Training on the Trails

I'm still diligently training for the Forget the PR 50K. This week was a down week and I only did ~24 total miles. It was kind of a nice change of pace because toward the end of last week, I was feeling pretty beat down; I'm sticking to the "10% rule" but I was just getting burnt out. I was ready for the break. So this last week was 100% easy Blackhand Gorge running. I posted some cool pics that I took from my runs this week below:

Marie Hickey - Snow Covered

Marie Hickey - 30 Feet Above Licking River

Chestnut Trail - Hill From Hell

Chestnut Trail - All Alone

So anyway, as I'm moving into my last 6 week surge of miles, I'm due for some different variety. This week, I'm hoping to get down to Dillon State Park and learn some of those trails to get away from my mundaine mileage at Blackhand Gorge. I love Blackhand Gorge, but I only have 3 real options for mileage and I need more. I don't like running on pavement that much, and since most of my 2009 race schedule is all trail races, I really need to put my training in on the trails, not the road.

I'm scheduled for a 22 mile long run this coming weekend and I'm hoping get up to Mohican and run with some trail buddies on the Red / Green loop. Rumor has it that they're awful purdy. I'm also planning to get in a few long night runs this week as well, because I got some new reflective gear along with lots of new energy jelly beans, shot blox, and oodles of different flavored gel packs. I'm anxious to try some of the new stuff out; silly but true.

Something else I'm looking forward to this week is a family hike. Jen got online and bought a new Sherpani hiking backpack for us to use this summer to haul Daizi around the woods in. As soon as it's warm enough, we're gonna take a big family hike up at Mohican to see Lyon Falls, or down at Hocking to see Old Man's Cave. We're all real excited about getting out and active (and muddy) as a family. :)

I also realized this week that I need to loose about 20 - 25 pounds fast. Hopefully before my 50 miler in June. I'd like to loose about 10 pounds before April 19th (Forget the PR 50k), but we'll see... I've noticed a pattern recently that my knees really hurt after running any distance on pavement. I guess slamming 210 pounds down on each leg over and over and over for hours at a time could do that. Ideally, I'd like to be down to 185 -190 by June 20th. Again, we'll see... Not only for my race, but also for myself and my girls. I kind of commited myself to it tonight at the dinner table when I told Jennifer and the girls that "Starting tomorrow, Daddy is eating healthy." I got no reaction from anybody, but I meant it. :)

Oh yeah, on our little shopping excursion this week (when I got all that cool stuff), we all ended the night at this nice place called Hoggies Barn and Grill up @ Polaris and it was AWESOME!! We all gorged on way too much food and had a blast. Below is a pic of Lizzie and Jazzy drinking their first bottle of Rootbeer at Hoggies. Daizi had milk, of course.