Summary Nov 27- Dec 3

On December 4, 2017 By siegmunaIn RunningLeave a comment

Monday Nov 27, REST DAY

I’ve got to admit, I’m seriously (or is it spelled srsly nowadays..) beginning to enjoy the structure/reliability of having a day a week set aside as non-running. It’s both a welcome rest for the ol’ pins, but also serves as motivation through the longer weekend outings.

Tuesday Nov 28, 10.3 Miles, 308′ 1h14m

Drove over to the Boulder reservoir for some double-loop action with 4x30s strides alongside the prairie dogs. I really can’t stress enough how pleasant it is to be able to consistently run on (relatively) flat dirt roads. “Casual” pace is becoming quicker and better flowing all while recovery between striders seems to be picking up.

Wednesday Nov 29, 10.4 Miles, 292′ 1h15m

Another day another ~~dollar~~ set of loops at the res. This time around El Jefe instructed me to run “10×2 mins fast with 1 min easy.” Over the last 6 weeks or so, we’ve been gradually increasing the hard work and gradually decreasing recovery periods, so I can’t say I didn’t grumble his name in vain at least a few times during the middle intervals. By the time I was finishing however, I was surprised at how quickly it seemed to have gone, and how well my legs were responding to the workload (my lungs are another story right now). Afterwards I had a session with Ginna to release some knots in my legs and keep things running smoothly.

Thursday Nov 30, 12 Miles, 420′, 1h30m

One of those days where you’re convinced that someone switched the coffee supply over to decaf, so even getting out the front door took a lot of mental chutzpah. My calendar said 10-12 miles, so I figured an out-and back route to the res would work out well, and give me the option to either go whole-hog, or take the lighter number.

Friday Dec 1, 6 Miles, 381′ 48m18s

Foothills path North straight from my doorstep. Very casual effort by design/in preparation for the upcoming weekend abuse.

Saturday Dec 2, 16.2 Miles, 5548′ 3h32m

Chat>Gregory>Greenman>Green>Green/Bear>Bear>Fern>Mesa>Bear Canyon>Green/Bear>Green>Chat. Essentially I was looking for the most vertical inducing ridiculous route I could devise from the TH at Chautauqua, so the Green>Bear>Green attempt seemed like the best option. This sort of routing is of-course not recommended unless you’re prepping specifically for a big-mountain event (which I’m not right now…) and was essentially my last-hurrah of ill-advised mountain running until Mid-April of next year. That being said, shit was this fun!

Sunday Dec 3, 12 Miles, 804′ 1h32m

Certainly a more balanced route! I decided to check out the East Boulder trail in search of some sweet cush, and moderately graded hills. I was pleasantly surprised at both the quality of terrain and abundant opportunities to talk to animals (hey cow, I like your brown fur… say hello to your mother for me…). Legs felt a little soggy from Saturday’s grinder, and I spent the rest of the day lounging around, and then wrapping up the week with a couple of komuchas and beers at Rayback

Totals: 66.9 Miles, 7753′ 9h53m

Another solid week in the books. We’re beginning to increase both the fast work as well as the overall volume in preparation for 2018 (schedule coming soon), and after 2 hard weeks I’m actually looking forward to this upcoming down/recovery week before hitting the grind again.

Summary Nov 20-26

On November 28, 2017 By siegmunaIn barely coherent rambling, Dum Assery, fitness, Hours, Life, Mountain Porn, road running, Running, Slogging, Snow, Stand Up Philosphy, SummaryLeave a comment

Monday Nov 20, REST

Usual scheduled rest day, did some walking around, standing desk working, light stretching, and tons of foam rolling/R8 abusing.. you know, the usual crap

Tues Nov 21, 10.3 Miles, 312′ 1h15m

Very controlled effort at the rez, keeping things consistent/autopilot-ish. Threw in 4x30s fast with 2min recovery in the last 3 miles, for a little extra stimulus.

