Let this be my annual reminder...

September 1 - 7

230min (~33mi), 5 runs, 1 workout, 80min tempo-LR, 1xlifting. It took a little while to get my legs back under me this week. Passed up training for the State Fair on Monday, then passed it up again for seasonal allergies. Hill workout on Wednesday on the East River Road from Lake St. up to St. Thomas (~1000m). Wasn't very focused, had some trouble breathing and only managed three in 3:49, :50, :49. The stronger Claritin seems to clear up the breathing issue. Did the LR this morning at City of Lakes, 35min WU, 5mi @ tempo (6:08, :01, :53, :56, :52), 15min CD. Very encouraging, relatively smooth workout. Slabbaj Shout Outs to SCRC for another terrific season!

'Cause Everybody Hates A Tourist

August 18-24

270min (~39mi), 5 runs, Hill Workout, 90min LR. Good running during a busy week, but not enough upper body work. Did 6xHill on the West River Road in 2:58, :53, :50, :48, :47, :46 and felt decent. Easily my best workout so far. Ran early with Jessica on Thursday, early with Hooley on Friday, and relatively early for 90min with Biz on Saturday. All of which, plus that wedding, left me ready to start my planned down week a day early.

August 25-31

120min (~16mi), 4 runs, 30min each. Spent the week in New Orleans, where it was, among other things, hot. I'd heard this about New Orleans, though, and planned the down week accordingly. Running, work, and getting generally lost took me through neighborhoods in various stages of recovery. Hotel guests were evacuated on Saturday, which cut the tourist portion of my trip down to an evening on Frenchmen Street, a morning run (down the St. Charles streetcar line), and a quick trip to Cafe du Monde. It felt like was alone in the city with the National Guard and a few other last-minute tourists on Friday and Saturday. New Orleans, justifiably, seemed tired.

Dontcha know that it's in-sane?

August 4-10

300min (~43mi), 90min LR, 1 Workout, 2xlifting. A great week of running despite all the schedules. Most of the added volume comes from having added another 30min run to the schedule to make a 6-day week. Followed-up a solid race last week with a 4x(5min on/off) on Wednesday. Mile splits, when available, were 6:21, 6:34, 6:29 and 6:17. Huge improvement over the workout attempted two weeks ago. Finished the week with 90min on the bike-and-surrounding trails with Dan in Cape Cod.

August 11-17

290min (~40mi), 90min LR, 1 Workout. Another excellent week despite the huge demands of vacationing. Got the easy days done through the Red Maple Swamp, Skiff Hill and Fort Hill, though I doubt that'll prove a very memorable detail in 2008 Fort Hill lore...Also managed to keep up with Dan for a 6x(3min on/2min off) workout on Wednesday and log a solo 90min on Friday. Optimistic. Slabbaj Shout-Out: To the SCRC studs who made sure we scored down in Edina and managed some solid races to boot. And, to anyone else who went out there and earned it this week.

Me and my friend saw a platypus

July 28 - August 3

<250min, 75min LR, 2xLifting, Hennepin-Lake 5K (17:37). I had been a little bummed about missing some minutes and missing some lifting, but the race on Sunday went a long way toward erasing any such concerns. Woke and warmed-up not feeling great, but managed a 5:52 opening mile with Phil. Then ran what I can only assume was a short 5:22 and a long 5:53 to finish. Very encouraged to have nearly a minute of improvement over two months with more running but only one workout. Great showing from SCRC as well! The long run was with Phil this week, up past Fort Snelling, where I'd never run before. The missing minutes came on Friday when a poor eating schedule and too much hot caught up to me 40min in to a 60min run.

Don't say we saw angels/they'll send us straight to the church

July 14-20

260min (~36mi), 5 days, 80min LR. The main objective this week was to complete it, and to make sure an 80min LR happened. Successful on those fronts. Lifting fell off a bit on account of some end of week travel, but managed a temporarily sufficient replacement 55min plyometric circuit at the Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday. Recovered by watching the White Sox lose at US Cellyoursoul the next day.

July 21-27

260min (~37mi), 5 days, 80min LR, 1xWorkout. Repeated plyometric circuits in Madison and Minneapolis on Monday and Tuesday left me struggling to recover for most of this week. Decided to go ahead with the workout I'd scheduled and attempted 5x(3min on/3min off) on Friday. Injury-wise, workout was fine. Won't mention the bloodshed. 80min on Sunday was decent.

It's mostly pretty nice, yeah it's mostly pretty alright

Well, that was a depressing thread...Erik, very glad and relieved to hear that Colby is doing well. Jeff, I hope the same is true of your brother. Brothers, I've found, are best kept in a neighboring city so you can administer aid discretely and administer ridicule conspicuously. I do hope all prognoses stay positive.

