Category Archives: Running

Practice, Running, Training Log

December 15-21 Practice Running

Monday, December 15, 2014, 5:37 pm

11.02 mi, 407 ft gain, 1:44:40. May Creek rd around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Some soreness to my the muscles of my lower legs behind my shins. Though it’s really only there when I push on it. I took it a little easier today. I didn’t see very many cars on May Creek rd.

I felt pretty good for the run. It was pretty windy. I started to go out Reiter rd, but being so windy and the trees in very close to the road, I didn’t want to chance a branch or something coming down.

The wind picked up again on my way west up US2 toward Gunn rd. I had to lean into it a few times. It helped a little bit coming back down Gunn rd. Then when I turned the last corner for the straight away to home, a big gust blew in and just about stopped me in my tracks.

Average HR 123 bpm.

 

Tuesday, December 16, 2014, 4:48 pm

11.44 mi, 1369 ft gain, 2:00:32. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1 loop & hill, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Same soreness in my lower legs, but I didn’t feel it at all while running. Even so, I kept an easy pace.

I went around the loop first to warm up like last week. Then headed out over the hill. I went out to the little hill off the gate #2 road, since I was feeling good.

It was pretty windy again on the way back to the car. Going at the slower pace than last week, I wasn’t keeping quite as warm from the activity as usual, so I kept my sleeves down, unlike many runs.

I’m feeling pretty good about hitting 2000 miles for the year. I’m less sure about how I’ll feel for my 10k race this weekend, whether I’ll have the speed I want in my legs if I keep up the 10 mile days. I’m considering cutting down the mileage per run, but doing doubles to still get 10 mi per day. I’ll think about it after tomorrow’s run.

Average HR 123 bpm.

 

Wednesday, December 17, 2014, 7:15 pm

11.01 mi, 1672 ft gain, 1:56:02. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1 to Wallace Lake, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I need to get back in the habit of writing about my runs shortly after I get home, not days later. I don’t remember much about this run.

I started with the loop, then headed up to Wallace lake. The water was low enough that I could go down to the beach. Then I continued up the trail toward Jay lake a little ways, but turned around before getting there.

I took the downhill a little easier than I had been. Vida usually lags behind on the long descents.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 4:14 pm

4.23 mi, 229 ft gain, 38:12. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1 loop, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I decided to try a double before the race on Saturday to see if I’d recover any better. I’m not sure if it helped.

The dogs were looking a little tired, so I took them out for the shorter run of the day. Just the loop and back to the car. It was nice to run during daylight.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 10:13 pm

6.06 mi, 181 ft gain, 46:30. Road through town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

This run was a little later than I really wanted, but I had some errands to run. This was just when I was able to get around to it. If I weren’t trying to finish out the year with 10+ mi/day, I probably wouldn’t have gone out on this one.

I felt pretty good, though, and went a little faster than I expected I would.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Friday, December 19, 2014, 5:55 pm

10.82 mi, 730 ft gain, 1:47:04. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I modified these shoes again. This time I cut off the top of the heel where it contacts my achilles. I cut it flush with the rest of the ankle, removing the outer layers and foam, but leaving the inner liner. I then folded the inner liner over the exposed foam, tucking it between the two outer layers, then superglued it in place. I may break out the needle and thread and sew it instead, but I wanted to go out running and superglue was faster.

As for the run, I took it fairly easy… easy as far as a 10 mi run goes. I tried to keep it fairly flat.
I saw another owl in a tree. This one was much bigger than the other one and had horns. I couldn’t get as close, but I still got a picture. I also saw a small buck, and later a doe with a fawn. Thankfully the dogs didn’t see the deer. They like to chase deer.

I felt pretty good for the most part. Some minor discomfort to my right lower leg, but not bad, especially considering that my volume over the last two weeks is pretty significantly more than I’ve ever run.

I opened it up and ran one short burst at around 90%. It felt great. I’m a little less uncertain about whether I’ll be able to give a good effort at the 10k tomorrow.

It’s a too soon to tell, but I think the latest shoe modification might help. I’ve still had some tightness around my achilles to heel connection. It hasn’t been painful like before since I got rid off the rigid plastic heel cup. I’m hoping that without the high back to the shoes pushing on my achilles, that will all go away.

Average HR 125 bpm.

 

Saturday, December 20, 2014,  am

1.31 mi, 42 ft gain, 14:10. Seward park warm up, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Just a short warmup before the race. I went out backwards on the course to see the end, so I’d know how far I was to the finish and when to start pushing for it.

Average HR 132 bpm.

