8 Degrees and I Did It!

At 3:30 PM I went and ran 5 miles at Mohican in the Class A area with a few miles of trail. Was going to do 10 miles today, but with the temperatures and wind I opted for 5 today and 10 miles tomorrow. I was properly dressed for the run, not to warm and not to cold.
It was still very cold out thar.

20 Miles in an Unconventional Way

Last weekend I was sick with sinus infection, swollen glands, and sore throat. Missed 4 days of running and when I did run I was really unmotivated. Probably weather related.
Today I had a twenty miler scheduled, but knew if I went out to do the 20, it would not be completed. I decided to do 4X5 mile runs.
9 AM ran from my house to the lodge.
11:30 AM ran in Loudonville. Ran into one of my CC runners and we ran together for 2 miles.
Thanks Haley!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1:30 PM ran on the B+O Trail in Butler, Ohio.
4:30 PM ran at the Mohican State Park Class A campground area.
Temperature fluctuated from 23 - 27 degrees. Wind was present and only gloom (no sun).
I hope to get a 23 miler in next week.

Tomorrow 10 miles. It better be in the morning as the weather is going in a hand basket later in the day with strong wind in the 25-25 mph range.

Very Windy Trot!

11:30 Am I headed out to run to the lodge from my house. Around a 5 mile road run.
Very hilly. Today it was windy with snow flurries. Probably nice views except for the snow flurries. Hard to see when they hit you in the eyeballs.

Tomorrow I am suppose to do 20 miles with Rob and Michelle. It is snowing and there will be accumulation of snow on those trails. However the 40 degrees for a high tomorrow will take care of that snow and make mud. Let the adventure begin.

No Mo Sno!

I ran 10 miles today down at Mohican. All on road (OK 0.2 mile every three miles was not on road).
It was a balmy 41 degrees all the snow had vanished probably due to the rain. Yes, it rained and rained more. In fact it rained the whole dam time I was running. But..it was warmer, so that's a plus.

Went to indoor track practice after my run. Ironic indoor track was practiced outside. At Loudonville we don't have the luxury of practicing indoors unless we go to some one else s facility.
But since it was above 40 degrees we practice outside.

Now I am heading to yoga. I will have two athletes with me tonight. I think they do it so they can show the coach how flexible they are compared to me. If you are 16 you better be more flexible than me. That's enough for now, so two aleve and yoga.

There is something to be said about winter. #@*%!!

I came to the conclusion today my mood about running wasn't going to change since winter is here and will be here for some time. I hate winter. It's cold and there's snow and ice. Dreary!
Of course I could do like Rob Powell and run on my treadmill for 2 hours. Now that's worse than the cold, snow and ice.

So yesterday I implemented my new plan. Run long and meditate while running all the good things about winter. Then after a minute or two of meditation, finish the planned run.

Yesterday I ran at Mohican for 5 miles. Snow and ice...yes. 18 degrees...yes, and a little wind.

Today ran on the B+O Trail for 10 miles. Warmer than Sunday, 28 degrees. The rest was the same plus a little rain.

With my wife's health situation I have modified my race plans. Dropping URINEO 50 on 12/20 and Rocky Raccoon 100 on 2/7. Plus I'm not in condition to go the distance.
Still going to New Mexico on 1/18 to run Ghost Town 38.5 mile race. So I better get ready.

Nippy Run

I ran 8.8 miles in Loudonville due to deer gun season in the woods. Felt a little safer that way.
I ran several of the runs I have the cross country and track runners do on the roads of Loudonville.
It was nice to see all the people driving about. It was to cold to be out and about walking.
So ended up with 8.8 miles.

I actually was sitting at home planing on doing the run once it warmed up a little. The temperature was at 29 at 1:00 pm. Within 5 minutes it dropped to 25 degrees. I aborted the wait until it warms up and headed down to L'ville to do my run before the temperature dropped more. It didn't. Had a nice invigorating run.

Braking Stagnation

Yesterday I was in Boardman visiting my parents for Thanksgiving. I got up early in the morning to do my run from their home and to Mill Creek Park just down the road. I have a 10 km loop I like to run. The morning was crisp and clear with the temperature at 32 degrees.
As I was running traversing Newport Lake I was amazed how invigorating the run was to me.
I just wanted to run on for miles, but unfortunately family had some expectation of my visit.
There were many walkers and runners out and about doing their exercise before the gluttony of the day was to take place.
My run was very refreshing and hopefully will help with the stagnation that has taken place in my own running.
Here's hoping all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Yoga 2 A Better Day!

I did Yoga at the YMCA last night and it went a little better. I am still as inflexible as a brick, but it's nice to know some younger folks are less flexible than me. I hope yoga will give me the ability down the road to run like a gazelle.

Ran 3 miles yesterday to the lodge road.
Ran 5 miles on Monday at Mohican, partly trail and partly road. Also, did my ab workout.
This is officially my Week #1 workout towards the Ghost Town 38.5 mile run, New Mexico.

