Weekend

I got out for a quick 4+ on Friday evening while at my parents' house. I hadn't run the route in a long time, so it was fun to run it. While the run didn't feel as awesome as Thursday's it was still pretty nice. I covered the ground quickly and was back fast enough that my father said, that was a short run. That felt goo.

We'd intended to go out on Saturday but ended up vegetating.

Sunday I ran with BR on his Birthday -- the families got together and I dragged him out for a 4.5. I'd been planning on doing a tenner, but wasn't in the mood. It was windy and cold and gray and blah: classic February. We had a great run and it was really great to run with a friend.

Yay!

Frigid air mass. Fierce headwind. Yay!
I love January. Really. Yay!

I haven't had a good run it seems in about two weeks. I don't if it's becuase I'm getting older, or what but this winter is a grinder. January has been awful. Cold, wet, icy, windy, really cold, busy at the job... I mean, really, who throws a shoe?

Today I ground it out into a headwind that at times just about stopped me in my tracks. It was like running uphill, a big hill, for like the middle 1.3 miles of my run today. I'd considered heading out for five. Knocked it to 4.2 and when I got to a point where I could turn and just do my 3.3, took the opportunity and went short. It was yet another unpleasant run, and the unpleasantness stems largely from the conditions -- seriously, the headwind gassed me, I was whipped. I kept telling myself as I ran "this is not a run on which to judge fitness. You are running into a 15-20 MPH steady wind with gusts to 35 and you are laboring because of that. It's the headwind, this is actually a good, tough workout, in a condensed period of time. finish it, get back to the house and mark it as done." I'm done with winter. Done.

Bye-Bye Zen

So, I've been running Zen for about the past year or so. By Zen I mean I just go out and do it. I don't time it, record the distance, monitor HR, pay attention to the weather (too much), ignore pace etc. I just try to let the run come to me, seek a flow and go. Well, it's time to say bye-bye to my Zen running experiment. I've got a bunch of double-digit-distance races coming up and a 10K in two weeks (less actually), and I need to train and I need to pay attention to distance and pace and HR and track my progress. I'm going to get my watch up and running again, I'm going to pay more attention to the weather (my legs froze this AM without a sufficient base-layer on and it was miserable), and while I'm going to look for the flow and let the runs come to me I'm going to buckle down a bit harder, work harder at running and being fit and bending my schedule to the run. There is a relentless logic to training -- the more you do the better you get the easier it becomes to train the more you can train the better you get and on, and on, and on. I dragged my sorry butt out of bed at 6:20, and was on the road by 6:30. It was cold and dark, but it felt good to be moving and good to know that whatever today brings, it won't make me miss my run. It's time get type-A about this thing. I'll be on the road tomorrow at 6:30 AM again. See you then.

Unsatisfying and Cold

Got dropped off about 4.5 -4.75 miles from home this AM while Mrs. A dropped off Child Two. It was cold. I needed an extra layer on my legs, but didn't have it. My legs froze up. My lungs were not working at max capacity given the cold dry air and I ground out just about every step on this AM's trot. Like I always say "somedays you eat the miles, somedays the miles eat you." Consider me chewed up and spit out today. It was a character builder for sure. Glad it's over.

Wages of Sin

I did a strong 5 this afternoon even though the run was sluggish and crummy . I bailed yesterdy when I couldn't find the gear I needed to run in the cold and got really frustrated. Footing was tough, and afterward my calves got all tight and lousy feeling. It could be the footing, it could be some dehydration, not sure. My pace was all over the place, and I'm attributing it to the major league meal we prepped for my parents as their Christmas gift and the two Negronis and the wine. You reap what you sow, and the wages of sin are steep. It was good to get one in early this week, I'm feeling consistency building. I'm two weeks from the start of the Vermont City Marathon training , and therefore 20 weeks from race day. I'm about 4 weeks from the Super Sunday 10K; 8 weeks from NooBeffid Half, and 12 weeks from the Cherry Blossom Ten. Spring is shaping up nicely which is good because I'm sick of January.

Props for Ms. FA

I am not running today but wanted to shout out Mrs. FA. She made it into the NYC 1/2 Marathon by lottery, and started training today. I just dropped her six miles up the road, and she is running home right now. It is 13 degrees out there today, and she turned her back on a toasty home and a fresh pot of coffee to get started strong. I'm psyched for her, and am excited to train with her as she prepares for the big run on March 21.

Dissocisation

I thought a lot about disociation tonight while I ran.
It was dark and cold and snowing lightly. I got in a solid four and felt pretty good.

