Monday- AM 10 miles (1:20) ~2000ft
Up Crooked Trail and down Hell's Gate Canyon.
-PM 4 miles (30)
Just a nice shake out down the Kim Trail.
Tuesday- 12 miles (1:32) ~2500
Crooked trail to the top of Sentinel and back down.
Wednesday- Off
Sick
Thursday- AM 6 miles (39:30)
Out standard Rattlesnake Rd.
-PM 11 miles (1:19)
Standard Rattlesnake
Friday- 6 miles (43:20)
Saturday- 19 miles (2:19) ~2000 ft
Standard Rattlesnake, to Sawmill Gulch and down Curry Gulch. It was a new route, but something I plan to do again when I am back in town.
Sunday- 12 miles ( 1:27)
Standard Rattlesnake.
Totals:
80 miles
6500 ft.
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Well it took me way to long to get to this one. Been over a week since I have written anything and I finally feel like I have the time to sit down and write. It has been a hectic last 2 weeks now. With last week being finals week and transitioning out of the Dorms finally, while trying to bump my mileage up and getting sick- needless to say it did not go as well as planned. The week was that of a roller coaster, with days from 19 miles to 0. But being home now has replanted my drive for mileage more than it has been in the last 3 weeks.
I am excited to continue to try and get my mileage up to that triple digit mark, but this week has had me take 2 zeros already. Being in Eastern Washington at the cabin definitely did not promote running, extremely bad running conditions and not a ton of time to run, not to mention still trying to get the tail ends of this illness to dissipate.
On a good note, with my mileage being all over the place from 0-20 a day, I still find my motivation to still be high, and these days off are not affecting my drive to get out on the trails like they were in previous weeks. But with this motivation, and the higher mileage, I am interested in how this coming spring will go on the track and where it will take me. I still am focused on the track and doing everything I need to perform to a level that I have been hoping for, for the last 2 years, but I am really lacking the desire for any sort of structure within my training other than just mileage. I have struggled mentally at the idea of getting out and doing intervals or structured work outs of any kind. But I have been doing some improvised work outs in runs, and running more vertical than in the passed, all which I will be helping balance out the fact that I have done no "real" work outs.
This guy has been dominating my music every I get the chance, so enjoy.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Week of December 5-11
Monday: 9 miles (60 minutes)
Did a fartlek today, 8x 3 minutes with 1 minute rest. I never felt very good throughout the run. My hamstrings were really tight and moderately painful. All of my intervals were at roughly tempo pace instead of the 10k pace I intended them to be. But all in all a good start to the week.
Tuesday: 11 miles (1:22) ~2500 ft.
Went up the fire road to Penegally Ridge. Ran over the top of Sentinel and down into Hell's Canyon.
Wednesday: 14 (1:37) ~1500 ft
Saddle of Jumbo the standard way. Felt pretty good all the way through. Worked the climb up the road and cruised down the back, feeling pretty smooth.
Thursday: 14 (1:59) ~3000 ft
Went up Hell's Gate Canyon to University Beacon. Really long climb, but it was the first time I had gone that far up. It was amazing to get to the top and view miles around. I dropped off the back of University Beacon, and went up Radio Mountain.
Friday: 12 (1:25)
Just did the standard loop up into the Rattlesnake. Nothing special about today, just putting the time in.
Saturday: 18 (2:07)
Well I put in my longest run since August today, but it was somewhat of an odd run. Did a loop through town to pick up some Gu, then headed up the Rattlesnake to keep it fairly flat and consistent. It was really nice to break over that 2 hour mark again, its something I've been missing alot lately.
Sunday: 5 (36 minutes)
I headed out to the trails in the dark, only to have my headlamp die. So turned around and went into the gym to finish up on the death machine. I could not handle running on it. After a mere mile I got off and went back through town in the lights.
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This week was another great one. I was so glad to get out into the mountains a few more days and really log some miles and some vertical gain. As much as I thought my mental state was at an all time high last week, this week was even better. My five miler Sunday was nothing special, but I know that it was what I needed. As the week has progressed my left knee began to give me a little soreness, so a down day was probably good for me.
As for now, back to the books; time to crank out the finals.
Did a fartlek today, 8x 3 minutes with 1 minute rest. I never felt very good throughout the run. My hamstrings were really tight and moderately painful. All of my intervals were at roughly tempo pace instead of the 10k pace I intended them to be. But all in all a good start to the week.
Tuesday: 11 miles (1:22) ~2500 ft.
Went up the fire road to Penegally Ridge. Ran over the top of Sentinel and down into Hell's Canyon.
Wednesday: 14 (1:37) ~1500 ft
Saddle of Jumbo the standard way. Felt pretty good all the way through. Worked the climb up the road and cruised down the back, feeling pretty smooth.
Thursday: 14 (1:59) ~3000 ft
Went up Hell's Gate Canyon to University Beacon. Really long climb, but it was the first time I had gone that far up. It was amazing to get to the top and view miles around. I dropped off the back of University Beacon, and went up Radio Mountain.
Friday: 12 (1:25)
Just did the standard loop up into the Rattlesnake. Nothing special about today, just putting the time in.
Saturday: 18 (2:07)
Well I put in my longest run since August today, but it was somewhat of an odd run. Did a loop through town to pick up some Gu, then headed up the Rattlesnake to keep it fairly flat and consistent. It was really nice to break over that 2 hour mark again, its something I've been missing alot lately.
Sunday: 5 (36 minutes)
I headed out to the trails in the dark, only to have my headlamp die. So turned around and went into the gym to finish up on the death machine. I could not handle running on it. After a mere mile I got off and went back through town in the lights.
