Friday, January 29, 2010

Grinding it Out

When the alarm went off at 6:15 today, I was already sort of awake. The howling wind outside our window had woken me up. It was freezing. The streets were covered in ice and windblown snow, it was black out.
I turned off the alarm and went back to bed. I headed out just before noon. I vaVelined the face to protect it. I had my base layer on my legs (huge difference) and a couple of technical tees over a polypro shirt, hat, gloves, shades.The first half mile wasn't bad around .6 miles I make a right hand turn and ran right into the teeth of the wind. Now this stretch of the run is a false flat, so you always work a bit more than you think you should, but today was like a mile long steep uphill climb. I was laboring and at times barely moving forward. Headwinds are devastating and today's was fierce. My eyes were watering, parts of the face without Vaseline were stinging and the lungs were laboring (dry frigid air is not my friend). I'd considered 5 today, ratcheted it back to 4.2 and when I came to a turn that would make it 3.3, I took it. I got out. I got the heart pounding and lungs working. I built character... tomorrow is another day. Hopefully it's one with less wind.

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Whattaweek!

What a week it's been. I ended last week on a poor run on Friday. Then got buried by familial obligations etc. over the weekend that essentially killed my weekend.
I got back on it today (yesterday I set the alarm, but our clock was 12 hours fast so it never went off). I headed out this AM and it was cold. The bank thermometer downtown said
31F but it was wrong. The cold-ache on top of my thumbs and the sting on my face let me know it was colder than that. I again did not have the right base layer and my legs
froze up and got very hard to move. I'm tired of the winter right now. I got in a solid five, and I've got plans to hit the road the next few days. It's time to get serious
about this and start buckling down. I think the days of Zen running are over, it's time to get a little type-A.

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Saturday, January 23, 2010

Frozen Charles #wcbos

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Friday, January 22, 2010

Western sky

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Cold & Un-fun

I've said for years that "some days you eat the miles and some days the miles eat you." Today I was chewed up and spit out. Nancy dropped me off about 4.5-4.75 miles from home while we dropped child Two off at school and I ran back. I fought for every step. I needed one more layer on the legs but didn't have it, so the legs sort of froze up and didn't fire like I'd expected them to. My lungs weren't functioning great in the cold, dry air. Footing was pretty poor with long stretches of ice as well as dozens of stealth-patches all along the course. Some days you have runs like this one. The effort to get out and strive and the repetition (one more run for this week's total) are what I take away from runs like today's. I embrace the Dean Karnazes* mantra that we are overly-comfortable and that running breaks us out of our overly-comfortable existence. Today was assuredly uncomfortable and definitely a character builder. Now it's out of the way and it's on with my day.

If you want to read a great book to get you fired up about running pick up <em>Ultramarathon Man</em> by Dean Karnazes. In fact I might read it again myself.... it's a fun, easy, and most importantly, inspiring read.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Another Handful

I logged another solid handful today. Footing was poor, and it was raw and damp, but I enjoyed it and am glad that I got out in the middle of the day. It was a refreshing change to run in daylight.
Not much to report really, just a solid run, I'm getting in a groove and it feels good. I signed up for the Timberman Tri in August in New Hampshire, so that should shake up training this summer.
Add another challenge to the list.

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Monday, January 18, 2010

Finally

I finally got back out yesterday. AS I think you can tell from Nancy's post last week was a nightmare of scheculing and overbooking, sick children and just general "stuff."
It was highly frustrating. Yesterday's run was good. It was dark and not too cold which was a nice change. Today is a miserable day, but I'm trying this week to get on the marathon training cycle: S, T, W, T, S.
Training for Vermont City starts in earnest next week.

I modulated my pace yesterday speeding up and slowing down and spent much of the run thinking about other things (dissociation). The time went by and the miles fell away. A pretty good start to the week.

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Monday, January 11, 2010

Sluggish

Got in a sluggish five today. Not a great run, but I got it in and that's all one can ask. Sometimes the hard ones are more beneficial. I had trouble with pace and footing.
My calves really tightened up afterward which is most likely related to the slippery crummy conditions. Puddles are slushy to slick, snowy stretches of sidewalk aren't melting and if they do, they refreeze and get worse with each day. I'm sort of done with January to be honest.... Well, I'm feeling more consistent at least, and getting one in early in the week is good. I should have gone yesterday, but bailed, bad on me.

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Sunday, January 10, 2010

Thanks Teich

Our friend gave us this a couple of years ago. It is what a pinot is supposed to be: refined, light but strong. Thanks Jeff. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Friday, January 08, 2010

Running Haiku

Running in the dark
Snow falls upon the pathway
A Fire burns inside

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Cool Fitness Related Link

Hey Blossoms, just found this via Seth Simonds (an excellent follow on Twitter, FYI: @sethsimonds): http://bit.ly/7uSwJ6

Full URL: http://primalstride.com/double-crunch-a-seven-day-challenge-from-primal-stride/

Since some of us are running for fitness, some for time, some to change our lives I thought that this might be of interest. Tons of support and tons of folks just like us on the web.

Keep running, and having fun.

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Thursday, January 07, 2010

A Handful in The Dark

I got in a handful today, in the dark. The stars were out and Mars and Jupiter were with them.
I worked hard on finding my rhythm and just letting it flow. Darkness and ice and snow make for some tricky conditions but it also forces you to
focus. It felt good. This was my longest in a while as I've been dinking and dunking around with my running. It's time to get down to it. This was a good
step.

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Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Welcome, Cherry Blossom Ten Milers et al

This is the first post on the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler Posterous site. We're a bunch of folks in our thrities, of varying running abilities who've all signed up for the Cherry Blossom Ten-Miler in Washington DC in april, 2010. This site will hopefuly be a useful tool for folks to stay motivated and share their training experiences. Wish us luck.

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