Four Pillars of Training for Fast Running

   Over the last twenty years of training I have found in my own training and in looking at the training of others with much better success than I've had that there seem to be four types of workouts you should focus on to build a balanced fitness and run up to the maximum of your potential.  These are not the only running you should do but they are sessions that are used regularly in pretty much every program I have looked at that produced unusually good results.

  These sessions are not an exhaustive list of all the types of workouts you should do but they are the four main pillars that hold up all of the other training.  If you are doing these you will do well.  If you aren't you will likely not get the most out of yourself.

  Pillar 1- Fundamental tempos- These have many names, I've used Renato Canova's name for them.  Jerry Schumacher calls them rythm runs, Joe Vigil calls them, fast endurance runs or 30km tests, George Malley or Bob Hodge would probably call it running a bit faster than normal sometimes.  Call them what you want, just make sure you do them. These are longer runs at pace that is faster than training pace but not as fast as tempo pace.  For a beginning, low mileage runner this might only be five or six miles long.  For a competitive marathoner they might get as long as thirty miles.   The key to this session is relaxation at a pace that is not exactly fast but is faster than you do or really could do day in day out for your training runs.   A good starting place for these is a minute per mile slower than your 5k race pace.  These should be done throughout the training year but you would do them much more often during the early phases and much less as you get into the thick of your racing season.  Similarly these are important for all runners but even more so for the developing runner.

  Pillar 2- Specific work/max lass workouts- I combine these because if your event is 1500 to 10k then the specific version of the max lass workouts is your key specific workouts but in the marathon the key is much more just specific paced running and max lass becomes much more secondary.   For me specific workouts mean running within about 1% of race pace.  So if your training to run a ten minute two mile specific pace would be 4:57 to 5:03 per mile.  I would hesitate a guess that more effort is wasted on running, supposedly, specific workouts that are too fast than in any other area of training.  If your goal is a 10 minute two mile and the quarter repeats you are doing feel too easy at 75 you should NOT run them faster.  You should either run them with shorter rest or you should run longer repeats at the same pace.  If it is early in the training cycle then you should focus on embracing the efforts feeling easy and try to make them feel as easy as you possibly can.

  Max lass workouts are workouts that try to create an ability to hold the amount of lacate, ie acid, in your blood at an essentially steady level while running your specific race pace.  For a long time it was thought that you could only really do this at 10 mile to half marathon race pace but it has been found that athletes can produce a defacto max lass at much faster paces, ie 3k to 10k race pace, where they hold lactate levels basically steady for 5 to 25 minutes.  Workouts for max lass in the base phase focus on doing explosive work, like short hill sprints, bounding, sprinting etc., while your body has a ton of latic acid in it.  This can be accomplished through hill circuits or doing hard track repeats with circuits or hill sprints mixed into the rests between the intervals.  As you move to the specific phase these workouts morph to involve repetitions at race pace mixed with explosive sprint reps.

  These workouts, both specific marathon workouts and max lass workouts, are only a small change from traditional or "normal" workouts. Do not fool yourself into thinking that you are fine just doing your regular sessions and working hard.  These sessions are probably the biggest difference in the performances we see today verses the 1980's.   For a long period of time it seemed that the best in the world were sort of pinned into the 13 teens, 27 lows and 2:07 to 2:08 range.  Now I'm not trying to say that EPO wasn't involved in the sudden proliferation of sub 13 men in the 1990's.  I'm not that naive.  That said there were many highly dedicated very hard working and talented men in the 1970's and 80's and only a few slipped under 13:10, notably Henry Rono and David Moorecroft.  Even if you discount some of the best in the world today there are many athletes who I feel very secure in saying are clean who are running well under 13:10.  Ben True, Hassan Mead, Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegankamp, Sam Chelanga come to mind very quickly.  I simply don't believe they are more talented then say Matt Centrowitz Sr., 13:12 or Lasse Viren, 13:16.  When you look at this improved standard and then consider that the vast majority of the training is unchanged in the last fourty years it becomes clear that something subtle but important has happened.  Both generations did high mileage.  Both generations did tempo runs, intervals, long runs.  Both generations ran on mondo tracks and even had pace setters, though admittedly Viren never ran well in a race that was paced.  This leaves the question, what is different?  The answer, to my mind, is in the two types of workouts I have highlighted above.  So if you are asking do I think that if the runners of the past were doing more of these sessions they would have been faster my simple answer is yes.  I do not believe it is likely or even possible that someone like Craig Virgin could have worked harder than he did and he ran 8:40.9 for two miles in high school so it is also unlikely that any number of athletes are significantly more talented than he was.   Yet we have a number of guys running much faster.  Some of this could be chalked up to faster races.  I have no doubt that at times in his career Craig could have run in the 13:10 range if the race had been going at that pace but I find it hard to believe simple pacing would drop him 20 seconds.  So what are the likes of Ben True, 13:02, Matt Tegenkamp, 12:58 and Chris Solinsky, 12:55 doing differently?  I believe the answer is fundamental tempos and max lass workouts.  Though I' imagine that none of them call them by those names.

