Yikes. Not been running much. Felt sick for a little over a week after getting back from California. Beyond that I've been busy with the surprising joy of home-ownership. Nick will no doubt be gratified to hear that Jill and I are at pains to take good care of the place that we own. Today that meant spending a couple hours working on cleaning out our amazingly clogged gutters. Also, we've been making great strides with Margo (aka Big Margo, B.M., Large Marge, and - my current favorite - Big Tuna). Hell of a dog. We got pretty lucky there.
But all that is not exactly the point tonight. I'm writing because I have found out that Grant Hinderliter is getting married on the weekend of October 5th. That, of course, is the weekend of the TCM. As a result, I will not be running the marathon. But, I want to have a target out there this fall to get ready for. (Otherwise I'll just while my evenings away tending after my private property.) So... I'm thinking I could up the mileage to somewheres closer to 30 and maybe find a great section of trail or perhaps to towns conveniently placed about 26 - 30 miles away from one another. I don't know. Something that will feel far and good. And something around October. Thoughts? What would be a good, fun, long run. Extra criteria: I've already paid to enter Twin Cities. I'd prefer something unofficial for this replacement run.
Slab City Running Company & Associates train 'til your head explodes and the words don't rhyme.
5 comments:
Phil- How about the Lundberg's Run Around the City? I think one version of it is going off this Saturday around 8 from southwest Mpls, and is probably going pretty close to your house. I'm going to be out of town, but you should call MadDog for more info.
In terms of running, there've been two runs this week with company. Monday I ran into Arneson and Havey and joined them for about a half hour, and then yesterday I met Denny and Dale at the base of the Franklin Hill for a workout. Not a planned rendezvous, but I did know that Denny is there every Tuesday evening. The hills were sluggish and uninteresting, but doing them with other people is more fun. It was hot, again, and I only did 4. Also took too much rest after #2 because Denny's a talker. 2:41, 2:40, 2:43, 2:38.
July 1: Warmup, 5 x 400 on Jackson track, cooldown. Lotta yoga, stretching, general shenanigans. First quarter was intended to be easy, 80ish percent as determined by the full group. I jogged an 87 with an old dude who's pretty cool. Next one I stretched out a little and went 66. One of the Jackson guys, who's an awesome dude, had been looking a bit competitive on the first one so I thought I'd give him what he was looking for. The last three I just ran right next to him on the outside and we went 68, 69, 70. There was a 400 jog recovery after each one. I actually felt great--I could feel the altitude, but there was plenty of gas left. It was tempting to just blaze the last couple but I didn't want to be mean.
July 2: Got a late start, so ran for an hour with my clothes, water, etc in a pack up towards Targhee when Lisa gave me a ride the rest of the way since I woulda been late. Dropped the pack and ran another hour on the trails up there. 8,000 feet is higher than 5-7,000 feet. Uff-dah. Nice social run. Tuesdays are track night across the pass, and Wednesdays are trails at the resort. The folks that are out here are just great to train with!
Phil: if you hold off until that weekend with the alumni race, I'll race you to Stillwater the next day.
Chap: If you want to do a hill workout that ain't so hot, I've got some options for you.
Bedar.
July 3: 1:05:28 Up the Dump Rd to Stateline, back on Ski Hill. I think that it's now official that there's no such thing as a loop, at least headed east from here, that takes less than an hour on the roads. Oh well. Really hammered for a stretch coming back on Ski Hill until my tummy got upset, so I slowed down.
July 4: 30:05. Out n' back. Got a big day planned tomorrow so I'm all about gettin' my study on today. Picked up and ran pretty hard for the last mile, but otherwise it was a pretty chill excursion.
The Loop the Tetons has been postponed a bit until the snow melts some. Hart ran up there Wednesday to check on conditions and it would be much more of a slog throug hip-deep snow than a run, so we're headed for a pretty dope out n back in the Big Holes tomorrow morning instead. Not quite as epic, but it should still be a real ass-kicker.
The deal with the Big Holes, which is the mtn range just west of the Tetons, is that the trail system has a severe inferiority complex because of the proximity of the Tetons. The trails therefore compensate by abhorring switchbacks and sticking purely to near vertical orientations. This is gonna be sweet!!!
July 5: Uff-dah. 6:45 through the Big Holes. Last 2:45 sans water, and it was 85, sunny, and windy. The plan had been an out-n-back on the Big Hole Crest trail, so we left a car at halfway with extra water etc. Missed a snow-covered turn somewhere, ended up spending a few hours, a few miles, and a few thousand vertical feet of bushwacking to return to the intended trail. The subsequent extended lack of water, extended time, and Jay's hard fall that screwed up his back and shoulder made it seem like a great idea to call it a day once we hit the car rather than turn back. And that's what we did.
July 6: Ran up the South Leigh with Matt Hart and Lori Bantekas. Lori was fresh off a plane and two weeks of not running following the Big Horn 100. Of course then it makes sense that she's running the Devil's Backbone 50 up in Bozeman this weekend. Freakin' amazing. Anyway, so we rolled up the switchbacks towards Granite Basin and Matt turned back. I'd promised an easy day and had forgotten just how much climbing this route involved. Lori and I kept going, plowing through the rest of the climb and skidding down the snow as we cut back on the Andy Stone Trail. I love this loop so it was great to finally run it with friends. It has to be said though, that "running" with ultra-types means hiking the uphills. Which is cool, since I consider myself to be running rather than training through the month of July. Come August there'll have to be some more up-hill ass-kickin', but for now this is probably just perfect.
Any race reports from Afton floating around out there yet?
Week of June 30-July 6
65 miles, 2 wkts, 15.5 LR.
First workout was those hills, and the second came on the LR day. It was much cooler at 6 in the morning. Did 2+ WU, 2x 10 minutes @ threshold/ 2 minutes jog, 4 miles easy, 15 minutes @ threshold. A modified version of a longer workout- I'm supposed to run for an hour in the middle, but wasn't ready to go that far yet.
Started each interval at a mile marker, so I got the first mile of each, and the first two miles of the final interval. They were: 5:38 (11:50), 5:34 (11:31), 5:33, 5:25 (16:50). The two or three mile splits include the jog rest, but give some indication that I probably sped up over the course of the workout. Realized during the second interval that, while tough, the threshold running wasn't getting any harder. Then, during the third, it felt like it was getting easier (while I was speeding up) which was very encouraging.
So with an awesome workout and a solid weekly mileage I think I'm set up for some continued good training. Registered for the TC 10, so I'll be looking at that as the focus race in the fall. Very booyah.
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