July 7-13

250min (~35mi), 5 days, 70+min LR, 3xlifting. Some mostly pretty alright running this week. Friday's 30min was a hot & humid drag, but some longer, cooler morning runs on Saturday and Sunday restored some limited faith in my fitness. Saturday brought company in the form of Lifetime Fitness Triathlon bikers. Sunday brought company in the form of my Slab City Brother and two new Slab City brothers. It's one thing to start it with a positive jam, and another thing to carry on through; those sing-along songs were sort of our scriptures.

Bang Ba-Bang Ba-Bang Ba-Bang Diggy-Diggy

June 23-29

250min (~35mi), 5-days, 70min LR, 3xlifting. I'm overlapping with my last post a bit because a modest amount of structure has imposed itself on my training over the last couple of weeks. It seems my main problem with running over the past few weeks was all of the running involved. So the week is now five days instead of six, and on three of those days I'm using a pair of recently acquired arms to lift things. Situps also happen to me everyday. And running feels good, if not particularly fast.

June 30-July 6

250min (~35mi), 5-days, 70min LR, 3xlifting. Some terrific runs early in the week, and some wonderful social tennis and biking sprinkled throughout. Post-run weight has been hovering in the low 150s and has now taken a few encouraging trips south of the 150 mark. Sunday's long run was a horrid slog beginning at 4-all in the third set of the men's final, ending early in the fourth set. Felt remarkably strong for the first 45min; still one of the first times I've felt strong since last fall. Probably because this was my first shirtless run since last fall. Spent the final 25min fine-tuning my tribute to Khadevis Robinson finishing the OT 800m.

New Challenge

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.

You - You look a bit like coffee

June 5-25

Generally: Underwhelming Running. June 9-15 was (basically) five 30-min runs. June 16-22 was (basically) four 30-min runs.

Specifically: Some Highlights. All the way back on June 6th, Dan & I ran Tom & Olive through a luscious arboretum and over the most dangerous bridge in Minnesota. Then we ate Indian food and progressed to the Tavern Lounge to relax with Lonesome Dan Kase. Highlights are not necessarily running-related...most obviously because I'm including that race at Hamline. Managed an, um, unprepared 18:31 on a hotter day than Brian Kraft. Felt a bit lonely until I started getting lapped. Guessing the company helped me run better splits -- 5:58, 6:02, 5:53, 37s. Did a nice Iron Bridge after Caroline's graduation through a knee-deep Cannon with Dan, Jess & Matt Masc. Also joined Schof for his pre-Bjorklund run last Friday and Biz & Friends for some Track Meat on Sunday. Did not join Hal Higdon for his 5K at reunion.

But now the caffeinated social whirlwind has passed and some sluggish running has commenced. Kicked it into a higher gear as I ran up the West River Hill last night towards the end of a particularly sluggish hour. That either killed all the slugs or ensured they'd return with a vengeance...

Do not/Tell me I've changed/You're just raising your standards

Ok, climbing back on the posting trolley. It's been three weeks and the world is a much different place, mostly because I am close to four pounds lighter. Eight pounds lighter than I was back in March. Standards are skyrocketing.

May 12-18

Only ran four times, twice for 60min. Abs and groin were sore following my most recent attempt at the six-day standard. Fortunately, this phase of the rehab/training takes days off as needed. This phase and I are patient, hoping for a breakthrough, and trying to be more active about our core exercises.

May 19-25

Another four-day week with two 60min runs. Finally, though, the outdoor circuit workout debuted this week: sprint drills in the park, interrupted by pushups, situps and related exercises. I attempted two such circuits, which involved something like 120 pushups. That, my friends, is a rigorous standard.

May 26 - June 1

Five runs, one at 60min and one at 70min. I also raced a 5K, attended a yoga class and completed a post-run circuit workout. The day after I completed my longest run since September, Barack Obama announced that he would declare his primary victory in Minnesota...

June 2-4

...and then, he did. He did so on a day when I ran an honest 10mi and thereby raised the standard for all future runs. He did so the day after I'd completed yet another post-run circuit workout. He mentioned neither specifically, but he did say something about bringing new energy and ideas to the challenges we face. It sounded like he was talking about training for the TC 10mi, but it was hard to hear. So at the risk of recalling a long forgotten blog, let me defend Phil Schrader, who works at Target.

It was loud in there. There was a lot of standing and shouting and the constant decision whether to look down at the podium or up at the jumbotron. There were a lot of bright colors and they played some Bruce Springsteen as Obamas climbed on and off stage. There was a lot of Show, as Phil describes, but I don't think it was really for us. It's a good thing, too, because we had our work cut out for us being The Audience. If Obama was The Beatles, we were Phil Spector's wall of sound; if he was Jay-Z, we were the Kanye beat. To me, at least, we were participant enough in his performance that its component parts necessarily appeared less, um, transplendent. Presentation definitely matters, but it's harder to observe and evaluate when you're the one raising the standard.