Pillar 3- Threshold workouts.  Traditionally this would be your half marathon paced tempo run.  I would include those but I personally focus much more on alternation style intervals.  I believe these are far more effective in improving threshold as well as overall fitness.  Your threshold or steady state pace is the single most important fitness maker in deciding your success in races from 3k to marathon.  If you have a high threshold you will race well.  If you have also do some decent specific workouts with that high threshold you will race very well.   Raising your threshold is how you make a pace that is hard to run for longer than a few hundred meters into something you can run easily for a few miles.
  Alternation workouts for threshold included things like Aussie Quarters, http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2014/12/workout-wednesday-australian-quarters.html, Moneghetti Fartleks, http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/01/monaghetti-fartlek.html, or Renato Canova style alternations, http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/02/workout-wednesday-alternations-for-5k.html.  Basically any workout where you mix in intervals of faster than half marathon paced running with quick, faster than regular training paced, recoveries.
 Threshold workouts are closely related to the fundamental tempos in terms of the changes that they create in your body.  Improvements in one of these workouts will lead to improvements in the other.  If you find yourself plateaued in either of these work types very often the answer is to focus on the other.  For more than a year early in my career I could not find a way to run a threshold run under 5:10 per mile or so.  If I did one mile at 5:00 pace it felt painfully easy but somewhere between 3 and 5 miles it became incredibly hard. Then I found fundamental tempo's and within a few months I could do 5 mile tempo runs at 4:50 per mile.  In the more then a decade that has past since I have seen this connection in my training again and again.

Pillar 4- Speed work.  This is NOT anaerobic work.  This is work focused on teaching the body to run fast while remaining relaxed.  This can be as simple as strides.  It can be done in great volume or in very low volume with great regularity.  I try to never let a week go by where I don't do at least some session for speed.  Joe Vigil, who is a much better coach then me, tries to never let a day go by where it doesn't get touched on.
   Nearly everyone runs fast in their training but too often we fall into the trap of thinking fast and hard are the same thing.  Much like the workouts in pillar one speed sessions should not be hard. They are more than an easy day but not nearly a hard day.  You can address the need for this type of work in a ton of different ways.  You can do sets of strides, 4 to 15, as often as daily or you can do short hill sprints, under 15 seconds.  I often do longer sessions like 30x100m or mix 10 to 20 second high speed bursts into a regular run with full recovery between efforts.  The two keys to this type of work are a focus on good, relaxed, powerful running form and taking full recovery between efforts.  It is easy to slip into not taking enough rest between these sessions, it is all but impossible to take too much recovery.

  There you have it.  As I stated above I don't expect this to be the only training you do but I do expect that this is what your training schedule should be designed around. If you are regularly working on all of these systems you will do well.  If you then start to put them into a well designed progression of increased volume and periodized adjustments you will be truly training and not just running and you will see some impressive results.

