Sunday, July 25, 2010

Week 1 in the Books!

The first week of training went very well. Runs were as follows:
Tuesday PM: 3 miles to Fun Run: approx 9:30 pace, very hot
2 miles Fun Run: 7:48 pac
3 miles home: approx 8:30 pace, head wind felt great!
8 miles total
Wednesday AM: 8 Miles at Caloosahatchee Regional Park w/ Keith Carlton and Nathan Schwan. Hilly and very fun.
Thursday PM: 3 mile warm-up: 9:30 pace
3 mile tempo: 8:15 pace
1 mile cool-down: 9:36
7 miles total with the Speedsters
Saturday 8:30 AM: 11 miles in the very hot humidity, not fun at all: 10:20 pace
Sunday 4:30 PM: 10 miles in overcast cool breeze, much more fun: 9:05 pace
43 miles total for the week
This week went very well. I kinda messed up the long runs. I thought they were supposed to be 90 minutes and 2 hours. It was supposed to be 3 hours for the 2nd one. I am fixing that next weekend by doing 20 miles and 10 miles. Off to a good start!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Training and Racing

Well today marks the first official day of training for the Winter racing schedule....we have to race distance in the winter down here in Florida! I have always thought it was hilarious that the first day of most Training Plans calls for "Rest". You haven't really started if you aren't doing anything on the first day are you? Well, I did rest today, but that we because I put in four solid days leading up to today. They were the following:
Thursday-6 Miles, 8:34 pace
Friday-5 easy miles, 9:10 pace
Saturday-6.5 trail miles, 11:50 pace
Sunday-10 Miles, 9:09 pace

Feet felt great every day. I am ready to rock. I have 21 weeks planned right now. That will lead me up to the Ancient Oaks 100 Miler. I emailed the Race Director tonight asking for my invitation to the race. They usually keep a few spots for sacrificial virgins. One of them should be me. Other race plans this season include:
Ironhorse 100K-Feb
Oscar Scherer 50K-March
Croom 50M-April
and possibly Keys 50M in May

It's about to get exciting, stay tuned for weekly training updates!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Lame Update

Running has been going very slow for me lately. I had a very exciting Key West experience in April and May but neglected to write about it. I spent 26 miles of the 50 mile course with Carl Grooms in April over 2 days training on the Keys 50 course. The fueling/hydrating lesson was worth more than I can explain. The race itself was a good experience while at the same time heartbreaking. Carl ran great for the first 11 miles but the heat was too much to overcome. We gave every effort to regulate his HR for the next 3 miles but I think we both knew a comeback was slipping out of our grasp. I really respect Carl for run/walking the next 12 miles with nothing in the tank. He just wanted to get to the 26 mile checkpoint to sign in.

After the Keys, I really haven't run that much. I have been running 2-3 times a week and just feel like I am in a funk. I really want to get motivated and get going. In an effort to do so, I have been trying to set my race calendar for the winter. I have 2 races that I think I want to get to. Ancient Oaks 100M on December 11th falls right within my budget (it's free). I would also like to go to Ironhorse 100K February 19th. So now I have to get focused and get my mileage back up. I have retained the services of my good friend Andrew Swistak to keep me accountable. The first step is to get the mileage up to the 40-50 range. After that I will need to focus on the long runs and back to back long run weekends. I am really looking forward to a 15/20 Weekend followed by a 30-40 Saturday the following weekend. That's the plan for now. I think I have said this before, but I plan to update more often.