The Ragged Mountain Reservoir trail this morning...a few hikers had beat me to it!
We got more snow on Saturday. After this morning's run around the reservoir, I am guessing we got around 7 inches, and it is still light and fluffy---not crusty and a pain to run in. I ran about ten miles, nice and easy, and had a wonderful time.
Ahhh, nice and easy runs are the best part of the base building phase of my training. I can plug into the iPod and just run without any concern for pace or speed. Trail runs in snow make it more fun and build some strength, too, especially in the hip flexors and hamstrings. I run with Jack and watch him explore the world with his nose and ears, and I run with friends and talk and laugh and we could care less about our pace--the longer we are out there, the better. I love base building!
But it's now February and my program is calling for the strengthening phase: track workouts, hill repeats, and tempo runs mixed in with 60-70 mpw. I had been doing a few of these once or twice a week during the base phase to keep the legs awake, but now I don't have the option to just run at an easy pace each day. It was nice to take a break after Hellgate but I am itching to get back into my training cycle for Terrapin and that's always a good sign. The snowfall will no doubt force me to get creative with the speedwork, but fortunately I have some company during this training cycle.
Bill is training for his first Boston, a R2R2R of the Grand Canyon in May, and Western States in June---wooo-hooo! We are going to have fun getting him ready for those adventures!
Hallie is gearing up for her first ultra race at Terrapin 50K (having run 27 miles at Martha Moats back in August). Hallie is "game" for anything---she ran 13 miles in 30 degree rain in the Massanuttens a few weeks ago and said "it was fun!" This girl (a mom of three) has got what it takes!
Eliza is running her first trail race, the Terrapin Half-Marathon. She is also a mom of three and is so strong and unfazed by trails, I seriously believe she will win that race outright. Watch out boys, you read it here first!
I have always been lucky to have my VHTRC peeps to meet for a long run on the weekends, but I am super psyched to have this fast posse to train with in the dark weekday mornings. Here we go!
5 comments:
Sounds like you have a fast crowd to keep those legs turning over. Enjoy!!!
I'm looking forward to joining your running buddy Potts on the GC run. As much as I'm known for my disdain of running in snow, I have to agree that it is nice to slow down a bit for a few months. It's hard to do a workout when the real workout is simply trying to not fall on each footstrike!
Excellent Sophie, you've got the fire! I think your running in 2010 is gonna be even more amazing. Go get em!
Mothers everywhere are looking at that pic of Eliza, with the flat abs and chiseled hamstrings and hating her. 3 Kids?
Fortunately for me, it's cold enough I don't have to show much skin for a couple of months. Time to get moving, I guess.
You are gonna make 2010 one to remember, for sure! Looking forward to sharing some trail time with you ... if we ever get to actually SEE trails in 2010. May, maybe?! :)
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