Hyland

Steve G asked about the construction at Hyland; it wasn't too bad. Big machinery at the bottom of the hill but easy to walk under the yellow warning tape. The loud arm flagging man is at the bottom of the hill with his pole people. If you click on the picture it will enlarge.

Back to Hyland's Ski Hills

Yesterday Steve coerced my brother in law and the remainder of his pool team to help tear off and re shingle our home. They are still at it today. Troy had friends over and Tyler was working a long day shift. With everyone tied up it looked like a good day for a hard workout.

I decided to head for the hills. Javelina is 6 weeks out and I haven't been to the hill since I ran Lean Horse 4 weeks ago. Time to get back at it!

I reached Hyland in the early dark morning. I strapped on my headlamp and looked for the hill I wanted. I actually saw another headlamp in the dark. I found an open gate and headed for the ski hill. Cooler with three gallons of heed, my iPod, iPhone a few gels and I was all set.

Warmed up running the hilly path for a few miles and then planted myself at the hill. My plan was to run 20 hill repeats, run a few miles on the hilly path, repeat, repeat again. I was looking for at least 18 miles.

Eventually the sun came up, a spectacular sunrise and I took off my headlamp and replaced it with my sunglasses. It was going to be a beautiful, warm day. We've had a stretch of 80's for the past two weeks. Amazing.

After 20 repeats I ran a few miles on the path to stretch my legs and noticed a half dozen of other runners out on the hills.

As I continued my repeats I noticed a man coming toward me and flailing his arms back and forth. I took out an ear but and listened to him. "BE SURE YOU DON'T RUN THE WORN PATH, THEY WON'T LET US OUT HERE IF WE ERODE IT" I explained that I had in fact read the sign that stated just what he said and showed him that I was not running on the worn path. Hello. I continued on.

He continued to let everyone know upon the hill that they should not run on the worn path..as though they could not read the sign that said exactly that. About an hour later he came up to me AGAIN, flailing arms in the air and told me again "YOU BETTER STAY OFF THE WORN PATH OR THEY WON'T LET US USE IT ANYMORE" I looked at him and nodded. Yeah, whatever. See, I'm on the grass, dude.

Finally, the third time that he approached me I took out my ear buds and said DUDE. I GET IT. YOU'VE TOLD ME THREE TIMES. HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT? I AM WEARING THE SAME CLOTHES, I'VE BEEN HERE FOR 4 HOURS SO FAR AND YOU TELL ME EVERY HOUR" Oh, he said..and walked off..

Pretty soon I notice the man with the flailing arms and loud yelling voice with a group of 30 people with poles. He is instructing them, guiding them up a less steep hill, over and over again. I don't think he needs to worry about the single runners out there eroding the path..he needs to worry about his own class and the fact that IT may be cancelled if they continue to erode the path. Sheesh.

By the time I finished all my repeats and hilly runs in between I had 25 miles in. I ran a 2 mile cool down, finished the last of my three gallons of heed and called it a day.

Until I arrived home and saw it was 75 degrees, cool enough to take Topaz for a short run! We went out for 8 miles and my calves let me know that they had enough of this business.

I returned home, showered, took the boys to play miniature golf..I won..and cooked up the roof crew a nice dinner.

Today Topaz and I ran 15 miles on the trail and by mile 11 my calves were again letting me know that they were just about finished. We walked over to the river so a good soak and jogged back to the car.

Today the guys are getting a less fussy meal..sloppy joes that I just placed into the crock pot.

Now I need to get off to the grocery store to restock my kitchen.

Beat. Toast. Fried. Finished.

Pretty Buck@Hyland

You need to click on the picture to actually view him. Sorry.

Yet Again; Hyland Hands Me My Ass

This morning I was up and out of the house before any sane person would rise and run. Oh, wait, there are a group of runners at Afton beginning at 10PM or 12AM so, no, I'm not the only one.

We have two neighborhood grad parties this afternoon and we are going to the Twins game tonight. Yeah, are the Twins hot or what? Holy crap. I love 'em. I give Tyler a hard time because he told me they were going to suck this year, with trading off Santana and Tori. I told his he was wrong and negative. Ha!

