TT Running Club

“Well, BM, I hope your ankle heals up soon! Ice and Advil!

I was down in Tucson this past weekend and got some nice runs in (while it was almost 0 back here!). My wife did the Tour de Tucson (bike race), 109 miles, so I was the pit crew. I don't think I'm cut out for biking after seeing those guys come in. I may be forced to switch over in a few years; my feet, legs and ankles don't recover as fast as they used to.”

“Aero - I wouldn't sweat it. My father is 58 years old, runs 70 miles a week, and competes in ultrathons. I see you being the same in 30 years when you're the same age.”

“I do have some positive cross-country news to report. My alma mater swept the NCAA Division I championships today. The men repeated last year's championship, this time finishing in an incredible 2-3-4-5-10 for 24 points, beating 2nd place Wisconsin by 150 points!! The women edged defending champ BYU 120-128. Woo-hoo!!”

“Oh, and, aero, the individual winner of the men's race was...


Dathan Ritzenhein”

“Wow, 6 guys under 30:00!

Did you know that alicia Craig, stanford's #2 woman was from around here in Gillete, WY?

Artex! I wish I was going to be 58 in 30 years!!! it's going to be way sooner than that!
Hey, i'm still going to be down in Florida, but we don't get there until Saturday night (12/6) and will be. Don't go to any trouble, but if you and HPM are around it'd be great to see you guys.”

“I'll be around, just let me know.”

“Yeah, aero, and if you analyze how the women finished, Craig was likely the deciding factor in the championship.”

“Well artex I though of you tonite. I ran the 12 mile "treadmill of death" workout LOL! 2 durn hours on that machine is sooooo boring!”

“LOL @ Birch! With my inevidible northern move, I'm going to need a treadmill for next winter. Until then, the winters here are probably the equivalent to late spring where you are. I'm going to make the most of it.

Ran the Bridge of Death again yesterday. It seriously is getting easier everytime, and I'm already devising longer routes.”

“Birch, you are one sick puppy!

Glad to hear the Bridge of Death is getting easier, A.

I went to a specialty shop yesterday that deals in every imaginable brace for seemingly any body part. Well, maybe not every part.... Anyway, I bought what looks to be a bombproof ankle brace, and tried it out on a little jog around the lake (3-3.5 miles at about 7.5-8 minute pace). It felt great! The side of my foot was a bit sore, but still no swelling or bruising, so I've cleared myself for action tomorrow at the Turkey Trot. Trip Report to follow!”

“Treadmill of Death! LOL! I can only last about 20 min. on those things. I inevitably hop on one every 4-5 years or so, when it's way below 0 outside, get bored and go outside anyway. With all the new outer layers these days, you can be in a tropical coccoon when it's 20 below outside.

Good luck in the Turket trot, BowlderMan.

BTW, Artex, I'll have to email you and HPM about the Florida trip. I'm trying to figure out where we're staying there on Amelia Is. I know we're there from 12/6-10”

“Sounds good, aero. I'll be out of town a few days, so I may not get back to you until Sunday or so.

Good find, Bowlderman. Kick some butt on the race. Best of luck!”

“No time for full report today, but it was a resounding success!! 21:21 for the 2.95-mile hellaciously hilly cross-country course; 27th out of 97 finishers; ankle was fine; saw my old coach; wore my 25-year-old high school XC t-shirt. More later!!”

“good deal bowlderman!

I am visiting family in indiana and went out on an old rail bed thats been made into an asphalt path. I call it the asphalt of death pathway,LOL. I did 7 miles. It was frinkin freezing and snowy but really scenic.”

“OK, I have a few minutes to tap out a more detailed "trip report" for my race yesterday.

Weather was great - about 50, partly cloudy, a bit of a breeze - except for the fact that it just doesn't seem right to run a cross-country race without mud. I was wearing my 25-year-old high school team t-shirt over my race singlet - Coach got a chuckle out of it.

We started a bit late. My plan was to jog through the first mile and then maybe see what I could do after that - no, not much of a plan. Off we went, only a few of us doing the traditional gobbling sounds. I was being pretty tentative because of my ankle, which was probably a good thing to keep the pace under control during the steep descent that started the first mile. Felt very relaxed. Shortly before the first mile, the course plunges down again before beginning Hellacious Hill #1. Nevertheless, I reached the one-mile point at 7:03! Not quite the sub-6 I would usually aim for on this course, but this had me thinking I may have gone out too fast. So HH#1 continues on for another couple hundred yards, and I made up my mind to not lose any net places from then on.

