World Cross Country

If you want to watch one of the best races on the planet check out this link to the world cross country championships. These runners are machines !!

Great Week

Wow what a great week of running. One of my big goals this last week was to run everyday. Check I did that. Then my goal was have a solid long run and a good hill workout, check I got that as well. The third thing for the week I was hoping to do was to runs some on the trails, check three for three !!!

For trails I ran on both the trails at Hyland Park and at Tierney's Woods just off of Hwy 169 and 494. It is just a small 2 mile loop there but I love it. I found the trails pretty good in both places overall. I would say Hyland was the muddiest of the two.

My two workouts where so good. I did my hills by my house in the tangletown area. I got in 11 solid climbs. I felt strong which was good. For my long run I ended up running it after a very busy day of work at TC Running. I went to Hyland to get on the dirt. I made my way in the park for 14 miles. I felt very good and really enjoyed the dirt. As I was going I knew it was going to be getting dark soon so I stooped at my car and quickly put on the road shoes. I was feeling good and looking to test myself for the next 6 miles. As I started out I wanted to set a good pace. I settled in to 6:30 pace and it felt good. As the miles went by I was getting very excited because after that bomb of a race last weekend I needed something to get pumped up about. This run did it for me that is for sure. Now I just need to take this week and build from there. I know I am getting fit I just want to keep my eye on the prize down the road.

One other great thing about the week was that I got in a record 76 mile for the week. Man my best week of 2009. I do not plan on going above 80 before Grandma's but am happy to be at this place now.

One week to the next

* Look at Sonya's face. Yikes that looks like it hurts !!!

So it has been a week since my last post. Not much to report. Last week I had a crappy week of training running all of 4 days in getting in a big 40 miles. I had Lot's going on at home so it made for a crappy week of running. It was topped off with a crappy race at the Human race 8k. Man I just was not into it in my mind at all. This a big thing I need to work on very soon. I just shut it down after the mile mark. I had figured I would just wait up for Sonya and run it in with her but after she did not catch up with me till 3 miles I knew something was wrong. Let's just say her whole right side abdomen just cramped up in a big big way. Not the best way to run a 5 mile race I would say. I think we ended up like 31:14 and 31:20ish. It was not a time I was very happy with since I left like I was in 28 minish pace shape. On a bright note the 6:14 mile pace felt real easy so that was good. I was to bad the race happen like this since on two of the few runs I did the week of the race where two good workouts. It was super nice to warm up with Paul, Pat, and Sonya !!! I did have a nice cool down with Sonya, Paul, and Steve as well.

This week is off to a much better start. I have run every day and I have been getting in 9+ miles each day. I even had a good 10x 45 sec steep hill workout today. It went real well. I hope to hit a 20 miler this weekend as well.

On a Super good note my little brother Kraig and his wife had there first baby on Monday morning. Little Lucy Decker came into the world at 8:35am Monday !!!! Plus my Mom is 60 today. Happy birthday Mom !!!

Nice Warm Up

Wow what a few relief a few warm days can bring. As I have said before I was very sick and tired of the cold. The last few days have been great for me mentally with these darn right balmy days. Now if we can just like a week straight of these days and I think the trails will be open soon !!!

My running this weekend was nice. I had a real nice run Friday morning before work. It was a nice and easy 7 miles with some stride outs at the end. On Saturday I also ran before work. I figured with the Irish for a day race going on I would loop down by the lakes and see if I could see anyone I knew. Well along the way I saw Helen, and then Joe Z. and the boys. I did not get to talk to Helen but I am guessing she might be doing the race ? Joe, Tony,and Nick where all running 10 miles then doing the 10 mile race after. I was able to run like 4 or 5 miles or so with them which was nice. I closed out the week with a great 20 mile run with Sonya and Paul. Adam also ran with us for the first 14 miles. Man what a nice day !!! I think it got up to 44 during our run which felt great. I felt good on all the runs this week and feel real good about where I am going running wise. Still much work to do but I am happy.

Also this week was the USA 15k championships like I posted about. Looking at the results I think I did OK with my picks. All my friends on the Team USA MN ran pretty good. Good job everyone !! You should also check out the video here. Also always look to Flotrack for lot's of great running coverage.


Lastly this weekend was also the NCAA indoor track championships. Galen Rupp was a crazy man. He won the 3k, 5k, and ran the mile on the winning DMR team while leading them to the team title. Great running.

Nice Hill Workout

So today was a workout day. I was hoping to do a Tuesday/Thursday workout schedule this week but with the crazy snow/rain/wind on Tuesday then the cold and ice yesterday I ended up with just today to do my workout. I figured I would stick to the hills I was to do since I new "my hill" was clear of snow and ice. After a great warm up along the parkway I was ready to roll. I think the hill is about 400 to 500 meters long, it does not matter as I was just looking to keep it fresh, fast and strong. The first 2 where pretty hard but nothing like the last 3. Man I could feel the lactic acid building earlier with each one but I was able to keep the pace the same for all of them !!! My max heart rate was smoking but in a good way it felt good. I am not sure if I will try to sneak in something before the end of the week yet. I guess I will play in by ear. I ended up all in all today with 10 miles and 5 x hills.