Weekly Training Blog August 7 to 13, 2017

Monday AM 10k, started with Uta and Melissa, 45:03, starting to cough more after feeling kinda shitty last 2 or 3 days.
PM 10.2 miles around Northfield Mount Hermon, first 7 miles or so with camp counselors, 1:21:47

Tuesday PM road 4 with Uta, 29:04, basically only ran to get Uta some exercise.  Felt pretty shitty, coughing a lot.

Wednesday PM road 5, 34:44, still sick.

Thursday AM at granite state camp as a speaker.  I was pretty sick and didn't hang out long but had a good time all the same.  should have stuck around to run but I had decided to take the day off
PM Found out Melissa had Lyme and felt like a wuss for wanting to take a the day off for a small cold so I did a road 5 in 34:31

Friday Noon road 10, 1:05:45, feeling better, but coughing a lot.

Saturday PM road 10, 1:05:14, coughing less, feel normal other than that and some left of sinus stuff I'm about ready to go

Sunday AM 10.4 on roads, first 2k with Melissa and Uta, coughing only after runs now.
PM road 5, 34:27

Summary 66 miles or so for the week, no quality, but I'm healthy again and nothing much was lost but time.

Training Blog July 31 to August 6, 2017

Monday AM 3+ warm up, drills, strides, 200m in 31, jogging, Aussie Quarters averaged 68/45 fastest rep was 67.0 on the last one, slowest was 69.2 on the penultimate one.  15:18 for the 3 miles.  Huge improvement, not a great session in the scope of things but massive improvement from where I have been. 3.5 cool down
PM road 5 with Uta in 35:49, dead lifts after the run

Tuesday AM road 10 solo, 1:06:16
PM 5 miles around Phillips fields with Uta and Melissa in 44:19

Wednesday AM paced Melissa's 8 mile progression run on Chelmsford rail trail, 54:16
PM 3+ warm up, drills, 400m in 74, 500m jogging, then 30x100m in 15 with 100m slow jog full recovery, 3.5 cool down

Thursday AM road 12 solo, 1:19:11, squats after the run
PM road 5 solo, 34:57

Friday AM some lifting, drills and massage with Anna
Noon road 10, 1:10:08
took rest of day off, coming down with sore throat, very tired

Saturday AM 3+ warm up, drills, strides, quarter mile in 69, Race John Leclerc windmill 5k in Templeton, 1st place CR, 15:10, splits 5:00, 9:57, 14:42.  Still a bit sick, not the best effort.  Not sharp enough to run real hard from the front.  All in all I was pretty happy with this, for where I am at right now. 3 mile cool down largely with the next two finishers.
PM road 5, 35:51

A quarter mile or so into the race.

Sunday AM road 8.2 with Uta, 57:15

PM road 8.2 solo, 55:42.  I would have done a longer run today but I was feeling pretty shitty still and decided to do a bit less in hopes of aiding my return to being not sick...

Summary 108 miles for the week, nice Aussie quarters session, nice rust buster race, good speed/muscular session. I feel like I'm moving forward real well overall.  The coordination hasn't been good.  I doubt I would have held it for much longer had I gone past 12 on Tuesday.  I'm not fit but I really feel like I'm improving very steadily and I could see myself running pretty well in another month or two at this rate.   I hope you are training well.  

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Training Blog July 24 to 30, 2017 Getting Stronger...

Monday noon road 10 miles 1:08:34, tired, spent most of the day catching up on yard work and errands...

Tuesday AM 5.3 miles with Melissa and Uta, 39:25
PM at rail trail 3 mile warm up, drills and strides, 4x2 miles with 2mins of drills recovery, 10:22, 10:27, 10:15, 10:09.  Actually started to feel good by the last one which was nice.  Getting a bit of endurance back.  2.2 mile cool down

Wednesday AM 7.1 miles in 54:24, pacing Melissa through her 2x2 mile, in 12:40 and 1xhalf mile in 2:55 workout.  We also did some drills and strides during this.
PM 8.1 miles on roads solo, 55:27

Thursday AM at Phillips Academy, 3 warm up, drills, strides, 10x300m with 300m jog, ie full recovery and then some.  This is muscular work so the first one basically felt the same as the last one except I had bit of fatigue in the quads and calves, no acid burn etc...  Averaged 46.9 with fastest at 46.5 and slowest at 47.3, jogs were very slow, mostly over 2mins.  3 mile cool down

Full disclosure I went fishing instead of doing a second run, pretty lazy choice but it was a really nice afternoon and I'm trying not to go too crazy with the mileage...

