2014 Goals: Recover fromCECS surgery. Train consistently. Build base without injury interruption. Stay injury free. Learn to enjoy running for the sake of running. Maybe race a little by summer/fall.
Long-Term Running Goals:
Become the fast old guy that beats up on the young kids.
Personal:
Married, no kids, 3 cats. Grew up in AZ. Now I live in New England.
River Cove Road, 4.11 miles, 29:49, 7:15/mi, 144BPM. I was pressed for time, so I ran a littel quicker today. I guess running 8:00/mi pace would have only added 2 minutes to my day. I probably should've backed off....
Indoors at St. Mike's. 10 miles.....80 laps..... Tough to keep my sanity. My trick is to wear my Ipod and only look at my watch at the beginning of a song. I don't count each lap. I'm averaging around 8:00/miles, so I know I need to hit the lap counter when I get close to 8:00. I'd run on this little 1/8 mile indoor track before I 'd consider treadmill running. I've done my share of TM training and can't stand it. 1:14:57, 7:30/mile, 142BPM.
St. Mike's indoor track. 5 miles easy. 38:22, 7:40/mile, 138BPM
My first entry. Winter is beginning to take hold in Vermont, so I plan on doing much of my running indoors. I grew up in Arizona and I still have a tough time running outside if it's below freezing. I plan on building my base mileage through the winter so I can introduce some quality work in the spring.
Easy 6 miler at the St. Mike's College indoor trakck. It's about 10 degrees and breezy outside. The roads are still a little dicey from the storm a couple days ago. 47:05, 7:51/mile, 134BPM.
Another 8 inches of snow last night. Spent the morning shoveling snow with Anne. Decided to brave the roads and run outside. It's about 10 degrees. I ran slowly due to poor traction and because I didn't want to sweat too much. 51:55, 8:18/mi, 135BPM
Snowed in. It was 5 degrees and snowing this morning. It hasn't let up at all. St Mike's gym is closed this weekend for winter break. It'll be tough for me to keep training until school is back in session on Jan 5. I'll just have to brave the outdoors.
12 miles indoors at St. Mike's. 1:30:34. 7:32/mi. No HRM. It was frigid and windy outside today. After tomorrow, St. Mike's gym is closed until Monday, Jan 5. I'll have to be brave and run outside, or use the treadmills on the air base.
The weather was absolutely nasty today. Very windy and rain/sleet. The indoor track was closed so I had no choice but to use the treadmill at the base gym. I can't explain why I dislike running on the treadmill so much. I just don't care for it. I managed to put in 4 miles before I gave up on it. The good news is that there are very few times when I do not have access to an indoor running track. The weather looks pretty good next week so I'll be able to train outside comfortably.
Anne and I spent Christmas Eve and with all of her brothers and sisters at Anne's sister's big farm house down the road in Ferrisburg. We stayed up late, drank wine and visited. The next morning I got up early and ran 8 easy miles before we opened gifts. It was very quiet and peaceful. I only saw 1 or 2 cars. 1:01:00, 7:38/mi, 143BPM.
Middle Road. 6.26 miles, 7:47/mi, 141BPM. 15 degrees and no wind. I tried out some Christmas gifts, running mittens and new running pants. I am very happy. My hands stayed toasty warm.
Middle Road loop. It was about 40 degrees this morning. I started out easy but I noticed a guy about 1 minute ahead of me a mile into the run. I chased him down over the next 2 miles and we chatted for a bit. He figured I wanted to run faster since I had closed on him so quickly. I didn't realize we had sped up until we hit a headwind while heading up a steep hill. So... it turned into a tempo run for me. He was in much better shape, so I just tried to hang on. Splits for the tempo miles: 7:13, 7:13, 7:21, 7:53 (huge hill), 7:00. 162 BPM during the tempo and I hit 170 BPM on the hill. Overall time: 50:09 over 6.77 miles.
Holy cow!It’s
December 28 in Vermont
and the temp is 50 degrees!The bad news
is the wind is blowing in excess of 25mph.Not a fun running day.I’m still
a little tired from yesterday and the gradual boost of mileage.I pretty much suffered through it without any
enjoyment.In fact, I can’t remember a
more difficult run in a long time.
It reminded me of a passage from Frank Shorter’s book.I met him in 1995 at a local race in Tucson.I had a young friend with me (who did not
know who Shorter was), and I introduced him to Frank.I remember saying something like, “Hey
Tom, this is Frank Shorter.He is the
Gold Medalist of the 1972 Olympic Marathon.”Frank looked at me and said with a little attitude, “By the way, I did win the Silver in 1976
too.”I felt about 6 inches tall, but
still had the gumption to ask him to sign my early edition copy of Once a
Runner. We talked for a few minutes about training. I was trying to mimic his methods at the time. 13 sessions a week, around 100 to 120 miles. He took the time to talk with me and sign the book. I still treasure the book and
take it out during tough spells.
Frank’s book, “Olympic Gold, A Runner’s Life and Times,” is
underrated.He was one tough dude who would
get out the door to run no matter what the conditions were.So, here is the snippet:
In February 1975, three months before Pre’s death, we were
skiing together in Taos, NM.We were also running, and the harsh winter weather made for rather rough
going.I recall one day in particular
when we were out for a 10-mile run in the mountain trails where the altitude
reached 10,000 feet.There was a
blizzard raging, and the snow was blowing so hard across our faces we could
barely see.Being familiar with such
conditions, they came as less of a shock to me than to Steve, who lived in
western Oregon
away from the mountains.He was
jabbering away, complaining.Steve was a
great complainer, which masked his courage and belied his success as a
runner.He’d even complain about a nice
sunny day.It was part of his routine.
In the middle of that workout, at the height of his
objection, I turned to Pre and said, “You know, nobody in the world is training
harder than we are right now.”Pre put
his head down and didn’t say a word for the rest of the workout.
Thinking about guys like Pre and Shorter gets me though tough days
like today.Maybe I’ll get back to my PR’s
of 10 years ago.Getting out the door on
days like today is a big part.
River Cove Road. 5.21 miles. 7:49/mi. 141BPM. Winds calmed down. Temp was around 35 degrees. It'll be below zero in a couple days, so I better enjoy the warm days while I can.
River Cover Road Loop. 5.22 miles. 40:34. 7:45/mi. 137BPM. Chilly and windy. My right lower calf has been sore for the past few days. I'll try to take it easy for the rest of the week so I do not aggravate it.
New Year's Eve. It's back to normal in Vermont. 5 degrees, -10 wind chill. I'm getting better at dressing appropriately for the cold weather. Thank goodness I finally got some wind briefs!
Middle Road. very windy. 6.25 miles. 8:03/mi. 136BPM