15 Miles on the Trails of Mohican

Today I ran 15 miles on the trails of Mohican. Meeting with the early birds at 8 AM, we ran the infamous purple loop (Rob, Michelle, and Mike from Columbus). At the 3 mile point of the run we ran into the Medina Connection (Roy Heger, Patrick, and others---oops at 58 you tend to forget names and other things.). After returning to the covered bridge we headed out the red loop to the bridle staging area and continued to a point where me and Rob planned to abort to do a section of trail to be used on 'Forget the PR 50KM' race to be held on April 19th. The others went on to Rock Point then back to the covered bridge via south park and fire tower.
I was pleased with my 15 miles and seeing a section of trail I have not run before.
The weather was much cooler and some runners not to be named made fun of my attire. I was however very comfortable and did not get overheated.
Thanks Rob for making me do the additional 0.3 miles to make 15 miles even.

Here's a challenge for 'One-More-Mile'

Many people are very generous and give to charities all the time and some people don't.
There is a race or challenge going on as we speak to raise money for two charities. The winner's charity and the race director's charity. The contestants each pledge an entry and how these monies will be distributed is based on running one mile starting November 1st, then adding one mile each continuing day. So on November 30 they will run 30 miles and December 1st it will be 31 miles.
Lot's of miles. Now my challenge isn't just to see the monies for the charities. I think the suffering by the runners is much more desirable. If the monies are high they won't cave as easy, so let's make them suffer for the win (Last Athlete STanding). If you would like to follow the venture go to http://1milechallenge.blogspot.com/ I know they will keep this up if the donations pour in and I would to see just who is willing to endure the most pain for their charity.

Oh by the way I ran 10 miles today in the pouring rain at 53 degrees. Now that's running weather.

Yoga and running.

I told some of my cross country runners who are very tight and inflexible, that they should try yoga. They pointed out that I was also very inflexible. My inflexibility has to do with age and stubbornness. Now let's get back to running and yoga.
So I found a class or yoga session at a nearby YMCA and we tried it out on Tuesday night.
Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, I must say that was some workout for something I thought was more in the meditation and reflection mode. You actually have to do stuff. I was exhausted after the first session. Hold on, so were the kids. One even asked if I thought they might be sore the next day.
I think over time we may become more flexible so we are going to continue the weekly routine.
The instructor did tell us that we did fairly well considering she did not start us out in basic mode, but we did more advanced yoga.

Now to running. I ran 3 on Tuesday, 5 on Wednesday and shortly will be doing 10 on Mohican trails. On-on!

I Know Why I Don't Like To Put It In Writing!

I thought Blogging was a great tool and would keep one on task once a plan was laid out.
Well I laid out a plan and laid an egg. Since I got side tracked my plan went out the window.
So now Plan Redo.
I will begin my 10 week plan next Sunday heading to the Ghost Town 38.5 mile race in New Mexico in February. This week I have challenged myself with 10's. Ten miles every day through Friday.

I ran 11.7 miles on Saturday with Rob 'My Aching Back' Powell, formerly Rob '?' Powell. It was a nice run and we ran a section of the Mohican 50km. I will be #13 and I am entered.
Today I ran the 1st 10 miler. What a nice day. I hope winter is like this every day.

Tomorrow I will start core strengthening and Yoga. Yes I said Yoga. I can't believe I am really going to do this. I talked several cross country runners into doing it and they would if I did.
So I will do it until they quit, then it will probably be history. Who knows.

Race plan for the next several months: 12/13 Urineo 50 miles, OH
1/18 Ghost Town 38.5 Miles, NM
2/7 Rocky Raccoon 100, TX
3/21 National Marathon, DC
4/18 Forget the PR, Mohican 50 km, OH
5/30 No Frills Just Hills 6 Hour, OH
There you have it. See you later..........................................

Houston, we got a problem.

It has come to my attention via Nick, that I have not Blogged since October 3.
Well to my surprise, my trusted house elf did not keep my posts up to date. Shame, shame, shame!

Thanks Nick for making that known to me. I would not want people to think I was pulling a Josh and taking an extended brake from my blog.

Now for the update: My training schedule is shot. So I will start anew with week #1 next week.
For some reason cross country got very active for me and I got side tracked on my own training.
I did volunteer at an Ultra last weekend. I worked an aid station with Rob 'puke your guts out' Powell. We worked the Kendall Lake aid station at 'Running with Scissors Double Marathon'.

Speaking of Rob, he has been working diligently on the 'Forget the PR 50 km or Mohican 50 km Ultra' here at Mohican. It looks to be an exciting 50 km.

Review Week #2

I must confess that I faltered a little this week. I was to do 40 miles however only completed 32 as I took two days off instead of the one. I guess I will pay the price next week without a day off.

Sunday (9/28) - 5 miles
Monday (9/29) - 3 miles
Tuesday (9/30) - 16 miles
Wednesday (10/1) - 3 miles
Thursday and Saturday - off
Friday (10/3) - 5 miles

Week #3: 58 miles with an 18 mile long run and 2- Tempo runs of 8 miles.
Since Sunday is the 1st day of the new week I did run an 8 mile tempo run on the B+O Trail from Butler, Ohio. It was an excellent run pushing the heart rate to 80-85%. So the week started off well. Will do the weight measurement tomorrow morning.
Chow!!!!!!!!!

