brrrr but a great day outside

DBF and I went cross-country skiing today. This is at Shelburne Farms, looking towards Lake Champlain and then a bit further, across the lake, the mountains you see are the Adirondacks in New York. Shelburne Farms was Lila Vanderbilt Webb's agricultural estate. Nice nice piece of property, and now a National Historic Landmark. It's still a working farm, has an Inn open during summer, and the grounds are open during the winter so folks can ski/snowshoe for free.

Skied for a little over an hour before nature called and went in for a bio-break. At that point, we called it a day. I'll count that as the equivalent to 4-5 easy miles.

Wow, so the gym is packed these days. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at that? Lots of folks with New Years Resolutions to get fit and healthy.

Now, normally, I get annoyed by the fact that all these new faces pack the gym for the first month or two of the year - and HEY BUDDY, get off my treadmill. But, I was completely inconsistent the last 4-5 months of 2009, and now I am one of the New Years Resolutionists. So I will keep my trap shut about how crowded it is. LOL.

Anyways, I've been doing just mixed cardio the last few days. We got 30" of snow over the weekend - yes, you read that right, 30" - and I think I pulled a muscle in my left lower back. That's been a bit ginger, so I'm doing light stuff to warm up and loosen the muscles. I'll try for a run tonight.

See above for what 30" of snow looks like.

Welcome to 2010!

I got to the gym yesterday afternoon for a workout. 40 minutes of mixed cardio (treadmill and elliptical). Then a good stretching session.

Back at it today with 4-5 miles. Heading over there now. Normally, I would expect complete madness since it's the first day of the year, but given it's a holiday, it should be fine. NEXT WEEK, though, when everyone is back to work, and going to the gym after work - well, that's when it'll be zooey. I'm not looking forward to that.

2010 plans and goals

My running goals/plans for 2010 are shaping up as follows:

1.) get back to "fighting weight." 4-5 months of focused effort should do the trick.
2.) work up to a mileage base of 30 miles/week by April/May timeframe and hold there through June.
3.) Starting in June/July, start working in some doubles in prep for 100-on-100 Relay on August 14th.
4.) Starting in July, training season for NYC Marathon starts.
5.) Blow my marathon PR out of the water.

and I may try for:
6.) a yearly mileage goal of 1200-1400 miles. Just not sure how to come up with a goal number given the peaks and valleys of training cycles.

It's been a while since I've posted here. Not a lot to say for myself really. I've been in a bit of a mental slump. We're in the dark cold season here in VT, and especially the last month or so with the short-and-getting-shorter days, it's been very tough to motivate to do anything. All I've wanted to do is go home after work, make soup, and curl up on the couch under a blanket. :-)

But we passed the shortest day of the year yesterday, the tide has turned, and it's time to get my tail in gear.

My main goal this time of year is consistency with number of days that I'm running. I'm shooting for 4 days/week right now, and not focusing on length of run. I just need to get out the door, into the gym, and get moving (oh yeah, I'm a treadmill runner for the winter).

I'll report back in regularly.

about 90%

I've been sick for the past 2 weeks with a sore throat then head congestion then cough and laryngitis then general cold. All with a lack of sleep.

However, I'm happy to say that I'm finally feeling pretty good, have slept through the night for 3 nights running, and feel about 90% right now.

I'm going to try running tonight, treadmill at the gym since it's freezing out here. I'll be interested to see how my stamina has been affected - both by being sick, and by lack of running. (insert whistling emoticon here).

Pretty much at this point in the year, I'll be on the treadmill for all my weekday runs. It's getting dark earlier, and I'm a wimp with the dark and the cold. Weekend runs will still be outside until the snow clogs the sidewalk.

Decision made...

I officially cancelled my NYC Marathon entry this weekend, deferring until the 2010 race, and I'm confident it was the right thing to do. We're 7 weeks away from race day, and I decided to be realistic, given the continued stomach issues and my lack of quality long runs at this point due to the stomach issues. I'll still be in NYC that weekend, just as head cheerleader on race day.

I'm going to do a half up here on November 8th instead as my second fall race for Neuroblastoma research at MSKCC.

Other random notes... I'm back from my trip to the city - observed 9/11, spent time with friends, and went to the US Open. Rain wreaked havoc with the Open schedule, and my tickets for mens semis on Saturday (first match at 11 a.m. and second immediately after that) became Sunday (matches at noon and 4:30 p.m.). So I saw the Nadal vs. Del Potro match - Del Potro was amazing. But I had to leave the Open to catch my flight at 7 p.m. Not a complete loss, though - it was a gorgeous day at the Open for the first match, and I saw the second match at the airport bar with an ice cold Corona or 2. Oh, I also went to the Met to see the Vermeer exhibit that just opened. Beautiful paintings.

I have 5 miles on tap for tonight after work, looking forward to working up a good sweat and getting the legs moving.

what to do, what to do

I'm in a muddle lately.

I've been debating, for weeks now, whether to run the NYC Marathon on November 1st, or to defer my entry until 2010. I haven't been able to finish a long run yet, due to stomach issues that seem to come on sometime around mile 6 or 7.

