Saturday, April 27, 2013

Debt Owed

Finished up last week with a 15 miler in Keene with my fellow owls, to give me 95 miles for the week. Very cool. We ran what was once called the Abenaki Run. Great conversations with all in the group and it was exciting to hear how well they are all racing. Tradition.
This week brought highs and lows for feeling good while running but def had solid efforts.

Tuesday - 4 x Hartley Hill (little over a mile up) with Najem. Last week I felt awesome, but this week I was a little sluggish. I attribute it to the fact that last week I was on vacation and this week I was back at school. The good things was the further into the repeats the better I was feeling. Once again we just ran regular effort up the hill for the first three then on the lat one picked it up slightly all the while feeling good. A solid 14 in the bag!

Wednesday - the weather was unreal and I was fresh out of a staff meeting, so I was in desperate need of some nature. I decided to nail the 14 mile Grafton power lines loop (which includes the infamous Satan's Grin hill). My goal was to go slow and just cover the distance, and that is exactly what I did. I wore my Highgear watch and my pace was slow early, but by the end I was in the low 7's/high 6 minute pace and that felt comfortable.
To run that pace on the hills and power lines, one would have to sell their soul to one of two people: the devil or me. I dobt need Strava to tell me who owns the FKT or who the King of the Mountains are; its cussing ME!

Thursday - today was a total nature run, tons of animals were out and about. I parked up on Ledge Rd and hustled the Lost Trail. About 10 minutes in my girl Lena goes ape cuss wild. She caught up to me with a face quilled up with 6-7 long quills. They came out real easy. Twenty minutes later, she is at it again, but this time the porcupine was cussin with her and not going up a tree. It was a decent size quiller and left about 5 tiny quills in her mouth... The fastest way back to the truck was to keep going. She seems fine, so I wasn't too worried. Twenty minutes after that we come up on a beaver pond and what looks like a beaver swimming in it. It wasn't, it was a good sized raccoon. Mama usually just chases them off the porch with a broom, but since this one was swimming, ain't no time for brooms.
Ellie and Lena were in that water like there was a fire. I didn't want my girls to kill this raccoon and I didn't want that raccoon to drown my girls, but it was straight out of a movie. The raccoon was scratching, biting and clawing and my girls were biting back. While my girls where paddling after it, the would push the raccoons head under water and it would swim (ver well too) and come up and start thrashing again.
During the malay, I yelling like a fool and I'd get one to listen before it turned into a wrestling tag team match. I finally get both by me and the raccoon swam under a rock and poked just it's nose out of the water to breath. Raccoons are def one smart animal.
Lena took a bite in the lip and a scratch across the face, Ellie was untouched (she's gnarly) and the raccoon had a good gash under one eye.
Great 10 miles with high excitement. I def don't lead a boring life...

Friday - after yesterday's Wild America run, I decided to chilled behind my place today on a mellow 9 miler on the white dot trail finishing down the switchbacks. The trails have some wet sections but overall they are in great condition.

Saturday - today is the day before the Muddy Moose 14 mile race so I wanted to keep it lighter than usual. I'm feeling the week and yesterday was a day I should have raced. Yesterday I felt amazing, and today I did everything to finish 7 miles atop Putney Mtn, great sign for tomorrow. Cuss.
I don't like the idea of losing let alone the idea of getting my cuss handed to me either, but I am remembering that it is for the greater cause. Tomorrow means nothing except for tomorrow and will be a solid race effort, quality race field and quality miles. I'm exiting to race and start racing more to get my sword sharp on both ends (mentally and physically). I recognize I'm not where I want to be but I'm thankful for where I am in my training and thankful I can be running. I can see where I want to be which is the first time in a long time.
Here comes some races, they may be ugly, but they will be fun...

Saturday, April 20, 2013

L'homme Sauvage Wilder Mann Macidula

The primal heart still beats...
This was a tough week (health wise) and a good week of training. Greg and I talked about it the other day, running everyday an training are different. I feel in the verge of being able to train and not trying to sound like a cuss, but it's now or never bc I don't know how much time I have before I get sick.
I'm getting minor head fuzziness and some residual feelings in the health department. Boj said it best, "got to do what you can with the time you got," and if I'm going to get sick or sidelined again, , I'm going to go down in a blaze of fit glory... Haha.