Saturday, December 20, 2014, 9:15 am

6.2 mi, 454 ft gain, 44:49. Seward Solstice 10k, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

The start was sloppy, soggy, muddy grass. My shoes are not great in the mud. Several guys jumped out front right away, and I got a big slop of mud in my eye. Once we hit the gravel, I started picking them off until there were just two guys left in front of me.

The first half of the course is gravel road grade. The second half is single and double track, winding through the woods, and it was quite muddy in places.

The 10k was three laps, with the 4.2 mi covering two. Toward the end of the first lap, on part that I had seen on my warm up, I slipped as I was going over a rotted cedar log, rolling over the log to land on my back in the mud. I felt a small bump below my left collar bone, but was otherwise unscathed. I quickly got up and kept going.

I could still see one of the lead guys just passing the start/finish area as I came out of the woods, probably 15 seconds ahead of me. I tried to stay in contact for the second lap, but lost sight on the second half in the twisting and undulating single track.

I came out of the woods ending my second lap into the swampy grass, it had gotten even worse with all the other runners churning up the mud. About 20 feet into the field, I lost my left shoe in the mud. I took another two steps in my sock before stopping and going back for my shoe. If it had been the end of the last lap, I probably would have just finished with one shoe and gone to get it after. However, I didn’t think I’d be able to go very fast on the gravel or trail in one shoe and a sock. I saw two guys who I thought I had been ahead of pass me as I put my shoe back on. I think I lost almost a minute trying to get my shoe back on and tied more tightly.
I pushed hard on last lap. Looking back on my data, I was very close to my first lap split. I caught and passed one of the guys who went by when I lost my shoe.

By the last lap, I was lapping runners pretty regularly. Most of them were great about getting over so I could pass, and many even cheered me on. Some said that I wasn’t too far behind the next guy. There were a few people, however, who had their headphones going too loudly to hear me calling out as I approached from behind. Fortunately, the trail was just wide enough to sneak by as I tapped them on the shoulder.

I managed to stay upright and keep both shoes as I finished out the final lap. My final official time was 44:07, good for 2nd place. I figured I could do somewhere around 41-44 min, depending on the terrain and conditions. I was pretty close.

The winner’s finishing time was 43:37. Apparently the other guy that I thought I was chasing/racing was actually a 4.2 mi runner who finished just after I thought he passed me as I hurried to get my shoe back on.

I can second guess and say that without losing my shoe that I could have won. But I did lose my shoe. I didn’t tie the laces tightly enough. I chose to wear those shoes, knowing they didn’t have great traction in the mud, which slowed me down. I don’t know if I would have pushed as hard as I did on the final lap if I hadn’t been trying to make up time for the shoe mishap. I also don’t know if the winner let up because he didn’t see anyone behind him. And I don’t know how he would have reacted if I had come up behind him and really given him a race for the finish. So, maybe I could have won, but I didn’t have that performance, and he might have still outraced me if I did.

I might look into some cross country spikes for the next race, though. It gets pretty muddy as well. I’m signed up for two more of these shorter races. There’s also another that I didn’t sign up for, but I might.

Average HR 165 bpm.

EDIT: I remember there being a little confusion about results on race day. There were so many runners coming in together that it was hard for them to keep track. Looking at the updated official results, I came in 3rd, which is what I thought when I finished. The winner’s time was 41:00. I certainly wasn’t catching him, even if I hadn’t fallen or lost my shoe. I remember him going off the front at the start and never saw him again. I was pretty sure I didn’t catch up to the other guy that passed me when my shoe came off.

Saturday, December 20, 2014, 9:11 pm

3.32 mi, 172 ft gain, 32:22. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

A little later than I would prefer, again. But I went out with the dogs, since they’d been cooped up much of the day. I didn’t feel like I had much energy starting out. I thought about going about 4 mi. I still wasn’t really feeling it after a while, so I decided to turn around. At minimum, I wanted to hit my 10 mi for the day, and I did.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Sunday, December 21, 2014, 3:40 pm

11.86 mi, 810 ft gain, 1:46:33. Through town to RR Grade at Wallace Falls State Park, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I think the short slow run last night did the trick. I felt good today. I went faster than I expected.

I wanted to check out the new bridges on the recently reopened RR grade trail at Wallace Falls State Park, so I ran out there through town.

The trail could use some new gravel. All the construction trucks made it pretty muddy in places. The bridges are great, very sturdy with no noticeable bouncing as I ran over them. They even smell awesome with the cedar decking.

I ran up to the restroom where the RR Grade meets the Greg Ball trail, had a quick pitstop and headed back down. On the way back down, I got out the headlamp.

