It's hard to run 14 miles in town! And the pavement is hard too!

RUN 14.3 miles in 2:20, easy aerobic run from home

I had trouble starting this run, and it was all mental and motivation. I wanted to run, no doubt I was going to run. The trouble was in deciding where to go! I could go anywhere I wanted to go with no time constraint. So my mind tumbles over this all morning. I don't really wanna run FoPa again, two loops there, or even doing the Wyd out-n-back I thought about...eh...not interested. Running from home was another option, but where to go? I even mapped out a run to Home Depot to get the faucet part...eh...looks boring. And besides, it wasn't 14 miles there and back again!

The plan only called for a 10-miler, but I got it in my head that if tomorrow's weather got bad as predicted I might not get tomorrow's goal of 20 miles. Also, we were running Chubb which is only 15 out n back, so those were my 2 excuses for running extra today.

So I walk the dog, drag my feet, think about it...finally decide to run random from the house. Didn't leave until almost 9am.

I head north then east to LPark area, wander around there and around the park. All the while trying to map 14 miles in my head. 2x7 mile loops? 4x3+ loops? Sometimes I think running the 1 mile around the CHP even seems inviting. It just sounds so ... short. But FOURTEEN (14) times?!? WTF am I thinking? I'm not, and that's the problem.

Anyway, I'm 3-4 miles in when I decide to exit LP and head to Soulard/Benton. On the way I take Laf across the super busy 44/55/Truman on/off ramp area. I knew better, even thought to myself 'I should run the less confusing north side'. But no. I stick to the south side. I just looked at Google maps and saw FIVE (5) crossings: a driveway/44 on combo, 44 off, 55 on, another 55 on, 55 off. It's like being Frogger crossing median to median, looking left-right repeatedly to track all the incoming oncoming stopped moving traffic as well as the curbs. Sounds complicated, right?

Well it is, but apparently smooth, new pavement is even more so. As I was watching a semi coming onto 44 to my left and a pickup coming off 44 to my right, I stepped off the first curb and WHAM down on the ground. I landed and rolled through the right side, hitting hard my elbow, hip, and knee. Less hard my right wrist and left and holding the handheld bottle. Right in the middle of the intersection, so that left the cars waiting for me! I stand up, look for what I could blame this on -- nothing!!-- turn to the waiting semi and give the "I'm OK" hand signal, and run off as if nothing had happened. I at least tried to make it look that way.

But in reality, OUCH! Finally my mind wakes up and gets involved in the actual business of running, and not just calculating the run. I continue to Soulard, meander past the brewery, get to Cherokee, hit 7 miles, then take Cherokee west thinking I'd hit Grand eventually. I'm feeling good, I hurt, but energy and all doing good. As I'm approaching Grand, I realize I don't know where Grand meets Cherokee. Until I hit that super annoying intersection near the Schnucks, and I realize Oh yeah, Grand and Cherokee DON'T intersect! Schnucks becomes my refill/empty/fuel stop, where I hear a woman in the next toilet stall apparently pulling off the entire roll of toilet paper (?), and see another women pawing though garbage cans (?), and more weird people than I can count. Maybe I'm the one who looks weird? I'm the one wearing fluorescent clothing and tights! I checked my injuries, some skin loss on the elbow, a little bit on the knee, hip looks OK. I can thank the two shirts I wore for the protection!

I head out, doing the math...just over 7 miles in....just hit 8...OK head to TGP and out n back. I had a gel in Schnucks and now I'm feeling a little more perky. Around the park, up the MoBot trail, avoided my commute route and went to McRee....and finally used a short loop to Nebraska to round it out. I stopped at an even time, 2:20.

I felt great, I kept it easy, didn't push or hold back. Walked a few times but not much.

And speaking of walking, Shoogs and I did 5.7 miles total today! 2.5 before the run (expected to be tired or have bad weather in the afternoon) and 3.2 miles with RM and D in TGP later in the day. Whew!

Entranced by a video

Pet'ri'chor: A smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a period of warm, dry weather.

