A Great Rise to 50 (Redux)

Mike MacLellan wrote:Brrrrr.  15 degrees with 15-25mph winds.  Almost got blown off the 14th St Bridge.  

7.9mi slightly more focused than normal.  It was cold, so I think I was in a hurry.  Most splits in the mid/low 7s.  Felt pretty comfortable, pace-wise.

don't want to hear it.  -20 windchill tomorrow.  -35 on Sunday.  Methinks you live in a balmy climate.

True enough, but remember, I don't have the gear for this stuff.  Just bought a buff yesterday after almost losing my face.  Should arrive Wednesday.

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2hr today with a 10k tempo/race early on.  

Chris bowed out, so that left me, Kevin, and Aileen.  They pushed the 5k up 5min, so I barely made it back from my warm-up to watch them take off.  I don't know what Kevin's time was, but I know he finished 8th overall.  Aileen finished in 22:31 and took 2nd in her age group.  Woo, cherry pie!

My "race" went just fine, other than the massive cramp in my mid-back (right side) at mile 1.6.  Seriously, it almost stopped me in my tracks, and it's still there even after finishing my run and stretching.  Ouch.  

Ran a progressive tempo, with splits of 6:49, 6:39, 6:36, 6:31, 6:25, 6:03, and 5:17 to close it.  I got 6.3mi on my watch, and the sprint started at the 6mi mark, so it was a long effort.  40:3x finish.  Probably could've gone sub-40, but again, it was just supposed to be a tempo.  Took second in my age group anyway, and got a pie, too.

After a short break, started the 7mi journey home.  Bonked pretty hard with about 3mi to go, so I took a gel...  Amazing how those things work.  Perked up within a mile and brought it back down to low 8s.  

16mi total.

Congrats on a nice run, and please give my congrats to Aileen and Kevin too!

Congrats on the podium finishes! Hope you didn't have to carry the pie home on your "cool down" from the race. Of course, the Gu wouldn't have been necessary if you had...

(Staying out of the weather discussion right now other than to marvel at the huge range of temperatures in North America right now. As I write this, it's 90 freaking degrees in Southern California, 60° here, and something like 13° where Michele lives. What a weird year. )

right now it's 6 with 35 mph winds so about -23F.  Ran 18 on TM today.  My God that's a long time to run to go nowhere.  Longest ever indoors, but I wasn't chancing outside today for that long and that much exposure.

That is quite an impressive progressive Mike!  And a pie too boot?  Congrats!  Was the pie frozen by the time you got home?

Mark/Tom - Aileen drove home with the pies.

Michael - ...But I don't even have access to a treadmill...

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2hr this morning at Rock Creek.  Wanted to get 10mi in, which would be the usual loop, but decided around halfway through that I could stand to do 2hr.  Temps in the single digits for most the run, warming up to I think 12 by the time I was done.  Winds in the 30s but partially protected in the park (it's a big valley), which is why I chose to run there today.  Either way, cold, but not unbearably so.  Splits were quicker than last time, and effort wasn't too hard at all.  13mi total.

Does Aileen's school have a fitness center with a track?  Bet they do.  I'd at least check it out.  There might also be a community one around that you can use for a small fee.  I use one here at a local community college for $15 a month and another (if I don't want to drive as far) for $5 a visit.

Mom - Only an outdoor track or indoor TMs.  And the gym, like EVERY FRIGGIN' BUILDING (okay, just most of them) ON CAMPUS, requires a student ID keycard to get in.  There's a community center here that a track club uses, and I looked into getting an annual pass, as it has a gym, too, but the price didn't seem worth it when we're getting a gym put in our building "soon."  They're starting the demo on the old space tomorrow, so hopefully by summer...?

10mi this morning.  

Since I wasn't able to get my head around 20 during yesterday's gale-force coldfest, I decided I'd bump today and tomorrow's runs up a few miles to 10 each.  Today was the "easy 10," which meant just a nice steady run.  I never quite warmed up, and the weekend's sweets/junk food caught up to me, leaving my stomach pretty uneasy and reflux-y.  I guess a bag of chocolate chips over 2 days will do that to you.  HR strap was all over the place, giving me readings in the 180s for the first 4-5 miles.  I'm not even sure when it finally settled down after 6-7mi that it was accurate.  Seemed very low (139-143 average) for the pace.  

