16 miles and Tired

This hasn't been the greatest week of running and in fact it has been pretty crappy.  Well, I guess it hasn't been so bad as the running itself has been fine but my schedule has been pretty crazy.  I have been very tired (or lazy but who is counting) this week and have not been hitting any legit morning workouts.  However, I did manage to get going this morning but now the wife is sick and I am on kid duty.  Luckily we had swimming lessons this afternoon and everyone is exhausted and already in bed.

Monday - 30 min stairs

Tuesday - AM - 30 min stairs, PM - 6 miles

Wednesday - Gym and 4 miles

Thursday - 6 miles

I will try to get in some decent miles over the weekend and my schedule should allow for a few big days early next week.

I am only slightly better at fishing than I am at running!

Week Ending 4.22.12

Monday - 11 miles

Tuesday - AM - 30 min stairs, PM - 4 miles, NB MT 101

Wednesday - 30 min stairs

Thursday - 4 miles

Friday - AM - 30 min stairs, PM - 6 miles

Saturday - 7 miles speedwork, NB MT 110 (6x800 w/ 400 rec, 1 mile warmup, 1.5 mile cool down)

Sunday - 4 miles

Target - 50 miles
Actual - 36 miles plus 1.5 hours stairs

I tweaked my hamstring in the gym this week and thought that it was all good but the speedwork on Saturday seemed to aggravate it.  I got in 4 miles tonight just to warm it up for some stretching and rolling and that seemed to really help.

I had just randomly jotted down 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 miles in my training log and figured that would be a good build up before officially shifting to my 100 mile training. I also told myself that I wasn't going to push things and was just going to run whatever felt good and that resulted in 31.5, 32, and 36 miles plus some stairs.  I will try to hit 55 - 60 miles this week but won't push too hard.

Consistency and Volume

One common theme among the top runners at the 50 mile and up distances seems to be consistency and volume. That makes perfect sense and really shouldn’t be a revelation of any significance. First there was the Summer of George and now there will be the Summer of Consistency and Volume. I don’t think that this will make me a top runner but I feel like this is the path to take to try and finish closer to the front. Consistency and volume plus losing another 20ish pounds and I should be golden.

And I promptly kick off the Summer of Consistency and Volume by tweaking my hamstring while doing some goblet squats… good thing this is only the spring. I did manage to maintain consistency this week but have not been pushing the volume because of the hammy.

4.18.12 - 30 min stairs plus lifting (goblet squat day...)

4.19.12 - 4 miles (no speedwork b/c of tight hamstring)

4.20.12 - AM - 30 min stairs, PM - 6 miles (hamstring feeling almost normal)

Stars

4.17.12 - AM - 30 min stairs, PM - 4 miles, tempo, NB MT 101

Just an awesome evening to run. Cool with a sky full of brilliant stars.

Self-loathing?

I tend to get around the ultra running blogosphere a good bit and a common theme seems to be self-loathing. Not all the time, but it seems to pop up here and there enough that I have noticed it. I've been thinking about doing an more in depth post about that but have never put it together. I'm pretty good at thinking about things to blog about but not very good at actually blogging about them.

Anyway,

4.16.12 - 11 miles

Week Ending 4.15.12

Monday - AM - Gym, PM - 4 miles

Tuesday - AM - 30 min stairs, PM - 6 miles

Wednesday - AM - Gym, PM - 4 miles

Thursday - AM - 4 miles, PM - 6 miles speedwork, NB MT 110

Friday - 30 min stairs

Saturday - Sleeping late + Double kids birthday parties + family visiting = no running

Sunday - 8 miles, pushed the jogging stroller with kids for last 4 miles. I wanted to get in a longer run but it was raining in the morning.

Target - 30 miles
Actual - 32 miles plus 1 hour stairs

Another week of running whatever felt good. I am going to start bumping things up again and will aim for 50 miles this week.

Endeavour - The Beer

Wow! Endeavor by the Saint Arnold brewing company is one of the best beers that I have had in a really long time. I am not a huge fan of IPAs and this is a double IPA but it is very well done. Very nice.

4.12.12 - AM - 4 miles, PM - 6 miles speedwork (1 mile warmup, 5x800 w/ 400 rec, 1.5 cool down or 1.25 cool down, if you count the first 400 of that as the final recovery)

I am really digging speedwork and I can already tell that this will help with the mental side of running. My father in-law and son tagged along today and they had a fun time messing around. Who ever knew that a big field with a black oval in it could be so entertaining but the daughter was upset that she was not able to attend today. I did cheat a bit when I stopped for about 3 min to empty a huge turd out of the sons pants... but it was all good.