Wed Nov 22, 11.3 Miles, 476′ 1h26m

Plan was for 4 miles easy, 12x1min fast, 1 min easy, and 4 miles back, so I decided to start the run from my front door and head towards the reservoir to hit the intervals on the cushy gravel before heading back to the house. Overall I was feeling pretty soggy out the door, but perked up when it came time to put in “the work.” Return trip was plagued by some mild heartburn, and some seriously waning motivation so I basically jogged it in, slowly removing some more rubber from the bottom of my shoes

Thurs Nov 23, 11 Miles, 1493′ 1h42m

Martha dropped me off at the TH for Sanitas so that I could out and back the swoop (lion’s lair) and run back home within the prescribed daily distance. Caught a dude on his deck near Wonderland Lake blasting “Alice’s Restaurant” so I had to join in for chorus while I passed. Overall things felt really controlled/easy, and definitely warmed up the oven for some Thanksgiving consumption.

Fri Nov 24, 6 Miles, 420′ 50m

Super casual out the front door jog on the Foothills trail. Kept things deliberately easy/ controlled before driving to Crested Butte for the weekend.

Sat Nov 25, 15.3 Miles, 2014′ 2h38m

Martha found what looked like a pretty chill trail out the front door of our Crested Butte rental, so that seemed like the best idea for some higher altitude trail running. I didn’t however plan for the terrain being either ice covered, or shoe-sucking mud for the entire route, so after knotting my fists for a while I decided that it would just have to be an adventure, and that I might as well enjoy the scenery while I’ve got it. After slogging through the day (and forgetting to eat the gel I carried) i was pleasantly surprised at the overall pace — it almost looks like running!

Sun Nov 26, 12 Miles, 2264′ 2h2m

Front Door>Wonderland Lake>Goat Trail>Red Rocks>Sanitas via Swoop>East Ridge>Goat>Dog Park>Home. Threw in 4x 30s uphill striders before leaving the Sanitas Valley and cruising back home. Legs are feeling pretty solid after a big week, and even the late-run strides felt pretty reasonable.

Summary: 66 Miles, 6978′ 9h55m

Overall a good week. My legs have felt really solid through the increased distance, and intervallic work. I’d like to get a bit more vert, but that was mostly a symptom of time/location, and I’m pretty confident that next week will be ripe for some more climbing, and speed-work while keeping the volume similar.

Summary Oct 30-Nov 5

On November 7, 2017November 5, 2017 By siegmunaIn RunningLeave a comment

Monday Oct 30

Proper rest day. Feeling pretty lethargic from the weekend and/or the early AF alarm clock

Tuesday Oct 31, 10 Miles, 420′ 1hr 13m

Pretty cold start to the day — first time busting out the Mandex for the season. Ran to the reservoir and back from my front door with 10x30s strides on the way back (1min “easy” for recovery) before flying to CA for work. I keep forgetting that East generally = downhill and West generally = uphill, meaning that I was running my intervals on a slight incline.. good for the lungs, but not the most ideal for turnover/speed development. Also, JA texted later in the day to bust my balls for actually going for a “real” run (AKA sub 7:30 average) instead of hanging out as a mountain goat

Wed Nov 1, 7.5 Miles, 118′ 56m22s

Super boring/Super casual hotel jaunt. This particular place happened to have a paved cycle path right out back which lead to… well somewhere I suppose. Sea level feels amazing, but strides and flight legs feel a bit soggy

Thurs Nov 2, 10 Miles 177′ 1h13m

Again out onto the cycle path from the hotel. Sea level running seriously feels like heaven, which means I must be acclimating. 8x30s fast with 30s recovery this time around, which felt unusually strong/graceful (as opposed to the first few weeks of feeling like a baby giraffe). Also 7:1x pace feels like complete and total autopilot right now, which is pretty sweet.

