I also happen to love Mohican State Park. I look forward to camping trips there with Noah. So this should be an enjoyable experience and there's a chance Anne and Noah may come along. My goal will be just to make the Mohican 50K a quality training run. I won't be racing or vying for high placement, especially as I need to save my legs for a potential sub-3-hour effort at the Cleveland Marathon.
***
There's a new 24-hour race coming to Cleveland--the North Coast 24-Hour Endurance Run. It's going to take place Oct. 3-4 at Edgewater Park along beautiful Lake Erie in Cleveland, with the city skyline in sight. It will follow a .93-mile loop. So far as I know, not since the Olander Park 24 in Sylvania went under a few years ago has Northern Ohio hosted a 24-hour event.
I have to admit that I'm intrigued by the North Coast 24 because I've always wanted to try a 24-hour, but the timing of and venue for this event kind of makes me nervous. You never know what the weather in Cleveland is going to be like that time of year, especially on the lake. Cold temps, combined with rain and wind coming off the lake, could make things very nasty. But I'm still interested! I'm not sure what my goal would be--probably just to survive.
***
Overall this week wasn't a bad one considering I was recovering from the Lt. JC Stone 50K. I thought a lot about the race this week and I've decided that I was at least 6-8 minutes too slow. As a guy who has broken 3 hours my last two marathons, I should have come in south of 3:40 at the Stone with a sub-3 marathon split. I am now getting back into higher-intensity workouts to improve my leg turnover because it's obviously holding me back.
Here's how the week went:
Monday
Off/rested
Tuesday
AM: 8.05 miles easy in and around the Chagrin River valley. With the Lt. JC Stone 50K only a few days removed, I ran at a relaxed pace. My quads felt only a little sore but were pretty tired. A very bitter westerly wind, combined with the cold temperature (28 degrees), made running up East Washington Street on the way home really unpleasant.
Wednesday
AM: 8.05 miles easy in and around the Chagrin River valley. Once again I ran at a relaxed pace, but this time I really tailed off the last half as my quads wore down. The bitter westerly wind was back, but at least this time the temperature was over 40 degrees.
Thursday
AM: 9 miles in and around the Chagrin River valley. My legs no longer felt sore, but were still a little dead.
PM: 7 miles in South Chagrin Reservation. My legs felt decent during the run but my quads were sore afterward.
Total miles for day: 16.0
Friday
AM1: 10.1 miles on country roads east of highway 306. This is one of my favorite loops, but it's at least 9 miles and I can run it only on mornings that I know I have the time.
AM2: 4 miles easy on the treadmill. I carried my hand weights.
Total miles for day: 14.1
Saturday
AM: 17 miles in South Chagrin Reservation with the Southeast Running Club. I ran with John K., Tim C., and Ted F., running the last 10 miles with Ted and Tim. The temperature was 35 degrees at the start and in the high 40s when we finished with lots of sunlight the whole time. This was a great trail run on a beautiful day, and I felt pretty good though a little tired. We ran a notoriously hilly, rocky section in South Chagrin with four hills, of which one is really nasty and brings a nice leg burn. If and when I get into the Western States 100, this section of trail will be vital to my training...along with an altitude chamber.
Sunday
AM: 16.8 miles--5 on the treadmill and 11.8 in and around the Chagrin River valley. The original plan was to run in Solon with SERC, but Noah had a really bad night as his top front teeth are coming in and he was too fussy for Anne to take him to work while she checked on her patients. So I stayed home with Noah while she was at work and only when he fell asleep in his crib did I sneak down to the basement and get on the treadmill. When Anne got home I hopped off and finished up outside. I was really tired and my hamstrings were hurting. This is one of the rare runs I didn't feel like doing. I grumbled almost the whole way and really just wanted to go back home and crawl into bed. But I ran anyway.
Total miles for week: 80.0
Total miles for month: 338.45
Total miles for year: 886.89
***
Assuming my hamstrings are feeling good, this next week (3/30-4/5) I plan to hit 100 miles for the first time in 2009. I want to get back on the track for mile repeats and also have a good tempo run. So for the week my goals are:
- 100 total miles
- Mile repeats in the neighborhood of 5:35-5:42 each
- Tempo run of 4-5 miles
- Long run of 20+ miles
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