Our ritual continues and it is great. The ritual is run, then head down to Pleasant Valley Brewery and hit up the 35 cent wings.
Greg made the trip out to run, and we cruised a rugged 12 miler known as the Sap Lines. This is also a 14 miler with a different finish down some switchbacks, but we opted for the 12 (I did) and wanted to recover a bit. Not sure how much I recovered bc we were rolling fit fast and relaxed.
Najem, Boj and T-Paq joined us at the pub for wings and sweet potato fries. The serving staff is always delicious ;).
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Epoch
This was an epic week and marked an epoch of awesome. The week started at the top of Mt Washington and ended at the top of Mt Mansfield.
On Monday, Greg and I headed to the Franconia side of Mt Washington for a solid day above tree line. I suggested the Crawford Path, which is a quick 2.9 miles up to above tree line, then 5 awesome miles to Mt Washington. It was mapped so we could get 16-17 miles.
We packed small packs (Greg had 70 oz of water haha) and hit the hill. The first climb was great. I think I said either, "this is great," or "this is awesome," and uncountable amount. But it was great and cussing awesome.
Once we were above tree line it was even more amazing. It was a crystal clear day. The weather could not have been more perfect, we were very fortunate (and grateful) for the weather.
I felt more inhuman than human, I felt awesome the whole day. It must have been transcending energy of the outdoors, but I was wired and could have run all day.
F N A, it was awesome. There were some views where it looked like there was no civilization.
Ran up in 1:38 and descended in 1:14.
On Monday, Greg and I headed to the Franconia side of Mt Washington for a solid day above tree line. I suggested the Crawford Path, which is a quick 2.9 miles up to above tree line, then 5 awesome miles to Mt Washington. It was mapped so we could get 16-17 miles.
We packed small packs (Greg had 70 oz of water haha) and hit the hill. The first climb was great. I think I said either, "this is great," or "this is awesome," and uncountable amount. But it was great and cussing awesome.
Once we were above tree line it was even more amazing. It was a crystal clear day. The weather could not have been more perfect, we were very fortunate (and grateful) for the weather.
I felt more inhuman than human, I felt awesome the whole day. It must have been transcending energy of the outdoors, but I was wired and could have run all day.
F N A, it was awesome. There were some views where it looked like there was no civilization.
Ran up in 1:38 and descended in 1:14.
Epoch Week Continues
Tuesday - the day after an epic 17 miler on Washington should be a rest day. I plan on racing at Mt Mansfield on Sunday so a day of rest will be good. Ran 7 at GP with the girls. Felt fine, no real things. Added another 3 plus 16 miles on the bike to town (BF) and back.
Wednesday - Headed to Greg and Pisgah to run 9 in the AM. The trails were great, we coasted. Later in the evening I ran with the future 2012 VT State XC Champs for 6. I added 2 more to get 7.
Thursday - went out to the Marathon Road for 10 miles with 3 at a good effort. Felt more sluggish today than any day this week, but opened the first mile in 4:52, felt faster, but I was more flat than I thought. I tried to hold this pace and went 4:58 for mile 2, started to feel better. By the time I ended the third mile I was finally feeling ok and way better than when I started and clipped 4:50 for a total 3 mile in 14:40. Felt good about the time.
I later went back out to GP for an easy shake out 7.
Friday - hit GP trails again with Boj in the evening. Gave my temple as long a wait as possible until the next worship.
Saturday - Greg joined me for the Sap Lines 12. This is a hilly run, and as it turned out, not the best prerace run. But, it doesn't really matter, I've run tired and a bit flat before...
Sunday - Mt Mansfield 4.3 mile road race, Race to the Top of VT in Stowe.
I knew Stowe was awesome, but I also got a chance to check out Smugglers Notch, very cool and gorgeous.
This race was at 9am, so I was up and out by 5:15 to make sure I got there with time to spare.
It was to be a hot day. Very hazy and humid, but I was very excited to race to the top of VT.
As I'm warming up a van opens its doors and the most legit looking dudes piled out. There must have been 6-7 of them and they looked the part. I would figure them to be XC skiers, which meant they could be tough on the climb.
The race started and a few dudes went out hard. The first 500m is the worst of the whole race, and I wondered for a split second on what to do. I hung in the pack till the top of the first climb (500m) then took the lead and made a move to end any ideas of anyone trying to hang on to me. The beginning had some very runnable sections and I made sure to press hard on these and open up the stride. It might have cost me a bit at the end, but it worked and I ran solo for 4 miles increasing my lead.
I ended up 33:53, and to make sure I was King of the Mountains I continued running to the tip top of Mansfield (which is beyond awesome!!!) and then ran down to bag 17 for the day.
