9 miles today, 21 degrees, 3 miles faster than Tpace (7:20) in 1:11, for 14 more points
Tpace miles: 2 @ 7:18 6 @ 7:10 9 @ 7:05
then I went to may pain cave and did most of my Saturday bike. Well, got 15 + 6 at FTP and 15 at Z3. My legs were fried at the end of the first FTP so I had to cut it short.
Another easy 5 for me today. 4 with one at TP. Don't remember the last day i did not run at least 4 miles. Been at least ten days. Plan to keep it rolling for the challenge. Up at the lake and will be skiing for the next week. Plan is to ride the trainer before going and then run when i get done. Time will tell how that goes.
Mike, you are a mad man. Are we going to see pics of you using the pool as an ice bath this year?
@Chris, I was thinking about the pool this morning. But the recovery tights, elevated feet and lots of fluids seem to be working for me today. My plan is to do 10m with TP intervals on odd days, and 20 on even days, thru Friday. Then on Saturday.... Mike
I missed yesterday because of a rest day but I made up for it today. I got up early and did 7.11 in 1:03 in 20deg with last 1 mile at FT for 10pts.
Then 5 hours later the wifey was going for her "endurance" run so I went with her. We did 7.5 miles in 4in of snow in 1:16 in 18deg for 9 more points! My wife said I should get a bonus point for putting up with her complaining for over an hour...
Today was actually the longest total run day of my life!
@Mike -- Ditto on the monster comment. I have a question. I know you are the Ultra-King of the Haus, but is the Holiday Challenge a part of your yearly plan? There is no way that I could drop lay down 10 & 20 miles runs for 7 days straight. I can only imagine that your plan for Saturday involves something north of 50 miles. That would be an A event for me.
Nice job all. Headed out to shovel the foot and half of snow and then try to get in a few miles....
@Pete - Well, if I said "yes" that I incorporate the Challenge into my yearly plan, that would kind of imply that I HAVE a yearly plan . But it's certainly not as much of a wild-ass diversion for me as it would be for most others. My B race is a 50 miler in April, and my A is a 6 day stage race in July. So this week doesn't really fit in, other than I'm not working and can get in some crazy miles. I'll also be experimenting with recovery techniques that I can use during the stage race.
As for Saturday, I'll be going more for "Cool!" than "Gawd, that guy's a nut". So no, it won't be a 50 or anything like that - if for no other reason than that it would probably send me to the hospital! (although, true confessions, there's a timed run up in San Francisco on Saturday, and I thought about doing the 6 hour option - run from 6pm until midnight)
Today I stuck with the plan - up at 4:45am (wifey needed to get to work early, so I needed to get back early). Ran to the local college and banged out 4m at TP with .5m rest in between, then back home. 10.5 total in a bit over 1:30, 4 at TP, and while it was chilly for here, I was nowhere near earning a sub-32 bonus point: 15 points total.
Mike's Annual "Please don't mess with the spreadsheet" rant...
Hi everyone, I'm glad to see lots of solid numbers being put up!! Now my three "please"-es:
Please keep up the running and recording your efforts in the spreadsheet!
Please DO NOT try to "fix" the spreadsheet by sorting it, adding a column, or changing the formatting. There is actually a LOT of very technical stuff going on behind the scenes to make the spreadsheet work as we need it. Every year someone makes it better...and then it takes an hour or two to get it working again.
Please, if you do happen to mess up the spreadsheet, please just leave it and give me a shout. Sometimes the hardest fixes come after someone else has tried a repair or two.
Thankfully nothing has happened this year, which makes me . This year's group isn't huge, so I think we can get by without sorting by name, but if folks would like that, please let me know.
13 more points today. 8-miles outside, over 1-hour with 3-miles at TP. Foolishly I thought 6x1/2mile today would be easier than the 3x1 mile I did the last 2-days. It wasn't. My legs are starting to really feel the 3-days of Threshold work.