45F?! OK, I'll run today!

RUN 5.6 miles in 53 mins
COMMUTE 6.4 miles

Last night I wasn't sure if I would run this morning or not. Fatigue had me thinking of a 3-beat weekend with a short Friday run. But when I kicked the dog out at 4am (her alarm went off early) and I felt how warm it was, I decided to run today. Especially once I saw that tomorrow would be colder.

But I didn't count on the wind. WOOOO wind out of the west really kicked things up. I ran with BS and Jeff (funny, Bill and Jeff, but not that Bill and Jeff!) who were looking for shorter runs. J has a Sunday half in Cali so 4 miles, BS had a 5.5 mile goal. We did the zoo loop with J, then an out n back to hit B's goal. Aside from the wind whipping us around, this felt surprisingly good.

I Blerched at home and didn't leave until almost 10am!!!!! By the time I stretched, showered, ate, walked dog...ate more...I was really behind schedule. I need to be more mindful of that, it only sets me up for loooooong days at work and coming home in the dark. And to be honest, I was dreading a bit the headwind I was about to face riding to work. PanZ!

But I felt better today once it got rolling. But I really need sleep. And my GI is upset, both this morning and this afternoon. Not sure why, prolly the off day yesterday.

3+6+3+1.5+3+3+1.5= TIRED!

RUN 12.3 miles, cumulative time 1:54
COMMUTE 6.4 miles

Whew what a day. I had a 13 hour assay with 3hr timepoints. The original plan was to run to work at 6am, work, run home, walk dog, run back, work, then run home again to get in 4x3miles. A four-a-day! But that didn't sound like a great idea, especially for that afternoon run. So I changed it to run to work at 6am, work, run FoPa during the incubation, run home, walk dog, bike back. That way I get a bonus ride and save time, and I won't be sitting at lab in that first step, and I'll be saving time because running takes 30 mins while biking only 20-ish.

Up at 4:30, left house with a light brekkie at 6. Mummsie was tracking me, oddly this kept me on schedule more. The run to work felt great, no Camelbak, but my back was still uncomfy. Got my stuff done (all 15 mins of it!) then headed to Forest Park for a 6 mile out n back.

I saw a bald eagle getting brekkie in Jeff Lake, swooping and shopping for the most juicy sweet. I saw DD from my old lab biking by. I saw a gorgeous sunrise over the hospital. The early bird definitely got the best fish today!

A few more mins of work, then a run home fueled by sport beans. Can you believe I forgot to bring a water bottle? Once home I stretched and rolled, showered, walked dog, then ate. I was 30 mins behind my schedule and didn't get back until almost noon. 3hr time points vs 3.5 hr....what's the diff?! Eeek!

By the afternoon, I was crashing. Tired. Not hungry, hydrated, but tired! Once my last 530 timepoint was done (to be honest it was 5:15, 9 hr time point vs 8.75 hr...what's the diff?! I rode home, dead tired but doing OK.

On my run home I thought about how this was good ultra training. Lots of low aerobic activity. Start-Stops like from aid stations.

I kept crashing all the more once home, but the need to go back one more time kept me going. Poor Shoogs, just didn't have a lot of time for her. Although she did get 2x1.5 miles WALKIES! And extra PB cookies :)

Doubting if I'll do the Thursday run, it will be a wake and see call.

Like a cool spring day, so I ran an extra mile :)

RUN 5 miles in 46 mins, about a 9:10 pace
COMMUTE 6.4 miles, legs kinda dead

I got another late start this morning, didn't get out the door to run until 6:45! Yes, that's late. The thermometer said high 30's, but without wind it seemed warmer than that. So I went out the door in two tech shirts and no coat, was just find. By the time the sun came up, it was like a cold spring day, and I couldn't resist an extra mile.

Kept Blerching my way through the morning, did my stretching before a shower, ate brekkie, then did WALKIES. Grabbed an extra mile there too. Poor dog.

