Memorial Day - A day to remember those and their families who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. My heartfelt gratitude.
Slept in yesterday instead of doing the scheduled 10, but got some yard work done, our garage cleaned up (yea!), and I got 5 miles in this a.m. Lackluster legs, once again, even with a "rest day" yesterday. Not sure what the deal is, but am hoping things improve this week.
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
jfa
Thanks Leslie for kicking us off and for the reminder of how much others have given for us.
Back from NH and got absolutely zero runs in 3 days. Didn't want to miss any festivities and it's so very quiet up there, we ended up sleeping late every morning. Feeling well rested but not anxious to get back to work. Memorial Day marks the return of the summer people around here and extreme patience is required while traveling our roads now.
Looking forward to some race reports.
Have a great week all .
flatland mountaineer
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
Hey folks!
Yes, looking forward to the RRs.
The yardwork continues.
Queen of 3rd Place
Ev - STILL working on the yard? It really does sound like a re-do.
Leslie - I almost always feel better doing a really really REALLY easy run, or at least do some stretching or something, than taking a day completely off. Not sure why that is, but it seems to keep the legs awake.
Joe - sounds like you had a great time!
Jim - yes, definitely waiting on the RR.
Easy 9 today but with warmer temps I slowed a bit the last part of the run. Summer's comin'! Heading up to Yosemite to do some trail running with friends tomorrow!
Arla
Ex runner
I'll second that one. Rest days are hard on me.Three days off and on tonight's 16er , I really faded in the 4th quarter. I can blame some of it on the weather, 84* and humid as heck.T-storms threatened but rain was all I had to deal with.
Jim and Cindy-- looking forward to hearing about it.
Arla- have fun in the park! Still snow up in the mountains?!?
Ev- watch that your cross-training ,and get that honey-do list out of the way so you can relax this summer.
Arla - Have fun at Yosemite. Fun, fun, fun!
Jim - Nice to hear you all survived. Will be waiting patiently for race reports.
Ev - When you're done with your yard, wanna come help me figure out what to do with mine?
Due to continued lackluster legs, I did 30 min of stationary biking yesterday, followed by an hour of upper and core strength training only. No leg work. Today was suppose to be 10 miles with strides, and I managed about 8.25 in the same amount of time I was doing 10 during my training for AR50. It's getting frustrating, and right now I'm not looking forward to Saturday's 18 miles.
I've been cutting back a bit on my food intake to try and lose the extra 8 lbs that mysteriously found their way to me, but it's not so much that it should be affecting my stamina. At any rate, I'll just keep playing around with ideas and see what sticks, including may just some really easy runs as suggested by Arla and Joe.
Bolder Boulder 2010K
As always our lives revolve around the farm. We pushed hard to get the most needy fields sprayed before we left. Saturday we did good in the morning then the temps got too hot and the winds switched and we had sensitive crops downwind forcing us to park it about 3 pm. We got organized for Sunday morning to try and sneak in a field before we left. A heavy dew gave us an 8 am start instead of a 6 am one but we breezed through the field and finished. I headed for the nurse truck and when I pulled back on the Hydro propulsion lever we came to a lurching stop. I tried to relaunch and it would just creep. Now pushing 10:30 we limped it over to the truck and I gave it a quick lookover, but this isn't good. I am thinking $2500-$5000 in repairs and probably down a week before the mobile tech could get here so have to spend another $2500 in custom application.
I shoved it to the back of my mind and we headed for Boulder. We stopped at Boulder Running Company and scored some swag. Lynda searched for answers on her injury. The shoe guy thought it was mearly tendonitis and her shoes were indeed too small. Although never causing a problem before the ramp up for the Vegas 1/2 probably brought it on. I have been taping as suggested by Arla and that has seemed to help. Anyway we ran into the Mtn Peeps and went to dinner then off to bed.
Boulder is known for crisp cool mornings but today was going to be on the warm side. Doug was in the wave right behind me and Lynda and Cindy were going to run together. As usual just like clockwork we advanced to the start line. Call to the post on the trumpet was played with 30 seconds to go and we launched to the second of our proposed start time. I just wanted to keep it under 10 mm for the first mile on the downhill, Garmin said 8:58 but was running easy down hill so ok with that and pretty close to the same for mi 2. Mile 3 brings the big climb, ran into Doug there and he asked how it was going. I was starting to suck I said but doing ok.I ran with Doug for a bit but couldn't hold pace and turned in a slooow 9:35. Mile four turns downhill and I pushed it getting back to sub nine, then an 8:38 mile 5 my fastest and just a touch slower on mile 6 but it turns uphill again. I timed my sprint to the finish a little too early and nearly made a deposit on Folsom Field but hit the finish line and recovered very quickly. Doug and I kept walking around the expo until the gals came in. Time 56:10 about 2 min slower than last yr, and 6 minutes slower than my flatland pr. My BB pr was last year.
Fashion report, part of my downfall?
Living on the hot plains I wear light colors sometimes even long sleeves on hot days. Being my most significant race I chose my Vega tech shirt - BLACK and black shorts, Black Nike run cap and Mizuno Elxars and a spibelt for essentials. Not the coolest colors but comfortable and no real gear issues. My phone died on the way into town so Lynda gave me hers as she was running with Cindy. I laughed thinking I better not stroke out as the emergency number on my bib was Lynda's phone.
The heat really got at Lynda, she doesn't sweat much , just turns red and passes out so Cindy kept cooling her down with water at the water/gatorade stops.
I was a little disappointed in my time, don't really have a good answer. Temps might have had a factor and some inconsistancies training during our busiest seasonl. Oh well, a good run and a respectable time for the course.
