Sunday, February 9, 2014

37th Chamber

Wind in the sails and the ship feels righted in the direction it needs to be. With that said, still a ways away from the competitive level I forsaw in December, but the enjoyment of running of late has been great. This weekend was no different. The weather was amazing, the company was stellar and the routes were great.
I was fortunate to be able to hit the trails on Saturday and then the roads on Sunday. Saturday was a Voltron to Pisgah for 12 miles on the hard packed snowmobile trails with Greg and the girls. Sunday was going to be epic and wanted to get the girls their fitness in. It's also my favorite thing about running. 
The trail was 85% hard packed and was softening up the last 20 min which lead to quite a bit of small slipping. At the time I didn't really notice it. I really noticed it the next day when I woke up. 
Sunday was going to be the Marathon Road with the Simpson Brk add on to make it 24 miles. Eric MacKnight and Jeff Goupil made the trek out to team up with Greg and myself. I was excited to have a group and was looking forward to the run itself. 
We started off nicely, and eased into a nice relaxing pace. At around an hour we hit a 2.5 mile long hill that is very gradual until the last 1200 which is steep.
I didn't notice or hear it but I guess Greg and Goupil made a pact to chill while Eric and I kept the pace and effort a click up. I started to feel very good at this point in the run.
Once at the top we all regrouped and kept rolling down the backside before intersecting the Marathon Road. Once we hit the MR again we started to get honest with the rolling and by Grafton village Eric and I were in a rhythm and kept hustling. There was a stop at a store for a quick fueling, while Eric and I added on about 5 min. We then continues rolling the rest of the way. I could tell our effort was solid and had Eric take a mile split and hit 5:58 for our 20th mile and then 5:45 for the 21st mile and contined this pace tha last 2 miles. Once back at the start we added on another 4-5 min to get an extra mile and 25 for the day. 
I'm very happy with the effort and stoked to share an awesome day with my Owl Brethren. 

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Caul of the Uild

January has been a real mother cusser in the way that my training has looked a lot like my runs, lots of ups and downs. Some goals have shifted a bit, but running is a sanctuary of freedom and peace of mind... I really love the winter running when the conditions allow and I'm having a ton of fun. That said, I'm not getting faster, more fit or as race prepared as I envisioned a few weeks ago. But I don't give a feathery cuss bc I'm having fun just running. Which also means I need to prepare myself for the result of the outcome of any race I enter.
The reason to all the great feelings on runs is all the inspiration around me. The start of the month started with a run with my Owl Breathren and it was awesome. We met up in Pisgah at Greg's house and had a nice run. Attendants were: George Adams (owl), Thomas Paquette (owl), Eric MacKnight (owl) and Greg Hammett (honorary owl), and since we kill things, getting together was a fun time. 
This run was a changing factor to the start of the year for me as I took a step back and realized how awesome the people I have in my circle of running are. George with his delusionary ideologies that mirror/parallel some of the wild asinine things I say, and general being. Thomas is so easy going and laid back and always excited and interested in any and all running adventures. Eric is always great to meet up with and talk, well, really anything running related (with a cuss load if cuss talk mixed in). Eric has been an awesome inspiration to get out there in all elements, as his ability to be regimented and focused on one thing at a time is something I can struggle with. But hearing about his training and his BAM! Workouts, SHAZAM! Dinners, POW! And general focus is uplifting. Greg is an amazing balance to my reckless relentless chaos. There's too much to say about Greg , but in brief (and not even the best of...), Greg has an amazing ability to stay within himself and always puts things into perspective. Greg is the best guy in the world when it comes to training advice and having him as a training partner and seeing how constant he is at everything he does it, is awesome to always know he's got your back and will speak the truth (even though I most times don't enjoy the reality checks). 
Just knowing my brothers are out there doing it is enough to put myself out there in appreciation of what we share. 
As I drift through training, more just running, I've been able to really enjoy the outside and nature. The most notable thing was when I went with Greg to the track for some, whatever work?, and had positive feedback. Greg was prepping for short track cuss while I didn't give a cuss and went with mile repeats (3x). 
I wasn't going to look at my watch for the first one and just run comfortable, then try to copy that two more times. 
I rolled the first mile in 5:10, felt more like 5:40, and was very surprised. Cool. I wanted to run the same again, but half way through I peeked at the watch and saw 2:33, and felt easy, so I kept rolling with a slight acceleration and rolled a 5:03, nifty. The weather and snow picked up and it turned very cool. Track workouts cuss but this was fun. Last mile was light work and I felt awesome, especially while rolling a 4:56, like it weren't no thang! 


Since this first real "workout," I have been a load of miles together and have begun thinking about my calendar of what races I want to skull cuss. I haven't dined on souls in a good long while and need to get out there, at the very least to sport all my swag... 

Since this blog post has been written in many parts from many days the energy is all over the place and so is the info. Within a weeks time I managed a solid 80 miles with two bookend long runs, one from my house to Fyffe's via Athens then up over Putney Mtn. This run was an awesome 22 miler, which was enjoyable the whole time (even in the negative temps). 
For squirts and giggles I chose another mile repeat workout but upped the ante a bit and hustled 4 x mile. I was feeling supercharged before the workout started and rolled 6:20's for my warm up then hit the miles (90 sec rest), and was able to cruise under control for all of them: 4:53, 4:45, 4:57, 4:49. 
Added some fun running in between to lead me to Saturday. Saturday was epic and awesome. I've been dying to hit this specific loop (a marathon road hybrid) that clocked in at 23.69 miles on mapmyrun, so I called it 24. Greg had an epiphany and switched his mindset to miles and was in for the epic roll out. Run was bad ass and I felt cussing awesome the whole cussing cluster cuss time! Hell yea!!! We were able to roll sub 7 min pace and was too easy... The next day I woke up feeling Viagra ready for the next run and hustled a 14 mile trail venture with my girls. I ran this easy and relaxed, which meant it took me forever, but I was psyched to be out there in the universe having fun. 
The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.