I thought about a woman who counts her steps/mile (British marathoner, world class, her name escapes me). I tried it and it nearly blew up my run -- it was awful, by the time I got to 70 I was bored and getting increasingly tired. I stopped counting and walked a few steps to shake off the negativity of that experience. Counting steps is not a dissociative trick for me, anyway.

What did work well for me was creating a running haiku, this one is sort of the best one:

Running in the dark
Snow falls upon the pathway
A Fire burns inside

I also posted it to the cherry blossom training site. Actually, it's all I posted over there.

Planetary Alignment

So, just because I've got a Posterous account with other folks doesn't mean I'm abandoning this -- you are my boys and this is our blog. The Posterous move was an experiment to see what it's like to do a team blog over there -- it's smooth and easy and provides an alternative forum for people to share training stories.

I've been goofing with running this past year and it's time to get serious. I did 5.2 today, and including cool down walk it was all done in ~50 minutes. I felt good. It was cold and dark and the footing uneven in places but it was nice to get out and 5.2 is the furthest I've done in a while. I need to go in the mornings and that's a goal for the new year return to AM trots.

The stars were out and Mars & Jupiter were in the sky, so it was cool to be out. I did two 40 minute yoga workouts with Mrs. A this past weekend and we might try and do another tonight. It felt good and it was tough. I'm looking to work more of that sort of stuff too this year, focus on the whole body. One 20 minute session did lower body, and the other did upper -- I enjoyed and felt better the next day though the lower body workout made my legs sore which was totally unexpected.

Slacker!

So, it appears we've all been a bit hamstrung over the holidays. It's tough, very tough. I got out today. It was cold (ice in full sun is not melting) and I't'd been a while since I'd run. Not sure how far I went but felt OK through the first 3/4s then lousy the last 1/4. Wine, beer, cocktails (manhattans, egg nog, things on rocks), cookies, chocolate take their toll, that's for sure. I'll go again tomorrow. I'm contemplating the local New Year's Day 5K on Friday. I'm not anticipating any land speed records for that one -- I'm ending 2009 slower than I started it, that's for sure -- but it will be good to get out and run.

Catch up

I got in a quick one on Friday afternoon/evening.It was dark and cold. I felt pretty good until the end when my legs weren't quite working right due to the cold -- they were tight and not turning over all that easily. I should have worn one more layer on my legs I guess.

Yesterday I shoveled out our house and cleaned cars for a couple of hours. Hoping to get out today, but it's going to be hectic.

More Like It

I went out late today, around 4:15 PM. I didn't run over the weekend. I worked hard on Saturday to finish my yard work. Today was the first run of the 09-10 winter running season as far as I'm concerned: sub-40 F, dark, snow on the ground, badly shoveled sidewalks in places, hat gloves tights, shell & reflector. I had no real route in mind, I just went out and did my thing and ended up having a beaut of a run in the 4 mile neighborhood. I even threw in my end of 10K hills and did well. Last week may have been an anomaly, it may have been the week off, too much food at Thanksgiving, I don't know. My body reacted well and I enjoyed tonight. I felt quick, I liked my tempo, my CV felt good, my legs were solid. Mrs. A is happy to see us back on the blog.

Orphan Children

I'm here. I've been fitfully running and stressing at my lack of preparation. I've got a plan for this month. You'll see it unfold in the coming weeks -- I'm not going to talk about it, I'm just going to do it. We were away last week, I only got in one run. I ran about 3 times the week before and just did a wilting-in-the-heat run today. Sorry for being so absent, I'm glad that you've been carrying on.

And, Another One

I got in a 40 minute run that didn't feel so great and I'm not sure if it's because I lost a bunch of conditioning in my most recent hiatus or if I came back harder than I went out even though I was trying to do the opposite. It was quite cold and the wind was swirling and the sun was fighting to come out and stay out so there was some weather challenge today. This was a check it off, run, today, totally.

Short Run

Got in a short one today. Three and three-tenths miles. Nothing really to report. Footing was lousy again, it was pretty chilly and the sun was setting. I felt good though and was starving at dinner. My body is already reacting and that's good. I'll try to get one in tomorrow and something in this weekend, but we're heading to NH to hang with PR and his family and skiing is on the docket so we'll see what happens. This week's schedule is a bit compressed, but I'm feeling some momentum. The unit is still hurting today, I think it actually got abraded by my tights and the soreness is not in fact frost bite (THANKFULLY!). I will be monitoring the situation carefully, however so check back in for updates. Fascinating, no doubt though you'd all feel a bit bad if I did lose the thing to frost bite, admit it. I still didn't find my wind undies, but wore a pair of shorts beneath my tights and that insulated sufficiently.

