TT Running Club

“They cancelled the second 1/2 marathon next weekend.”

“Anybody wanna join me for a little run?
www.mountainmasterstrailrun.com”

“Went to the track last night. We did a pyramid: 400-800-1200-1600-1200-800-400. I did OK - finally felt like I got into a good rhythm during the 2nd 1200, although it ended up slower than the first 1200. I hit my 1600 right where I wanted it - 6:29; and my 800s were only a bit slower than the 3:00 I was aiming for. No soreness today - good!”

“good workout!

my knees were sore all day yesterday so i took the day off.

Tonight is climbing gym night and i'm doing a big hike tomorrow. Next running workout for me will be sunday.”

“I've fallen off the bus, I need to get back on before the holidays or I'll have a miserable back country ski season. With daylight savings ending maybe I'll start running before work again.”

“What a great morning for a run. A still 41 degrees with clear sunny skies and best of all NO traffic. Took the dogs out for a 3m speed run, felt strong, no chills 20:31 gotta love it!! I am gonna miss this when the snow falls.”

“Sounds nice birch! I did an easy 10 yesterday morning along the bay - it was like glass!”

“I love running in the fall... I have taken a break since Columbus Marathon, but did an easy 3 with my 2 boys (9 & 7yrs). They want to "train" for the Turkey Trot. It was so funny; Ben, my youngest, had to take a Carboom with him so he wouldn't run out of "energy".”

“It was a fantastic day for the Mackinaw Island Great Turtle half-marathon. Mid 40's at the start, sunny, and not too much of a breeze.
I struggled a bit, especially had a hard time breathing as I think I'm getting a cold. The course is pretty hilly (for a flatlander). The trees were still really pretty. The Island is so much nicer after the tourist season is finished.

I imporved my 1/2 marathon time by almost 9 minutes, for a 1:51:03. Saw a few friends there, and made a few new friends, too. Some races seem more fun that way than others.

I was way, way too sore to even think about doing another 1/2 Sunday in Grand Rapids.

The down side is, there are no races other than small local 5K's until next spring...”

“Ran 12 this weekend between jobs. It felt good and I was shocked the fact that I still could do it. I have had a huge collapse in my running since I broke my foot over a year ago. I am a little sore today but it felt good to get out there and follow the country roads for miles and miles in my loop run. I run 4 seasons but my mileage has been really low. I like running in the winter almost as much as any other time of the year.”

“I heard a rumour that there was a marathon somewhere that was entirely uphill. Can't find any info. Has anyone ever heard of this?”

“they just ran the Pikes Peak marathon, but its only half uphill. Its one helluva hill though.”

“Olympus Mons Marathon, but it's in one third gravity.”

“Went to the track last night and did 10x400, starting one every 3 minutes. I ended up averaging about 90 seconds each (a couple seconds slower than I'd hoped), so was resting about the same time as each run. It was the final home football game of the season for the high school where the track is, so there were lots of "fans." The game didn't get started 'till after I finished, so I guess I provided a little pregame "entertainment" for them - woulda been funny if I'd puked or something, huh?”

“Wow, had a somewhat remarkable workout last night. Since I won't be able to make it up to the track tonight, I thought I would do some 1-mile repeats on a loop near where BowlderSon had his soccer practice. So I thought I would like to do them under 7:00, since that's the pace I'd like to run in the Turkey Trot in a week. As usual, I did the first one faster than planned, in 6:36. Oops, I thought. So I tried to keep focused and I'll be darned, did the 2nd one in 6:36. Depending on timing of the soccer practice, I had planned to do either 3 or 4, and, by now, it looked like I'd have time for 4 of them. But I definitely didn't want to fade, and I always try to do the next-to-last repeat as one of the fastest ones. So I really stayed focused on the nice fast cadence I had established. I also imagined myself on part of the Turkey Trot course. Hot dang - I came in at 6:32! So I had one more. I always want to try to run the last half mile of the Turkey Trot course well, and it's the hardest part mentally, so I imagined myself on that part. And whaddya know, I cranked out another 6:32! Not exactly the 6-flats I was doing on that loop a year ago, but pretty darn good! I think I'm ready!”