We hung out with the mtn peeps the rest of day with lots of laughs, a few adut beverages and we got to meet the Mtn canines and kitty.
Lynda had a checkup in Denver tues morn then we beelined home changed clothes and went to work. The good news, my problem on my sprayer was minor and for $18.67 I was up and spraying yesterday.
Will try and get some pics up, the Flatiron Mtns overlooking town were simply gorgeous.
Trails are hard!
Need a fast half for late fall. Then I need to actually train for it.
I timed my sprint to the finish a little too early and nearly made a deposit on Folsom Field
Great report, Jim. Personally, I think you posted a great time. I could only dream of running a sub 9:00 over extended mileage.
Unscheduled rest day for me. I got up at 4:30 and fed the cats, then decided that since my legs have been so unhappy lately, I would only do upper body and core work this morning, no biking. So, go back to bed for a short time since I didn't have to be at work 'til 9:00. Well . . . . I finally woke up around 7:15. I keep telling myself I'll do my workout tonight after my association's bbq, but we'll see. I need to pull out of this funk and soon, or my run at SOB will be SU-KEE.
Later, folks ~
Jim - great RR! Complete with fashion report! I would bet that the warm temps + all the hard work you've had lately easily conspired to slow you down, but not all that much. Sounds like a fun day overall.
Leslie - maybe you should get a checkup? One thing I've noticed around here is that the very experienced runners will suggest checking iron levels if you're feeling down, and apparently not any ol' iron, you have to also check for ferritin. Could be by cutting calories you're also missing some nutrients. That being said, I had a period of dead legs last March, but the enforced layoff due to being sick ended that - maybe you just really do need a few days off, and not just one rest day here or there. Frustrating, I know.
Joe - humid as heck scares me! Any hints would be welcome, I have absolutely zero idea what to do when I hit that humidity in Hawaii, and less than zero idea about how to prepare for it...other than to plan on having a really slow marathon!
Kevin - I was thinking about you as I've been taking some yoga classes with a lady I know. All the money she collects goes to charity. Anyway I had forgotten how hard it is!
Had a great trail run yesterday with a small pack of great gals - 1300' of downhill the first 4 miles, then just a little shy of 4 more on rolling terrain. The waterfalls are really starting to gush, and there's still A LOT of snow up there! In fact, Tioga Pass through Yosemite is still closed, with no planned opening date in sight - seems the road crews can't get the snow to come down from known avalanche areas!
Tomorrow it's off to San Diego for the Rock n Roll marathon, of which I plan to walk the first 4.2 then run the rest as a final long run for Kona. Then on Tuesday I'm having periodontal surgery at the base of three teeth, I may or may not be posting, I guess depending on whether or not I need to take the vicodin that the surgeon is giving me. Hopefully I'll be back up and running in a day or two! Can a person take opioids and still run?
Have a great weekend all!
Arla when I was having all that oral surgery my doc said I could take 2-3 ibu + 1 tylenol for the same effect as a narcotic without the fuzzies that would prevent my tractor driving. So maybe ok for shorter runs, but have to watch it on longer runs/races where the kidney issues could come up with the ibu? Not a dr, but that combo did work well for pain relief, just have to careful with the ibu.
BTW I forgot to give kudos to the incredible organization from the folks at BB, they had over 50,000 finishers. I never really felt crowded. Awesome job!
Kevin - I was thinking about you as I've been taking some yoga classes with a lady I know. All the money she collects goes to charity. Anyway I had forgotten how hard it is! ...Then on Tuesday I'm having periodontal surgery at the base of three teeth, I may or may not be posting, I guess depending on whether or not I need to take the vicodin that the surgeon is giving me. Hopefully I'll be back up and running in a day or two! Can a person take opioids and still run? Have a great weekend all! Arla
...Then on Tuesday I'm having periodontal surgery at the base of three teeth, I may or may not be posting, I guess depending on whether or not I need to take the vicodin that the surgeon is giving me. Hopefully I'll be back up and running in a day or two! Can a person take opioids and still run?
I think you should post a lot. it might be amusing
I've now missed several weeks of yoga with holiday, travel and such. next one is going to be hard again
. . . on Tuesday I'm having periodontal surgery at the base of three teeth, I may or may not be posting, I guess depending on whether or not I need to take the vicodin that the surgeon is giving me. Hopefully I'll be back up and running in a day or two! Can a person take opioids and still run?
Heck yeah, a person can run on opiates!! You can run as hard as you want with absolutely no pain!
And I agree with Jim - drug-induced posts could be quite entertaining.
Well, I stuck to my guns and did my workout after work. Since the rain had tapered off, I decided to get in 4 miles instead of doing the ole stationary bike thing. I kept it fairly easy, and for the first time in over a week, I actually felt some sproink in my legs. I ran all the demons out of my brain, including the harping on myself about how I'm such a mediocre hill runner. I had decided before I started the run that regardless of how I was feeling, I was going to tackle "The Hill" at the end. It's been my nemesis for a long time. It's right at my house, and I've been avoiding it like the plague for the last 6+ months. It's about .20 in length, and is in two sections with a short, "less steep" section in the middle.
As soon as I rounded the corner and had it in my sights, I decided that no matter what, I was not going to walk at any point, regardless of how slow the running got - and I didn't. I made it all the way to the top and couldn't help myself and had to do a little fist pump at my side at the end. Did 4.20 miles in 9:48, including the climb. I needed that morale booster really bad. Let's hope it stays with me for Saturday's trail run.
Afterward, about 30+ min of upper body and core strength training.