Been a few weeks but lots of running and experiments

No Pictures today but I have been out and about running and testing some new ways to train. Also signed up for two more races this season.

Last we talked I was coming back down from Lake Tahoe and busting my lungs at altitude and tired on those climbs. To combat that I have taken to the hills so to speak with more running focused on building better climbing skills. On steep climbs I have taken to way too much walking always hearing the term "walk all hills" when running ultra races..well these are not races these are TRAINING Runs so why not hurt a little now and have that pay off later.

That said the past few weekends have been trying to get my self up K2-aka Training Hill as fast as possible, and additional weekday and weekend runs up Stagecoach. I must admit that things are getting better on both of these sections. Each range from 1.3 to about 2.4 miles of climbing. K2 is not really runnable, while Stagecoach has all sections one can run...One friend offered to help me and give me some climbing lessons on running up K2---I still think that sounds funny, but will be open to seeing how it can be possible.

It seems that the air quality in the late afternoons has been difficult on my mild asthma. Mornings are much easier this time of year. With that in mind I began to review how my heart rate is affected during my running. By bringing in the old garmin 305 I am noticiing where I start to work a bit too hard early on in these runs and take it down to not spike the heart rate so much. It is a slower pace but as I return to better fitness levels this will focus more on aerobic vs. anerobic conditioning.

With training now underway for next June..I see I have a lot of work do accomplish. I am focusing on very moderate weekly mileage between now and October 1. I have a training race the last weekend in September and will focus on working on the heart rate for a trail marathon distance. I am going to work on just that and not get caught up in placing..It follows the John Nichols training mindset tough but it will pay dividends in the future. I also signed up for Quad Dipsea in late November. I hear this is tough..always wanted to sign up for that but felt that the stairs would kill me. Now I get my shot...