There were a few people on the trail on my way up, but I saw no one on the way down. Once I got to the parking lot, I turned on my race prize from yesterday, an Amphipod Vizlet LED Smiley flashing reflector.

I started to get a little tired around 11 mi, but not bad at all considering racing yesterday, or it being day 15 in a row going over 10 mi.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 77.3 mi, 6066 ft gain

Practice, Running, Training Log

December 8-14 Practice Running

Monday, December 8, 2014, 7:17 pm

10.65 mi, 1634 ft gain, 1:44:48. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1 to Wallace Lake, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

First run in the rain in a while. I’m glad it wasn’t very cold. I sort of thought I might go about 10 mi or so, or at the very least 6 mi. I made it around the loop to the intersection where I could continue back to the car and decided to keep heading out and go to Wallace Lake again. I felt pretty good going up. I tried to keep my HR below 150 bpm. I peaked up to about 153 a couple times.

Once to the lake, I decided to continue toward Jay lake a little bit. I wanted to try the short section of single track just past the foot bridge with my headlamp. Plenty of light to navigate the roots, rocks and turns, even on the mid setting. I made a brief pitstop off the trail and headed back down.

I felt like I took it a little bit slower on the descent than yesterday. Looking at the data on Strava, I went slower for the first 2/3 of the descent and a little faster for the final 1/3.

My quads were slightly sore, not nearly as bad as they were after the Ravenna 8k race though.

The Fenix HL55 worked great in the rain. I stuck with the mid power setting. I’m still on the same charge of the 18650 battery I’ve been using. I plan to run it until it dies to see how long it lasts. I bought two KeepPower 3400mAh 3.7V rechargeable batteries. From looking around online, they seem to be one of the longest lasting brands for 18650 li-on  batteries. The HL55 is rated at up to 10 hours on mid power. I’m up to about 3.5 hours so far.

Average HR 136 bpm.

 

Tuesday, December 9, 2014, 4:54 pm

11.02 mi, 311 ft gain, 1:38:32. May Creek Rd around town to city limit back up to Gunn rd and home, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Decided to hit the roads today. Legs were a little tired from the race and back to back hilly 10+ mi days. I felt pretty good today. My left calf toward the lower inside was kind of tight for the last couple miles.

My new headlamp seemed to make a difference with cars giving me a wider berth when they passed. I think they may have been a little unsure about a bright light heading toward them on their side of the road. A couple cars slowed way down.

I ran up Gunn rd, US2 east to May Creek Rd, around to 1st St, west on US2 out to a little past city limits, turned around and headed east on US2, turned onto 17th St and ran around that little neighborhood (never been in there before), then east again on US2 to Gunn rd and home. I ran past the house just a little to break 11 mi.

I kept the pace pretty easy, HR mostly in the low to mid 130s. Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 3:35 pm

10.04 mi, 1683 ft gain, 1:39:46. Olney Falls DNR Rd, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

My ankles were a little sore when I went to bed last night. They were still not quite normal when I started running today, but quickly felt better.

I planned to keep an easy pace today, but with an unplanned pitstop and the dogs misbehaving, I was running short on time. I needed to get out to Monroe by 6 pm to drop some things off, so about 3 mi in, I sped up and pushed harder than I would have for the rest of the run. That meant HR in the 140s on the downhill and flats rather than 120s-130s and up to about 160 bpm on the uphill instead of up to about 150.

Even considering the harder pace, I felt great. My quads were still mildly sore early, but that went away just like the ankle discomfort.

I turned my headlamp on just after an hour. It didn’t work too well in the fog, so I switched to the Fenix e35 flashlight a couple times.
The weather wasn’t bad starting out, a little bit of a drizzle and low 50s. The temperature stayed pretty much the same the whole time, though I did go through a nice warmer microclimate about 4.5 mi out. The rain picked up a couple times, not enough to cause visibility issues. I was completely soaked, though.

That makes four straight 10+ mi days. To hit 2000 mi for the year, I’d have to average about 10.6 mi a day for the rest of December. I’m considering making the push then taking a couple easy weeks to start January.

Average HR 136 bpm.

 

Thursday, December 11, 2014, 5:32 pm

10.91 mi, 272 ft gain, 1:38:35. May Creek Rd around town to Family grocery then out and back, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I left the dogs home to give them a day off. I’m pretty sure they’d just keep going and going until they couldn’t, and I don’t want to be carrying one or both of them miles back to the car.

I headed east up Gunn Rd to minimize running along the shoulder of US2. Running was pretty easy. There weren’t very many cars.
The weather was pretty good.

