50k Training

"Chef Bill have you updated your blog yet?" I heard this a million times this pasted week. I've been really busy and had to sacrifice something.

Here it is....
Sat. 10/23/2007

I ran 8 miles with the VR Training Group that started at 7:00am from lock 29. Technically I ran with Melissa (She runs with us at the Wed. Night Night Crawlers 9pm Run) The group was way a head of us. We trotted along at a nice pace. Our conversation took us from talking about our training schedules to what our kids like to eat. It was all roads today, Riverview to Major Rd. to Akron-Peninsula back to Lock 29.

Tuesday 10/26/2006

Track Work Out

800 @ 5K Pace
1200 @ 5K Pace

2000 @ 10K Pace

1200 @ 5K Pace

800 @ 5K Pace

I did OK with the workout but I messed my watch up again. I need to hire a stopwatch person to keep my track/lap times. It was a hard work out, very hot almost 90. I drive to the track then ran back to Vertical runner with the group then ran back to the store. 9 miles

Wed. 10/27/2007

Night Crawlers

Chef Bill, Brett, Melissa, Tanya
A rainy run tonight. That's OK, Night Crawlers usually come out during the rain. We had to dodge some toads along the way. Don't worry no toads were injured or killed during this trail run. We has a few cool looking lighting shows that lite up the area. We ran our normally Pine Lane run. We added a new Night Crawler to our group...Tanya Cady She is training for the BT50K & is planning a few more ultra races in the fall.

Our Pine Lane run is roughly 8 miles and takes about 1:30.

Tanya & Chef Bill comparing fuel packs.

Brett said with my new pack I look like a Sherpa

Thursday 10/28/2007

BACK TO BACK 15 miles (50K TRAINING RUN)

I had to rearrange my running schedule. I had to get a back to back run in during the day, Thursday & Friday of this week. Back to Pine Lane...I started at 10:45 am and ran from Pine Lane to Snowville Rd. I thought I was running 16 miles...(I talked with Vince after my run, he said this section is a total of 19 miles NOT 16 miles)
Here is Pine Lane a very rooty section of trail. Some days it's fun run though to see how fast you can go, then there are other day when your on a long run and every step is a jolt of pain that runs up your legs. Your shoes are screaming to your feet, "stop the abuse!!!"

Trail Running At Its Best
Jaite Trail, 2 1/3 Miles so close but so far away.... I made it back to Pine Lane in about 3 1/2 hours. 100 oz. of water 2 gels and a cliff bar. Ready to do it again tomorrow.

Friday 10/29/2007

BACK TO BACK 15 miles (50K TRAINING)
I didn't sleep very well last night I kept thinking about my run today. I feel OK, I'm a little sore but not overly tired. I decided to run from Oak Grove. This is the start of the BT50K. I talked with Vince about a turn around point, We came up with 10 minutes south of Snowville Rd.

You can't see it in this picture, but I'm holding my morning breakfast...Blueberry Cliff Bar.I started a little earlier today, 9:00am. I thought I would beat the heat. Once in the parking lot I came across a bunch of Boy Scouts. I was hoping to get out before they did. There had to be about 200 of them ready to hike. Once I got started I got lost (of course) I ended up at this cave. If you find yourself here when your running the 50K, your lost. Great place for a picture, but I have a lot of miles to cover, so i need to get moving. I got back on track and only lost about 10 minutes. I did run into the Boy Scouts I thought about asking for direction's, but I got back on track. I felt pretty good once I started move and I knew where I was going. I was fight bugs all morning, I'm talking monster bugs, Big ones that bleed.

I was running at a good pace I walked all the hills. I made it to Snowville in 1:20. I continued south for 10 more minutes then headed back.

On my way back I ran past a bunch of Marines at one of the picnic shelters. I felt like the alligator boy at a circus side show. They were all looking at me like they've never seen anyone run before. I didn't get a picture of the group out of fear they would chase me down and take my camera. I drank 50 oz. today. I knew I wouldn't have a water stop so I had to conserve my fluids. After my run I was beat. I got back in 2:55.