All that felt great, but I was a bit dead in the legs for the ride into work, and was dragging most of the morning there too. Awake, good mood, just a bit sludgy. Another word might be feeling 'heavy'. And I've got a long run planned for tomorrow, another multi-commute multi-run day. I'd better plan that carefully.

My back is now competing with my arm muscles for attention. That swim yesterday stirred things up!

Tested the new Caribbean blue Adrenaline 14's with orthotics and lock laces. Big improvement in those shoes to have the lock laces in. Test went well. That was on my to-do list for so long!

Well it's about time I saw a pool again

SWIM just under an hour, 2050y
COMMUTE 6.4 miles

I didn't realize that I haven't been to the pool since Dec 19th! Had to scroll back through TrainingPeaks to find that. Wow!

I almost didn't go. Of course it's so easy at 430am to think "oh what's another week" and "don't wanna face friends with bad news", but it's also so easy to feel guilty about it hours later and regret not going! So I went. Also, TH said she'd 'see me if I go'. Little peer pressure, little guilt, what do ya get? A swim!

And on top of that TH wasn't there! Same sickness that kept her out of yesterday's run kept her home today. However, TG is now swimming with us, haven't seen here in a long time.

The MS were 4x25, 4x50, 4x100, 4x50, 4x25 sprints with a 200 pull in between each. I did mostly pulling towards the middle of the session because my back wasn't happy. The pull buoy didn't make it any happier though! I could feel a tight 'ping' under my right shoulder blade. But otherwise the swim felt good. Didn't time anything, didn't want the pressure after having not swam for so long. Even though I didn't realize just how long!

I bought new goggles...oh... a few weeks ago now? Finally tested them. SOOOOOO much better than the previous, but a bit too tight.

Good to see the group, even if I barely had time to chat and didn't go into my life sob story at all. SM and NK know, they were my support group today.

Learning to dance in the rain

RUN 9 miles in 1:19, 8:47 pace!



This is the quote from this evening's tea tag. Even my tea is telling me to buck up and get moving on life.

The run was pretty amazing, I usually consider this last run of the week, if after a long trail run, to be my "most breakable run" in which I would be most prone to injury. Wasn't expecting it to be one of my best runs of the week! DT and IT joined me for a light rain loop of FoPa. That's why the pace was faster -- I was trying to keep up! Talked to DT, been wanting to all week once I learned he'd be there today.

So 54 miles this week, no injury! My blisters are healing up, my back is what it is. I'm foam rolling and heating and resting it.

Phase 2 today, not perfect but I'm aware of the changes and am able to stop the process sometimes. It's good to recognize and admit, but not get stuck doing just that! Another thing I realized today is I am still in the habit reading into his words and wondering what they mean. Today's visit was positive, not what I feared it would be. My fear was coming from a over-reading and a feeling of no control. Can't avoid that feeling sometimes, but again, I can recognize it.

It rained most of the day, more of a misty rain really. Great start to the next phase. So like the quote above says, I can't wait for things to come to me, or wait for the worst to be over. I need to dance in the moment and make changes in the now. I know what is going on, I know what changes I want to make. Quit looking for the clear skies after the clouds, get out there NOW.

NUMERICS 9 hours, doesn't include bike commute or walks or stretching!
Swim -- nope
Bike -- nope
Run -- 54 miles in 9 hours

Bike Commute -- 12.8 miles
WALKIES -- 24 miles!!
and all 7 days had at least 15 mins of mindful stretching, rolling, or strength

Morning started bad, but day turned around for a 20 miler!

RUN 20 miles in 3:54-ish

Actually things started down hill yesterday afternoon. Just got down, tired, hard on myself. My PCR data was going good, but I spent too much time sitting alone at my desk. My mind jumps on a track and gets stuck there. Yesterday started when I got super hungry around 2pm, I went to get mustard and mayo for my canned tuna. Ate too much, and left myself sick feeling. That always gets me started on a bad track. Went downhill from there. TV emailed to say he was feeling sick and might not run, I told him to HTFU! (heal the F up!).

