Week of 10/27-11/2

Two posts ago I already covered much of last week. I ran a lot. For me anyway. In fact, EndangeredSwimmer is not looking too much like a swimming blog right now. Instead it looks a lot like a running blog. That's OK, with me at least, and that is how it will look for most, if not all, of the winter. Probably I will start back to DSU soon and resume swimming twice per week for the rest of the year and the beginning of 2015 with an occasional outdoor swim thrown in.

For the week, I

ran 44.14 and walked 7.2 miles,
lifted weights two times,
swam 2,500 meters, and
rode 5.2 miles on the bike.

My running is coming back. Finally. Not only am I starting to wrack up some distance, but I am doing it with some intensity thrown in. Not on every run, but two times a week I have been doing some sort of multi-paced work, and I seem to be holding up pretty well to that. My recovery has been well, and I am not overly sore from the faster runs. In fact, they seem to make my legs feel better. I think at my age and personal inclinations, it is too easy to idle down to a shuffle. And a shuffle after shuffle can be stifling on improvement, and in my case at least, seems to lead to staleness.

For me, big mileage starts at thirty. Forty is really big, and fifty is huge. I have done fifty mile weeks maybe four or five times in my life. I think a few are on the horizon as I prepare to knock some items off my bucket list before I get too old to accomplish them. I plan to drop back this week and train in a block fashion building for three or four weeks before dropping down for a recovery week.

My mind is spinning like a top searching for a one or two-day adventure run that really excites me. I will come up with something. The Thanksgiving Break is approaching and I want to do a big mileage week with some fun runs thrown in. I thought a bit about running to Winona. That was my first day's destination on my three day journey run I started last December  but physically broke down before making Day One's goal. Without the weight of a three day trip, I should be able to strike out pretty light, liquids and gels enough to get me to Carrollton. which is about half way. There I can eat lunch, like last time, restock my travelling food, and hopefully make the rest of the journey. That, at least, would be a measure of redemption and preparation for the real deal that I may try again next December.

Dude, I just thouught of something. I could run to Winona, stay the night, go out 407 and then over to Vaiden where I could overnight and then amble home the next day. Or I could go from Winona to my father-in-law's in Carroll County and then home. That is three days, a little less extreme than what I had hoped for last year. The ideas are starting to come. I feel a whole lot of fun coming on.