Le professeur de trail
Hey it's already Wednesday. I ran slightly under 5 last night. Stayed real close to home doing loops as there was a tornado watch. Never materialized into anything. Humidity has crept back. Looks like a humid week coming up. Not cool! Probably a rest day today.
QOTD: pass
Have a great day!
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
SRD. I like taking this mid week rest day better than Monday and Friday. One rest day is enough for now since my mileage is only 20 to 25 miles per week. But, I'm starting to get the itch again after Sue's and Sandy's RR's.
QOTD: Favorite type of course and why?
I think it would be a tie between a point to point (including one big loop) or a true out and back. I like these because it is easy for me to go to a place in my mind that has a purpose. I am going from one place to another, or I am going to a spot and then coming back. Those things make sense to me; loops seems like a pointless endeavor in my mind. I have certainly run loops, and when they have 20 miles or more per loop, they are manageable.
LB2
My SRD (scheduled recovery days) continue. I'm taking the whole week off, except I might take a little bike ride at some point. Swelling in the shin is going down, but it's still pretty sore, but improving.
Dr. J: after the weekend in Utah when I got back to Houston the humidity hit me like a ton of bricks... a little welcome home. Glad to hear the tornado watch was a bust.
LB2: Yeah, we're putting a little subtle push on you via our RRs.
qotd: Similar to what LB2 said, I like point-to-points, but I'll add big one-loops as well, it feels like you have to get somewhere and accomplish something. Plus you get to see more stuff and different terrain and fauna. One large out-n-back courses are also ok. I have done plenty of loop courses and they are easier logistically, but not my preference from a running standpoint.
2/17/24 - Forgotten Florida 100 Mile, Christmas, FL
QOTD: I think I have only run one point to point longer race before. We had to get shuttled to the start line. I did enjoy the idea of getting back to the car from so far away (32 miles). Large loops are cool (i.e. Oil Creek). But I think my favorite is a one loop course. BC 50k is one giant loop so has the same feel of trying to get back to my car but no need to be shuttled anywhere. I also like Stone Mill 50 which is a lollipop course so same principle as the large loop. But maybe I need to try more point to point races.
Tim
Not sure if I'll have time to get a run in over lunch today, but if not, I'll just say I'm tapering and call it an SRD.
Talked another friend into running Blues Cruise, so looks like a party going on at Blue Mash Lake on Sunday if anyone wants to join in. GC can't come since he'll be running Steamtown with thousands of his closest friends. Good luck. GC.
QOTD: 1st choice is point to point, then long loop. For timed events, I like the barbell shaped courses where you overlap a section in the middle. That way you can see a lot of different people and it helps with encouraging others.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
I lost my rama
Movie night for me, so no run. Going to see Free Solo with DW this evening and then we're going to a favorite restaurant in the West Village where we grill our meat. Yummo!
Dr J - I hear ya with the humidity. Summer can go bye-bye now.
QOTD: I really don't have a favorite. I guess they all have their own unique challenges, and I like trying to come up with a race strategy to deal with them. Execution, on the other hand, is a different matter.
3/17 - NYC Half
4/28 - Big Sur Marathon DNS
6/29 - Forbidden Forest 30 Hour
8/29 - A Race for the Ages - will be given 47 hours
It is working. I am already looking around. Even though I vowed to never train through the summer for a fall race again, I am looking at Arkansas Traveller for next year, but I hate that there is so little single track. Also, Cottonmouth is coming back next year from what I am told. It is 102.5 miles, or about 110, if you take the same route I took in 2015. It is sort of an out and back with another out and back through the lowest level of Hell thrown in for good measure. Idk.
running under the BigSky
maybe a slight improvement in condition; hoping I recover more throughout the day (it usually goes the other way ) as it’s Tiny Elvis’s birthday (he’s two) and I’d like to get him out. With both DW and I sick his exercise has been limited to chasing the ball in the backyard
qotd: one big loop is my preference, every step is in a different location, point to point is as well, but adds a layer of logistics when your talking 30+ miles
2023 goal 2023 miles √
2022 goal- 2022 miles √
2021 goal- 2021 miles √
Trails
I did 5 miles last night. This year I've been stuck on the TM so I'm going to keep up it and see at the end of the year how my events went. Then next year I'll do a bunch on my hilly gravel road. I'm also now seeing how to get to a 150 mile month...lol...lots to keep me entertained.
