Week ending 26DEC2021

Monday - well, nice weather and rested so I got out.  10 miles with strides at the end.  Checked out the new sidewalk on the Dillon climb.  It is good.  

Tuesday AM - Eagle practice and ran with Matt C, Rebecca T, and GW.  5.3 miles
Afternoon - 3.7 on the ditch

Wednesday AM - Eagle practice.  7.4 miles, with 20 minutes on nomination fartlek with the kiddos. Some good work. 

Thursday AM - Eagle practice with GW, Rebecca, Matt and Abby G.  10.4 miles total.  

Friday AM - Eagle practice.  20 minute warm up with GW, Eryn, Syd kid, her sister and Matt C.  Then 3 mile fartlek on the track with 6 laps at 250 on, 150 off and then the flip of that for the next six laps.  Then jumped in last 2k of a threshold with Braun.  10.1 miles.  Hung out and watched Ethan rip some fast shit as the weather degraded.  

Saturday mid day - 10.1 miles.  Not great but sorta expected with the hubbabaloo. 

Sunday mid day - 8.1 miles as the front blew in and the temps dropped.  Didn't feel super wonderful.  65 something on the week.  

I haven't tracked it this year the way I have in past years (meaning a detailed spreadsheet I manage) but Strava tells me that I have 2600 miles and 400 hours this year after this week.  I had 2760 and change last year, but this year was a slow start, and with only a handful of weeks over 60.   I am pretty sure that the year is in the hunt for the low number of miles to high number of time ratio crown.  It has been a grind to get back at all of it with some regularity, but I am glad I am able.  

I was thinking I ought to do some music gig stats.  I know my first "real" show came at Rails on April 1st.  I also had a solo gigs at Roots, the Farmer's Market, Front Range, and Mother Tuckers There were a handful of Spare Change shows as well.  I am supposed to have four solo gigs the first three months of 2022, but that might go sideways with COVID.  I'll look to actually make tracks on recording some of my own tracks and posting those somewhere in 2022.  

Week ending 19DEC2021

Monday - day got away from me with "stuff."  So, zilch.  Gonna be a week like that on whole.  

Tuesday AM - got out with GW and Syd Kid over at E-Kennedy field.  She had 10x300 on 200 rest so I jumped into that.  A bit tough for me to get moving at 6:30 in 30 degrees but whatever.  6.5 miles.  Oh, yeah, they were slow (67 down to 63).

Latest cover with an old hat.  

Wednesday - stupid windy.  Like constant 40 mph, with gusts greater than that.  So I didn't go outside.  Gonna be a low ball week.  

Thursday - 7.5 miles, tempo threshold progression thing.  

Friday - drove all day to Iowa.  Was dumb and stayed up late last night at open mic, which made a 3AM get up pretty hard.  Was told at the open mic last night by the guy who runs it that I need to stay away from doing protest songs that say "f@#k the military and god."  I asked what song I did that said that and he wasn't sure.  I guess I should be happy that my music is moving someone.  

Saturday - 5 easy miles on the ISU XC course with JZ.  Cold.  Like maybe 20 but a tough wind that had a humid bite.  

\

 

Oh yeah, KZ graduated. 

Sunday - and an all day drive back.  Crap week for running with three days off I guess but to be expected with the graduation thing in Ames.  The wind mid week also got me to bail. Not even 20 on the week.  Oof.

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Week ending 12DEC2021

Monday mid day - 5 miles on Ridgeview ditch
PM - afternoon practice, 4.6 miles
It is finally chilly.

Tuesday AM - 4.2 miles, easy with GW and kids at the track
PM - broken threshold prog from the door out on the ditch and back (3.7 miles).  13:30 out, quick chat with KZ and then back in 12:50.  

Wednesday afternoon - pretty unmotivated, but managed to slog around for 6.3 in a windy afternoon.

Thursday - 9.6 miles.

Friday - 8.3 around practice.  Windy, and with it a bit of a bite on the air.  3 minute segments with the kiddos.

Saturday 8.7 miles.  Ugh.  Just horrible.  But got it in.  

Sunday AM - 9.2 with GW and Syd Kid.  

Not a great week.  I guess I got in two "quality" sessions and almost 60 miles so that is ok, but it felt sorta like a bit of a slide back on whole.  

Week ending 05DEC2021

Monday AM - with GW in little circles on the infield of the track.  5 miles.  Strava tells me I ticked 2400 on the year yesterday. 

PM - 4 miles on Lake Link with strides embedded.  

Tuesday AM - 8.3 miles with 2 miles of fartlek, 200m on, 200 off.   Was hitting 41,42 on the 200s.

239 miles in November, 10k feet of climb, 2 races, and a day off.  Meh, but better than it has been.

Been digging Bruce lately.

Wednesday AM - 8 miles with GW around practice.  Easy and felt pretty good.  

Thursday dusk - 7.5 miles, Ditch to Commons to Ridgeview loop.  

Friday afternoon  - 4.3 miles on the ditch.  Strides to round it out.  A "pre-meet" in light of Park Run on Saturday.  

Saturday AM - another crack at the South Boulder Creek Park Run.  Two weeks ago here I went 6:29, 6:45, 6:42, for a 20:50, or averaging 6:38 pace.  Encouraged by a 6:31 pace for something just shy of 5k on Thanksgiving I had hoped for something averaging at or better than that pace.  I also knew a couple of weeks ago, I ditched a race plan about 2 minutes into the race and went ahead of a couple of guys who then caught me around 2 and quarter in.  I didn't want that to happen again.

But it nearly did, exactly.  But not quite.  

I got out more carefully - 6:34, which is not a lot different but it was much better balanced (I think I hit a half in about 3:10 two weeks ago).  But I found it difficult to sit behind a competitor who blew me up a couple of weeks back, and so after some mental debate, I again ditched the race plan and left him (yes, he caught me again with about a mile to go and beat me by about 30 seconds).  

I struggled again on the stretch to the south, posting a a 6:47 this go around.  In the virtual race against myself, I would be 50 yards behind me this week at 2 miles.  I did manage to do a bit better in the last mile 6:37 and finished again in 20:50 (maybe 20:49 but Parkrun put me at 20:50).  I was a bit disappointed but I guess it is not greatly surprising.  

I checked on Strava how the guy who whipped up on me in the last mile over the last two weeks did it and I determined - yes he is going very slow in the first mile (6:48 two weeks ago, 6:45 this go around) and really picks it up the last mile (6:15, 6:14 over the last two weeks).  I am not going to subscribe to that much of a shift in a negative split.  

10 and change on the day.  

Sunday - coordinated with Syd Kid and we got in 9 plus miles at sunrise.  

56 high something on the week.  It is getting where I probably need to be a bit more detailed in training to expect a shift in results (v. exercising).   

It has been a ridiculously warm and easy to train in December.  The Sunday AM run was in t-shirt and shorts at 6:30 in the morning.  There has only been one spit of snow this "winter" to speak of.  While it is nice, it does not bode well.  

Oh yeah, so all those videos of me doing music?  Yeah, they are all loaded over on YouTube.  They each get like 10 hits.  Maybe 30 if they sort of take off.  I have one I did of "Maggie's Song" that has oddly got like 800.  But this one where I video'd the band doing "Joy of My Life"  ... 17,000 and climbing.  

And from the time flies meme ... this was five years ago now.