me a second wind. I marveled at how tough I was, loading, driving, unloading and still getting a run it......that is until Saturday morning when my body almost refused to roll over ...never mind get up.

I fought the stiff muscles and threw my body out of bed anyway. Funny, when I was younger I would have done twice as much and still jumped out of bed for more. I decided the only smart thing to do was suit up for an early morning run....it would either rejuvinate me or finish me off.

It worked! I came back from my 5 mile run feeling ready to tackle the rest of the lumber. I rolled my son out of bed and we stacked the rest of the wood. I was feeling pretty manly as we unloaded and told my son I would probably do an afternoon run with him but when the wood was finally done I wimped out. I had very little energy left. I watched as he ran down the driveway...I felt odd not going.

Now I am ready to just veg out and the wife decides we need to take the son and my daughter out for supper and shopping.....what! I didn't remember saying Ok but the next thing I knew, I was ordering a beer and some Italian meal. By the time I rolled into bed, I felt like I had just finished a gym workout marathon. I remembered muscles I had long ago forgot about....Oh they are still there.

Sunday morning I felt a little lame but actually not that bad so.....my normal Sunday run was not cancelled (even though I was sure it would be when I climbed into bed last night) My son and I pulled off a hilly 8 miler to be pretty proud of ...well considering the circumstances and the fact that he was just jogging along.


Friday
2.5 miles (night) 7:56 pace with 6:10 kick
Saturday
5 miles easy....9:47 pace
av hr 141...max 156
Sunday
8 hilly miles 8:59 pace (starting @9:10 p and ending @ 8:22 pace)
av hr 147 .. max 161

I will rest Monday.