QOTD: I've only done one point to point and liked it. I do like the big 29 mile loop at the Pumpkin Holler but I've only done the 50k there so don't know what the 100k would be like. I don't care much for out and backs, especially doing it more than once. Since I'm so used to training and being alone constantly saying "good job" or "way to go" gets annoying.
QOTD2: How do you feel about repeating races? I'm still new at this and so far have not done any events more than once. My Oct PH 50k will be the first one I'm repeating. I hope to get a better time since last year I had hit a deer and tweaked my back and didn't know until about 3 miles to the finish (12 hours and it's not a hard course). I'm doing Prairie Spirit 50k again in March since I DNF'd there this year due again to my wonky back. I'm playing with the idea of doing the 50 miler there but that depends on how the first one in Dec goes.
Free Solo might come to our independent theater in a few weeks. Hope so.
Takashi's? Think that's the name of the place we went to in West Village. If so, we loved that place. Enjoy.
QOTD2: I'm usually a one and done person if it's a big race, but I've repeated a few, like this weekend's Blues Cruise 50k. If the people and course are really nice, I'll repeat it. We mostly like to mix travel and racing, so that's why the one and done.
Free Solo might come to our independent theater in a few weeks. Hope so. Takashi's? Think that's the name of the place we went to in West Village. If so, we loved that place. Enjoy.
Holy shit, small world! Yes, it's Takashi. We used to live a block and a half away when they first opened and were one of their first customers. We got to know Takashi and the front manager Reese pretty well. On nights when there'd be a 3 hour wait, DW would call Reese ahead of time and he'd have a table waiting for us (DW is the social butterfly, not me).
It will be a pretty sad night though, because it will be our first time going back there since Anthony Bourdain died. After he filmed a show there, he said Takashi was now his favorite restaurant in NYC. That's a freakin' huge statement from someone like him. Also, Takashi himself passed away a couple years ago, and he was pretty young too.
Hopefully Free Solo will come your way. Jimmy Chin and his wife Elizabeth are amazing cinematographers.
QOTD2: I'll repeat races I like. If I can get into the NYC Marathon every year, I'd run it. But I like to seek out new races too. What's nice about repeating races is that you can make adjustments from lessons learned and hopefully do better.
Holy shit, small world! Yes, it's Takashi. We used to live a block and a half away when they first opened and were one of their first customers. We got to know Takashi and the front manager Reese pretty well. On nights when there'd be a 3 hour wait, DW would call Reese ahead of time and he'd have a table waiting for us (DW is the social butterfly, not me). It will be a pretty sad night though, because it will be our first time going back there since Anthony Bourdain died. After he filmed a show there, he said Takashi was now his favorite restaurant in NYC. That's a freakin' huge statement from someone like him. Also, Takashi himself passed away a couple years ago, and he was pretty young too.
Before online classes became the way to go, I used to do a lot of my Continuing Ed classes in NYC. When kids were young, we always took them along and while I was in class they toured around and then we'd meet for dinner and a show. When I went to Takaski's, I was with a friend who lived in NYC and he suggested it. No idea what I had since he ordered for me, but remember it was really good.
Sue
I ran with the group this morning, 3 of us and one wanted to turn around at 2.5 instead of the usual 3 so what they hell we turned and got almost 5 in. After the run I got in the jeep (top is up now) and smelled some funk!! never noticed it before until the QOTD yesterday! Thanks LB
QOTD: I like loops or point to points. I like seeing new stuff. Of course when I turn on an out and back I always feel like I am done and I only need to get myself back. I like that feeling. Now that I am a 100 miler runner I would say and out and back is great for that distance since you don't see anything the second half but you kinda know where you are at cause you just ran this section.
QOTD2: At first I was a repeater, but with prices so high I am now choosing races I have never done. We have a group running Antelope Canyon AZ this year and we are probably going to run Wy'East Wonder OR. I like these group trips.
05/13/23 Traverse City Trail Festival 25K
08/19/23 Marquette 50 dns 🙄
Ran a couple of miles last night through the neighborhood to keep the streak going. Then some yoga, which was needed, but now I have a tweak in my lower back. Trying to work it out before I meet a friend later for a slog (slow jog-- she's injured).
qotd: Long loops, since I'm not running ultras. start and end at the car is good for me. Point to point is ok, but there are added logistics. I like to keep it simple.
QOTD2: I have repeated Pinhoti 3 times (1 finish and 2 DNF's). Last year was the last time I will go there. It just lost its luster for me. The first time I DNF'd, the second time I finished it, and going back was a mistake. I just didn't really care once I got there. I doubt I ever do another one more than once.