Friday AM road 10 mile solo, 1:05:37
PM 5.1 miles around Phillips fields with Melissa and Uta, 42:11

Saturday PM 3 warm up, drills and strides, 5x mile on rail trail, 5:21, 5:08, 4:59, 4:52, 4:50.  Goal was to be in the 5:20's then 10's then 0's then 50's then 40's.  Given my current 5k fitness, ~15:00 that was a fairly big ask and by being on the low end of the first 4 reps I pretty much screwed myself.   The first 3 actually felt pretty good I was even having delusions of grandeur that I would bust out a 6th rep in the 4:30's but by the half mile in the 4th rep the reality that running much under 5min pace is pretty hard for me right now settled in.  Rests were 2mins with drills. Actually the rests were exactly 1:59 for every one which I find a little funny, I'm not usually that consistent. 3 mile cool down.

Sunday AM with Melissa on rail trail.  This was here long run/workout.  So we ran 11.6 miles with no stopping 3 miles easy as warm up, then 5 miles of 3/4 in the 4:30's, 6:0's pace, with 1/4 slow jog recovery then 3.6 miles easy at the end, 1:30:16 for the whole thing.
PM road 8.2 solo, 55:19, saw a deer very close up, about 15 feet.  Finished off a good week for wildlife.

Summary 102 miles for the week, three nice workouts.  I'm starting to get to a point where I can see my body wanting to get back to 'normal' paces and abilities.  I'm not there yet but hopefully over the next few weeks it will happen.
  The weather this week was crazy nice, probably the nicest whole week I have ever trained through in a Massachusetts summer.  Generally we have very high humidity and very high dew points so that even 80 degrees tends to feel like a death march.  This week not only was the temp in the high seventies and low 80's but it felt cool.  It really was a nice break.  It looks like the humidity is going to be back this week so we'll see how I handle it.  Generally it doesn't bother me too much for a single session but it grinds me down and I have to start putting in more rest days.  We are however coming into August and often the mornings and evenings are cooler in August giving a chance to work around the heat more effectively.
  This week I'm going to do a couple of workouts and a 5k race.  I'm planning on trying to start racing into shape over the course of this month.  Just hopping into some local races and running hard.  I'm ready for that.  I still don't know for sure what I'll be focused on for the fall, that is going to depend on how the next 6 to 8 weeks go but it is time to start trying to hurt a little for real.
  This weekends race will be the John Leclerc Memorial Wind Turbine 5k in my hometown of Templeton, MA.  It raises money for cross country program which was a power house for many years but fell on hard times right after I graduated with the addition of a lot of other sports, Narragansett is a tiny school.  From the programs inception in 1963 through to 1998 they never had a losing season and won state titles in 1966, 1979, 1983, 1995, 1996.  The titles in '79 and '83 were when Massachusetts didn't have divisions so that was beating schools that were 10 to 20 times larger. Since then they have struggled.
   My expectations are pretty low.  I'm going to aim for 15:00 but I'm not feeling confident that I'll be able to run that.

'back in the day' front page of the local paper from the first state champion team I was on at Narragansett

Training Blog July 17 to 23, 2017

Monday AM road 5 with Uta, 35:41
               PM road 10, solo, 1:03:32

Tuesday AM road 5 with Melissa and Uta, 39:26
PM 3.8 warm up, drills, 30x100m all but one in the 15s, slipped up on 5th or 6th one and ran a 16.1, 3.8 cool down

Wednesday AM 13.3 miles, 1:33:59, first 2 miles and last two miles with Melissa and Anna on Chelmsford rail trail.
PM 4 miles on road, first 2 with Uta, 30:15

