A Great Training Week and Relaxing Weekend Away

Date: 9/1/14
Current Weight: 180 lbs
Total Miles Last Week: 43
Long Run This Past Weekend: 16 miles (on Central Lakes Trail - Alexandria thru Garfield, MN)

Stairs @ Urban Trail Half last weekend

Last weekend closed out with a great 13 miles on the MN River Bottom's trail at a relaxed pace. It was a great way to reflect on a couple good weeks of training, and a good effort at the Urban Trail Half-Marathon the day prior. Turns out that in addition to improving my time by 23 minutes, I also improved my placing in the race from a not so great 94th out of 194 last year, to 23rd out of 174 this year. A great improvement, and only a minute per mile from being top 10. I'm looking forward to hitting the course again next year to see what I can do with another years training. 

@ MN River Bottoms last weekend

This week was difficult for training, with lots going on both in my work life and personal life. I got my workouts in by getting out of bed at 4am most days and sneaking them in prior to my first appointments of the day. I have also grown to LOVE doing two-a-day's. Not only do they allow me to really make the most of my tempo and speed work days by giving me rest between bouts, but they also allow me to get in each workout in a half hours time. My current training schedule would not be possible running just once per day every day of the week. Even with the extra early workouts this week, I had one of the best training weeks so far this summer. I hit some great tempo work early in the week, and I am getting very comfortable below a 7:30 pace (my half-marathon goal pace). I even did one of my tempo runs at an average of 6:54/mi early in the week with surprisingly easy effort. It is clear that the combo of the focused workouts and increase in miles this summer is really paying off, and I'm excited to bring my training with me to the Wheels-Off Half Marathon on 9/13, where I hope to walk away with a new half-marathon personal record. 

This week I also had the pleasure of getting to hear the results of two of my favorite clients reaching their goals at their respective events. One client participated in the St. Croix Triathlon with his son, and got his best time ever at that course (he's done the event 3x). The other client, who I've had the pleasure of helping turn her life and health around totally over the past 24 months, completed her first half-marathon at the "Women Rock Half Marathon" in St. Paul, MN. Congrats to both of them on their accomplishments! 

Me and "Big Ole" in Alexandria 

For the Labor Day Weekend I went up with family to Alexandria, MN for a camping weekend. In addition to a great relaxing week of fishing and sitting around the fire, I also managed to check out a couple of enjoyable running spots. The first was the Central Lakes Trail, which extends 55 miles through the lakes region on North Western MN. I took the trail from "Big Ole," a statue of a viking in Alexandria, to just past Garfield, MN. It is just about the flattest trail I've ever run, but it was a great trail for a relaxed Saturday long run. I ended up doing a very relaxed pace 2:45, coming in with 16 miles. On Sunday I traveled a couple miles to a closed Ski Resort near Alexandria and enjoyed a nice 5 mile run along their cross country trails and a few of their downhill slopes. Later on Saturday we also checked out "Inspiration Point" which features a .25 mile trail at about 15-20 degrees of incline up 400ft. It is the highest point in the county and I of course had to summit the peak twice, once with my family, and a second time to prove to myself that I could run the entire trail non-stop to the top (which of course I could :-) ). It was a fun weekend and an enjoyable week overall despite a bit of sleep deprivation.

Top of "Inspiration Point"

This week will be much like the last with a few more low-intensity miles mixed in. The weather has been perfect, and I'm looking forward to enjoying the trails some more as we get into fall.