100 Days Until the race - USA Marathon Championship

It may only be 100 days until the US Marathon Champs, but if been reinvigorated by a lone runner and teacher by the name of Matthew Elliot. To get a better understanding of this individual, check out this flotrack interview.  Yes, a full time teacher living he dream, and finishing 4th at USA's!  A new found hope of someone inspiring others and chasing the dream while doing what you love. I hope you enjoy it.  

So, with 100 days until the race, and 4 weeks of some solid training, I feel great!  This weekend, I'll be racing the USATF New Mexico State 5k championships on the roads.  I'm looking forward to it, and hope to run a pr at altitude for the 5k.  On a certified course, I've run 15:31, so I'm looking for a much faster time than that this Saturday.  A race report and weekly mileage will come soon.  I just thought it would be a good note to mark this day as the marathon approaches...

Twin Cities Marathon Training - Countdown: 117 Days

Another week in the books. And this was a great week of trail runs loaded with a huge group of new runners showing up to train.  I've finally got a good week of miles under my belt, and feel more and more confident about this summers training.  Nothing too exciting to post, other than an array of back to back trail runs of more than 2 hours each.  Something that isn't that much of a feat to most trail runners, but something of a challenge for us roadies.

The first adventure was an easy 10 miler up to the 1955 TWA crash site.  This run had a huge number of Dukes TC runners, and it pleased the majority of them when the crash debris became visible from the long climb through the canyon.  The first thing you see is the tire of the 19 passenger plane, then more and more metal.  Soon enough, this junk pile becomes conceptualized when you read the plaque dedicated to the victims, and realize how awful of an event this was.  As an erie thought, we have the fortune opportunity to this site and take pictures of a horrible accident.  Something must be wrong with us, but death is what makes us live for every moment we have together.

After Saturday's run, we decided to run to another iconic location - South Peak.  I hadn't been to South Peak in over 4 years, so this was going to be a treat.  And it was.  The view and the isolation from other people was well worth the 1:53 minute accent.  I was very pleased and happy to be back running and challenging myself on a run such as that one.  With over 4000' of elevation gain, it honestly felt good to be pushing myself that hard.

South Peak

Relaxing atop South Peak

Now it's on to some "normal" training, which as many of you know, isn't always the most fun.  Which is why I encourage you to try something different, and new when training.  We get stuck in such a rut, that our fitness will stay in that rut.  Pushing yourself in a speed session, or tempo run isn't quite the same as getting lost on a new run.  By just venturing out of your normal routine can really reenergize your spirit and make other aspects of your training more clear.  I remember during college, we'd have more freedom during our base training, and I'd always attempt to run up the tallest known object within sight.  This was usually Twin Oaks Mountain (which isn't much of a mountain in San Marcos compared to what we have in Albuquerque), but it was a physical and metaphoric challenge of climbing something to overcome it.  I didn't really know what I was overcoming, but it felt good to reach the peak.  So, during this marathon cycle, I'll be overcoming a lot to reach the peak of fitness, but as all instances of climbing a mountain, you still have to come down.  And coming down to reality and racing a marathon with the sight of a PR upon the horizon will be just as difficult as the climb.

Week in Training:

Monday - easy 8
Tuesday - am. Track: 4x400, 4x200, 2x800, 2x400 / pm. 8 easy
Wednesday - am. 9 easy / pm. 6 easy
Thursday - am. 8 easy / pm. 7.5 easy
Friday - am. 6 mile tempo - 5:34 average / pm. 6 easy
Saturday - am. 10
Sunday - am. 17 miles on South Peak

Total: 99.5 miles -  I feel like a real runner again!

Summer Scorcher

It's hot out, and this blog has been ice cold for quite a while. I figure it's time to post something worth wild to read, so here goes the summer session of training and reflecting.

To start things off, I've fully committed to the USA Marathon Championships in the fall, which will coincide with the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis.  I got a sweet app that'll count down the days till the race, so as I write this, the count is 123 days. 123 days seems like a lot of time, but most runners always want more time to train and toil away with workouts. Which was exactly what happened last week.  One full week of workouts - track, tempo and a good long run all in the books.  

Aside from running and now enjoying the summer working at Heart and Sole, things are going pretty smoothly.  Our Club is moving along quite well, and we have a few scheduled Adventure runs lined up before the Forest gets shut down for fire danger.  The only important things now are running and performing well in my interviews for a teaching job that's actually in Albuquerque. 

Next week I plan on posting workouts and a recap of the week.