Fri Nov 3, 5 Miles, 394′ 40m22s

Out the front door foothills trail type thing. A little run down overall from traveling this week, so it took a few miles for my legs to fall into autopilot pace. For the most part everything feels strong, if not particularly quick today

Sat Nov 4, 11.4 Miles, 3855′ 2h20m

Chat>Green>Bear>Chat via Greenman, Bear/Green, Fern, and Mesa. Snappy-ish ascent up Greenman to tag Green in a 2nd PB split of 54:24 without really pushing on the ascent (note: I’ve never tried to run up this route for time). Hung out on the summit talking to a few hikers for a couple of minutes before a handful of guys came up greenmail after scrambling the 2nd flatiron. I joined them for the descent of green/ascent of Bear (1:39:34 split) before we descended Fern over to the Mesa trail. Other than noticing my quads on the gnarly descent down Fern, I’m beginning to feel like I’m firing on all cylinders.

Sun Nov 5, 10 Miles, 1558′ 1h33m

Spent the gloomy morning inside watching Shalane Flanagan put on a tactical clinic at the NYC Marathon before heading out the door on some pretty lazy legs. I’d been talked into checking out the Lions Lair (AKA Swoop) route up Saints from the Centennial TH, so I ran from my front door to the TH, figured out some small navigational snafus (my own idiocy) and headed uphill. Legs felt pretty good, and I hit the summit in 1:05:17 from my front door. I continued down the northeast side of the mountain towards Wonderland Lake before pushing out the prescribed 4x30s strides and calling it a day. Legs were feeling less snappy than I would have hoped, but everything felt comfortable/controlled.

Summary: 54 Miles, 6522′ 7h56m

Overall another solid base/economy building week. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m laying the groundwork for long-term goals, and to not compare my efforts to folks at different ends of the training cycle. After all, it’s all about the process right now.

Summary Oct 23-29

On November 5, 2017 By siegmunaIn RunningLeave a comment

Monday Oct 23

Rest day. Feeling pretty tired, slow day at the office followed by some All-Terrain Yoga at Rayback.

Tuesday Oct 24 10 Miles, 312′ 1h14m

Double Boulder Reservoir Loop with 10x20s Strides thrown into the second round. Really enjoying the views of the Flatirons as well as the foothills while stretching my legs out on some cushy gravel. I also had a chance to “talk to animals” well… prairie dogs after the work portion of my session finished — they didn’t have much to say, but maybe they’re just shy.

Wed Oct 25, 7 Miles 974′ 1h7m

Front door jaunt up Hogback Ridge and back via the foothills trail. Easy recovery-like effort with a bit of climbing, and lots of soft-ground. I keep forgetting that the climb up hogback is kind of a bitch, but the views over the plains are pretty sweet.

Thurs Oct 26, 10 Miles 410′ 1h15m

Front door road session to the reservoir and back. I was looking for something that would be moderately compassionate for the 6×20 strides I had planned, as well as something that would accommodate my relatively small window of time between work/social engagements. Forgot that it’s a net uphill return to my house, which explains the not unsubstantial positive splits post strides. Also dealt with some wicked headwinds, but still better than waiting for the afternoon snow to set in.

Fri Oct 27, 6 Miles 384′ 48m17s

Very moderate effort out my front door to the Foothills Trail/Wonderland Lake. Everything felt solid/effortless overall, if a little bit sleepy.

Sat, Oct 28 14 Miles 3799′ 2h42m

NCAR>Bear Peak>Green Mountain>NCAR. Caught some folks who were participating in the BTR trail marathon right as I was beginning the proper ascent towards Bear. Ran pretty hard uphill both ways while taking it pretty relaxed on the downs, both as a result of last week’s digger, and the volume of snow/ice up high (really just not feeling risky). Overall ascent times were better than the previous week (excepting snow covered sections) and legs are feeling increasingly resilient.

