2016 Training Log : 11/14 - 12/4

11/14 - 11/20: N/A.

11/21 - 11/27: 5 runs for 31 miles.

11/28 - 12/4: 7 runs for 49 miles.

I've been slacking in the blogging department lately, so decided to do just one catch up blog post. Considering a lot of the time since the race was spent not running & most of the runs were uneventful there really wasn't a lot to write about.

I decided to take the week following the race off & let everything reset. This coincided with a work trip that took me to Seattle & Dallas before returning home. For the first time in a long time I didn't pack anything running related for my trip & it was oddly refreshing. My week off turned into 11 days off.

I've picked the Big Turtle 50 as my spring race, put on by the same fine folks that did the Rough Trail 50k. With a very manageable elevation gain this will be a perfect first 50 miler & great prep for my fall 100 miler, the No Business 100. I'm going to be using the plans out of Relentless Forward Progress again for the 50 miler.

On Wednesday 11/23 I got back at it, jumping right into week one of the RFP plan. This time I'm going to be able to do the full 24 weeks & plan to do a good bit more trail running. I found over my last training cycle I just didn't do enough trail running & instead opted for the road. A lot of this has to do with the drive time involved in getting to/from the trail head.

I also got to try out the new section of Legacy Trail, 2 more miles which ends rather abruptly!

Rough Trail Ultramarathon 50k - November 12, 2016

Coming Soon!

2016 Training Log : 11/7 - 11/13

Quality: Rough Trail Ultramarathon 50k

Trail: N/A

Easy: 3 runs for 10 miles.

Cycling: N/A

Total:  4 runs for 41 miles.

I really enjoy the week leading up to a big race. Scheduled runs are pretty short giving the body & mind the rest it needs while still keeping everything fresh. Unfortunately my eldest did something to her arm resulting in joint pain & numbness. This had us in & out of doctor offices throughout the week which led to a few missed runs.

On Friday, the day before the race, we were able to get her in to see a sports medicine specialist. Getting home around 2100 caused me to scrap the idea of camping the night before the race, I'm not a big fan of setting up camp in the dark & figured I'd get more sleep if I just got up early on Saturday. This worked out surprisingly well. The drive in allowed me to get fully woke up & a quick stop at the rest area allowed me to use a real toilet before the race. Something to consider for the future.

I'll leave the majority of details concerning race day to the race report. In summary I came in 12th place overall with a time of 6:29:41!

2016 Training Log : 10/31 - 11/6

Quality: N/A 

Trail: 1 run for 10 miles.

Easy: 6 runs for 31 miles.

Cycling: N/A

Total:  7 runs for 41 miles.

First week of my taper for the Rough 50k on 11/12 & I can definitely feel the extra spring in my step. The only downside to tapering is I start getting too fidgety & think now would be a good time to go after some Strava CRs along my normal routes. It takes a good bit of restraint to keep from doing this since a taper is all about resting. That said, I still went for the CR on one of the hills close to home. Unfortunately I forgot which hill it was & ended up going all out for two hills. The second one being the segment I was chasing. I ended up missing the CR by just 1 second so I'll have to rectify that after my race, it's all about the little things in life.

Sunday's run was another in the series of group trail runs being put on by John's Run Walk Shop. This week we visited SkullBuster which if you keep up with this blog you'll recognize it as one of my favorite trails. We ended up with a pretty large group of people with almost everyone being new to the trail. I ended up using two cut throughs on the Orange loop to make my run the 10 miles as scheduled. After the run I heard lots of praise from the group on the quality of this little hidden gem. Hopefully that brings a little more traffic & keeps it from being so overgrown in the spring. Would also be nice to have a few more cobweb sweepers out there.

The crew headed out!

2016 Training Log : 10/24 - 10/30

Quality: N/A 

Trail: 3 runs for 43 miles.

Easy: 4 runs for 21 miles.

Cycling: N/A

Total:  7 runs for 64 miles.