Who got blown away today in this wind??? It felt like a Math League problem: if a 5'4", 130-lb woman is running at 7 miles/hour and gets hit square in the face with a 40 mph wind gust that lasts for ten full seconds, at what point does the fact that she is temporarily blinded by flying shrapnel and can't see on her watch how slow her pace has become become a blessing rather than a curse? (For the record, the absolute worst wind gusts were around the NOAA headquarters. Ironic?)
11 points for me today. Ran around the lake after skiing. The loop is 8.6 miles. Was 12 degrees and nasty windy. Running the extra .4 to get to 9 miles was brutal.
Yipes, fitting in crazy miles with the wifey's work schedule is NOT a joy. I woke up 20 minutes early this morning, and decided to just go with it...at 3:45am. I sense a nap in my near term future.
I headed for the hills today. My house is in an ideal place, right at the base of the Santa Cruz mountains. If I run one way, I can run on flat ground for 50 miles (Silicon Valley), but if I go the other way, within 10 minutes I'm in the hills. The trails are still too muddy, so it was all roads this morning.
I got in 20 miles, in 3:10. For the last few miles I tried to pick it up, and got in a few less than 9 minute pace, and one (mile 19) right around 8:30 (ish) pace. Wow, that was not a comfortable set of miles. Then the last mile was at 10-11 minute pace as a warm down. Total ascent was 1250 feet.
Oddly, it felt better today than the previous 20 on Sunday - maybe my body is getting used to the abuse .
A 20 pointer this mornig courtesy of 16 miles (2 at TP) and 2+ hours. Still working on a modified 'marathon hack' OS plan with Miami marathin next month.
Now its off to the Egg Nog! - Recovery drink of champions!
Hi all.. love the motivation as always to get outside and do the "OK.. now run it off" portion of the egg nog recovery cycle. Nice 8 miler on XMas at balmy 31 degrees, then an easy 3 mile recovery on 12/26 but cold!! Wimped out last night: too dark I told myself so did 7 miles (w 4 at TP) on the dreadmill. Still some daylight left today so headed out soon. I'm in awe of you guys putting in big miles... keep it going. Shaughn... 26 degrees in Austin?!? Seriously?
Hi all.. love the motivation as always to get outside and do the "OK.. now run it off" portion of the egg nog recovery cycle. Nice 8 miler on XMas at balmy 31 degrees, then an easy 3 mile recovery on 12/26 but cold!! Wimped out last night: too dark I told myself so did 7 miles (w 4 at TP) on the dreadmill. Still some daylight left today so headed out soon. I'm in awe of you guys putting in big miles... keep it going.
Shaughn... 26 degrees in Austin?!? Seriously?
Paul, way to bring it brotha! Wind chill @ 21 degrees was no joke for us Austin boys the other day. Was so cold, I had to go around and break all the male dogs off of the fire hydrants after my run......................
4 pts for me today - 3 mile run with 1 at TP after a VO2 bike session............
home from vaca and just downloaded the garmin... anyone know how I can get breakdowns with the 310xt? with my old 305 it very easy told me how long I stayed in each zone... not so much with the new one (or I didn't program it correctly with the zones- which is probably the case)...bc of yesterday's travel nightmare I won't get to run each day (which was my personal goal), but I'm still gonna try to do better than last year. Will do a brick tonight - prob just a mile run after the set drainer workout, a point's a point, after all...
8-more miles today with three more miles at TP. Weather is holding perfect for the challenge here in Rochester. Some light snow in the air (not like the big dump along the east coast) and temps below freezing for the bonus points (28 today), but not too frigid. Total of 13 points again today. I am feeling pretty strong, but today is the 4th day in a row with 3-miles of threshold work thrown in. Starting to feel it in quads. Still halfway through the challenge and 50-points down so halfway to the goal of 100.
Another 11 pointer for me today. Not as windy and cold as yesterday and i ran in the other direction aroung the lake. Legs were pretty banged up from Monday and skiing most of the day did not help much. There are 5 trucks use low gear signs the way I went today [4 the other way] and the downhills were pounding my quads. The plan to run around the lake every day this week may come to an end tomorrow. Can barely walk down stairs right now.
Totally impressed with everyone running so many miles at threshold. I ran a couple barely sub 7 but no where near threshold. Actually ran some of the slowest miles I have in a long time today. Time will tell what tomorrow will bring.
