Trick or Treat 5K

3.1 miles - 1 Hour - 5 seconds off course record. CR is held by Riley (in photo) 59:55.

The kids ran from house to house the whole time T-or-T'ing, they must have put in about 3 miles it seems; and Maureen and I had to keep up with them. Kayle had enough after 45 minutes, but I had to keep up with Riley for a full hour. He finally pulled away from me in the last 200 meters down our street and beat me home by about 5 seconds for our first annual Trick or Treat 5k.

31OCT09

90 minutes - about 10 miles. I hadn't had a week where I decresed my milage for a little while; my body is telling me this is the week to take a little break with the milage. Felt good this morning and will run accordingly tomorrow.

60 degrees, very light rain and dense fog. The Shut In Ridge trail was certainly shut in this morning. The leaves have now covered the trails - hiding all the rocks/roots that wait underneath to punish ankles and feet. The Shut-In Ridge Trail Race is next weekend and if the conditions stay wet, this brutal course will also be slippery. I did an out/back on the easy section of this course and the steep/technical decents had me almost to a walk. If anyone makes a CR next week, they are probably even 2-3 minutes faster in good conditions. Ran into Shilo Mielke's mom at the grocery store the other day and she said he'll be there to defend his title. His CR is a solid one; this course really plays to his strengths. I'd love to see some of the big hammers from the NE and west of the ippississiM come out this way to test his CR some day. This is 17.8 point to point race where the RD needs to use the Blue Ridge Parkway to be able to set up aid stations and get people back to the start. The BRPW is still closed in that area for dangers of rock slides. Hope the race will still happen; I'll be on the course in the area where Shiloh has been known to make his move if he still has someone on his heels.

29OCT09

Put in about 20 miles the past 2 days. Legs did not recover as well from the weekend as they have in the past. I plan on a long run this weekend - going until it's not easy anymore.

Tima - The Mini Mall List

3:00 - 18 miles - +/- 2,200'.
Tima, my running partner, has been with me since she was 8 weeks old. She's now 8.5 years and still looking forward to every run. In dog years, they say, she's about 60, but I've changed ALOT more than she has in the past 8 years. Yea, she sleeps a little more, is far more clever on stealing food from the kids than I am preventing it and enjoys a little more rest in the sun these days. What has not changed is the way she follows me around on the mornings when she knows she'll be heading out on the trail with me. She sits at my side with perky ears watching me pack all the things I'll need on a long run - some food, drink and usually a change of clothes - here in the East to prevent chaffing once it gets a little wet. I've often thought of myself as a bit of a Mini Mall List, but in an attempt to be reduce discomfort/ prolong comfort so that I can run faster longer I've gotten away from thata little. I was once a "Running Bum" living in a half a trailer in Flagstaff with Tima and an adopted Grey Hound, Slim. Slim's racing name was Tazmainian Twister, but one weekend (I had Slim for only a week) when Pete (mustache month winner) was visiting - we were cooking some spicy food, listening to some Lead Belly and tossing some good scraps to the dogs - I said in an acholol soaked voice"Geton over hair Slim." I tossed him some Elk steak given to me by a friend and said to Pete, "That's his name, Slim." It stuck. The first time I had Maureen over to my "half trailer pad" I was cooking us a dinner. She instsited a number of times on helping with the prep, chopping, I finally had to tell her that I only had 1 of everything - 1 fork, 1 knife, 1 spoon. "I'd love some help, but this is the only knife I have." She ate her dinner with a fork/plate and I with a spoon/bowl. Anyway back to the Mini Mall List - I've lived with Tima in Ohio, Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina, we've run togather in probabley10 other states, but her prep is always the same - she follows me around and watches me pick out my clothes and shoes depending on the climate. She watches me pack bananas and drinks according to the time we'll be out. She needs nothing - her feet work in all these places, her body adjusts to all these places. I think I've seen her bonk while putting down some fluids and a Milkyway. She files in behind me and starts her "Survival Trot." No more putting the nose to the ground and smelling the deer that were here 2 minutes ago, no more reacting to the movement of squirels. Just fall into place with your best friend and be togather. I toss her my last banana hoping to someday be as strong as her.

