az2mntrail That was an encouraging workout for you. Hope the improvement continues.
NH Runner The nordic walker lady was at the track this morning, going at a pretty good clip.
joe cool was wearing all black with green stripes today. Where does he even get black/green striped sunglasses and black/green shoes?
13 miles on the track
1 hour walk.
"dancing on the path and singing, now you got away,
you can reach the goals you set from now on, every day"
Sonata Arctica
Chantilly: haha...."joe cool"......bet he makes the rummage sale rounds in good weather, that's too funny!! How often do you get in a walk break? Or do you run the whole 13 miles?
So today was another gym workout. Warm and sunny outside at 40 degrees!! Snow melting all around and it's gonna be a dirty mess. Started w/ stretching b/c all the elliptical and cycles were being used. Went later in the day then I wanted to. After stretching, jogged 4 laps, walked briskly 1 lap, etc. till I finished 1 mile. Noticed and inquired if the ladies track team had their practice time since I saw them gather. Usually a sign is posted but no sign. The work/study student at the desk didn't really know but 'thinks' I can still use the track. Track team is using all the lanes!! Ok, that's annoying but saw one of the TM empty ........ugh........gotta do it so jogged 1/2 mile, walked 1 min, etc. for another 1.5 miles!! YIPPEE!! Finished 2.5 miles total, longest distance for me now. No problem w/ injury area. Then 10 min elliptical, finished w/ 30 min weights. More students arriving to impress each other in the weight room by that time, glad I was done by then.
az2mntrail Good workouts for you in spite of the crowds. Did you find the treadmill easier? or just the same?
Here, the track teams/marathon clubs, etc. can only reserve the outer 2 lanes.
Ran 1 mile and walked 30 minutes. Back to work.
Friday, 1/20... I've been just a work-out machine the last couple of days, yesterday I waxed my XC skis before heading out and completely missed the wax I needed for the wet heavy snow and couldn't go anywhere. Went out a half mile, then turned around and came home...lol Today, I lived on the edge by jogging barefoot for 15 minutes on the treadmill. Jog was really just an attempt to get a little more circulation going around my disgruntled heel. The heel's doing good, but there's this one little area that's being stubborn and I refuse to test it with a run...
Chantilly... I laughed out loud at the thought of Joe Cool, that guy's looking for attention...lol Nice workout yesterday! If you see the Nordic walker again, ask if she'll let you try it for a minute. I'm sure she will and can show you how to hold the poles. There is a certain way, BTW. It's a good way to strengthen your upper body while you're walking, I'm betting you'd like it...
az... treadmill or not, 2.5 miles is good news! Seems like it's just a question of time now, your injury area has been quiet for quite a while. Good stuff!
Chantilly: No, I don't find the TM 'easier' ......just MORE boring than the track.......but there's a small TV w/ it and that makes the miles go by quicker. Do you run the shorter miles during lunch? How close to the track is your work?
NH: good job on trying different ways to lessen the heel issue. Sometimes we have to be more patient to let some injuries work itself out. At this point, my calf injury seems to be calming down. Adding more distance and intensity VERY slowly seems to be helpful. DH did all the 'waxing' of our snowboards (even used the iron!!) so never did get to do that but we don't snowboard anymore ........definitely not in the future for me for sure. Snow melting must be a mess there as it is here. How is DW doing?
Art: how is the weather in the valley? I'm looking forward to visiting home in a couple of weeks. Leaving a week earlier than planned and staying longer into April, YAY!!
Dan: was watching the Badgers at Gophers men's BB game, went into OT!!
Ray: hope you are doing well.
Met a friend at noon for the Women's March today!! It was an amazing turnout for northern MN, WOW!! About 2 miles one way so counted it as my warmup when I went to the gym. 20 min elliptical, 2.5 mile jog w/ 1 min walk break every 1/2 mile. Then 20 min weights. Stretches. Injury area is doing good. Hope to be at 3 miles by end of month.
justrundan
The outside run never materialized yesterday. it was 35 and very foggy, stayed all day.
4.1 on TM yesterday and 1.5 today during Packer game
AZ- we listened to the last 3 min of OT in the car last night. Bronson came up BIG with 3's in the OT.
You had a well rounded workout yesterday!
Chantilly- Nice 13 miles! Joe Cool must be inspiring!
Rich- The heel should be ready when better weather arrives.
