Weekly Summary: Monday Oct. 29 to Sunday Nov. 4...Take A Seat

This week went a bit better than last.  Without a dog along, I was able to stay focused on a few more running sessions rather than hiking. But, with the switch to more aggressive runs, came some unanticipated soreness.  The lesson here, I suppose, is that I'm getting older and need to adjust my workouts accordingly!

I was surprised when I reached the Badlands Loop, one day, to find someone had built a rock bench beside the two cairns that I've been maintaining through recent years.  The bench was sturdy enough to sit on.

Monday - 7 miles

Tuesday - 11.5 miles  (lots of short quick pickups during the run; sore after)

Wednesday - 7 miles (several stretches of running but glute still hurts)

Thursday - 7 miles  (all but the 1st and last mile were running at a steady pace)

Friday - 5 miles hiking

Saturday - 1.5 miles (took a recruiting trip to Des Moines to visit with athletes at the Iowa Senior All-Star XC Meet)  

Sunday - 10 miles (mostly running)  for 49 miles on the week

Weekly Summary: Monday Oct. 22 to Sunday Oct. 28 ..... Watch Your Nuts

This week was really crowded with distractions and as a result I logged my lowest weekly mileage total for the year, so far. (That's not counting the week of RAGBRAI where I biked an additional 235 miles on the bike while only running 16.)  There was a change in weather, the regional XC meet, a funeral, and travel to winterize my mother's apartment and return my son's dog to him.

The squirrels are really working to store their winter food supply and I've been competing with them to gather some choice walnuts.  I clean and crack at least a dozen walnuts a day (when home) and have regained on my supply for breakfast!

Squirrels have been shucking walnut hulls!

Monday -8 miles

Tuesday -2 miles

Wednesday -7 miles

Thursday - 7 miles

Friday - 6 miles

The NIACC men's and women's teams ran quite well in some blustery weather.  The men won the regional championship (while Iowa Central is sanctioned from team results for failing to properly certify their international runners.)

Saturday - 2 miles

Sunday - 2 miles for a 34 mile week.

My Mother and I with a photo of my nephew who is serving overseas.

Weekly Summary: Monday Oct. 15 to Sunday Oct. 21

This week was a sharpening week as we prepare the NIACC XC teams for the regional tournament Friday Oct. 26.  I spent a little more time getting to their workouts this week...including the early morning core workouts on Monday and Wednesday.  

The equipment available for me to use in the rec center is something that I have neglected to take advantage of during all this time as an assistant coach.  I could have been using things like a rowing machine, stationary bikes, treadmills, multi-hip machine, etc. Hope to get there more often as the weather changes and use the facility more than I have.

I've continued to get in plenty of miles but not with a lot of running.  Just a lot of hiking.

Monday -10 miles.

Tuesday -7 miles

Wednesday -7 miles

Thursday - 7 miles

Friday 9 miles

Saturday - 7 miles

Sunday - 12 miles for a 59 mile week.

Recovery Week

I've not posted during the past week because I've been off my routine and trying to recover from the damage of the trail race.  So my miles have been reduced and I've tried to get more rest.

The highlight of the week was the NIACC XC meet in Dubuque.  

I was able to run about 5K of the Loras course and felt pretty good while doing that.  It seems that ramping up for the Living History Farms Race is still possible.

I ran 53 miles for the week with most days at two workouts...AM and PM.

NIACC Men results.

NIACC Women results.

Today was Mason City's chance to showcase their own certified marathon course hosted by Newman High School.  There were a lot of runners in town from all around the country.  My daily route on Lime Creek is actually a portion of the course and I was able to enjoy sharing the trail for my workout today.  I ran quite a bit more than I have recently...inspired by the other runners, I suppose!

Sore Knees

Saturday's race left me limping for quite a while.  So I took it easy yesterday and will only do some hiking today.  

It was fun to be the volunteer at the Nature Center yesterday afternoon as there were a lot of visitors and plenty of birds at the feeders.

63 miles for the week ending yesterday.

Timber Trot - 5 mile

In it's fourth year, I finally was able to run in the race on Lime Creek Trails. The course is one that I set and measured at the request of the county conservation crew.  Most post-race comments are that it is a challenging course and now that folks are running with their GPS watches, I'm told it's dead on accurate!

Personally, my race didn't go very well.  For some reason the pace or terrain or something caused my left knee to develop more pain than at any time this summer while training and running for the Black Hills race.  After a couple of brisk miles under 8 minute pace, I was reduced to walking for a lot of the third mile.  I relaxed the knee enough to get in a final two mile at around 8 and half minutes/mile but the 10 minute 3rd really took me out of the race.

Ended up 1st in the over-60s though!

6 miles in the AM with the race and jogging.  and 4 more hiking recovery miles in the PM.

Trail Setter

I spent the early part of the afternoon helping the Lime Creek naturalist, Todd Von Ehwegen, set the course for tomorrow's Timber Trot trail race.  This is the 4th year for this race and after designing the course that is used, I'm finally going to actually enter and run the race.  I often used the course when training for the Black Hills race last June.

After finishing, I grabbed my son's dog, Piper, and hit the trails for a 6 mile workout.

We'll likely get out for another 3 yet tonight even though I'm racing tomorrow.  I'll be training through this one with my sights set on Living History Farms next month.