Queen of 3rd Place
Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.
- Aristotle
Leslie - sorry to hear about your crummy run. Yup, those happen. Although I think I'd rather have a crummy run than do painting. I suppose one could argue that it's cross-training, especially the ceilings, UGH. And TOO FUNNY about the guy dancing! At least it was only the shirt that was removed.
Stumpy - nice that you can get to see DD so much. Gotta be worth all the travel and all the missed runs. Speaking of goals...*ahem*
What a rotten week! Decided that I was down in the dumps about running all week because I didn't have any good goals! So, next up is (1) win the Women's Senior division Valley Runner of the Year Series Trophy for 2013, and (2) qualify for the New York City Marathon. Both are realistic but not easy. And then, maybe...another American River 50....and consider 100K after that.
That oughta keep me out of trouble for awhile.
Ex runner
Oooh! What 100k are you looking at??? Keep your eye on the calendar for Inside Trail. They're going to do a couple of 50s. I'm also eyeballing the 50 miler at Headlands Hundred next year. Wanna come with me and suffer for beautiful views? With all the hiking you do, I think you'd do really well at such a race and would probably leave me in the dust.
The plan was to do some core/strength training this a.m., but I was still feeling beat, so I stayed in bed. Have been pooped all day, so I took tonight off from transcription and am heading to bed here soon. Too much of the "covers on-sweating/covers off-freezing" last night. Hopefully, tonight will be better. It's an "easy" week this week (which means no speed work), so we'll see if I can make a come-back.
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
I didn't sleep any better last night (actually, probably worse), but I did have one my best 6-mile runs in a long time. Came in under 1 hour for the first time in forever with an average pace of 9:38. Guess the two days off agreed with me. Hopefully, the good running continues through to the weekend.
Strong running, Leslie.
A 100K would be in the works for 2014, so there's time to think about it. I know there aren't very many out there, and I sure as heck don't know which ones are good for beginners. American River was just about perfect for a beginner's ultra. Heck, I might just do that one again.
8-some miles in the am and weights in the pm yesterday. My one-year-old Garmin died ...but then I thought I could go out for a certain amount of time and figure out the mileage later. Kind of refreshing.
jfa
100k's. Whew, you guys are brave.
8 x 800's last night . Went from 9:08 on the first and progressed down to 7:14 on the last.
Best running weather of the year now. 60* to wake up , 75* during the day ,perfect.
Got my start time for NYC. It's at 10:30 am , which means I'll be at the corral for oh, about 4 hours before the start. Yikes!
Seriously??? Dude, you need to switch to ultras. Get there 15 min before the start and all's good.
Re 100ks - If you want to run a really hard one, check out Waldo in Oregon. Kate said it's a killer. High elevation and LOTS of climbing.
First time I've been able to stick my nose in here today. Started at 8:30 and left work at 5:40 with no break in between. And yesterday my boss and I had a marathon appointment with a client, over 3 hours of emotional turmoil (her dad died, doesn't get along with her two sisters, et al.). Started at 3:30, and finally at 7:40 I told my boss I had to leave 'cause I had a class at 7:00. Talk about hustling! Got the bird all situated for the night, closed down my office, out to the car, hit McDonald's for a disgusting dinner, and slam into the classroom at church - all in about 15-20 min. Whew!
Needless to say, it's been a long two days, and I'm beat. But I do need to get some transcription done tonight, so no rest for the wicked . . . .
Literally. Two bad nights of sleep in a row. I'm going to kill Wilson. I don't know what's gotten into that cat lately, but his inner clock is totally screwed up. I'd lock in the garage, but he can yowl like no cat you've ever heard. It's really quite incredible. Plus, he'd probably destroy his side of the door trying to get back in. Between him and the increased night sweats - ugh!
But all the complaining aside - 4 sort of EZ miles this a.m. Just let my legs do what they wanted, but kept it at 10:00 or slower pace. Another beautiful crisp predawn run with thousands of stars and a little more than a sliver of bright moon. It's actually be cold enough the last two mornings for capris, clothes, and removable sleeves.
Okay - Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go . . .
