Masochist Training Logs Start Now

Sooo... It has been a while since my last post. Since my Portland trip, I signed up for 2 key races with an ultimate end goal of running Mount Masochist Trail Run (MMTR), November 2nd. Two years ago I ran the last half of this race (whose course has since changed) as a pacer.  This race is a grueling 53-54 miles that are quite unforgiving.

 Everything I have read says "PICK a FLAT course" for your first 50 miler. Not me though...noooo... not this chic. That would be playing it safe and "HEY...WHAT runner plays it safe who runs ultra anyway??? I am under the impression we are all a little crazy!"

 I ran the Hatfield and McCoy marathon - & finished 3rd in my age. I chose this one because it was 12 weeks out from when I decided to run Masochist and it's in my home state with a challenging hilly course for a road run!   I had 12 weeks to train, time to recover, & then start training for Masochist. My marathon training once again started off really great and fell off somewhere along the way to race day just like my first marathon.

 So... here I am committed to running a 50+ mile race which I fell in love with two years ago... BUT I know there is no falling off the training wagon here.. NOPE, NOT HAPPENING!!! AND, that is what brings me back to my blog. I will blog about my training all the way up to race day starting today in an effort to keep me true to training. Tomorrow, I finish up week 2 of my Masochist training - I haven't decided on whether I will run on the road or 3 or 4 hours on the trail. A skeleton of a training plan in hand with room for LOTS of flexibility my first two weeks of training look like this:

Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 1

Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 2

Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 3
 Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 3 - Track work

Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 4
Masochist Week 1 Day 5

Masochist Week 2 Day 1
  
Masochist Week 2 Day 2

Masochist Week 2 Day 3

Masochist Week 2 Day 3, Track work interrupted - better luck next week!

Masochist Week 2 Day 4


I intend on including road runs, long and short intervals, and hill sprints while also training for the long runs.  I have done a lot of research over the past year in preparation and will include early morning slow runs in an effort to shift my body to burn body fat for fuel.  I am hoping for a finish at Masochist sub 10:30:00 - as of now... As my training progresses, I may have a new time goal.

Portland Jogging Art Tour

I recently made a trip up to Portland, OR to visit a school I am looking at making application to.  Being a poor college, I had $60 to cover everything for the entire 4 days I was there. Of course I wanted to see as much of the city I could while I was there.  So, I researched everything free to do in the city before I left for my trip.

I came across a brochure online showing a map with all of the pieces a public art in the city.  I came up with the idea of doing a sort of terrain association game where I would run around the city looking for all the spots on the map where piece of art could be located. This ended up being a terrific idea.  I took the map out and looked at it before I left my room, got a quick idea of the direction I was going to head in, and took off.  As you can tell from the map of my run, I got a little lost at first, ran around in circles for a bit, but in the end I realize there was so much art in the city that I the map was not needed.  All I needed to do was keep my head up and eyes open!

Here are some of the pictures that I took along the way. This ended up being the funnest part of my trip. I definitely foresee more of these runs in other cities I visit!

....and, I uploaded my pics in the order I snapped them but had to upload them from my Blogger mobile app and they didn't upload in order :/  Hopefully, I will find the time to reorder them... but, anyhoo.. enjoy!

FREE TOURS - didn't quite have time to make it back for one though.

Headed Out the Door!

Public  Fountains!  Constructed in memory of Philanthropist Simon Benson.

Portland!

Honest Abe...& me.

Yet another fountain (or, er, a picture of the fountain that was hidden behind the vegetable stand)

Just thought this was nice!

I was happy to see that at least one of the Farmer's Markets stays open for the winter.

Portland was one of the friendliest cities I have ever visited!!!
Even strangers spoke to each other on the bus.

A piece of a building that was left, I believe..

Jamison Square is where this red sculpture below was found.

Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider

Coming of the White Man, in Washington Park (ran here the day after art jogging tour)

Asked someone sitting close by - this is a fountain when it is not freezing out!

Rock located at the Chinese Gardens
Chinatown

The first piece I located after running around in a few circles.
 I actually uploaded a pic of this without me bombing it, but it did not upload :(
This was another favorite piece of mine - sorry you can not see it!
 You can see it HERE though

Street Entrance to Chinese Gardens

Chinatown

HUGE piece - but not quite sure of it's name.  : ?
Another favorite - and behind it, there is some construction going on that I believe will incorporate MORE ART! :)

Just some really pretty graffiti

Multinoma County Library - had an amazing collection of popup art books!
I took many pictures to show my students for the summer reading program I work at!

Very cool idea!  I loved this!  Wish I had my nephew with me to play.

I thought the city was full of culture!

This a fountain during warmer season!   Drained for winter :(

By the Water at the start of my run....hmmm..pics uploaded completed out of order!

These are located all over the city..  apparently food is good here.. I even saw a vegan truck... but I was limited to purchasing my own groceries and eating in!  Next time...

Ok... I was particularly excited when I came across this one.
This was not an art piece listed on the brochure.
I lucked into finding this one - can any of my running buddies guess who this is???