I had to make a pitstop, so I went into the grocery store to use the restroom. From there, I headed back the way I came out to the road where I’ve turned around several times when running out 20 minutes and back with the dogs.

I definitely feel it a little more in my lower legs when I run 10+ mi on the roads and sidewalks than on trails or logging roads. It wasn’t bad though.

Average HR 130 bpm.

 

Friday, December 12, 2014, 4:44 pm

10.30 mi, 1349 ft gain, 1:42:01. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1 loop and over the hill, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I decided to go around the loop to warm up before heading over the hill. It worked out pretty well.

On the way out on top of the hill, I caught a glimpse of something glowing in the beam of my headlamp. I got closer, and saw that it was a small owl. The owl hung out long enough for me to get my phone out of the ziploc bag and snap a picture. Without using the flash, my headlamp was plenty of light for a photo. The owl was still sitting in the branch when I left it, but it was gone when I returned.

My Fenix HL55 finally got low on batteries. It went into power save mode, cutting back to low power after about 8h 25m use in mid. I also used burst a handful of times in that time and eco a couple minutes before and after runs outside of that time. I had extra batteries with me, but I wanted to continue the test. It was another 17 min or so back to the car on low power. It was plenty of light to see my footing. It might be a little dim for going fast on technical trails though.

There was supposed to be a big storm. There was just a sprinkle here and there most of the run. It started pouring with about 1 mi to go. Thankfully, it only lasted a couple minutes, but I kept the pace up in case it was just the beginning of the storm.

Average HR 124 bpm for the first 15 min or so. Mio battery died.

 

Saturday, December 13, 2014, 3:58 pm

13.27 mi, 2153 ft gain, 2:21:39. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1 over the hill and out toward the lake, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I went with a little easier effort than I have been. I could have kept up the same effort I’ve been running, but I didn’t feel like it.

There wasn’t anything particularly memorable tonight. Once I warmed up, I felt great. I considered going longer, but since I’ve been doing over 10 mi a day, I decided to stick with the plan.

With this run, I went from needing a little over 10.6 mi/day to exactly 10.5 mi/day to hit 2000 mi by year end. I’m holding up better than I thought I would. I guess it shouldn’t be that surprising, considering I leveled off after a pretty good build up earlier in the year, and dropped back a little for the last month or two. This week and the race next weekend should be interesting. If I make it to the end of the month, it’ll be just in time for a two week taper for a possible 50k as a training run for potentially doing my first 100 miler in the Spring.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Sunday, December 14, 2014, 5:22 pm

10.91 mi, 1838 ft gain, 1:55:48. Olney Falls DNR rd, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I was going to run at the same tree farm gate as yesterday, but there was a minivan parked there, and I didn’t want to run into someone else with my dogs off leash, nor did I really want to run with them on leash.

I felt better starting today than I did yesterday. I still kept the pace easier than earlier in the week.

Even picking this route because there weren’t any vehicles parked at the gate, I ran into a hiker about 2.25 mi out. She was using her phone as a flashlight and asked how far it was to the entrance. A few minutes later, I thought that she might have taken a wrong turn and wished I had asked about it. I figured that if she was waiting at the gate when I made it back I’d give her a ride to where she parked. She wasn’t there though.

Not long after passing the hiker, I saw a glow in my headlamp’s beam off the road in the brush. The dogs were up ahead and missed it. I stopped and looked closer and it was a pretty large blacktail buck. It was hard to see how many points in the dark, but they stuck up well above and outside his ears.

It was a little colder tonight than the last couple nights and a little windy, not bad though. There are a few spots along the DNR road with very noticeable microclimates, a couple cooler and a couple warmer. I like the warmer ones. I made a pitstop at my turnaround point with a great view of the lights in the valley.

I took it easier on the downhill, for the most part, because Vida has been lagging behind when I bomb downhill. She always catches back up. I still let loose on a couple steeper sections.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 77.1 mi, 9241 ft gain

My highest mileage week, and I feel a lot better than some lower mileage weeks.

Practice, Running, Training Log

December 1-7 Practice Running

Monday, December 1, 2014, 5:10 pm

5.42 mi, 96 ft gain, 39:31. Through town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I felt great, especially considering yesterday’s 15 miler. I managed a pretty good pace while staying aerobic the whole time. I ran out for 20 minutes, turned around and ran back. It was a great run.

Average HR 137 bpm.

 

Tuesday, December 2, 2014, 4:08 pm

6.38 mi, 265 ft gain, 58:23. Road to Wallace Falls SP, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Decided to wear my wind breaker today. Glad I did. While I did get a little sweaty, the cold wind of the last couple days was worse.