24OCT09

3:00 - about 18 miles - +/- 3,300' on the Shut-In Ridge Trail.

What a great day. Felt really good on the run and will go for another 3 hours tomorrow. I'll see here where I start to feel a little uncomfortable. After this weekend I plan on buiding my Saturday run. Since I know where I stand at the 4:00 hour mark; I think I'll start and increse from there and see how it goes. I haven't really stuck to a plan and was starting to worry a little about that. During the run today I realized - this is an experiment, can't have a plan when I don't really know what I'm doing. The good news is I've been very comfortably increasing my weekend milage and feel like I'm ahead of where I thought I'd be. Experiment is going well so far...

The other great part of the day was an out to lunch with the family. We went to the Mellow Mushroom and sat outside in 65 degrees with leaves falling on our table and plates. I had a couple Seeing Double IPA's and a turkey/avacodo sandwich. In the meantime we had a little trouble getting the kids to eat. Finally Riley asked for a Spinach salad (they eat pretty healthy, but like all kids they will put down some sweets if it's offered) and Kayle wanted a piece of pizza. While we were waiting for the food Kayle was coloring and Riley was practicing his writing. Riley said "Daddy look," I looked over and I saw that he wrote the word LOVE. "Look Daddy, I just made love." Well done Riley, you're growing up so fast"... The food came and Riley didn't like the way the Spinach Salad was made. They put a few other (tasty) things on there, but he wanted the spinach only. Kayle didn't mind and started to pick at the spinach. I said to her "That's Popeye's spinache - don't eat it all." Next thing I know both kids are shoveling in the spinach, calling me Bluto and punching me in the arms and chest. I think I might have some bruises tomorrow, I'm serious, they were really pulling a Popeye on me. They ate all the spinach and each a piece of pizza; the bruises are worth it.

21OCT09

11 miles - 95 minutes - Flat

Felt great. Ran on the nice soft wood-chip trails at the park across the street from work.

"Grammie Lulu in Kansas does alot of Hip Hop..."

Last weekend Maureen and I took the kids to Family Fest at a park in Asheville. They had all kinds of cool stuff to do, there's even an outdoor VeloDrome that encompasses the park. The main attraction was Elmo, Dora and Spiderman. The 3 of them all hung out right next to those big bouncie things that the kids can jump around on and slide down. Elmo had some cool music going and was huging and dancing with the kids that came up to him/her. There was this 8 year old girl that had been cuttin' a rug w/ Elmo for about 10 minutes, she was really good! Maureen and I were laughing a little because she was so goood and wondering "How'd she do that?" There was a nice woman taking photos of the girl and her little brothers so I asked her,
"Are those your kids?"
"There my grandkids."
"She's really good; does she take lessons, or does she just pick that all up on her own?"
"No she doesn't take lessons; Her Grammie Lulu in Kansas does alot of Hip Hop - so when she comes to visit they pretty much just dance the whole time."
I have no idea what I said next, hopefully something like "Oh that's cool", but I know what I was thinking - Grammie Lulu? Is the Napolian Dynamites Grammie?

21OCT09

2:00 - Easy - 13-14 miles.

Up at 4:30, out the door at 5:00. We have a Grind & Brew coffee maker, makes for a great alarm as well. Beautiful morning, clear skies, lotsa stars and temps in the low 30's. I've started many-a-runs in the dark, but usually after about 30 minutes comes dawn. I ran the whole 2 hours in the dark, not getting light here until almost 7:30; that will change when Nov. rolls around.

Up until last week I had fit in 4-6 mile runs during my lunch 4-5 days a week for a total of 20-25 miles, just seems like there's a better way to train M-F for a 40 miler. Last week I put in 20 miles mid week on 2 runs in one day. That was a little much, so this week I'm going with a 2:00 run and a 1:30 run for a total of about 25 miles on the 2 days. Felt great this morning and look forward to another run tomorrow morning. This schedule should get me about 55-70 miles a week on 4 runs. The other 3 days of the week I have some good ole fashioned calistenics (can't even spell that word) for strength and some yoga/stretching.

I think this is what was watching you on your run the other day Lucho.

18OCT09

10 miles - 1:33 - +/-1,600'
Legs a little sore, but felt pretty good most of the run, downhills were uncomfortable.
Did an out/back on the Shut-In Ridge Trail.