Night Crawlers

My cell phone sat in its charger juicing up for the next round of text messaging, useless phone conversations about running and new photo opportunities....then it rang. The time was 7:11pm it was Vinnie "The Hill Rucci".
Vinnie just finished up with a hot sock deal with the sales rep from NorthFace. "Hey Chef Bill do you want to meet for a 7:30pm run?" I had to think a minute...1. will my wife allow me to run? 2. will my stomach digest the pizza I just ate. 3. Can I drive to lock 29 without getting pulled over for speeding?
I grab my stuff and head out. Vinnie's plan was to run about 1:30 then met Nick & anyone else running tonight's Night Crawler Trail Run at 9:00pm. We headed to my second favorite hill...Oak Hill and Plateau Trails http://www.nps.gov/cuva/planavisit/maps/oakhill.htm
Our conversation turned to nutrition. As a chef I do know something about nutrition. Vince knows more when it comes to using the nutrition as a fuel. I picked his brain about the number of calories a runner should take in and the timing of each meal. All stuff everyone takes for granted. My legs where feeling like toast from our Tuesday night Track workout, but I kept a good pace. I did need to pop a tums, my pizza was working its magic. We started to head back to lock 29 and had some time to kill, Vinnie "The Hill" Rucci took us to my FIRST favorite hill...Initiation Hill. We headed back to the parking lot just in time for Nick & Melissa to pull in.
We wanted to change the trail up a little bit so we head to the Valley Link Bridal Trail, then to Wetmore Bridal Trail...Vinnie took us through a chest high grassy meadow that links to the trail. Anyone who runs with Vince knows he has these little detours, shortcuts, and he really doesn't know exactly where we're going.
We made it to the trail with a few scraps. Once we got to Wetmore I wasn't toast any more, I was burnt toast. I started to slow down and I had to walk all the hills. From Wetmore we ended up in Kendell Lake, up Little Meadows to my third favorite hill to get some water. From Kendell Lake Vince took us down Terxell to Akron-Peninsula. I was falling way behind. I would see a headlamp shine back at me from time to time. Vince came back once to check on me, which gave Nick & Melissa a break to walk. I yell to them, "Hey I didn't tell you to walk, get your asses moving." It worked that started to run again.

My 3 month old Fujifilm camera is not working I'm starting to use my phone camera.

It also takes color photo's, I set this in black & white.

Vince & I ran 3 hours total (1:20 & 1:40) for a rough total of 16 miles.

Thanks Vince

TOALLTHATREADSTHISCOMEONOUTANDRUNWITHUS

PIC (Parent In Charge)

Some of you know I'm PIC during the day. PIC (Parent In Charge), I was informed (By my wife) when we discussed having children that I would not be babysitting my own children. So we came up with PIC. The title of PIC comes with tons of responsibility. I have to revolve my running schedule around my kids. You'll fine me running at 5am before the kids get up for the day or 9pm just after bath time, stories and a short meltdown. Today will be a 9pm Night Crawler Run.

This after noon was all about the kids. My 4 year old wanted to go run in the forest with daddy. This is because I tell her about my trail runs. The animals I see, the water I splash in, the friends I run with.

We headed to Over Look Trail in the Summit County Metro Park. there's a short .05 mile loop that takes you to a deck that over look the Cascade Valley.

Over in the distance you'll see the Highlevel Bridge.

We counted 12 -15 turtles swimming in this area.

We found a bunch of birds flying in circles then diving into little holes on the side of this cliff.

Vince (Vertical Runner) lace up a pair of Brooks, Tori's ready for a 5k.

Vince, You can fit Collin in a pair of Merrell Trail shoes.

Night Crawlers

Come out and joins us for

Wedensday Night Night Crawlers

9:00pm

Lock 29

1 1/2 hour trail run (approx. 8 miles)

Bring your headlamp

Tuesday Night Track Workout

I was running late tonight and I had to meet the group at Western Reserve track instead of Vertical Runner.

Tonight's workout: 6X800m with a 400m recovery. HARD AS YOU CAN ALL OUT!!!

Vince said run until you feel like your going to puke...Brett Here's a run for you.

1. 3:17:58

2. 3:36:04

3. 3:34:03

4. 3:49:97

5. 3:41:87

6. 3:43:74

Vince ran the last lap with me coaching me on the turning, telling me to work with my arms more, kicking my legs higher, and of course telling me to run faster. He also said I was holding back(Sandbagging) because I picked up speed on the last straight away.

Just because it rained doesn't give you guys a ticket out of track workout Mike The Mailman where were you? Mike Keller (FitfromFat) , I thought you said you were going to come out?

Tough workout, I had fun. I need to learn to push myself more. I think more about how far or how much more I have to run then about the lap I'm running.

9 mile total: warm up run, cool down run and to Vertical Runner Store and back to my car.

Buckeye Trail 50K Training Run

Sunday June 17, 2007

This morning I had a flastback. Although I haven't had a drink in awhile, my body was telling me I had a hangover. 5:00am once I was up moving around I felt fine. Sat. was a long day...8 mile trail run (up at 4:00am) then catering gig until 8:00pm.