“Cool beans Bman, awesome pace!”

“dang Bowlderman, that is cruisin!”

“BowlderSon and I went for a run after school/work yesterday. He is also going to run in the T. Trot, so he wanted to run a few times before the race. We went over to a new park near his school and did a few loops around it. It's a neat park, with a bridge and a hill that has a path that corkscrews around it. We made up a little course and ran it twice - it was fun!”

“Woo-hoo! Just heard that the Stanford women won the NCAA championship this morning, narrowly beating Colorado and Duke. In a rebuilding year, the Stanford men were 6th.”

“Forgot to post my race report for the Turkey Trot. The race is essentially an alumni race for the four high schools and community college where I grew up (about a half hour from here). It's free, and lately they pretty much let anyone run in it. Prizes are awarded to winners in various categories, mostly only for people with an actual affiliation with one of the schools. Usually the prizes are California Dwarf Turkeys (also known as Cornish game hens). The race has been going for about 35 years or so, and has had the occasional olympian run in it (Matt Giusto is one guy I know of).

The course is at a cross country racing center of sorts, and we run the high school course, which is 2.95 miles. I've also run the community college version, which adds a mile and a quarter loop to the high school course. It's hellaciously hilly, especially at the end of the first mile and just beyond the Mile 2 point, where "Hernia Hill" is located.

It started at 9 AM and was absolutely perfect weather for running - calm, about 55 degrees, with a few clouds.

BowlderSon and I both ran. It was the first race of the year for both of us. At age 10, and as active as he is, he really doesn't have to "train" in order to complete the course, but we did do a few runs together over the past few weeks. I'm in decent shape, but it always takes a few races to gear up to the mentality you need to run at your best.

The horn sounded and off we went down the steep hill at the beginning. 90% of the runners (including BowlderSon) made the mistake of sprinting down the hill, so, of course, being the experienced old codger I am, ended up passing lots of people after about a half mile. I passed the 1-mile point exactly as planned, remarkably, in 6:32. Up up up until about a couple hundred yards past 1 mile, then there's a nice gradual downhill. I often get passed on that part of the course because I just can't run the downhills very fast. But I think maybe only one person passed me, a woman I recognized as one of the better masters women runners in the Bay Area. So I hung with her as best as I could for the next half mile, passing a couple of the high school kids in the process. But eventually she pulled away before the 2-mile point. I hit that with one more high school kid ahead of me. He was still in front of me going up Hernia Hill, as well as the less steep uphill immediately following the top. But then we reached the reverse "S" curve. I love this part of the course and often pass people here. It's only about 30-40 yards long, but rises about 10 feet with sharp curves. If you really hit it hard, you can burst ahead of people. That's what I did to this poor kid, and it was the last I saw of him. After that, it was the hardest part of the course (mentally), since you can see the fast people finishing off to your right, but you still have to go out on about a half mile loop. When I came back from the loop to finish, I could see BowlderSon just coming out of the "S" curve, so shouted some encouragement to him, then kicked it in.

My time was 20:42, just over 7:00 pace and about 25 seconds slower than last year, when I was in superb shape. I came in 26th place overall, out of about 100 people. I waited for BowlderSon to come into view, then cheered wildly for him as he kicked it in for a 24:53, about a minute and a half faster than last year and 80th place overall.

FUN!!!”

“Anyone use training logs? I downloaded a demo of Pegasus RunLog v5.0 and have been playing with it. I doubt if I'll buy it, but I might make a similar Excel spreadsheet.

My total miles this year = 1148.2 so far

I raced:
12) 5k
1) 4 mile
1) 5.8 mile hill climb
3) 10k, 1 trail
2) 10 mile
1) 20k
2) 1/2 marathon, both trail
1) 25k, trail
1) 20 mile
2) marathon, 1 trail

I'll probably do 2 more 5k's and a New Year's Eve 8k.
My 65 yr old running and skating friend has 58 races already this year!!!

