Saturday, March 31, 2007

If you want to see a handsome man, come with me to sandy land

March 31

17.5, 2:01:23 (6:56/mi): Hyland Park w/Biz and Dan. Soggy, but lovely. And we picked it up to, like, 4-min pace for, like, the last half of the run. It was really, really easy. There were all kinds of mountains and not many sherpas and it was windy and also extremely early in the morning but also we are very good runners, such that we could complete this run with extreme ease. Felt goodish, finally. Then we ate breakfast, because we're so good at running. Stat for Schrades (Immediately to my Left): The bloggy blogg now records a year's worth of trainaj for Churchie and Schrader. For Churchie, the past calendar year included 2754.5mi, which is more than any other year I've recorded. Other Stats: 254mi in March. Not terrible considering the injury. 801mi so far in 2007, fastest to 800 and 210.5mi ahead of 2006. Viva Year II.

March 30

8mi, 50:47 (6:21/mi): Also Quite Magical. This time I finally felt pretty good, though the cough came back during the run. Even picked things up down the RR and then up and down the Greenway. Slowed up a little when I realized that Dan wanted to pick it up towards the end of the looooooooooong run.

March 29

10mi, 1:07:47 (6:47/mi): Magical Somethingorother. Ran around. Probably thought about doing a workout and then thought better of it. Or maybe that was a different day, I'm not enitrely sure. Anyway, I ran out on the ol' Midtown Greenway and became excited about the ol' Midtown Greenway. But I kept coughing and decided to turn around.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

They Didn't Know The Music Was In My Soul (Baby)

March 28

8mi, 56:04 (7:01/mi): LS8+xtra. Decent considering I have whooping cough. Running on vitamin C and assorted teas.

March 27

12.5mi 1:28:30 (7:05/mi): LSCC+there 'n' back. Nice easy run in the rain. Gave the old pair of shoes early retirement. I'd explain why but it's stupid.

March 26

10mi, 1:06:44 (6:40/mi): Accidental Lasso. Yeah, it was hot. Tried to fartlek. It didn't work that well. 3x5min with 60s recovery. Then things fell apart under the Lake Street bridge. Jogged around aimlessly, accidentally creating a lasso. Heading home I latched on to a kid riding his bike and held the pace for an 800m pick-up. Did the same thing only much shorter with some roller blader a little while later.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Who The Hell Are You Guys?

March 25

16.5mi, 1:49:40 (6:39/mi): Whatever Schrades Seize. Another epic. It might be accurate to say that we were running from the cold up in New England, but we almost certainly were not running from anything. Especially once Schrades decided just to let it flow free. It would be more accurate to say that we were born to be fiddlers in old time string bands. And so, Northland College, please blame Willie Nelson for encouraging our mothers to discourage us from lives that might involve picking guitars. Who the hell are we? We are doctors and lawyers and such. Where did we come from? Exactly.


















Week: 69mi/6days. No workouts to speak of, but started to feel pretty decent towards the end of the week. Fantastic running in Ashland -- very excited for Woods to Water.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Original Beats

March 24

12.5mi, 1:27:47 (7:01/mi): Zornland. Even beautifuler! Shirtless with the Aerobic Animal around the Oredocker track and then out to the corridor for an out 'n' back on the closing W2W leg. Body better but back still tender...Then brarkfast and syrup boilaj!!!!



March 23

8mi, 52:24 (6:33/mi): LS8+xtra. Absolutely beautiful day; ran shirtless on le river road. Wonderful. Buuuuut, hammys, calves and lower back were very, very tight. Stopped to stretch a lot. Frustrating, but hard to be too upset with this weather.

March 22

12mi, 1:23:28 (6:57/mi): Como+Pierce Butler. First hour or so with Boulder, Dan and Biz, then added on with Biz. To clarify, the add-on was the portion on Pierce Butler. Boulder did not join us for that. I wasn't altogether clear why we joined us for that.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Hey, Hey, Mister Man

March 21

12mi, 1:20:42 (6:44/mi): Como Etc. Ran the first two miles with Boulder and then added on with the intention of doing a workout. Got to Como and picked it up for once around the lake. 9:15, whatever that means. Nothing was sore, but right hamstring and lots of my core felt tight, so I stretched and headed home rather than complete a second loop. Just gotta keep running...

March 20

Day Off. Last day teaching for a little while. And, if you haven't checked out the race Brooksie is running this fall you can get the details here. Meanwhile, Alison will be doing this race in May.

March 19

8mi, 1:00:58 (Boulder Miles): Actually completed this run in AM and PM segments, both with Boulder. The longer involved a jaunt over to Como and getting moderately lost trying not to travel back along the same route.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

On a Sunday morning sidewalk/I'm wishin', Lord, that I was stoned...

March 18

10mi, Human Race 8K (27:14, 49th Overall): Not much to say about it. 5:20, 5:20, 5:43, 5:32, 5:20ish. The first two miles didn't feel too hard, but all of a sudden my legs were empty and my head was not in the race. Reminiscent of the MN Master's 15K this summer. Extremely frustrating way to open the circuit; time to Get In Gear. And my apologies to Kaluza for finishing lazily until he Got me into Gear over the last 100m. Gigantic Slabbaj Shout-Out to the brodes for his 31s 8K PR, for beating Brady Anderson, and for identifying some of the most relevant concerns about Paps' most recent spring training start.

