Alone, but not at all lonely.

I got out for an easy 9 miles this morning. I was feeling a bit of soreness in my left knee for the first two or three miles but it worked itself. I’ll pay attention to it but I am not too concerned about it. Yesterdays 11 miles on the hard, uneven snowpack could have a lot to do with it.

Things felt good today. I averaged about 7:10’s (7:04, 7:11, 7:12, 7:07, 7:16, 7:09, 7:08, 7:13, 7:02). I love getting out into Bicentennial Park this time of year. Everything is so quiet and peaceful. I saw more moose than people on my run today (5-1), aside from those in the cars. I saw more moose than I saw cars for that matter (5-3). And I started my run at my house. That’s what runs should be like. Unfortunately, because of the bears, I do not enjoy these same trails during the summer. I see absolutely no reason to take a chance with them, especially after what happened in Bicentennial last summer. That’s ok. There are plenty of other trails for the summer. I’m just going to enjoy these right now while nobody is on them.

Feeling Good and Weighing Some Options

What a relief. I am a few weeks into my new “program” and I have to say that each day seems to be getting easier than the previous. Runs are easier, swims are easier, and getting out the door to do any sort of workout is easier.

I got a long run in today. Well, my longest in several months. I hit just over 11 miles. I ran it at about 7:45 pace on average. There are several sections with some pretty good uphill (Birch Rd.) which slowed my pace to around 9:15 but I felt solid throughout, even on the steeper up sections.

I got the trainer out yesterday and rode my bike for the first time since last summer. I popped the first season of House in the DVD player and rode for two episodes…about 80 minutes. It was a nice easy 30 miles (+/-).

Yesterday evening I made my way back up to the Service pool and swam 2500 yards. My first 5 or 6 swims I was just logging yards. No sort of structured sets. Last night I put together a set of 4 x 300 yards (easy) with 3 x 50 yards (hard) between each. It felt good to push myself a bit and do some short yardage speed work.

I’m considering entering the Rondy Track Meet at the Dome at the end of February but am not sure what kind of results to expect at that time. It could be good to go have fun and use the races as speed workouts and not worry too much about times and places. I am entered in a swim meet that last weekend of the month so perhaps some rest might be nice but since I am not far from the “important” races a couple of hard days could be good too. We’ll see.

Taking it easy today...

Just a short entry today.

I managed another 2500 yards in the pool last night. My second swim was not any easier than my first. My arms are tired!

I had a nice short run today of about 4 miles. It was nice to get out in some "warmer" weather.

I feel a little tired today, in addition to the arm issue. It’s nothing serious or really unexpected since I am just getting back into training. I’ll just get some extra rest tonight and try to get another 7 or 8 miles tomorrow.

My breath fogged up the glass, so I drew a new face and I laughed.

It has been a little while since I last wrote. Since January 25 I have been on four runs, all of them around 6-7 miles. It feels good to be active again after taking almost two months completely off. I also hopped in the pool last night and logged 2500 painful yards. Swimming used to come so naturally to me but since I have not been in the pool since the Eagle River Triathlon (last May) I really felt every stroke. Conveniently the Service High pool is only a 5 minute drive from my house so I’ll be up there again tonight.

Porter and I had a very nice 8 ½ mile run today. I’m not going to lie, it is firkin cold outside. I came inside looking like old man winter. Frozen mustache and beard, eye lids nearly frozen shut and all of the other things we all love about running outside in Alaska in January…or February. But it was nice to get out as things are strting to click again with my training. I'm starting to get to the point where it feels "good" to run again.

Over the past two weeks I have had a whirlwind of emotion in my life. Dealing with the death of a close friend is enough to put even the strongest soul out of commission for a while. Reflecting on Laird’s life and anticipating the future without such a great human being has been very difficult. But with the difficulties there have also been laughs and joyful memories.

I had Dylan over for dinner last week and he and I were able to share a lot of our thoughts regarding his brother, more than I had been able to through writing or talking with others. Dylan and I are similar in the fact that we often have a hard time really opening up and letting people know how we feel. As our friendship goes back to when we were 10 years old we have had plenty of time to “vent” to each other over the years. I value Dylan as, among many other things, a great friend who has always been there to listen and I hope that I have always been and always will be the same for him as well as the entire Prosser family. Thanks Dylan.

During these two weeks I have also looked seriously at my athletic career, both the past and what lies ahead. Goal setting was something that I always thought of as an essential part of success. I realize now that I have been without athletic goals for the past 7 or 8 years. Sure, I’ll decide to enter a race and tell myself “it would be nice to finish in blank minutes,” but as far as serious goals I can hardly remember the last time I sat down and wrote some down.

So I did that. I have a rough draft. It’s not quite at the “tape to my bathroom mirror” point, but it is a start. I’m going to do some more thinking, evaluating and planning and hammer this thing out. More to come in my next post.