Felt pretty good the whole run. Nothing particularly eventful on the way to the park. Kept it pretty easy. I looped the dogs’ leashes to the bbq grill at the park and used the restroom, then headed back home.

A little ways down he road it started getting dark, so I turned on my headlamp. I don’t really like running with the dogs on roads in the dark since they’re black. Shortly after turning on my headlamp, I was reminded why. A truck was coming towards us so I got off the road onto the small grass shoulder. Most vehicles give me some space. I turned my head so my light was shining toward the driver, but he didn’t move over at all. If I hadn’t made sure to pull Vida all the way off the road, he would have hit her. I pulled her over well before the truck drove by, but it was still a bit unnerving. I’m not sure if the guy didn’t see me, didn’t care or did it on purpose. I’m looking forward to my new headlamp arriving. It’s bright enough that they would have definitely seen me.

The rest of the run was fine.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Wednesday, December 3, 2014, 9:09 pm

6.87 mi, 540 ft gain, 1:03:30. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Almost bagged it after the first loop. I didn’t feel that great. I’m glad I kept going, but I only felt moderately better by the end. I settled into a bit slower pace than I have been running.

The weather wasn’t bad tonight, windy and mid 30s. It was so much better than windy and low to mid 20s. It almost felt warm.

Also, I wanted to test my new Fenix E35 flashlight. Even with the cloud cover, the moon was bright enough to go without light. Still tried it out through a couple spots. It’s so bright. I think the medium setting will more than good enough for most of my needs. Looking forward to my new headlamp arriving and getting to use both more.

Average HR 122 bpm.

 

Thursday, December 4, 2014, 3:53 pm

4.47 mi, 34 ft gain, 44:17. Green belt and RR access road, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Felt slow. RR access road to the green belt between the RR and US2 out to the end of the cut grass just outside of town. Then back and hopped over the tracks to run nearer the river a little bit and home.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Friday, December 5, 2014, 4:21 pm

4.16 mi, 38 ft gain, 35:41. Road through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Felt a lot better today than yesterday. Very windy for most of the run, at my back most of the way out and in my face most of the way home. I think it actually blew harder on my way back. There were a few big gusts that I had to lean into. Without rain and cold, I enjoy running in the wind.

Average HR 125 bpm.

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014, 9:30 am

1.2 mi, 50 ft gain, 9:38. Warmup at Redmond Watershed Preserve, Solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Average HR 140 bpm. For both this race and the last one, my HR was a little high before the race. Anticipation perhaps?

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014, 9:30 am

5 mi, 330 ft gain, 32:58. Redmond Reindeer Romp 5mi Race, Solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I took off out front at the start, but dialed back a little almost immediately. Another guy caught up and went just ahead of me. I sat on his shoulder for a minute or two before I decided to go. I passed him and led for the rest of the race.

A few of the turns were pretty muddy and slick. The trail was pretty well groomed, not many roots or rocks. The course markings were easy to follow.

After a few minutes, I looked back and couldn’t see anyone. I kept looking back later in the race on just about every turn to see if anyone was closing. I caught a glimpse of someone once, but I saw her again later at the start finish line heading out for a second half marathon lap, and the organizers were pretty sure she missed at least one turn for the half marathon course. She wasn’t running nearly hard enough to be halfway done at that time.

I won, finishing in 32:58. Second was about 30 seconds behind. Third place was a 60 year old guy about 2:39 back. I hope I’m still running like that in 27 years.

Top three male and female finishers won reindeer antlers headbands. I also won some socks with a bull reindeer saying “hey girl” to a cow in the raffle.

Average HR shows as 158 bpm, but it looks like the Mio bugged out for about 7 minutes early on dropping from the 150s down to the 110s. When it corrected, I was in the mid 170s.

Saturday, December 6, 2014, 9:30 am

0.26 mi, 44 ft gain, 2:27. Back to the car post race, Solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Just a short run back to where I parked my car. Left my HR monitor off.

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014, 4:09 pm

3.21 mi, 28 ft gain, 27:44. Shakeout run through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I was rather sore for a few days after the Ravenna race, so I thought I’d head out for a short run to try to work out lactic acid and loosen up. I wanted to get the dogs out for a run as well.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Sunday, December 7, 2014, 5:57 pm

10.45 mi, 1597 ft gain, 1:40:41. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1 to Wallace Lake, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I wanted to get out earlier, but I don’t mind going in the dark. I got to test out my new Fenix HL55 headlamp. It was great. I started on the low setting, but ended up switching to mid to better see my dogs. Low was plenty of light to see where to place my feet. I kept it fairly easy pace, trying to stay aerobic on the climb.

