bounce back
with two less than inspiring race efforts, and my lowest mileage total in eighteen months, the month of july didn’t exactly turn out the way i had hoped. the problem was an ongoing right calf strain that seems to get aggravated when i run at a pace that is less than seven minutes per mile.
to help rehab it, i eased back on the mileage during july and picked up a stick to work out some of the kinks. around the house, i’ve been wearing my knee high recovery compression socks but pairing them up with sandals tends to get a less than favorable response from my kids.
during august i focused on slowly increasing my mileage and avoiding fast paced efforts. i ended up rolling 252 miles for the month, which is my ninth best monthly total…ever. that in itself gives me some degree of satisfaction but it will still be a few weeks before i try running at a fast pace again. by then i’m hopeful my calf will be closer to roughly right.
7/1 – 5 miles
7/2 – 5 miles
7/3 – off
7/4 – 1 mile w/u, 20K in 1:25:26
7/5 – off
7/6 – off
7/7 – 7 miles
7/8 – 6 miles
7/9 – 6 miles
7/10 – 5 miles
7/11 – 6 miles
7/12 – 5 miles
7/13 – off
7/14 – 5 miles
7/15 – 6 miles
7/16 – 5 miles
7/17 – 5 miles
7/18 – off
7/19 – 1.5 miles w/u, 10K in 42:00
7/20 – 5 miles
7/21 – 5 miles
7/22 – 6 miles
7/23 – 7 miles
7/24 – 7 miles
7/25 – 8 miles
7/26 – 7 miles
7/27 – 7 miles
7/28 – 7 miles
7/29 – 7 miles
7/30 – 7 miles
7/31 – 7 miles
July Totals: 167 miles (26/31 Days, 24 Hours & 15 Minutes)
8/1 – 8 miles
8/2 – 7 miles
8/3 – 7 miles
8/4 – 7 miles
8/5 – 7 miles
8/6 – 7 miles
8/7 – 8 miles
8/8 – 7 miles
8/9 – 7 miles AM, 8 miles PM
8/10 – 7 miles
8/11 – 7 miles
8/12 – 7 miles
8/13 – 7 miles
8/14 – 7 miles
8/15 – 10 miles
8/16 – 7 miles
8/17 – 7 miles
8/18 – 7 miles
8/19 – 7 miles
8/20 – 7 miles
8/21 – 7 miles
8/22 – 14 miles
8/23 – 10 miles
8/24 – 7 miles
8/25 – 7 miles
8/26 – 7 miles
8/27 – 7 miles
8/28 – 7 miles
8/29 – 16 miles
8/30 – 10 miles
8/31 – 7 miles
August Totals: 252 miles (31/31 Days, 35 Hours & 42 Minutes)
YTD: 1,921 miles (229/243 Days, 282 Hours & 47 Minutes)
Odometer: 42,069 miles
midway musing
with six months behind me and six months still ahead, now seems like a good time to evaluate where i’m at.
the half-full view would be that i’ve racked up fifteen hundred — and two — miles so far this year. that total is fourteen percent more than i’ve had at this point in a year. in fact, during the months of march, april and may i was averaging 65 miles per week…which is really good for me.
the half-empty view would be that i haven’t put forth any real stellar racing efforts. plus, i’ve had my fair share of nagging injuries. during april and into may, it was shin splints in my left leg along with significant swelling of my ankle and foot. i’d had shin splints before but never the accompanying swelling so i ended up buying a pair of compression socks to help fix both issues. as of late, it’s been knotted calves and hamstrings. none of these issues have kept me from training but they have made me less than eager to toe the line and race.
the realistic view is that i slow down a great deal between the half marathon and the marathon. my ~1:24 half marathons in 2013 & 2014 only translated to a 3:13 marathon last fall. granted, my 3:13 was a boston qualifying effort but it was still far short of what i should be able to do…based on what i can do at shorter distances. the ideal would be to thrive with higher training mileage — versus simply survive — which could fix that dramatic slow down over twenty six point two.