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This week was another great one. I was so glad to get out into the mountains a few more days and really log some miles and some vertical gain. As much as I thought my mental state was at an all time high last week, this week was even better. My five miler Sunday was nothing special, but I know that it was what I needed. As the week has progressed my left knee began to give me a little soreness, so a down day was probably good for me.
As for now, back to the books; time to crank out the finals.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Mileage Bug
It has been 12 days now since I got back into the swing of running again. Despite a depressing and frustrating start at the beginning of last week, my morale and overall spirits are some of the highest I can remember. It is unbelievable what mileage does to ones spirits. No matter how tired, or sore, once I have taken a mere three steps I cannot wait to get to the trails and spend another 90 minutes out there enjoying Montana's beauty and the sheer act of running itself.
I am glad to be back to loving the sport again. Every day this week as soon as I take my shoes off, I can't wait to slip them back on and head out again. It is an amazing relationship to have and one that I have missed and lost for quite some time. Every day I spend putting in higher mileage, I want more and more miles. Which is the completely opposite from when my mileage lowers. The less I run the less I want to run, the more I run the more I want to run. Logically I should be running 85-110 miles a week all the time then right? Should be. Sadly this past cross-country season I averaged a mere 58.8 miles a week over the 12 week season. In five days this week I already have 60 miles and am going to put in my longest run since August tomorrow.
At this point, I can not wait to continue to put in more miles; I would love to be in the hundreds already. But being smart about my build up is a must due to the fact that from January 16th until mid May I will be hammering out work outs on the track in order to put my best 12.5 laps together as I can. With that said, I have come to a decision that at the end of May, I will be deciding whether or not to continue as a D1 runner. I have enjoyed my time running at this level, but the miles and trails are calling to me more than the 8 painted lanes. I have given my collegiate running career four season of full dedication and immersing myself into the programs doing everything thought to make me faster. But I have had two races that I would consider worth while and an improvement from high school. So I am giving myself and the program two more seasons to prove itself. At the end, if I am still running virtually my high school times I will be making the move away from the track and into the mountains to train for ultras.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
The Beginning
Well, I'm sure this will sound like the beginning of every other blog. Asking the questions why do people blog? Why am I blogging? And what in the world am I Connor Williams going to have to talk about that is important enough for anyone to want to sit down and read? But to begin I don't like the idea of blogging, sitting down and informally reporting your life to a world of people that may or may not have ever met you. But what I do like is the fact that it forces you to put yourself out there and be honest with what your doing.
My primary reason for wanting to begin writing here was to have a place to log my running in a fashion that is more in depth than just writing down my running time, distance and the shoe I wore. After 2 years of reading Aton Krupicka's blog I decided it was time to follow, but for my own personal reasons, however similar to his they may be. This is an opportunity for me to sit down and put all of the thoughts and ideas I have whipping through my head during a run on paper for myself to reflect on and think about, as well as provide other people the oportunity to see what running does for me in my life.
Although the primary writing will be about running, both recording my mileage and my thoughts on significant runs and races, I will be writing about things that go on in my life. Whether its a day skiing or a week in the back country on my motorcycle, these activities will work their way into my writing as the two of them play a major role in my life.
As far as running, cross country this year was a year of mediocrity. I never ran great, never ran poorly, just ran well enough to continually improve from the week before. Mentally this was the toughest season I have ever had. I struggled to stay motivated throughout the year and constantly dropped my mileage, continuing the downward motivation. But after a long season and two weeks off last week was my first week back to running. While I wont go into detail about each day, the beginning of the week was a motivational struggle and battle to keep running, but in the end I topped the week off at 73 miles for a great first week back.
Starting this week yesterday with a 9 mile run with 8x 3 minutes on with 1 minute rest at about 10k pace, it was again a motivational struggle as to the start of the week. But today was different. Today was a incredible run, one that sealed my decision to spend my night sitting here typing about something as simple as running. Today I headed into the mountains again for a more than enjoyable run. Climbing over 2500 vertical feet in 11 miles of snow covered trails. I am finally getting really excited about running again and ready to crank up the miles as the weeks go on.
Just a few pictures from my run today.
My primary reason for wanting to begin writing here was to have a place to log my running in a fashion that is more in depth than just writing down my running time, distance and the shoe I wore. After 2 years of reading Aton Krupicka's blog I decided it was time to follow, but for my own personal reasons, however similar to his they may be. This is an opportunity for me to sit down and put all of the thoughts and ideas I have whipping through my head during a run on paper for myself to reflect on and think about, as well as provide other people the oportunity to see what running does for me in my life.
Although the primary writing will be about running, both recording my mileage and my thoughts on significant runs and races, I will be writing about things that go on in my life. Whether its a day skiing or a week in the back country on my motorcycle, these activities will work their way into my writing as the two of them play a major role in my life.
As far as running, cross country this year was a year of mediocrity. I never ran great, never ran poorly, just ran well enough to continually improve from the week before. Mentally this was the toughest season I have ever had. I struggled to stay motivated throughout the year and constantly dropped my mileage, continuing the downward motivation. But after a long season and two weeks off last week was my first week back to running. While I wont go into detail about each day, the beginning of the week was a motivational struggle and battle to keep running, but in the end I topped the week off at 73 miles for a great first week back.
Starting this week yesterday with a 9 mile run with 8x 3 minutes on with 1 minute rest at about 10k pace, it was again a motivational struggle as to the start of the week. But today was different. Today was a incredible run, one that sealed my decision to spend my night sitting here typing about something as simple as running. Today I headed into the mountains again for a more than enjoyable run. Climbing over 2500 vertical feet in 11 miles of snow covered trails. I am finally getting really excited about running again and ready to crank up the miles as the weeks go on.
Just a few pictures from my run today.
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