MT100 Trail Shoes

I wore the MT100's on my 4 hour run yesterday and loved them. There's nothing MT about these shoes except the weight; they are FULL of performance. I ran on just about everything yesterday, except dry trails like out west, things are pretty muddy here right now. While the shoe felt great on all grades, I noticed something special on the steep ascents. This shoe seemed to just mold to my foot and the ground on these steep climbs; There's good traction in the front and minimal in the back and when you're off your heel on these climbs the shoe seems to be most at home.

17OCT09

4:00 - about 28 miles.

Have you ever been Blair Witched? I was today, but luckily I ran into some fellow runners who weren't and got me back to my car before the witch got to me. Headed out for a nice easy run. This was an opportunity to check out the trails on the "other side of the river." The Blue Ridge Parway is closed for a 15 mile stretch; the area that I usually access trails from. There's a danger of some mudslides so they closed it down to have a better look. Thought I take it easy and run with the most basic watch I have; set the countdown timer and fiinish when the watch beeps. Every other one of my watches has a compass... Did 13 miles with Tima in about 1:45. Put her in the car, drank a quart of OJ and had a bannana. Changed my shirt and jacket and took a bananna with me for the remaining 1:15. It was low to mid 40's and I was well hydrated so no worries there. Headed back down the same trail for 5-7 minutes and took a turn off I noticed earlier. Went under a bridge which put me on the other side of the BRPW. After about 5 minutes I saw there was a whole other set of seemily endless trails over here; I was loving it. Got to this one spot that seemed to be the center of a spider web, 6 trails took off from here with 3 different color markers, this was going to be great, just follow the signs. I did a couple of loops and kept coming back to the center of the web. This was fun and certainly not boring. My watch told me I had about 30 minutes left so I decided to head back and if I was early to the car I'd run past and do a little out back for the even 3:00. This is already a long post so I'll shorten it; every F-ing trail, all six of them circled back to the center of the web. I was 100% sure that I got to this center from one of these trails, in retrospect I'm now 50% sure. 4 of the 6 trails all went pretty close to Interstate 26 and a couple down to the French Broad River (yes, that's the name of our river here in Asheville). I knew that my car was parked pretty close to the river so I headed down to the path that goes along the river. Today was very cloudy and as I looked up to get an idea of where the sun was, I had no idea. I looked at the river and went in the direction that it was flowing. This was logical; because my car was in that direction; later found out wrong again. At about the 3:10 mark of my run, running along the river path I see 2 runners headed my way; I'm all set. I tell them where I'm parked and they tell me the way back, except I'm completely turned around. I'm on the other side of the river that I thought I was on and had convinced myself that I had somehow crossed back over the BRPW w/o noticing. The 2 people said they were turning around shortly so if I had any 2nd thoughts to just turn around and they'd be right behind me. Well I got to the spot where I was to turn and was really confused, a set of 3 different trails, didn't need to see that again. Turned around and headed back looking for Daphne and Jason, expected to see them in 2-3 minutes. Every bend I went around they weren't there, I looked at my watch and it had been 8 minutes, finally there they were. They got me back, which I would have never found if I didn't go back for them. They told me if I kept going the way I was I would have ended up at the Biltmore Estate Horse Stables, that's pretty far away from where I was parked and Tima was snoozing. I would have been safe though and maybe doing some wine tasting at that point. Made it back to the car in 4:00 flat and Tima gave me a WTF look. I gave her the nod, yea I F'ed up on this one. Realistically, though, at any point I could have climbed up the bank to I26 and ran to the next exit and found a chain resturant (with a bar) ordered a beer and called home. This was a good learning experience. I've never been lost before. This area has ALOT of little hills that trails go up, over, through and around. You can get turned around before you know it while your enjoying the smoothe single track and marveling at the progress you've made the past 2 months. I learned that I can run for 4 hours on 2 banannas and a quart of OJ and still feel OK. I was ready to stop, but with a little fuel I could have contiued a little longer. I'm getting close to where I want to be by the end of November and today was one of those perfect mistakes...

14OCT09

10 in the AM, 10 in the PM, both about 80 minutes.
Nothing special to report, just a crazy day all around...

