track fan

2:06:20.  Fort Tuthill trail run, except for the altitude it was a easy - to moderate difficulty.  Some climbs, none lasting more than 11` and rocky in some places but overall good for running (or beginning mountain biking).  Last 20`-30` @ somewhere slightly faster than marathon pace (though there were some fairly technical sections that might have been slower than this).   I really don't know how far this was ... I did a 6 mile hilly trail run twice, and added some on during the first loop (getting lost).

Great run, got really dusty and dirty.   

AM: (9 miles, 1:21:14 (40:07/41:06).  Yet another Forest Service road ... this one was even better than Saturday.  It rained all day yesterday so the road was pretty muddy, especially the first couple of miles, where there is quite a bit of truck traffic.  It was pretty much downhill on the way out, so uphill on the way back.  The road ran along a ridgeline and dropped into a beautiful valley.  No one around for miles and miles.  I knew the run after the turn-around was going to be tough, there was a 2.5 mile stretch of switchbacks!  But luckily I paced it perfectly and felt pretty good on the way back ... I was surprised that it only cost me a minute!  I almost turned around 38 mins out, as I thought for sure the uphills could cost me 3 or more minutes!

PM: (4 miles). 

Happy Tuesday Bloggers.  I will write more tomorrow about some of the elite athletes (from all over the world) that are training here for the World Championships.  It is hands down one of the best high altitude training sites ... lots of dirt roads and trails, weather is perfect ...

1:03:00 ... ok, I did have to jog a couple yards to get that even ;-).  Another beautiful day, another wonderful set of dirt roads and trails.  I don't think I will leave.

August 15 is the beginning of the 12th World Championships in Athletics (track and field) in Berlin.  There are at least 2 athletes here in Flagstaff preparing for the women's marathon.  Yoko Shibui, from Japan and Paige Higgins from the USA (and Flagstaff).   Nobby Hashizume (from the Lydiard Foundation) is coming into town today, to see Yoko, and Greg and the gang, and things are getting exciting as Paige leaves for Berlin on Friday.  All of these athletes have sacrificed a lot for these types of opportunities, and it is awe-inspiring to see the final preparations for a very important race.  It is easy for me to see why Greg (McMillanElite) chose Flagstaff for his training base, although I really liked Boulder I find running here a lot more fun ... almost never ending number of great places to run.  Of course once the snow comes the athletes are forced to run on ashpalt again, and apparently the first two weeks are so are filled with complaints of aches and pains from the pavement pounding.  I know I feel that way too ... I am spoiled since in Tucson I never run on anything but dirt or grass (and track) -- and whenever I am forced to run on any hard surface I just see all my joints being shocked and jarred and "old" ;-).

Anyway -- interesting, I found out even though Paige and Yoko are living within a couple of miles from eachother they are not training together.  Not out of competition but because of training styles being completely different.  Apparently the Japanese runners run a bunch (and I do mean a bunch) of miles - but many of those miles are so slow that even recreational runners would have to slow down, and many of the other elite runners just can't bear to run that slowly.  I have heard the same thing said about some of the runs of the Kenyan elites, when they are not supposed to be running fast their slow days are painfully slow (hence the term "Kenyan shuffle").  Interesting.  I will try to find more links to this for those of you who might be interested. 

Not now though, I have to get some work done so I can enjoy some of the afternoon.

I hope all you bloggers are having a great week ...

AM: (10 miles, 1:30:44).  Fartlek workout at Buffalo Park -- very cool 2 mile loop course with mile markers every 1/4 mile, basically flat with one 250 m very steep hill. Ran approximately 2.5 miles wu and then ran 5 x 5` w/3` recovery and then 2.5 miles cd.  Was surprised to see my splits actually.  The first couple miles were 9:00-9:15, I hit the dreaded hill in both my 2nd and 4th fast segments (it really hurt the 4th time).  I expected my spits to be about 15-30 secs/mile slower since it is at 8,000 ft (so I was expecting about 8:00/pace).  I ran 7:50, 8:03, 7:51, 7:50 (ouch - uphill), and 7:44.  Not bad, much more controlled than the last time I did this workout.  It took a lot out of me to hit the hill though - I felt much worse on the recovery portion on the 4th one than on the 2nd one!

PM: (4 miles).  Easy run on what will now be known as "forest road #1".

More on the Japanese (women's) marathon training.  They run about 150 mpw.  They work through a cycle (7 days), 40K run in the AM (sort of a progression run, finishing the last 10K @ MP - for most of them 5:20 pace or so, they are 2:19/2:20 marathoners) and then a 60` run in the PM.  The next 3 days they run easy, 2 hours in the AM and 1 hour in the PM.  Then they will run some sort of "interval type" workout, but rarely faster than 10K - 1/2 marathon pace (20 x 400 or 10 x 1k).  Then they will do the next 3 days easy again (2 hours AM/1 hour PM).  Their easy runs are generally pretty easy, some of them at 9-10 min pace.  Greg says there is a lot of culture stuff incorporated into this type of training - it is difficult to specify this exactly, but what is likely true is even if we trained just like them we would be missing some crucial components that the culture brings to the table. 

1:01:48.  Did the "uphill" run.  First 3.5 miles are downhill, therefore last 3.5 miles uphill.  Only a couple "really steep" sections, mostly just a steady uphill grade.  I wasn't sure that I should do this run today, after yesterdays run, but it is just so darn pretty.  I took it very easy on the way out.  The way back was hard ... but I think it was good training!

Happy Pioneer Day bloggers!

AM: (8 miles, 1:08:53).  Oh man ... another beautiful day and perfect run.  I really don't want to leave ...

PM: (easy 4).  Forest trail #1.

Went to Paige Higgen's send off/autograph party last night ... was pretty fun.  Tonight is a more intimate party at Greg's house.  The McMillan Elite team is in such good shape right now.  Emily Harrison will be going to run 20K championship run in August (New Haven), everyone else is somewhere in the beginning or middle of marathon training ... with the women's team gearing up for fall cross-country.  We hung out with Trina Painter and her husband David (her American record for the 20K just fell a couple of years ago and she just ran a Master's record in the 5K this year) last night.  We met them a few years ago when were up here - David knows the Grand Canyon really well and he had taken us on a phenominal tour - they are the nicest people.  Another reason to love it here, nice people. 

Have a wonderful weekend bloggers.