@Mike - what you are doing this week boggles my mind...again...
I thought I was going to run in the blizzard yesterday but wimped out - the excuse I told myself was 3 days in a row was enough since I have not been getting any volume during the OS..... yeah, weak, I know.....
today only 3 points - the easy miles after the killer 4x2.5 crap.... man that is tough!
Getting harder to keep the points coming. After 3 days with over 2/3 of my miles at TP there was just no juice in the legs tonight.
Only 11 miles with 3 at TP for 15 pts. But.... that's 51 points down and only 44 (plus the 5pt bonus) to go to crack 100 pts for the 3rd year in a row- my personal goal for this year.
@John, you are putting in some serious miles. I tell you, I was much more beat up after yesterday's 10 with 4 at TP than I was today doing 20 at a much more conservative pace. I think that TP work really tears into the muscles, and doing it day after day doesn't give them a chance to recover.
I'm expecting that tomorrow will not be fun. A heavy rainstorm arrived this afternoon, and there are flash flood warnings going out over the radio. Hmmmm, great time for a run...not!
But I think of you tundra folks and remind myself that I have it the easiest of all of you.
You folks are monsters! I had to bag the last two days, first b/c of weather second b/c of travel, but I am back at it today. Major points to everyone just pushing the envelope!!!
Still working the plan. 10.5 miles, 4 of them at TP, in 1:29 = 15pts
An observation on my comment about doing big blocks of TP day after day... In my completely unscientific n=1 study, I think it IS really important to give your body a chance to let the TP work "soak in". It's day 5, and today's TP intervals were the easiest for me yet - for real. I've done the same course for my TP workouts on days 1, 3, and today, with 20 mile steady state days in between. On day 3, I had a very difficult time with intervals 1 and 4, but today I actually had to monitor my pace because it was drifting too fast. We'll see if I'm singing the same tune in a couple more days
Legs were crushed this morning. Skiing was hard enough. Worried about hurting myself if i tried the stupid hilly 9 mile loop again. Did an easy 4 to try to loosen things up for tomorrow. Barely under 32. 5 points.
Comments
9 miles today, 21 degrees, 3 miles faster than Tpace (7:20) in 1:11, for 14 more points
Tpace miles:
2 @ 7:18
6 @ 7:10
9 @ 7:05
then I went to may pain cave and did most of my Saturday bike. Well, got 15 + 6 at FTP and 15 at Z3. My legs were fried at the end of the first FTP so I had to cut it short.
Hope to run in a blizzard tomorrow!!
@ Mike H - man you are a running machine......
Mike, you are a mad man. Are we going to see pics of you using the pool as an ice bath this year?
Mike
I missed yesterday because of a rest day but I made up for it today. I got up early and did 7.11 in 1:03 in 20deg with last 1 mile at FT for 10pts.
Mike
Nice job all. Headed out to shovel the foot and half of snow and then try to get in a few miles....
Pete
@Pete - Well, if I said "yes" that I incorporate the Challenge into my yearly plan, that would kind of imply that I HAVE a yearly plan
. But it's certainly not as much of a wild-ass diversion for me as it would be for most others. My B race is a 50 miler in April, and my A is a 6 day stage race in July. So this week doesn't really fit in, other than I'm not working and can get in some crazy miles. I'll also be experimenting with recovery techniques that I can use during the stage race.
As for Saturday, I'll be going more for "Cool!" than "Gawd, that guy's a nut". So no, it won't be a 50 or anything like that - if for no other reason than that it would probably send me to the hospital! (although, true confessions, there's a timed run up in San Francisco on Saturday, and I thought about doing the 6 hour option - run from 6pm until midnight)
Mike
Today I stuck with the plan - up at 4:45am (wifey needed to get to work early, so I needed to get back early). Ran to the local college and banged out 4m at TP with .5m rest in between, then back home. 10.5 total in a bit over 1:30, 4 at TP, and while it was chilly for here, I was nowhere near earning a sub-32 bonus point: 15 points total.
Mike
Mike's Annual "Please don't mess with the spreadsheet" rant...
