Lucy, our dog, gave me the look this AM. The “when in the name of Lassie are we going to get out and really get after it?” I get Lucy out for a couple runs a week, but the short ones only put her off for so long. This time of year, she really enjoys the long run, in the snow, over hill and dale …
So, given today was an easy day, I agreed. We headed to Chautauqua with the mission to do the round trip to Green and back. For me, this was just to be an easy mid-long run where I got a good slow burn. Last season, I went to Green and Bear as much as I could, probably to the point of a fault. I became so tied to these runs, I skipped speed work. Given the choice of a track workout or banging up Green hard, I chose the climb. Fact is, I need to do both climbs and regular flat turnover work. Fact was, I did not do both. Knowing that now (actually, I knew it then, I just chose to ignore it), I do want to keep more of a balance … right now, my focus is on getting a step back (and hence speed work is more of an element of my training at this point) but I don’t want to skip the mountains altogether. For this block-phase, I will try to get out to these hills once a week, just to remind the muscles of the "joy" of a long climb.
I took it real easy. After thrashing around in Chautauqua (as I started on the wrong trail, and with all the sledding, the regular trails are not really there ... and frankly, I was just stupid about how I got started), I headed up Gregory to Ranger to Green summit. The trail was well established up Gregory (although icy in that part). After the split for Ranger – Greenman, the trail … well, sort of
disappeared! I am familiar with the path up there, and the trees make it obvious, and you could sort of tell where it had been but it was nearly all blown over (drifted in). A good deal of this became a power hike as I was post-holing in a good number of parts. My feet got pretty wet and cold but that comes with this sort of "running."
Lucy was barely patient with me. She kept looking back at me with her four paw drive, as if to ask “what the hell is your problem? Can’t you go faster than that?” We reached the summit in 70+, hung out for a few minutes and then came down in 45+. Round trip: 8 miles, 2 hours. Good slow burn. My ankles were yelling on the way down with all the turning they were doing but nothing serious.
I nearly ate the door off the fridge when I got home. And Lucy slept well (for now).
So, given today was an easy day, I agreed. We headed to Chautauqua with the mission to do the round trip to Green and back. For me, this was just to be an easy mid-long run where I got a good slow burn. Last season, I went to Green and Bear as much as I could, probably to the point of a fault. I became so tied to these runs, I skipped speed work. Given the choice of a track workout or banging up Green hard, I chose the climb. Fact is, I need to do both climbs and regular flat turnover work. Fact was, I did not do both. Knowing that now (actually, I knew it then, I just chose to ignore it), I do want to keep more of a balance … right now, my focus is on getting a step back (and hence speed work is more of an element of my training at this point) but I don’t want to skip the mountains altogether. For this block-phase, I will try to get out to these hills once a week, just to remind the muscles of the "joy" of a long climb.
I took it real easy. After thrashing around in Chautauqua (as I started on the wrong trail, and with all the sledding, the regular trails are not really there ... and frankly, I was just stupid about how I got started), I headed up Gregory to Ranger to Green summit. The trail was well established up Gregory (although icy in that part). After the split for Ranger – Greenman, the trail … well, sort of
disappeared! I am familiar with the path up there, and the trees make it obvious, and you could sort of tell where it had been but it was nearly all blown over (drifted in). A good deal of this became a power hike as I was post-holing in a good number of parts. My feet got pretty wet and cold but that comes with this sort of "running."
Lucy was barely patient with me. She kept looking back at me with her four paw drive, as if to ask “what the hell is your problem? Can’t you go faster than that?” We reached the summit in 70+, hung out for a few minutes and then came down in 45+. Round trip: 8 miles, 2 hours. Good slow burn. My ankles were yelling on the way down with all the turning they were doing but nothing serious.
I nearly ate the door off the fridge when I got home. And Lucy slept well (for now).
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