Ron Heerkens Jr. Blog - Latest Comments

Re: Training Report: 4/30 – 5/6/2012

Ron Heerkens Jr — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:54:47 -0000

Thanks Eric! Hope you guy's get to get down there, it would be awesome to see friendly faces on the course

Re: Training Report: 4/30 – 5/6/2012

www.roctherun.com — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:27:54 -0000

Good stuff Ron. I am excited to see you guys out there roc'in the trails at Sehgahunda!

Re: Training Report: 4/2 – 4/8/2012

Ed — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:25:25 -0000

Nice Mileage Ron. I hope to crack the 50 mile mark this week. Halfway there now with 3 days left. I have been running a little different lately. If I am tired then I am not running. My weekly miles has dropped but I am running fresh and feeling really good. I have a trail marathon in 8 days. Then more 50ks. I bring up my miles I think over the next few months to 40's and 50's. Not sure if I will ever do anything in the 60's unless you cound a race week. I have a bunch of 50ks planned this summer. Really looking forward to racing this summer!

Cheers

Re: Race Recap: Johnny’s Runnin’ Of the Green

Ed — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:01:20 -0000

That is fantastic! Always nice to see a PR.

Re: Training Report: 3/5-3/11/12

Ed - Persistent Hunter — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:41:26 -0000

The 50/55/60 looks pretty tough. Good luck!

Re: Medved Endurance Project

Ron Heerkens Jr — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:53:57 -0000

I don't but Medved also does a Thursday night trail run

-Ron

Re: Medved Endurance Project

www.Roctherun.com — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:50:25 -0000

This is such an awesome experience, our budget is already committed to the dirt cheap series... do you know if some of these runs will be free??

Re: Training Report: 2/27-3/4/2012

Ron Heerkens Jr — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:34:02 -0000

Thanks Ed. I'm actually feeling pretty good. My training plan right now has me hitting a max of 65 so its goign to be interesting. I'm tweaking my plan just a bit. I realized I hadn't had that cut back week in a month, so I'm going to cut back to 40 then go back up to 50. I like the 20% cut back.

Re: Training Report: 2/27-3/4/2012

Ed — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:18:14 -0000

Nice monster week on the mileage man! I am not sure I have ever done a 50 mile week yet. Some in the 40's but I just can't seem to crack the 50 mile week. Great job.

Re: Friday #TrailsRoc Inspiration

Joanna — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:43:42 -0000

INSANE!!!

Re: Of Changes and Future Plans

Ron Heerkens Jr — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:03:23 -0000

Thanks, it is good for me to get the perspective from others going through this and helps me know that I'm not the only crazy person going thru this.
As for the comments...I'm getting there. I usually hit DM first and then the blogs and sometimes have only enough time to read and not comment. I comment in my head,...I need to get better...sorry.

Re: Catching “The Moment”

Ron Heerkens Jr — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:01:34 -0000

I think that is an awesome description. Thanks Ed. I will check on the twitter thing.

Re: Of Changes and Future Plans

Ed - Persistent Hunter — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:24:15 -0000

The balance thing is a common issue for most runners. Few couples are both runners and enjoy a similar passion for it. My family is pretty tolerable of the time it takes me to do what I need/want to do with running. I try to get them involved but not with any great success. I also dream of my wife crewing me in a 50-100 mile races when I get to that point. My wife, when it is warm, might get out for a very easy 2 mile run. But the last time we did that it turned into a fight to be honest. I guess the compromise that I make it hiking. The kids, for the most part, don't mind hiking and the wife likes it. I will get my kids in 5k races this year for the first time. I think they will eventually like it but not sure about the training part of it.

But in the end Ron your passion, goals and dreams are ultimatly your own. Not every passion has to be embraced by others. Some people are going to get it and some won't. You shouldn't give up your passion but you often have to compromise at some point. My wife knows what a huge deal it will be to me to run a 100 mile race one day. It will happen in the next few years. She knows that in the end I am healier than I would be otherwise so she and the kids do benefit from it somewhat.

