I'll be back

Today I think I decided I'm done running on the treadmill so much and that I'm going back to the Florida Keys this May for a second go.

Miles on the Day: 10 miles

Time - 92 minutes

A Little Side Trip

So on the way back from a most triumphant Thanksgiving dinner at Alex's moms house in Newport News I was dreading the drive back to Blacksburg, until I got an idea. My old boarding school, The Miller School of Albermarle, was right about halfway. Being a day that I needed to go for a run I stopped in and it was beautiful out, not to mention all the kids and faculty were on break so it was completely empty!

After fueling up on some Crozet Pizza, I thought it only appropriate to attack what I consider one of the hardest yet most beautiful cross country courses in Virginia after all this was the grounds where all of my running madness started. It was no easier than the first time I ever did it in Buz's famous Steak Race. I'm pretty sure I only did one mile at a a time and when I got to the two mile mark (where this photo was taken) I layed on the grass for about 5 minutes.

So maybe my little side trip was more of reminiscing time than training but regardless, what a perfect stop. Oh...and for you folks that come down 64 west to get to VT, get off on the Miller School exit one time and check out this great little store about 0.5 miles off the exit (to the left if your going to VT, to the right if your going back from VT). It's called Greenwood Gourmet Grocery . My last trip there i bought Dandelion and Burdock juice!!! AHHH ..i wouldn't recommend it but one drink that is really good is the Cricket Cola w/ Green Tea!

Miles - 3.1

Time - Who even knows

Shoutout - Mr. Spivey!

Town limits

So two weeks ago Alex and I decided to train for the Seashore Nature Trails 50k in Virginia Beach. Needless to say my race schedule has changed a bit and now we are on what might be called an "excelled" schedule to running 31.1 miles by December 19th. We laid out a training schedule that consists of two long endurance runs a week with three shorter speed runs in between totaling 5 running days per week.

Our two endurance runs this week are 16 milers, nothing you can do inside the town of Blacksburg without doing multiple loops. So we decided to venture out into southwest Virginia. We got a start around 5:30 and headed out down Mt. Tabor Road to do an 8 mile loop in the country around town. This first half of the run went a bit smoother and also had quite a bit of elevation change, overtraining us for a race that will essentially be flat.

In Alex's words, "everything was poetic" during the first part. The last 4 miles of the run for us was essentially a battle to stay alive. I guess thats the difference between 12 and 16 miles. In the running world you could say, we hit a WALL. A great accomplishment to break through it not having stopped once and finishing in just about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Lets be honest though, we had the motivation of rehydration at Tots Tuesday to keep us going.

Total on the day - 16 miles

Time - 2 hours 45 mins

Shoutouts - Alex for doing something he's never done

- The guy that always runs by us with blinking lights going absurdly fast

Rain

Back from Atlanta last night and today is the big endurance day. I decided to go to the gym in hopes that it would be more realistic of race day weather than the 40 degrees and monsoon style rains that we are having in Blacksburg right now. The treadmills were excited to see me again, they creaked and groaned as always. I set out to do 12 miles and started out going way to fast but kept the pace as to not kill the point of the day (working on endurance).
Typical of my past days at McComas, I found myself getting in a race against the treadmill. About 30 minutes into the run I decided I wanted to be under 1 hour 30 minutes for the run and I was potentially just about right on track. As I passed the hour mark, it became apparent that I was about 3 minutes behind my goal time. With the treadmill already set at 8mph, things started to get fun. All in all, by the end of the run I had the machine up to its max speed barreling along to come in at 1:29:52. A small achievement in the long run but definitely something to feel good about on the day.

Miles on the day - 12
Songs - Billboard Top 100 from 1998
Shoutout - Sam McNett, the running queen

Atlanta

Down in Atlanta this weekend with family and decided to go out for a run to get some fresh air. My sister had been talking all day of a place named Piedmont Park that is a fun place to hang out so I decided to run there and check it out, everyone thought I was a little crazy. With quite simple directions I set out on foot at a very fast pace, as today is a speed training day. Well, lets just say I'm not ready to run a 50k YET. With a little walking I eventually made my way down past the W hotel and down to the park. Pretty park, nothing extravagant though so I took a little rest, did some thinking, took two laps around the park and headed back.
On the way back I started out walking and listening to some tunes. "Goo Goo Dolls - Name" came on just as I was looking up at the clear blue sky and the impressive buildings...and just as I was starting to think "well maybe this is just one of those days that I felt like just BEING OUTSIDE and not really doing any running", a small little chinese man ran by me top speed. Well it must have looked like a music video or something because I got the urge that all those people got when they followed Forrest Gump. I watched him for about 5 seconds and when he was about 30 yards away I just started sprinting after him. The chase was on and the little kid in me was alive more than ever. Whenever he would slow down for an intersection I would somehow have to veer off and pretend I wasn't chasing him...this got interesting a few times, trust me. I chased him for a good 2 miles and finally subsided after he almost ran into a car coming out of some restaraunt parking lot, little did he know, he would have had help right behind him.

Miles on the day: 9.67 (run 6, walk 3.5)
Lesson of the day: Chasing someone random without them knowing = FUN
Shout out of the day: 2 people that were running counterclockwise at the park
Song of the Day: Goo Goo Dolls - Name

Here starts the madness. . .

Following a recent bicycle accident and two weeks of healing time since my last post, I'll mark today as the first day of training. Went out for a run with Alex, and we just kept going on sort of a wandering run around campus. Turns out we wandered for about 7.5 miles! It felt great after topping out at about 4 or 5 on any other runs previous to this. The general game plan will be to use the next month and a half to build up endurance to around 35 or 40 mile distances and then start speed training in late December in preparation for the Cheaha 50k in February.

Distance = 7.46 miles

Time = Approx. 90 minutes