Here are some good video's on a great runner in my mind. He had a tuff year last year but I am hoping he can come back hard this year. Good luck Buster !!!

Also some good reads......

If you like to catch up with some fast MN ultra runners like Helen and Joe Z check out Chad Austin's Running MN blog.

Gate River Run 15k

This weekend is the USA 15k road championship at the Gate River Run in Florida. As a big running geek I love to follow this stuff. One thing that is real fun as well is watching to see how my friends on Team USA MN are doing at these races. This year there is a big group from the team going to run. The fields are super stacked !!!

Some of the big names running on the mens side are Fasil Bizuneh, Daniel Browne, Fernando Cabada, Andrew Carlson, James Carney, Ian Dobson, Anthony Famiglietti, Matthew Gabrielson, Jason Lehmkuhle, Chris Lundstrom, Joshua Moen, Dathan Ritzenhein, Jorge Torres. On the womens side they are Emily Brown, Colleen De Reuck, Elva Dryer, Katie McGregor, Kate O'Neill. Now if I had to my best guess on what the top 5 will look like this is what I would guess....

Mens:
1)Dathan
2)Fam
3)Jorge
4)Matty G
5)Andrew Carlson

Womens:
1)Katie M
2)Emily B
3)Elva
4)Colleen
5)someone from the pack

You can find more info for this race at USATF site

SEB COE vs STEVE OVETT 'CLASH OF TITANS'

These two runners are two of the greatest 800/1500 meter runners ever. They went back in forth over and over with the world record. Take a watch.

OK GO !!

One more week down and one more good week of running. Man I think that is 3 weeks in a row, knock on some wood !!! This last week had it all for me. A good long run, some up tempo running, a little hill sprinting. I felt very well rounded at weeks end. I have been enjoying adding in the workouts. I like running as much as the next person but it is fun to mix it up.

This was my 2 week of hill sprints. It seems crazy to run as hard as you can for only 12 sec up a very steep hill but man what a great workout. I also added in some up tempo work of repeats of two min's with 1 min rest in between. These got better as the number of rep's where added. Lastly I had a great long run with a 20 min tempo added into the middle of the run. I did this workout with Adam before work last Saturday. We ran from the store out 7 1/2 miles for the warm up. Now our warm up was a bit faster than I normally do this in as we kept clicking off 6:45 miles. When we started out the tempo Adam dropped it down to like 5:30 pace where I kept a smooth 5:50 ish min pace. All in all a good work out. I think that was the fastest 15 miles I have run in some time. I think the whole run took us like 1:32 !!! The cool down did not even seem to slow down for cying out loud.

All in all it was a 68 mile week in 6 runs. A good miles per run average I thought. One more good week of running then I will test myself some at the St Patty's Human Race 8k in St Paul.

Here is also a good link to a Running Times artice on coach Brad Hudson's training. I have read his book in the last few weeks and found many good idea's.

Solid

I can say I felt like I had a very solid weekend overall. I got in two pretty good runs and had a very busy day at work on Saturday !!!

On Saturday the day started very early since I needed to be at work by 7:45am to meet one of the MDRA marathon training groups. They where having a team store day at the store so I opened it up early for them. By 10am when we normally are open it was bang off to the races. Starting this time of the year with people training for all the spring and summer races plus with all the high school kids coming in for track which starts next week it gets very crazy. I often think heck who needs to run when you are running back and forth all day long !! With that said Nick did drag me out after my 9+ hour day at work. I ran down to the band shell to meet up with him. At first I was not to happy about this since all I wanted to do was sleep. But in the end it was a very good run !!! I ended up with 6 miles for the night. I felt good but did not want to do much more since I knew I was running 20 miles the next day with Paul.

Sunday I met up with Paul for a 20 miler on the Mkta LRT trail. I just needed to get off the roads for this one. The gravel and little snow was good on the legs. Adam ran with us for the first 12 miles then we added on. I could tell I was going farther than I have for sometime around 2 hours but by 2:10 I was doing good. We ended up with 2:23 good for a solid 20 mile run. This run gave me some good confidence that I am doing better than I feel most times. I got to keep it up as we have 16 weeks till Grandma's Marathon !!! Yesterday was day 1.

By the way did I mention I signed up for Grandma's !!!! They have my $$ now it is time to suck it up. This week I need to get all taken care of for Leadville as well.
The week ended up with 59 miles on 6 runs. Not bad but still a bit lacking for me.