ING Miami Marathon training: week five report

This was the longest training week to date for the year, having run 90 miles since Monday (100 in the last eight days, but who's counting?).

The highlights:

• On Tuesday (interval day), I tried on a new pair of shoes. The insole kept sliding out the back of my left shoe every few laps or so as John and I charged around the Lakebottom Park track. This was quite annoying, and I returned the shoes a few days later. I think I may just stick with my tried-and-true Nike Lunaracers. Experimenting anymore so close to my marathon might be a bad idea.
• On Friday, I ran a few miles around the Columbus Country Club early in the morning, primarily on the cart paths. I may do this more often, but instead include running on the lush fairways to give the feet some rest.
• The Saturday long run including running up two of the biggest hills in the area on the Phenix City side of the Chattahoochee River. What I most like about this run was that we got in some good hill training during the first 10 miles, followed by eight pancake-flat miles along the river valley south of town. I may do this route next Saturday as a progression run.

I feel really fresh despite the long mileage, and think that I need to start training a bit harder as Miami is only seven weeks away now.

ING Miami Marathon training: week four report

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." The first part of that quote, from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, can best describe how running has been going, while the second portrays the non-running part of my life. Köra från verkligheten  is a Swedish phrase meaning running from reality, and is written below my blog title, Vikingstorm, at the top of the page. In many ways, I'm a storm trying to unleash my energy on the roads and trails of Columbus.

Now that you're a bit perplexed...

Summary of the training: Everything went according to plan except the 16-miler on Saturday, which was cut 4 miles short. To make up those 4, on Sunday I ran with John on the Eagle 100 course. The Eagle 100 is a ten mile loop on the dirt roads of Fort Benning starting and finishing at King's Pond. Domingo Mercado and I used to run this route on a regular basis. Each time we did it, we saw the same bald eagle near the end of the run. Sometimes, it seemed like the eagle was waiting for us, and would fly directly over our heads as if to say "good morning." The "100" part of Eagle 100, refers to the fact that we saw the eagle 100% of the time we ran. On yesterday's Eagle 100 run, I started to tell John the story of why we named it the Eagle 100, and just as I started to tell the story, an eagle flew into our view as it launched from a limb high about our heads on the southwestern edge of King's Pond. A few moments later, a second eagle flew away from another tree in the same vicinity. This is the first time I had seen two eagles there. John joked that we should rename the route "The Double Eagle 100."

Other news: The Cumberland Island Adventure is still in the works. This will involve a 6-mile sea kayaking trip from Crooked Island State Park to Cumberland Island, a barrier island on the southeastern corner of Georgia on the border of Florida. After kayaking to the island, "we" will run around the island to all of the important landmarks/sights (33-40 miles) before heading back. Most-likely this will take place over the Memorial Day weekend. It'll be hot, buggy, hard, and will require lots of tidal planning. More to follow on this...

Next week: 90 miles. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudge!

ING Miami training: week three report

85 miles. Done. Tired. It was a week of up-and-down weather with several cool morning runs in the upper 20s, punctuated by a miserable 10-miler on Wednesday morning in pouring rain and 35 degrees. If I were to name that Wednesday run, "The Ice Bath" would be an appropriate summarization. Fortunately,  the week ended with a pleasantly warm run on the trails of Flat Rock Park on Sunday afternoon. I prefer the cooler temps on my hard workout days though.

Other highlights: the Tuesday tempo run of 4 miles almost didn't happen since my regular running buddy couldn't make it (and I wasn't motivated), but I toughed it out and managed to run the 4 at 6:44, 6:44, 6:31 and 6:29. Saturday's long run of 15 miles was altered from a steady-state to a progression run since I felt the need to get in some quicker miles, the fastest of which was 6:20. On Sunday, I ran 6 miles in the morning with a few runners competing in a 24-hour race. I was in awe.

New adventure: I'm planning an "adventure run" on Cumberland Island on a date TBD. It'll probably involve a sea kayak trip from St Marys, GA followed by a 30+ mile run on the beaches and trails of the island. More details to follow. Most-likely to be done this upcoming spring or fall.

Next week calls for 67.5 miles. Sweet!