Animal fights, FKTs, and anything but studying!

My name is Joshua Pauley.  And I should really be studying.

As a college student finals are just about unavoidable. Just like taxes and death – it is just something that you have to go through.  I was going to start studying and then I found videos of wild animal attacks in the wilderness. That was pretty interesting.  Then I stumbled upon talk of Fastest Known Times (FKTs) for trails.  And now I am not sure when I will start studying.

Cheese and I at the bottom of the canyon. Isaiah 66:9.

I have mixed feelings about FKTs. I think they are cool, but I’m not sure how legitimate they really are. But I have been given an idea and now I am finding it hard to get it out of my head.  Usually a close friend of mine Jacob A. Phillips (not Jacob H. Phillips who is the coach and mentor) is the root of these foolish ideas.  Jacob a.k.a. Cheese once gave me the idea of running Rim to Rim and sure enough later that year I found myself running across the canyon with him. Of course since then he has convinced me to go back with him and we are planning a trip for 2014. But this time I am concocting the plans.  A FKT would be a good way to start the spring season off.

This will take some more thought, but don’t be surprised if something comes out of this.  Ideas like this have a strange way of materializing. But for now I should really start studying so that is all for today!

Training for this past week: the week started off snowy and cold but ended with me shirtless with sixty degree temperatures.  I hit 85 miles this week in my build-up.  Started re-introducing strides and hill repeats back into my running this week. It is great to practice these things and feel fluid.

Monday- Recovery day mileage and strides.

Tuesday- Hill repeats and weights. Real cold this morning. Got faster as I went along. Happy with the effort that was given this day.

 Wednesday-Twelve miles on the trails today. Snowy and icy run. But it was adventurous.

Thursday- Progressive pace day and strides.

Friday- Easy day with weights.

Saturday- Long run with tempo. 8 miles warm up + 4 miles tempo + 4 miles easy. Good run. Progressed through the first eight miles, and then hit the tempo. My watch died half way through (poor planning on my part). I know I ran the first two miles at 5:33 and 5:35. After that it was true effort which was good to get. I feel like I maintained the rest of the workout. Solid run for the day. Very windy though.

The trails at Big Cedar Wilderness

Sunday- Long run on the trail with fartlek. Good little run. The mud had begun drying up quite a bit so that was a positive. After an hour I began thirty minutes of 3’ up w/ 2’ recovery and finished with fifteen minutes cool down. The reps began to feel more natural as the workout went on.  It is a very interesting sensation running fast on single-trek. A very solid week of running and work put in.  I am hoping to duplicate this over this coming week.

-One thing I did well this week was gauge my effort and not run based on pace.

**Do better for next week eat better when preparing for a run. I paid the price for this on Sunday and felt sick most of the run.

As always thanks for reading and showing an interest in what I have been up too. Training has been a blessing and has been a lot of fun thus far. 

~Bump the Lamp,

  JP