Running Hard
So I have really been hitting the training hard lately. Free State is coming up in a few short weeks and want to really make sure that I got my nutrition, trail runs and long runs down.
Last Sunday I decided that in order to increase my miles I need to make sure and get a 25 miler in. I decided since it was going to be a nice day that I would grab the backpack, my new kicks (Brooks Adrenaline ASR 6's) and run home from Church and add a few miles at the end. Home is about 15 miles from Church and one of the small towns around is about 10 (out & back) from home so I thought it would be a perfect setting. As I woke up Sunday morning I realized that there was about a 20 mph wind from the NW. Luckily a lot of the run the wind would be at my back. I said a lot. Not all. Not most. But a lot. For the first 10 miles it was a cross wind, which I could deal with. The next 5 was at my back, sweet relief. The rest not so much. It was horrible. I didn't have my wind gauge on me (don't worry I don't actually own one) but can guess that the gusts were upwards of 30-35 mph near the end. YUCK!!!! Once I got to 20 I thought to myself, "If I turn around now I can go home and hit 23, jump on the dreadmill for another 3.2 and have in a marathon for the day. Perfect!!!" But that really didn't happen. I got home said to the Mrs. that I was going downstairs to do another 3.2 and she says "Why do another 3 when you just did 23? Call it a day". Of course I had to listen to the voice of reason. I mean, c'mon. She is the boss.
Once I got down I jumped into an ice cold bath and I thought that I was going to lose needed parts of my body. As much as an ice bath sucks, the relief is fantastic when you don't realize the next day that you ran 20 miles.
I took Monday off to recover a bit, but really wanted to hit it up on Tuesday and get a good solid tempo run in. I got an email from a friend that wanted to go out, but the down side he wanted to run a route that I could literally run in my sleep. Being a guy that can't ever turn down a run we went out. Hit 5 and really wanted to do some more, but knew that I had to get back to work.
Wednesday I grabbed another couple of guys that needed to get 6 in for the day. I decided that if I was going to do 6 there was a route that they could turn around and I could hit up some trails and add a couple of miles. It has recently decided to get hot during the middle of the day and it was going to be nice to be in the tree lined trails. I had my water bottle and was feeling pretty good until I started to get a really funny taste in my mouth. What was this???? I kept drinking out if it until I realized, Yep, it's soap. My bottle hadn't gotten completely rinsed out when I washed it and there was a nice foamy layer of soap on the inside, but being on a trail there isn't a real convenient place to stop and fill it back up so I trudged on with a soapy water bottle, a soapy mouth and an upset stomach from all of the soap. GROSS!!!! That day I still managed to get a solid 9 in for the day though, so not too bad of a day.
Thursday, I decided that I would go out by myself and since the trail had the best of me the day before I was going to tackle it again. This time I had much different results. Legs felt good. Ran with no shirt (to the chagrin of people that had to see it), got a little sunburned, but got an 8.5 in (I took a different trail).
Today I had initially told myself that I was going to take the day off and recoup a bit, but woke up and grabbed my clothes "just in case". Whenever that happens, it never really happens that I take the day off but I decided to mix it up a bit and do a little barefoot action. Plan was to go outside before the rain hit and go down an area where I knew there wouldn't be too much stuff on the ground being that it was my first time outside shoeless, but low and behold it was not meant to be and in rolls the storms right as I was heading down to change. Oh well, do it on the treadmill, I thought, the traffic down there has gotten lighter on Fridays now that it is in to April. Wrong. All of the dreadmills were packed except for one. I knew that I had to do it and knew that I was going to get some looks. And looks I got. I even saw one guy mouth "What the f***?" Yes, I am that crazy guy that was running barefoot on the treadmill, so what??? 3.1 down for the day and I am for sure taking tomorrow off.