Thursday AM 5 mile 37:19, with Uta
PM road 10, 1:05:05

Friday AM on Phillips Academy fields, 2 warm up, 20k fundamental pace tempo, 1:12:55
noon drills, some lifting and massage with Anna

Saturday AM rail trail 5.2 with Melissa
PM road 10, 1:06:27

Sunday AM 3 mile warm up, drills, strides, 200m in 31, jogging, Aussie Quarters goal was to run 50 for the recovery 200's and 68 for the on four hundreds.  I went 46/68/51/67/51/68/50/68/50/68/50/68/50/68/49/67  for 15:49 for the full 3 miles.  A long way off sub 15 and where I want to be but a small step in the right direction. 3.5 cool down
PM road 10 with Melissa, 1:18:14

Summary 115 miles, three good workouts.  All and all a decent week.  Some nice training.  Getting back to some lifting.  I need to get into yoga again in the next couple weeks. Other than that really just trying to string some more weeks together and keep making the baby steps towards some good fitness.

  Hope you are well.
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Fishing with Dick Beardsley; A Day I'll Never Forget

  For my birthday last year Melissa went very over the top and gave me a trip to Bemidji Minnesota to stay at Jill and Dick Beardsley's bed and breakfast, http://www.lakebemidjibandb.com/, and to spend a day fishing with Dick Beardsley, http://www.dickbeardsley.com/.  I'm all about delayed gratification but waiting almost a full year for my birthday gift was pretty extreme, even by my standards!  In the end however it was worth it in every way.

  Melissa and I flew out mid morning on Tuesday and arrived in Minneapolis rather quickly.   Then we drove the 3 and half hours to Bemidji.  I really enjoyed the ride as we moved through the city then suburbs then a lot of farm country and then into more of the north woods.   Melissa was less enthused about it. Honestly next time I'll probably fly to Bemidji but having only really been to Minnesota once before it was nice to get out and see some of it.   We were greeted at the Bed and Breakfast by Dick who said he didn't usually play host but Jill was a bit under the weather.  He then steered us to a great little restaurant around the corner for an amazing meal at the end of a long day.  Before we headed out he asked what we wanted to fish for.  Having never caught a walleye and having grown up bass fishing most every weekend I told him either would be wonderful.  We set up a meeting time of 6:30AM and Dick said he would drive us down to a couple of Lakes in the Detroit lakes region where he grew up.

  The next morning Dick was ready go early when we came down from our room.  He informed us there had been crazy storms in the Detroit lakes and there were a ton of trees down so we were going to stay a bit closer and go to a couple of nearby lakes.  I was a bit concerned to hear this as I assumed that plan B was likely not a as good as plan A.  However Dick was all smiles and only wanted to know what kind of sandwiches we would like.  A few minutes later Dick was ready to go with a picnic basket in hand.  Seriously this had to be a dream.

  We popped in for bait around the corner and then to gas up the boat.  In doing so Dick knocked something over and yelled out, "Son of a buck!"  The funny part is that is really what he said.  It was the first of an endless number of exclamations over the course of the day that were both overwhelmingly creative and genuine while never once including even a borderline bad word.

  A few minutes later Dick had us on the water and heading out to a sunken Island to go after some early morning walleye.  He had warned us that the walleye were slow to bite in the mid summer but assured us we would get some and then we would take a mid day break and drive to another Lake to get some heavy action on small and largemouth bass.

  Dick quickly got us set up with some live bait, even putting it on the hook for us, which was good as I didn't see Melissa grabbing a leech and hooking it anytime soon.  He then explained how to cast so expertly that Melissa, who had never been fishing in her life, not even as a kid was casting like a pro in less than a minute.  Once he had us set up and our baits were in the water Dick threw a line in as well.  Almost instantly he was exclaiming "jimminy christmas there's one!"

  Now one time when I was a kid my dad got permission for us to go fishing on a private pond and he caught one on the first cast and that was a start to just about the best day of fishing we ever had.  It is also the only time in my life prior to this trip that I had seen a fish caught on the first cast.

  To say I was excited at this point is the understatement of the century.  Dick however was telling us not to worry and that even though catching one on the first cast is supposed to bad luck he was sure we would do fine and that even tough that one was a bass he was sure we would get some walleye soon.