Sun Oct 29, 11 Miles 2808′ 2h2m

Chatauqua>Gregory Canyon>Green via Greenman>Mesa via Bear Canyon>Chat plus 4x30s uphill striders, and some light yogging back to the Tonka. Quads were feeling a little testy this morning, and generally unwilling to crank uphill for the first 1200′ or so. Second half of Green felt pretty good until the ice patches (risk/return doesn’t look very good regarding higher altitude ice at speed) where I slowed a bit due to obvious traction concerns. Pretty relaxed effort off the cone of Green, and once I got to the cushy single track I opened things up a bit into honest-fun territory (faster than a casual jog, slower than a race with some surges on the more fun sections of trail). Took it really easy through Mesa, and then hit my strides pretty hard at the end. Upon checking my local ascent spreadsheet I found that my run up Green was actually my 3rd best time on the route despite the general malaise, so that’s definitely a positive showing.

Summary: 58.1 Miles, 8688′ 9h10m

Another encouraging week. I’m beginning to feel some of the impact of consistent running economy work–basically everything is starting to feel easier/more fluid, and like I’m actually beginning to lay down some foundational work for 2018 (as opposed to grinding myself out).

DSCN0750 DSCN0751

Summary Oct 16-22

On October 23, 2017 By siegmunaIn barely coherent rambling, Dum Assery, Falling, fitness, Mountain Porn, Running, Stand Up Philosphy, Summary, trail running1 Comment

Monday Oct 16 REST

Scheduled rest day after 2 weeks worth of business travel with a wedding sandwiched in-between. Really enjoying the new 7-3 schedule my boss requested, it has both the advantage of increased overlap with my co-workers (who are mostly on EST and GMT) and allowing me to wrap up unbelievably early. Spent the evening getting intimate with my R8 Roll Recovery, and hitting the rack early

Tuesday Oct 17, 8 Miles, 1565′ 1h16m46s

Very casual effort on the Mesa trail starting at Chautauqua and heading South. Fell into taking the uphills comfortably hard, and really relaxing on the downs. I haven’t spent much time on the Mesa trail–mainly using it as a means of accessing Green/Bear/South Boulder, so I was pleasantly surprised by the vertical gain/loss, as well as the rockier stretches.

Wed Oct 18, 10 Miles, 906′ 1h22m52s

4.1 Miles out my front door through Boulder and over towards the Centennial TH for repeats. Ran 10x30s uphill repeats from the TH enjoying the cushy gravel and views up the Canyon/over to Sanitas during recovery periods. Followed the repeats up with a casual jog back and around Wonderland lake before heading home. Perfect late afternoon sunshine over the foothills made for a nice cool-down.

Thurs Oct 19, 9.5 Miles, 1109′ 1h23m04s

MAGS! I texted El Jefe to make sure that it was okay to run Thursday’s effort up on Magnolia Road, and was pleasantly surprised when he not only green-lit the idea, but suggested hitting up Mags for anything that isn’t a slow/chill day. Headed out super-casually from the South end of the road for 4 miles, followed by another 10x30s uphill session and a 4 mile casual run back to the truck. Some moderate heartburn ensured — note to self: spicy lunch and afternoon runs aren’t a great combo.

Fri Oct 19, 6 Miles, 480′ 47m22s

Easy-does-it front door effort on the Foothills trail. It took the first three miles to shake the brain fog off of the work day.

Sat Oct 20, 14 Miles 3796′ 2h33m02s

NCAR>Bear Peak (8459′)>Green Mountain (8148′)>NCAR Via Mesa, Bear Canyon, and Green/Bear. Decidedly casual effort up to the top of Bear. I picked it up in the last 500 or so feet mostly because I was getting a chill from the winds. Built up some nerve headed back towards Green, where I ran into Ben, and the two of use decided to let loose back towards NCAR. Probably took the downhill a little faster than I should have (6:58, 7:53 through the switchbacks, 7:04 and 7:35 back to Mesa) but it felt too good to open up a little. Took a pretty gnarly spill about .5 miles from the mesa trail due to pure idiocy, but seem to have gotten out pretty much unscathed. Followed the run up with a proper FATurday celebration, and found myself no match for the Boulder Beer tempeh burger… I’ll try harder next time.

