You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.
Jim - I can only imagine how hard it must be to watch those storms come through. Will keep you guys in my thoughts and prayers that everything works out and you get your crop in.
My foot was feeling twingy last night, so I decided to not start running comeback program this morning. Will see how things feel tomorrow. Instead, 45 min of strength/core and 30 min of stationary biking.
Have a great week ~
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
Queen of 3rd Place
Leslie - Thanks for starting us. I admire your patience with your foot, and hanging in with all your other workouts. Hope you're having a non-downer Monday
Jim - good running year for you, nice! Hoping the weather demons stay at bay until harvest - sounds like you'll have a busy couple weeks. There was an article in the local paper saying that local ag is about the only industry that hasn't slumped during this downturn (bumper crops of almonds and pistachios + reduced import tariffs + a couple good water years), so hopefully with this harvest the news will be equally good for you. Yeah a Rockies trip might be nice, sometimes parts of the Sierra get impacted, a trip I wanted to do this month is now a no-go because the trail quotas filled fast and I missed it. Does that happen in the Rockies?
Easy runs the last couple days, weights this am (being good about that lately), have my first tempo workout since November tomorrow, I know that's going to be hard to get back into tempo runs, but worth the suffering!
Ex runner
flatland mountaineer
Thanks for the support guys, got thru another nite with just rain, one more to go then looks to be good harvest weather.
Got in 8 in the heat and humid Sunday. Rain last nite so will go for a little run this morning.
Arla
The backcountry sites in the park fill up prettty quickly but no restrictions on the trails. Go with my friend Ed off trail and you won't see a soul. Plenty of Nat forest areas not in the park without a lot of restriction also. RMNP is a dayhikers paradise with mild to wild class one hikes to committed big wall climbing on Long's Peak Diamond. Some nice backpack loops also but you need to book backcountry sites early, think the bivvy restrictions are minimal tho. Winter is wide open.
http://www.rmnpguide.com/backcountry-campsite-index.html
http://www.rmnpguide.com/recreation.html
http://veiks.com/trails/
Yeah a Rockies trip might be nice, sometimes parts of the Sierra get impacted, a trip I wanted to do this month is now a no-go because the trail quotas filled fast and I missed it. Does that happen in the Rockies?
The whole world said I shoulda used red but it looked good to Charlene in John Deere Green!!
Support Ethanol, drink the best, burn the rest.
Run for fun? What the hell kind of recreation is that? quote from Back to the Fut III
It's odd to read that trails in the Sierras and Rockies reach "capacity."
Keep up the work with the weights, Arla. It pays huge dividends in the end. And good luck with the tempo runs.
Will be keeping my fingers crossed for you, Jim, until you give the all clear.
The foot wasn't right last night, so I decided against running this morning. I have what I assume will be my last appt with the foot doc this afternoon, after which I'll go pool run. Am thinking I'll lay low on the idea of trying to run again until Saturday. Any kind of ache, twinge, etc., makes me very nervous. The kinda funny part about me running a little bit last Saturday - going downhill. I'm not paranoid, but it does make me nervous since it was a sweet technical downhill run that laid me up in the first place. However, it's easier to run downhill than it is to walk downhill.
MTA:
Doc appointment went good this afternoon. He was very happy with my progress and seemed surprised I wasn't using the crutches at all. As I suspected, he warned me against trying to do too much too soon, which I assured him I was trying really hard to not do. That being said, I have decided against trying to run for the rest of the week and will throw a small amount in this coming Saturday when I go back out to Headwaters. He has given me the green light to start working on balance again on the BOSU and to ramp up my strength trainings, so that's something.
Afterward, put in a 45 min pool run. Looking back at my training log, it's the first pool run in two weeks. Went really well, except toward the end when things started to too rambunctious for me. When I was putting my flotation belt and the water dumb bells away, I saw on the board that it was Fun Day. Yep, explained a lot.
jfa
Hey Folks-
Good luck with your on going recovery Leslie. Good thinking in taking it super easy.
Jim- hope those storms steer clear of you. From what I heard, it might have been real hot by you yesterday. Nice going on your mileage.
Arla- tempo runs mean another training period for your next marathon?
