Epic Battle

Today was an epic battle between me and the elements. I left work a little early because of the holiday/weather. I didn't want the snow to stop before I had a chance to play. I started the day with my 6 mile jaunt South on Route 5. The roads were very dry and temp was managable. The run home on the other hand was a completely different story. I passed the remnants of three car wrecks. One of them was a truck with both back wheels entirely off the ground and verticle over the front. The cab was in a creek! I slowed down to check if anyone was inside and thankfully there wasn't. They must have already reported the accident because a few minutes up the road the wrecker was coming. The snow was coming down pretty hard and I loved every second of it. I couldn't keep my face clear from snow and my eyelashes kept freezing shut. My footing was horrible as well but everything just contributed to the fun. The total milage home was 14 miles which puts my total for the day at 20. My total count for the week is 69 miles, well on my way to my goal. I am pretty fatigued but still feel healthy and motivated.

12x400 Repeats

I have to admit that I was not extremely motivated today. So I geared up as soon as I got home before any weakness set in. I took my lab, Bailey, with me. She is not very good a pacing herself. I figure for every one of my miles she puts in about two. I warmed up with a 4.5 mile loop around the neighborhood. I stretched for about 5 minutes and convinced myself that I had better go through with it. I am a bit fatigued from the two preceding days. Anyway, I have a wheeled out 400 meters on a stretch of road that I do my repeats on in the winter when the track is not available. I ended up averaging 67 seconds per stretch with 33 sec recovery between reps. I ran the same 4.5 mile loop for my cool down and finished the day with 12 miles in the bank. To count, I have 49 miles total for the week. I intend to do another double tomorrow which means I have to wake up a bit earlier to allow myself 36 minutes to run in. Then I will run 14 miles home. I feel more fresh than I would have expected and like my chances for getting in 100 miles this week. Who knows I may get more.

16 Miler

Well, it's over. Josh Ferenc, Greg Hammett, and I conquered 16 of the most difficult miles in Putney. They were nice enough to meet me at my house because I am the only one with a day job this week. Josh and Greg are both middle school teachers and have the week off. I didn't fill them in on my plan of 15 to 16 miles until they showed up. First of all none of us wanted to go that far. But because of man pride nobody wanted to be the one to say they couldn't hang. We headed out North on Houghton Brook Road and into Putney. We had two major climbs of about 7% grade or more. This wasn't your normal road run. In all we battled 1100ft of elevation. After, due our low blood sugar we headed over to the Putney CO-OP and had some sandwiches, chips, and Berkshire 22 ouncers (Josh opted out of the beers). We hope to get together again this Wednesday, mabe for a shorter distance.

100 miles

I am going to attempt to post my first 100 mile week. I feel increasing my milage will help my performances a great deal this upcoming year. I have already got 21 miles in the bank. Today I am getting together with Josh Ferenc and Greg Hammett for what I hope to be 15. Here is my schedule:
Sun- 21 miles
Mon-15 miles
Tue- 12x400 meter repeats with 2.5 warmup and 1.5 cool down (7 total miles)
Wed-6 miles in the am and 13 miles pm (19 miles)
Thu- 5 miles am 10 miles pm (15 miles)
Fri- 5 miles am 10 miles pm (15 Miles)
Sat-2 mile warmup; 4 mile snoeshoe race; 2 mile cool down (8 miles)

21 Miler in Putney VT

Aside from being chased down by a pitbull I had an excellent run. I had no choice but to kick at him and yell to get him to back down. It was one of the more scary attacks I have been involved in without actually being bitten. Next time I do this route I am going to bring some spray. Anyway, my run starts out at relatively low elevation and peaks out at mile 10. I felt that the weather was mild and easy to run in if you don't mind getting muddy. I love getting muddy. My total ascent today was 1319 ft with a max grade of 7%. I averaged 6:28 per mile and feel pretty good about my effort (I dropped a 5:21 mile at mile 20). I plan on doing a group run tomorrow for about 12miles. Next week I will try to partake in my first snowshoe race.

Double

Yesterday I set out to do my fisrt double. I definately picked the wrong day to start. My day job schedule requires me to be at work at 5am. So in order to run there I have to be laced up and out the door by 4:20. It is 6 miles door to door on a very boring trip South on Route 5. The interesting part about it was the dark,the unexpecting motorists, and the -8 degreee temp. That's right -8 degrees. Once I thawed out and did some work, I got to don my shoes once again. This time for one of the more beautiful runs in Brattleboro, VT. Up and over Black Mtn and into Dummerston. The total milage home is 13 miles (the longer way). I averaged 6:15 pace bewtween my two runs. The second addition was 968ft ascent with a max grade of 6%. I have to admitt that I am a bit sore today. I am not used to a 19 mile mid week day but hope to continue my schedule. Today will be much more relaxing. I'm thinking 5-8 miles EASY.