I was gonna do a little dillydally during my run this morning, but a friend of mine had it in his head that we should do a mile "on" and half mile "slow", so that's what we did... for 10 miles. Actually now that it is done I feel pretty good.
RR update; I'm almost finished.
I got nothin' for the qotd.
tbd.
Pete
The pooch and I are taking the day off.
TrailTromper
Tallahassee, Florida
Faster Than Your Couch!
Not sure if I'll be taking the day off and start the taper, or put in another 10-15 mountain miles.
I ran 11 miles on technical trails yesterday with lots of elevation, and this morning, my back was killing me. It got better with moving around, but I might just rest up.
I ran into a snake again yesterday, it was lying across the road which leads from the parking lot to the trail, and I stopped dead in my tracks to avoid stepping on it. I think it was a rat snake again, about 4.5 feet long.
The downside of these frequent snake encounters is that I tend to get closer to them to observe them, and I always have to remind myself to keep my distance. It is just so tempting to watch them up real close and see all the details.
And I found another, rather unpleasant, surprise in the parking lot. Just when I was about to step out of my car, I noticed this pile of crap right next to the door. And the paperwork right with it.
REALLY?
Is it so hard to step off the gravel lot into the grass, or into the surrounding woods, to do your business?
Must have been a one-time visitor. Hopefully!
Run for fun.
Tim
Got up early and broke the spiderwebs on the trail. This has been the worst year for spiderwebs that I can remember. I felt like a cotton candy stick after a while. The last 3 miles were on a section that i did on the way out, so it was great to run web-free.
The Altra Olympus are back in stock (the had been sold out for over 6 weeks) so if you use them, now's the time to order.
QOTD: Biggest pet peeve while on the trails? Mine = spiders webs.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
Going to try to change shocks on my car again. It's a 2003 Saturn Ion and for some reason it's difficult to get rear shocks for it that fit. The upper mounting bushing on the shock is about 1/4 inch too wide. Apparently it's not a problem on the 2004's and newer. It looks like I'm actually going to have to grind the bushing on the shock down some to get it to fit right.
After that I'm planning on a 13.1 mile road run again tonight. Unfortunately DW is at work so that means I have to lug all my water with me . If she's home she'll ride her bike and keep me supplied with H20.
FTYC-- The snakes are just getting you ready for Eastern States. Have you seen the the pictures on their Facebook page? If not it looks like the trails go right by some rattler dens .
QOTD: Kind of undecided on this. I was going to say the Humidity but that's not really the fault of the trails. I was also thinking about the trails being overgrown due to lack of maintenance and traffic but that's a double edge sword. On one side if the trails are busier then people would be getting in my way. At the same time I can't complain too much about trail maintenance because I don't really get out to do any myself. So that brings me back to spider webs. I agree they have been bad this year but I have found something they are good for. Catching deer flies. Once I get a bunch of webs attached to my head the deer flies start sticking to them and I can crush them easier .
Oh, there we have it, my biggest peeve. The huge number of deer flies this year. They've been absolutely horrible some days. Just brigades and brigades of them all coordinating their attacks. One day I quit counting after I had killed a dozen of them .
4 after work I hope, skipped last nights run due to lightning.
QOTD Spider webs bug me after a a while, but at least they're all natural. The people littering everywhere really piss me off!
5 miles done, mostly on the paved trail. Few folks were out, so it was nice. It's weird to run at noon, in August, with temps still in the 70s. Not complaining!
qotd: poor drainage/muddy sections. . On highly used trails, folks just try to bypass and result in widening the trail and creating a bigger mess. It's just poor trail design and maintenance.
Are we there, yet?
Good long run, half on paved trails and half on groomed, crushed stone and gravel trails. 13.7 miles and a big surprise in running slightly negative splits when I normally start to fade over the last few miles.
QOTD: I'll second poor drainage and trail maintenance. That's a major problem on the River Trail at VF NP.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
QOTD: Spider webs can be annoying, but not as bad as biting flies.
I forgot to add a little comment about snakes on the trails. Last Saturday during the last lap on my Endless Summer 6-Hour Race, a long, slender black snake decided it needed to cross the trail just as I was approaching. There was barely room for me to pass without having to leap over it, something I'm not sure I could have done at that point.
I ran 9 speedy-miles-for-me last night, then 7 slow-even-for-me miles this morning. I'm tired, and I have a really long run planned tomorrow. I hope I am up to it.
Qotd: That's easy... mountain bikes... they
rank right next to deerflies.
January , 2022 Yankee Springs Winter Challenge 25k
Occasional Runner
16 rugged mountain miles at the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase in Park City. This is 8 miles UP with 4000' of gain on some nasty trails, then 8 miles back down the mountain. I ran it easy, fell once pretty bad, got lost twice and finished a little behind on water. It's a pretty cool race though.
On my way to Park City, I saw a dead mountain lion on the side of the road. I'm pretty bummed about that.
QOTD: Downhill mountain bikers that don't want to yield.
Got in 10 miles of hot and hilly trail this A.M. out at a venue called Indian Lake. I ran a lot at that place 20 years ago and now just occasionally. It's still pretty sweet but it is also much busier. Used to have the place pretty much to myself but now there are other runners, people with dogs, general hikers, a loud group of women having some sort of meeting by the little ski cabin, a couple solo people toting backpacks, etc. Why are all these people out at one of my private spots? This could easily be my pet peeve--people should stay home or recreate at the mall.
Qotd: That's easy... mountain bikes... they rank right next to deerflies.
Hey now Moonlight, most of us at least around here are pretty darn nice and very cordial, really!
QOTD--HORSES! One pack of horses can do more damage to a trail system than a season of mtn. bikes. Not to mention the arrogant riders and the piles of steaming apples left behind. See deerflies I can kill but probably shouldn't an equestrian.
Quick little followup to my last post re:horses. Where I ran today is part of the counties park system and I bumped into a park employee/ranger type person so we had a nice chat for a bit. She is out on the so called front lines dealing with usage. It was her opinion that the horse usage of Donald and Walking Iron parks have wrecked them. That's certainly not the company line you would get from her bosses but it is the reality.
Now if Mandy is reading, she also told me that the county has just recently closed on a purchase of over a thousand acre tract just outside your little town aka Hometown USA. Gonna be developed just for hiking, running, and trout fishing access. No horses or mtn. bikes. We'll see.
I guess we are lucky here. Our mountain bikers are almost all responsible and polite trail users.