Been really taking it easy on the running lately. Only 20 miles last week. Heat , humidity, and lots of weekend sailing have been cutting into my running time. Got in an 8er last night with 97* and super humid. Started by putting an ice bag on my head. Then when that melted, a couple of ocean swims to cool down. Supposed to be only 90* today. Just have to get into a morning routine but I have been required to be in NYC by 9am so it's tough.
Heat , humidity, and lots of weekend sailing . . . .
Nice way to beat the heat!
I absolutely could not wake up this morning. The alarm went off at 4:30, and even though I woke up a couple of times later, I had to force myself out of bed at 7:15, which means I barely made it to work on time. I hate that feeling of hardly being able to open your eyes and like you're drowning in sleep. Things are stressful right now, and between work and home it feels never ending, but the sleep thing is driving me crazy. It felt like I was drugged. Needless to say, no workout this a.m., so I will do what I can when I get home.
Leslie - big hugs! Hang in there, you are sooo close to foot health. And progress at home, I can't imagine how stressful it is, keep fighting, there's lots of us rootin' for ya. And as much as you work out, I'm not surprised you need some decent sleep here and there.
Jim - good news on the weather. Close to harvest - already? Sounds like a similar situation in RMNP as in the Sierra, just that camps vs. trail quotas are the limiting factor. There's a short summer season in the high country, unfortunately it corresponds with my summer break in terms of my chances for long trips (4 - 6 days).
Joe - well, looks like I can't whine about temps when you have similar + humidity! Ugh. Seems like a good time to back of mileage for a little while. Yes, tempos are in prep for Chicago. We'll see how the Chicago weather cooperates this year! Can always opt to make Chicago a fun run and delay the hard effort.
Tempo yesterday went well, easily 15 sec/mi faster than the last time I started a training cycle's tempo workouts. The weight work is def paying off, as Leslie said, especially lunges. I really think the lunges help the achy butt, they stretch and strengthen the upper hammies. And...I graduated to regular (vs. "girl") pushups, haven't done those in years!
Was sad to hear that Greta Waitz succumbed to cancer after a six year battle. She was a great pioneer of the marathon distance for women.
And...I graduated to regular (vs. "girl") pushups, haven't done those in years!
I'm still in the girly mode and probably always will be. I do 'em on the flip side of the BOSU, though, for a bit of a core workout. They don't hurt my hands as bad 'cause I can get more of a natural positioning. Okay, I guess I need to start trying the manly regular ones.
And good for you on the tempo run, Arla!! Joe is our Speed King and you are our Speed Queen. We may need to get you guys some kind of crown.
Came home, soaked up a little Vit D for about half an hour, then headed out to the shed for 40 min of stat cycling and 5 min of core. Am determined to get up in the a.m. for another invigorating bike ride and strength training workout. I've now eaten and finished up my transcription, so it's time to hit the shower and bed . . . so long as I can find all the critters. For some reason, they just don't understand that daylight savings doesn't mean they get to stay out 'til 10:00 p.m.
Good mileage so far this week, mainly due to wet weather putiing the whoa on getting out the wheat. 8 sun 6 tues 4 last nite maybe a little something this morning. Back to mostly longer easy runs that I enjoy. The track work was challenging and rewarding but am glad it is over for awhile. Clearing weather and temps in the 100's mean wheat harvest weather as soon as the ground dries enough to get on it with heavy equipment. We have had upwards of 8 inches of rain for the week, We never cuss the rain in this dry country, it might not come back but is inconvenient at times. Barring anything unexpected hail damage on the wheat is minimal, a little more on the corn but a full soil water profile in mid July is worth quite a bit also, so some good to offset the damage.
Joe the sailing sounds so cool, good to hear from you.
Arla tempos what is your next race? I did lots of lunges and strength work over the winter, really think it helped my skiing and running. Rocky is pretty popular but there are still some great trips you can do on short notice just have to put you in touch with people that know the system, so if u ever head that way I'll give you some phone numbers or emails. I just daytrip but have several friends that do multiple days. Also that forum is a wealth of info.
Leslie you are so close, good on you to listen to the foot and scale it back if needed.
Jim - I am a full blown believer in lunges for strengthening the legs, especially for any kind of trail running/hiking. Will keep fingers crossed re your crops until you give the "all clear."
