"Far away, there in the sunshine, are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they may lead." ( - Louisa Ma Alcott)
Welcome to a new week, friends.
Rest day for me, although I did 15 min of lackluster core work this a.m. The legs are still feeling this past weekend. I was pleased, however, to see that on Saturday my elevation gain was 3,995 feet. I am still needing to work on endurance and pace, but I don't totally feel like elevation is my enemy.
MTA @ 1:40 pm: It's 69 freaking degrees outside right now!! We rarely see those temps in the summer, let alone the middle of winter. Weird, weird, weird (but I ain't complainin'.)
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain ------------- "Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens; not by what life brings us, but by the attitude we bring to life." (Unknown) 3 Nonjoggers Podcast
Ultra Runner Podcast
Anybody else around??
Yesterday, it reached 72 in Arcata, just 10 min north of us, and 75 in Blue Lake, about 20 min north of us. Rain in the forecast today with temps in the mid 60s. What month is this?
1 hr of core/strength this morning, followed by 30 min of stationary biking. My legs are still tired from the weekend. Should make tomorrow's speed work session interesting.
Top 'O the World!
Hey! I'm sort of around....pardon me whilst I whine for a moment!
Keep bailing on doing a LR on a treadmill....ick! it's just not the same...my streets/sidewalks are still under the plow ridge - hip deep, heavy, chunky, concrete like ice & snow. They did plow down the middle of the street but that is still rutty & ice ridden. My trail is still nearly knee deep. I do have snow shoes & I did see that they'd finally plowed the C470 bike trail (concrete sidewalk right along the freeway, but has a lot of ice on it yet & heavy car fumes!). It's currently 12*F w/higher than normal humidity (more snow moving into the high country) so "real feel" is more like 5*.... I'll kick my butt into moving shortly...I just want my La Nina warm Winter weather back!
On another note - 7 wks to Ireland so my breakfast & dining tables are FULL of books, notes, papers, maps! Great Fun!! Doug & I, coffee in hand, spent a cpl hrs in Barnes & Noble last night digging through some travel books. This will be our first 2 wk vacation EVER. His first use of his squeaky fresh passport.
Hey, Leslie, nice nice quote! Could be the mantra for the *ahem* - mature runner, we may not be fast but we can appreciate the beauty of the sport and enjoy pushing ourselves to see what we can do. It's humbling and gratifying at the same time. Funny story about the rush to the bathroom, well, maybe only in retrospect!
Mtn - hope you got that long run in, but with 7 weeks to go you probably have a little wiggle room on the long run schedule. How much time will you have in Ireland?
ev - nothing like nice scenery to spice up the run
Joe - Looks like I was wrong about that game being a snoozer! Unfortunately I had to miss it
Too busy for words, I'm temporarily (for the year) the de facto department chair at work (have the workload but not the pay), and Nobby's program is definitely keeping me busy. I think it's paying off, because on Sunday's run, which was supposed to be done briskly, I was able to very comfortably maintain a little faster than my marathon PR pace for 7 mi. So far no aches and pains. Wow. All I can guess is that it's better to spread the miles more evenly across the week and to make the weekend long run a little longer, rather than to just make the weekend long run longer and loooonger and LOOONNNNNGER. In fact the longest run in the program is only 15 mi.
Cindy - Your first ever 2-week vacation?? Wow. How exciting for you, though!
Arla - For whatever reason, why I do this has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I'm a very average runner who will always be toward the back of the pack. However, for the first time in my life I am pushing myself to find my limits. I don't always enjoy the journey, but whatever the end result, I know I've taken myself to places, physically and mentally, I never thought I could go, and yes, it's both humbling and gratifying.
That being said -
7 miles this a.m. with those evil intervals. My legs were feeling dead, so I shortened them to three 1-mile intervals with 1/2 a mile recovery jog in between, then a final 1/2 mile interval at the end. Well, I think they're about .10 short of a mile, but once around the square is what I do and consider it a "mile." I suck at them anyway, so whatever. And as Murphy's Law dictates, the wind was in my face on the section that has a slight incline.
I'm struggling with getting my mindset back to where it needs to be re hydration and eating for the increased miles, the speed work, and all the climbing on the trails on the weekends. I get tired of eating and drinking (with the drinking comes peeing), etc. But because I'm not doing those things correctly, I know I'm suffering the consequence, i.e. tired, no energy. Putting in another 2-3 hours of transcription each evening after work and sleeping like crap isn't helping either. I need a vacation! Oh yeah - I'm going on vacation at the end of next week. It can't come soon enough!