Hi everyone, I'm glad to see lots of solid numbers being put up!! Now my three "please"-es:
Thankfully nothing has happened this year, which makes me
. This year's group isn't huge, so I think we can get by without sorting by name, but if folks would like that, please let me know.
Mike
Who got blown away today in this wind??? It felt like a Math League problem: if a 5'4", 130-lb woman is running at 7 miles/hour and gets hit square in the face with a 40 mph wind gust that lasts for ten full seconds, at what point does the fact that she is temporarily blinded by flying shrapnel and can't see on her watch how slow her pace has become become a blessing rather than a curse? (For the record, the absolute worst wind gusts were around the NOAA headquarters. Ironic?)
11 points for me today. Ran around the lake after skiing. The loop is 8.6 miles. Was 12 degrees and nasty windy. Running the extra .4 to get to 9 miles was brutal.
Yipes, fitting in crazy miles with the wifey's work schedule is NOT a joy. I woke up 20 minutes early this morning, and decided to just go with it...at 3:45am
. I sense a nap in my near term future.
I headed for the hills today. My house is in an ideal place, right at the base of the Santa Cruz mountains. If I run one way, I can run on flat ground for 50 miles (Silicon Valley), but if I go the other way, within 10 minutes I'm in the hills. The trails are still too muddy, so it was all roads this morning.
I got in 20 miles, in 3:10. For the last few miles I tried to pick it up, and got in a few less than 9 minute pace, and one (mile 19) right around 8:30 (ish) pace. Wow, that was not a comfortable set of miles. Then the last mile was at 10-11 minute pace as a warm down. Total ascent was 1250 feet.
Oddly, it felt better today than the previous 20 on Sunday - maybe my body is getting used to the abuse
.
Mike
Now its off to the Egg Nog! - Recovery drink of champions!
Shaughn... 26 degrees in Austin?!? Seriously?
Paul, way to bring it brotha! Wind chill @ 21 degrees was no joke for us Austin boys the other day. Was so cold, I had to go around and break all the male dogs off of the fire hydrants after my run......................
4 pts for me today - 3 mile run with 1 at TP after a VO2 bike session............
Another 11 pointer for me today. Not as windy and cold as yesterday and i ran in the other direction aroung the lake. Legs were pretty banged up from Monday and skiing most of the day did not help much. There are 5 trucks use low gear signs the way I went today [4 the other way] and the downhills were pounding my quads. The plan to run around the lake every day this week may come to an end tomorrow. Can barely walk down stairs right now.
Totally impressed with everyone running so many miles at threshold. I ran a couple barely sub 7 but no where near threshold. Actually ran some of the slowest miles I have in a long time today. Time will tell what tomorrow will bring.
@Mike - what you are doing this week boggles my mind...again...
today only 3 points - the easy miles after the killer 4x2.5 crap.... man that is tough!
Looking for some more outside miles tomorrow.
@ Mike - aka "The running machine"
Getting harder to keep the points coming. After 3 days with over 2/3 of my miles at TP there was just no juice in the legs tonight.
Only 11 miles with 3 at TP for 15 pts. But.... that's 51 points down and only 44 (plus the 5pt bonus) to go to crack 100 pts for the 3rd year in a row- my personal goal for this year.
Coasting downhill from here....
John
I'm expecting that tomorrow will not be fun. A heavy rainstorm arrived this afternoon, and there are flash flood warnings going out over the radio. Hmmmm, great time for a run...not!
But I think of you tundra folks and remind myself that I have it the easiest of all of you.
Keep it up peeps, halfway home!!!
Mike
An observation on my comment about doing big blocks of TP day after day... In my completely unscientific n=1 study, I think it IS really important to give your body a chance to let the TP work "soak in". It's day 5, and today's TP intervals were the easiest for me yet - for real. I've done the same course for my TP workouts on days 1, 3, and today, with 20 mile steady state days in between. On day 3, I had a very difficult time with intervals 1 and 4, but today I actually had to monitor my pace because it was drifting too fast. We'll see if I'm singing the same tune in a couple more days
Mike
Mike