We're supposed to get 5-8" snow overnight, which could make tomorrow's hill repeats interesting, to say the least.  Supposed to be 6x 4min (1km hill).  I wonder if OPM will shutdown the gov't and cancel all my work tomorrow, too...

Oooooh, NOOOOOOOOW I get it!!!  This is why we don't run in the snow.

So we got our expected 5-8" of snow (which, at one point, was 3-5", and at another point was 8-12").  I'd put it around 5".  Pretty stuff, and I got caught in the beginning of it last night.  The novelty hasn't worn off yet.

Running in the stuff is funny.  Just so stupid and futile that it's laughable.  I ended up sharing the roads with the few cars brave enough to drive today, which made for some interesting hill repeats.  Paces were all over the place depending how many I had to yield to and how deep of a snowbank I got caught in.  

Got in 6x 4min up the 5.5% hill.  Never quite made the whole thing, as even on the road I was probably losing 3-5% of my power due to traction issues.

10mi total.

Work was cancelled today.  Non-billable, due to gov't closure, but because I have a guaranteed number of hours for Tues/Wed, I wonder if it still applies.  They do have non-gov't contracts, after all...

Also, that back strain during the 10k on Saturday has now turned into a pinched nerve in my neck.  I couldn't sleep after about 4am last night due to the discomfort.  Ugh.  Advil regimen started this morning.

Neck's doing better, but not 100%.  At least I can swivel my head (slowly) without major discomfort.  

5.8mi this morning.  Cold out, but at least no wind.  Motivation wasn't there early on, but again things became comical when the snow-plowing just suddenly stopped at the entrance to one of the most popular bike commuter trails in the whole area.  Yep, that's right, 5" of snow on the Mt. Vernon trail and zero attempts at clearing it.  After a mile and a half in that stuff, the cleared Four Mile Run trail was like a godsend.  Pace dropped from the high 9s to the high 8s.  

Maybe it'll be cleared by the time I repeat the loop tomorrow morning...

So you appear to be embracing the early am runs Mike. Nice way to start the day if you ask me.

Tim - To a point, yes.  I find them to be somewhat of a mind game, in that I have to will myself up and out the door...  But around 2-3mi in, I am glad I did.  Today, however...

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0.0mi this morning.  Set my alarm, even went to bed early, but when 5am rolled around, it just felt like a rest day.  Thursdays are my optional-bonus-mile days anyway, and given my recent lack of enthusiasm (since Sunday, pretty much when the temp plummeted), I decided to not force myself into this one.  I'm cautious for a reason - those of you around for the Auburn era probably remember something about a huge blow up that cost me about 3 years of progress.  So, simply put, 6 optional miles wasn't worth the risk of digging myself into a mental slump.  Besides, I've got 30 on Saturday to prepare for.

Dear cold, 

Please stop and, instead, warm.

-Mike

6.95mi in 1hr today.  Slower than normal, but with 3-4mi of that in snow, well, can't really do much about it.  Put a 10min moderate effort at the end once I hit asphalt again.  

Tried out my new Buff, which froze between uses but was still warmer than the alternative of nothing.  Wore a long-sleeve shirt over my tech shirt and it kept me reasonably warm.  Still, I'm excited for temps in the 30s/40s again.  I know, I'll be complaining about the heat in no time, too.  

We're supposed to get another 5-8" of snow tomorrow starting around 2pm.  As registration for that 50k I was planning on closed and I never got the warning e-mail from UltraSignUp, I've decided to forgo the 1hr30min drive to southern MD and instead go do some course recon/practice at Great Falls.  Much closer, cheaper entry, and my car can be my aid station as I do 4x 7.1mi loops.  Oh, and I bet there will be lots of snow.

Dear Mike,

Enjoy me while I last. My hot-tempered cousin is coming for the summer soon enough.

Hugs,
The Cold

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Nice running, considering the conditions. Good to see a SoCal boy able to adapt.

Too bad about the 50K. The Great Falls run sounds good and challenging, though.

