Monday and Tuesday

Mt. Crippler in the distance

Monday - 1 hour at the gym: 4 miles and core work along with some needed stretching.

Tuesday am - 10+ miles on a hilly trail, 2000+ft climbing. I hiked some of the steeper climbs and when I did run kept it in a very low gear. The HR soared, but it was a great time.
Tuesday pm - 3 miles and sauna at the gym. A double! 13+ miles.
I'm doing some crunches before I sleep!

My new take on base is not HR related (shocker). It's go long and keep the efforts in check. Frequency and low gears that build strength are key. In fact, MAF is really great strength work; you're just plodding along, big mileage, strengthening the legs/feet/etc., and the aerobic system. . . but I don't think you have to go that soft to strengthen the aerobic system. My 3 mile run today (early in the season my first double) was run at MAF HR and it felt like great strength work. I was putting my body through more work, but very softly. Good for the HR? Sure. But great for the legs. Aet will be the main currency except for recovery runs (slow runs) and my weekly Fun Run(s). Kerrie made a great point on Lucho's blog about the difference between hard and soft runs. Trevor taught me a lot about the importance of recovery in a schedule. I'm going to differentiate between hard and soft. Recovery will be a huge part of the schedule (can you say p-o-o-l?). I've built a great base schedule based on my spring work schedule. It's perfect. I have big days and recovery days. Gotta be realistic and smart. The body and mind work pretty well together along with the nerves, etc. In base, go long and easy (whatever that means). Develop habits (core, strength). Stay away from really hard extended efforts. Start to mix-in the harder efforts based on smart race schedule.

Maybe I'll babble more about this later.

On the health end of things, I'm definitely not 100% and today's run pointed that out. Another good reason to get-in some heavy breathing. If I kept my efforts really aerobic, I might not sense what's going-on deep in them pipes. I felt so heavy (I am) for the first hour. Then I opened up a little. I'm definitely in the base and still recovering from the perfect storm. . . er. . I mean cold, taking it easy but doing exactly what I want to do: run a lot on trails I like. Today's trails are some of the best around (I'll call it Mt. Crippler, JW - I saw the wheel chair twice).