It was a tough race, with a lot of talent in the field. Before the race started the starter announced said that anyone who breaks the course record will receive $500 bonus! This was too much to ignore, so I kept my watch on and was checking splits as I clipped. What the dude failed to mention is that the course record includes bikes!!! Haha. Seriously, the running course record was held by a guy I never heard of, so I knew that was coming down, but then after the fact to find out that it included the bikes... Made me shake my head and smile. I joked with the race director that the running record should be apart from the bikes bc they have 21 gears to choose from and I only got 1! I also joked that bikes are a great machine and was made bc it is easier/efficient than running or walking.
Instead of complaining I took it as a challenge for next year. Karma is great, by laughing about it, the director told me that he was going to toss some dough bc I broke the running record by almost a whole minute!
As it also turned out, as primarily a runner, I was a minority. It seemed that most people there were XC skiers or mtn bikers. Def a great venue. The prizes took forever but thats bc they were the best prizes I've ever seen at a race or heard of. The raffle prizes were ridiculous.
Great day to end a great week as I start the taper a bit. Got 95 miles this week and feeling good.
Wednesday - Headed to Greg and Pisgah to run 9 in the AM. The trails were great, we coasted. Later in the evening I ran with the future 2012 VT State XC Champs for 6. I added 2 more to get 7.
Thursday - went out to the Marathon Road for 10 miles with 3 at a good effort. Felt more sluggish today than any day this week, but opened the first mile in 4:52, felt faster, but I was more flat than I thought. I tried to hold this pace and went 4:58 for mile 2, started to feel better. By the time I ended the third mile I was finally feeling ok and way better than when I started and clipped 4:50 for a total 3 mile in 14:40. Felt good about the time.
I later went back out to GP for an easy shake out 7.
Friday - hit GP trails again with Boj in the evening. Gave my temple as long a wait as possible until the next worship.
Saturday - Greg joined me for the Sap Lines 12. This is a hilly run, and as it turned out, not the best prerace run. But, it doesn't really matter, I've run tired and a bit flat before...
Sunday - Mt Mansfield 4.3 mile road race, Race to the Top of VT in Stowe.
I knew Stowe was awesome, but I also got a chance to check out Smugglers Notch, very cool and gorgeous.
This race was at 9am, so I was up and out by 5:15 to make sure I got there with time to spare.
It was to be a hot day. Very hazy and humid, but I was very excited to race to the top of VT.
As I'm warming up a van opens its doors and the most legit looking dudes piled out. There must have been 6-7 of them and they looked the part. I would figure them to be XC skiers, which meant they could be tough on the climb.
The race started and a few dudes went out hard. The first 500m is the worst of the whole race, and I wondered for a split second on what to do. I hung in the pack till the top of the first climb (500m) then took the lead and made a move to end any ideas of anyone trying to hang on to me. The beginning had some very runnable sections and I made sure to press hard on these and open up the stride. It might have cost me a bit at the end, but it worked and I ran solo for 4 miles increasing my lead.
I ended up 33:53, and to make sure I was King of the Mountains I continued running to the tip top of Mansfield (which is beyond awesome!!!) and then ran down to bag 17 for the day.
It was a tough race, with a lot of talent in the field. Before the race started the starter announced said that anyone who breaks the course record will receive $500 bonus! This was too much to ignore, so I kept my watch on and was checking splits as I clipped. What the dude failed to mention is that the course record includes bikes!!! Haha. Seriously, the running course record was held by a guy I never heard of, so I knew that was coming down, but then after the fact to find out that it included the bikes... Made me shake my head and smile. I joked with the race director that the running record should be apart from the bikes bc they have 21 gears to choose from and I only got 1! I also joked that bikes are a great machine and was made bc it is easier/efficient than running or walking.
Instead of complaining I took it as a challenge for next year. Karma is great, by laughing about it, the director told me that he was going to toss some dough bc I broke the running record by almost a whole minute!
As it also turned out, as primarily a runner, I was a minority. It seemed that most people there were XC skiers or mtn bikers. Def a great venue. The prizes took forever but thats bc they were the best prizes I've ever seen at a race or heard of. The raffle prizes were ridiculous.
Great day to end a great week as I start the taper a bit. Got 95 miles this week and feeling good.
ET
This will bring up to speed the week of 8/13-8/19. It is really is the same cuss different day. I probably could do it in one sentence: I rule and ran 108 miles. Sounds good. But, one of the five people that read this silly idle words may be curious how it happened, so, here it goes.
Monday - ran a DeMar Marathon course 20 miler with Greg. It ended up being 6 miles at 5:40 pace, then 2 c 5:40, then 1 x 5:40. This was a lot of road after a solid week previous.
Tuesday - I went an checked out a trail that would link up a new run. It went from behind my place but then crosse over to the Athens/Grafton trails via a snowmobile path. Ended up with 14 long miles. Tough recovery run, but who are we kidding?