I had to get in my workout early. I have places to go and people to see.

I reached the Hyland Hills ski hill at 437. Flashlight and cooler in hand I traipsed up the gravel path, over the railroad tracks .. into a downed tree. Gee, it wasn't there last Thursday. I hurt my head. You know what? I have a huge bump on the back of my head where I was hit with a foul ball at Troy's baseball game last Thursday. It hurts badly. It was embarrassing; everyone asking how I was, was I going to faint, did I need ice? I didn't like all of the attention. I was fine, if I wasn't, I would have said something..you know? Anyhow, now the front of my head hurts too. I plowed right into the tree.

Onto the hill. Unpack cooler, fill bottle, spray for bugs, iPod, sunscreen. Oops. Sunglasses which I didn't yet need were on my head and feel off. I stepped on them. Scrunch. Bummer because these Oakleys are my spare pair. I lost my good pair on the way to, from or at Gretchen's last week. Damn. REI, here I come...$$

I felt good and strong..for the first 3 hours. Eventually Frisbee golfers arrived. I hadn't seen them before, when I run the hill on Sundays or Thursdays. I was looking for their Frisbee's for them as much as they were. One guy kept losing his blue disc.

After a few hours Greg Allen arrived. He is running Leadville, too. He's been out two other times and is going to get his finish this time. It was nice to talk with him, to take my mind off of the hill I was doing over and over and over again.

Pretty soon I noticed a man and woman hiking hills around me. After a while I was coming down the hill and singing with Ozzie and man and woman were at the bottom of the hill where I was heading. The man asked "Julie Berg?" "Yes, I am". "Tom Knutson" Oh! Happy Days! Tom is a legend. I told him so. He is very humble and scoffed at the idea of being legendary. He has 4 Hardrock Finishes, multiple Slams and many other incredible feats of legendary status. I was so happy to see he and his beautiful wife, Pam. I had a few more repeats before it was time to loop around so I finished them up and then asked if I could tag along with the two of them for a bit. Pam said it would be fine, that I could talk Leadville with Tom. He spoke of the course, the aid stations, the cut offs, weather, packs, liquids and foods; I'm so happy they were at the ski hill today. Tom boosted my confidence in myself in finishing Leadville. I questioned running the ski hill and he confirmed this is the type of training I should be doing.

When I was feeling strong, a few hours earlier, I had told Greg it seemed LAME-OH to be running a ski hill when others were able to run miles of mountainous elevation. Well, in MN there isn't that opportunity so I guess I gotta do what I gotta do..ski hill is it. Tom said this is right where I should be.

I was soaked. My shorts were dripping. I can't remember a time when that occurred. I seem to be sweating more than ever lately. What's up with that? It is humid, about 75 F is all. Odd.

A few hours later and it was finally time to wrap up the day. I felt nauseated and beat. I did get many more repeats in this week than last, great improvement but man, I was exhausted! I was thankful my session was done.

6 hours on the ski hill is tougher than 11 hours on the Superior Hiking Trail for me. Last week after I finished the 40 miles I was planning the next 20 for the following day. Today I'm thinking about 20 tomorrow and thinking I hope my calves aren't stiff!

I grabbed all my stuff and walked the 1/2 mile to the car. I spotted a buck peeking at me down the trail. Rarely do I see bucks. He was majestic, beautiful and huge.

My calves twiched all of the way home. I arrived here and jumped into the cool pool. Ah, relief. A cold soak in the tub and a warm shower. More relief.

Next Saturday is Voyaguer 50 Mile. The first time I ran V I ran it in 14:30 with my friend, Marie. We missed the final cut off but they allowed us to finish since we seemed to have our wits about us. Paul Hasse was the sweep and followed us to the finish. The following year I finished in 12:30, then 11:45 Last year I didn't run as I ran Vermont 100 the week before. The year before that I ran V in 10:26, my PR for the course. I would like to beat the 10:26 but I keep telling myself this is a final long training run before Leadville. No need to push or rush. Relax and enjoy. I'll see how it goes. 10:25 PR would be pretty sweet.