Dan
Hi folks! Been fairly inactive this last week. Not the problem, but one of our internet connections was experiencing problems. Unfortunately, it has the fixed IP address (if you don't know it doesn't matter) that all of our services are tied to. Further compounding problems our ISP resells AT&T lines, which means they are dependent on AT&T to fix the actual hardware problems. Part of the story involves AT&T "fixing" the problem and nothing working after their fix As you can imagine, my blood pressure has been pretty high this past week with the ISP telling me they can't get a tech until "tomorrow" and getting same story every day (yes, I was making daily calls). Finally a knowledgeable tech showed up and figured out that a squirrel had chewed the line from street to our house (150 feet) and strung a new set of 6-pairs to our house (one of AT&T's method of fixing things is to swap pairs at various places - now they have a few more choices). Hopefully, things will stay fixed for awhile.
Only ran twice during the last week. Thursday a 5 mile progression run. And Saturday did a 1/2 marathon with about 2300' of elevation gain (and loss). I wasn't really feeling that good about the race and wouldn't say I put in the effort - mostly was trying to just "run". Placement was way better then last year even tho I was a good 6 minutes slower. I'll try to do a full race report later.
Az - Good to hear you're improving! Gotta feel good. It has been really wet here and we're holding up well. All the gray skies might be why I haven't felt like running lately...
Chantilly - Joe Cool sounds like one of my co-workers - wore a hat the other day 'cuz he didn't have time to "gel" his hair and felt naked. Some good runs for you lately!
Rich - Be careful with the barefoot running. It can take time for the body to adjust, beware of TMTS!
Dan - At least you got the run in! TM or no, important to get the work in.
Ray
Jan 20, 2017 Crystal Springs 1/2 Marathon.
Friday was a pretty wet day and as we left the house there are large puddles everywhere. Standing water seems to be the norm now as the ground seems mostly saturated and so takes longer for the water to dissipate. Rain is a bit on and off on the way up the hill to Huddart Park. We arrive and there's line of cars to get in and we're thinking, wow we're early they should be lots of parking! Wrong! Parking lots are full and they've just learned how to stream line the parking fee process. Fortunately, everyone has avoided a strategically placed spot that is just hard to get a car into and thus people avoided it. We pick up our numbers and head to the car to wait given that it's still raining. 10 minutes before the start we get out of the car and head to the starting line. The start is in a meadow area and there's a "flow" of water that has to be crossed to get to it. We do our best to keep our feet dry, but we know that will be impossible for the entire race. The sky is clear and the sun is really bright now as we wait. I'm not feeling that confident about how hard I want to try and feeling sort of "eh", so I'm in the middle of the pack.
Director says go and we're off. The first mile of this race is downhill and as we head down the meadow towards the trail head I'm slipping and sliding a bit. I'm sort of letting the people in front dictate the pace and there are a couple of switch backs in the initial part of the trail. I decide that I really could go a bit faster and pick up the pace a bit which means I'm passing up a few people. I'm trying to be a "good" runner and yelling "on your left" and most people are good and moving to the right. I'm moving along and yell and the young lady doesn't move and then cuts me off a bit, when I see she has headphones in, so I step right and tap her shoulder as I go by. She apologizes, but I'm already headed down the hill. I'm gaining on a younger runner and he notices and picks up the pace. So, I track him basically to the bottom. Should note that tho most of the trail is a solid mud, the middle tends to have "rivulet". We're now running along a fast moving stream to our right and on a fire road that's got gooey mud and lots of puddles. I'm not passing anymore and just the younger mail runner ahead and he's putting space between us. The next 4 miles is predominantly up. Between mile 2 - 3 headphone woman passes me and about a 1/4 mile later a young man goes by. My guestimate of my place is around 10th overall.
Most of the way up I'm the only runner I can see. Around mile 3.5 I notice that occasionally I see a female runner and she seems to be gaining a bit. Also notice my watch has me running slower then previous mile, so I give it a little extra. At mile 4, space seems to be more but watch says I'm running more slowly when I know I'm going faster. Finally hit the top where we're running about 2 miles on rolling hills. We've caught upt o the marathoners ultra-marathoners and I'm passing them. Just past the 6 mile mark I see the lead runner on the way back. A minute or so later runner number 2 and then first female runner.