  Within a couple minutes he was proved right.  Melissa had one on.  The girl who prior to this had never held a rod or been on a fishing boat was hooked up and loving it!  It was a bullhead, much to Dick's delight and surprise.  It made me feel better about not getting one yet because obviously this was a fluke fish and not something Melissa had done with skill.

  A couple minutes later Melissa had another, this one was a bass and I could see a trend starting.  Dick and Melissa kept hitting them and I kept setting the hook on grass and getting my bait stolen.  Though I did get one solid hit and set the hook to have the line almost instantly go slack and found myself biten off which Dick assured me was a pike, which were plentiful here as well.  I was obviously paying a price to karma for underestimating Melissa!

Melissa with her first, of many, bass

Meanwhile as the other two kept reeling them in one after another, Dick even getting one while he was unhooking the one Melissa had just caught, The pole nearly went out of the boat as Dick dove across the bow to get it!  We were having some of the most engaging and fun conversation I have had in a long time.  I knew Dick was a story teller but he is also a conversationalist and we flowed along laughing and going on like lifelong friends.   Meanwhile I was stunned to see the ear to ear smile glued to Melissa's face as she had insisted since telling me about this trip that she was only going fishing to "take one for the team."  Now she was having as much fun as me.

Melissa's Fishing Smile

  Now as we went along Melissa and Dick were catching a great combo of bass, walleye and even a couple of northern pike.  With Dick getting legitimately disappointed each time the fist turned out to be something other than a walleye!  This included when it was a nearly 30 inch long Northern Pike! It was hilarious.  I was still struggling with the fish but positively having the time of my life.  At one point while we were talking Dick actually said "we are like two peas in a pod, you and I."  Now I have received some compliments in my life but that one has to be one of the highest a guy like me could ever get.   It is hard to describe what makes a day like this so magically.  It wasn't perfect weather, it was cool and windy and at times it rained a bit.  I wasn't catching anything, yet, but here I was with the love of my life who was having an unexpectedly wonderful time and talking with Dick it really felt like we had been friends for years.  My cheeks were actually starting to hurt from laughing and smiling so much.

 This is a walleye for those who don't fish

Dick with the largest of the pike he caught.  How this thing didn't bite off his line I'll never know. 

   Before long Dick decided the bite was slowing, though this was not too obvious to me, we had already caught more fish then in any day of my life to date, and we were heading for a snack and the second lake.   This one was down the end of a series of ever smaller dirt roads and we were greeted by a pair of nesting loons and their two young babies. 

  Dick drove us to the middle of the lake to set us up with rubber worms and explain how he wanted us to fish them.  He set up Melissa first and as he was setting up his rod and mine she cast out.  Dick sort of chuckled and said this wasn't were we were going to fish but she was free to try anyway.  Within a few seconds Melissa was hooked up.  First cast again!  Dick was full of fun exclamations for this one.  Amazed that Melissa had somehow caught this bass in 50 feet of water with no structure around.  As soon as he got back to tying his line Melissa had a second one on.  First two casts back to back! Yeah it was that kind of day.

 Melissa's first cast

Melissa's second cast

  All rigged up we headed off to the target spot, but not before Dick geo-located the spot and studied his sonar a bit to get an idea why she was hitting them out in the middle of nowhere.  This was one a few moments on the day when it struck me why Dick was so darn good at fishing.  He is meticulous and he is always learning.  He actually went back to the same spot a couple days later when he had a free afternoon to do some research. 

  On the target spot I almost immediately hooked one and was glad to finally be catching fish like everyone else, except it was a tiny rock bass.  I mean I couldn't believe the the thing could even get the hook in its mouth!  Melissa was taking no small joy in my woes and really it was almost making the trip more fun.  That said with the ice broken now I was now catching them with the same frequency as the other two.  A couple small large mouths and a couple more rock bass came quickly and then off a point I hooked into something I could tell was better.

My first fish of the day!  It was a whopper!

