It's official

Received today via email:

"Thank you for registering for the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon which takes place Sunday, May 30th 2010."

I guess I just can't stay away. Game on.

Layers

I had a hard time getting out of bed today. I had planned on getting up a bit early because I had to get a 3 miler in, and I had a busy day on tap. Unfortunately, anticipating the day made me bury my head in the warm covers for a bit longer, and just like that the morning run was out.

I did manage to get out at noon, though. Even though I have a lot going on at work, I knew I'd need the energy to get through an afternoon of number crunching. I figured the jog would provide stress relief leading into my project and clarity as I dug into the data. It kind of worked.

More importantly, the run felt good. It was short and uneventful, which is what I'm going for as I start up again. It was a cold day, and I was well served by my layering -- a thin Patagonia base layer is my newest addition, and it felt great.

I have to say that guilt played a part in getting me out on the roads, too. The coach said I should get three runs in this week, and a 6 miler on the weekend. If I missed today, I would've been behind in my first week. That's just not right.

Later boys.

Back At It

I took the week off after the CCM Relay. It was good to take a little break and it permitted me to wait out the time change. Unlike Bennu, I just can't motivate to run in the pre-dawn dark, though it's all in my head because the one that I got in with C2 I did enjoy (and so did he).

Well, that's fixed now because it's fairly bright by 6:30 so no more excuses. I did 5 yesterday with C1. She rode in the stroller and we ran on the Cape. It was a gorgeous, blustery day and she fell asleep somewhere along the route. It was very cool. I covered the 5 in 47 flat -- not at all my fastest for that route/distance but it's OK. I battled a stiff headwind for a bunch of it and we stopped to look at the Bass River as well. It was a nice run with my daughter on a beautiful day and that's all that really matters.

I'm looking to get back to a Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday cycle in anticipation of marathon training. Not sure about the mileage, 20 would be nice, but it's more about getting on the cycle.

One hour

I've had only one 30 minute run since the triathlon last weekend, so today was my day to get out. I did one hour, which I think was about 8 miles. It felt good.

Nothing else to report. Just checking in.

40 minutes

I ran for 40 minutes today. This was sort of a test as it was ten minutes longer than most of my recent runs, and it was done without a day of rest. The plan is to take tomorrow off and then get about 60 minutes in on Saturday. Everything felt fine. Nothing more to report.

30 minute swim

At least that's what it felt like today. I just saw Agricola's post and ditto that for me. No pain, but a definite struggle to get in 30 minutes. The air was THICK.

On the positive side, I had no pain in the calf. It seems that the rest (haven't run since Friday) did it well.

Fourth Fun

Based on the posts this morning, it looks like we all balanced our holiday intake with some fun runs. I did the same with the Hingham 4th of July race. The highlight of that one is always the start. We all gather at the local middle school and reconnect with old friends, classmates and townies. This year, my sis joined us as a surprise visitor from Seattle. She flew in to spend the long weekend.

Despite the family atmosphere of the race, this has never been one that I can just "fun run." I always want to do my best and leave nothing behind on the course. This year was no different.

With 2200 runners, the start is always a slow, zig-zaggy adventure. You're doing well if you emerge from the pack without twisting an ankle, and you always try to make back lost time. Case in point: At the first mile marker, I posted about an 8:40 pace, and I wasn't happy. I turned it on for mile two, posting about a 6:15 -- waayyy too fast. I paid for my launch into hyper speed with a tightened calf. I slowed to a more reasonable 7:13 pace for mile 3 and stopped halfway through it to stretch a bit. Into mile 4, the calf started to loosen up, which reminded me that it generally takes me about 15 - 20 minutes to warm up. I definitely will start doing warm up runs before short races in the future. It's become a necessity. Anyway, by the end of the race, I posted a 33:07 for the 4.6 mile course. I'm happy with the time and with my place in the overall standings. Not sure how it compares to last year. I'll have to look that one up (results are on-line).

So, funny thing happened as I started this post. I rechecked my splits and realized that my first mile was actually a 7:57, which is not bad at all. I must have read my watch wrong because I remember being pissed. I wonder what my mile two would have been like had I read it correctly?

I'm letting my body heal a bit, so I haven't run since the fourth. We're in a heat wave in VT right now. It's supposed to break tomorrow, and that's when I will get out again. A 5-er would be good.

Nice to see us all getting active on the roads and on the blog. Looking forward to our next chance to run together.

Later boys.