Monday - Najem hustle out and had an awesome idea to do hill repeats on Hartley Hill (tough grueling 2 mile hill). We ran solid efforts on the mountainous part of about a mile section. The climbs are tough and it was great to complete a set of 3 climbs. Even running up the hill, it is wicked tough, so our efforts were great and relaxed.

Tuesday - since I'm on vacation this week I banged out an easy 9 miler in the morning around the abandoned apple orchard off Leach Rd. Felt very good the day after the hill repeats. In the afternoon I Voltroned with Greg in Pisgah for another 12 miles (or more) of fun. This was great bc I felt better on the second run...

Wednesday - I thought about going to Wednesday workout, but I tested my fitness level last week and don't need to do it every week (haha). But... it caught up with me and I feel like dog cuss. I also got told by the specialist Dr that I will need to go back on some meds for 90 days at 4 times a day... CUSS ME! There are worse things... I didn't have a lot in the tank and called the run after only 10 miles, my body was thankful.

Thursday - lethargy continues, and this sucks. I feel heavy, tired and weak. So, I decided to run a gnarly 14 miler out to the Athens Lookout. This run is tough with a lot of climbing and I felt this was the best way to stop feeling like a pansy. It worked to so e extent, I felt gnarly for completing, but def death marched portions. On the scales, I am 12 lbs heavier than this time last year. It is hard to gauge what fitness I'm in without any races, so I am going to find something and try to roll.

Friday - found a race in Brattleboro, 10k, and it will not be easy. Fyffe knows all the roads the course goes on and said it is wicked hilly and we did a course map on map my run and it is rolling up or half then and then rolling down for the second half.
In preparation for this race, I doubled today. The original plan was to double 10 and 5, but only shagged 5 in the morning and then teamed with Fyffe in Putney and rolled 5 with him. Very exciting that Fyffe is gearing back up.

Saturday - combining the last 7 days I have 104 miles, my highest since my summer of devastation. Knowing this 10k was going to be brutally tough and that I was going to kill myself on it was an enjoyable thought.
I ran a 33:03 for a very tough (arguably the hardest 10k I've ever done on the roads) and the most scenic. It was an amazing course that was very comparable to a trail/mountain race only on dirt roads.
There were points where I felt I resumed to training pace on some of the climbs and could only make up so much on the downhills. I was right around where I thought I'd be, which was nice. In 2 weeks and a year ago I raced at Groton 10k and ran a 33:15, and Groton was much easier with competition. Today I was by myself from the word "go" and much tougher, so this is a huge confidence booster.
I don't know how my clothes will fit if my confidence grows to be so fat!

Sunday should be a longer run with some lifers...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Deathly Hallows

Oh man... The last three weeks have been eventful, some for good and others for not, but def eventful. A solid three ago I was starting to settle into a good rhythm of running, but then my quad exploded on the marathon road with Najem. This was tough bc I lost somedays and the start up week that followed was bruised with feeling like a lard cuss of cuss cuss. It was a total cluster cuss.
So my last weeks were looking like: 81, 85, 82, 87, hog cuss, cuss discharge, and then last week ended up back at 80.
Last week was an awesome week of rolling. I had some epic fun runs. 80 miles with two days off is great.
I was feeling some fitness flowing in me so I wanted to test my fitness, so I hit the Keene to see where it was at.
The workout was 10 x Drummer Hill which runs like a 400m in time and is a great hill for repeats. The workout was light work as I was feeling fine. My health is the only hole, some days I feel great and other days I feel like cuss. But today's workout was a nice feeling. The times weren't anything outstanding, but the effort at which I was climbing was minimal and felt good and relaxed.
I then ended the week in Pisgah with a 3:18 hour run. Once again, I felt great the whole time and it was a solid bro day with Greg and the we Voltroned with Fyffe in Putney for a BBQ. Awesome week.
I got to get my cuss together if I want to compete in races and just finish them. The Burlington marathon might be a pain fest, but who better to take on pain then the King of Pain himself, ME!!!