TT Running Club

“Another milestone today in my non-running training program (weights, etc.): I surpassed 10,000 crunches since I started doing them in May of last year. Abs of steel!


Hey, where's coach aero been?”

“Bowlderman, I love that you have records of everything you do. Congrats on the 10,000 crunches!!!

Did my longest trailrun today. 17 miles(with a 10 pound pack).I was hoping for 18 but was too worn out . I noticed prior to my run that my shoes (montrail hurricane ridge gtx) had matching holes on each shoe. What bums me out is that there are only like 100 bping miles on the shoes and maybe 200 trail running miles. The goretex is intacked but the outer is torn, they were new last July.

Tried out my new REI gaitors too...very nice and super comfy without being too warm (it was low 60's when I started).
I got a small zippered pouch that hangs from my sternum strap. Its about 40 cui really light (silnylon). Very convenient for snack food, a touch bouncy. Its a "Team Pouch" by Golite,$15. A bargain ...
My camelbak mule is still my favorite pack for long trail runs, enough space for my keys,headlamp, TP and socks etc...plus a 100 ounce bladder.
A hard but fun run, learned quite a bit.”

“birch, very impressive. How long did it take you. I can't even imagine running that far. I have seen that pouch by Go lite and have thought about ordering it.”

“Yow! 17 miles! Way to go, birch! And outdoors, too!”

“ewker, it took my 2hr 58 min 30 sec. Slower then I had hoped but not a big deal, I was more concerned with the distance.”

“Birch, I was just curious as to how long it took. Dang 3 hrs of running and you would have to scrap my body up from the ground.”

“Realized another minor goal last night. I've always wanted to be able to run around my "block", which a rectangular country block a little more than 6 miles. I've run longer this spring but the weather and snow banks on the road sent me to the rail trail, until now. No more driving to run...

Good news (for the training schedule at least); I got laid off, again, for a minimum of 4 weeks.”

“Well, should we be glad or sad for you, Subtil?
Another milestone for me, also. I got laid and haven't run since Sunday. Gotta get out this weekend.”

“well, congrats on that "milestone" there, D! how long's it been? LOLOL!! or did you mean "laid up"? if so, that sucks!”

“Easy, lyra, or Matt'll change the icon for this thread to "fuego"....”

“lmao dun! Congrats, does this mean there's a kid on the way?”

“Ooooo... Fuego! Fuego!”

“The women's oly trials for the marathon are coming up on 4/3. I came across the media guide. Lots of interesting info. California has the most qualifiers and entrants; even Billings, MT has an entrant: Kathy Aragon, who is about the 5th oldest qualifier. Do you know her, aero?? The oldest qualifier is none other than Joan Benoit Samuelson, at age 46 (she ran a 2:42 to qualify). The top qualifier is Deena (Drossin) Kastor, with a 2:21 time. There's also relatively new citizen Colleen de Reuck, formerly of South Africa. Should be interesting....”

“Just finished a wonderful 7.9 mile run with the wifey,joggin stroller and two dogs (the whole fam-damily). A bit windy and cool but nice. I have now run my farthest week ever, 40.9 miles!!!”

“Had a great 5K race Saturday morning, at the Zilwaukee High School. First time I've ever ran there. Almost set a new PR. It was warm and pleasant for a change. My wife ran well and set a PR for herself (27:59, great for someone who stopped smoking and started running only 5 weeks ago!)

Went home and grabbed a sandwich then went to the local community center for the lap swim.
Everyone must have been outside enjoying the mild weather because the pool was almost empty. I swam 3K without stopping; no one to get in my way and no problems with the goggles.

Did my long run Sunday. 16 miles along the rail trail in excellent weather. It's getting much more crwoded with the warm weather but most everyone is so friendly as to make it a lot of fun. Took me 3 hrs 5 minutes. Sure feel slow...
Topped it all off with 2 hrs rollerblading Sun night. For some reason, I think skating afterward makes my leg muscles hurt less.