A long, more gradual downhill was next, difficult for me with my worries about my ankle. But nobody passed me, and once on the flats down below, I even passed a couple people. Then I noticed I was just about keeping pace with a woman runner, younger than me. We both passed a few more people as we headed into my favorite part of the course, where it winds around some steep curves and adds some steep ups and downs. Hit Mile 2 at 14:15 - only 12 seconds slower than Mile 1 - very good for me!! Not long after that, we reached Hellacious Hill #2, which we used to call Hernia Hill. The woman in front of me hesitated a bit near the top, so I took advantage and blew past her - she said something encouraging, and I did back to her, too.

Then came the toughest part of the course for me. There's a tight S curve with some uphill, followed by a deceptively difficult loop out away from the finish before the final kick. Three of the people - including the woman I'd tailed - passed me just after the S curve and I just couldn't catch them. No speed on the final kick, which was no surprise. Finished up in 21:21, one of my worst times on the course, but definitely better than expected given the circumstances. Turned out the woman I'd tailed was also an alum from my high school who had either made it to the state meet or just missed making it. I was 27th out of 97, but super pleased with how I ran. Definitely a positive result!!!!”

“A huge congrats Bowlderman! That's awesome, I'm happy for you. Sounds like it was very rewarding, and you posted a fantastic time.

After tomorrow, I will have ran 23-24 miles for this week.”

“Nice week, Artex. I've always felt that about 25 miles was a good amount to stay healthy and that one could launch some kind of serious training from that point, like to run a marathon, aim for a fast time in something, etc.”

“I was thinking the same thing. My training is coming along really well, I'm hoping to be doing 30 mile weeks by the end of December.”

“Excellent, A! I think I might start joining my club's weekly track sessions this week. Probably won't do a whole workout for a while, and certainly not with the fast guys, but it'll help me get back some speed.”

“Artex, sounds like our wkly mileage is about the same. I will run 6 tomorrow and be at 25 for the wk. I only ran 3 days too, lots of long miles. Normally I try to hit 5 days and to get above thirty for any length of time I need 5 days as a standard.

I thought I'd pass on a really affective training plan...

wk one (5 days,one long day,one speed day, 3 regular days)
20 miles

wk two (same type of runs,add 2 miles to long day)
22 miles

wk three (same stuff,2 more on the long day)
24 miles

wk 4 (same, plus 2 more on long day)
26 miles

Wk 5 (5 days, cut long run back to week 2's distance)
22 miles

wk 6, add 2
24 miles

wk 7 add 2
26

wk 8 add 2
28

you get the drift...Its an easy way to increase you distance and to build mileage gradually but consistently.I do that for like 8 wks then just have an easy 3-4 day wk with lower mileage (20-22) the start back over again.”

“Well, I was pretty disappointed a couple weeks ago when I turned my ankle (again!) in a cross country race in Golden Gate Park. But at least this didn't happen to me....

On the plus side, here's a photo of me in action, before the ankle turn forced me to drop out. I'm #449, on the left. Prize for the best caption....”

“Oh man! That happened to my family doctor, an avid runner, several years back!

And this summer I was on a mountain bike trail where a guy had died of heart attack the weekend prior. I guess there's always a risk.”

“Yeah, and this wasn't some guy who just decided to step out his front door and take up running - he was a very experienced runner who actually won his age group last year in the cross-country series! Apparently, the final heat of the day, the open age group men, kind of got together and decided to go ahead and run because a lot of them knew the guy and felt that he would have wanted the competition to continue.”

“Bummer about the ankle, BM. Hope it recovers soon.

I'm on track for my first 30 mile this week. I'd need to do 5 miles a day until Friday. I'm not ruling out taking a rest day though if I feel the need, but I'm going to try not to.”

“Caption Bowlderman?
How about, "Holy crap, my grandfather is ahead of me!"”

“#227 looks like he is really letting one rip! Looks like he stopped and everything to do it, too!”

“I like this one...Ah, screw it- I'm just going around!”

“Ha ha!!

