A Few Good Men

9.02mi. @ 7:43

The numbers were pretty slim this morning as I guess all the usual suspects are still vacationing for the holidays.  We took off for the usual Thursday morning loop from the Dowd, just Kevin, Paul, and Tom Ricks.  Still forging the remaining intensive workouts before the 50K, I was more than pleased when I realized running with only these three guys would mean pushing my comfort zone.  I had some good conversation with Tom before the chilly air made me feel more winded around mile 5... coincidentally where I was forced to start deciding when to re-tie my shoe laces as my kicks came dangerously close to flopping off mid stride.  The inevitable stopping to fix the problem made it a very strong fight to catch up to the group.  Tom split off while I continued to chase.  Truthfully, I spent almost the entire remaining miles just trying to keep Paul and Kevin in eyesight since I still get the loop confused A LOT.  By mile 7, morning commute traffic buzzing around the city, I began to confuse headlights for the reflective properties of their gear.  Thankfully, we were close enough for me to know a pretty direct route back to the Y, thanks to Thunder Road.  Even though that may have been one of my more difficult runs since Thunder Road, and it's somewhat embarrassing to be so easily dropped by the CRC speedsters, I relish the self-improvement.  It serves as a simple reminder as to why I joined CRC in the first place.

Mud Run!

Goal: 3x2 @ 7:00-7:30, .5mi rests in between

w/u:  2.03mi.

Actual: 2x2 (6:51, 6:43); 1 (6:31)

c/d:  1.02

Reluctantly, I had to put off yesterday's lactic threshold workout until today.  As I have a little over a week left until the  Frosty 50, I'm anxious to get my last intensive workouts out of the way.  There was a little Lap button malfunction on one of my intervals so as I enjoyed splashing through the mud leftover from the snow I had to adjust my last third of workout.

Snow Day

~18.11 in 3:07:43 (10:22 avg)

I should definitely say I had a great first Christmas with Christi's family this year, and I think it was worth skipping a day to enjoy great times with these great people.  Not a substitute for quality time with my own family, but it sure felt good to change it up like that.

Just before bed last night I saw a number of e-mails between UCRR members planning a snow run @ 7am on the MC Greenway, and I was anxious to make up miles myself.  I made it out the door by 5:45 but the roadways still seemed a little precarious to be solo at that hour.  By 6:15, I started the watch up from my driveway and took off at an easy trot for McAlpine.  While I was wearing my headlamp, I never had to turn the high beams on while soaking up this pre-sunrise winter wonderland.  I really wanted to take it easy and stomping through the snow made my goal of 10:00 miles a lot easier  all the way down to the park.  As soon as I hit the greenway, I was filled with elation as I saw no other footprints in sight.  All the way past the XC course still not even animal tracks.  My route seemed so pure and unscathed, I really just wanted to stop and take pictures.  I felt like time stood still while I slowly jogged praying aloud thanking the Creator for this amazing morning.  Then I finally came across a couple of Masters running together as I approached Old Bell.  As I progressed down the south end of the greenway I could see the snow was still just as thick, but my steps became lighter by the second and I decided to rattle off a couple of -8:00's with a max of 6:30 and did the same thing back 2 more miles from Old Bell.  Suddenly I had to snap out of it and remind myself that my goal wasn't about the quick turnover no matter how good it felt.  I really needed to maintain the discipline for 10:00 avg today.  So knowing I had no choice but to suck it up and cover the miles on a path I knew very well I decided to do various random loops all around the XC course.

Lesson Learned:  When the course is absolutely covered in snow, it is far safer to traverse THE Hill of the McAlpine XC course backwards than the easy way.  

My subsequent 2nd, 3rd, & 4th times tackling the hill backwards resulted from the notion that I needed it for practice since I'm already aware of the steep grade of the single "cliff" in the middle of Salem Lake's Frosty 50 course that I will have to climb twice.  By mile 12, I was slowing down at an alarming rate hitting what may have been my worst mile split (12:30) since suffering from the fuel-free long runs of the summer.

Lesson Learned: Running in the snow is waaaay more tedious than logging miles on the sandy beaches of the Carolina Coast.

Despite the pain, I was familiar with this desperate feeling of anguish, and I knew I'd survive like any other tough long run.  By the time the sun rose, I really picked up on a number of points to adjust in my training.  It turns out that it's not so difficult to maintain a slower pace if I ignore my watch for a while.  I also noticed that despite my deceleration, I had neither pushed my lactic threshold nor VO2 max so far that I couldn't easily pick up the pace to -8:00 miles with very little focus.  I kept looking down and inquiring within whether or not anything actually hurt or felt strained, even my breathing, and I couldn't think of a single excuse.

I imagine that I would've gladly stayed outside long enough to add on +4 slow miles had I taken the time to stop and check what hour of the morning it really was.  Since I only knew that I was approaching 3 hours of continuous run time, my promised return home before 10:00 had to be imminent as well.  I pondered my future marathon - ultra career throughout the last ten miles today, and I think I've come up with the following formula.  Race, 2 weeks recovery, 2 weeks hard training, 2 weeks taper, race.  I hope to see if this basic guideline can withstand through May at least.

Looking back, today's wintry adventure was great for me because the time I had to enjoy the wondrous beauty of this snow day at the best time of morning, and also I think I set myself up for a new outlook on a couple of different key aspects to my ultra- career. In the end, I played around with my "mileage vs. holiday time off" ratio a little too much this week.  I think I burned more calories than I ingested, but I'm definitely falling short of a 70 mile week again.  At this point, recovering from a sixty mile week is becoming all too easy, that I know it's not about over-exerting myself as much as I just need to arrange my schedule accordingly and plan smarter around "holidays" and the likes of such.  I'm quite anxious to see what the New Year will hold for me now that my aspirations for 2011 are in a completely different area from my goals of 2009 or '10.

Christmas Eve Run

13mi. in 1:52

With Christmas looming, I decided to join a number of UCRR members + Allen and Kevin for some mileage at Mallard Creek .  There were so many faces I hadn't seen in a while as well as a number of new faces. All in all it was a great run even with the last 6 miles being completely solo.  I was very impressed with the turnout of at least 20 runners.  Hope everyone's holidays go well.

Refresher Run

5 miles @ McAlpine

w/u: 1mi. @ 8:45

target: 3mi. @ 7:45, actual: 7:45, 7:15, 7:19

c/d: 1mi. @ 7:50 (only b/c i misread my watch and sped up when i should've been slowing down.)

I had to get some morning miles in just in case.  My original intention was to run with the CRC studs this morning, but since Christi wasn't feeling well when we went to bed last night, I obliged to stay in longer this morning before putting in work with hopes to get in extra miles with her this afternoon.

I jogged over to the start of the XC course from the Margaret Wallace parking lot trying to force myself to stay @ +9:00, but this is going to take a lot more discipline leading up to the Frosty 50.  I took off nice and easy through the first mile, slowed down to greet a co-worker on the course and inadvertently accelerated through mile 2.  I wish someone could explain to me how the second mile of that course is always my fastest. I finished through mile 3 feeling great with this only being the third time i got decent leg turnover since Thunder Road.   I think I had also forgotten what it was like to get a good workout for fewer than 5 miles.  I have only a few lactic or VO2 workouts left before Frosty, so I'm sure whatever miles Christi and I share this afternoon will feel great.  Still looking to get in 3 great double-digit runs before Christmas weekend is over to put me closer to 70 than 60 this week.