Playing ketchup

Apologies for the delay in posting the past few week's of training. It is Sunday morning and I'm enjoying looking over the logs that talk about runs in 50+ degree weather. I'm also enjoying the irony of ironies that it is currently snowing. A lot. I guess bragging to Midwesterners about putting together a streak of four days of finishing a run sans shirt only leads to 18 inches of snow. Ah well, what is a person to do. I just finished an awesome breakfast of eggs, sausage, onion, pepper, mushroom and toast (and then a bowl of Grape Nuts just to fill in the cracks). Once that settles the tights, long sleeve half zip Brooks top from college, gloves, and $10 Wal-Mart shades will go on and I'll go adventuring through the snow for six or seven. My access to treadmills is currently on vacation in Las Vegas - upon calling said access this morning I said, "If you can, you just might want to stay down yonder for a bit until this here storm clears out like the cottage after Grandpa Linus on chili night."

FEB 7 - FEB 13

SUN

9 miles chill with new roomie Tegan in afternoon

*poor Peyton lost the Superbowl - guy needs to work on not whining so much

MON

10 miles in AM w/ Sean and Steve-O; 20 minutes biking in PM

*picked up brick of cheese along I-80 and carried it back - running uphill with a brick of cheese increases a person's heart rate two fold!

TUES

8.5 miles in AM w/ Sean along Crappy Loop; run + strides w/ Tegan in PM for 4.5

*as morning route's name alludes to, the body wanted nothing to do with running (unable to land on forefoot, quads not helping lift, felt like all the body's sugar was gone) - decided to play smart and cut the run into two parts instead of punishing myself through the planned twelve miles

WED

10 miles solo in PM along Truckee River

*motivation really low, but pushed self out the door - stride much smoother than expected after being on feet all day at school

THUR

10 miles AM w/ Sean, Hannah, and Steve-O at Woodchuck

*body felt lackluster overall, but ditched long sleeve layer halfway out and ran in t-shirt on way back

FRI

7 miles solo in AM w/ 6x30(30) pickups; easy bike 20 minutes PM

SAT

13 miles solo through Keystone and Switchbacks/Evans Canyon

*planned to go fifteen, pushed to get thirteen, legs felt like they wanted to run seven - no power in legs or upper body and real tired at the end.....laid down on sidewalk outside our house and Tegan, upon finishing her run a few moments later, walked past and said, "You look real skinny, you need to eat more"

WEEK: 72 miles

FEB 14 - FEB 20

SUN

8 miles in afternoon along Mayberry Bike Path w/ Kiwi, Hannah, and Steve-O

*during last mile I past through a busy park and a little girl shouted, "That guy has his shirt off!" Aaaahhhh the freedoms that come with adulthood - no parents telling you to put a hat on in order to stave off death and sickness on a warm afternoon.

MON

13+ in AM w/ Sean, Ronnie, and Jon

*pace stayed chill which helped legs since they felt like crap

TUES

10 miles in AM w/ Sean along BLC w/ 8-6-4-2 pickups; lift in PM

*workout turned out pretty well given the legs lacked energy in the first few miles

WED

swim 20 minutes in AM; Gimpy + barefoot strides in PM for 7.5

THUR

11 miles in AM w/ Sean, Hannah, and Steve-O

*legs improved as run progressed, but still nice to just run as opposed to blasting the pace

FRI

7 miles solo in AM along Truckee River

*legs surprisingly loose for running right out of bed (ice bath yesterday may have helped)

SAT

15 miles in AM w/ Ronnie, Jon, and Luke for first ten

*overall the legs just felt dull and the run took quite the conscious effort to complete

WEEK: 71.5 miles leaves the past up cycle at 72-72-71.5. Although overall I felt sub-par this past week I take great victory out of 1) just being able to run like I do and 2) adding a workout, weight room session, and a long day. In retrospect the coming down week (60-ish) is a smart idea. After typing out the past few week's of training it helps me see the body is still adapting to this level of mileage.

Still much work to be done. Stay healthy. Stay consistent. Stay motivated.

Thanks for reading.

Looks like the snow is letting up a bit....