Sun Oct 21, 10.5 Miles, 2490′ 1h58m53s

Plan called for an “easy” 10 miles anywhere I wanted followed by 4x30s uphill strides, so I drove out to NCAR and headed up to Green Mountain via Bear Canyon>Green/Bear. This is definitely my favorite stretch of trail in the area–a decidedly non-technical cushy stretch of single-track that averages 500’/mile (enough that you know you’re climbing, but not so steep that you can justify hiking). Ran much more conservatively than Saturday, really just soaking in the sunlight and enjoying paradise. 4x30s uphill at the end of the day was a serious junk-punch, but driving some quick turnover while run-down was still pretty fun.

Summary: 58 Miles, 10344′ 9h21m

Overall a really successful week. I’m unbelievably stoked to have some help with my training plan, and the feedback loop included within. While I’ve never had trouble getting the motivation to step out the front door, there’s a different degree of accountability driven by having a coach… and that makes those end of week uphill strides that much ~~easier to do~~ harder to avoid. I’m really excited to see where this goes as we head into winter, and start making concrete plans for 2018.

Hmm, the #Tonkamotel might need some winter upgrades

DSCN0741 — I can see my house from here!

Summary Dec 5-11

On December 12, 2016 By siegmunaIn barely coherent rambling, Cold, Depletion, Dum Assery, fitness, Foam Rolling, hashers, Hours, Life, road running, Running, Running Partners, trail running, Ultrarunning, ViewsLeave a comment

Monday Dec 5, 6 Miles, 449′ 47m56s

Overslept the 4:30 wakeup call which meant leaving the house at 6:17 on a compressed schedule. Generally the legs felt okay but lacked any sort of snappiness as has been the norm since the Fallback 50K right before Thanksgiving. Fortunately my hip seems to have recovered better, and is substantially less sore.

Tues Dec 6, Warmup 1.5 Miles 59′ 12m, Workout –6.7 Mile, 174′ Tempo, 45m13s

Pre-dawn solo Tempo Tuesday. Avg HR was 167 throughout the workout, and the first 3 miles felt exceptionally grueling, add to that a very dejecting 6:52 split for mile 3 made me rethink the idea of tempo runs in the cold-pre-dawn hours without a training partner around to push me. Final 3.7 miles felt better, but didn’t provide much more in the way of snappy splits despite the elevated HR effort. Afterwards my hip flared up a bit an felt tight for the remainder of the day — back to fire-hydrants and foam rolling. .49 Mile cool down

Wed Dec 7, 8 Miles 745′ 59m59s

Forecast called for snow, so rather than doing pre-dawn battle with the snow-plow man I chose to sleep in and hit my run after work. Naturally no snow was on the ground when I got up, but conditions after work were ideal, so I can’t really complain. First two (downhill) miles out my front door were recklessly quick — especially relative to the “8 miles EZ” written in my plan for the day. Legs felt confidently snappy making for a very enjoyable outing

Thurs Dec 8, 7 Miles 338′ 51m

Negatives workout with JP. JP has been espousing his regular negative split workouts running from 8-830 pace down to a final all-out mile, so I finally got myself together and joined him for a 7 mile version. Mentally the need to consistently best your previous mile makes for an interesting workout from a pacing/effort calculation point of view, and the constant acceleration facilitates a sort of fatigue that for now feels more than a little unique. Splits were 8:29, 7:55, 7:27, 7:06, 6:54, 6:40, and 6:19.

1 Mile cool down (9m9s 39′) followed by 5 Mile Social run (44m43s 337′)

Fri Dec 9, 2.3 Miles, 259′ 19m56s

Easy neighborhood shakeout. Generally fatigued throughout the day and wanted to take the chance to recover a bit before Saturday’s inevitable sufferfest.

Sat Dec 10, Warmup — 2.3 Miles, 180′ 18m3s, Workout — 13.1 Miles 1h27m33s

Typical Chatham loop Saturday course with Jay and Jeff. With Jay and I just starting our training blocks, and Jeff in between a PR and planning his next races no one was checking their watches until we hit mile five or six. Surprisingly we were only a few seconds faster than our agreed upon pace of “45-ish” although I still can’t seem to wrap my head around how much easier tempo runs seem to get after the first few miles. We finished the workout alternating 400m pace line pulls dropping the group down to a 5:59 final mile, and according to my watch, the last 10th got to 5:47 pace.

