Monday, May 12, 2014

Just hanging out

Looking quite svelte with my beautiful lady
I was out of town over the weekend for a friend's wedding.  It was a good time. I was the best man so I had to give a speech/toast, and though I was nervous, it went pretty well!  I ate a ton of junk food (I mean, I ughhh, fueled for running and stuff). 

I still managed to get a couple runs in.. about 5.5 miles on Saturday - an out-and-back from the hotel. And then on Sunday, on the way home, my girlfriend and I stopped at Cook Forest and put in about seven easy miles on the trails.  Some running, some hiking, some walking (is there a difference between hiking and walking?).  It was nice. 




I'll go out for an easy 60-90 minutes today, a long run tomorrow, and then I'll take a couple easy days with the hopes of doing well at the Lead the Way 5K this coming Friday in Minerva, Ohio.  It should be fun, it's been awhile since I've done a 5k. 



Thursday, May 1, 2014

Random Thoughts and an Update about STUFF

This'll be a quick post just for the sake of making a post because I haven't had one lately.  There will be no editing or revision, so just deal with it!

First thing, I changed the name and URL of my blog.  The old name ("Run Through the Woods") was too long and difficult to remember, and I'm not always running through the woods.  Sometimes I run on the road, or even on a treadmill.  Imagine that!

So the new name is "The Ultra Dude".  This nickname was sort of just handed to me by my good friend Sean, and he'd always use it while referring to me on his Facebook posts about our often-epic runs.  "Ran with the Ultra Dude today, yada yada".   I like it.  Hence, the new blog name. 

I've really enjoyed running lately.  And, clearly my training has been paying off.  Evidence:  There was a project for my Exercise Physiology class in which we had to come up with a personal development goal, something fitness related.  I wanted to increase my running efficiency, and my running pace within a target heart zone (the fat burning zone.. which is where I'll want to be doing most of my running during ultras and long runs). 

So back in February I ran, on the treadmill, within my target heart zone of 139-152, for five miles.  I had an average pace of 8:08.   I did the same test again two days ago, and had an average pace of 7:29.  Extrapolating this increased efficiency over 100 miles turns into 65 minutes.  Of course, that's very theoretical and assuming that all other factors remain equal (they never do).

I'll be done with my semester soon at Edinboro, so I'll have more time to run.  And this means more miles.  ("More Miles, More Fun" - Kilian Jornet).   So, I decided to buy a GPS/HRM watch.  I had a Garmin Forerunner 305 that crapped the bed on me, and I still have it with the HRM strap, so I didn't need a new HR strap.  So, I ended up purchasing the Garmin FR220.  I got a good deal through DC Rain Maker's GPS watch review pages using his affiliation with Clever Training.  10% off, woot woot.

I also think the GPS will help with marathon training, since I am doing the Erie Marathon in September and I'd really like to BQ this time!

So, I anticipate some high mileage weeks coming up!  And this is good, because Mohican 100 is on June 21st!  Fast approaching.

Okay, gotta go! 

Keep running!