Hyland at Dawn

Hammerin' Hyland

After running repeats at Hyland last Sunday I had stiff calves until Friday. I couldn't believe how stiff I was. I was hoping it would go away before Afton. It finally did, but man, it held on for dear life.

Today I was at it again. Abusing my body, breaking it down, so that it can recover, rebuild and become stronger than it was yesterday.

I live 70 miles from Hyland and in rush hour, heading toward Minneapolis/St Paul, is a recipe for a long frickin' commute. Sometimes two hours. Instead of facing that crap, which I left when I began to work for the school district in Big Lake, I left home at 4AM so I could skip rush hour and arrive Hyland at 5. I made it in an hour flat. Good omen.

I carried my cooler of Heed, gels, iPod, cell, ice and water up the trail from the lot to the hill. The sun rose, the birds awoke; it was a glorious morning. Up and down the hill I trudged. I do trudge. I'm not exactly graceful. As I am running down the hill it feels like my teeth could fall from my mouth. I'm bombing down as fast as I can go. Sometimes I fall. At the bottom of the hill I turn around and run up to the second ski lift pole, then the trudge is on. Up up up I go. Trudge trudge trudge.

My plan was to run repeats from 5 to 11. That I did. I counted out 60, just because I counted out 60 last week and then stopped. I figured I needed to surpass 60 in order to improve. I counted 10 more and then told myself no more counting. From now on I am only counting hours.

As I was bombing down hill I noticed a woman with a huge pack on her back running along the gravel road. She had grey hair and looked to be in her 60's. Eventually she made her way to the hill and I introduced myself to her. Her name is Rosie. She is 64 years old. She is at Hyland with a back pack, getting ready to head out to Montana to hike with her son and grandchildren. She won't have her son having to wait for her to catch up. She's going to be hiking right with him. My eyes filled with tears when she told me so. I was in awe. I told her so. I told her how much I respected her and how awesome I thought she was. She couldn't imagine going out to run 100 miles in Leadville Colorado.

I want to be just like Rosie when I'm 64. Out at Hyland with a pack on my back. Getting ready to hike in the mountains with my boys and their children. I don't think it gets any better than that. Rock on Rosie!

At 1100 I was ready to head home. It was 84F. By the time I arrived Anytime Fitness for an hour of legs it was 61F in Big Lake! A storm passed through while I was gone. I heard on the radio it went through Bloomington with golf ball sized hail, straight line winds in excess of 50 miles an hour. I'm glad I hit was hammerin' Hyland early today and was out of the area before Mother Nature hammered away.

So legs:

Barbell Squat: 210x12x4
Press: 280x12x4
Ham Curl: 105x12x4
Extension: 120x12x4
Deads: 100x12x4

And the leggies are tired. Tonight I coach my evening Beginning Runner Group. They may outrun me!

Three days running the Superior Hiking Trail is up next. Steve and Troy are limiting out on walley and northern on Lake Vermilion. They'll be home Sunday, too.

Run On!

15=1/2 Way There!

Today was another Buck Hill workout. I arrived a bit earlier than our regular 12:00 start. I ran the 2.5 mile warmup and then headed for the hill. As I was carrying my cooler and stuff to the hill I saw Les and Cindy Martisko approaching. Les is a veteran of 100 mile races; Leadville, Superior, Hurt, to name a few. He usually runs 100 miles at FANS each year as well.

Les is training for Superior this fall so he is out hitting the Buck Hill. He and Cindy were just wrapping it up as I approached. Les told me that when he runs Leadville, the bulk of his running is done right there, on Buck Hill. We conversed a bit and then we were on our way.

As I climbed up repeat 1 I looked down into the lot, but didn't see Paul and Pierre anywhere. I turned on my iPod (thank goodness I had it in the car in my gym bag) and began cranking the repeats out. I drew a line in the sand and began to place a rock on the line for each repeat. I didn't want to lose count; you know, come up short or anything. I placed a rock in the line for each repeat I finished.