Hold the Fort

Tonight I went out for a nice hour run over to Ft. Snelling and back (+/- meandering on side trails). A great run- and a great opportunity to show that we're not just a country of short runs - or a country of long runs - but that we can go out for perfectly medium-sized runs as well.
The Obama show last night was great. Pretty stock political speech overall. Gotta take care of the children, gotta make heath care affordable, gotta not be like Bush, McCain is sorta like Bush, Hillery is ok by me, ok-er if she just gives up already... But amazing to be there when he announced that he would be the nominee and amazing to cheer right though the climactic lines about this being our moment. I hope he gets about 10 hours of sleep tonight.
But also, yeah, a show. The cameras panned the crowd. Campaign workers appeared to be giving strategically seated people some quick tips on cheering and sign waving. The concession stand was open- all just like a Wild game. I'm not bitching or anything. I wouldn't reasonably expect it to be any other way. Just funny to see those side details happening.

100

Got in some good miles today- which had been a goal for the weekend. I'd like Nickmas to also know that we also organized the kitchen, picked away at the living room garbage and washed and vacuumed the car.
Ran up to Tom's joint. You would think that a person could only get screwed over by the fact that Hiawatha runs at an angle maybe four, five times in a month. Not so. More than I think. Probably still more than I think. After meandering my way up to Tom's, we ran a Lake St. / Franklin loop around the river (not around the whole river). Then I ran back on a much better trajectory. Cooled down by putting several cookies into a bowl of ice-cream.
Since Jill was wearing my watch for her run (!), I have no real clue how far I ran. Since it will be important to have some record of the run, however, I am planning on using "100" for a place holder in my records. I'm pretty sure it was somewhere between 10 miles and 100 miles. I'll put 100 just to be on the safe side. I was gone for quite a while.

Dub Duce Dub

Well, as Robert once wisely said, "There's nothing like a good woods to water." Great running and dub duce dubbing all around. From Rock Pine on to the Ice Arena the Slab City crew was solid. Half-ish our team was doing it for the first time- yet there were no rookie mistakes. Well except that our official beer drinker officially left all of her beer in Cable. Otherwise though it was just great. We didn't lose to that team in tights. We didn't break the van. We found a campsite. We ate lots of brats. We danced around. It rained but the weather was still nice. There was a completely unnecessary blind hand-off. Ahhh, what a great event.

eazy day

some people's are like this:
Seminar paper due: 1pm.
Seminar paper turned in: 1pm.
Course paper due: 4pm.
Course paper turned in: 4pm.

mine was like this:
picnic point and back. 42 minutes. the sunset's purple filter fell off.

I think I recommend something between the dog's (not biz) and mine. (photo: www.ramirez-moletto.cl)

I am adding five more colors/but

May 5-11

Six runs (M, T, W, R, Sa, Su), three at 60min, three at 30min. Kind of a momentous week around these parts. Hit the hour mark, painfully, for the first time in about nine months on Monday. On Saturday I managed to hit the hour avec HDLN with a perfectly timed arb romp. We saw the elusive Turkey, but it chased us from its trail. Also toed the line at the TC One Mile for my first race since City of Lakes, and I doubt I've ever been happier to run 5:28. Spent the first half-mile sitting on Jessica, terrified my stomach might explode, and waiting for the quarter-mile marker. Saw the 800m split, remembered the mile is short and that oftentimes heads explode before stomaches. Then I sped-up. In all non-psychological respects, the effort was pretty easy. Plus the race turned into a real solid outing for SCRC. Slabbaj Shout-Outs to the seven man squad!

looking at myself in the same dirty mirror

I just thought I'd add some multimedia to this nutrition discussion. Yes, that is andy d. 4th, I think, in the 5k.

Today: 43 minutes in the morning. brother of (flap)jack.
47 minutes in the night. father of jack(son).
total: who knows. 13 maybe?

This is noooooot a test

April 28 - May 4

Five runs (M, T, W, Sa, Su). Two were 50min, two were 30min, and one failed to satisfy my moral quota. Nevertheless, they were. And that is what I was aiming for. Monday's 50min was particularly buoyant, causing me to suspect that the fitness turkey might be caffeinated. Heather, will chasing turkeys - metaphorical and otherwise - be involved in the punishments you administer?

Matthaee, Nicola, nisi venietis vobis dicam me hunc cursum fecisse etiamsi non fecero.

Jackson Bryce is the shit.

The way you look when you have got a story to begin

April 21-27

Five runs (M, T, R, F, Su), three at 30min, two at 50min. Had a couple fantastic runs this week. Monday's 30min and Thursday's 50min resembled efforts a fit person might complete. Resembled because fitter persons earn this week's Slabbaj Shout-Out for enduring Saturday's snow, sleet, rain and wind and giving a SCRC a solid showing at the Get In Gear 10K. I took offense at Saturday's weather and did not run.

Every moment points towards the aftermath/Yeah-ah-ah

April 14-20

Six runs (M, T, W, F, Sa, Su), three 30min, three 40min. Started to feel like a slow runner, as opposed to a fat slob, on Friday. Shin splints have subsided, like winter, and running was pretty great this weekend. Saturday's 30min involved Collin Lawrence, which briefly had me thinking I was as fast as Noah.