Fast friend

A buddy of mine naturally runs right around a 7 minute mile pace and did a scorching 3 hour marathon a couple of years ago. He's getting back into it and we went for a run yesterday. My goal is to run 7:30 minute miles for the CCM, so he'll be a perfect training partner. We went for a fast-for-me 5.5 miles yesterday, and it felt good. No issues with the calf, although I'm taking it easy today. Good stuff.

Post it

I ran my 30 minute hill loop this morning. Felt foggy, but solid on the way out and stong and light on the way back, even in a steady rain that started with about 15 minutes to go. My "back" beat my "out" by a solid 3 minutes, which was an added bonus.

Hills

I ran directly from my house this afternoon, which means I had to tackle a steep quarter-mile hill. Definitely a test. The run went well, and it felt good to be back on my old route again. Not much else to report.

Strides

Got in a morning run today and worked a bit on "speed" (it's all relative, you know). I was able to take a solid 3 minutes off my 3 mile time with negative splits for the out and back. It was a tough run, but it felt good to test myself a bit. The next test will be to up the distance more consistantly.

Wildlife update -- saw a deer cross the road behind the car today. It bounded effortlessly over 3 foot high grass. So graceful....Now that I think of it, it's like nature was saying, "This is how we do speed in this 'hood. Watch and learn, sucka."

Later, boys.

Long Road

Well, I was sufficiently inspired by Agricola's performance at the VT City Marathon to set up my training schedule. I went on a 30 minute run yesterday, and I'll do the same time every other day for a couple of weeks to ease the calf back into things. At that point, on July 1, I officially start training for the Cape Cod Marathon.

The goal now is to stay healthy and stretch like crazy. I hope to fill in the training schedule with plenty of group runs and races. Keep an eye out for invitations to join in.

Later boys. Welcome to summer.

PT and Yardwork

I did two sessions of PT last week, and I have another one tomorrow morning. Woo-hoo! Yes! Yes! Yes!

I also hit the gym twice last week for some weights and swimming. I'll go again tomorrow after PT. I'm hoping to get the green light to run a bit by the end of next week. I've had one week on the eliptical so far. With three heavy ultrasound and massage sessions on the calf in six days, I should see some healing. Man, would I like to get out there for even two to three miles.

In the absense of running, I took on two projects over the weekend. I'm working with my father in law to replace old sheetrock with beadboard at camp. And at home, we're gardening fools. With all of the good weather lately, things are sprouting early, so we're already behind. I built a cool tree limb fence around our garden today with help from the kids. I got to use the chain saw, which is always fun. I'm actually slightly sore from the work, but that's mainly from whacking my hand with a hammer multiple times while trying to drive in my home-made fence posts. Go figure.

Kudos to Agricola for kicking it into gear during the last push before the Marathon. I'm still bummed I can't run with him, but hoping to at least pull out a relay leg. Being injured is about the lamest thing ever (no pun intended, really).

Agricola, let's rethink this blog post-marathon. I'd like it to keep going. Maybe with some new blood?

Moooo

My calf is calling.

Went for a 3 miler today at lunch. Lungs and legs felt great, except for my right calf, which is super tight now post-run. I originally strained this calf about a year and a half ago during the Burton 5K race. Ever since then, I feel it when I'm even the slightest bit dehydrated. My calf is like the canary in the mine early warning system for dehydration. Unfortunately, this time I kept running and now it's tightened up pretty good. The plan is to drink up (including beers tonight -- it is St. Patty's day!) and possibly rest it tomorrow.

The good news is that everything else felt good during this run. After China, just being outside with a blue sky is a bonus. And after a very soft month running-wise, my head is finally ready to take on training...at least for today. Let's hope my body comes around.

10.5

I ran 10.5 miles today. It was a beautiful morning to be up and out in VT. The air was brisk to say the least, but by the end of the run we were glad that we stuck with it and got the outside time in.

I don't have a lot to report on this one. I ran with a friend of Mrs. VTR, and it was good to have a partner out there.

That's it. Check off a long run and a short post. Done and done.

Rebound

I went out for a 42 minute run today. I'll call it 8 miles. We got about 8" of snow in Burlington, so the challenge was in finding clear terrain. I ended up doing loops of various little neighborhoods between work and Lake Champlain.

Usually I hate repetitive loops, twists and turns, but today was different because I felt great out there. The legs were good and rested, and my head was in the game. It helped that it was a clear, bluebird day, and the fresh layer of snow was still pristine, but I think the fact that I was three days removed from air travel helped me even more. I'm convinced that air travel shortens lifespans, but that's another story.