I also get the needy part of it. If we were not needy then we wouldn't be blogging about it would we? Come to think of it I have not seen any comments from you on my blog yet. ;)

Re: Catching “The Moment”

Ed - Persistent Hunter — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:54:38 -0000

Hey Ron. I have to say as good as it feels to meet goals, completed races in PR time, or to just crush a weeks hard running scheudle it just doesn't come close to a real runners high. In the last few years I have only had it happen one time. The only way I can explain my experience is like so....

Picture yourself standing on a hill top and below you a deer is running across the valley floor at full speed. You don't fell anything the deer feels. Not the ground under it feet, or the nagging pain form a pervious injury, not the beating of its heart that wants to jump out of it chest cavity, or the head wind trying to push the deer back down the hill it is climbing. But in fact you are the deer as you watch it for miles and miles running at top speed.

That is about the best I can do. I don't chase that feeling but it sure feels incredible when it happen.

P.S. Your Twitter Like button is not work for me. I get an error on the Tweet.me site when I click it.

Re: Of Changes and Future Plans

Ron Heerkens Jr — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:43:45 -0000

But that's just it! I do go to bed early, I'm hitting bed at 9pm or earlier. During the winter I've been struggling with early mornings, 4am is alot easier during the warmer mornings so that's not an issue. It's the balance of attending GVzh on Tues/Thurs and getting my long runs in on the weekend. I might head out at 4, but crawling back in after 4+ hours and trying to get recovery in.i know it's a balancing act, and it's one I'm still learning

Re: Of Changes and Future Plans

Runningman795 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:46:05 -0000

I would have to agree with Joanna. It can be very hard to find that happy medium. Especially when it comes to a growing family. If mornings are the way to go for you, you have to make sure your bed time is earlier.

Re: Of Changes and Future Plans

Roctherun.com — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:30:14 -0000

I think its really important to have family support. I think you have to talk to them about the support...what you hope and what can they or will they give. You have to know where your are before you can move forward with that.

Re: Of Changes and Future Plans

Joanna — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:52:03 -0000

It has to be hard with a family - even with just Brian, I sometimes feel like I am leaving him out and know he wishes I was home with him instead of running. I do try to get out before he wakes up, which is pretty easy except for long run days. If you are going to put in the miles before the kids get up then I think you may need to get to bed a little earlier - I have been doing that and it has helped for sure. I really am no help tho cause I don't have kids yet :(

Re: Happy 1st Anniversary!

Joanna — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:13:53 -0000

Great work - awesome to see how far you have come in just a year!

Re: Happy 1st Anniversary!

Ed — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:53:24 -0000

Nice work on the improvement Ron. It is alwasy great to see how much we improve over time.

Re: Happy 1st Anniversary!

Ron Heerkens Jr — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:59:59 -0000

Thanks Eric!

Re: Happy 1st Anniversary!

Roctherun — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:52:52 -0000

So awesome !! I love stories like this

Re: Race Report: SCWT #5

Ron — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:45:09 -0000

Yeah they are anywhere from 2.5-4 miles. More of a challenge sprint. It's on a semi technical trail (for me) and was designed to be raced by two divisions snowshoe and no snowshoe. There has not been enough snow so it's been ice or mud for the most part. It's raced in the dark with headlamps, so even though it's short it's fun and a good quick Speedworkout. I haven't quite hit Ultra Runner status, but I only run 1.5-2mi warmups. It's fun series, there are some quick guys who run it. Been really helping me gain confidence while speeding on the trail.

Re: Race Report: SCWT #5

Ed — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:16:25 -0000

Nice recap. Is this the typical distance of the series? Less than 3 miles is just a warm up.

Re: First Impressions: Altra Instincts & Lone Peaks

Ron Heerkens Jr — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:32:56 -0000

I am coming off the Mizuno Inspire 8 (11.5) after initially being on the Ravenna which were still high as well. I am also getting away from the pronation control shoes as I was turning my ankles too much for me to believe that they were "good" for me. I researched as much as I could and felt the Altra's were the best for me. I'm training for a trail marathon in May and a 50K in October so both pairs are goign to get a lot of miles. Going to go easy for the first couple weeks with the instincts, feel liek the jump into the Lone Peaks is a little easier but I run on some technical trails around here so I'm not constantly running forefoot due to the trail alone. The road is goign to be the toughest transition I think. Thanks for stopping on by and reading!