Woke up to a dream about whether or not I'll have cable in the future. Not a good dream. And I think I'll be saving money with no cable. When I see myself in the mirror, my eyes are watery, swollen, and unfocused.

Breakfast didn't set well either. My potato pancakes came out gross and soggy. Walking the dog in the dark, I started to get snappy with her. I called Mom. It helped distract me, but it wasn't enough to dig me out yet. I left to get TV, we was feeling OK to run. Thankfully.

On the drive over to L&C, I played my 2014 CD. The songs came out all wrong, even Roar came out bad! So I went to Shake It Off, and played it over and over. Shake This Off!!

TV and I set off, and immediately I was getting better. My head sometimes. Like Jeff pointed out on Thursday. It can be a powerful thing.

Got gas in Weldon Springs, the pump spilled fuel down the side, dammit. But I'm feeling better as it goes. We meet my neighbors AR and BR in the parking lot, discuss, and set off.

The trail was a frozen muddy mess. All the footprints were frozen, leaving hard peaks that stabbed the bottoms of our feet, threatened our ankles, and was hell on the left foot layers-of-blisters from the past 3 weeks of running. But we're moving along, getting to know each other, and I'm feeling better by the minute. Everything but my back, the right side at the bottom of the ribs again.

The first 8 miles of Lewis went great. I was fueling and drinking on schedule, a major improvement over last week. And I pee'd at the end of the 8, another major improvement! I was better hydrated.

Next I needed to get off the mud for the sake of my foot, so TV suggested Hamburg. AR and BR were up for the out-n-back. They are fun to run with! They turned around when we connected near the Katy, TV and I went into LV and he took us on the short loop. I'm still feeling great, at this point we're at 12 miles. I'm not as awake as earlier but the easier terrain was a huge help all around.

Unlike last week, and unlike this morning, I'm laughing, happy, singing, joking.

We visited the Interpretive Center for the first time at the Mound! A wonderful older couple showed us around, the maps, the Center, and some history. We still had 3 miles to go, the stop felt good but my back was really complaining. When we set back out, we went north to connect to some new trails! They are flat, paved, and maybe a bit boring but they are new and might lead to new connections. Saw PaulS on his bike in this section!

By my Garmin, I hit 20 as we entered the parking lot. TV was only at 19.5 so he went for a fast out-n-back. Based on AR and BR's Garmin, mine is the one that's wrong!? We sat on the endgate awhile, I brought a clementine for each of us, I played Timber for TV (and danced to it!). The day was beautiful, warm in the low 50's, sunny, light winds. Is it really January?!

Got home later hungry and thirsty and tired. My nutrition was pretty random the rest of the day.  And my back, still in bad shape.

My "phase 1" ends today. This past week of nutrition was all random and messed up. Once I'm on a bad track...  Something I need to work on is my preWO foods, and maybe even the postWO. I need to plan better! Think on that! And don't mess up tomorrow morning, the first thing you do!!!

Phase 2 tomorrow starts off tough maybe, but I can do this.

Best run of the week so far

RUN 7 miles in 1:03
COMMUTE 6.4 miles

I'm generally looking for excuses to go slow by the time I get to the Thursday run, after a Tues-Weds sequence I think I have a good excuse!

But to my surprise, this was my best run so far this week. Best energy, legs, form, and motivation. Probably because I was running with a group.

Ran with IT and Jeff, Jeff said something about how our minds can set up barriers for protection, a defense mechanism against truths we're not ready for yet. Wow, that really describes my past 18 months.

My back was still bothersome, not bad. Gotta wonder if it's tied to the stress of seeing him this morning? Dunno.

How 8 becomes 14

RUN 5.5 miles in about 52 mins, commute in
RUN 5.5 miles again about 52 mins, lunch
RUN 3 miles in about 30 mins, commute home!

Holy crap. What was I doing today? The plan was for 8, but I knew I wanted more.