9 weeks 'till my first marathon!!!”

“Geez LeSubtil, you're non-stop! Sounds like a great weekend. Great job on the 5K PR.”

“Thanks Sass, it was a fun weekend.
Are you feeling better?

Great week Birch, over 40 miles!
How many days do you run?

I got 34, my farthest week also.

There's a 1/2 marathon next week in Flushing I was going to run but it looks like I'll be in Traverse City with our kids on spring break instead. The great thing is I can do my long run alongside the bay, on the route of the Memorial Weekend marathon.”

“Well, at my advanced age, it seemed momentous enough to mention.
However, I'm applying to be re-admitted into the TT running club. I ran 7 on Friday and Saturday and did my hill run on Sunday. I promise I'll be a good boy from now on.
Hey, Le, congratulate your wife on her 5K. I'd say you have a serious runner there.”

“Wow, sub-28 on her first try after only 5 weeks of running? And not smoking? Holy cow, that's great....

Congrats to you, too, L.

Good job on the 40+ week, birch. It's been a loooooong time since I've run that much.

3.5-hour workout for me yesterday: 2.25 baseball practice (somehow I end up running around as much as the kids do - I even dove after a line drive (didn't make the catch, though)), then a 75-minute 9-miler. Man, my legs didn't feel like they were attached to my body during that run - whew! Then there was that 4 hours of painting the dining and living rooms in the afternoon. Wow, was I ever pooped....”

“almost back to normal LS, back to running normal mileage at least. doing alot of hacking along the way.

Birch ran five days last week.”

“LeSubtil, good job on 34 miles. I have found (maybe I said this before) that running anything over 3o miles really becomes a lifestyle. It becomes a huge time spender for sure...Kudos to Penny and her time!

You had asked aboit how many days a week I run...I run 4-5 depending on my mileage for the week. I scheduled a few 6 day wks but condensed the mileage into 5 days. I have found that I really need 2 rest days per week. Its just too much for me to do more, I think I would be tempting injury. This week for example is a 4 day week with a 7,9,13and 4 miler. Not too bad. You are gonna do awesome at your marathon in 9 wks.”

“Ran another 7 last night.
Interesting post, Birch. From what you've written, it looks like your regimen is working well for you.
I'm going to try to get up to at least eight miles for five days a week, and a longer run on the weekend. For now, I'm just getting back in shape, so I want to take it slow and steady. However, I did sign up for a half-marathon race coming up on the 18th. I can't help but push the envelope a little. In any case, I don't have to be in top shape until October, when the Chicago Marathon comes up.
BTW, Hubcap, are you going to run the Chicago this year?”

“Dunaden what's the story,is the Chicago marathon just the most fun or what? Don't they have marathons in KS? My Uncle from Wichita did the Chicago last year. Maybe it'd be a good goal after the half trail marathon and the adventure race......”

“Yes, the Chicago marathon is on the to do list this year. It seems that last year all I did was constant training up to October. I'm changing that up this season and am going to do more races - starting with a 30K trail race on 5/2. Then I'm going to do either the Chicago Lakeshore marathon on 5/31 or a local half marathon on 6/6.”

“Ugh! Went out to do my weekly tempo run last night and could barely even finish 3 miles at a snail's pace! I felt a little fatigued in the beginning, but when it came time to ratchet up the speed to get my heart rate in the tempo run range, my legs wouldn't even go fast enough to get me there. Guess that 9-miler after 2+ hours of baseball practice on Sunday did me in. Hope my legs regain feeling within a day or two....”

“BM, glad you posted that. I did the same thing Sat. I went out to run 7 miles but I just couldn't get into it. I did 3 miles and it felt like it kicked my butt.
Glad to know I am not the only one who had that problem.”

“Woo-hoo! Knocked 1:30 off my 5.5 time. Still not super fast but that's okay, getting faster. 53:30.”