Week: 55mi. Ok. Compared to last year through the Human Race I've done 110 more miles and at least 3 more workouts. So I'll wait to panic.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music

March 17

4mi, 30:00 (7:30/mi): Hamline etc. First half with Boulder, second half solo. Felt sluggish. Circuit starts tomorrow! Slabbaj Shout-Out to Le Fromage for his 10k PR, solo on the roads while infirm and stressed about tournament allegories. Tres bien, mon ami!

March 16

8mi, 56:26 (7:03/mi): No Idea. This might have been A&W or something. Someone who ran with me (Biz, Dan (chapel), Phil) should decide. Fun run until we got to Edison and started running 200s. "Eased" in to a 30-hi with Biz on the first. Proceeded to hit 31-mid, 31-lo and 31-flat while Biz broke 30. 8K coming up, by the way...

March 15

10mi, 1:09:20 (6:55ish): Como etc. Nice run with BD and Boulder. Need to pay attention to a hot spot on left shin...

March 14

7mi, 45somethingorother: Lock the gates, Goofey take my hand. Some days, indeed.

March 13

4mi, 27:23 (6:50/mi): Shortcut. Legs tight. Rushed.

Monday, March 12, 2007

One is for the money and two is for the gangsta

March 12

12mi, 1:19:49 (Hills): 2mi WU, 8xParkway Hill, 2mi CD. 2:38, :38, :35, :33, :29, :29, :25, :24. Excellent wkout, all things considered. Totally thought this was going to be zee Baz Judd, and we're talkin' totally here. But le Fromage gave me zee cheezy eenzpirazion. Lotz of zee zand on zee hill, zo zee form (not zee from) became zee focus. Extended zee stride and stayed, how you zaye, relaxed in me khaks, no? Zees ees, how you zaye, charactairrre conflazione? Roysh.

I still hear guitars in the air as we sat in the sand...

March 11

8mi, 51:35 (6:27/mi): LS8+xtra. Everything felt as normal as it ever does. (Happy Birthday, Jill McKiernan!)

Week: 35mi/5days. I get fragile at high(er) volume. Need to take care of myself a little better so that I can string a few of these 75+ weeks together...

March 10

10mi, Lake Johanna 4mi (21:47/2nd): 2mi WU w/Gehring. Race Splits: 5:26, :28, :33, :18. 4mi CD. Treated this as a workout. My goal was to run within myself, feel comfortable and to back off if my groin started to flare-up. I hadn't done anything fast in about two weeks, so this was a good wake-up call for my body a week ahead of the Human Race. Digger took off in 5:05 for the first mile and I had no interest or business following him. Effort was comfortable and easy until just before the 3-mile mark, which comes at the end of a gigantic uphill. I started to get a stitch over the last mile and finished feeling humbled by the time. Overall, though, a decent day.

March 9

8mi, 50:47 (6:21/mi): LS8+xtra. Again, no pain. Very nice weather, and refreshing to be running on solid surfaces. Threw in some accells of various paces and distances to see if it hurt to run fast. Success on that count. Did one ~1000m interval at about 3:20 (based on a marked 800m on the river road) and found it to be much more difficult than it should be.

March 8

5mi, 33:45 (6:45/mi): West Side Five. No pain at all, but I was a little nervous about pushing things past 5mi. Also felt very sluggish after so much no-or-slow running. (Happy Birthday, Mom!)

March 7

Day Off. Tried to go out for a test run, but ice made it impossible to do much of anything. Ran for about 10-11min and felt OK on the few sections where I had traction and could take a normal stride. Wherever it was icy (most places) and I had to clip or adjust my stride I could feel it. Frustrated. More stretching/icing.

March 6

Day Off. Stretching/icing.

March 5

4mi, 32:39 (8:08/mi): Shortcut. Everything was much improved after a fridgid Sunday ice bath, except my groin. That was better than yesterday, but I felt it walking around and it was a persistent dull ache during this slog. Exceptionally icy sidewalks/streets didn't help. Lots of stretching/icing after.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Up on the 101

March 4

2mi shakeout. Hip flexors. Groin. Quads. Back. Impossibly sore. Lots of stretching and icing.

Week: 62mi/6days. Decent considering all the winter, and the additional 6-8mi of x-training. Except that now I need to heal.

March 3

8mi, 57:05 (7:08/mi): LS8+xtra. Decent run...legs a little wobbly. Ah, who am I kidding. I was fatigued. From yesterday's mystery tour, yes. But moreso from a ridiculous hour or so attempting to ski...with Biz. It's almost like he never sent me an email telling me to take it easy...

March 2

18mi, 2:02:38 (6:49/mi): Magical Mystery Tour. And while it was magical, it was also with Biz. And THAT only occurred to me after I was half an hour from home 90min in to the run.

March 1

Day Off. Winter. You're not going to believe this, but Biz told me to take it easy.