I'm increasing my speed and pass a few more of the slower marathoners. You're on single track trails and much of it is mud and/or puddles. I'm counting runners going the other way and I'm 12th overall as I hit the turn around. Heading back, I'm pretty squarely between 2nd place and 3rd place females about a minute behind and 30-40 seconds ahead. See DS1's SO and then getting close to aid station DW. I'm trying to maintain pace as I finish the top flatter section and begin the 4 miles back to the finish. There's a turn off from the trail back and I'm trying to remember where it is. Around mile 10, I'm starting to wonder if I missed my turn off and start to slow a bit. At mile 11 I'm 90% sure of it and slow a bit more. At mile 12 (watch says mile 11) I finally see the turn off and start down the final fire road. Thing is I think I've got 2 miles to go and I'm still holding back a bit. About a 1/4 mile from the end a guy goes by and then the 3rd place woman. Thinking I've got a bit over a mile to go I just let them go by. Then I see the parking lot before the finish and realize my mistake, but can't get that final energy to really sprint. Cross the line in 1:59:10, 14th overall, 11th male and 2nd Age group.
NH Runner Hope you can get out for a proper ski. Didn't know there were different kinds of wax. Interesting experiment to run barefoot. I don't know the nordic walker lady at all and she is quite a bit older than me so I would feel strange to ask her about the poles.
az2mntrail 2 mile walk is a good warmup. Good to hear that you are doing ok with the leg. I only work nights, so I don't run when I get home from work in the morning. For the longer runs, I take a walking break after 30-60 minutes, other times, I just walk awhile after I am done running.
justrundan Fog sounds unusual in the winter, but I guess if there is a lot of water around? Nice to have entertainment on the treadmill, even if the game didn't go the way you would have liked.
joe cool is stuck in the eighties, with his color co-ordinated outfits from head to toe.
rmcj001 Congratulations on your HM! Placement depends upon who showed up sometimes, doesn't it? Did you wear your Vibrams? Sounds wet and muddy...and steep! You seem to have a lot of races nearby for much of the year. We don't have enough population or decent weather here. Those squirrels can be a problem, for sure, good to have the cable finally fixed.
7 mile run with walking breaks every 15 minutes on the track. Legs felt tired, so went in for deep tissue massage this afternoon.
3 mile run
10 min. stationary bike
30 min. walk.
Tuesday, 1/24... quick check-in. I'm in some sort of Limbo, picked up a bug a couple of days ago and been a little under the weather ever since. Nothing serious, just a sore throat and case of the 'blahs'. No workouts, my heel's unchanged, one stubborn spot that's sore to the touch. Cleaned up after today's Nor'easter's been my excitement lately...lol
az... slow and steady with the workouts, you're doing great! Waxing XC skis involves 2 waxes, the one for gliding and the one for kicking. Kicking involves planting all your weight on one ski, the wax under your foot sticks that ski in the snow and you push off onto the other ski. So, you have sticky wax under your boots and glide wax on the tips and tails. Your weight on one ski sinks the ski into the snow enough so the kick wax sticks, but your weight on both skis keeps the kick wax up out of the snow. Sounds complicated, but it's not. My problem the other day was the kick wax wasn't sticking, I was like a sail boat with no wind...lol
Dan... I was rooting for the Packers, the Falcons are something, aren't they? Home team for me is the Patriots, the team everybody loves to hate...lol Should be a good Super Bowl though, eh? You're still getting your workouts in, not easy on the TM, good for you. And thanks for the info on my heel, I'm resigned to being a couch potato 'til it comes around...
Ray... frustrating when computers and suppliers refuse to cooperate, isn't it? lol Enjoyed your race report, you did well in some pretty lousy conditions. The time spent barefoot on the treadmill was more of a shuffle than a run. I went barefoot so as not to have the pressure of a shoe inhibiting circulation. Good idea, lousy results...lol
Chantilly... not only are there 2 types of waxes for XC skis like I explained to az, there's also different waxes to use depending on the temperature and condition of the snow.. Pros check the temp of the snow with a thermometer and spend hundreds on their waxes, a hack like me looks at the outside thermometer and buys wax kits that cost just a few bucks total...lol Even worse is the guy who uses 'wax less' skis, they're just what the name implies...lol I wouldn't worry about asking the Nordic Walker about her equipment, the fact she's out there shows her zest for life, I bet she loves talking about her sport. Don't you enjoy sharing your love for running? 'Course you do!
Hi everyone!!
Ray: CONGRATS .....again.....on a well run race!! and AG placement!! You did awesome despite the feeling of "eh"..... I think with our competitive spirit, it keeps us in flow w/ other runners who see us as someone to overcome. It's fun. Glad you did so well. Boy, it's either too dry or too wet there! Hope all is ok w/ you and everyone.