The highlight this year has to be the Grand Island Trail Marathon. I felt the best there of any race so far, ever.

I thank God that I can even run, after all the abuse I heaped upon myself when I was younger.”

“Nice totals and race list, le S. I created an Excel spreadsheet several years ago that I use. I have to update it every year to be consistent with the current calendar, but it does all the totals, etc. that I like. I can email it to you to play with if you want - it's about a meg.
last edited: 12/01/05 11:55:10 AM”

“"Nice..."

Thanks. I had a blast.

"I can email it to you to play with if you want - it's about a meg...BowlderMan"

Yes, please.”

“Email sent....”

“well my year of running is done. 1031 miles, not my goal of 1100 but close enough. My right knee has some minor pain where the quad meets the patella, prolly some ligaments got overworked. So that means no running till Jan 1st. I am bummed but know that removing the impact will help loads. I will be cycling instead, no impact and with adjustable resistance I can make it fast spinning. Did 21.4 miles today and it felt good. No pain while pedaling, standard discomfort tonite.

I have my 2006 race schedule pretty much decided and am excited. Seeing my plan for next year makes taking the next 3 weeks off tolerable.”

“thats a really strong year you had there birch.

Good luck next year!”

“thanks roam!

Hows your running been lately? Any races coming up?”

“I missed my Nov. race due to sore knees. We did a 14'er in a snowstorm and it just killed my knees so I laid off for a few weeks.

Better now though, I want to get a Dec 5k in around here somewhere, prolly be a New Years Eve race.”

“Nice year, birch! Nothin' wrong with taking a few weeks off now and then. I usually take it fairly easy in December anyway.

I may make it to something like 700 miles this year - not bad after the low mileage I had in the spring. First race of 2006 may be a 10-miler I've done a couple of times the first or second weekend of January....

Still planning to do a marathon next year, roam?
last edited: 12/14/05 8:31:03 AM”

“I'm working on my race schedule for next year, too.
I hope to do one more marathon and one more 1/2 this year; 3 of each.
If I do one more every year, by the time I'm 97 I'll have to do one every week.”

“Had a nice 10-miler after most of the rain (and thunder and lightning!!) ended this afternoon. We almost doubled our season total in only 24 hours and we're now a hair under normal for this point in the rainfall season. Part of my run went past the old landfill, and I saw 8 jackrabbits hopping around in there. I've seen more than 8 on 1 or 2 occasions, but I think they had probably been holed up (literally) during the big rainstorms. Gives me almost 30 miles for the week, so that plus the 5 1200s I did on the track Thursday night made a pretty good week. It'd be nice to lose a pound or three in advance of the eating, er, I mean Holiday, season....”

“Good Job Bowlderman!”

“sounds like a nice run, maybe next time you can do some sprints after the jackrabbits.”

“They're behind a fence, so realize they don't have to run away from people, but, man, those suckers are huge! And I bet they're quick, too...,”

“Looks like I'll finish the year with a bit over 700 running miles this year. Strange having such a low total when I've been healthy the whole year, but the whole spring was a bust because of little league coaching responsibility. First 8 months of the year I averaged 35 miles a month; last 4 months of the year I'm averaging 105. Good way to launch the new year, though....”

“well I am doing something I have always wanted to do. I am running my first ultra-distance run. I have toyed with the idea for the past 3 years and bit the bullet, gonna be in Vermont. End of july so I have loads of time. Cannot wait though!”

“Go Birch!!!”

“You should just run back there instead of flying or driving!”

“I started my 13 week marathon buildup last night. I taped the schedule to the fridge. It's kind of nuts since there is no marathon at the end of the schedule. I am just doing the schedule for the hell of it. Last night was the 2x2x2 thing (2 at goal pace, 2 at threshold, and 2 at goal place). Tonight it's 4 miles and 4 100m striders. Ahh the familiar jargon of training... I want to jump to the higher mileage sections of the schedule but know better. It all feels easy now and probably will remain so. The greatest challenge will be sticking to the schedule.

