Monday, December 25, 2017

Zumbro training 12/18-12/24 Recap

Getting last week's log in a little late.  Traveling for the Thanksgiving weekend put me a little behind, but it was worth it!

Monday: REST  This normal rest day really helped me recharge.  I used to begrudge rest days, but the Friday/Saturday/Sunday combination of Trail/SpeedWork/Long Trail, really kicks my rear, so I'm happy with the recovery.

Tuesday:  Hill day!  Tuesday's assignment was 20 minute warm up, then 7x 2 minute hill repeats with recovery just being what it took to go back down at easy effort, and a 10 minute cool down.  Workout felt good,  There was some -semi-fresh. somewhat driven on snow on the road, making for trickier running, so my paces were slower, I averaged like 7:29 pace on the repeats.  Not too bad though.

Wednesday: As is becoming normal, Wednesday was an easy pace road run.  Ran a bit too hard and got in 6.7 miles during the assigned hour.  Too fast, but it felt pretty good.

Thursday:  REST

Friday: Friday speed assignment was 4x1mile Cruise Intervals at 7:15 pace, with only 1 minute recovery.  Ran my 20 minute warm up, and an amazing first rep, clocking in at 7:09.  From there, things went downhill.  Rep 2 was a slow, but somewhat respectable 7:21.  Wheels totally came off on Reps 3 and 4, clocking in at 7:46 and 7:48 respectively. I'm not sure ir it was the slick roads, having only 1 minute between reps or some mental or physical block, but I just couldn't go any faster on those last 2 reps.  Glad I have a coach after that run.  His response was that I was still close and that we all have those kind of days.  I really needed to hear that, bad runs are bad for my psyche.

Saturday: Down in West ceentral wisconsin.  I hit the MTB trails at Whitetail Ridge for my 2 hour run.  Got in exactly 10 miles, which made me feel good, it was one of my fastest trail runs yet.

Sunday:  Hit up Whitetail Ridge again for day 2 or my b2b longish runs.  Assignment was 1:30:00 and I ended up running for 1:34:41 and 8.3 miles.  Good day.

Total Distance: 39.3 miles
Total Time on Feet: 6:45:03

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Zumbro training 12/3-12/17 Recap

So, I forgot to put in last week's update, so this one is going to be a two-fer.

Week 1


Monday: Hill Repeats!  Assignment was 5x2min hill repeats with recovery being whatever it took to get back to the bottom.  This was Tuesday's workout, but with a snow storm forecast, I figured the prudent thing to do was to get it in early

Tuesday:  REST- Nosnow storm.... Go figure

Wednesday: Officially assigned a road run.  Got in 6.5 miles in the 1:00:00 assigned to run.  Run felt good

Thursday: REST

Friday: So, I messed this one up.  Assignment was 2x2mile at 7:30 pace.  Went out, got in my 20 minute warm-up and when my watch beeped I started my first interval.  When the watch signaled after 1 mile, I knew I had messed up.  Go figure, I had changed all the settings EXCEPT the interval duration.... grumble, grumble, grumble... reset a generic interval workout for 2xmile with 2 min recovery and set out right away.  First interval was at/under time, all good.  Second interval I was already tired, so it didn't go so well.  I ended up running the second interval in 15:06, so close, yet not there.  Still felt good about almost nailing my pace despite adding an additional hard mile in the beginning.

Saturday: 9.1 lovely trail miles at the Laurentian Divide. Nice dark morning for a run

Sunday:  6.6 road miles at home, nothing really to report on,

Total Distance: 36.5 miles
Total Time on Feet: 6:05:42

Week 2

Monday:  Normal REST day

Tuesday:  Trail Fartlek, 5x2min intervals with 3min slow jog in between.  While not super, this one went a LOT better than the last one.  Still slow, but snow does that.

Wednesday: Officially assigned a road run.  Got in 6.6 miles in the 1:00:00 assigned to run.  Run felt good

Thursday: Trail run.  Another trail run, this one on Thursday, because Friday isn't going to happen because of STAR WARS on Thursday night.  Run went long on time and was shorter distance than I wanted, but oh well.

Friday: Feeling tired/crabby for half the day because of STAR WARS was totally worth it.

Saturday: Out and Back trail run.  Run for 45 minutes at easy pace, turn around and try to get back in 40.  I got back in 39:13, so despite it being a slow and slow feeling day, I got it done

Sunday:  2 hour trail run day.  With heavy legs and snow that made it like running on sand, I only got in 8,1 in my 2 hours, but I got it done, so there's that.

Total Distance: 29.8 miles
Total Time on Feet: 6:28:54

So, there you have it, two weeks worth of Zumbro training.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Zumbro training 11/27-12/3 Recap

Another week down and another step closer to Zumbro.

Monday: REST  After a long weekend of fun with family, bookmarked by 240 mile drives, reat felt good.

Tuesday:  This was supposed to be a trail fartlek day, but turned into kind of a mess due to ice and getting lost.  No Fartlek, but a 4 mile run nonetheless.


Wednesday: Another Easy Pace Trail Run was on the menu for today.  This one for an hour.  I hit the Ridge again and got in 4.3 miles for an average pace of 13:53... Felt good to get in a solid run as a little redemption from the day before.

Thursday: REST

Friday: Speed work day!  My speed day got switched from Saturday to Friday.  Assignment was 5x800m at 3:20 per split.  I got them all in at or under 3:20, so I was pretty happy, despite the workout kicking my rear.

Saturday: Long Run 1/2.  Hit the trails at Giant's Ridge for a 2 hour long run.  My buddy Andy joined me for the first half.  Got in 8.2 miles for an average pace of 14:38.  A little slow, but after the speed work on Friday, not much of a surprise.

Sunday:  Long Run 2/2.  Went to the Laurentian Divide recreation area for some single track fun.  This was a flatter run, but the technical aspects of running single track, plus snow and ice patches, made for a great run.  A tree branch attacking my head 6 miles in wasn't great, but did little to take away from this great run.  Got in 9.5 miles for a 12:38 pace to finish out the training week.

Total Distance: 33.3 miles
Total Time on Feet: 7:07:03

Hear the wolf howl: Superior 100

I thought that running the 2018 Zumbro Endurance run, in a blizzard, would be the hardest thing I have ever done.  Superior smiled and sa...