Chippewa Moraine 50K

Chippewa Moraine 50K Training: Week 2

Monday: 5.6 mi, trail (Bagley + one loop around campus)
Tuesday: rest (FE prep course)
Wednesday: rest (hockey)
Thursday: 7.2 mi, paved trail (Lakewalk + Minnesota Point)
Friday: 6.4 mi, road + trail (to/from Bagley, one short loop)
Saturday: 8.1 mi, paved trail (Lakewalk)
Sunday: 11.9 mi, road + trail (to/from Hartley, Guardrail + Root Canal + SHT to Arrowhead Rd)
Total: 39.1 mi

A great week of training! I ended up with 2 days off last week again, since I made plans on Wednesday, but was still able to hit the mileage I wanted to. 2 rest days is kind of nice, although I wouldn’t mind having some time to myself on one of them. That might happen this week, if it rains as much as it says it’s going to today.

The weather was mild all week, and I took full advantage of it. I was grinning, just grinning, during most of my runs. I was happy to get in some trail running during the week. I still need a headlamp, but it’s staying lighter later & later, which I enjoy.

Thursday I actually ran without a headlamp, which I did not intend. I forgot it, and I was already halfway to the parking lot at the Rose Garden, so I didn’t turn around. I survived, although I had to slow down a bit due to uncertain terrain. There are still so many icy patches.

Friday, even with the headlamp, I ended up having to walk a lot during the last couple of miles due to icy sidewalks. The sidewalk drainage in Duluth is not the best. I was late to the hockey game (like, I arrived at the start of the second period) on Friday due to a late start running, and then ended up freezing cold at the game. I get a bit chilled after a run, and sitting in a cool rink, holding a cold pop, doesn’t help.

Saturday was so warm I ran in a tank top and shorts. I warmed up with a jacket on, but realized after only a mile or so that I’d be too hot if I kept it on, so I ended up running with it tied around my waist like a dork. I started later than planned (I went to a town hall meeting in the morning, and needed to get to a hockey game by 4, which I did not, but came close), so I ended up turning it into a tempo-ish run. I didn’t have a lot of jump in my legs, but I did end up with an average pace of 11:39. For me, that’s pretty good, especially since I had to dodge tourists and Pokemon Go players.

Sunday was warm again, though not as warm as Saturday. I wore tights, but ended up with the jacket around my waist again. I had a t-shirt on and wore my lightweight gloves, and only felt a bit cool. The snow was soft, so it was kind of slow going, and there was one point where I had to break trail (when I left Woodland to get on the Superior Hiking Trail segment that links in to Hartley) which wore on my legs a bit. I finished the whole run at a pace of 14:32, which is fantastic. I need to finish the first half of CM50K in 4 hours, which is a 15:2X pace, so I am feeling pretty confident about that right now. I realize it won’t be on the road, but it also won’t be in snow.

My focus last week was to work on getting more sleep, and I did a great job, I think. I registered about 7 hours of sleep each night (although some of that wasn’t actually sleep, just me lying in bed trying to ignore my cats or my husband’s snoring, but my fitness tracker thought I was sleeping). I’ll pat myself on the back, and try to keep that up while I focus on something new this week: strength training.

I say this every training cycle. I think I’m at “definition of insanity” levels of repetition here. I don’t know what my freaking problem is. Well, one of the problems is that I’m always procrastinating and starting my runs so late that I’m out of time to do a strength routine before dinner/hockey/whatever. That’ll be a focus next week, maybe, but I need to get back to strength training RIGHT AWAY. I do not know why this is so hard for me. Do some freaking push-ups, lady. I plan to do a lot more running this year than I did last year, so I need to take care of my core. My back was a bit sore after my fast-ish run on Saturday, which was a wake-up call. So, if I do any strength at all (that includes like, 3 sets of pushups or something), that’s a win for the day.

Spring Running Goals: 2017

As I alluded to last week, I set my goals for “spring” (let’s call that March-May).

