Hill Reps.

1:50:00 with 2,200' of up/down.

Started with 47:00 of Steady/Cruise, then went right into 50:00 of 2 min. H, 3 min. E x 10. All the 2 minutes hard were done going up at 10-15%, and the 3 easy was going back down the same hill. managed to get a total of 1,200' of climb during the intervals. Finished the run with a 13 minute cool down. Felt great and feeling more and more confident that the hip issue is behind me.

Steady Semi Long Run

87 minutes on a nice trail. 1,200' of up/down.

Went easy for a 15 minute w/u, then cruised at MAF for 45 minutes.

Ignored HR for the next 27 minutes and ran relaxed. Felt good.

Little Bear

Same as yesterday and still feeling good.

Since I hope to be hitting this road a few times a week I decided to name it Little Bear.

Lunch Run

Did and up/down +/- 960' on my favorite raod near work. The local cyclists train alot in this area and have painted different faces on the steep climb, they get increasingly "sadder." Hard to see the tears running from the left eye on this one. This is the face with about 50' of climbing left.

I kept it nice and easy and felt great. I love TT'ing this road during the M-F lunch runs and will incorporate this into my schedule soon.

12% Climb

1 hour on the mill at 12%. Average HR 140.
Felt good, a little slow, but most things were working well.
Weighed my shoes yesterday; the ones I had used during the Fall and early Winter were 7.6 oz/shoe. The ones I have now are 11.3 oz and 13.1 oz with the insoles that make my hip hip feel good. I feel a little clunky in these new shoes, but it's all worth it. I did notice, though, that when I'm barefoot I can sometimes feel a little soreness in my hip, like I'm still slightly over-pronating barefoot. I take off my shoes whenever possible (even at work). I'm wondering whether if I wear shoes more often my hip will benefit from that...

Recovery:

01FEB10

5 miles easy.

Felt sluggish until I threw some strides in at the end at a slight incline, then I finally perked up a little.

Threw my name in the hat this morning for Mt. Washington but it somehow got snot all over it. Who'd have a hat with mucus inside it? Anyway, hoping to get into this race and should know by the end of the month. If I don't get in I plan on running the trail to the top on race day to watch everyone hit that wall in the road at the end. My wife and I have family that live about 20 minutes from the start so we'll plan on going for a little vacation.

28FEB10

5.5 easy - Felt Good.
The Mt. Mitchell Challenge yesterday had to cut the course from a 40 miler to a 34 miler due to downed trees and 10 foot snow drifts. Winners Jason Bryant and Krissy Moehl reported hurricane like winds on the summit and thier own water bottles freezing, not being able to hydrate on the summit. Krissy's hat blew off and was no where to be found with 30 mph winds and 6 degrees; a volunteer gave her hat and she said that saved her race.

Totally Unexpected

Went out to my favorite out/back trail this morning to put in an easy 2 hours. I'd go out/back and if I felt OK I'd make it an even 2 hours. Got to a point where I usually check my time just to see where I'm at and I was 12:??, where last week I was 14:??. I felt good and got a little excited so I let myself go a little. Decided I wanted to get to the turn around at about 50 minutes and if I still felt good I do some tempo running on the way back. A couple other time checks on the way out had me easily under 50 for the out portion; ended up being 47:43 at a nice moderate effort. This also reminded me that the fastest I ever went out was 47:?? and back was 44:00. I couldn't help but see what I could do after 2 months of injury lay off and the horrible out/back I did last Saturday. I picked it up the whole way back feeling pretty good and did a 44:13. This is a minute faster than anything I've ever done on this out/back. Yea, I gave a little bit more of an effort, but after what I've been limited to do the past 2 months I'm loving this.
Last Week - 53:00/52:30 = 1:45:30
12 weeks ago - 49:00/44:00 = 1:33:00
Today - 47:43/44:17 = 1:32:00
By the way, I was told, more than once, that the cycling and 24% grade Treadmill workouts I was doing would allow me to hold most of my aerobic base during this injury timeout.

Recovery: Thrice Pints Hopslam courtesy of the Thirsty Monk.

100 miles with 52,900' of ascent/descent

And it's not in the Alps, Andes, Rockies or Sierra Nevadas. Check out the FAQ's on this "thing."
The Barkley Marathons.
Finish twice in 2 years.
If there are 50 miles each of ascent and descent, then the average grade is 20%.

24FEB10

1 hour in Raleigh-Durham on lightly rolling sidewalks. Hip felt good and body felt much better. I wanted to get some carbs in me so I ate out last night - Bharta, Basmati and Nan with a big bottle of Taj Mahal. On Sat.'s run I averaged a HR of 146 with a max of 167, and struggled through the run at a slow pace. Today was an average of 134 with a max of 148 at a faster pace.