Sun Dec 11, 11 Miles 1578′ 1h52m1s Allamuchy TH>Overlook>White>Waving Willy>SBX>Cement Mixer>TH with Pack and Eric

Woke up feeling pretty stiff/fatigued from Saturday’s effort as well as ravenously hungry, with some disconcerted swelling in my necks lymph nodes. Overall effort was pretty relaxed on the mountain, and considering the vert over the course I’m actually quite pleased that low 10’s are possible with an avg HR of 135. Great day to get out with some friends and hit up some always stellar trails.

dscn0616 — Pack’s first Allamuchy Ramble

Gunks Fat-Ass Fallback 50K

On December 5, 2016 By siegmunaIn fitness, hashers, Life, Motivation, Mountain Porn, Outdoor Nation, Races, Running, Running Partners, Summary, trail running, Ultrarunning, ViewsLeave a comment

The Shawangunk ridge, known as Kittatinny Mountain (or Kittatinny Ridge) in New Jersey, and Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania is the continuation of the long easternmost ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The Gunks as they are locally known extend from the NY/NJ border to the Catskill mountains, and are arguably best known as a climbing destination.

While arguably find-able on the internet there is a fast-growing fat-ass running community led by Mike Cat Skill* (This is not Mike’s actual surname).Those of us lucky enough to know Mike are aware that he spends countless hours doing trail work, runs and scrambles like a certified boss, and then in his spare time comes up with courses in his backyard to satisfy whatever distance he’s currently dreaming of, then posts them online and persuades people to run them on the same day.

On Nov 19, Mike laid the groundwork for the Fallback 50K, a nearly perfect (distance-wise) point to point run through the Gunks that hit all of the iconic landmarks, several scrambles, and a fair mix of single track and carriage road. Our group of 9 managed to stay together for the entire day, hitting 31 miles with 4488′ of gain several scrambling routes, one minor medical emergency (that we came upon, not within our group) in a casual 6h41m. Here are the photos

dscn0573 — Seems like a reasonable place to hang

dscn0577 — Mike was grinning the whole day as he admired his handiwork

Summary Nov 7 -13

On November 13, 2016 By siegmunaIn barely coherent rambling, Dum Assery, fitness, Hours, Running, trail runningLeave a comment

Monday Nov 7, 8 Miles, 830′ 1h3m

Teeing off from home before the work/travel day starts.. Still definitely feeling some funk in my legs from Saturday’s effort with Eric, but occasionally it’s nice to have the extra resistance to work against

Tuesday Nov 8, 4 Miles 29m4s–Treadmill

Unwilling to go out and explore pre-dawn in Sacramento before starting the workday, so I relegated myself to Heart-Rate based treadmill sessions. I was pleasantly surprised to find that below 7:00 pace I was still under 150BPM, which definitely bodes well for overall fitness/racing plans for next year (although I can’t say I truly trust the treadmill as a facsimile for real-life)

Wednesday Nov 9, 4 Miles, 30′ 29m1s

The hotel I was staying at has a nearly perfect mile-loop straight out the front door, so I found myself doing basically a MAF test.. teeing off at 5:24AM while suffering from some weird jet-lag sleeping issues. Again, pleasantly surprised that during a stressful week I was able to maintain a pretty peppy pace without going above 150BPM

Thursday Nov 10, 5 Miles, 367′ 42m40s

Broken Shin with Mikey and Smitty, generally taking it pretty relaxed, but negative splitting throughout. Great to get off of the plane and immediately into running shorts