I've been behind by a good half hour all morning. May or may not have anything to do with the fact that my alarm went off at 5:00 and I didn't get up 'til 5:40. Did my 7 miles anyway. Legs started feeling tired toward the end, but it was still a good run. Back to the carpy fog, though.
And since I was slow moving this a.m., called work at 8:30 (when I was suppose to be there) and said I was, of course, running late and was gonna go get a bagel before going to work. Nobody cared. That's why I like where I work. So long as you don't abuse anything, doesn't matter if your late. Go get your bagel, we'll see you when you get here. It's nice.
Leslie - wow, what is up with your cat?? Hope he settles down.
OK, so you found a HARD 100K. Now how about an easy one?
Joe - nice work on the repeats. A few more weeks to sharpen, taper and then...well, I'm excited for you. I know NYC isn't an easy course, and there are lots of crowds, but I'm thinking it's going to be a great day for you!
Leslie's right about the starting line procedure at ultras. Mark and his wife camped at the start line in their camper-van. I drove up and had coffee with them, a couple minutes before the start we just strolled over to the trail. And I think American River is one of the bigger ultras out there!
Compare to Boston: walk to the train station, take public transportation to Boston Commons, then it was an hour wait to get on a schoolbus, an hour bus ride to the start, an hour wait to be told to walk to the start, 15 - 20 min walk to the start, another half hour wait for the start, several minutes to make it to the start line...ugh. Maybe an exaggeration, but barely.
Easy 4+ yesterday, doing some 1200 meter repeats tonight at 8:15 pace. Should be pleasant, I kind of like those repeats between the 800 m and 1 mile range, not sure why.
MM #6177
Hey there, can I jump back in here? I keep trying to keep up here and on the daily thread, but there's always so much going on.... I end feeling like I sound so self-centered because I only talk about myself (at least in that topic I'm relatively up-to-date...)
I got my NYC assignment as well, also 10:30 start like Joe. I'm in green wave #3, corral #50. Did you opt for baggage check or the stylish orange poncho, Joe? I wasn't planning on checking anything to begin with, even before all this baggage check nonsense started, so I'm looking forward to my traffic-cone-chic cape...
Arla, what's the requirement to qualify for NYC for our AG? I got in via the lottery, which I hear is more of a long shot these days than with one's time.
So 7 weeks out from my marathon, and I'm having issues regarding my coach. (For those who read this on the daily thread, please feel free to ignore and skip to my closing statements.) I ran a 10 mile race on Sunday but kept it as a training run, and was successful at that endeavor. Solid 9:00 pace for all my splits, and I felt great. The pace felt easy and I felt proud of myself for being able to rein in the race-environment excitement and keep to my plan. Of course when I finally told my coach about it on Tuesday, he was not pleased. Ugh, I'm really getting fed up with all the criticism I get from him, EVEN when I do well (which he admitted I did, but had he known about the race he wouldn't have "allowed" me, as he said it). But I'm 7 weeks out from my marathon and feel it would be stupid to stop using his services now. Yet continuing with him is really affecting the quality of my (running) life, I have to say. So I'm asking all of you experienced folks here, would you switch to another coach at this point? Suffer through and continue? Or (gasp!), finish the final few weeks uncoached?? I know my schedule of long runs up until marathon day, but I still don't have enough confidence to go it alone for the rest of the training.
Thanks and have a great day!
who says life doesn't have a soundtrack?
OM- this is the first time I have used a coach, so I don't know what to say. It's actually an online coach ( Nobby) and I don't really "talk" to him, but I'm liking the plan he gave me. I would probably bare with it, and stick with your coach and chalk it up to experience. I'm in the orange wave. I took the no baggage plan too, but will have stuff on the bus ( local running club bus) and also stuff that loved ones will bring to the finish line.
Guess I should bring a good book to the start line. One that I don't mind throwing away,rather than carry it for 26.2.
12 x 400's last night. Only strides on the schedule for today and my body is very happy to hear that.
Happy Friday folks!
