Monday, October 31, 2011

October 30th to November 5th

Sunday
Long run up Sourdough Canyon with MSU XC team. Went all the way to Mystic Lake on an out and back of the single track trail. I actually felt good on the long run after really feeling poor the last two long runs. The fam and I drove down to and around Yellowstone after the long run. Rowan did great on the car trip and slept quite a bit. We really only had to stop for Rowan once in the 5 to 6 hour trip. After getting home, I was excited to watch the Eagles-Cowboys game. However, for some reason, NBC was the only station that was completely out. Oh well, at least the Eagles won. (16/16)

Monday
Easy run of 7 miles in the morning and 6 miles in the evening. Sierra made really good soup. It was a Yam soup, but tasted like a really good squash soup. (13/29)

Tuesday
Workout in the morning started at about 8:20. I was late getting out the door and needed to be back to grab Rowan at about 9:30, so this workout was seriously rushed. I did a short warm up jog and then went into a little hill workout. I did 3 * 100 meter hill sprints, 3 * 200 meter hill sprints, and 3* 300 meter hill runs. I was in such a hurry that I cut down the time way too much. I was pretty gassed by the time I got to the 300 meter hill runs. For recovery, I just jogged back to the bottom of the hill to start the next. My times for the hills were about 15 seconds for the 100s, 33 or 34 for the 200s, and the 300s were pretty slow 55, 58, and 60. After the hills, I intended to to a progressive tempo, but it ended up being pretty slow and I never picked it up as much as I wanted. The tempo or rather the slower than tempo portion had a duration of 33 minutes. I was late getting back to the house, but Sierra wasn't too upset with me. In the evening, I ran an easy 4.5 miles. (15/44)

Wednesday
Easy run 9 miles in the afternoon. Earlier in the day, Rowan and I mowed the lawn together. It was fun, but it messed up my back a little bit having him in the baby bjorn. I was just moving, pulling, pushing, lifting a litttle differently than usual. My back isn't too bad, just a little uncomfortable. (9/53)

Thursday
Tempo work at 8am with Carl, Pat, and Dan. My back was pretty tight and sore and I was not feeling great. I am glad and fortunate to have these three gentlemen to do the workout with. They were all not looking forward to the workout, but still got after it. We ran tempo miles with 60 seconds rest between. I did 6 and my times were about 5:20, 5:20, 5:10, 5:00, 5:20, and 5:00. It was pretty cold out, a little under 30 degrees. This course that we ran always seems to be slow, so I actually think our times were good, even if they don't seem fast. (10/63)

Friday
Short easy run of 4 miles in the morning and easy run of 8 miles in the afternoon. My back is still pretty sore, but better than yesterday. (12/75)

Saturday
Workout in the morning with Grant, Pat, and Dan. We had our first snow of the year today. There was 1 to 2 inches of snow on the ground when we started and it continued to slowly snow for the entire workout. Dan and I did 16 times 2 minutes on and 1 minute off. The footing was ok, but not great. My back was ok, but still a little uncomfortable. This was another 'get through' workout similar to Thursday. Hopefully, my back will loosen up and I will really get back after it. I was lucky to have these three guys to run with today. With the snow, my sore back, and generally feeling sluggish, I may not have gotten much of a workout in today. After the workout, I ran the sprinters' workout because the other coaches were out of town. They did a good job considering they had to do the workout in Shroyer Gym. Not up to much the rest of the day. I changed Sierra's tires from regular tires to snow tires which took about an hour and wasn't too hard on my back. The rest of the day is gonna be for hanging out wither Rowan, Sierra, and the dogs. (10/85)

Weekly Summary
85 miles in 10 runs. This was an ok week and I made it through it.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

October 23rd to October 29th

Sunday:
Long run up Cottonwood Creek Trailhead. Drove to and back to Missoula for Montana State Cross Country meet yesterday. It was an early morning and lots of time in the car. Anyway, I felt horrible on today's run. I was going to go two plus hours, but I was feeling horrible. The pace was slow and I turned back at 55 minutes for a total run of just under 110 minutes total. (15/15)