5/2 – 13.25 miles AM, 8 miles PM
5/3 – 12 miles AM, 8 miles PM
5/4 – 7 miles
5/5 – off
5/6 – 7 miles
5/7 – 5 miles
5/8 – 7 miles
5/9 – 10 miles
5/10 – 10 miles
5/11 – 7 miles
5/12 – 7 miles
5/13 – 7 miles
5/14 – 7 miles
5/15 – 7 miles
5/16 – 6 miles AM, 8 miles PM
5/17 – 10 miles
5/18 – 7 miles
5/19 – 7 miles
5/20 – 7 miles
5/21 – 7 miles
5/22 – 7 miles
5/23 – 15 miles
5/24 – 10 miles
5/25 – 7 miles
5/26 – 7 miles
5/27 – 7 miles
5/28 – 7 miles
5/29 – 7 miles
5/30 – 6.50 miles
5/31 – 15.50 miles
May Totals – 270.25 miles (30/31 Days, 38 Hours & 12 Minutes)
6/01 – 7 miles
6/02 – 7 miles
6/03 – 7 miles
6/04 – 9 miles
6/05 – 7 miles
6/06 – 7.5 miles
6/07 – 10 miles
6/08 – 7 miles
6/09 – 7 miles
6/10 – 7 miles
6/11 – 7 miles
6/12 – off
6/13 – 8 miles
6/14 – 8 miles
6/15 – 9 miles
6/16 – 7 miles
6/17 – 7 miles
6/18 – off
6/19 – 7 miles
6/20 – 8 miles
6/21 – 7 miles
6/22 – 7 miles
6/23 – 7 miles
6/24 – 7 miles
6/25 – 7 miles
6/26 – 7 miles
6/27 – 8 miles
6/28 – 7 miles
6/29 – 7 miles
6/30 – 7 miles
June Totals – 207.5 miles (28/30 Days, 30 Hours & 39 Minutes)
YTD – 1502.25 miles (172/181 Days, 222 Hours & 50 Minutes)
press reset
one of the ways i keep myself motivated is to track my miles. adding up all the miles i’ve logged for my “odometer” gives me a good sense of what i’ve been able to do over the years. i usually pay closer attention when i’m about to roll a new thousand (or ten thousand) digit and in april i rolled past forty one thousand miles.
looking at a shorter time frame, i’ve been able to run more than a thousand miles for the year so far. i’m about three weeks ahead of my previous year to date total and would be on track for three thousand miles for the year. narrowing down the time frame a bit further, i was able to run 270 miles during april. this also was a new best for me, nearly thirty percent more than the 209 miles i ran in April 2013.
that’s all good but now it’s the first of may. the monthly total gets zeroed out and i get to start all over again. the alarm sounds at 4:20am and i’m out the door running by 5am. a little past 6am, i’ve run the first seven miles for the month and head for the shower.
4/1 – 7 miles
4/2 – 7 miles
4/3 – 10 miles
4/4 – 17 miles
4/5 – 10 miles AM, 15 miles PM
4/6 – 7 miles
4/7 – 9 miles
4/8 – off
4/9 – off
4/10 – off
4/11 – 7 miles
4/12 – 8 miles
4/13 – 7 miles
4/14 – 7 miles
4/15 – 7 miles
4/16 – 7 miles
4/17 – 7 miles
4/18 – 12 miles AM, 8 miles PM
4/19 – 12 miles AM, 8 miles PM
4/20 – off
4/21 – 7 miles
4/22 – 7 miles
4/23 – 7 miles
4/24 – 7 miles
4/25 – 10 miles AM, 10 miles PM
4/26 – 10 miles AM, 10 miles PM
4/27 – 7.5 miles
4/28 – 7.5 miles
4/29 – 7.5 miles
4/30 – 7.5 miles
April Totals – 270 miles (26/30 Days, 39 Hours & 22 Minutes)
5/1 – 7 miles
YTD – 1,031.5 miles (115/121 Days, 155 Hours & 1 Minute)
Odometer – 41,180 miles
48 hours
alright, 47 hours and 48 minutes. that’s how much time i spent running during the month of march…and yes i am resisting the urge to gear up and run another 12 minutes before midnight.
if that wasn’t obnoxious enough, this past saturday i ran the Trailbreaker Marathon as a training run. that just sounds downright arrogant to say, am i right?
to be honest, within some circles it’s considered normal. just like everyone else, i paid my entry fee and had a chip tied onto my shoe for timing purposes.
one thing i did a bit different was to wear my race-supplied number under my jacket rather than displaying it outwardly; which is a slight breech in runner’s etiquette. to be honest, a small action like that helps to keep me from slipping into a competitive mindset.
so my “training run” began by running the first twelve miles at roughly 8:30 per mile pace on the paved glacial drumlin trail. the next four miles of the course rolls through wooded trails that were strewn with roots, rocks and awfully greasy mud. just to add to the fun, in the middle of this section we get to climb to the top of a 45 foot observation tower and ring a bell at the top.
yes, that spike in the middle of the chart is the tower and the rather long hill that we got to climb up before we even reaching the tower.
so i rang the bell and then headed back into the woods to slog my way back to the paved trail. in all honesty, my pace didn’t matter much in the woods as i was really focused on not falling on my arse. once back to the civility of the (paved) glacial drumlin trail there was roughly ten miles to the finish line.
so with ten miles left, a glance at my watch said i’d already been at it for two and a half hours. some simple math told me that if i lollygagged those last ten miles at 9 minute pace, i’d be stuck with a 4:## finishing time…which isn’t exactly what i had in mind.
did i mention the return route was downhill? if you’ve got your head and legs ready, this section of the course can be a lot of fun. three years ago, i went full on berserk through this section en route to a 3:19 finish. this year, i opted to keep my pace dialed in at a much more reasonable 7:45 per mile effort.
i rolled into the finish with an official time of 3:48:57, which got me 26th/106 overall and 3rd in M40-44. this was my sixth Trailbreaker Marathon finish (60% of the way to the “Ten Tower Club”) and 23rd marathon finish…so i’ve got that going for me.
otherwise, at the moment i can’t say that i’ve got any firm plans for racing this year. maybe one of these days when i’m surfing runningintheusa’s online race calendar i’ll decide and commit.
oh, yeah…and if you keep reading, you’ll see that i logged 325+ miles for the month; which is a personal best. previously, my best month was 300 miles back in August of 2004.
