Chippewa Moraine 50k is on................

Ok, I emailed Wynn Davis on Saturday concerning the Chippewa Moraine 50k and he has already gotten back to me. I had asked about the 11 hour cutoff as it seems very generous and Wynn confirmed it is. He said the course is rolling hills of single track, it sounds great. So, it appears that the Chippewa Moraine will be my first 50k attempt and since the cutoff is 11 hours, I can't imagine not finishing.

If this doesn't help my motivation to get in my mid-week runs than nothing will. The other thing, is this will be the first event since the Country Music Marathon (which Karyn and I did the inaugural and the 2nd but not the 3rd) that will be a first event streak that just maybe I can maintain. We thought about that with the CMM but that would have gotten expensive. Where as this is only a couple hours away.

So here is my updated plan, run for 4 hours Saturday and then go for it...........

Still more winter on the way but........

The but comes from a decent weekend of running in Lebanon Hills. The trails are still mostly snow covered but I can run on them with a bit of help on the shoes. Notice I said weekend, here are my totals for the week - Monday 5, Saturday 7.5, Sunday 16, do you see my problem, my motivation isn't quite here yet, maybe next week :-)

I ran Saturday with my Yak Trax and they slipped all over the place. The Yaks seem to work best in hard pack snow or ice. The snow is melting (yes) and that made the footing inconsistent which had my Yaks sliding on and around my shoes, a bit of a nuisance. So after that I decided to try screws in the shoes for my long run on Sunday. I had thought about doing this in the past but the Yaks had worked so I just hadn't bothered until now. So I googled "adding screws to shoes for running" and found a link that had the info needed, it was on the Skyrunner's web page which I have looked at before. It is actually Matt Carpenters webpage an ultra runner out of Colorado, take a look at his site.

On Sunday, I wanted to run between 15 and 17, the main point was to run for 3 and 1/2 hours give or take. I like to use my Nike+ to get an estimate of distance but many times on trails it seems to lose track so tend to run for time. I still like having it and for this run I listened to podcasts (Another Runner - Fit Talk Live (great new podcast from Adam Tinkoff and Dr. Monte (Fitness Rocks), Dave Ramsey, and a couple of Christian messages) for the entire run. Definitely different than music.

The screws worked fairly well, at least better than the Yaks. The trails are slippery, snow covered, wet and muddy but they beat the roads. I felt so-so at the start of the run and struggled for the first two hours. I added walk breaks on the uphills in snow or when the footing was a major issue. For fuel, I am still using Clif Shot Electrolyte Crisp Apple and I also had a couple of packets of Jelly Belly Sport Beans (Berry Blue) with. I took the first packet of beans about an hour and half in and they seemed to help or at least didn't hurt. I took the second packet of beans around 2 and 1/2 hours in and shortly there after finally kind of found my stride and pretty much ran the rest of the way in. The legs seemed better than I thought they would be and it was nice to have energy at the end. Outside of a few blisters, it was a real good day.

Which kind of gave me a thought that just maybe I could think about running the first Chippewa Moraine 50k on April 12th. I am not in good shape by any stretch but they have an 11 hour time limit and by my reckoning, I should be able to run 50k in under 8 with a bit of walking without major issues unless the course is extremely tough or completely snow packed. If I was in decent shape, I should be able to do in 6 or so, so 8 seems real doable. I have emailed the race director to find out how the course compares to other area trail locations. The race director is Wynn Davis who is a very good (meaning he wins races) ultra runner. Take a look at his blog for more info on Wynn.

So I will wait and see, I think I will go for 20 miles next weekend, if I can do that and if the course sounds ok and if the weather starts getting better and if the family doesn't have conflicts then just maybe I will try for my first 50k (I hope it all does as I would love to do it)..........................

Winter Blahs aren't quite over!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, last week when I posted that the blahs were over I was wrong. We had 6-8 inches of snow on Thursday into Friday. Even before that I only got in one run during the week. It was my fault of course as I let darkness, cold, work and other things distract me.

I did run 9 today with a plan to go 15 tomorrow but take a look at my last 7 weeks of running.



Do you see the same problem that I do, ok, not the marathon training program I had intended. So either I quit or I get myself motivated and stay that way.

It looks like we may get into the 40's this week, hopefully the snow will go and we can even see 50 soon. I need to get over my if it ain't 5 I don't go mindset. Actually I did have two 4's, I wonder why :-)

So the goal for next week will be to run 5 days no matter the distance.

Winter blahs are over..............

Well, it has been a few weeks since I last posted.

The lack of posts reflect my running as well. I had a cold for a week or so which sapped my strength and my motivation. The weather then stayed cold, dark and generally yucky. So the poor motivation won out. My weeks looked something like this 0-0-0-5-0-7-0. The good news is I am through it, the motivation is back (yes, it coincides with the weather getting into the 30's, even a couple of 40 degree days).

I ran in Lebanon Hills twice in the last week and am planning on doing my long run (~12-13 miles) there today. It is hard packed snow and ice, just what my Yak Trax were made for. It is so peaceful back in the woods. I can drift away mentally. When I run on the roads it just is so much harder to do this. I am hoping the weather continues to stay warmer along with the time change I can once again hit the woods with daylight. Maybe next winter I will get a light and try to run in the woods in the dark, even a day or two each month might be all it takes to keep me motivated.

Now, I need to stay on track for Fargo, otherwise it will be a long day. Here is my updated training plan.

3/15 - 12
3/22 - 14
3/29 - 16
4/06 - 18
4/13 - 20
4/20 - 15.5 (Trail Mix?)
4/27 - 22
5/03 - 17
5/10 - 11
5/17 - Fargo

What am I thinking, it will be a long day regardless but it will be a more enjoyable day if I do the training..............