My morning started off...off.  I woke up at 5:15 but didn't leave the house until 8:30. Another unsatisfied day and brekkie. Ate too much, thought I should wait, then I think I ate more!? By the time I left, I was more concerned with getting to work, so decided to get their first. Then run during my PCR. My commute in felt great, but the garmin died with a low battery at 3.5 miles. That's why my times are a guess, I used MMR but didn't save the workouts. Didn't want them confused with the walkies.

I didn't run right away once at work, took awhile to get organized. And my post run meal/brekkie was very filling, thought I should wait for it to digest. Sound familiar? So around 1 or so I took off, another pretty day but a strong wind from the west. Know what that means?! Tailwind on the way home!! This run felt good, I took a few 30s walk breaks to keep it from getting too much. Only downer too was that I had to wind around campus to hit the number goal due to some bad math.

Ah the run home. This felt the best of the day, where most of my energy was!. Thought I was really rocking it until I got to the downstairs at the reservoir, my quads were shaking!

Dog did not get a long walk this evening :)  Too late, too tired.

And I'll note that in today's run, my back started up again, this time on the right side at the bottom of the ribs. Not bad, not the same spot as last week.

Did not feel good, but enjoyed seeing Jupiter

RUN 4 miles, about 38 mins

I left the house while it was still dark. Gorgeous morning with a bright Jupiter in the Western Sky.

I was feeling OK, but distracted I guess. Had a meeting schedule in the morning and had to keep my day open to return the rental truck.

Then the rest of the day I was unsatisfied between meals, just not happy. Likely the stress.

Rest Day! Holiday!

No training, but 4.3 miles of WALKIES!

Did a half day at work, legs felt great after the long weekend run and 50 miles last week. Given all this, I'm certain that it was nutrition and hydration that I failed on yesterday, and that's what led to my walking finish.

Greenrock, NOT at John Cash pace

RUN 15.7 miles in 3:45 on trail
SUGAR RUN 2 miles in 28-ish mins

My goal was 50 miles for the week. I had a second goal of hitting 20 miles of walkies with the dog. So that's how I have this tacked-on run, I needed 17.7 miles to hit 50. Problem is, and I debated this awhile, I can't really log this twice! It can't be both a run and a WALKIES, so it's logged under the primary goal of 50 miles running.

I also want to point out that my back did AWESOME today! Like nothing was wrong, maybe only 1-5% discomfort. TV joked it was all the dead weight I was carrying (Stress, etc). Not a joke, really.

TV and I hit the Greenrock on what turned out to be a wonderfully gorgeous day. Sunny, some winds, and FIFTY DEGREES! It's been a trend this week, warm and sunny. A spoiling trend, really, since it's only mid-January and we still have February coming up.

The trails were kinda muddy under a heavy layer of brown leaves, and the mud increased over the course of the morning as things warmed up. We knew to be looking for my neighbors who are also signed up for K100, they were somewhere on the trails too but running on their own.

This was my first change to talk to TV about recent life events. I joked that trails were a good and bad place for this. Good in that we have hours. Bad in that if he doesn't want to talk about it, he's stuck with me. He provided some great feedback, support, ideas, thoughts, and shared his own experience. Not so different from mine in many ways! Oddly helpful to know I'm not the only one. That's something I know anyway, but it's still something I need to hear.

The first 6 miles took about 1:20! We saw my neighbor AR just before that. 12 more miles to go?! For realz?! TV joked about running "John Cash pace", I think he said 5 mph?  We certainly weren't doing that! And no, I didn't see JC dash past us as a blur...LOL, one of TV's jokes. :)

We came near the truck around 7-7.5 miles, but didn't stop by and instead continued up the northern segments where the horse trails are. I did some math...bad math as usual...and calculated that if we turned around around 12 miles we'd hit my mileage goal of 18. I didn't realize my error until much later. We briefly discussed our K100 strategies, and he surprised me by saying we would run together! And switch off who leads at each aid station. Cool! Hope I can keep up!

