Fools' Fat Ass

Remember this post from a few weeks ago?

The day is near and the April Fool's Fat-Ass run is going down. No fee, no aid, no awards. No whining.

Meeting at Happy Days Visitor Center. Start at 7am.

Be prepared for anything, but the initial plan is to run all the trails in the Virginia Kendall unit of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.



There a short loop (3 mi) on the Boston Run trail, which is north of Rte. 303.

And I measured off a long loop (12.5 mi) that consists of a tour of all the remaining trails south of Rte. 303:

- Start on Haskell run and connect to;
- Ledges trail (east half)
- Pine Grove trail (counter-clockwise)
- connect to Kendall Lake area and cross Truxell Rd;
- Lake trail (east half)
- Cross Country trail (clockwise) and towards the end of the trail connect up to the Little Meadow parking lot before connecting down to the Pine Hollow parking lot
- Pine Hollow is a water point with a restroom (6.7 mi)
- continue down and connect to Salt Run trail. Run clockwise.
- After returning back from the valley floor, connect to the west half of the Lake trail; cross road to
- connect back to Ledges (do not run Pine Grove again)
- Return to Happy Days via the west half of the Ledges trail and Haskell Run.
- 12.5 miles total

The goal this weekend is two good trail runs before starting a two-week taper for Bull Run.

Happy trails!

Week of March 18-24

Sun: 10.5 miles easy (trails)
Mon: 7 miles easy; cooled down with 6x strides
Tue: 11 miles with 6mi @ T-pace (6:38) (4x 1.5mi; with 2-3 minute recoveries)
Wed: 7 miles easy
Thur: 10.25 miles with 4.25mi @ marathon pace (2x 15min; with a 4min recovery) T= 6:58 pace
Fri: 3 miles easy
Sat: 23 miles long run (3:20); Road cycling 8 miles

Totals:
Run: 72.75 miles on 7 runs (10 hrs 26 min)
Road cycling: 8 miles
Spin: none

A peak week, highlighted by the weekend long run.

Backing away from the VO2Max workouts of the past 8 weeks, the key quality run of the week was the 6 miles of Cruise Intervals on Tuesday. The rest of the track gang continued doing 800s while I moved on.

The group travelled down to the Cuyahoga Valley for the long run. We did the 'old' Vertical Runner 20 mile course starting at Station Road Bridge. I like the mix of towpath, road, bike paths, and trails:

- Towpath trail south to Lock 29 and return to Boston Store.
- Head east up Boston Mill Rd.
- Turn north on Bike and Hike trail past Brandywine Falls.
- At Greenwood Village, connect to the long leg of the Carriage Loop trail and down into the valley.
- Return to the start point via the towpath trail.

Its now 3 weeks to Bull Run Run and 12 weeks to the Mohican Trail. I plan to keep on training and only do a short taper for Bull Run.

Looking ahead, I'm planning an FA 50km next Sunday on April Fools Day. The initial idea is to start at Happy Days Visitor Center and hit all of the trails in the Ledges and Virginia Kendall complex. Stay tuned.

Week of March 11-17

Sun: Run 4 miles easy; Spin 40 minutes
Mon: 5 miles easy; cooled down with 4x strides
Tue: 11.25 Intervals (94 min) with 7x800m @ interval pace; with 400m recovery jogs (splits 2:57-3:11)
Tue: 8 miles road cycling
Wed: 5 miles easy
Thur: 11 miles (90 min) with 3 miles @ Tempo pace (4x 1200m; with 1 min recoveries) T= 6:35 pace
Fri: Spin 15 min
Sat: Run 13.5 miles easy; Spin 45 minute

Totals:
Run: 49 miles on 6 runs (7 hrs 3 min)
Road cycling: 8 miles
Spin: 1 hr 40 minutes

Last week started off fabulously, with pleasant spring-like weather on Monday and Tuesday. I even rode the bike to the track on Tuesday.

Over the past 8 weeks, I've followed the Benji Durden marathon training plan while training with a few of my friends whom are headed to the Boston Marathon in 3.5 weeks. The plan calls for 2 quality workouts per week, along with a weekend long run.

This upcoming week, I plan to cut back from the twice per week quality to one longer tempo run on Tuesday nights. My plan is to change it up from the VO2Max training and to focus on a phase of long tempos for the next three weeks.

My apologies for the sparse blogging. I look forward to writing more, especially as Bull Run Run 50 and Mohican 100 approach.

Week of March 4-10

Sun: Run 15 miles; Snowy roads turned the Youngstown 1/2 Marathon into an easier-paced training run (1:42)
Mon: 4 miles easy
Tue: 10.5 miles Intervals (87 min) with 6x800 @ interval pace (splits 3:03-3:16)
Wed: 7 miles easy
Thur: 10.5 miles (86 min) with 4.5 miles @ Tempo pace (3x 1.5mi; with 2min recoveries)
Fri: Spin 30 min
Sat: 30 miles long run; as part of the Covered Bridge FA

Totals:
Run: 77 miles on 6 runs (13 hrs 52 min)
Spin: 30 minutes

A huge week, due in part to last weekend's long run falling on Sunday. I backed off the quality just a bit, with less reps on Tuesday and slower T-pace on Thursday, that resulted in feeling less tired by the weekend.

Although the FA took about an hour-and-a-half more than expected (due to the icy surfaces), I'm pleased with the outcome.

Stay tuned for a short report on the 30 mile run. Click here for a few teaser photos.

Covered Bridge FA 50k

This weekend I'll try my first real long run of the year at the Covered Bridge FA 50k in Youngstown's Mill Creek Park. This Fat Ass event is the spring version of the September YUT-C 50k.

The FA guarantee offers "No fee, no aid, no awards, and no wimps." If you don't bring it, it won't be there.

The weather forecast is favorable with the temperature rising to mid-40s. While I hope the ice completely melts to provide sure footing, I'm bringing the screw shoes just in case.

To those running the local races in town such as the St. Malachi 5 mile and the Shamrock 15km, good luck!

Week of February 25 - March 3

Sun: Run 7 miles on trails (50 minutes)
Mon: Rest
Tue: 11 miles Intervals (97 min) with 7x800 @ interval pace (splits 2:53-3:04)
Wed: 5 miles easy
Thur: 10 miles with 3 miles @ tempo pace (6:45)
Fri: Rest
Sat: 7 miles easy; with 6x strides

Totals:
Run: 40 miles (6 hrs 4 min)

An uncertain week. After dropping out of the NASA study and punishing myself with a Hinckley long run, a bit of soreness lingered from last week. The weather broke a bit and allowed for some decent (30s) temps for running.

Two quality workouts highlighted with week. I'm training with a few Boston Marathon hopefuls, which is quickly approaching in six weeks.

After a few consistent weeks in the 40mpw range, next week I hope to increase the milage to a new level.

(Postscript: Next week is off to a good start--15 miles on Sunday, including an easy-paced Youngstown 1/2 marathon.)

World Record

Last weekend at the local running store a few miles from here, 12 men took a shot a breaking the world record for a 24 hour treadmill run. Breaking the old record of 247.xx miles required running faster than a 5:47 per mile pace.

I dropped by the store during the part of the 22nd and 23rd hours. They were well above WR pace and broke the old record near 22:40 into the event. The Woodway treadmills withstood the beating. I witnessed several runners running at better than 12mph. The fastest mile I saw was at 13.5mph (4:28 mile pace!)

Congrats to Team Good River, local post-collegiate running team from Ohio. They smashed the record and finished with 261+ miles, which averages to near 5:30 per mile pace.

Click here for link to the event website.

Pictures, video, and weblog available here.