Friday, May 18, 2007

TWF and VT100

Training for Vermont 100 and trying not to miss out on TWF (time with family) has been a constant challenge but worth every effort! Back on April 23rd I kicked off my 12 week training program and had my first long run on that Sunday April 29th. I was a little worried because over the past months I’ve been running by the motto quality over quantity. It was time to check in and see what my body could handle. Again as not to interfere with TWF I got up at the crack of dawn and was out on the roads by 5:30am. Luckily for me living in the city just two miles from my doorsteps is the 10-mile Blue Heron Trail Loop. I dabbled on the roads for about an hour then jumped on the Blue Heron Trail system for a good two loops. I made it back to the house at 9:30am in fairly good shape no major issues and excited to phase out the short hard speed workouts and move into the Long Slow Distance running stage of training, plus I had the rest of the day for TWF :-)

Training continues:
During the week I’ve been doing some doubles and had the chance get out on the Blue Heron Trail for a night run with the help and support of Kevin also (Sightseer66) on the Cool Running forum, stop in and check out his pictures from Wapack. (Kevin is currently in the process of running 4 marathons in 4 weeks and doing well. Way to go and good luck this weekend at Sugerloaf) We had a great time exploring the trails in the dark and at the end of the day it was a nice feeling to enter a double into the log books with a 7 mile run in the afternoon and a solid run in the evening; I see more of these down the road!
This past weekend I volunteered at the Wapack 50. Volunteering at Windblown Aid Station was a very humbling experience; it gave me the unique opportunity to be standing on the other side of the fence, I really enjoyed myself and it was especially nice to have the time to meet/greet everyone out there. I enjoyed meeting and working alongside Ron Farkash also running VT100 for the 1st time and talking running all day! I was briefly introduced to one of the founders of Inov-8 and introduced myself to Don Allison the editor of Ultra Running Magazine as he made his way into our aid station plus many others! What a wonderful community of runners.
Since then and after all the motivation from watching and supporting the runners on Saturday I headed out to the Tully Trail. This is an 22-mile loop trail that encircles the largely undeveloped Tully Valley in the North Quabbin Region of Central Massachusetts. From the summit of Tully Mountain to the cascading waters of Doane's Falls, the trail connects some of the region's most scenic properties and views. I attempted to run the 22-mile loop + some additional miles but had a very hard time following the trial; yellow spray paint markers were very faded and at times unclear and a little trail maintenance would have helped. I did enjoy the many scenic vistas of Jacobs Hill, Spirit Falls and Long Pond. I ended up doing a number of out-and-backs and small loops still got in 5 hours on my feet. Overall a good training run but I’m still upset I spent a lot of time walking around looking for trail signs, never got into a good rhythm, but it’s time on FEET that counts!

TWF is at the top of the list this weekend so my plan is to get up early Saturday for an easy 2-3 hour run and on Sunday morning drag myself over to Blue Hills. Then I’m usually on my feet for the remainder of the day playing with the kids, mowing the lawn, doing laundry, running errands, I should log this under the busy parent raising two kids with another on the way and trying to run 100 miles someday never-ending training run. Back when we were single and newly married I did nothing with my free time, absolute nothing and I had tons of it! I could have been running for days and nights but instead I was sitting around drinking beer, watching TV hanging out at bars which was a very fun thing at the time. How things have changed - - - -

Have a nice day