Today is the 40th birthday of one of the gals here at work. We decorated her office with black streamers and one of the ladies made a cake with graham cracker crumbs to resemble dirty aka Older than Dirt. So for breakfast, it was coffee and chocolate cake! Yum!
Workout Wise: The sleep thing didn't go so well again last night, but I was at least able to get up for a 4.15-mile walk in 58:29 whilst listening to Ultrarunnerpodcast.com. If you're into podcasts, these guys are doing a great job. The podcast I listened to this morning was of Scott Warr's Western States run. Fantastic interview. I've listened to it twice now. And the walk went really well, too!
Leslie - nice going on the walking! Very good news. On the pushups I worked up to 15 - 16 (x 3) of the girlie kind, then was able to do 8 or so of the regular ones. So the transition isn't complete but it's coming along. I would bet they're tougher with the bosu. And yes, I'm completely smitten with lunges.
Jim - Glad you're enjoying just running - sometimes those easy trots remind us why we do this. So, when do you think it will be dry enough to harvest? The waiting must be nerve-wracking. Wheat prices still good? And the tempos - those are in preparation for Chicago, which I probably don't really have enough time to prepare for but oh well.
Hi to the rest of you! Where are you? Enjoying your summer, I hope!
Nice run this am, have not felt this good for awhile, usually there's this or that little ache or pain, but it's pretty much sprionky everything right now, knock on wood. Tomorrow I fly to Indiana, get picked up by a friend there, then he and I will ride his bikes (he says I can pick!) to Bloomsburg, PA for the BMW national rally. Yes, I'm wimping out and flying over the middle of the country this time, but, been there, done that! There's an 8k race during the rally that I plan to win (of course, last time I ran it and won it, there were only two other women, one a walker, and one who had never run that far). Gotta love a stacked deck.
Good luck with the "stacked deck!" Sounds like a good time all the way around.
Hey, have you ever done Bulgarian squats? Add hand weights, and whoa, baby! Talk about a quad and butt destroyer builder!
MM #6177
Hey, have you ever done Bulgarian squats?
Yes I have, and no I didn't know they were called that. Cool! Actually, I've done them with the back foot on a stability ball, for more of a core challenge. Gotta remember to keep your weight fully in your front heel so you don't strain your knee. But yeah, it's a doozy of an exercise!
OK, back into hiding for me...
who says life doesn't have a soundtrack?
Top 'O the World!
Hey Gang!
Quick fly by posting here.... have been mostly up in the mtns w/o any internet access & sometimes w/o any phone access too! I can see that I have lots of reading to catch up on....you'll have to excuse me if I can't get to it just now....
Took two of the granddaughters camping at a reservoir, still have the mtn bike junior league w/GD#1 going on, crewed a cpl of races - including http://hardrock100.com/ Wow!...getting stuff lined up to go work RAGBRAI in Iowa, then The Copper Triangle, then it's only a cpl of wks to TransRockiesRun....THEN I get a whole month (wanna bet!?) till the Boulder Marathon...Just working these & running when I can...Doug is doing as much training as he can work in amongst 12 hr work days to get ready to run TRR...I'm still planning on running the crew day. Was riding the bike back & forth to work until the great Monsoons hit! Rain coming down hard enough to break tree branches kinda detures that notion!! We're planning to tackle Boreas Pass this wknd - depending on where we drop the cars, it'll be 17-22 miles up & over.
Hang in there!!
Cindy
Hi, OM! Come outta hiding more often. We miss your sweet face around here.
Cindy - You crewed for Hardrock?!?!? Color me green with jealousy!! One of the guys I converse with over on the Ultra and Trail forms came in 22nd overall, Chris Gerber. We were so excited for him! Would love to hear more about that if and when you get a chance.
I looked at my calendar, and this is the first Friday I've worked out in 4 weeks, and then I turn around and take Sunday off. What's that all about? Geesh. Anyway, 35 min of "Strong Body" with the DVD folks, followed by 30 min of stationary cycling during which I pumping the legs at a good clip while watching whatever show, then during the commercials I cranked to the a harder gear and do a sort of "tempo ride," for lack of a better explanation. Thank goodness I'm on indoor/outdoor carpet over cement, 'cause I sweat like a dang pig, and boy does it feel good!
Okay, I need to get to work. Have a great Friday, friends ~