OM - NYC qualifying standards are here http://www.nycmarathon.org/entrantinfo/Guaranteed_Entry_Guidelines.htm To me, qualifying with the half marathon time is easier (actually it's slower than my current HM PR). And if I were you, I'd jettison the coach. Running is supposed to be fun, at least as fun as we can make it, anything that takes away from that needs to go.
Joe - using the running club bus sounds like the set up!
Easy 6 this morning after class, it was "only" 85
Have a great weekend everyone!
Is there such a thing??
Enjoy the strides, Joe.
OM - It's a tough decision, and one I had to make with my prior coach, but thankfully it was only because he'd taken me as far as he could. It sure was a relief, though, when the decision was made.
This morning, I spent an hour of cat napping, between 5:00 and 6:00, and telling myself to get up and workout. I finally got up and did the hour of core/strength training I had scheduled for myself.
Brought the boss' dog into the office where I was doing bookkeeping work this morning. Sweet, but still young. Left her to her own devices for maybe 10 min, and when I got back, she'd pulled some of my paperwork off the table and had been in the process of shredding it. Bad dog! She needs to be on dog-shaming. I looked at that web site for the first time yesterday and spent most of my lunch hour cracking up. It's a hoot!
Okay - It's still lunch time, but I have a ton to do before I leave today, so no rest for the wicked. Am working through my lunch hour.
No one visited yesterday? Not even me. Too busy.
Well, that a difference a week makes! I felt better at the end of today's 18 than I did at Mile 6 last Saturday. I felt good on the climbs - everything. I definitely could've kept going, so I'm not worried about Weaver Basin 50k in four weeks. Karen and I met up at about my Mile 7.20, her Mile 4 and we finished up together. Because she's slightly slower than me, running with her keeps me from burning myself out. But I tell you what, that girl can freaking climb. She's a frigging goat. She will kick my butt on a climb every single time . . . . unless I trip her or something.
Okay - Off to do transcription ~
flatland mountaineer
It has been quite a "run" here and my run mileage has suffered for it. We have been going hard the last 17 straight, Lynda and I mostly taking out some of the poorest yielding corn, have had a truck driver a few days. Last thurs and fri moved the last of my folks personal stuff to a building for an auction last Saturday, tough days. Sunday got in a 4 miler that I used as a field check, decided the one field of soybeans was ready. We got everything switched over and cleaned out to do beans, got to the field about 4 pm and ran off about 30 acres and the reel on my bean head came apart doing major damage for unknown reasons. Monday loaded the head on a trailer for a 200 mile road trip to swap out for a rental head to finish my bean harvest. Got rolling tuesday and finished the field just before 10 pm, beans were drought stressed and of poor quality and yield. Wednesday took off for the annual Husker Harvest Days show at 6 am, hot dirty windy day but got to talk to several manufacturers reps(400 miles). We were just headed to talk to the makers of my bean reel and they called the show for high winds and public safety. Probably just as well as I was going to give the reps there an earful, and best to let my dealer handle it. Thursday got switched back to corn and been pushing hard on the dryland corn. Friday loaded wheat for seed on one of the trucks to take to get cleaned 120 miles roundtrip while Lynda and a truck driver picked corn. The dryland corn is not great but at least something. Hard to believe there is anything to harvest as we have had less than 6 inches of rain year to date, kudos to modern farming techniques. Most of the dryland corn in the area didn't produce an ear but will make low quality forage. Snuck in a couple runs before the day started friday and Saturday mornings and hope to do 4 or so this morning and relax a bit then do repairs and maintenance this afternoon so we can roll tommorow.
No apprecable rain still, huge temp swings, 40's at night then 90 plus late day.
More later.
Cheers jc
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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
Jim - {{{Hugs}}} to you and Lynda. You guys sound ridiculously busy. Hang in there.
5 EZ miles after church, then worked on priming the spots Shorty's been sanding on the house. First he was saying he wasn't going to get too hot and heavy into the sanding. Now he's getting anal about it. Total soon we'll have enough primer on the house, we can just say we painted it white! I think it's weighing on him that he let things got as bad as they did, but he needs to consider where his head's been the last few years. Once we get to start painting, it should go fairly quickly. I can't wait.