  1. Race a distance I have not raced before.
    This will probably be a 10K or a 10 miler, in March.
  2. Run a race where I’m not sure I can make the cutoff.
    I have a fear of getting swept, so I’ve always signed up for races with extremely generous cutoffs (either walk/runs, or trail races where there are longer distances). I’m going to want to run those longer distances one day, so I’m going to need to face my fear eventually. Chippewa Moraine 50K, with a 4 hour cutoff at the halfway point, and a 9 hour overall cutoff, will be my first chance to face my fear.
  3. PR at the 50K distance.
    My PR is 10:25, so it’s PR or bust at CM50K.
  4. Help my team for Be The Match 5K raise $2000.
    Last year we raised $1286.66, so $2000 would be a huge PR!
  5. Improve my time at Superior 25K.
    Last year was rough, because it was so hot. I am hoping for cooler weather, or if not cooler weather, then better coping skills.

The most ambitious of the goals might be the fundraising goal. Maybe this year someone other than my mom and me will solicit donations. The rest are pretty conservative, but since spring running up here is so unpredictable, sometimes even conservative goals are hard to achieve (see: Superior 25K).

Chippewa Moraine 50K Training: Week 1?

It’s not really week 1, but I don’t know what else to say.

Monday: 5.4 mi, road (Lakewalk + Minnesota Point)
Tuesday: rest (FE prep course)
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: 5.4 mi, paved trail (Lakewalk)
Friday: 7.2 mi, paved trail (Lakewalk)
Saturday: 5.2 mi, paved trail (Lakewalk)
Sunday: 8.1 mi, trail (Hartley)
Total: 31.3 mi

I’m back! After 3 weeks of minimal running, I was able to have a week worthy of being considered training. Although I’ve had to drag myself out for almost every run. That was a theme this week: lollygagging around, finding excuses not to leave the house. On Monday I didn’t start running til 7 PM. On Sunday, I didn’t start til after 3. This isn’t going to work very well as I return to higher mileage, but as it gets warmer, I hope it’ll get easier to get out.

Monday, once I did get it, was amazing. I ran on the Lakewalk, and while it was windy, it wasn’t horribly cold. The lake was roaring, like it was going to vomit the Edmund Fitzgerald back up onto the shore. It was invigorating, and I was smiling the whole time. I love living here.

Tuesday, it snowed, so I did shovel twice. That counts as a strength workout. Wednesday I stayed late at work, and decided not to run. Since I was only planning on running about 30 miles, 2 rest days worked out.

After suffering through a cold one on Thursday (it was in the low teens, though a bit warmed than predicted), Friday was invigorating. It was 38 F, even at like 6 PM, and the moon was full. It was perfect, other than a bit of GI cramping that turned out to be nothing.

Saturday I got up early and walked about a mile to the counter protest in solidarity with Planned Parenthood. It lasted about 2 hours, and then I walked home. I was a bit cold (although I remembered to bring some Hot Hands with me) and my legs were kind of tired from standing for 2 hours, so I rested before my run. Even though it was just below freezing (and therefore relatively nice), I was still chilled when I headed out to run. It was damp and the air was misty, so it took a little while before I felt comfortable. By chance, I saw my boss while I was running through Lakeside, which was nice.

Sunday I ran at Hartley, which was a great confidence booster. I ran the 8 miles at a 15:02 pace, which is a great sign for the race. Like I said previously, I need to run the first 25K at about a 15:2X pace in order to make the intermediate cutoff. If I can run 8 at Hartley under that, while running on soft snow and going up some challenging hills, I am in a good spot.

I’m happy to be back to training and to have a concrete goal race. I’m also happy I haven’t lost that much fitness, despite my setbacks. The forecast for the near future looks great, so maybe that will help with the procrastination. My focus for this upcoming week will be quality sleep. I’ve been staying up way too late lately (I’m reading The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, and it’s riveting), and I need to get more than 5 hours of sleep a night. My resting heart rate is higher than I’d like it to be, so I’m hoping additional sleep will help.