TV had plans for the afternoon, so we ran outbound until we were out of time. Good thing we ended when we did, by peanut-fufu lembas bread was out and I was super low on energy. I had gels, but wasn't interested in them.

I struggled up the steep hills, especially near the end. I could feel blisters growing on my feet (I later found a left foot blister under a blister from 2 weeks ago!). I didn't eat or drink enough, further evidenced by my lack of pee'ing on the trail! Sure, it's only the beginning of this journey, but I already know better on this stuff.

The last hill up to the stables and parking lot I had to walk most of. Just didn't have it, and it was only 15 miles. Granted, it was the end of my FIRST 50 mile week and I did run yesterday. But I have a lot to work on!

As for my life situation, I'm surprisingly happy. I enjoyed the weekend, the freedom to do what made me happy and not wonder if someone else was.

NUMERICS 11 hours and 22 mins, doesn't include bike commute or WALKIES time
SWIM nope
BIKE 1hr and 18 miles on trainer
RUN 50 miles!!! 10 hrs and 22 mins

BIKE COMMUTE 16.8 miles
WALKIES 18.2 miles, Sugar also did a 2 mile run with me!
And I did 15 mins of strength, stretch, roll every day. :)

Park-to-park-to-park-to...

RUN 12 miles in 1:55, around neighborhood

Today's goal was to get in a cardio workout, nothing strenuous and nothing to injure me. Keep the back good, get some time on the feet, and build miles. I did a park-to-park: CHP, to Fox, to Benton, to TGP, to Y, to Sublette, back to TGP, to MoBot, back to CHP. The second half seemed better than the first.

I foresee a lot more weekend runs like this -- base building, time on the feet mileage. Hopefully I can be more creative about where I run. Once the back is sorted out, I won't be so nervous about running trails.

My back was still stiff and uncomfortable, but so much better. See how it does tomorrow on Greenrock! Please don't trip and injure it!

Long walk with RM and D in the evening. Shoogs is really building miles this week. Maybe we could hit 20?

Wrong shoes!

BIKE COMMUTE: just over 4 miles

At the last minute going out the door I saw that I needed to have the truck at DB Chevy by 9am. So instead of a regular bike commute, I needed to throw Puppy in the bed and go. Of course in the flurry of hurry I didn't grab my bike shoes. It was amusing to realize how much this was in my head -- someone who can ride 5k miles a year being nervous about 4 miles in non-bike shoes.

Aside from the discomfort (minor really) of having the pedals push through the soft soles, the distraction of not having that connected feeling, and the worry about not being fully ready to react to traffic, all was well.

The people at the dealership were interested in the bike, so much so that when they needed to get me a rental they gave me another Colorado! A 2015, too! Not sure I like it, but like that they thought of me in that way, good customer service. In the afternoon, an employee talked with me about his first bike, his kid's bike, riding with his Dad, Castlewood, etc. So many other customers waiting around, but I'm the target. One thing I love out this, is that having the swim/bike/run gear opens you up for more conversation. People want to learn, share, and ask. :)

Got up to 55F this afternoon. On the way out the door at work, I didn't know how to dress!

Tech talk with Bill

RUN 7 miles in 1:10-ish
COMMUTE 6.4 miles

I felt OK going into the run, but didn't feel that way throughout. Somewhere around mile 2 I wanted to drop back, then around mile 3 I dropped back again to run with BS. This was the best option for me. Thursdays are now the third day of running in my mid-week build, I ran twice yesterday, and it just all adds up to fatigue. Which is the whole goal here, so I'm doing good.

Bill was coming back from 7.5 weeks (not 7...not 8...but 7.5! Love it!) of being off training so his pace was comfy. We walked occasionally, rather he walked while I jogged slow. I was getting COLD too, oddly, usually I can stay warmer than this. My forearms were COLD?! And I was distracted. I kept thinking I wanted to talk to BS and IT, but I didn't.

Took me a long time to warm up from the run, another day that warmed up fast and got up to the near 50's by the end!