3/1 – 7 miles AM, 9 miles PM
3/2 – 6 miles
3/3 – 7 miles
3/4 – 7 miles
3/5 – 7 miles
3/6 – 6.25 miles
3/7 – 11 miles
3/8 – 7 miles AM, 13 miles PM
3/9 – 7 miles
3/10 – 7 miles
3/11 – 7 miles
3/12 – 7 miles
3/13 – 7 miles
3/14 – 11 miles AM, 9 miles PM
3/15 – 8 miles AM, 12 miles PM
3/16 – 7 miles
3/17 – 7 miles
3/18 – 7 miles
3/19 – 7 miles
3/20 – 7 miles
3/21 – 15.25 miles AM, 8 miles PM
3/22 – 15.25 miles AM, 9.25 miles PM
3/23 – 7 miles
3/24 – 7 miles
3/25 – off
3/26 – 7 miles
3/27 – 7 miles
3/28 – 26.2 miles (Trailbreaker Marathon) in 3:48:57
3/29 – 9.25 miles AM, 10.75 miles PM
3/30 – 6 miles
3/31 – 7 miles
MTD – 325.25 miles (30/31 Days, 47 Hours & 48 Minutes)
YTD – 747.5 miles (88/90 Days, 114 Hours and 37 Minutes)
Odometer – 40,903 miles
2015 U.S. National Snowshoe Championships
a few weeks ago i placed in my age group at a USSSA sanctioned snowshoe race so i met the eligibility standard to register for the National Championships race. this year the Nationals event was being held in my (adopted) home state of Wisconsin, only about a three hour drive from where i live.
i drove up on friday night and on saturday morning i arrived two hours before start of the Mens 10K race. while getting ready for a short warm up run, i noticed the (indoor) concession stand was already grilling bratwurst. nothing says “hello wisconsin” like the smell of bratwurst being grilled first thing in the morning.
after a ten minute warm up run, i bound my feet onto my snowshoes and headed to the starting line. while the temperatures may have been in the single digits, the sunshine made it feel much warmer. after some final instructions we were sent on our way.
at the start i purposefully lined up near the back of the pack. while i got into the race i’m not exactly contenting for a title. as we made our way through the first mile and onto the first section of single track, i dialed into a solid pace and was able to avoid a jackrabbit start.
the course was a nice mix of single track sections alternating with wide open sections that allowed room to pass or be passed. another benefit from starting a bit further back is that i was able to reel in other folks as the race went on. from a mindset perspective, it’s much more encouraging to pursue rather than to be pursued.
in the middle part of the course there were some really challenging sections of single track where if you made a wrong step you’d be off the trail and tumbling down a hill. i also remember a real steep downhill in that section that i was chopping my steps in a frantic effort to slow my momentum so i could make a sharp right turn at the bottom of the hill.
i glanced at my watch when i saw the halfway mark and noticed that i was on track to finish in under an hour. the second half of the race did have some fun single track sections but what was most memorable were the steep uphill climbs. each time i looked up from the bottom of a hill i dialed down the pace and focused on getting my cadence high with short strides until i was up and over the hill.
before i knew it, i saw the 9K marker which meant there was only about a half mile to go to the finish. i made my way through one last uphill single track section while keeping tabs on a few guys ahead of me. while i couldn’t quite close the gap, as i approached the finish i could see it ticking with fifty three minutes and change on it. i lumbered along as fast as i could muster to cross the line with 53:47 with exactly six miles on my gps watch.
overall, the snow conditions were packed very firm and was likely the best track i’ve had the opportunity to race on. checking the results i finished 59th overall and 8th in my age group.
recent training
——————-
2/9 – 7 miles
2/10 – 7 miles
2/11 – 7 miles
2/12 – 7 miles
2/13 – 7 miles
2/14 – 14 miles
2/15 – 8 miles
2/16 – 7 miles
2/17 – 7 miles
2/18 – 7 miles
2/19 – 7 miles
2/20 – 7 miles
2/21 – 17 miles
2/22 – 8 miles
2/23 – 7 miles
2/24 – 7 miles
2/25 – 6 miles
2/26 – 5 miles
2/27 – 5 miles
2/28 – 1 mile warm up, 6 mile snowshoe in 53:47
February Totals: 209.25 miles
(27/28 Days, 33 Hours & 6 Minutes)
YTD: 429.25 Miles
(58/59 Days, 66 Hours & 49 Minutes)