“Way to go, Sass! I gave my dead legs a "break" yesterday - my workout was riding the bike in to work (about 6 miles each way, flat). We'll see how they feel today....”

“THanks BM! I can't wait until it's warmer around here and I can ride to work. It's exactly 8 miles each way. I've got a great route that keeps me off the main rds already picked out.”

“Still feeling very dead, even having a hard time at work, yawning all the time, etc. Finally figured it out: I haven't had a day without a workout in 2 weeks, and 3 of those days I did 2 workouts! That doesn't even count the baseball practices. Whew! Well, gotta get the workouts in when you can. I'll do both weights and a short run at noon today, then baseball practice this afternoon, then I hope to get up early and do a 9-miler around a nearby lake in the hills (site of previous deer and rattlesnake sightings!).”

“I have two friends from Billings running in the Women's Olympic Marathon Trials today in St. Louis. They're both about 42 and one of them has run in 3 trials over the years. One has 3 kids and the other has 2! They're a couple of kick-ass women!!

They don't have much of a shot at making the team, but they qualified with someting in the 2:46-48 range! The qualifying time was 2:50.”

“I used to run track and xcountry in school. But, I sorta gave it up for a loooong time. Then, I started running a bunch last year. Mostly on a local trail w/ my dad. We'd bike to it (about 2.5 miles each way), run the trail, and then bike back. By the end of the year, I ran a couple 5ks. For some reason, I was never able to get much quicker than 10:30 min miles. My lungs were giving out long before my body was tired. And, it was frustrating enough that I had started to put less energy into running and focusing on other things instead.

I had an annual physical last week and the doctor decided she wanted me to start using an inhaler when exercising (something that starts w/ an A). And, I used it for the first time this morning and wouldn't you know... I ran the 2.4 mile trail in 22:30, just over 9:35 min miles. That's a full minute off my regular mile. I guess that was all it took. Problem solved...”

“Hey aero! How did your friends do in the Trials?? I think I posted on this thread a while back that someone from Billings was in it and asked if you knew her - guess you missed that....

I did my planned 9+ miler on Saturday. It was a beautiful morning. No deer or snakes, but I saw two unbelievably gigantic wild turkeys! I didn't even know we had wild turkeys around here....”

“Yeah, Aero, enquiring minds want to know how your ex-girlfriends did in the Olympic trials. They are truly hardcore for running those kind of times.
I had fantasies of trying out for the Olympic marathon team but, after running a three-hour marathon, I realized the commitment it would take to make 2:30.
Last week, I put in two sevens and two eights. My wife rode a bike alongside my last run of eight and I nailed nine-minute miles. Slowly but surely, the old fat man is getting in shape.
Bowlder, you running on the side of Mt. Tam? I did an up to the top and down once. It was a killer.”

“Well, they didn't have a good run- the wheels fell off! One of the women had plantar faciatis (bone spurs) in both heels going in. She had cortisone shots in each heel to help get her through the race but about all she could do was finish. The other woman just had problems with her calves cramping up. It was about their slowest marathon ever. I don't think either one had been over 3 hours before so it was a long day I'm sure.

I did have another friend running that I forgot to mention. She's from Deer Lodge and placed 19th in 2:40. She's close to qualiying for the 10,000 meter trials.

She's only about 33 though!”

“What time do you have to have to qualify as Aero's friend?”

“All my girlfriends have to be able to break three hours.

Guys just have to bring a six-pack!”

“Excellent - I'm in!!

Too bad about your friends who had poor races, aero. I guess that's the thing I never liked about marathons - it's such a huge investment in training, etc., then you might have some injury or just have a bad day that day. I suppose that's somewhat true in other distances, too, only with a marathon you're out of action for at least several weeks after your attempt, while you could probably run a 10k every week if you wanted.

I haven't had a chance to peruse the results yet - I'll go check them out and report any interesting stuff....”