I saw a third pair of eyes ahead of my dogs a couple times. Both just turned out to be deer. They were well ahead of my dogs too. The mid light setting worked out great.

The wind was blowing pretty hard at times. Fortunately, it was relatively warm and dry.

I’m not sure if I like how the front plate that attaches the light to the strap sits on my forehead. When I got home, I saw that I had 2 indents on my forehead from it. I might add some foam or something to it.

Average HR 135 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 47 mi, 2943 ft gain

Practice, Running, Training Log

November 24-30 Practice Running

Monday, November 24, 2014, 5:47 pm

4.27 mi, 317 ft gain, 53:08. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Legs are still a little sore from the race and yesterday. There was a little drizzle and a bit of fog when I started today. It all lifted about halfway through. I got a weather advisory on my phone earlier warning of potential flooding from heavy rains tonight. I’m grateful they hadn’t come in yet.

I had some GI distress and had to stop to take care of it. It was a much longer stop than usual. But I felt so much better afterwards. The dogs kept getting farther ahead than I like and chased after some critters a couple times.

My legs loosened up about 3 mi in or so, and I sped up a bit. I started out keeping my HR below 130 bpm, by the time I was warmed up, I went up closer to 140 bpm. I wonder if paying this much attention to my HR is even making any difference. If I go by heart rate zones, I’m finding that I can actually go faster than I thought while remaining in a given zone.

Average HR with the stop 114 bpm, moving time HR 129 bpm.

 

Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 4:42 pm

6.20 mi, 386 ft gain, 53:28. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Went counter clockwise around the loop and then out toward the hill. Quads were still a little sore, but I felt great endurance-wise and had plenty of energy. I kept the pace up a little bit without really trying.

Average HR 138 bpm.

 

Wednesday, November 26, 2014, 6:48 pm

4.36 mi, 305 ft gain, 41:24. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I didn’t feel as great as Tuesday. Legs were more recovered, but I just didn’t really get into the run. The dogs not listening very well didn’t help. I had planned to go at least 6 mi, but called it since I wasn’t really feeling it.

Average HR 131 bpm.

 

Thursday, November 27, 2014, 3:37 pm

9.01 mi, 1393 ft gain, 1:35:05. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1 to Wallace Lake, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Felt pretty good today. I didn’t push too hard up the hill towards the lake. I ended up going uphill with my HR around 155 bpm +/- a few. I kept it below 150 bpm until it started getting a little steeper.

The lake was kind of high. The road was covered in water near the north end, so I didn’t go out to the beach. From the sound of running water coming from that direction, I think the creek was full anyway, so I wouldn’t have been able to reach the beach.

It was getting pretty dark when I turned around at the lake. I managed to go a mile or so without needing any light, but turned on both my headlamp and flashlight, since there are some errant larger rocks on the road back down. No problems going down. I even let go and bombed down a couple times.

Average HR 135 bpm.

 

Friday, November 28, 2014, 6:54 pm

8.07 mi, 1111 ft gain, 1:16:59. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I’m writing this several days after the fact, so I don’t remember much about the run. It was dark. I ran over the hill and back.

Average HR 133 bpm.

 

Saturday, November 29, 2014, 4:25 pm

7.03 mi,  ft gain, 1:12:52. Olney Falls DNR Rd, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

It was pretty cold. It had snowed overnight, and the temperature was dropping. There had been some flooding this week.  Water was just barely flowing over the road less than a mile in. I stopped and thought about turning back for a brief moment and decided to go. Somehow I managed to keep my feet dry.

Olney falls was roaring from the recent rains, so much that the bridge at the base was shaking. A little past the hill to the east of Olney falls I started to run into a little more snow. The DNR road was still bare though. On my way back down, I caught some views of the sunset with snow covered trees. It was incredibly uplifting.

Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Sunday, November 30, 2014, 5:49 pm

15.10 mi, 2442 ft gain, 2:45:34. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1 to Wallace Lake & over the hill, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I wasn’t sure exactly how sure I was going to run. I wanted to do at least 12 mi or so. I tried to keep my HR under 140 bpm, except on the climbs, where I kept it below 150 bpm. I think it was partially due to the relatively easy pace, but I felt great the entire time.

There was some snow on the sides of the road (logging roads) the whole way. And it was cold and windy. I probably should have pulled out my jacket a couple times. Up on top of the two hills, it got cold and very windy.

At about 3.5 mi into the run, just past the last clear cut of the tree farm before the DNR gate, snow started to cover over the road. With the snow and the bright moon, I went without lights for a good portion of the run.