Friday Nov 11, 1.5 Miles 151′ 12m14s

Jogging shakeout type thing

Saturday Nov 11, 15 Miles 522′ 1h53m

Generally a tempo run with Schooley’s Mountain thrown in the middle just for fun. Zack had wanted to do 15 hard on the rail-trail as his last prep run for JFK, but I couldn’t help but make sure we hit the overlook in Schooley’s. According to my watch, only 2 miles on the rail trail were over 7:00 (one at 7 even, one 7:01) so all-in-all a pretty solid outing

Sunday Nov 12, 13 Miles, 4908′ 2h41m

Last weekend Eric and I ran 4x Tammany, and upon getting home I realized that I’d done 4 loops of the mountain only a few times before, once in 2014, Once in 2012, and of course the time he and I hit five loops in 2015. We had agreed that our 3:1x last Saturday was decidedly sub-maximal, but when I found splits in my logbook indicating a 2:46 total moving time I was tempted to call bullshit on myself, knowing that I lacked a GPS, or particularly disciplined timing during those years, but I did some digging and found that I had written out splits for the ascent/descent of each lap, including an 18:43/18:59 first lap! Judging from the blog post it seems that I did take some time to take pictures on the top of the mountain, so I assumed that the logbook indicates moving time without effectively compensating for stoppages, but regardless was indicative of a rather aggressive effort against which I felt increasingly compelled to compare. the results are as follows:

Lap 1 — 19:53/20:05 (39:58 Lap) vs 18:43/18:59 (37:42 Lap)

Lap 2 — 20:43/19:14 (39:57 Lap) vs 21:48/20:42 (42:30 Lap)

Lap 3 — 21:26/19:43 (41:09 Lap) vs 22:43/20:10 (42:53 Lap)

Lap 4 — 21:21/18:43 (40:04 Lap) vs 23:35/19:33 (43:08 Lap)

What interests me more than the ~5 mins I shaved off the elapsed time is the consistency of today’s laps. The total margin of 1:12 between fastest and slowest is pretty stellar over a ~40 min loop, but having 1,2, and 4 being within 7s of each other is totally wild!

Summary Oct 31 – Nov 6

On November 6, 2016 By siegmunaIn barely coherent rambling, fitness, Hours, Life, road running, Running, SummaryLeave a comment

Oct 31, 8 Miles, 764′ 1h2m

Standard out-the-front-door loop before starting the workday. I’ve been readjusting my schedule lately to further embrace my inherent morning-person-ness, and that includes trying to be out my front door prior to 6am. Unfortunately this also means that the majority of my runs are in complete darkness until the clocks turn. While I enjoy the solitude and quietness of the pre-dawn sessions, having the sun fail to rise before my return is definitely less-than ideal.. next week should be way cooler on that front.

Nov 1, 8 Miles, 846′ 1h1m

Modified version of my out-the-door 8 miler to cut out some of the flat and add ~100′ of vert to kickoff the annual Highlands Hashers King of the Mountains competition a.k.a. VertVember a.k.a. HurtVember.

Nov 2, 8 Miles, 804′ 1h3m

Decidedly less spunky legs this morning, most likely the result of a few longer-than-standard office days with interspersed desk-dweller XT exercises.

Nov 3, 12.7 Miles, 1335′ 1h46m

Split this up as multiple efforts on Strava to avoid the 10 min BS session in the parking lot before heading out with the HH guys, but basically it was 2x Hillcrest + 1x Hillcrest taking the most direct route from the lot to the top of the hill. Descending on the first effort also included one of the more rad sunsets I’ve seen from the top of the hill in quite sometime making me more than a little bummed that I had left my camera back at the house.

Nov 4, 3.6 Miles 755′ 35m

Low-energy, low leg-pop repeats of the hill leading up to my house. Remarkably low heart-rate considering the general lethargy as well as the not totally embarrassing pace.

Nov 5, 13.4 Miles, 5,016′ 3h19m

4x Tammany with Eric. One of the main upsides of the HurtVember competition is the likelihood that one of my buddies will come out for a totally absurd adventure such as running up Tammany until you get either bored, tired, or run out of daylight. We were decidedly unambitious about pace, but averaging <50mins for a lap is nothing to scoff at.. (my logbook indicates a March 2012 4xTammany in 2:45, which I now feel compelled to try to best..)