Monday:
Easy run in the afternoon. Feeling much better. (12/27)

Tuesday:
8am workout. I did 4 times 200 meter hill sprints with a walk back recovery. Then I did a 21 minute tempo and then 4 times 30 seconds at rep pace. I was going to do the last 200s I tried to do them on the track, bit it was freezing out and there was a frozen frost on the track and it was too slippery. I just did 30 second segments on the flat trail system. The tempo was at 5:15 to 5:20 pace. (10/37)

Wednesday:
Easy run 7 miles, felt fine. (7/44)

Thursday:
Progressive 5 mile tempo with Carl and Dan in the morning. We started too slow the first mile. Here were the splits as best as I can remember 5:55, 5:35, 5:15, 5:15, 5:00. I felt pretty good and the run felt relatively easy. In the evening, I ran an easy 6. (15/59)

Friday:
Easy run 5 miles. Course preview at Idaho State. (5/64)

Saturday:
Did a time trial of the ISU cross country course the morning before the race. It ended up being just Carl, Dan, and me. We started as soon as it was semi light out, about 7:45am. I ended up running a pretty quick time. The course is very hilly and tough. It is two 3k loops and then a 2k loop. I was quite a ways out front and didn't run quite as well as I wanted to on the last loop, the 2k. My finishing time was 25 flat or so. If I had run a little harder on the 2k, I would have been 24:40 or so. Anyway, it was a pretty good effort and my fitness is getting better. (9/73)

Weekly Summary:
An average week of training. I wanted to run more mileage, but was really busy with things this week. Oh well, at least I got in some workouts and a time trial. 73 miles in 8 runs.

Monday, October 17, 2011

October 16th to 22nd

Sunday:
7am long run with MSU team after getting back from Penn State yesterday. This was the worst I have ever felt on a run. I guess it must have been from the travel, but I felt so sore and bound up, especially in my knees. My knees throbbed a bit and were even a little warm to the touch after the run. The plan for today had been to run for 2:05 to 2:10, bit it was just a struggle so called it good at 105 minutes (1:45). This is one run I don't regret calling early. (15.5/15.5)

Monday:
I ran on my own in the evening after the sprinters' practice and felt 100 times better than yesterday. My knees both feel a little warm after the run, but still much better. I got a great night's sleep last night which really helped. (12/27.5)

Tuesday:
I stared out this morning with the intention of doing a mix workout. Things did not go very well. The workout was going to be 4 tempo miles, 3 1200s, and 4 200s. I did the first tempo mile and it was way, way, way slower than I thought it was. The second mile felt the same. I started a third tempo mile and realized it was going to be slow too so I got frustrated and quit the workout. Still not feeling great, I decided to do 5 30 second segments at mile pace. They felt ok but not great. I headed for home and decided to see if I was feeling good enough to do a workout in the afternoon. I did the workout in the afternoon with the MSU XC team. The workout was 1200s with 3 minutes rest. It was the same loop as we used 2 weeks ago 400 meters of slight downhill on an asphalt paved trail then 800 meters of a serious climb. During the recovery period we jogged downhill to the start. The first 400 meters of downhill felt pretty easy and I probably averaged 68 seconds to it, then the climb started. I did 6 of the 1200s and averaged 3:50 for the difficult course. This was one of my better workouts in a while. I felt good and wondered how I was so off just this morning? (17/44.5)

Wednesday:
Easy Run of 6 miles in the morning. Easy run of 7 miles and hurdle mobility in the afternoon. (13/57.5)

Thursday:
6:15am tempo with the team. Went for 25 minutes total and through the 4 mile mark in 20:55. 4 times 200 meters on the track after the workout. (9.5/67)

Friday:
Easy runs of 7 miles in morning and 6 miles at night. My mom met Baby Rowan for the first time tonight. It was pretty exciting! (13/80)