“Hey, Dun. I've run the Dipsea course a couple of times. I've never been too interested in the official Dipsea race - too much hassle to get in, not to mention how crowded it is during the race. But the Dolphin South End club does a "practice Dipsea" every year the week before the real race, and I did that a few times. Great course. I ran really well the first time I did it because it was foggy and I was afraid I'd get lost if I didn't keep up with the guy in front of me. Each time I ran it I also jogged back to the start (didn't do a car shuttle), making it a pretty tough 14-miler!

Have you ever seen that Bruce Dern movie "On the Edge"?”

“Most notable name absent from the finish results from Saturday: Joan Benoit Samuelson. DNF? DNS?”

“Team results just in from my 12k on 3/21. Our team came in 2nd, giving us a solid hold on 2nd place for the season. I even scored on our "B" team - no points (only 1 team per club actually gets points), but we counted for 7th place, displacing one team down to 8th (so they got 8 points instead of 10, or something like that).”

“Just hunted around on the usatf.org web site - Joanie is listed as "scratched," along with about a dozen others....”

“After taking last week off (home improvements were piling up) I am back at it. 5miles yesterday with my two dogs in my left hand and my right hand holding the jogging stroller with my 3 year old. This begins my season of hard runs while getting odd looks by passersby. Its prolly quite a sight. Controlled chaos really...39minutes yesterday not bad at all.

Did another 5 today 37 minutes even. I am VERY happy with that. I am now a slim and trim 191.5 so thats like super duper hyper drive for me. Follwed up my run witha 6.4 mile trail bike ride. It went well except for the whole flipping over the handle bars incident. Marathon is in less then 3 weeks.”

“Ouch! Everything still in the right place birch?”

“birch - hoping you got all the sand out of your 2 day growth!

Thanks for the toe tag note on the truck! Next week my aim is to be locked, loaded and ready for the ride. Hope to see you there. Did the same trail, no hbar flips for me :-)

Congrats on the 191 and the 5 mile time. Go team FUBAR!!!”

“Yeah, Bowlder, I have seen the Bruce Dern movie where they all cross the line holding hands.
I had completely forgotten about the Dipsea. Tough race. Too scary for me to enter when I lived there. My ascent and descent was strictly a personal thing.
I lengthened my hill run by a mile and felt better after it, yesterday, than I've felt since I started getting back in shape. I'm actually looking forward to the half-marathon on the 18th, which shows how deluded I have become. The longer the distance, the greater the hallucinations.”

“About two weeks until my half. I knocked a bit more time off of my run on Tuesday, did 6 in 56:13. Hoping to do the entire 6 at a 9:13 pace tomorrow. =) I wish it would be warm enough to run outside w/ the kiddo in the morning. I hate treadmills.”

“Good hallucinations are the key to successful training!!

Hang in there, Sass - before you know it it will be 90 degrees and 85 percent humidity!”

“Dunadan, the hallucinations are what make running so fun, LOL!

Me and Sass did a great 10 miler today (her first ever), 1hour 39min. I am so impressed with her progress,she started running 3 days shy of 3 months ago and is up to 10 miles...that rocks.

She had her first "near car experience" too. The lady turned through an intersection while we were just starting to cross (us and our daughter in a jogging stroller). Sass gave the woman a "courtesy tap" on her trunk as she drove by. The woman proceeded to follow us and yell about how she had the right of way and that we needed to check her car for damage. Sass responded "why dont we call the police?" The woman said " if there is damage I am gonna get you". She then ran through a yield in a residential neighborhood and tried to block our way, Sass sped up and acted like she was gonna whack the trunk again. The lady tore off like a mad-woman. We then had to explain to our daughter why the lady was mad. It would be funny if these types of "near car experiences" werent so common.”

“I did my first trail run today. I ran the hilliest 2.5 miles we have around here. Quite different than the rail-trail! I need lots more trail time before that half marathon in 2 weeks.”