Summary: 57.6 Miles, 10,223′ 9h25m

Overall a pretty good week considering that I’m ambitiously training for nothing at the moment. I had been flirting with pacing at Philadelphia, but previous social commitments have eliminated that as a possibility, so I’m back to the drawing board for this months adventure… I’m sure something cool will come up

dscn0529 — Gearing up at the #tonkamotel

dscn0531 — Tammany sure is nice in Autumn

Summary, Aug 29 – Sept 4

On September 5, 2016September 5, 2016 By siegmunaIn fitness, hashers, Hours, Life, road running, Running, Running Partners, Slogging, Summary, UltrarunningLeave a comment

Monday Aug 29, 6 Miles, 404′ 53:57

Exhausted post-work grind on a usual neighborhood loop. Sunday’s Marathon Pace Tempo really did a number on my system, leaving me basically useless for the remainder of the day, and even running easy on Monday it was still obvious that my body hadn’t had the proper time to sort itself back out.

Tuesday Aug 30, 6.1 Miles, 459′ 48:37

Feeling a lot more spry today. May have been the early morning start (as they’re usually my best efforts) or more likely the increased recovery. Added an extra 10th of pure running to make it back to a meeting on time (rather than walking it in as a cool-down).

PM 4 Miles, 312′ 31:59

Kittatinny State Park with Steve, Stat and Zack from the Salt Shakers group. Tried to keep things as non-aggressive as possible due to the moderate amount of funk still hanging out in my legs This led to the group slowly pulling away from me during the last mile as I tried to keep my HR under 150.

Wednesday Aug 31, 1.5 Miles 138’14:21

Early morning Shakeout — Legs have been feeling crappy all week, combined with actually having to commute into the office led to a particularly short day.

Thursday Sept 1, 8 Miles 768′ 1h7m

Ascending HR run, still trying to stay under 155 (151 avg HR). Utilized the downhills for HR recovery which kept the average pretty low, but the final climb into my apartment is so steep that without actually hammering the last 1/2 mile it will inevitably sink the average pace for the day.

PM 10 Miles, 734′ 1h19m

Double BSL with Mark then Dave. Last few miles felt unusually good, and was one of the fleeting moments where I entered the space wherein time stops, and nothing matters but the rhythm of your breath, feet and heart.

Friday Sept 2, 1.5 Miles, 148′ 13:50

Another light shakeout.

Saturday Sept 3, 18.2 Miles, 1480′ 2h34m

Scouting run with Steve and Zach through Allamuchy and Kittatinny. First time I’ve ever run my usual Allamuchy trails in reverse as we were scouting to determine the viability of a course I’ve dreamt up. Overall the legs felt good, and even found the opportunity to slide back into the flow state for the final 5 or 6 miles, which is unusual.. typically if I get there once a week that’s a great week, but this week I’ve found myself entirely lost within my run twice, and frankly couldn’t be happier about it.

1.8 Miles — cool down 16:52

Drop the bottle, lose the shirt, kick-start the ultra-shuffle.

Sunday Sept 4, 10 Miles 302′ 1h35m

Total jog/slogfest. Nothing particular was bad, but absolutely nothing in my body was feeling good either. Lack of sleep and general malaise.

Totals:67.6 Miles, 4787’9h36m

	FirstHilario on Summary Oct 16-22
	Summary Nov 7 -13… on Tammanification
	siegmuna on Bear Mountain 2016
	Olivia Ashley on Bear Mountain 2016
	Bear Mountain 2016… on Bear Mountain 50 Mile Race Rep…

	FirstHilario on Summary Oct 16-22
	Summary Nov 7 -13… on Tammanification
	siegmuna on Bear Mountain 2016
	Olivia Ashley on Bear Mountain 2016
	Bear Mountain 2016… on Bear Mountain 50 Mile Race Rep…

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