  As it got closer to the boat it really dug in and I realized I was onto a really nice one.  As it came by the front of the boat Dick got a good look at it and he got really excited!  He started shouting his very personal and wonderful string of non-swear exclamations.  Including, I kid you not, "Jimminy Christmas that one is a dandy!"  And it was.  At 18 inches and in the 3 to 4 pound range it was the largest smallmouth I've ever caught and Dick and I celebrated with an off balance awkward fist bump and something like a little dance.  It was a hilarious and wonderful moment in a great day.

  The weather actually turned on us a bit and it rained pretty steady for a little bit.  The thing was we hardly noticed.  We were catching fish left and right.  I actually didn't realize how hard it had rained until I saw Melissa's pictures at the end of the day and saw my shorts were soaked in one picture.   At one point Melissa and Dick caught fish simultaneously and Melissa finished off her amazing string with a largemouth that was about the same size as my smallmouth.   Finally it was time to head home.

  Arriving back at the Bed and Breakfast we were like three kids pouring into the yard talking all at once about the amazing day we had.  Dick wasn't too thrilled with the fishing but all of us had really just loved spending the day together and enjoying the conversation, the sights, from loons to eagles, and the wonderful fresh air of the great North.  Ok for me the fishing was pretty amazing too but Dick has high standards and I had to explain to Melissa that it doesn't normally go that well on the water.  At least not when you don't have Dick showing you the way. 

My big smallmouth

  We enjoyed the rest of our trip.  Jill makes some of the best, and fanciest breakfasts I've ever had.  She made a frittata one morning that I'll be dreaming about and trying to recreate for years to come.  We went hiking in a few different places, including crossing the headwaters of the Mississippi River, with the Beardsley's little mini golden doodle, Scarlett, who Melissa grew so attached to that when we left and Scarlett chased us to the fence and then started barking Melissa started crying.  Believe me we have had some great vacations together but Melissa has never cried when it was time to go home before.   The bed and breakfast itself is very cute with only 3 guest rooms and Jill keeps it SPOTLESS, but the biggest thing was the friendship we built with Dick and Jill.   Melissa and I commented again and again to each other that although Bedmidji is nice it isn't nearly the nicest place we have been but that Jill and Dick made this truly a trip of a lifetime full of memories and stories that we will treasure and share for the rest of our lives. 

  

Training Blog July 10 to 16, 2017

Monday AM 3.8 warm up, drills, strides. Attempted Aussie Quarters.  It was a bit windy, a good bit hot and I got kicked off the track, though I don't think the last two would have been pretty had I been able to stay. Goal was 50 for the rest 68 for the rep.  Went 49/67/53/67/50/68/50/69/51/68/51/69- total time 11:58 for 3600 meters, 5:20 mile pace. 3.8 mile cool down

Tuesday AM 5.2 miles solo, 38:53, was planning to go further but heard there was a bad traffic day going so I cut it short as we need to get to the airport.

PM travel to Bemidji, MN

Wednesday Off day Fishing all day with Dick Beardsley and Melissa.  Once in a lifetime experience gonna write a blog about it soon.

Thursday AM 9.7 miles, first 5 with Melissa, in 1:10:07
PM 6.1 miles solo, 39:08

Friday AM 3 mile warm up, first 1.5 with Melissa, then some drills and strides.  Mona Fartlek on awesome rail trail along the lake. covered 3.75 miles, 5:20 pace.  Which is about right for where I am fitness wise at the moment.  3 mile cool down.

Saturday AM 10.1 miles, 1:15, first 6 miles with Melissa.
PM travel back home, got back about 1am.

Sunday Noon 3 mile warm up, with Melissa, drills and a couple light strides.  3x2 miles with bit over 2 mins of drills recovery, very warm and humid. 10:26(5:15/5:11), 10:30(5:21/5:09), 10:24(5:13/5:11) 1 mile cool down, mostly with Melissa.

Summary not much in the way of miles this week but that was planned given that we were traveling and vacationing.  I was real happy to get in three good workouts.   We had an amazing trip. Really something every runner, or fisherman has to do.