Anyway, I'm psyched with the run today. I have to get one longish run in this weekend, and then I'm off to China for 2 weeks. China means no real running, so I'm starting to get a little nervous about my marathon prep. Based on my schedule alone, I won't start training in earnest until mid-March. Who knows, maybe that will be a good thing.

Running = Running.

So, I finally got out on the road today after a 10 day haitus. Sure, during that time off I did a couple of extreme (read: scary, but cool) hikes in the Alta, UT backcountry, a skate-skiing jaunt, and lots of skiing at altitude, but none of those things are running. And today, I felt what that means.

(I should also mention that I spent 4 days in Vegas. I had one final redeeming Alta day after Vegas and before returning home, and I did my best to "knock the Vegas out of me," but I think Vegas damage stays with you.)

What I learned is that although cross-training activities will keep you fit during off-days/weeks/months, they really are no substitute for running. I eaked out 33 minutes today, and none of it was fun. I checked my watch way too often. I didn't add on an extra loop. It wasn't that I was in pain or fatigued, I was just out of it. It was an interesting observation to me -- Despite keeping (mostly) keeping up with on the exercise front, I lost an edge on the mental side of running.

Who knew you had to exercise your mind to run well?

High Altitude

I'm taking a break from running, but still getting some solid exercise in. The family and I are in Alta for a week, staying with Mrs. VTR's folks at their slopeside cabin. I was lucky to be able to combine a vacation with some work stuff that I'm doing in Vegas next week. It's nice when business and pleasure intersect in such a fun way.

Anyway, the place we're staying at is at 9,800 feet, so I'm doing high altitude training. We're hiking and skiing all day, and I'll be honest it's kicking my butt. My hope is that I'll be able to run like a crazy man when I get back closer to sea level next week. I'll see if I can post some pictures over the next few days. It's spectacular out here.

Quick post

The week is already getting away from me, so I'm checking in to document my training over the weekend. I had lots of pseudo-deep thoughts to accompany the post, but those will have to wait for another time.

I ran my local 10.5 mile loop (which I just found out was more like 10.8 -- nice!) on Saturday morning. There were two cool things about this run. First, I was running into a snow squal. When I started out it was a clear, calm day. By the time I was 30 minutes in, I could see white-out conditions on the mountain range above me, which happened to be right where I was heading. It was very cool knowing that I was out there doing the loop as a storm was closing in, that I would be running into the storm, and that it didn't matter at all. What mattered was getting the run in. I felt all hard core, albeit in a "I'm approaching 37 years old and not at all hard core" kind of way. Still, it felt good.

The second notable thing about the run was that I saw two moose (yes, moose) during the run. I was running along a not so well traveled section of road when a momma moose and her calf ambled out over the snowbank and into the road about 25 yards in front of me. They didn't even break stride to get over the four foot high banks. At first, I thought they were horses -- they were that big. They got into the road, loaped down the street for about 20 yards and then darted back into the woods and up a hill. I've never seen a moose in VT. It was awesome. My second thought after seeing the moose was, "I sure hope this Burton thing works out because I can never move away from this place." (My first thought was, "Holy sh*t!") I mean how can you beat being out for a run on a dirt road in the woods two miles from your house and seeing moose? It was awesome.

So, back to the run. I did the 10.8 in about 1:35, including three one minute walk breaks to get me through. On Sunday, I did a half hour snowshoe up a slope near my house and snowboarded down the trail. Now that was totally cool. I have to get more into the back country thing. Tonight, I played some really crappy, sloppy hockey, but it still counts as a workout. Tomorrow, I hope to get back on the running kick for probably a three miler before we head out to Alta on Wednesday.

Looking back on this post, I feel like I'm in a good spot. The variety of activities feels really good right now. The crazy snow we're getting up here doesn't hurt either.

(So much for my "quick post.")

Friday Trot

I got out this evening after a phone chat with VTR -- thanks for the call it was good to catch up. I was in my gear, ready to walk out the door and we joked about how VTR could be my excuse to bail, but it was my first day back after Sunday, it felt good and I was jonesing to get out. I went hard and did 3.2 in about 26. The footing was a bit tricky, but not bad. I ran past an accident -- there were police blocking the street and a couple of ambulances . . . I don't really know what happened but it was a big deal, obviously, since half the town's PD was on the scene.