12OCT09

Got my new MT100's from NB today. They had a slight "dairy farm on a hot day" oder to them out of the box; only made me like them more. These are definately a step up from the "minimal" 790's. There is more traction and protection while being a little lighter; we' ll see how they hold up. Ran hard through the mud for 20 minutes, maybe 3 miles, just wanted to see if I could make them smell like a muddy dairy farm on a nice Autumn day.

11OCT09

20 miles - 2:59:30 - Ave. HR 130. +2,480', -1,000'.

Did a 13 mile loop this morning w/Tima in 1:53 with average HR 126. Came right home and jumped on the mill for 7 miles @ 4% @ 9:30 pace, average HR 136. There was only about 20 minutes between runs. Took mile splits on the mill for HR data. 123,130,137,139,139,141,143.
Felt pretty good on mile 19, was even asking my self if I was getting stronger as this run went on. Then right at the start of mile 20 is when reality hit. Didn't feel too bad, but felt nothing like I had just 2 minutes prior. Over-all I'm very pleased with the weekend. I did ask myself a few times today if the pace/effort I'm choosing is too slow/easy. Should I try 5-10 seconds faster? Or, 5-10 bmp higher? The reason I ask is because I am NOT a well trained marathoner at the moment. I believe I was in 2003/4 and know that I'm not near that level of fitness right now. Furthermore, I'm attempting a 40 miler, a marathon and a half in Feb. I came into this training thinking that the milage was going to be harder than it has been so I've been going pretty easy just making sure I can do it and not suffer any injuries. I think if I want to find the spot where HR goes up and pace goes down I need to run these long runs a little faster. Or, I need to start incresing my 20 mile run much sooner than planned. Maybe the pace effort is right and I am just more capable than I thought of running further. There has to be a fine line where I'm getting the most out of my long runs, but not going too hard. I was hoping to do back to back 20's by the end of November. The weekend long runs have gone so well I'm a good 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule. It this rate I should be doing a 20/20 in 4 weeks, Nov. 7/8. If the trend continues this will give me a good chance to increase the 20 mile run much sooner.

10OCT09

16 miles - 2:14 - average HR 127.

After receiving a good tip from a very knowledgable source (read comment from yesterday's post, 09OCT09) I dicided to keep a close eye on my HR and get an average for each of the 16 miles. It's been a while since I've seen my max HR hit 170, a few months ago I did a little test and saw a 169, so for now 169 is my max. On the other end my resting has been 38 since I can remember, a HRM will show it dip down to 36 occasionally, but it usually comes back up to 38 within 10-15 seconds, so I'll call my resting HR 38. That's a 38/169. I did the first 5 and last 3 of the run on the treadmill at 7mph, 8:30 pace. This was mostly done so that I could have some good data on what my body was doing later in this run under the exact same conditions. The middle 8 were done as an out and back, with the out having a small loss of elevation and back a small gain in elevation. Those middle miles, 6-13, were done at an average pace of 8:15 and I had to guess as to where some of the mile splits were. The average HR per mile definately shows the gain/loss of elevation and not so much a place where some struggling started. The last 3 miles, I think, indicates where the HR went up and that was clearly mile 15 and continued with mile 16 on the treadmill. On the last mile, with my HR 10-15 bpm higher than miles 4/5 I still felt pretty good. I was in that zone just as you exit the comfort zone, but not necessarily uncomfortable yet.

Miles 1-5 - 115,125,122,123,123

Miles 6-13 - 119,119,125,128,131,135,136,139

Miles 14-16 - 127,132,135

Here's a good post on the NB MT100 trail shoes. I have a pair on the way and will be using them next week.

http://www.runtheultras.com/

09OCT09

7 miles - 1 hour - average HR 131.
Felt great. I am doing some HRM testing the next few weeks so I should be able to get a good idea of what my HR is doing. Looking forward to some good runs this weekend. With Riley's soccer game at 10:30 tomorrow, I'll be looking to get 16 miles in early, then 20 on Sunday.

