uneven effort
november started off with very little running for me due to catching some sort of virus. when i did run, i was only mustering four or five mile efforts at a slow pace. by the middle of the month, i was finally rid of the cooties and strung together a nine day running streak. the month ended like many novembers before with rather minimal miles. it’s not always a bad thing to ease back but i do need to get my rear in gear if i want to roll 1,600 miles for the year and be ready to race on my snowshoes in january.
MTD – 87 miles (17 days)
YTD – 1,458 miles (233 days)
Odometer – 32,564 miles
rough patch
while i began the month with a 15 day running streak, i fell off the proverbial wagon and recorded zero’s for five of the next six days. honestly, i felt like garbage and needed some down time. (notice i didn’t say “rest”) i eased back into training with a few shorter runs and ended up with a two solid efforts this past weekend.
after reading some race results on facebook, i headed out on saturday afternoon and pointed myself westward on the Glacial Drumlin trail. sixty two minutes later i was in the next town west of us with 7.5 uphill miles logged and 7.5 downhill miles to go. on my return effort, i began clipping off 7:40 to 7:50 miles as i enjoyed a tailwind in addition to a slowly sloping elevation drop. then, i began to slow. it was like a car that had the needle leaning up against the letter “E” on the dashboard. all i could do was to sputter my way through the last 2.5 miles home. when i arrived home, i began shotgunning cans of soda to get my blood sugar back up. even with the “bonk”, my return route was a minute faster than my outbound effort and would have easily been more than three minutes faster if i had been a bit smarter.
sunday afternoon brought overcast skies and a brisk wind together with temps in the mid-forties. additionally, the radar indicated that some rain was moving in. essentially, perfect conditions for a trail run out at the Retzer Nature Center. i’ve figured out a one mile loop on their trails, which i normally reserve for my winter snowshoe running. as i began my run, it began to rain very lightly…just enough to be annoying. as i completed my third loop, the light rain had turned steady and stayed steady for my fourth and fifth loops. i caught a break in the action and decided to roll a sixth loop but on my seventh the rain had returned with even more intensity. with seven trail miles logged in sixty minutes, i decided to head home for a hot shower and then park my rear end on the couch to watch some football.
halloween morning left me four miles short of one hundred fifty miles for the month. being a bit…well…”goal-oriented” i geared up and rolled an easy four miles before work. i was a bit sore at first but as i was rolling home my legs began to wake up a bit.
MTD – 150 miles (24 days)
YTD – 1371.75 miles (216 days)
Odometer – 32,478 miles
daily dose
i’m back to streaking again. it’s now up to 14 days of running every day. sometimes it’s as little as 4 miles at a very slow pace, but it is still better than none. honestly, for early october, we’ve had a great stretch of weather and it’s difficult to find a reason not to get out to run.
MTD – 64 miles (11 days)
YTD – 1285.75 miles (203 days)
Odometer – 32,392 miles
Colorama 10K – Lapham Peak State Park
my recent effort at racing on the trails of the Kettle Moraine State Forest left me with a less than satisfied feeling. what better way to redeem myself than at an event held out in the woods only two weeks later.
the race didn’t start until 10AM and i approached my morning rather casually. i even downed a cup of coffee, which i never do before running. i arrived about forty minutes before the start and collected my race number, long sleeve shirt and the shirts for my daughters who were running the Smokey Bear Fun Run after the 5K/10K events were finished.
after a 14 minute warm up run on the trails, i made my way to the starting line and weaved my way to a point where there were some folks ahead of me and more behind me. the national anthem was sung, which in my opinion is the right way to precede a race, and we were sent on our way.
i eased my way through the first few minutes of the course as it winds its way up a long uphill before leveling off a short time later. i focused on getting into the “flow” of the trail and as best i could i would let my legs go down the hills and let the momentum carry me up part of the next uphill.
the wooded section of the course gave way to more of an open area which was grassy and less hilly. i made my way past other competitors who had gone out perhaps a bit too quick. admittedly, it was good to feel that i was “hunting” versus having the target on my back.
before long we turned back into the woods and the rapid succession of up and down hills. admittedly, i struggled up the hills as i noticed that more often than not the runners ahead of me gained space on the up hill while i narrowed the gap on the flats and to a degree on the down hills.
in the last mile, i found myself in a back and forth battle with two other runners. one was just ahead of me while the other was just behind me. we ended up finishing within a span of seven seconds with me in the middle of the other two. i made sure to shake hands with both and we all agreed that we had a great day for running on the trails.
chip time – 45:10
overall – 30th/208
M35-39 – 7th/20
after a ten minute cool down run, i was able to find my wife and children who had arrived to do the Smokey Bear Fun Run. i fetched their shirts from my car and was able to get a picture with all four of them before the announcement was made for the kids to greet Smokey the Bear.
all four had a good time with the fun run although our youngest opted to have mom carry her much of the way. nearing the finish, she got down and ran across the finish line on her own. we ate some cake as a treat after the run then headed home for lunch and nap time. (i got to cut the grass.)
three quarters
hard to believe that 2011 is 75% done. admittedly, i don’t have much to say about my running during the month of September. in August, my body was saying “slow down” so i listened and reduced both the miles, intensity and frequency. looking forward, it would be ideal to end the year with more than 1,600 miles and be ready to do some snowshoe racing in January.
MTD – 104 miles (17 days)
YTD – 1221 miles (192 days)
Odometer – 32,328 miles