Several issues grew out of today’s 20 mile run. First and foremost, it’s over and I am pretty happy about that. Five minutes faster than last week with the same heart rate average. It was also the culmination of a 72 mile week. With my last three weeks being 62, 67, and 72, the coming 40-45 mile recovery week is being looked at longingly. After the recovery week, three more… Read More »Gu Be Gone!
My usually stubborn, inflexible self, gave way to the wisdom of my years today. I moved my 20 mile run until tomorrow. I’d like to say it was purely a logical, practical matter but it was not. It was much more a climactic matter. Today’s winds were around 20 to 25 MPH, gusting to 30 to 35 and coming pretty much straight from the Northwest. Translated: roughly 16 miles of… Read More »Discretion is the Better Part of Something…
While on a seven mile trail run this morning, I was thinking about the right side of my brain. The whole thing began, sort of, because of a conscious decision at the run’s outset: I chose to slap on the earbuds and crank up the iphone. I’ll confess right up front that this is something I do rarely. I’m one of those types who ran long before the music in… Read More »Rightside Running
They say that once you get in a groove the next two steps are the rut, followed by the grave. I’m not buying that. A little less than seven weeks out from the Napa Valley Marathon and I’m in a groove. Every run is so much easier than a month ago. Paces that were tempo-ish are now easy, longer runs are focused and relaxed. I mentioned this a few weeks… Read More »It All Keeps Adding Up!
Having run 16 miles last week, I should have been smart and upped this week’s effort by two miles. That was, in fact, the plan. My point to point destination (Denver Light Rail at the Convention Center) was precisely at that 18 mile mark. But also in the back of my mind was a thought that if all was well at 18, it would be on to 20! I was… Read More »The Long Run
“It’s a simple choice: we can all be good boys and wear our letter sweaters around and get our little degrees and find some nice girl to settle, you know, down with . . . take up what a friend of ours calls the hearty challenges of lawn care.” “Or what? What’s your alternative?” She leaned over trying to get him back on track. He looked at her, surprised; his… Read More »The Simple Choice
I ran nine miles on the treadmill again today. As Forrest Gump would say, “That’s all I’m going to say about that.”
I decided, for safety reasons, to run on the treadmill this morning. I struggled with the decision for some time as, in my mind, that decision is made because I am too chicken to go outside. Too cold? Not today, besides, I don’t mind the cold. Having lived near Alamosa for 13 years, I’ve run in some very cold temps. It was so cold once that …. (fill in your… Read More »Dreadmill Not So Bad – this time!
Training progresses on steps – levels. As one becomes more fit, they proceed to the next level. These levels, while clear to the runner (when they are occurring) are next to impossible to predict and thus, tough to work into a plan. I feel as though I have popped up to the next level this week. My easy runs are at a faster pace than before and my tempo pace… Read More »Levels
Watched one of my favorite running movies tonight, On the Edge with Bruce Dern. It is the story of Wes Holman, a once famous fictional runner who, in his forties, comes back to race his hometown race. The race is the also fictional Cielo Sea, fashioned after the famous Dipsea race from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. To make a long story short, Holman comes back to train for the… Read More »On the Edge.