Last week of training before I start my taper for the Rough 50k & it couldn't have gone much better. I made it out to SkullBuster on Monday for a 13 mile Blue & Orange loop run. This was my first trail run with the new phone & some bluetooth issues were causing it to flip between the Glo & the iPhone GPS. This resulted in a GPS track that was likely a bit long. I returned to SkullBuster on Wednesday for an 11 mile run just using Blue as a connector up to a full Orange loop.

John's Run Walk Shop has started up a group trail run recently & this week I was finally able to join up with them. We met down in Red River Gorge for a run from Whittleton Campground. We went up Sheltowee to Tunnel Ridge Road where we ran out & did the Auxier Ridge loop. We then returned back the way we came with an addition of Daniel Boone Hut back up to Grey's Arch parking lot loop which offered a great preview of one of the nastier climbs along the Rough course. I was also able to do a quick out & back to see Whittleton Arch. Ended up with 18.5 miles & 2600ft of elevation gain on the day. These group trail runs are amazing & I hope they're here to stay. I'm mostly a solitary runner but really enjoyed the companionship of running with others. These runs are also a great way to learn a new trail.

The group with yours truly in the center

2016 Training Log : 10/17 - 10/23

Quality: 18 mile long run on Sunday at Legacy Trail

Trail: 3 runs for 25 miles.

Easy: 1 run for 4 miles.

Cycling: N/A

Total:  5 runs for 47 miles.

If the rest of the year could have a theme song it'd be "On the Road Again". This week saw me in Denver, CO for work. This is one of the few areas of the country I'd consider relocating to, just driving up to the mountains gets my heart pumping. Pictures just don't do the landscape justice, it is truly one of those places you just have to experience first hand.

This was my first extended stay within the Denver city limits as most of my trips to CO have been to the Boulder area. Luckily a hotel clerk was able to point me in the right direction. For my Monday adventure I went down to Red Rocks Park & got in a solid 9 miles of running with about 1800ft of elevation gain. Because of a few missed turns I ended up skipping a few points of interest along the route so Wednesday brought me back to the same place. This time I ran the route in reverse, which was much more enjoyable. This route ended up at 8 miles, also with about 1800ft of gain.

Fortunately we were able to finish work early & my coworker really wanted to get out into the mountains. Since we had the entirety of Thursday to enjoy ourselves I suggested we drive up to Boulder & tag a peak or two. I gave him the choice of South Boulder with an optional saddle hike to Bear to get in two peaks or hit Green he decided on the hike up Green. Our route took us on a 7.5 mile hike with about 2500ft of gain.

The rest of the week was pretty boring when compared to my three epic outings in CO. I can understand why so many people are moving to this area. There is enough outdoor activities to last someone a lifetime & I take every chance I get to visit.

Red Rocks Park was breathtaking!

Obligatory Green Mtn pic

2016 Training Log : 10/10 - 10/16

Quality: 12 mile long run on Sunday.

Trail: N/A

Easy: 6 runs for 28 miles.

Cycling: N/A

Total:  7 runs for 40 miles.

This week brought on a mid week trip to NE Mississippi for work. When I'm on these trips solo I usually have no problem getting in my normal volume. When I travel with others, however, I'm always cutting runs short so they're not waiting on me. It always becomes a stressful thing that I don't enjoy very much. A lot of this stress would be alleviated if my lazy butt would get up early to knock these runs out.

I did luck out in finding a park very close to the hotel that had some offroad trails along with the paved variety. I ended up doing all of my runs here with my only complaint being that there wasn't more to it. Each "loop" was only about 3 miles long, but it sure beat banging the miles out on a treadmill. I'm going to have to figure out a solution for travelling as I don't have any solo trips coming up soon.

With my long run on Sunday I actually hit a 20 day run streak. I've toyed with streaking off & on with my longest being 251 days. During that streak was probably the best shape I've been in so I've thought about bringing the streak back. There will be a lot of starts to it before it sticks, especially with my busy travel schedule coming up. Hopefully once the streak gets going it will make it easier to get motivated for the shorter easy days. The only reason the last streak got broken was from a car accident on the way to run. I still wanted to put in at least a mile but I'm pretty sure that would have resulted in a divorce.

Next week brings a trip to Denver, CO. I couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to get up into the mountains. One of the few places I'd live outside of Kentucky.