08OCT09

AM - 2 miles - 15:00.
Dropped the car off for some routine maintenence and ran home this morning. Beautiful crisp, clear morning in the low 40's. Ran on the same roads that I used to do a bike commute to work; stopped doing that a while ago when I was almost hit about 5 times in one week. Running on that, against traffic, reminded me how often people didn't see me at all or saw me at the last minute. Scary thinking how much that was happening behind me when I was riding with traffic and could never really see it. We need some really good bike lanes here; there are alot of bike commuters, but I think there would be alot more if we felt safer. You don't need to go too far outside of Asheville to see some real rednecks; the kind that get rewarded by their friends for hitting or scaring the crap out of someone riding/running on the road.

07OCT09

5 miles - 40:00.
Trails near work.

06OCT09

6 miles - 45 minutes +/- 1,000'.

25 minute tempo up Bearwallow Rd, 20 minutes down.
Needed to add a little fun/spark to my running this week and was just itching to give a little push. Decided that a short, uphill tempo would be perfect. Felt great, kept a very even effort for the 25 minutes., cruised back down at a very comfortable effort. I think I may do this once a week since this road is just 5 minutes from where I work.

05OCT09

5 miles - 40:00
Felt great on a lunch run on the flat trails around work.
Feel like I want to do some faster stuff, but I'll stick to the plan for now.
We'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks after I do a 20/20.
First Pet Peeve at 5/6 year old soccer matches.
The Dad that's video taping the game; does he have exclusive access to the sidelines? Was I out of line to mention to the guy that I'd like to see the match in real time?

Mustache Month Winner

Some people like to match food with good wine. But, other, more cultured, highly evolved folk, like to match wardrobe and hairstyles with a good mustache. Pete spent the month of September growing this rightous stache while his wife, Michelle, made frequent trips to the Village in NYC to find the perfect garb. She did not stop there, no! She got a great pair of clippers and some spray tan for all the finishing touches that only the highly evolved could appreciate. If you can't appreciate it, don't fret, your time for a higher level of evolution will come. In the meantime, enjoy what the future holds.

04OCT09

15 miles - 2:30 - +3,168'.

Treadmill at 4%. This was almost too easy, maybe I should try this at a 9:30 pace next time. Average HR for the entire run was 124 and never went above 130. I checked the speed of the TM, but I'm going to see if I can check the grade by measuring rise over run. I'd love it if the mill is dead on, but even if it is, it's alot different than running on single track.

Listened to alot of music to escape the boredom as well as watching the 1999 Mt. Washington race. As much as I love running/training, my mind always seems to wander on these slow days back to my futeballer days 20 years ago. Kept remembering my time as a sweeper "cleanin' clocks." Timing a tackle perfectly, seeing that my right back was about to get 2 v 1'd, and at the moment he was beaten I'd have given no time for the guy with the ball to breathe, the next thing he knew he was on the grass not getting up. This always allowed a little time for trash talk. I'd say something like "Just take yourself out now so you'll be fit to play your next match." Or, getting position on a 6 foot plus striker and winning the header. The perfect tackle and beating the big striker in the air; doesn't get better than that in the back.

The photo is Paul Gascoigne, he could dish it out and take it more than any player I've ever seen. In this shot Vinnie Jones is dishing it out.

03OCT09

14 miles - 2 hours.
Nothing special today, just did what I could to fit in 2 hours before 9am; Riley had a soccer game at 10:00.

Building back to back long runs.

Last weekend I intended to do 20 on Sat. and 13 on Sun. Instead, due to some ligistics I did a 17/16. Next weekend (10th/11th) I want to put in a toatal of 36 miles for Sat/Sun; should I do a 20/16 or an 18/18, or someting other than the 2 I've presented? Is one more productive than the other? My goal is to "comfortably" do a 20/20 by the end of November.

02OCT09

The last 2 work days, 10 hous each, were spent in the warehouse getting a big order out. On my feet all day, hard work, loved every bit of it. Hey, our paychecks all come from what goes out the back door, right? My work friend here in the photo does not know about this blog so I'm safe. He shouldn't have bought all the beer for us for helping him out, right? He drank most of it anyway; hence, the poses.
Wasn't able to get a run in today, but had a few beers (carbs) and some good pasta and wine so I'm ready for some steep single track this weekend.

01OCT09

5 miles easy/flat - 40:30.
Ran on the trails at work.