BR100 Training - Week 16

Water. Water everywhere. That has been the theme for April and Week 16 lived up to that moniker. I've been hesitant to get back out on the pavement since coming back from my injury, fearing the pavment may have helped to cause it in the first place, but I returned to the hard stuff this week in the hopes that a good pounding would help with strength and conditioning. Not to mention I have the Rite Aid Marathon coming up in two weeks and need some road miles.

Having taken Sunday off due to the high winds (I really didn't want to go run in that), I ran roads Monday after work. I was pushing, but not going very fast. I just don't have any speed right now.

Tuesday was nearly a complete washout at the track. A sizable thunderstorm came through canceling the track meet and literally flooding one end of the track. I waited for the lightning to pass the the rain to lighten somewhat and headed out for some wet miles in my raincoat. Eventually Dan H. joined me and the rain stopped, giving us quite a nice evening to run.

Wednesday strength training continued this week, moving to the legs where I need it most. It was a good workout that left me mildly sore. That soreness would grow considerably both during and after our Thursday night Hinckley trail run. But that's a very good hurt! We had a long run and finished in near dark. It was almost time to turn the headlamps on.

Saturday I stayed close to home, running the Chippewa Inlet and Rail Trails as well as around Buckeye Woods. I'll write more about this "2 Snake Run" in a separate post. Sunday, being Easter, was an off day. But after another decent week, I needed it.

Monday - 6 mile run, road
Tuesday - Elliptical and core work AM / 6 mile run at the track
Wednesday - Strength Training (PT) Legs
Thursday - 12.77 mile trail run
Friday - Off
Saturday - 20 mile run, road (some trail)
Sunday - Happy Easter!

Weekly totals = 44.77 miles

BR100 Training - Week 15

Half way. Half way there and finally feeling GOOD! There was running and more this week. My long run has reappeared as well as some mid-week runs including speedwork. And in addition to the miles I began a weekly meeting with a personal trainer for some strength training. Stuff I have the ability to do at home (in the basement) but never will. Getting out in a real gym with someone telling me what to do next makes the difference.

I'm relieved to be running pain free and to be able to get my mileage back up somewhere near where it needs to be. In response to a question I recieved regarding weekday mileage VS long weekend runs: my mileage is low on both counts. The plan I was hoping to follow calls for more mileage during the week than I'm doing, with runs T,W,T. Monday and Friday are rest days. I'm good at running one long day each weekend but the plan calls for long runs both days. My problems are time, motivation, and rest. I don't have enough time to do everything I need to do as it is, let alone running one more day during the week and both days on the weekend. I also suffer from lack of motivation from time to time that I can't shake. I'm hoping to have kicked that now that I'm healthy again. The rest is self-explanatory. There was a time when I couldn't run back-to-back days. I can, and do, now, but with mileage creeping higher I worry about over-training. There is an old addage: It's better to be under-trained than over-trained. Honestly though, if I was able to run more I would.

It was nice to be back on the track this week for some speedwork. There were quite a few people either recovering from a race or preparing for a race, so we took it easy with 3 miles worth of 100 meter striders. Wednesday I had a great upper body strength workout. Thursday was a nice run around the Hinckley trails. But the big day of the week belonged to Saturday, when I joined a few others for 27 miles on the Burning River course. We ran north from Station Road along the course to near Shadow Lake, where we turned around. This was all in the wind and rain that dogged us that day. The water crossings were all deeper on the way back. So much so that I didn't recognize them. Patches of blue sky and sunlight were few and far between but it was an enjoyable run.

So far Week 16 is plugging right along and I am pleased. We'll see how Easter affects my mileage this weekend.

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 6.12 mile run - Track
Wedesnday - Strength Training (PT)
Thursday - 11.22 mile trail run
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 27 mile trail run
Sunday - Strength Training

Weekly mileage = 44.34 miles

BR100 Training - Week 14

With more miles during Week 13 than I've had in a long time, and no pain, it's time to start ramping up my long runs and weekly mileage again. Not only am I counting down to the 100 miles of Burning River, but I have a 50 mile training race in about a month and a double trail marathon to run in early June. Gots to get my runnin' on!

Monday - 15 minutes Elliptical + 10 minutes ab work
Tuesday - 5 mile run
Wednesday - off
Thursday - 12 mile trail run
Friday - off
Saturday - Really busy
Sunday - 20 mile trail run