Run commuting

RUN 5.4 miles
RUN 3.6 miles

The original plan was for 8 miles, so I ended up with 9! I'm not at all surprised. My back is improving, today felt better even wearing the Camelbak. But I'm not picking up my feet all the time, maybe running a little hesitant or stiff? All I need right now is a stumble-trip to retch it up again!

Another one of those days that started cold and warmed up fast. So I waited until a little later in the morning to get started. Was worth it!

Not a great run, but it's done

RUN 4.3 miles in about 41 mins, TGP and back

I'm really getting tired of the cold. Not so much the temperatures, but the extra clothes and gear needed to be out in it. Takes so long to get dressed! So much more to carry! Ugh! It will be spring soon, heck we're almost half way through January.

This run was plagued mostly with a lack of mental motivation, along with some poor physical energy too. I have a Dr appt this morning, it throws my schedule off. On days like today, when I'm waiting around or not buzzing along my energy saps and I come to a crawl. That happened today.

My back was OK, kinda worse maybe? Or was it the stress?

Skipped the swim to rest my back

BIKE 18 miles in 60 mins. OK it was really 59:27 :)
BIKE COMMUTE 6.4 miles

I really need to get the back fixed. I'm resting as I can, wary of picking things up, being gentle in walking, stairs, and moving, sleeping on a warm heat pad, stretching, foam rolling. How much longer should I wait?

32,034 steps, or 17.5 miles today

RUN 8 miles in 1:16
RUN/WALK with RM 4.5 miles
WALKIES total of 3.3 in 2 walks

Had my phone on me all day and captured this big number! The segments don't add up to 17.5, which makes sense because I was walking around otherwise too.

The run was to and around Laf Park, then to and around Benton Park, then home. I thought I'd end up trying to find extra tenths to hit my goal, but I landed almost right in front of the house. Got to see lots of cool buildings and houses in neighborhoods I don't normally see.

My back is better, but still a bother. But definitely better. I'm foam rolling, focused on posture and stretching, and being mindful of it.

After the run I met RM for a run/walk with Daisy. We totaled 1.5 of running but I'm not counting it towards my run mileage. Or should I? Eh, whatever. Time on my feet. Time with a friend :)

Our run/walk ended with the weather front moving in, a light rain started falling. Later when Shoogs and I walked there was still a light rain. A pleasant rainfall, quiet pitter-patters of drops. :)

NUMERICS 6hrs total bike and run.
SWIM None
BIKE 17 miles in 1 hrs, in place of a short run and to rest my back
RUN 31.3 as 3/3; 4.3/3;10;8
BIKE COMMUTE 19.2 miles
WALKIES 11.1 miles (includes the run/walk)
and 7 days of 15 mins each, stretch and roll.

Cold 10-miler

RUN 10 miles in about 91 mins or so

Dang it, another cold day. I waited as long as I could in the morning to run, seeing on the internets that it was going to warm up as the day progressed. But I don't run as good in the afternoon, I was anxious to run, and there were other runners in FoPa so what was I whining about!?

Got my stuff done at work, then went for a loop. Mentally, I was a confused mess but I was doing so much better than I expected. A strange sort of relief. Last night my back seemed to just get better in a few minutes. Not healed, just better. It still 'hurt' to stop/start running. So this run was mostly non-stop!

And the new HotPink Brooks 14's are making a sort spot on the top of my left foot. Both feet sometimes, today it was the left. It's something with the tongue?

Breakaway Bee

BIKE COMMUTE 6.4 miles

Thursday run canceled due to weather!

RUN 4.3 miles to work, about 40 mins
RUN 3 miles home

MapMyRun says my commute is really 3.1 miles, but I'm not gonna get that crazy with the logging. What's a few extra tenths? Haha, nothing! Unless it's a tenth under the mileage goal! However, I am counting the 0.3 extra mile this morning because it was damned cold and my back hurt, so I want credit for it.

Once again the cold was a major factor. This morning's run was 3F, -3F if you count the windchill. I guess you could say the Thursday run, canceled due to cold, was an example of "running the temperature"!