This was my first run in the snow of the season. It was a ton of fun, especially downhill. My Altra Superior 1.5s did just fine. I wasn’t sure how the tread would handle the snow, but I had no problems.

Once I hit the intersection at the corner by Wallace lake, I headed out into the clear cut overlooking the valley instead of continuing by the lake. With the building and car lights along the US2 corridor, the mountains, snow, stars and moon, it was an amazing view.

I quickly started to get cold though, so I headed back down. I still wasn’t sure how much farther or where else I was going to run. Once I got to the road toward the connector hill, I decided to head out that direction a ways. I didn’t decide to go all the way to the other side until I hit about the point where I’d have run 13.1 mi if I headed back. That was also about the point when I decided that maybe I should drink some water. It was so cold, though, that my water line had frozen. I wasn’t really sweating nor that thirsty, so I just went with it.

Again, at the top of the hill, I started to get cold, not so much the way out, but more the way back. And the road between the hill and the main road is usually colder than other spots in that area. My hands really started to get cold, and it started spreading a little bit. I decided to pick up the pace a little bit. With about a mile left or so, I had to make more of a conscious effort to keep the pace. I went the entire time without any food or water. I had 3 bananas and some water about an hour before running. Toward the end, I could feel my energy level dropping. But I finished fine. I think I’ll start carrying a little bit of food just in case.

I’ve had nausea problems when I didn’t keep up enough calories on long runs in the past. I don’t think I stayed aerobic on those runs, and I’m in a lot better shape now too.

It was an amazing run, even with the cold. And the dogs loved running around in the snow as much as I did.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 54.1 mi, 7201 ft gain

Practice, Running, Training Log

November 17-23 Practice Running

Monday, November 17, 2014, 12:15 pm

4.6 mi, 1866 ft gain, 53:58. Upper Wallace Falls, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Awesome run today. My sleep schedule was even further from where I would like to be, and I got wrapped up in getting some things done, so I ended up staying up. It’s almost 2pm as I write this, and I’ve been up for 23 hours. I’ll stay up at least until dark. I expect to sleep longer than normal, so hopefully I can reset my internal clock.

Anyway, about the run… It’s so nice out, sunny and mid 40s, and I’ve been itching to get back to real trails, so I went out to Wallace Falls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go early on, but my pace was pretty good. I pushed myself most of the way up and broke my ascent to the Upper falls best time by about 2 minutes. My first time going up in under 30 minutes, 28:35.

I took about 1.5 minutes to catch my breath and rest my legs. Then I took a couple pictures, took off my sweaty base layer to go with just my pullover and took off my gloves. I had already taken off my fleece beanie about 10 minutes in. I guess I was overdressed, but it turned out alright. I ended up spending about 5 minutes at the Upper falls view point before heading back down.

I started heading down kind of slow. Those steps up top are steep and kind of sketchy. Once past them, I started bombing down. I ended up beating my best descent time as well. I could have gone faster. I wanted to break 20 minutes, but missed by 18 seconds. Maybe next time.

The Mio behaved well. Average HR 153 bpm according to Movescount and my Ambit 2 R, 156 bpm according to Strava. Strava only counts during moving time, so it cuts out the break at the top.

 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 3:39 pm

3.1 mi, 45 ft gain, 27:47. Green belt in town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Ended up in bed by 8pm last night and up before 6am. Unfortunately, I’ve felt a little run down today. Probably due to staying up so long and yesterday’s hard run. Not too bad, but enough that I decided not to go very far for today’s run.

Nothing particularly noteworthy during the run. Sigurd kept pulling on the leash more than usual. It made it a little harder to keep the pace slower.

Mio was reading high early, then low, then finally right. Average HR 123 bpm.

 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014,  pm

7.19 mi, 72 ft gain, 1:13:40. RR access road through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I wasn’t sure about where or how far I’d run today. I was about to head out onto US2 after stopping for the dogs to pee and decided to hit the RR access road instead. Down into the park, I hopped over the tracks and ran the other access road that goes into Startup.

The wind was really blowing. When the wind isn’t cold, I find that I really enjoy running in the wind, with, against or at any angle. It mixes things up a bit.

I was going to turn around at 2 mi, then 2.5 mi, then 3 mi and finally decided to turn around at 3.5. On the way back, there was a train going by a little before I got back by the tracks. I turned around and ran back out a little until the train was passed. I didn’t really want to run that close to a moving train with the dogs. Then once I was just nearing the gate to turn along the RR tracks, another train came in the other direction. It was moving slow, so it was probably stopped on the tracks in town waiting for the other one to go by. I think there are 4 lines of tracks on that small stretch.

