Queen of 3rd Place
Happy Monday,everyone!
Leslie - cute pics of the house. And, wow, 18 months already for Shorty! Impressive!
Note to self: if you have not run trails for awhile, a trail half marathon might trash your quads. If you want to have a laugh, just come watch me TRY to get downstairs. Other than that, the Quicksilver running club is a class outfit! Very friendly group, well-organized event. Painstakingly-marked trails. They also do races ranging from the 10k to the 50 mile distance. Anyone looking to do some tough but fun trail events would do well to head to San Jose for one of their races. http://www.quicksilver-running.com/
Ex runner
Note to self: if you have not run trails for awhile, a trail half marathon might trash your quads. If you want to have a laugh, just come watch me TRY to get downstairs.
Walk backwards! I've looked at their races before but have yet to participate in one. Will give it a closer look.
My break is over, and I ran 3 wonderful miles this morning in a crisp predawn with a sky half filled with stars and half with rain clouds that were moving out of the area. Everything smelled fresh and clean after last night's dousing.
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
jfa
Good going on the quads Arla. Guess you were pushing it.
Nice house pics Leslie. Unfortunately , when owning a house, the work is never done. Your morning run sounds delightful.
Was looking forward to taper time ( 2 weeks from yesterday until NY) but the plan calls for a half hour of wind sprints today. Off to the local track!
Ack!
Joe - I've been reading "Running With Lydiard" and I think I understand a little better why Nobby has the windsprints in there. I'll have to try another round of Nobby's training program to have a shot at actually doing them, and I will be curious if they're tough to get them done just right.
Recovery jog in the rain today on gimpy legs. It probably looked pretty funny.
Windsprints are fun (when finished) but hard for me to keep track of my time on them.
Quarter miles are easier to gauge. Only managed 4 last night at full speed. The last one was at 5:52 pace.
The biggest difference I see with his plan than others is the absence of the 20 mile training runs. He makes up for it with going hard on the tempo run on Saturday,( 10-15) then a longish ( 10-12) run on Sunday on what should be tired legs. I was slightly nervous about not getting in those long runs, but it makes sense to me now. Judging from my recent half times, I am fully trusting his program.
Top 'O the World!
Thanks for starting us off, Arla!
Leslie - The house is looking great!! 18 months! Wow! Congratulations Hope the rest has been just the ticket to reset your energy levels.
Happy Taper there, Joe
Hey! to evryone else who may be lurking out there!
Looking fwd to my first real snow run coming up here soon! Big storm coming in sometime in the next couple of days! Was just in the low 80's this past Friday, should be in the 30's w/snow this coming Friday! Two ski resorts open & the rest are excited for the forecast!
I ended up having two days off from running instead of my intended longer runs....not that I think I was quite ready for longer runs yet, my shorter ones are still gritty - not only are my energy levels still a little low, I seem to have little tweaks here & there, like my right ankle - again!! ...But, the main issue was in volunteering for the Boulder Marathon took me offline for two days! Can I say, "what a cluster @$*%!?!" I'm expecting to hear from more runner friends about it over the next little bit, and I don't expect it to be all that positive! At least the weather was perfect! .... The main volunteer coordinator (understandably) has stepped down & the RD just needs a full frontal lobotomy logistics reset! Not enough volunteers to adequately deal with 2400 runners, from packet pick-up to aid stations. Just not enough boots on the ground to deal with the volume!! Not enough supplies @ the aid stations. Radios were not tested until 6:30am of RACE DAY! When they were found to be inadequate (see: spotty at best) I spent most of the day using my phone to communicate with aid stations & course marshalls, which only allows for one on one at a time. Here's another one with finish line amenities mostly shut down, not only before all of the runners/walkers are in, but race crew that has been out there freaking out over dealing with lack of supplies & frustrated runners ALL DAY finally get in to find no food or beer!?!? Well, there were bagels & bananas left....woo-hoo Everything was pretty much packed up, used up, before those last people could get in! If my DH had not taken the time to bring food & coffee to the communications room, we would have none, & we were among the last to shut down as well. I've helped out with this race for several years, but I think I'm pretty over it.
Cindy - you will definitely get snow from this storm we're sending your way, it's a cold storm and I'm looking at snow in the foothills this morning. Also - what a horrible story about the Boulder marathon! There's no excuse for that.
Joe - 5:52 pace quarter WHEE! Nobby told me he has been having success with runners doing long runs of no more than 15 miles. He had two runners in their 50s last year who were his guinea pigs, they both reported feeling great during their training and both got marathon PRs. If you read Daniels and of course Lydiard, both say long runs should max out somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 hours. I am eager to find out how it goes for you!
Finished PT today, they told me if I tweak the back again within the next 6 months that my insurance company will still cover me so I can get in quickly. Hopefully that won't happen!
Joe - WOW!!! Pretty freaking nice pace there, son!
Cindy - That stinks about the marathon. Hopefully the RD will get his act together.
Snow is down to 3000 feet around here, as well, which means if my run last weekend was this coming weekend, I would've been running in the stuff. How fun would that have been! Going from mid-70s to snow in a week - weird.
Arla - Keeping fingers crossed re the back!
4 feel good miles this a.m. in another crisp predawn run. Thousands and thousands of stars in the sky. It really was beautiful.
Rest day for me. Those 7 miles I've run so far this week have really taken a toll on me. The Wilsonater, who has been on my list the last couple of nights, didn't start his yowling until 3:30 this morning. Too bad, in a way. I had whole arsenal of socks and a pair of slippers at the ready to launch at him if he started at 1:30 like he did the previous two nights.
Leslie - hope you enjoyed your rest day!
Still working on very gimpy legs, "running" a good 1 minute/mi slower than normal. I need to include more hills in my normal training!
Round #1! Le Famous BBQ Grill!
Okay, still learning photo manipulation! :/
Doug & I did 3 hilly trail miles on the leading edge of this - temps dropping, wind blowing, light spitty moisture - late yesterday afternoon, then went up to Boulder to meet with some of our kewl TRR folks at a brew pub whilst it really focused on getting down to business! Made for an interesting 90 min drive home late last night....alas, fresh snow out there & I've yet to go exploring! Mairead is looking at me "that" way .... Two of my TRR peeps are very familiar w/the Boulder marathon RD....past experiences with said race & previous RD = long story but boiled down to I would be wasting my time/breath to try to encourage him to take a different approach. Many before me have tried & failed. Walking away opens me up to run/support many other more worthy opportunities!
Hey the grill is back ! Must be that time of year again!
Hoping for a prosperous ski season out there for you Cindy.
Patience Arla. You'll get your legs and back right soon.
Easy on your come back Leslie.
Here's yours truly on my way to a 6 minute HM pr a few weeks ago.
Snow - already?!? Glad you've decided to wash your hands of the marathon. Sometimes no matter what you say or try to do, people aren't open to change.
5 peaceful miles this morning under a star-filled predawn sky. It was quite chilly, and I'm glad I opted for my winter long running rights. And I'm also very, VERY glad the bathrooms at Winco were available to for use around Mile 4 or so. The skies opened and the angels sang, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"
Now if we could only get Joe. to run shirtless.