I'm just glad they didn't snap a photo when I was jumping over. Seems like no matter what, they always catch you so you look like a total geek.

Ankle feeling good now - no further problems. Have a slight cold, but ran about 5 last night. May jump into a local race on Saturday that benefits a homeless shelter.”

“I like how photographers always position themselves at places where you can look totally foolish. They used to do that when I ran the steeplechase in college. They'd park right by the water jump and you could hear the camera motors clicking as we went over; they, hoping for a big wipeout into the pit! The pictures would always look like you crapped in your pants! Vultures!”

“You could always give them what they want, a big splash into the pit, but close enough to them that they got the wave...lol...”

“Artex, that is great news! I slacked last week. I only got 19 in but that was in two days so I am okay with it. This wk is great for me too, 14 so far. I am soooo close to my yearly goal! in 40 miles I will have 1000 for the year!”

“Actually, re: the photos, is it worse to look like a total geek, or to be behind the guy who looks like a total geek?!”

“On a more serious note, I found out that one of the contributing factors to our team's relatively poor finish in the race (4th place) was not my DNF, but the fact that one of our top runners was one of the people who stopped to give CPR to the guy who died. :-(”

“Thanks birch, but drat, my knees are asking me to give them a break, so I'm taking a rest day today. They're pretty soar. It's just as well, I only got 4 hours sleep last night.”

“Way to go, Birch! According to my spreadsheet, I'm on track to finish the year with about 570 miles - actually not too bad considering injuries. My best year was 2000, with just over 1500, although I finished 2001 with 1400, even with 6 weeks of zeroes due to my ankle sprain.

Rest those knees, Artex!”

“To echo bowldeman...rest up artex. It'll pay dividends in the future.

Bowlderman, 1500 is a heckuva lot of miles. I hope to someday make it there.”

“Yeah, birch, that does sound like a lot, especially when I'm sitting on only about a third of that right now. Staying healthy was the key, including knowing when to rest. Hard to imagine how some of these serious marathon runners do 100 or more miles a week all the time - ouch!”

“1000 and 2000 miles a year?! That's a lot! Cool deal.”

“Bowlderman, a guy I have run with does some crazy mileage. While training for an Ironman he was logging 70+ miles a wk in addition to cycling and swimming. I am amazed at the level of fitness one can attain with dedication and commitment.”

“I met Frank Shorter once, after he "retired" from serious running. He said he had cut WAAAAAAY back on the running, logging only about 70 miles a week or so! But he was picking up the slack with 1-200 miles of biking, though....”

“ugh!”

“Did a really fun 5k with Wolfeyes,tarabull and LeSubtil this morn. It was WAY cold but good for running. It was cool to see all the people out for a good time and it was cool to hear how much fun everyone had.

My time was 22:01 which is slower then I wanted but still good enough for a 193lb former smoker.”

“Thanks for the lift this morning, Birch! I had a great time and can't wait until next weekends' 5K. I plan on losing two seconds next weekend. That is my goal. My time was 35.43, and that was good enough for a 130lb smoker!”

“”

“Way to go, team!! That time is very good birch, considering you seem to do more long distance stuff than speed. You could probably lower that by at least a minute a mile by incorporating some intense speedwork and tempo runs, etc. But that's more risk of injury, so it's a tradeoff....

There was a 5k in my town this morning, but I really wanted to get in my own "hills of death" run last night, so I passed on the race. Next possible race: the Christmas Relays. Each runner on 4-person teams runs a 4.5 mile lap around Lake Merced in San Francisco. Usually loads of fun and a chance to watch some great runners (sometimes up to Olympic caliber), since they are usually too far ahead - this way, when your teammates are running you can watch the others. It's on the 14th....”

“Nice going, Michigan Clan!

Those relays sound interesting, Bowlderman. Very unique.

Just got done doing a little 2.8 mile run around the 'hood. I'm taking my brother to run the Bridge of Death tomorrow morning.”

“Bowlderman, I really need to add some speed work. I occasionally o some but dang its friggin painful! I will begin the dreaded tempo runs come January when I start my new training schedule.. My best 3m is 19:40 but that was when all I did was 3-4 mile runs. I have lost lots of speed with my shift to distance.”

“First time I've ever done that, and I absolutely loved it. Ran 29 minutes, which made me feel good, as I'm only a casual runner and a very green beginner.”