I had a really nice road run yesterday.  10 miles of flat terrain with a bit of climbing at the end (it was an out and back so it start with a big downhill and finished going back up)  My goal was to keep a steady pace that felt comfortable with a little bit of pushing.  I ran the first half in 45 minutes and the second half in 44:06 which I was pleased with because it was a negative split, and the last mile has a pretty good climb.  It works out to be a 8:49 pace over 10.1 miles.  I was definitely tired at the end but I could have kept going at that pace for a few more miles.

Today I planned to do some interval training at the track.  I haven't done mile repeats in a long long time so I didn't know what to expect.  I started of with a 6:00 pace in mind but by the first 200 meters I know that just wasn't going to happen so I slowed down to a sustainable pace and finished the first mile in 6:30.  I felt pretty good and planned to do 2 more miles repeats at that pace and a few 800's and 400's.  I started the second mile at a similar pace and as I pasted the first 100 meters it felt as if I had hit a brick wall.  All the strength was just zapped from my legs all I could manage was a slow jog.  I struggled to finish the second mile in about 8:15 and decided it was time to shut it down for the day.  I guess that is to be expected after going from no training to 80 miles in 11 days.  Luckily my body gave me that signal in the form of muscle fatigue and not an injury.

And so it begins

I am a week and a half into being back on the training wagon.  Things are going well.  I've been extremely pleased about how my body has responded to regular running after such a long absence.  It's has if I never went away (well, besides the fact that I am a lot slower).  In some aspects I even feel better than I had a few years ago when I was training regularly.  I am prone to getting very sore after runs and my body usually takes a mile or two to work out that soreness on my next run, but I have felt very little soreness after running every day, multiple times a day for the past 10 days.

I was able to run 43 miles my first week back with no discomfort at all.  This week I am aiming for 50+ while also adding in speed work.  I have decided to add the speed work now more as a means to get used to the routine, as my body isn't in the shape to really benefit from these workouts quite yet.  I need to build up my aerobic base before I can really see benefits from the speed.  It's nice to get things moving fast, but it's also discouraging to see the time on the clock after a 4 mile hard tempo run (7:44 pace) and know how much work has to be done to get back to where I was, and surpass that.  Speed work will be a big part of my ultra training, as I don't simple want to get back to where I was, but I want to be more competitive in my running.  My mind set right now is that anything more than 24 hours at the 100 in June would be a disappointment, and I think I can run quite a bit fast than that.  6 months might not be enough time to make it all happen but I think it will be a good start.

My best workout so far has been a 13 mile run at 9:19 pace.  It felt relatively easy and it was nice to know I am capable of doing that after 3 years of virtually no running at all.  And best of all I was able to do hill repeats the next day without much fatigue.

Back in Business!

Woah, I guy leaves his blog unattended for two years and all hell breaks loose!  Two days ago I went to check on this blog, only to find out it was gone.  I couldn't find the slightest trace of it, nothing showed up when visiting the url, nothing it google search, totally gone.  So I have spent the last couple days e-mailing google support.  I still never really found out what happened to it, but I did get it back.  My first thought was that Blogger shuts down blogs after being inactive for a certain period of time, seeign as how the last time I updated was in April 2010 I figured I was a prime candidate for that, but after doing some research I came to the conclusion that Blogger does not shut down inactive blogs.  It seems the only way I blog is shut down is if the owner does it themselves or if it is decided by automatic algorithms that the blog is spam.  So my best guess is that the blog was somehow labeled as spam and removed.  My be it had something to do with all of my comment sections getting hi-jacked by spammers!  It's like weeds growing in a garden.  But I am back to trim the weeds and tend to the flowers.

It's been a very long time since I have run with any consistency, really, about 4 years.  Hard to believe but true.  I ran in 2008 and 2009 but no solid spells of training, and hardly anything in 2010 and spent a good portion of 2011 thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.  But I am now officially back in the game.  I have attempted to make comebacks multiple times of the past few years but I was always lacking motivation.  I would train for a little bit then not feel any desire to continue, unfocused, unmotivated.  Then it hit me, the only thing that has ever motivated me to train with any consistency is up coming races.  With that deadline looming overhead it gave me something to focus on, something to look forward to.  so what is a non-practicing ultrarunner to do?  Sign up for a 100 miler of course.

So I now have 6 months to go from 0 miles per week to 100 miler.  I will be running the first annual TARC Boston 100.  This is an event put on by the Trail Animals running club of Boston, MA.  they put on multipule low and free ultras throughout the year in the boston area.  It was the Vermont 100 that orginally tickled my fancy to start training again.  it is only a 45 minute drive from where we live and also the same time of year.  But looking at the $250 price tag turned me off.  Not complaining about the price.  The ultra scene has changed a lot in the last few years.  If folks are willing to pay $250 to run a race then races are going to charge that much, and I know the Vermont 100 raises money for a good cause.  But I just don't want to spend that kind of cash to run around in the woods at this point in time.

And so the training begins.  I'm starting off by just trying to gauge where I'm at and getting my feet back underneath me.  I've been running 3 miles twice a day every day this week at 8:30-9:30 pace to ease myself into things and see how my body response.  So far so good.  Next week I will start some more structured training, but will work into it gradually (well not that gradually, truth be told I am going to try and jump into things much faster than I should as long as my body doesn't give me any negative feed back)  I will be training differently than I used to for ultras.  I'll be placing more emphasis on speed work, hills and intervals with he goal of really pushing myself to see what I can achieve.  I plan to keep my mileage relatively low.

But more on that stuff later.  This is just a reintroduction entry.  From what I can see the run blogging scene has changed quite a bit since I have been away, a lot of new interesting blogs to check out.  I look forward to connecting with many of you and hope I can reconnect with old blogging friends who might still be around.