Training week 1/24 - 1/30

Tough week training this past week.  On Monday I was able to work out for an hour on the Stair Master at the IAC (my gym, Island Athletic Club).  But on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I wasn't able to workout at all because I had a business trip and was working 10 hour days at a power plant in which ambient temperatures can reach 120F.  I came back on Friday and rushed straight to the gym and got on the Stair Master for 60 minutes.  Saturday I went to Cromwell to get in my long run but the snow during the week made it impossible.  There was 8 inches and running was tough so I decided to head to the IAC and got on the Stair Master for 90 minutes.  It was extremely boring but wow was it difficult.  There was not a dry step on that thing.  Feeling bad that I wasn't able to get in any workout during the week, I decided to double it up and do some interval training Saturday afternoon.  I did 1 mile x 3 (7:35, 7:37, 7:37) at my 5k pace with a mile warm up and mile cool down.  

I guess this past week forced me to tapper earlier then I wanted to for my upcoming race at the Holiday Lake 50k on February 12th.  I am excited about getting this season started off well as I have a full race calendar and want this season to be successful.  I did purchase a pair of Microspikes by Kahtoola this past week.  I wore them on Saturday but the deep snow made it difficult to tell how effective they were.  I probably needed some snow shoes during my Saturday run at Cromwell.  I will try the Microspikes out this weekend and write a review on how they performed.

One more piece of news, I got accepted into the Bull Run Run 50 Mile race in April!!  I am very excited to run this race, because I have never run this far so early in the season but I am ready.  Since my lottery application was accepted into Bull Run Run, I am going to forgo running the Terrapin 50k.  I have been looking online to try to find a 24 hour race in the Mid Atlantic area, if anyone might have any suggestions shoot me an email as to where it is.  I want to practice running a few 24 hour races before my attempt at Vermont 100 next July.

See ya on the trails,
JP