Wednesday - shook out an AM 10 miler on the trails. Felt ok, but felt good on the afternoon 7 I added at VT Academy trails.
Thursday - another double day, but had an intense hill session in Grafton. The hill is Turner Hill Rd and is vicious the first 800. All together the hill is 950m with the first 800 very steep and the last 150 mild/gradual. The goal was to stay just at redline then open up the stride on the "flats," which wasn't flat at all, but try to change gears. Ran 10 miles worth of hills and felt awesome! The 7 I added later at GP was slow and felt good to clip off some miles.
Friday - workout #2... It was a 12 mile lead out into Putney Mtn. Najem joine me and paced me through, and then 2 miles before the hill we added a 2 mile in 10:30 (5:18, 5:11), then up the hill I went. The week before I ran just over 19 minutes for the hill, but today I climbed in 17:30!
Saturday - the KSC dudes joined make and I for a long 15, which I called 16, around the abandoned orchard. Great run. We went very controlled and stayed that way. Rest on the rest days was followed today.
Sunday - Fyffe made and appearance and we ran the 10 mile version of the apple orchard loop. Great to see Fyffe. At one point he told me he felt like he was racing. I reassured him that it was BC, WE WERE RUNNING 5:20 pace!!! Dude can roll.
Week total = 108
After 8 weeks I has 937 miles, avg of about 117.
Monday - ran a DeMar Marathon course 20 miler with Greg. It ended up being 6 miles at 5:40 pace, then 2 c 5:40, then 1 x 5:40. This was a lot of road after a solid week previous.
Tuesday - I went an checked out a trail that would link up a new run. It went from behind my place but then crosse over to the Athens/Grafton trails via a snowmobile path. Ended up with 14 long miles. Tough recovery run, but who are we kidding?
Wednesday - shook out an AM 10 miler on the trails. Felt ok, but felt good on the afternoon 7 I added at VT Academy trails.
Thursday - another double day, but had an intense hill session in Grafton. The hill is Turner Hill Rd and is vicious the first 800. All together the hill is 950m with the first 800 very steep and the last 150 mild/gradual. The goal was to stay just at redline then open up the stride on the "flats," which wasn't flat at all, but try to change gears. Ran 10 miles worth of hills and felt awesome! The 7 I added later at GP was slow and felt good to clip off some miles.
Friday - workout #2... It was a 12 mile lead out into Putney Mtn. Najem joine me and paced me through, and then 2 miles before the hill we added a 2 mile in 10:30 (5:18, 5:11), then up the hill I went. The week before I ran just over 19 minutes for the hill, but today I climbed in 17:30!
Saturday - the KSC dudes joined make and I for a long 15, which I called 16, around the abandoned orchard. Great run. We went very controlled and stayed that way. Rest on the rest days was followed today.
Sunday - Fyffe made and appearance and we ran the 10 mile version of the apple orchard loop. Great to see Fyffe. At one point he told me he felt like he was racing. I reassured him that it was BC, WE WERE RUNNING 5:20 pace!!! Dude can roll.
Week total = 108
After 8 weeks I has 937 miles, avg of about 117.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Sunday - Focused
Greg had a run planned in Pisgah, this sounded great bc I was ready to get back on the trails. We ran a 15 mile loop, and I felt awesome. It was a great run with Najem and Fyffe as well. Once we got back to Greg's house I opted to add 5 more miles on. I wanted to nail another 100+ mile week and this is what I had to do. I also wanted a long run. 15 is just a run now, and I don't want that to go away...
After adding my miles up I found I was at 97, so I shook 3 hilly miles behind te house out to get the Benjamin. I later found out that I never wrote into my running log the 9 miler around the orchard, so I ended my week with 109, a huge CUSS YEA!
After adding my miles up I found I was at 97, so I shook 3 hilly miles behind te house out to get the Benjamin. I later found out that I never wrote into my running log the 9 miler around the orchard, so I ended my week with 109, a huge CUSS YEA!
Saturday - Popple Dungeon
Najem and I had an awesome day. The weather was perfect after we climbed a righteous hill, bc it started to down pour and wipe away the heat.
We parked in Grafton and headed west, wrapping around to Popple Dungeon road. This stretch was awesome. The rain and the downhill for 6 miles, was a great combo. Najem felt good/great so we ran well. This is an awesome winter time run of 17 but worked just fine in the summer.
We parked in Grafton and headed west, wrapping around to Popple Dungeon road. This stretch was awesome. The rain and the downhill for 6 miles, was a great combo. Najem felt good/great so we ran well. This is an awesome winter time run of 17 but worked just fine in the summer.
Friday - 9
Easy 9 miler with Najem around the Leach Rd abandoned apple orchard. Felt a little residuals today from the workout out, but I'm telling myself it's just my body wanting more epicness. Cuss yea!
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