Today is the 16 mile BT50K familiarization run. I was the first one in the Pine Lane parking lot. I thought I was to early, a few minute later the parking lot was full. We piled into cars then headed to Oak Grove. Our run today was Oak Grove to Pine Lane. We had 25 people running today, Bob Clark, Rich Wisneski, Lindsay, Jim Chaney, Mel (from Vertical Runner) and her husband, and Kirk (He runs with Mike Keller). I had the privilege of finally meeting and running with some fellow Bloggers, Cindy(Sensationally Red), Elisabeth (E-Speed). make sure you check out red & e-speed blogs)

I teamed up with Brett & Nick, We had planned to run this while running Night Crawler. Once we started up with Dave, He's training for his first 50K, Elisabeth and her Friend Melissa. Elisabeth is an Ultra Runner, Melissa is a runner and I think is training for a marathon and may run the BT50K. We managed to get lost by missing the BT turn near the stables. We kept running the Bridal Trail when we started to notice things don't look the same. We headed back towards the stables to see where we missed our turn. Luckily Dave ran with us a few weeks again and had the trail history in his garmin. We ran about 1.5 miles out of our way. Once we got back on track I lead the pack at a pretty good clip and we ended up catching up with Red, Kurt, and their group. I asked if they got lost too, Nick said "Your fast lead made us catch them." He made me think about my pace so I slowed down a little so I wouldn't run out of gas. I did kick it back it to high gear when we were about a mile from the Boston Store.

Once we got to the Boston Store the hex was place on Brett once again. He looked like a Wet Walking Zombie He's on his 40 something mile for the week. He puked again as we were heading towards pine Lane parking lot. Nick and I were heading back to make sure he was ok then we see him running. He's trying to find out what's making him sick. Shotblocks, too much water, dehydration...

Great run we ran 3:25ish not bad for 17.5 miles. I had a plan to run later tonight after spending time with my kids for father's day, but the top of my eye lids were falling down towards my bottom lip. I was wiped out tired.

For the week I have 41.5 miles.

Sat AM Group Run...Trail Running

Sat. June 16, 2007
I thought I would be the only one running this morning. There was Mahican 100 today and another Buckeye Trail 50K run familiarization run planned for Sunday June 17. Then add on the fact the run starts at 5:30am. We still had a group...Melissa, Beth and myself. When I pulled into lock 29 parking lot Melissa was out of her car stretching doing some yoga poses. I pulled up next to her car then I noticed she wasn't parking in a parking spot. It was in the middle of the lot. Once Beth arrived she asked about Melissa's parking skills, Melissa thought I had parked wrong...she said it was early, dark, and she wasn't awake yet. We waited for a few minutes to see if anyone else was going to show up. I didn't think we'd see anyone so we headed out. Our time was limited to an hour and a half. I would to make sure we got back so the girls could run with the second group at 7am. We head back to Pine Lane loop. I know I've be abusing the trail for the past couple of weeks, but it's a challenging portion of the BT50K and I know we can get back in time. We headed up the brick hill, then got going at a good pace (my best guess 9.5 to 10/minute mile).
We started to yak about the normal trail talk...we are all training for the BT50K & Akron. Then out of nowhere a deer ran up on its back legs and knocked Mellisa to the ground. (Just kidding...Melissa fell again) If your keeping track that's her 3rd fall in less then two weeks. She's still nursing a sort hip from our Night Crawlers Run. Beth began to talk about her new trail shoes. She bought a pair of Montrails, halfway into our run she started to blister on her heels. Her shoes didn't have Vince's special lock lace that prevents the shoe from slipping. She kept on running. It started to warm up once the sun popped out, then out of nowhere again a deer, this time charging down a hill like a run-away bull, Melissa was knocked over yet again (yes...She fell again...That's twice today and five in two weeks). She's now wants either, give up trail running or running with me. She thinks I might writing something in my blog about how many times she's fallen on the trail.
Once we hit the Valley Bridal Trail Beth's heels where bleeding (Sorry no camera today). We had about 20 minutes of running she took her shoes off and ran in her socks!!! Now that's hardcore trail running...We made it back to Lock 29 (1:29). Melissa went on to run the roads with the group, Beth had to nurse her blisters, and I had to prep for a 2pm catering gig.
Nick lead the 7am group on a 7-8 mile run. They had about 20 runners this morning.

Great run even though we had a few mishaps. Great to see two hardcore chicks determined not to let the trails beat them!!!

(Bloggers Note: Melissa has two children not one as I stated in my last blog)