Later ~
Leslie....the elevation gain for you......really nice. And nice warm temps.....maybe too warm?
Mtn..........enjoy the vacation. You guys have definately earned it.
arla...........you've probably said before, please share again.....what is the distance of the weekly runs? I rember you saying your into the 50mpw area.....is this a 5 day or six day running week? Just trying to see the % of your long run vs the weekly miles. My schedule tries for some higher weekly miles to support the long run, but I feel I might be falling short.
an easy short run for me yesterday evening.
MTA......Arla....I've found the answers to my questions in your log.........duh.....sometimes I'm stupid like that!
Ev - Nope, not too warm. It stays cool in The Forest. Saturday I was constantly taking my gloves off/putting them on and pulling my sleeves up and down. I just to work on upping my fluid intake during the week and while running.
Speaking of warm, it's gorgimous outside again today. I'd go for a walk (it's lunch time), but I hate to sweat in my work clothes. Ick.
3 EZ miles this a.m., followed by about 45 min of strength (lower body) and core. I've strained tendons or something in my right hand somehow, so no upper body work. Also, Shorty got up and road the bike on the trainer for 40 min while I was running and did some upper body work on the Bowflex while I did my strength training.
Leslie - that is excellent about Shorty working out with you!!!!!!!!!! Maybe you can get him out on some walks and eventually hikes. I have a lot of friends whose hubs don't run, but they like to walk, hike and backpack (maybe it seems more manly? I dunno).
Hi all
Nice quote Leslie. It's good that you're pushing yourself and getting out there. Wasn't too long ago that you were not able to do so. Cool too about Shorty!
Arla- your plan sounds interesting. I looked at the site and may join too. I like Nobby a lot and he knows what he's talking about.
Cindy- Ireland sounds like fun! DD has been there several times and loves it.
Ev- I hear you about being thankful for work. I keep it in mind all the time. About the game: I still can't get over the run the Giants put together. It's eerily similiar to the one in 2008. They do best when no one gives them a chance and they were not favored in any one of the 6 games in a row that they won. I don't know if my heart can take many more of these nail biters, but it sure is awesome when they're done.
Been super busy at work and moved last weekend into a new house. I'm not one to open up about personal stuff( not just on the internet but in real life too). As true as friends can be, you guys have been there the last 4 years as good as anyone I know. In short summary, since the last SB the Giants won (2008) I have been separated after 25 years of marriage,then sold our house. Lived alone for two years and just ran a lot to get my head together. Started dating a little about a year ago. Through sisters and FB got re-acquainted with an old high school friend. We fell in love. Just bought a house together. It's not far from where I have lived. It's on the Shark River and about 2 miles to the beach. Now we're engaged and will soon be married. My youngest child is now 21 years old and my 3 kids have great relationships with both myself and my ex. Not the way I envisioned things to be for me, but it's all worked out very very well. I'm happier than I have been in a long long time.
So back to running, I have not done much lately as I have been moving and working a lot. I have been getting some short runs in and doing spin on the bike. I feel my core and legs and butt getting stronger because of it. Soon I will start upping my miles again. My new neighborhood is quite hilly so like it or not, that will make me stronger too.
Later my friends.
quitters never win
Congrats Joe!
Wow, Joe. Glad you've come out the other side a happier guy!
12 today in tank top weather. Hope this doesn't mean it's going to be 110 all summer.
aka kameele
Joe, quite a challenging journey, but sounds like a great destination in the end. LEt me add my best wishes for continuing happiness.
May actually get to run in the snow tomorrow. We're supposed to get a few inches overnight. I've actually been out 4 times in the past week. Of course, none have been more than the 3.1 lake loop, but every little bit counts, I guess. being able to be home for two whole weeks makes quite a bit of difference. Probalby driving DW crazy, but it is sort of nice to not be travelling.
Haven't had a chance to congratulate Leslie on the nicely increasing mileage and new work out partner. So I guess I'll do that now.
Cindy--can't remember the last time we had two straight weeks off. Single weeks have been hard to come by the last few years. I still have two vacation days from last year that i need to figure out when to use.
Ev--finally took a look at the training thread and I see an 8'er there. nice buildup for you, too.