While I was climbing repeat 3 I felt someone approaching. He asked if I were Julie Berg, yes, I stated. He introduced himself as Steve Quick. I recognized his name from this blog. He left a comment after FANS. Apparently the Pioneer Press did a story on him and his quest for breaking the FANS men's record. He had a hard time and called it a day at 77 miles. He told me he was hoping some others would be running (mainly Paul and Pierre I imagine) so that he could prove he wasn't as odd as the article may had made him seem. I told him I hadn't read the article so I had no preconceived notions of him.

He seemed like a very nice guy, I was happy for the company and I'm sure he'll be back out at Buck Hill again. Steve ran 7 repeats with me, then a 2.5 mile run before he called it a day. He'll be at Afton 50K next week and wanted to get in a good hill workout before the race.

After Steve left I had another 5 repeats to make it to 15. Today was much easier than the past two weeks. It is so nice to see improvement in my climbing of hills. I don't gasp as loudly, my calves don't feel like they are going to pop out of my legs and my quads aren't trashed. I'm getting stronger. The 2.5 mile run doesn't suck anymore either. Yippee.

It's so much fun to see progression. 2 weeks ago 10 repeats killed me. I was sore, stiff and tired for a week. Last week the 12 repeats exhausted me, but didn't bring on pain. Today I could have done more. I didn't think I should as I had already put in too many miles this week and I am planning on running Afton 50K next week. After the 15 repeats I ran the 2.5 mile cool down and felt fine.

I remember when I was training for my first marathons. I would run 7 miles, was on top of the world. Then 10 miles, 13 miles, watching the progression and endurance grow was incredible to me. Pretty soon I was running 20 miles and I couldn't believe it. 20 freaking miles! I thought it was incredible.

The repeats kind of give me the same feeling. Watching my strength grow, watching the progression. It's fun.

Two weeks ago I didn't think 30 repeats was possible. Ever. Now I know better. My body is adapting. So is my mind. It's possible!

Kevin, Julie and John; Having Too Much Fun

John and Pierre; More Heat Training in the Lot

Kevin Strikes a Pose !!!

More Heat and Hills

Well, I made it through a second session. Now this workout is a weekly ritual. You know, once I do something more than once it is a forever.

Today was the Big Lake 8K as well. The Big Lake 8K was my first race ever..it took me over an hour to finish and I ran the whole thing. I've run every once since and was going to run today..until last week. I opted for the Buck Hill workout instead. It serves me so much better than the 8K.

AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN :) Really. It was.

Today's temperature was forecast to hit 92, but I don't think it reached 85. Still, it felt warmer, more humid and there was no breeze today. It was hard. But fun. Fun hard. Hard fun. You got it.

I pulled into the lot a bit early so I could potty and look at any other runners on the hill. I didn't see anyone else. Gee, I wonder why? Pretty soon Paul and Pierre pulled up and then right on their tail, John Storkamp and Kevin Martin! What a nice surprise. I wouldn't have been surprised if I would have heard my cell ring, but Ozzie was playing too loudly in my car and I didn't know John had called to let me know that he and Kevin would be there at 12.

You've seen both John and Kevin here. John won the Ed Fitz 100K last year, when Scott, Kevin and I ran it together. Remember, "run until they are bloody stumps", yeah, that was John's mantra. He finished and won in 8 hours. He also won the on foot division of Arrowhead 135 last year and will be crewing/pacing Pierre at Badwater this summer. Woohoo.

Kevin is the new ultra runner turned super fast. Afton 50K last year was his first, then Voyaguer in 1230, and Ice Age in 9 hours this year. Smoking!

We ran our warm up of 2.5 miles, headed back to the lot to get our water and stuff and made camp at the base of the hill. The heat was on!

I was thinking 2.5 milel run, 10 repeats, 2.5 mile run and 2-5 more repeats. I thought anything over 10 repeats was gravy, but had to do at least 12.