I ended up only waiting for the engines to go by. It was a short train anyway. After it went by, the wind really picked up. At times, the wind slowed me down by up to 1 min/mi pace. I leaned in and kept going, trying to keep my HR around the same level.
It was a pretty easy day. Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Thursday, November 20, 2014, 3:16 pm

6.40 mi, 269 ft gain, 59:22. Road to Wallace Falls TH & back, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

It’s been a pattern recently. I set out for just a short 3-4 mi run and end up going longer since I feel so good. Nothing really stood out to me during the run. It just felt great.

Once I got to Wallace Falls State Park, I tied the dogs to one of the metal bbq grills and ducked into the bathroom. After a short stop, I grabbed the dogs and headed home.

It was windy again, but not nearly as much as Wednesday. Kept my HR pretty low again. Average 128 bpm.

 

Friday, November 21, 2014,  pm

3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 25:59. Road through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Apparently I accidentally hit pause at 2.04 mi and didn’t notice until about 0.3 mi from the end. Distance is a guess based on running this route a number of times.

I considered going longer today, but I’m running an 8k race tomorrow. It was raining too. I’ll probably wear just about the same thing for the race as I did today. It worked pretty well with the rain.

Average HR 135 bpm. This is probably off a bit.

 

Saturday, November 22, 2014, 8:05 am

1.14 mi, 148 ft gain, 12:26. Ravenna Park, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Warmup for the 8k race. I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I got around 3 hours of sleep, waking up once in the middle as well. I woke up at about 3:40 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I tried writing down the ideas I was having, rolling around to different positions, letting the dogs on the bed, playing games on my phone. I stayed in bed until almost 7am when my alarm was going to go off.

During my short warmup run my HR was elevated significantly from normal, likely due to not sleeping much. Fortunately, I don’t think it really had any effect on my race. I think the Mio was a little buggy as well. There were a couple spikes. Average HR 146 bpm

 

Saturday, November 22, 2014, 8:32 am

5 mi, 480 ft gain, 33:54. Ravenna Refresher 8k race, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I went out fast, probably too fast. I tried to moderate my pace a little at times. Three other guys and I went out sort of together. I tried to hold back a little bit, because I didn’t think I’d be able to keep my starting pace for that long. After the first short climb, I passed two of them on the following downhill. Then there was just one guy in front of me.

I ended up chasing after him for the rest of the race. I kept it pretty close until the last climb of the first lap, when he started to pull away a bit. I think I finished the first lap in about 16:40, which would have won the 4k, though the guy ahead of me was faster by about 20 seconds.

I could tell I slowed down on the second lap. I made a conscious effort to maintain pace as much as I could. Once I hit the flat gravel access road on the bottom, it seemed a lot longer than the first time. I wasn’t that sure about how far out I was once I hit the short asphalt sections. So I didn’t pour it on again until I knew I was just a couple turns away. Then I let it go.

It turned out that the guy ahead of me was running the 12k, so I wasn’t actually racing against him. It was good motivation to push harder, though.

The top 3 male and female finishers of each event, 4k, 8k and 12k, were given a bottle of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider. I also won a $40 gift card to the Balanced Athlete in the raffle. When they announced my name, they said my finishing time was 33:55.9, but the official results online say 33:54. Either way, I’m happy. I won my first race ever.

The event was well organized. The trail was very well marked and the refreshment area at the finish line was great. I don’t know about the aid station as I blew right by it at the start of my second lap. The only thing that I thought could be better was the other racers. There was very little cheering for other runners as they came around for their next lap or when they finished. I tried to cheer and clap for a little while, expecting that others would join in to no avail. The race staff cheered for people though.

My mile splits, according to Strava, were 6:31, 6:34, 7:02, 6:58, 7:11. Average HR 176 bpm.

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Sunday, November 23, 2014, 3:05 pm

13.16 mi, 478 ft gain, 2:04:36. WFSP, May Creek Rd, home, out & back along US2, Solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I wanted to keep my HR below 140 bpm for the most part. I went up to around 145 bpm on a couple hills, and closer to 150 bpm nearing the end.

I started out not sure which way I was going to go. Once I hit US2, I turned left, partially due to traffic. I went out to Wallace Falls State Park and used the restroom. I then continued around on May Creek Rd and back home. Another pitstop at home, and I went back out. I just ran west along US2 for a couple miles and turned around.

My quads were kind of sore from the race. They haven’t been sore from a run in a long time. My left calf got really tight the last couple miles today. I’m not sure why. It was a little painful toward the end.

With the pit stops, my Average HR 128 bpm. According to Strava, for only moving time, my average HR was 137 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 43.6 mi, 3312 ft gain.