Well, I think Tom stole my mojo.  This week has been a tough mental battle with running, and today I had to throw in the towel.  Effort was pretty standard/easy, but mentally I was just bored/exhausted/not at all in it.  I got 9 miles in (1:33) before the amount of snow blowing into my eyes became annoying to the point of "Okay, this is just silly, I need to stop."  Glad I did, as the snow only got heavier, and the drive home was sketchy at that point.  It's snowed another 2" since then, so I guess the universe planned to let me survive.

Well I think getting 9 miles in under conditions like that is a feat in itself. I wouldn't beat yourself up about it - heck I would have never gone out the door...

Unplanned but necessary rest day.  Crazy how quickly things plummeted from great to "NEVER RUNNING AGAIN."  Gonna pull back for a few days and hope to rebound.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Unplanned but necessary rest day.  Crazy how quickly things plummeted from great to "NEVER RUNNING AGAIN."  Gonna pull back for a few days and hope to rebound.

Well, those conditions you've been facing aren't exactly encouraging. Allow yourself that break, and you'll be ready to rock it.

Better conditions today.  33 degrees (which made me wish I'd worn shorts instead of tights) with mostly cleared sidewalks/paths other than a mile or so of crunchy snow/ice.  I definitely think I might be a "fair weather runner"... at least when it comes to terrain.  I like my streets and trails smooth, thanks.  Ice, snow, roots, rocks?  Meh.  I'm going to have to figure out a workaround for the next few years, I think.

5.85mi in 53min total.  Effort was non-existent, body felt mostly good.  I think my legs think I'm in taper, since I had a looooooong run 2 weeks ago, a hard tempo last week, and minimal mileage the past couple days.  Not sure how to trick them back into training.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Well, I think Tom stole my mojo.  This week has been a tough mental battle with running, and today I had to throw in the towel.  Effort was pretty standard/easy, but mentally I was just bored/exhausted/not at all in it.  I got 9 miles in (1:33) before the amount of snow blowing into my eyes became annoying to the point of "Okay, this is just silly, I need to stop."  Glad I did, as the snow only got heavier, and the drive home was sketchy at that point.  It's snowed another 2" since then, so I guess the universe planned to let me survive.

Oh can I relate!  12 mile sin that crap for me and I'm just mentally shut down.  I couldn't even think about running yesterday  Decided that I'm taking Sun, Mon, and Tues off and trying to run on Wed.  Of course, the temps are not supposed to get out of the single digits all week.  Wed is supposed to be the warmest before the weekend which is supposed to go close to 30, but with what else - SNOW.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:

Mike MacLellan wrote:Well, I think Tom stole my mojo.  This week has been a tough mental battle with running, and today I had to throw in the towel.  Effort was pretty standard/easy, but mentally I was just bored/exhausted/not at all in it.  I got 9 miles in (1:33) before the amount of snow blowing into my eyes became annoying to the point of "Okay, this is just silly, I need to stop."  Glad I did, as the snow only got heavier, and the drive home was sketchy at that point.  It's snowed another 2" since then, so I guess the universe planned to let me survive.

Oh can I relate!  12 mile sin that crap for me and I'm just mentally shut down.  I couldn't even think about running yesterday  Decided that I'm taking Sun, Mon, and Tues off and trying to run on Wed.  Of course, the temps are not supposed to get out of the single digits all week.  Wed is supposed to be the warmest before the weekend which is supposed to go close to 30, but with what else - SNOW.

Glad it's not just me, Mom.  I guess even the most hardened of us ("the most hardened of us" does not include me!) have our limits.  My brother told me that his experience in Minnesota has been marked by late February blues, too.

I like tempo runs.  I think right now, I like anything that isn't plodding along and ticking off long miles.  Same thing happened after Boston, when I decided to train for a 10k instead of marathons.  

1hr w/ 4x 8min (2min recoveries).  Interval paces were 6:51, 6:32, 6:24, 6:15.  Always slow to warm up, I am.  Interestingly, the last two felt the best in terms of form.  First two felt kind of awkward, like I couldn't get my turnover right.  Either way, mentally refreshed after this one.  Still not excited at the prospect of 4hr+ runs, but maybe we'll get there soon.

Glad you found something to stoke those fires, Mike. It can be the carrot for all those long slogs in the snow.