For your entertainment, I've posted a pair of images taken of me in last weekend's race. I never look as good as I feel -- I'm surprised by how lumpy I look. I've got to work on that.

C-c-cold

I got out at lunch today for 5 miles, the first 2.5 of which was into a brisk wind. Chilly. Luckily, with the turnaround I had the wind at my back for the whole return. It's amazing how much wind can effect the perception of temp. It felt downright balmy on the run home.

Anyway, I was pumped with the run. It felt great to conquer the impulse to skip it because of the cold, and it felt even better to be on the VCM training program. It might have helped that I talked to the coach to get a better feel for the program. I get the sense that I'm going to learn a lot, be challenged a ton (she mentioned at various times during a 10 minute conversation, running until I puke, running until drool is pouring out of my mouth, running at a pace that I can't speak, and various other wonderful images of my future). But today rather than be annoyed/intimidated/freaked, I was psyched to have the opportunity to be pushed by a pro.

I know the downers will come, but today was a solid, solid run.

Dropping Temps

I got out towards sunset today and had a nice run. The scheduled called for 5, so I did it I think -- I had no watch on and have no idea how long I was out nor how far it really is though it felt close to five. I felt pretty good through the first half and little tired on the second half. The footing was crummy again -- we had more snow yesterday -- so much energy was wasted in slips and slides. Today was a cold day and it was amazing how quickly and how much colder it got as the sun set. It seems silly to say it out loud, ("Yes, Agricola, when the sun sets it gets colder . . .") but the temp drop was dramatic and rapid. The cold felt like a face-slap today and sort of stung. I also didn't have my wind-undies on today, and though not windy I've still got some residual twinge in the unit which got a little chillier than I like it to. I'm racking up some toughness points though, so that's good, I guess.

Kickoff!

One.

I got out today and did tomorrow's run today. We're scheduled to receive 6-10 inches more of snow tomorrow so I did my scheduled fiver. I felt pretty good on the second half of the run though the first half was a bit labored. It will be easier to do three in the snow, though if we receive the predicted amounts (heaviest snowfall between 6-10 AM) then even that might be tough. The temp was 18 F and skies were largely clear though you can see the front's leading edge.
Things were quite frozen and footing was OK. There are larger stretches of bare pavement than there were on Sunday. It will be all crudded up again soon though.

Frozen 10K

I got out for a 10K this afternoon while the sun was still in the sky and there was a modicum of warmth from the sun. Warmth is a relative term these days and I keep defining it down with each cold snap. It was about 15 F when I got out today, and it didn't feel that bad!

Nothing major to report. The sidewalks and roads were a bit better today, and at least what was slush Friday is now more frozen and slightly better for running. A couple of young guys in cars mad me really nervous, and killed my rhythm as I slowed and hugged the shoulder. One kid was more concerned about hitting the pedestrian sign in the crosswalk with his father's Audi than he was of hitting the lunatic jogger whom he didn't see . . . the other kid was drifting my way as held his cell phone to his left ear with his right hand and steered with the left.

Anyway, I felt pretty good though the groin and thighs were feeling Friday's effects. I've got a way to go, but I've got 18 weeks to get there. The program starts in earnest tomorrow with a cross-training day. I'm hoping to do some yoga with Mrs. Agricola. My hope for this marathon training effort is to not get all wrapped up in the size of the effort (which I did last year) and just try and get out there as much as possible and come as close to 90 runs and 646 training miles as I can. I'm looking forward to it. Here we go!

Cold, Dark, Icy, Slow

I went out late in the day again today. It was a cold, dark, icy and slow run. Because of the cold I went on my short route and picked my way over frozen slush, strips of frozen melt water and lots of packed powder. The poor footing forced me to be patient and methodical and that's a good thing right now. Aside from not taking a spill or turning my ankle, the best thing about today is that I got in my run, got my reps, got my blood flowing, heart pounding, lungs working and enjoyed the experience. Running in conditions like today's is like trail running. You have to be very tuned into the path, and your feet, and really watch where you are going. I felt very focused. One more run tomorrow then rest day on Friday. My legs and lungs felt good. I'm raring to go on the marathon training program which begins Monday.

Run 4

Mrs. FA and I got out at her parent's house Saturday afternoon on the three mile out and back I've posted about before. It was 14 degrees and I'd forgotten my long pants, so I ran in shorts, which in hindsight was plenty stupid but tell you what, it was my best run since the race on December 13.

The Feb 1 race approaches and with only five runs since Dec 13 I don;t feel remotely ready. I am going to make the effort for the next 10 days and re-asses, but am thinking I'll run it one-way-or-the-other and see what happens.

Peace, boys.