Saturday:
Drove to Missoula for the state XC meet. I left at about 6:30 and arrived in Missoula at 9:30 where I ran a workout with Garbet and Turner. I did 10 sets of 2 min on, 1 minute off, 1 minute on, 30 seconds off, 30 on, 30 off and then right into the next 2 minute segment. There was 33 minutes of total on pace. The on pace was a bit faster than 8k race pace. I felt pretty good. Starting to feel more and mote fit. The state XC races were great to watch and there were so many great performances! (10/90)

Weekly Summary:
90 miles in 10 runs. Good week. Getting faster.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

October 9th to 15th

Sunday:
Long run with MSU Team. I met the team at the turnout for Spanish Creek. We ran along the secondary road. We went out for an hour and almost made it to the trailhead. We did the back of the out and back run in 54 minutes. I felt ok on the run but was definitely a little low on energy. I didn't get much sleep last night which combined with yesterday's training left me a little tuckered. This run totaled about 16.5 miles I would guess. (16.5/16.5)

Monday:
My sister and niece were in town this morning! Rowan met his cousin for the first time! I ran in the evening after the sprinters' practice. The run totaled 9.5 miles. (9.5/26)

Tuesday:
Ran the workout with the MSU XC team. We did 3 times tempo miles with 60 seconds rest, 2 times 1k at race pace, with 3 minutes rest between the 2 1Ks, and 4 times 200 with 75 seconds rest. It was wet and soggy and the times were slow. (9/35)

Wednesday:
Ran 6.5 miles in the morning before flying out to Harrisburg, PA. I planned on running when getting to PA, but it was to late and I was too tired. (6.5/41.5)

Thursday:
I ran in the morning in Harrisburg and then in the afternoon during the course preview at Penn State. The Penn State course is really beautiful. A really great course although it is not spectator friendly. The team seemed pretty excited for the meet. (12.5/54)

Friday:
Today was a really unusual day of running. I woke and did a super short shake out with the team. Then I drove over to the Penn State Course and did a little workout on the course. I ran about 4.5 miles of the XC course. I ran about 5 flat for the first mile and then about 5:20 per mile for the next 3.5 miles. It seemed like I was picking the pace up at times, but it was so wet and soggy, it didn't show up in the times. I didn't run the whole course because I had to head over to meet Luke Watson, Brian Sell, and their friend for a run at 8am. I also probably ran 5-6 miles running around the course during the meet, but won't count that in the weekly mileage. It rained most of the day and it was pouring during the meet, especially during the women's race. (15/69)

Saturday:
Traveled back from Pennsylvania today. It was an early morning. When we arrived back I was pretty darn tired and just didn't feel like running. I should have headed out, but just didn't get it done. I really did not sleep well on the trip. I couldn't adjust to the time change. I didn't fall asleep any of the 3 nights before 1am and we were up by 5:30 at the latest each morning. It feels great to be home! (0/69)

Weekly Summary:
69 miles in 7 runs. This wasn't a great week of training and I really need to start getting more miles under my belt. I am going to begin doing more of my workouts on my own. I need more volume in the workouts and more volume in the training overall if I need to continue to improve my fitness.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

October 2nd to October 8th

Sunday:
Long Run at 7am with MSU XC team starting from Fieldhouse. We ran the Triple Tree Loop and then Dan Jackson and I added on a bit for a total run of 2 hours. Felt ok on the run, but felt sluggish to start. (17.5/17.5)

Monday:
Easy run in the afternoon. The run totaled about 11 miles. I did a combination of hurdle mobility and some hurdle skill on the grass fields mostly for flexibility and functional strength work. I plan on doing a lot of dynamic and core exercises to help me feel a little more comfortable while I run and improve my running posture. I have been feeling pretty tired from lack of sleep. Hopefully I will get a lot of sleep tonight. (11/28.5)