Awesome wicked fun.

Pierre wasn't feeling so hot. He had a bad cold and a sore leg. He had just gone through a session of acupuncture this morning. He has been having trouble with this leg for two years now. Imagine what he could do with two healthy legs?

I told Paul that I was pretty stiff and sore this past week. I had made the mistake of running hard on Monday, as I felt pretty good. Tuesday I ran, tired, finally Wednesday I took off and was feeling better on Thursday. Tomorrow I am planning on biking and lifting, no running, or so she says so now..

Pierre didn't think he'd made it for 10, he was feeling pretty bad, the cold left him no energy. But, tough dog that he is, he sucked it up and did 12 repeats anyway!

Paul, Kevin and John were completing their repeats pretty quickly, they were at least 2 ahead of me most of the day. Paul headed off for his 2.5 run after 10 repeats and Kevin and John were going to stick around for me to finish two more. I told them to go ahead, I was fine. I did two more, wondered if I'd ever be able to do another repeat again and headed out for the 2.5 miles. It wasn't as horrible as last week. The 2.5 was a welcome diversion from the 10 repeats.

Back to the hill, I eeked out two more and called it a day! Pierre and I finished at 12, Paul at 14 and Kevin and John at 15. This was their first session, too. Sheesh again.

It was so much fun to have all the company during the workout. Granted, I can't carry a conversation as I'm climbing the hill, I'm sucking wind, but still, it was nice to nod and give a thumbs up as we went by one another. Except for John. He could converse the whole way. I could hear his voice carry in the wind when he was 1/2 a hill ahead of me. Wow.

We grabbed our supplies and headed out to the lot. I was ecstatic to have completed 12 hill repeats. Paul and Pierre had to leave quickly but Kevin, John and me were able to hang out, visit and take pictures for a while!

I had a great time, thanks guys! Next week it's 14 (maybe even 15).

Tomorrow I'll post the pictures. I'm tired.

Pierre Ostor. Frog Dog

Paul Hasse..Marathon Dog

Top of #10. And I need nipple covers. Or something.

Repeat 10, View From Top

Run To The Hills...Run For Your Life...

Today the above Iron Maiden song was ringing through my ears.

Oh Yeah. It was all about heat training and hills. For Vermont for me. For Badwater for the other two.

Earlier this week I had been emailing Pierre Ostor. You know, uber ultra endurance athlete of biking and running fame, finished Badwater, finished the Grand Slam, is the director for Arrowhead 135 and finished that as well. Yeah, Pierre. Well, come to find out he and Paul Hasse. Oh, you now, another uber ultra endurance athlete. Finished Leadville, Badwater (in 35 hours no less) and oh yeah, won FANS two weeks ago with 131 miles. Well, now that their credentials are out of the way, Pierre and Paul were running hill repeats at Buck Hill in Burnsville today. Pierre is running Badwater..135 miles through Death Valley and Paul is pacing/crewing for him. Buck Hill is a ski hill area in Burnsville.

I joined in on the fun. Of course, as they are training for heat and mountains, they asked me to arrive at 12:00, for a couple of hours running in the hottest part of the day. I did just that.

I must say, I was afraid. I was afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone. Afraid of running with these two. I remember when I first these men, each of them a few years ago. They are extreme athletes. They are tough. They are fast. They are experienced.

They welcomed me, so I decided to feel the fear and do it anyway. Step out of my comfort zone. You know.

Before I met them I told Steve about it. I told Steve I wasn't so sure about this. He looked at me quizzically; I thought wow, this is where he is going to tell me enough is enough. I couldn't read the look on his face. I was wrong. This is where he told me 'come on, this is what you wanted, someone to train on hills with, why wouldn't you go, at least once a week you tell me you wish you had someone to train with' Well, being afraid of them didn't seem like a very good response.

1130 sharp..a bit early..I was in the lot awaiting Pierre and Paul's arrival. I had a container of Heed, a few gallons of water, a few gels. I forgot E Caps, I had ice. I walked to the ski area and looked straight up. Good lord almighty. It was already 85F and the hills looked scary.