NH: Hope you are feeling better. That particular 'bug' is a relentless one w/ many who catch it. Take it easy. The northereast'r did help much I'm sure. Boy, it looked like your area got blasted. Stay warm! How is DW?
Chantilly: How do you like the deep tissue massage? I love and miss my MT from N. AZ so I'm looking forward to having one when I'm there in the next 2 months. It's gonna be cold this weekend, right?
Dan: hope work isn't taking too much control over your runs.
Art: can't wait to be back in AZ. My trail RB is sooooo looking forward to her first dirt trail run in west Phx, in Mesquite Canyon. I've run it a few times and she shouldn't have any trouble w/ the 'altitude' which is only, at the highest, around 3500 ft. I'm just anticipating the warmer temps and dry road for driving, ha!!
Had my last PT session on Tuesday. I really liked this PT, very focused and perceptive to my needs and goal of running. He did such a remarkable job in all the sessions. Will certainly miss him. We did some ankle/knee/calf exercises for strengthening/balancing that I will continue to do. After my return, I will see the first ortho Doc for re-eval, might end up w/ a referral for continued PT .......that would be great. Then he did 4 dry-needling sites on my calf, followed by graston massage. I rested that day and the next day although I get in some foam rolling and band-resistance exercises. Today, went to gym. Started w/ 20 min elliptical, then 1/2 mile jog, walk 1/2 mile, then 2 mile jog w/ 1 min walk break after every 4 laps. Then drills on track for 1/2 mile, weights and kettleball exercises for 20 min. Injury area feels great!!
Runs in the rain
Hello everyone! If my name seems familiar I used to post to this forum back in 2013. Interesting that many of the names here are the same. I read through January's posts. It is difficult to comment on everyone since I have not kept up with all the posts, but I will say that Ray's account of his half marathon was interesting and congratulations on your 2nd in age group!
Right now I am trying to prepare for a Boston qualifying marathon, see my recent thread. Don't know if I will succeed, but will learn from trying. I did not run all last October after doing a half early September and just started to run consistently in mid December, I am currently focused on getting back my endurance. This week my goal is to run 40 miles total and after today's long run I am just 9 miles short. I consider my week to include Sunday so I have two days left to complete my goal.
Today's run was 11 miles. From mile 4 to mile 5 1/2 there was a 300 foot increase in elevation. Temp was 36 degrees, overcast and very windy! Fortunately the wind was at my back climbing that hill. I did not try to run it fast, just a 13:22 average pace. My legs and knees felt a bit sore after I finished. My planned long run for next week will be about a third of a mile longer and I think I will get to half marathon distance by next month. My marathon is not until October, so I have lots of time yet to work on improving my speed.
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?Get up, get out, get out of the door!
Welcome back Altair!! How wonderful on your goals, very do-able and it sounds you're quite determine, that's all it takes. WTG on the 11 miles!! And YOU WILL make it to Boston!! Run w/ heart!! Read your profile, WOW, how exciting to hear of your grandfather's finish in 1903!! That is very impressive to say the least!! WOW!! Hope you keep sharing w/ us your progress and the races you will be running this year plus all that life throws at you. We are a small group in numbers but big in drive and spirit. I live in northern MN, 56, prefer dirt trail running but have run some road races. Also live in northern AZ where I run most of the dirt trail mountain runs. Currently, I'm recovering from a weird lateral calf injury (tissue injury) that has my knee complaining as well. Took 2.5 months off, saw ortho doc and I'm slowly responding to PT and dry-needling treatments thus the short miles I'm posting. So far the longest distance I've run now is 3.2 miles, YAY!! I totally agree w/ the weather dictating if you run outside and the distance, same here but for now I'm running jogging on a short indoor track at the local university gym. I avoid the TM as much as I can.
Hey everyone!! Hope all is going well. Gotta head to the gym, will BBL for personals!! stay warm and safe!
Altair5 Hello! Sounds like a good goal and a sensible plan.
az2mntrail It was so good for you to have found that PT. I hope you can continue with some treatments, since they seem to be working. I really like my MT. I have been seeing her for many years, so I can understand why you miss the MT in AZ. I have tried other MT's, but she's the one! Have a good workout!
NH Runner I hope you are feeling better soon.
3 days off due to work and taking off wallpaper.
4 mile run and 30 min.walk.