Two major issues come to mind:
1.) I haven't been able to finish a long run yet, so don't have the training on my legs or under my belt for race day, and
2.) Even if I can start the race, there's a good chance, based on the stomach issues I've had in my last few marathons, the 100-on-100, and my last few long training runs, that I'm going to end up walking the bulk of the marathon. I did that in 2008, walking the last 20, yes, you read that right, the last 20 miles. And it's just not how I envision my marathon.

I'm going to NY on marathon weekend. I have a flight down, and two nights of hotel booked. And I have my race entry, via the lottery. Which gives me the freedom to cancel. I can defer even up until the day before the race. So will keep training, keep trying to run long, and will hope for the best.

Worst case scenario, I found a half-marathon about 10 miles from home, the weekend AFTER New York. If I cancel NY, I can always do the half. That way, even if my stomach kicks in and I have to walk a bit, it won't be for that far.

My "100-on-100 Heart of Vermont Relay" race report

I'm not sure where to begin. Firstly, it was one of the most memorable weekends I've ever had. My 11 teammates (we have 2 teams of 6 running) come from all over the country. We're 3 VTers, 2 from IN, 1 from VA, 1 from MD, 1 from MA, 1 from IL, and 2 from NY. Anyways, I'm so fortunate to know them and to have spent quality (albeit smelly and stinky) time with all of them. We were truly a team, and this was really about pulling together and honoring Cody, the son of my teammate Mickey and his wife Diane, who passed away this March at age 6 of Neuroblastoma. It was an honor to run in Cody's name, and Cody was in mind a good portion of the day.

Saturday, we meet in the hotel lobby at 5:30 to head to Trapp Family Lodge. I'm a-skeered. Runner order for team 1 is: Eric, Scott, Elizabeth, Rick, Kerry, then Bill. We run in that order, and repeat 3 times. (Team 2 order is: Leslie, Ros, Karen, Tobes, Judy, and Mickey).

My 1st run:
This is my first run of the day, and it's 7.0 miles. It was still a bit fogged in when I started running. Legs feel good. Plenty of rolling hills, and I'm feeling comfortable. I get about a mile into my run, stop to stretch my calves and quads a bit, and keep going. I think our van passes me around mile 2 or so, cheering me out the window. Around mile 4 or so, though, my stomach starts acting up, very similar to the problem I had at NYC last year - I feel like throwing up when I'm running, so take it down to a power-walk until my stomach calms down. Start running again, feel like throwing up again. This goes on pretty much the rest of this leg. I get passed by about a million people, I reach the transition point and hand off to Rick. I was VERY frustrated at this point. My teammates were wonderful, reassuring me that they didn't care about my pace (or lack thereof).

My 2nd run:
This portion of the run is described as leaving the forest behind and entering pasturelands. They were telling the truth. It's 4.7 miles, mostly flat, but there is not a lick of shade to be found. NONE. ANYWHERE. It's a little over 90f, I'm absolutely roasting, and also still tremendously nauseous when running. I was running with a waist-pack water bottle carrier, and that's making my stomach worse - too much pressure around the stomach I think. When the team passes me at around mile 2, I give them that, and just take a water bottle. That helped, and they checked in on me again around mile 3. I run (a little) and walk (a lot) to finish out the leg and hand off to Rick again. I manage a good number of pretzels and a piece of bread, hoping that'll help.

My 3rd run:
This leg is 4.5 miles and described as: "Kill-ington Descent, sure to leave a lasting memory with those that take on the challenge." I get the hand-off from Scott, and take off. My stomach seems kinda okay, so I keep my stride smooth and low to the ground and keep running. The leg is rolling small and large hills for the first 2 miles or so, then all downhill from there. 1000 feet descent in 2.25 miles. I just keep running downhill, downhill, downhill. It actually felt pretty comfortable for me, although there were a few places where the slope would increase to a point where I was a little worried about taking a wipe-out. Just before the 4 mile marker, Karen from Cody Team II comes flying by me - yelling out something to the effect of "I'm out of control. I can't stop!" with a huge smile on her face. Anyways, I feel good and strong on this leg, and after the disasters of my first two run, am VERY pleased with this one. I hand off to Rick as dusk is setting in and away he goes.

The cameraderie of this race was awesome - we saw Team 2 out on the course, and at transition areas throughout the day. And as Mickey (Cody's dad, on Team 2) and Bill approached the finish, we all joined in and Teams 1 and 2 crossed the finish line together. I'll never forget that moment. Lots of hugs, and lots of thoughts of Cody.

We all had breakfast together Sunday morning, then hit the road, with folks going in different directions - back to MA, IN, VA, MD, IL, and NY.

GREAT GREAT race, and I'm definitely doing this next year.

p.s. That downhill run... Well, let's just say it's a little tough on the quads. :-)

Ha, a week into training season, and I've already changed my training plan. I'm swapping from Bob Glover's plan over to Hal Higdon. I like Hal's mid-week middle-distance runs. I'll be mixing it up between his Novice I and Novice II plans. Hey, who ever said this stuff was set in stone? :-)