1145 and they pulled into the lot. They gave me a welcome and a description of what we were going to do. A 2.5 mile warm up around Burnsville, 5 hill repeats, another 2.5 mile run and 5 more hills. I was nervous. I filled my bottle and off we went.

It was hot. We ran the 2.5, came back to the lot and carried our supplies to the base of the hill.

OK, this is it. Pierre went off like a shot, up up he went. Paul showed me that he runs to the first pole, then walks up the hill. Well, how difficult can walking up a hill be? You know? I fell into step behind Paul and after a short while was totally sucking wind. I mean, I was panting. I was out of air. I was in agony. I had doubts about finishing 5 and there was NO WAY I was finishing 10. Hello, wtf had I been thinking? We reached the top, Pierre was already 1/2 way down, we turned around and ran down the hill. Running down was easier for me than climbing up. We reached the bottom and I was drained. Totally spent, or so I thought.

1/2 way up the second hill repeat Paul asked if I was breathing hard. It was difficult for him to hear me breathing as 35W, a major freeway is below us. Yeah, I'm sucking air and I'll be damn lucky to get 5 repeats, I told him. He said I should slow down then, no rush, just get in the repeats. We checked our pace. I told him to go ahead, he didn't have to stick with me. He was fine sticking with me, he stated. OK, up and out.

Man! After 5 I was like, ok, I don't know about another. We got down to the bottom of the hill and Pierre is already across the lot on going out on his 2.5 mile run. Shit. I'm hot and slow. I fill up my bottle with ice and water, Heed was tasting bad to me, water was all I wanted and I couldn't get enough. Paul and I took off. OH MY GOD. My legs were tight and screaming. My calves were going to pop out of their skin. My quads were sore. It sucked! I hated this 2.5 mile run before and in the middle and oh man, are we going to do this at the end too? We'll, I'm probably done, because my legs are dead and this 2.5 mile sucks. Eventually we catch Pierre and run back to the lot. 2.5 miles later and it seemed like 5. For real.

I tell Paul that I will try another, but I don't know. Now that we are done with the run I'm feeling a bit more positive. We reach number 6. I tell Paul I can do another. I ask him about 2.5 again at the finish. Are we doing 2.5 at the finish? He says NO. Oh, wow, I'm thrilled. I can do 10 then, I can, I can!

Repeat number 10. I'm all smiles. One more to go. I'll be finished in time to catch Tyler's two baseball games in Big Lake. Game one begins at 330. I don't have time for a shower, but I'll make it.

I did it. I did 10 hill repeats with the big dogs. If I want to run like a big dog, I gotta run with the big dogs. Yeah.

This is now a key workout for me. I'll be there each week. Running with the big dogs. Paul guarantees that as I get to 25-30 repeats, I'll be finishing Superior 100.

Oh Yeah.

Run For The Hills...Run For Your Life..

Heat Training :)

It has been wonderfully warm in Minnesota this week. I mean perfect temps and dew points. I so love it. 90F, bring it on, everyday.

I've been running 5 miles in the early AM with Topaz on gravel road. The deer flies totally kicked us off the trail so to the gravel it is. It is too warm for Topaz to run after work with me. He enjoys the early morning 65F.

After work I've been running asphalt in the heat. 8 miles last night during Troy's practice before his game. It usually takes me 75 minutes but last night it took me about 85. I wasn't used to the 90F.

Tyler played ball in Monticello tonight. I brought him to the field at 530 and ran until 645, for his game start. It didn't feel quite as oppressive as yesterday. Still 90F, but it felt easier.

I enjoy sitting field side, watching the boys play baseball, not chilled at all. I still have my winter coat in my car along with down blanket..just in case I become cold at a game. I guess the boys don't call me a freeze wort for nothing.

I'm recovered from FANS and ready to hit the ski hills in preparation for Vermont. Obviously I have no mountains to run upon, ski hills will have to do.

3 days of work left before summer vacation. Yeah, I'm counting.