-the sports nutrition one. Good info.

writes columns for VeloNews and Triathlon magazine as well. I've always found her advice to be very well reasoned...I follow her guidelines for fueling before and after workouts and race events and I've found that I don't bonk like I used to.

and then I just go back to eating whatever I want, which most of the time works fine.

where's New Gloucester?

Somewhere is Maine

take the Gray New Gloucester exit. It's about 40 minutes NW of Portland and I would think less than 2 hours south of Bangor.

That's where Autumn usually has Rugby games. A little tricky to get to. At least I always get lost.

I'd never heard of it before! My mom said it's near Little Sebago.

The trails there are something else and it's just a great place for anyone to run. Glad to see they're putting on a race actually.

And correct, it's about 2 hrs south of bangor. But more importantly, only about 45 minutes from my house.

-Chris

I drove through North New Portland coming home from Sugarloaf last weekend. 'North New Portland' -- who knew that even existed?!

And then of course there's Skowhegan ;)

isn't it?Maine has all these weird little towns that barely show up that you would associate with major cities such as Detroit,Dayton,Richmond,etc.Funny. Dave T.

I had a 135 min ice bath this morning, or close to it anyway. Pool water at 76*. Every time I stopped moving it just sucked away all my body heat. I'm a lot more tired than I should be for a quick and fairly easy workout like that, I imagine it's because of the water temp. But if it's that way for the meet I'll be thrilled.

Lucky for me, Judson wasn't in a foul mood anymore. I was worried! Sure was pretty out there, but brrrrrr!!! We both had ice on our faces when we finished.

Good to see Brian, who stopped by to say hello, but couldn't stay.

The real reason I was in a foul mood on Sunday was because I didn't get in an ice bath after the Race Saturday and my legs just felt aweful. Plus I've been a little sick for the past 4 days, with the bug that's been going around.

I'll be darned, they really do resemble bugs! I never knew.

I try to run 5 days/wk 35-45 miles. What has been happening is that my legs would get more and more tired and achey until I would attempt a run and end up walking within two miles. NOW, what I'm trying to do is have 3 hard runs a week and two easy runs. I'm using the heart rate monitor to make sure they stay easy. It's surprisingly hard to go slow. Our non-long runs tend to be the same out and back with the distance varied and we always got progressively faster after the turn around and invariably raced the last mile+. Meaning that at the end of our long runs we were spent and at the end of every other run we were spent and every 2-3 weeks I'd have an unplanned day off or 2 or 3. Now I try for 2 hard days followed by 1 easy day. Two hard weeks followed by one easy week. I have to constantly remind myself of the purpose of each run (before, during and during) and stick to it, knowing that will protect the rest of the week's runs. Your cross training may provide you the same protection.
I read in one of Galloway's books that George Sheehan was getting diminishing returns from his schedule of running 5 miles a day, 6 days a week. As he got older, he needed more recovery time, so he switched to 3, 10 mile runs per week, maintained the mileage, his legs felt stronger and his racing times dropped.

I think Rae's right about the key being keeping the easy runs easy. But, for me, during high mileage I need a higher ratio of easy days to hard days than Rae's two easy days to three hard.

Counting a long run as a hard day, I try to set my schedule so that every hard day is bracketed by easy days and that my rest day then falls only between two easy days. I find this keeps my legs alive.

Assuming I'm constrained to running long only on a Saturday or Sunday and taking one rest day per week, then I can alternate between one and two other 'hard' days each week with a schedule that might look like this:

Sunday: Long
Monday: Easy
Tuesday: Tempo
Wednesday: Easy
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Easy
Saturday: Long
Sunday: Easy
Monday: Hills
Tuesday: Easy
Wednesday: Tempo
Thursday: Easy
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Easy
Sunday: Long
etc.

Last note: It's really relatively painless to do 4-8 mi. doubles on easy days and you can really build up some mileage that way.

thanks. this is useful

Sunday: long and slow
Mon: rest
Tues:hIlls
Wed: spin and easy
Thur: tempo
Fri:rest
Sat: spin
Sun:long

or course, the twist is that I want to run with group on Sat too, so I figure I'll switch the spin and long as the weather dictates...as I did this weekend. Also, most of the 5Ks and other races are on Sat, and then the Sun long will be really really slow

"hard" and "easy" are relative terms and my "hard" days would pale compared to your "easy" days. Exhibit A: you refer to an 8 mile double as a relatively painless "easy" day.

65%-70% heart rate, ....either yours or mine.

Weekly rest days are necessary, particularly with age. But, as Chris says above, my legs feel better two days after a hard run if I've had an easy day than they do if I instead take a rest day.

My schedule looks similar to Brian's, with one day off per week. I always used to take Mondays off, figuring that Sunday's long run necessitated a rest day, but have recently learned that I actually feel better if I run on the day after a long run. This past summer, while training for Philadelphia, I did lots of doubles, which was new for me. Brian is right, it is a much gentler way--both physically and psychologically--to rack up the miles than trying to do them in bigger chunks. My double days were actually considered my recovery days after a hard workout.

using a Marxist comparison, that this is true for the two of you because "eventually quantitaive change becomes qualitative change" Meaning, "Mom, they are in a lot better shape than you are. What's true for them probably isn't true for you." Point taken, but I am intrigued by the concept of an 8 mile double being easy and running the day after a long run makes sense. So, I may have to sneak out of the house and give this a try

I miss running doubles, which is what I got to do all last spring and into the beginning of summer. You finish running... and get to go running again! In the same day!!!

Thanks!

In reference to your question from yesterday, not the road map to Florida :-), yes, I live on Bayview, about a quarter mile west of Hadley Point Road. I run by Mussel Bed Road all the time.

Are you visible from Bayview drive? What does your house look like? We look forward to meeting you next time we are in Maine, probably in March at earliest. By the way, we are the right-hand of the three cabins down Mussel Bed Road.

joanne,

be sure to let us know when you and craig will be up in march. hopefully we'll be in town when you are here!
my email is carol.bult@gmail.com

We'll definitely let you and Judy know when we are coming. We look forward to seeing you! Thanks for your email.

Took my b-day as a rest day...fighting a sinus cold!

feel better!

Happy Birthday and get better soon!

We should have a club birthday calendar so we don't miss anyone throughout the year...

...... postings usually come from me as I get that information on the membership app form. There are a couple notable people who have not provided DOB's, one Carol B and an RK.

I admit I could be more systematic about it getting these on the calendar and will try to do so.

Kevin

hey kj...my dob is 2 JAN 1962

youngster.

Birthday

Have a great one.

We have ALL KINDS of new people posting, with tons of energy, and a variety of ages and sports (not just running anymore!)

Boy, it is great to hear from you, and it would be even better to see you! Are you able to come to the potluck on Sunday? Details are here .

Hope to see you soon...

Chris