B+O Trail - 16 miles

I finally got out and did my long run for the week. I know it's only Tuesday, but I was supposed to do this run on Sunday. I put it off as I was to lazy to do it on Sunday and settled for a 5 miler at Mohican. Monday was no better and I did my scheduled 3 miler at Mohican. This morning I was so inspired to get out and run, I put the whole 16 miles in. It was nice being 58, cloudy and breezy. It was rather humid though. The trail was isolated with hardly a sole to be past.
Oh well it's in the books so to speak. Tomorrow a tempo run of 8 miles. On on!

Review Week #1

I thought I would be doing a fantastic job of updating my progress daily, NOT!
So here is my week number #1 training update towards Rocky Raccoon 100:

Weight has dropped from 155# to 150#. Goal: 128.
Miles for the week: 41.25 Goal: 30 miles
Sunday: 15 miles
Monday: 5 miles
Tuesday: Off- Home CC meet. (Planned)
Wednesday: Tempo run of 8.2 miles - 4 miles tempo pace.
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: 3.25 miles
Saturday: Off- away invitational (Unplanned)
So, I exceeded the mileage, took an extra day off, lost 5#'s and got all major runs done.

Week #2: (9/28-10/4) 40 miles: includes 16 mile long and a tempo run.

We continue......................................

Catch Up Time

Since Sunday I have been so busy time has just flew by.
Monday I did a run of 5 miles at Mohican. They included road and trail.
Tuesday I was to run 3 miles, but did not. I will do two runs on Thursday. Tuesday was a 4-way cross country meet at our school, so with set up, races and tear down, the day was a blurrrrr!
Today I ran an 8 mile tempo run. It was a worker and I'm 4 weeks out of shape. Did the run down at Mohican where I know the distances. At CC practice today I told the athletes the whinnying had to go or the whiners were going. I also told them they would be at practice during the Loudonville street fair or they would be gone baby gone.
So there you have it quick and dirty......
Thursday two - three mile runs. Now give me a break, this is a 30 mile week and doing 15 miles on Sunday left little mileage to distribute for the week. Don't worry I will pay in the weeks of 60 and 70 miles.

Mansfield Running Club

This morning Rob Powell and I planned on doing a 15 mile run.
Rob called last night, Saturday and asked if I would be interested in running with the Mansfield Running Club in Lexington at the B+O Trail. Running with people is usually better than running alone, so I said sure.
So we met in Lexington at 7 AM. Quite a large group to start, but that dwindled down pretty quickly. Michelle the speed demon was running with me and Rob as things broke up. Michelle was doing a 17 mile run and wanted to do it at marathon pace, so after a mile to 2 miles she was off on a 7:15 pace. That left me and Rob. My plan was to run 15 and try and keep it at under 10 minute miles. Rob had some thoughts of his own. He would run with me to the 7.5 mile turn around and do his marathon pace for the return 7.5 miles. That would be 8:30 pace. So we parted ways.
I returned to the parking lot at the end of the run with a group still waiting to greet the lingerers.
To find out Rob ran 7:15-7:30 pace on the return. This is good as he has a marathon next weekend. Good Luck Rob at Akron Marathon.........
The Mansfield Running Club were a nice group and I enjoyed meeting them and look forward to running with them in the future.

Mohican Forest 4 and the plan.

5:30 PM I went to the Mohican forest headquarters and ran 4 miles of road. There was not a person to be found and very pleasant to run.

So, for those of you who want to know how I plan on getting ready for my 100 miler, take a look:

Wk #1 (9/21-27) 30 miles: includes 15 mile long one and a tempo run. Weight 155#.
Wk#2 (9/28-10/4) 40 miles: includes 16 mile long and a tempo run.
Wk#3 (10/5-10/11) 50 miles: includes 18 mile long and a tempo run.
wk#4 (10/12-10/18) 60 miles: includes 20 mile long, a tempo run, and moderate 10 mile.
Weight down to 145.
Wk#5 (10/19-10/25) 70 miles: includes 25 mile long, 2-10 mile, 1-12 mile, and a tempo run.
Wk#6 (10/26-11/1) 60 miles: 20 mile long, 1-10 mile, and a tempo run.
Wk#7 (11/2-11/8) 50 miles: 25 mile long and a tempo run.
Wk#8 (11/9-11/15) 50 miles: 30 mile long and a tempo run. Weight 135#.
Wk#9 (11/16-11/22) 50 miles: 18 miles long and a tempo run.
Wk#10 (11/23-11/29) 50+miles: Nifty 50, RI if they have it and a tempo run.
Let's just go to week 10 for now and see how I do. There will be an additional 10 weeks to Rocky Raccoon 100.

Simple Run for an Uncomplicated Person

Well to keep it simple I ran 3.5 miles with my cross country team. Actually parts there of. Ran very little with the fast runners, more with Haley, and surpassed a few of the extremely slow ones.
Haley just happens to run my pace.
The run was from LHS to the pool and back. So not much to talk about, but there will be more tomorrow.