Journey to an Ultra: Week 18: Speeding things up

04/16/12 - 04/21/12

Tuesday: 8 Miles

Met up with Vern for a run over at syringa. We ended up exploring some new trails so actual mileage for the day could be more or less not sure, but we ran at a pretty good pace so I would guess more then less. I was feeling really good, my legs felt strong and I powered up the hills and cruised on the down hills. It was a great run, the sun came out a few times and I really enjoyed myself.

Wednesday: 2.5 miles

Today we celebrated Katie, Matthias, and my birthday. We planned to have family over for a party so I did what any "real" man would do I helped clean house all morning to get ready for the party. We had the party in the afternoon between lunch and dinner and for the first time in 17 days I ate sweets (lots of cake and ice cream). Well it kind of put me into hyper mode and I really wanted to go running before dinner, so I got most every thing ready for dinner (Katie's brother, his wife and 7 kids + Katie's sister and her 2 kids stayed for dinner) then slipped out for a short run. Since we still had company I didn't want to be gone too long so I ran 2.5 miles at Syringa in about 18 minutes. It was a little faster then I would normally run but it was short and it felt good to get in some speed work.

Friday: 6.7 miles

Ran 1.5 miles at the gym as a warm up to a back and shoulders lifting session. Directly after lifting I drove over to Syringa to run 5.2 more miles with Vern. Since I don't have a really long run this week I thought it would be a good idea to pick up the pace a little and work on some speed. I led the whole time while running and I tried to keep a good pace on both the uphill and downhill sections. We finished the 5.2 miles in 51 minutes and 2-3 of those minutes we were stashing gear at a junction of several trails, so total run time was closer to 48-49 minutes. I felt like there were a few sections I could have gone much faster on and despite the increase of speed I never felt like I was really pushing things. Overall I felt happy with my conditioning and about the prospect of getting even faster.

Saturday: 14 miles

Vern met me at my house at 6am but at the time of his arrival we weren't exactly sure where we wanted to run. Vern finally decide that he had time enough to go out to Green Bay and run the trail from Green Bay to Lost Lake. It was the right decision. It was the first time in a long time that I didn't run either Micikinnick or at Syringa so the change was nice. One of the things I love about Green Bay are the views of the lake, they are amazing plus the trail runs through large cedar groves and it just a great run not too steep or too flat. My legs felt good for the whole run and the last descent to the parking lot I ran extremely fast (it was probably about a 1/2 mile or so). The temps were in the lower 40's and the sky was overcast which made for comfortable running conditions and as promised the views of the lake were breathtaking. To add a few more miles to the run we also hit a side trail past Mud lake to bring our total to around 14 miles (out and back from Green Bay to Lost lake is 11 miles). Great outing, loved it. On a side note I was wearing another pare of new shoes for this run Montrail Bajada, so far I really like them and I plan to run my race in them I guess I'll really see how the do on my 31 mile run next week.

Total Miles: 31

This was the first week this year that I didn't have to wear tights at all, Yeah! not that I hate my tights but it is a sure sign that things are warming up. I really backed down the mileage this week, it wasn't because my legs were sore or tired in fact they are feeling really strong I just thought it a good plan to insure that I don't over do it so close to my 31 miler next week.