The running was a little tough since I gained a ton of weight but based on the HRM I haven't lost that much aerobic fitness, perhaps 10% or so. That will come back quickly. It’s the speed adaptations that take forever to return. Just before I broke my foot 1.5 years ago I ran my first sub-20m 5k. Then it all came crashing to a halt.

I have to somehow blend this with training for the Crash Bang Grand Canyon trip in March. I’ll prolly toss in some sessions at the gym on a Stairmaster with a loaded pack on once or twice a week.

Birch, you and the other ultra people are freaks! I am crazy curious about what you are doing so please post often about your progress.
last edited: 1/04/06 9:43:05 AM”

“JimmySan, you hit the nail square on the head! With that said, I'm going to try and keep up with him training wise, as much as possible. Only so that we remain at about (roughly)the same fitness level and I can keep w/ him on paddling trips and hikes.
I'm hoping to participate in the same races, as a massage therapist taking $1 per minute at the finish line. =) I'm going to contact the organizers as soon as I graduate.

here's what he's up to: http://www.jaychallenge.com/jaychallenge.htm”

“Jimmysan, sign up for the Country Music Marathon in Nashville April 29. I walked the marathon last year and will run the half this year. It's great, they have bands approximately every mile and cheerleaders rooting you on along the way. About 5,000 entered the marathon last year and 13,000 in the half. Great fun!”

“30.5 miles? The race doesn't even start until mile 20!

Hey, a standard marathon training schedule will work well with this race. Just increase the mileage numbers a little bit, like 10%. Munch as you run and start out 10-15 seconds/mile slower than goal pace for 6-9 miles. Running a little slower at the start will pay even larger dividends in a race like this than it would in a marathon. But hey, this is advice from someone that has never run 30.5 miles... :)”

“That's awesome, Birch. Are there training schedules for ultras?

I mailed in my money for 3 marathons and 3 half marathons I want to do this summer. Having them paid, and having the vacation time approved, keeps me on track to follow my training schedule.

One of the marathons runs concurrent with a 50 miler. I'm looking forward to meeting those folks, finding out how that works, and seeing if I'd ever want to do one.

I got a heart rate monitor for Christmas!

Tonight will be the first run of the year and the first run for this season's training. I'm pretty stoked...”

“after taking some time off at the end of the year, i started back up on January 1 - starting the year off right, slow, but right.

Goal for the week is a lofty one - 10 miles, lol.

It'll increase slowly though, so long as my knees don't give out on me.”

“Jimmy San, I will most definitely keep ya posted. Glad to hear that you are able to get back into the running (after your foot bang up). Oh, I am not an ultra freak yet...that comes once I cross the finish line.LOL.

LeSubtil, there are a few differnt training schedules I have seen for ultras. Since the one I am doing is the shortest recognized, I will just adapt a marathon training schedule. I will not do any speed work for this one. I will be doing 1-2 per week on hills and will add some walking to my long runs (once I pass 13 miles I will start to walk for one minute every 10-15 or so). the run will be grueling with the hills so I will plan on being very slow. I hope maybe 7hrs. That may be very optomistic. The killer will be that the day prior is a 25 mile open water kayak race which I am doing. the big big bummer is the 64 mile mtn bike race with 10k of elevation gain after the run.

Sounds like everyone is getting revved up for the new years running,happy and pain free miles to all.”

“Freak!”

“lmao!

LeSub, a friend at school gave me and Joe a fantastic book on ultra running. I can't find it at the moment (guessing it's in Joe's lunchbox at work), but I'll let you know the title/author.”

“LS, you gonna run the Volkslaufe again this year?”

“Just ran my strides tonight after running some easy miles on the treadmill. Running strides on my treadmill is a trick in itself. Once I hit my pace it was smooth sailing. The schedule doesn't have me run that many, just 4x100 but it was a taste of things to come.”

“WOW!! You guys rock!!”