Weekly mileage = 37.0 miles

Pine Hollow to the Perkins Loop and Back

With 80 degree temperatures predicted for Sunday, I couldn't help but plan a long trail run. The question was: Where do I want to run? Hinckley would be close, but I wanted to get back down into The Valley. There was one problem going into Friday, however: The government had yet to agree on a budget for 2011 and there was the possibility of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park being closed. I was among the vast majority of trail runners who were going to run there regardless, so in the end it was just a matter of where I would be parking. In the end, the knuckleheads in Washington came to an agreement, so I could legally run my (not their, MY) trails this weekend. My run began well enough, with me leaving the Pine Hollow parking area for the Wetmore Trail. This section of trail I've only run during the Run With Scissors races. This would be my first trip down them without trail markings or other runners to follow. As a result, I took a wrong turn and got a little lost. I was on unfamiliar trail for a while, but it was the large water crossing above and below that made me turn around and try another route. After a short backtrack I found a fork in the trail which led me to the Wetmore trail head. I studied the map provided and decided my course. The course I chose was also unfamiliar, but it was taking me where I wanted to go: down to Akron-Peninsula Road. From there I could at least find the trail crossing and get back on track. This section of trail was wet. Really wet. And muddy. Upon coming around a bend, I found the little guy below. At first I thought it was just a garter snake, but it went into a coiled defensive posture. After some research online and talking with a co-worker, we're guessing it's a DeKay's snake (city snake). About the size of a garter snake but more aggressive. I shot my photo and went on my way. I eventually made my way to the trail crossing Akron-Peninsula Road and was back on track. I saw where I should have come out and made a mental note to head back the other way. For this section I was running on the Valley Bridle Trail. Super wet and super muddy! In the photo below you can see the puddles, but you can't see that all that grass is sticking up through either deep mud or water. No dry shoes were getting through this section, not that mine were anywhere near dry. Plus the thorny branches alongside the trail kept you from skirting too far to the sides. Past the chicken farm, through some muddy farm fields, and across the Cuyahoga, on and right back off the Towpath, across Riverview Road, I crossed the CVNP Scenic Railroad tracks. The train had passed while I was still about a mile away so I couldn't get any photos of it coming or going. On to the Everett Road Covered Bridge and the Perkins Loop I went, finally coming upon some other folks out on the trails. No runners, just some hikers. I guess the other runners were out earlier in the day. Perkins Loop was tough, as usual, and I began having some problems with my Peregrine trail shoes. I must have accumulated a layer of mud between my sock liner and the in-sole because on the steep descents the sock liners would slide forward and bunch up painfully under my toes. Twice I needed to stop and fix the problem. I'm now second guessing purchasing another pair of those shoes.

I was finally hungry by the time I crossed back over the covered bridge and quickly ate a Clif Bar. I was also through one of my two bottles. It was a little warmer than I expected. That's OK I told myself. I'll just refill one at the restroom at the Hunt Farm Visitor Center. The water was on, but only the hot water. Yuck! But wet is wet and I needed some extra fluids.

The mighty Cuyahoga River, above, and some signs of spring (finally), below.

Upon crossing Akron-Peninsula Road on my way back, I chose the other route and immediately recognized the way from those Run With Scissors races, so on I went with at least no worries about getting lost. I was becoming exhausted and was worried about running out of fluids though.

The wind was really beginning to whip up and the sounds it made passing through the stands of pines was impressive.

Below is a sign I haven't noticed posted before. I'm glad I'm a trail runner and not a trail hiker.

I have no need to try and make a dry crossing!

I reached Pine Hollow and immediately mixed another bottle of Gatorade. With just over two more miles to go to hit 20 I was going to need it! I was prepared to run the Salt Run Trail if I needed three or more miles but was relieved to see I didn't need to head down that section. It's tough and I knew I would be walking most of it. Instead I climbed the Sound of Music Hill and did the two mile loop around Kendall Lake. The photo below is from the short section of Salt Run on the way back. A nice finish to a tough run.

The above photo doesn't do justice to how muddy I was when finished. It was pretty bad and I didn't even want to touch those shoes! Glad I brought two towels! Anyway, yesterday was THE day I've been waiting for all winter. It was sunny and warm, the trails weren't crowded or noisy, and I ran PAIN FREE! A great day all around.

BR100 Training - Week 13

Well, that last post worked out somehow. I switched to Edit Html mode from Compose and it seemed to keep my spacing. Guess I'll continue that way.

I had high hopes for running during our week at Disney. We were staying at the WDW Swan Resort which is in the Epcot resort area directly behind the park. With walkways to both Epcot and the Disney Studios, there are plenty of places to run. Alas, I only took advantage of our location twice during our stay. With early park openings requiring me to get up even earlier and late nights to recover from, it's definitely not a training location. We did walk a lot though!

Monday - Walk @ 5 miles
Tuesday - 4.1 mile run / @ 6 miles walking (in the rain)
Wednesday - Walk @ 6 miles
Thursday - Walk @ 5 miles (in the rain)
Friday - Walk @ 3 miles / pack and travel
Saturday - Travel
Sunday - 9.2 mile train run (in the mud)

Weekly mileage = 38.3 miles!

BR100 Training - Week 12

This is getting annoying now. This will be my fifth attempt to recap week 12 and Blogger is screwing up my formatting. It's running everything together as one paragraph, deleting my returns and spaces.

Monday - Dr. Joe
Tuesday - zero
Wednesday - zip
Thursday - Dr. Joe
Friday - Pack and travel
Saturday - Travel
Sunday - 3.44 mile run / @ 4 miles walking at Disney

Weekly mileage = 7.44 miles

Updates ARE Coming!

No, really they are! With vacation last week I didn't have computer access and surprisingly enjoyed that fact. I am trying to get caught up but I'm having some formatting issues with Blogger from this daytime computer so I will do it this weekend. One hint of things to come: mileage is back up!