Tuesday:
I slept a lot last night. There were still lots of interruptions, but I slept in until 9:30 or something. I haven't slept in that much for a long time. I ran a workout with the MSU XC team in the afternoon. The workout was 3 times tempo miles, 2 times 1200, and 4 times 200 meters. The tempo miles were on a flat course, but the 1200s and 200s were up steep hills. This workout was much more difficult than I thought it would be. The 1200s were pretty tough. The first 400 meters was on a slight downhill and the last 800 was a serious climb. The 200s were up Peet's Hill and I actually struggled a little on them. I have worked more on max speed this late summer and it has felt good. However, it seems like I am struggling a little with the speed endurance. It will come around pretty quickly though. (9/37.5)

Wednesday:
Ran a little over 5 miles easy in the morning. I actually felt pretty good compared to how I thought I would feel after yesterday's hill workout. In the afternoon, I ran 7 miles with the MSU XC team. We did hurdle mobility, 8 times 100 yard strides, and then 10 times 40 yard flyins on the grass. (12/49.5)

Thursday:
Four times tempo miles with 60 seconds rest (4:57, 5:07, 5:01, 5:15). 6:15am practice. I did not fall asleep until maybe 1am or something for some reason. The I woke up turned off my alarm and got all ready to head to practice. The only problem was I must have had a dream my alarm because right before I took off for practice, I realized it was 2:30am. It was the widest thing ever. I was able to get back to sleep after a while. Then I woke up right before 6am and headed to practice. The tempo miles felt ok. It was a pretty light workout this morning. Coach Kennedy and I went to the 7 on 7 meet in Helena. The races were really great. It was worth the trip. Some great things happening this year in Montana High School Cross Country. (8/57.5)

Friday:
Easy run with the MSU team - about 9 miles. I did two times butt blaster #1 and two times stability core after running. (9/66.5)

Saturday:
Race simulation workout with MSU XC with 9am start. The workout was 1200 on the track, 1.1 mile tempo on trail loop, 1200 on the track, 1.1 mile tempo on trail loop, 1200 on the track. I ran 22:08 for the whole thing. My 1200s were something like 3:35, 3:40, 3:32. Looking back on the workout, I should have pushed for a longer simulation for the whole team. I was thinking of running another tempo loop and 1200 during the workout. I should have gone ahead and done that. Don't feel like this was a great workout for me. Oh well I will move on and look toward the next workout! The guys team did ok, except there was quite a gap between our runners. The women really seemed to do pretty well. The top 3 girls really did well.

Saturday continued:
So after the simulation something ate at me about the workout. I spent some time with the family and we even went for a drive and had a big cup of coffee. When we got back, I decided I had to go do the workout over again. I headed out at about 6pm. I ran from the house over to the track, did 4 * 100 meter strides and then went right into it. Same exact workout as in the morning. I ran 3:37, 5:39, 3:40, 5:50, 3:36 for a total time of 22:24. The time was a bit slower than this morning, but it just seemed like a solid effort to run by myself. I felt like my posture was much better than it has been. I haven't ever done anything like this before. Not sure if it was a break through or a breakdown, but I think it may have been a break through. It has seemed like I am not really attacking the workout, because I haven't been able to accept the discomfort. This evening, it felt like I was attacking the workout. Hopefully this lead to bigger and better things. (20/86.5)

Weekly Summary/Thoughts on Training:
This week I ran 86.5 miles in 9 runs. This was really a pretty good week with challenging workouts on Tuesday and Saturday. I am thinking of running a fast half marathon in December. We will see how it goes and if it works out.


I have been thinking about my training and racing. I am really pretty happy with where I am at right now. Midway through the summer, I may have been in the worst shape of my life, but as of now I am actually relatively fit. Right now, I am no where near as fit as I have ever been, but I am still able to train at a pretty high level and may get back there with more months of consistent training. It is very fortunate I am able to still run well so many years after college. It is a fun outlet and I continue to enjoy it.