Race Calendar: Chippewa Moraine 50K

Today after my WD50K running partner signed up for Zumbro 50, I decided it was time to register for my new spring goal race, Chippewa Moraine 50K.

This will be my first out of state race (but will actually be closer than Zumbro), and will be the first race where I’ll be legitimately chasing cutoffs. The cutoff is 9 hours, with an intermediate cutoff of 4 hours at the turnaround. That means I need to run the first 25K in 4 hours. When I raced Superior 25K last May, I finished that in 4:51. So uhhh… there’s work to do.

It’s not really as bad as all that. During Zumbro 17, I probably ran 25K about half an hour faster than that. (It’s hard to tell, my GPS data was off and added about a mile extra.) And I’m a better runner now than I was then. Probably. Definitely. I just have to run the first 25K at a pace of 15:27 or faster. If the course isn’t extremely challenging, I can do that. And if the course is extremely challenging, maybe I won’t do it, and maybe I’ll get swept.

This had to immediately be elevated to goal race status, due to the length as well as the cutoff issue. Superior 25K is still somewhat of a goal race, since I really want to get redemption on that darn course, but since it is less than a month after CM50K and I’ll be running Be The Match the weekend before, I’m not going to be at peak fitness. (I also may or may not do a timed race in June. We’ll see.)

I’m pretty excited for this race, and to take a risk. One of my racing goals for the year (which I haven’t spelled out yet) is to run a race where I have a chance to DNF. Even though I don’t think I’m really at that point with this race, I don’t know the course and I could underestimate the toll that it takes on me (it sounds like it’s a bit technical and has lots of little hills), the cut-off is still an hour and 20-some minutes faster than my current 50K PR. And my training has not been superb, though I still have 12 weeks (11.5 at this writing, I guess) to go.

My spring race calendar is now:
4/29: Chippewa Moraine 50K
5/13: Be the Match Minneapolis 5K
5/20: Superior 25K

I might add a race in March while I am down in the Twin Cities, simply because I’m bored of not racing and apparently just want to spend lots of money, and also I guess to gauge my fitness.

Interlude

So I’ve run maybe… 15-16 miles in the past two weeks. I can’t even call those weeks training weeks. Not the best.

The last full week of January, I was still recovering from my cold. I ran both weekend days, and was ready to ease back into running while on a work trip. I stayed at the same hotel I did last time I went to Edmonton, thinking I would be able to use the workout room. It was under renovation this time. I hadn’t packed for outdoor running and I didn’t know the city well enough to run outside anyway. So that was a major downer. I did manage to walk a lot. I commuted to and from work on foot, walked to get lunch, and walked to after-work events (I went to an Oilers-Wild game on Tuesday even!). I walked in the airports to keep from going stir crazy during layovers. I did my best to eat somewhat healthy; we’ll see if I’ve gained a lot of weight since I’ve been sick and sedentary. My cold is almost entirely gone – I’ve just got a bit of a lingering cough, but my energy is back and my head isn’t stuffy anymore. I was concerned I’d catch something new and exotic on the flight, but unless I acquired an illness with a very long incubation period, I’m good to go.

Friday I got home at about 3 PM (Central), which gave me time to run, but I’d been traveling since 4:30 AM (Mountain), so I was wiped out. Saturday, I let myself sleep as late as I felt like, and then decided not to run. And yesterday, I almost didn’t run. I waffled about it for a couple hours before I finally got dressed and got out of the house. I really, really, really cannot wait for the days when I can just throw on shorts and a tank top and head out. I wanted to quit less than a mile in, but managed to hang on and run about 5.7 miles, putting my grand total for the week at 5.7 miles. Woo.

Real training restarts today. 12 weeks until Chippewa Moraine. Hit it.