Happy New Year!  Hoping 2012 is a great one for everyone... full of winding trails and fun. 

Happy new year! I ended 2011 with a faceplant on icy trails and haven't gotten back out to them since. But, I ran the Boston Marathon course yesterday so that was still fun. Planning to run the GAC Fat Ass 50k next Saturday. 

Today's race went really well.  The past two years I've finished just over an hour, so my main goal was to break the hour barrier.  Looking at my recent races and workouts, 55 minutes seemed to be doable so I made that a secondary goal.

Unlike the past two years, I arrived in time to get in a little bit of warm-up, mainly walking and slow running for about a mile.  Also the weather was much more ideal this year with temps in the mid 40s.  I wore gloves cause the air was nippy on bare hands but stripped to shorts and t-shirt.

Started faster than expected between 8:00 and 8:30 / mile pace and tried to hold back not caring who passed me--knowing that I'd probably be passing them back some time before the finish.  The first mile is on a sandy firebreak road followed by four miles of mostly single track sandy with pine straw trail and then finishing with a mile on the firebreak road.

I managed to find a good pace around 9:00 / mile once the "fast" start was over and tried to maintain effort level--faster on the downhills and slower on the uphills.  Started passing other runners once we hit the single track.  The gap between me and the next fastest runner was sometimes thirty seconds or more, but I managed to keep someone in sight for most of the race and would try to reel them in and pass them.

I only got passed once in the last half by a fellow runner who normally races this route in 55 minutes.  I let him pull me along for the last mile and a half. At the final turn, I saw the clock was at 54:50 and managed to find some speed and sprint in for a 54:56 finishing time.

I'm very happy with that time and how I felt.  Almost six minutes faster than last year!  A lot more runners showed up this year, particularly in my age group so there was no placing this year (unlike last year's surprise third place in age group).  But I'll take the faster time over my place.

Congratulations, John!  Way to go on beating your own goal for the day.

 

I'm getting back into the groove.  Did 14 miles on the Elk River Trail in the Headwaters Forest Reserve this morning.  There's a really nice approximately .5 mile loop at the top that I did numerous times.  I always have the place to myself, which makes it even better.  Finished in 3:20 for a 14:20 overall pace.  Tomorrow it'll be 8 on the basically flat McKay Tract.

 

Anybody else running trails these days?

+1 on the congratulations!  I'm doing a trail race next weekend with no idea what time I'd like to finish in.  I'm supposed to be doing an 6 mile recovery that day according to plan...same thing, right?

Pretty excited for one called the "Frosty 14" next month. 

Haven't really hit the trails since before the first of the year--maybe I should do that for part of my long run today...

Good luck with the training, Buddo.  Been layin' off the booze?

Hi, Roots.

18 miles today out at Headwaters.  Had the place to myself except for the last approx. 2.5 miles.  Once I got to the top, I did 9 loops before heading back down the 2 miles then up again, then back down and out.  There was a nice large more than ankle deep puddle of almost crystal clear water I had to traverse on each loop, plus about .10 of a sucking mud spot I went through on each climb and descent.  Almost lost my shoe the second time down.  Needless to say, I gave my new Drymax sock a run for their money.  Although my feet were pretty cold from going through the puddle over and over, never got a blister.  Nice!

Lots of flooding in the pastures around here.  Thankfully, the rain stopped about 15 minutes before I headed out and pretty much stayed away for most of the run, except for the occasional light shower.  Gotta get up bright and early tomorrow as the weather peeps are predicting high winds and lots of rain again starting tomorrow late morning/early afternoon.

Later -

I'm back and am working on building endurance again.  I am SO happy I forced myself through all those pool runs, stationary bike sessions, and strength training for the six months I was down.  It would definitely be a lot harder.

Today was 9 lead-legged miles out on the McKay Tract.  Had the place to myself until the last 1 mile or so.  Lots of wind and a few puddles to wade through.  Not bad, except the legs had basically nothing.  Too much walking involved, so I'm thinking I need to work harder on my recovery eating.

Speaking of eating, I'm starving.  Time to dig through the frig . . . .