Arla--your miles are pretty impressive. I'd love to get back to a 50 mile month.
Next? Could there be 26.2 somewhere???
I can dream, can't I?
In the meantime--Ukrops' 10K March 31st.
Congratulations, Joe! Wishing you many, many years of happiness and love.
It's been warm here, too, Arla. Rain this afternoon and tonight, so kinda humid.
Glad you stopped in, Stumpy. You've been missed.
Lots of bookkeeping crap at work. After a month, I'm already $1600 off in the general checkbook. I know I just transposed a number, but in the middle of looking for it, the boss called from a visit with a client at the hospital and we had to slap together a will and deed 'cause it's not certain the guy will even make it through the weekend. It just was a hard visit, and as we were standing at the elevators waiting to go down, I just started crying. I couldn't help myself. I hate hospitals. Spent way too much time in them with my mom. Then my boss, Lisa, is telling me she feels like she's gonna throw up 'cause the smell of hospitals makes her sick. What a pair! But at least we held it together while we had to. Geesh!
Tomorrow, 22 on the trails. Hope it goes better (ie, faster) than last week.
Okay - off to find the last El Gato so I can hit the hay.
Stumpy - welcome home What's wrong with a 5K loop, most people can't run a 5K at all! I have a former student who's been hitting me up for running advice (mostly she just needed to be told to go slow), she's only 20 and is thrilled to have worked up to doing three weekly runs of 2 miles each!
Leslie - the two of you must have been a sight! Hope your 22 miler goes well today! That's a long way on trails.
Joe - about the Lydiard program, I suspect that if you use it to train for a marathon, your program will look very similar to mine since we run about the same marathon time. I suggest that you also plug in that you want to run 6 or 7 days a week, because that number of days is optional. A nice feature of the plan is that there's a ton of wiggle room built in, in three ways (1) the daily runs are ranked in importance, #1 - 7, so if you want to cut out two days, you would cut out #7and #6 in the ranking - if you look at my log, you can see I'm usually not getting in #7, and that's ok; (2) there is a target distance/pace/total time/heart rate for each day, but also a range for each of those metrics, so you can adjust depending how you feel on any given day; (3) there's a recovery indicator, you plug in your resting HR, weight, and hours slept and it will tell you if you should back off a little (or a lot). I once accidentally entered my HR as 155 instead of 55, and got a big warning to rest, heh.
Two more things that are really working for me: (1) I really like the Lydiard version of the tempo run, which is called the "Out and Back" workout. It's actually more like a medium-length brisk run, run more slowly than marathon pace, I think for me it's 9 mi at 9:17 this week. This is really getting me to run a little more quickly but A LOT more comfortably, in fact I'm finding it hard not to do it at my old marathon race pace (9:10) - plus, I'm finding it really enjoyable! (2) three runs over 10 miles a week - I'm convinced that this is really helping me get faster, in conjunction with the out and backs. The bad news is that it's tough to find the time to do these, even with my flexible work schedule.
EZ 6 on the schedule today, with wild breezy humid weather, I can pretend I'm on a tropical island...
I'll have to peruse your training log when I have more time, Arla. Although I have Coach, I'm always throwing stuff at him as possibilities for my training.
I just have to say it again - Congratulations, Joe! I'm so very happy for you. ps - does your fiancè run?????
I spent 5:45:26 in The Forest, running 22 miles with an average pace of 15:42. I'm happy with that as I had elevation gain/loss of 4,157 all together. I did so much better on my nutrition and drinking today, so although my legs were tired at the end, I still had energy and didn't feel like I'd been run over by a semi. I have to keep telling myself I'm coming back, I'm working on my stamina again. My pace will pick up . . . some, as I was exactly speedy before the injury. But still, I'm doing a good job and I'm happy to be back out there.
Took an arsenal of food with me and stashed it about a mile in. Ate a couple of Mojo bars, 1 1/2 stoopwafels (which I decided I don't really care for), half a chocolate donut, some pretzel balls and Wheat Thins (the Wheat Thins were great!), some chicken noodle soup (which was da bomb), Coke, water, and my Ultra mix. I think I was got a little behind on fluids, but not too bad.
All in all, it was a good run, and when I got home, The Hub had dinner ready for me to scarf down. What a guy!
Okay - Time to hit the hay. A short ten tomorrow -
Nite -
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