Hitting the reset button

Today I woke up and realized that I've had enough of floundering in running no-man's land.  After many consecutive weeks of slow miles in the 40 to 45 miles per week range, a diet that has consisted of copious amounts of sugar, fat and empty calories, staying up late (relatively speaking), sleeping in, no conditioning and no long runs, its time to get back on track again (Pun intended).  I did plan on a cut back after the marathon, but this has gone on long enough.  Today I pencil out a plan and since January 1 lands on Sunday, I have a perfect day to launch!

So really, today is day one of the planning stage!  Pretty exciting if I do say so myself.  For those of you like me (habitual planners) these are great days.  You start with a blank sheet of paper or squeaky clean Excel spreadsheet and map out your goal.  It all seems so easy on paper, right?  Today we start with a to-do list, with first item of business, a trip to the grocery store and menu plan (yay, more planning! A to-do list within a plan within another plan!!!)  Right now the cupboard is bare and our leftovers consist of rice pudding, sweet potatoes (not the healthy kind, but with lots of butter and cream) peppermint bark, Swedish meatballs, eggnog, and those addicting peanut butter and chocolate rice crispy treats!  I can see two big cannisters of FunkyChunky popcorn by the fireplace; both are unopened, which gives you an idea of how much sugar has been consumed in my house.  There is not a piece of fruit or any vegetables to be found!  Oh wait, I found a bag of uncooked cranberries!  All is not lost.

For Christmas I did get myself a new pair of shoes, the Brooks PureConnect.  Another light-weight minimalist shoe that fits super snug and wraps my skinny feet nicely.  With the achilles and feet issues I've had over the past year, I won't be using these for anything, but short speed and tempo work.  They look pretty cool and I'm all about cool!

Thanks to William, William, William and Malena for the Christmas Day run through Ramsey Park!  Don't forget that hills are your friend!

Happy Running,

Rick

Night Ranger

The title of today's post is referring to my new running persona, not the ridiculously lame 80's band of the same name.  I have been doing almost all my runs in the evening, sometimes relatively late.  I have almost completely bagged my mile training program, as I am enjoying my long, slow leisurely evening trail runs too much.  We've also been having some mild weather, which makes being outdoors more tolerable.  I managed over 50 miles this week and will gradually start building my miles over the coming weeks, so that when my marathon training begins in earnest around mid-January I will be in the 60 to 70 mile per week range.  I broke 2,700 miles for the year, which is a personal best and should end 2011 around 2,800 miles.  I think I'll shoot for 3,000 miles in 2012 and also break the 100 mile mark for a week.  Oh, and of course, break 3-hours!

Looking forward to spending Christmas Day at Mom's this year.  She has managed to get everyone together, so should be a large and festive get-together.  We have a few runners in the family, so I'm organizing a Christmas Day run through beautiful Alexander Ramsey Park.  Join us if you are in that neck of the woods.

Why is it, I can comfortably run 15 or 20 miles on a Sunday morning and my legs feel okay, but I spend an hour or two walking around a shopping mall and I feel like I'm going to collapse under my own weight?  My legs and feet are really, really sore and mentally I am completely drained.  Don't know how people shop on a regular basis.  It's a tough sport!

Happy Running!

A New Student!

I'm teaching a new student.  After many years of competitive gymnastics, my daughter has decided to give running a try.  We just completed our first week and I am quite impressed with her endurance.  We are aiming for a spring 5k, not just to finish, she has already done that twice this week; no we have bigger and better things planned.  She should easily be able to run sub 22 by April and if she wants to work really, really hard she could possibly break 20 minutes.  Now I have to be realistic and remember this is a 16-year old girl we are talking about; she's got better things to do than follow her old man's training regimen, but I honestly believe that the sky is the limit with this kid.  Hopefully I can instill in her a love for running.  Hey it's a lot safer and easier on the body than gymnastics!

I continue to plug along with my 45-mile weeks with some "just okay" speed work.  I have to be honest, my heart is really not in this mile training thing.  I just want it to be over, so I can start logging some real miles again.  I'm kinda eyeing Green Bay as a spring marathon, but we shall see.  As a life-long Viking fan, the thought of running near Lambeau makes me a little queasy!  However it appears to be a pretty flat course with the weather being the only wild card.  It's also a small race and a 3:02 or better finish would put me first in my age-group! (Based on last year's results.)

A couple of "running moments" this week.  The best was being able to run with my daughter; what fun.  A distance second was my late evening Saturday run.  I missed the early morning eclipse, but ran to a stunning and bright full moon.  Turned off the headlamp and ran my favorite trails to the moonlight.  God I love running!

Happy Running!
Rick

It's official. Winter is here!

We got just enough snow to make a mess of the sidewalks and side streets.  The challenge of running through the winter is making the time and finding safe venues to run.  Saturday night, during the snowfall, I had a fantastic trail run, but after a day of sunshine and melting, the soft, fluffy snow turns to an icy, crunchy and slippery mess.  I tried to make make the best of it by running to the local high school (about 3 miles) then doing some speed work on the high school track (another 3 miles) then after cooling down, I ran back home for a grand total of about 9.4 miles.  Hey, its a lot of futzing around, but it beats running on the treadmill.  I did manage around 45 miles this week, which is the most since Twin Cities Marathon training cycle.  I did manage some speed work, but to be perfectly honest I'm really sick of the training for the mile.  I rather be focused on ramping up and racking up some real miles, but I realize it's still too soon.

I ran a couple of times with my lovely daughter.  She has agreed to let me put together a 5k program for her.  We should have her in racing condition by April and the Get in Gear 5K.  She does not have any experience running, but is incredibly fit and an enthusiastic student eager to discover the joys of running.  We did a VO2 max test on Saturday and we discovered she has a naturally high level.  We ran a mile at a pretty good clip and her heart rate hardly budged.  I think as long I can keep her interested she has a good shot at a sub 20 5K.  Good job Malena!  Speaking of instruction I have signed up for another marathon clinic in 2012.  My marathon clinic will begin March 1st, so if you know of anyone looking for some marathon instruction have them give me a call or shoot me an e-mail.  My number is 952-215-2236.

Had a great running moment this week.  I was forced to listen to Christmas music most of the day Saturday and during my evening run I felt the need to "cleanse the musical palette" if you will.  The perfect remedy was to listen to Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream which was just reissued this week.  The perfect answer to listening to Jingle Bells and the like for 6 straight hours!  I'm not a Scrooge, but I can only take Christmas music in small doses.

Happy Running!
Rick