Looking back at the year, I have had a pretty solid training in prep for Free State. I am officially signed up for the 40 miler and couldn't be more excited. I have a pacer, a clothing/shoe strategy, getting my walk/run strategy figured out, working on the nutrition aspect and getting these runs in. My year looks like this:
January 2010 - 20 runs - 104.69 miles - Longest run 13 miles
February 2010 - 20 runs - 144.85 miles - Longest run 16 miles
March 2010 - 20 runs - 167.26 miles - Longest run 23 miles
Overall not a bad start. With the grace of God, I can keep this up and just get stronger and run longer in prep for hopefully running The North Face Endurance Challenge in Madison later in the year. Keep praying for me. Pray for great runs and good recovery. See you soon
Stay Strong, Run Long,
Tha Messenjah
Last Sunday I decided that in order to increase my miles I need to make sure and get a 25 miler in. I decided since it was going to be a nice day that I would grab the backpack, my new kicks (Brooks Adrenaline ASR 6's) and run home from Church and add a few miles at the end. Home is about 15 miles from Church and one of the small towns around is about 10 (out & back) from home so I thought it would be a perfect setting. As I woke up Sunday morning I realized that there was about a 20 mph wind from the NW. Luckily a lot of the run the wind would be at my back. I said a lot. Not all. Not most. But a lot. For the first 10 miles it was a cross wind, which I could deal with. The next 5 was at my back, sweet relief. The rest not so much. It was horrible. I didn't have my wind gauge on me (don't worry I don't actually own one) but can guess that the gusts were upwards of 30-35 mph near the end. YUCK!!!! Once I got to 20 I thought to myself, "If I turn around now I can go home and hit 23, jump on the dreadmill for another 3.2 and have in a marathon for the day. Perfect!!!" But that really didn't happen. I got home said to the Mrs. that I was going downstairs to do another 3.2 and she says "Why do another 3 when you just did 23? Call it a day". Of course I had to listen to the voice of reason. I mean, c'mon. She is the boss.
Once I got down I jumped into an ice cold bath and I thought that I was going to lose needed parts of my body. As much as an ice bath sucks, the relief is fantastic when you don't realize the next day that you ran 20 miles.
I took Monday off to recover a bit, but really wanted to hit it up on Tuesday and get a good solid tempo run in. I got an email from a friend that wanted to go out, but the down side he wanted to run a route that I could literally run in my sleep. Being a guy that can't ever turn down a run we went out. Hit 5 and really wanted to do some more, but knew that I had to get back to work.
Wednesday I grabbed another couple of guys that needed to get 6 in for the day. I decided that if I was going to do 6 there was a route that they could turn around and I could hit up some trails and add a couple of miles. It has recently decided to get hot during the middle of the day and it was going to be nice to be in the tree lined trails. I had my water bottle and was feeling pretty good until I started to get a really funny taste in my mouth. What was this???? I kept drinking out if it until I realized, Yep, it's soap. My bottle hadn't gotten completely rinsed out when I washed it and there was a nice foamy layer of soap on the inside, but being on a trail there isn't a real convenient place to stop and fill it back up so I trudged on with a soapy water bottle, a soapy mouth and an upset stomach from all of the soap. GROSS!!!! That day I still managed to get a solid 9 in for the day though, so not too bad of a day.
Thursday, I decided that I would go out by myself and since the trail had the best of me the day before I was going to tackle it again. This time I had much different results. Legs felt good. Ran with no shirt (to the chagrin of people that had to see it), got a little sunburned, but got an 8.5 in (I took a different trail).
Today I had initially told myself that I was going to take the day off and recoup a bit, but woke up and grabbed my clothes "just in case". Whenever that happens, it never really happens that I take the day off but I decided to mix it up a bit and do a little barefoot action. Plan was to go outside before the rain hit and go down an area where I knew there wouldn't be too much stuff on the ground being that it was my first time outside shoeless, but low and behold it was not meant to be and in rolls the storms right as I was heading down to change. Oh well, do it on the treadmill, I thought, the traffic down there has gotten lighter on Fridays now that it is in to April. Wrong. All of the dreadmills were packed except for one. I knew that I had to do it and knew that I was going to get some looks. And looks I got. I even saw one guy mouth "What the f***?" Yes, I am that crazy guy that was running barefoot on the treadmill, so what??? 3.1 down for the day and I am for sure taking tomorrow off.
Looking back at the year, I have had a pretty solid training in prep for Free State. I am officially signed up for the 40 miler and couldn't be more excited. I have a pacer, a clothing/shoe strategy, getting my walk/run strategy figured out, working on the nutrition aspect and getting these runs in. My year looks like this:
January 2010 - 20 runs - 104.69 miles - Longest run 13 miles
February 2010 - 20 runs - 144.85 miles - Longest run 16 miles
March 2010 - 20 runs - 167.26 miles - Longest run 23 miles
Overall not a bad start. With the grace of God, I can keep this up and just get stronger and run longer in prep for hopefully running The North Face Endurance Challenge in Madison later in the year. Keep praying for me. Pray for great runs and good recovery. See you soon
Stay Strong, Run Long,
Tha Messenjah
Comments