Happily my run home was warmer -- 25!

And yes my back is still plaguing me.

Great quote today from CT's PostDispatch article:

“When it started, I couldn’t do anything,” she said. 

By the end, I could do anything. I cried the first time I ran a mile.”

It was warmer to run to work

RUN about 30 mins, 3 mile commute
RUN same, just in the opposite direction!

OH DAMN it's cold out!! Temps are in the <10f about="" all.="" and="" at="" but="" chill.="" crunch="" enough="" for="" had="" including="" just="" not="" overnight="" p="" range="" s="" snow="" some="" that="" the="" to="" underfoot="" we="" wind="" worry="">
My poor back is still bothering me. I'm still figuring it out -- the discomfort (it's not really pain, per se) is set off by raising my arms. It's still mostly the left side, midback. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. The Camelbak doesn't help any, and I run commute wearing it.

I'm doing what I can to help it, but not making much progress!

Took another rest day

BIKE 1 hour and 17 miles, indoors
COMMUTE 6.4 miles

The training plan called for a 2 mile run. Ah...no, I'll just rest thank you. But I still had to do something, so I biked on the trainer instead.

Today's commute was in the mid-20's, relatively pleasant. Tomorrow the forecast has a wind chill advisory, so I'm run commuting instead!

Running Down A Dream

Name of Event: Kettle 100m solo
Distance: 100
Measurement: Miles
Date: Saturday June 6th, 2015
Start Time: 6:00 AM

LOL to the measurement!!! That's copied from my registration confirmation email. Yup, I did it! I'm registered! I'm officially in training for a 100 mile trail run.

Here's some of the typical responses you get after tell people about this race:

"Do you have to run the whole thing?"

Response: "No, you can walk."

"Can you rest?"

Response: "Sure, they have chairs at the aid stations, and there are plenty of rocks and stumps."

"Can you sleep?" 

Response: "Yes, but you need to finish within a roughly 30hr time"

"How many days will it take?"

Response: "Hopefully a little over one day."

My Favorite so far:
"Do you need a special bike for that?"

Response: "No, just trail running shoes." LOL!

"I don't like to drive that far"

Response by TV: "Well you just need to train for it! Take your car out for longer drives each weekend. Find a hill and drive up it as fast as you can 10 times."  LOL!!!

Might have found my temperature limit!

BIKE COMMUTE 6.4 miles

You'll note I'm not logging 6 miles, but rather 6.4 miles. That's the actual measurement!

The morning ride was 10-12F! HOLY SH!T that's COLD. My fingertips were terribly painful within a mile, the rest of me was mostly OK but oh, wow, I might have found my limit. It's not so much the time, temp, distance, etc, but rather the safety of riding withe distraction and cold hands. I'm thinking more about the misery than I am about doors and bumps. And speaking of bumps -- cold hands don't grip the bars or brakes as well. Especially when you have the fingers bundled up to shield them from the wind and try to cozy them up to each other!

Got to ride home in 25F weather, relatively hot compared to the morning. And got to ride with my new rear light from BS. It only seems expensive, but when put into the context of $30 (before discount too!) that's only one week of riding, since parking is $6/day.

Otherwise a total rest day. Only a super short doggie walk, didn't even get to climb stairs at work! My back was much better today, biking doesn't bother it. Only stopping/starting running!

Woefully under dressed run in Babler, and new metrics for 2015

RUN 16 miles in 3:27, Babler

So yesterday's weather was 37F in the morning and a pleasant 42F when I went to bed. This morning it was mid-high 30's, cloudy, light winds, but forecasted to drop to 28 with 20 mph winds. At the last minute going out the door I grabbed my purple windshell, just in cast. 28F as a high wasn't bad, right?

TV and I were going to Babler, hoping that the we'd be mostly out of the wind and running dry rocky ridges that drained all or most of yesterday's rain. Some right, mostly wrong. Lots to say here!

First off, it was damned cold and windy. On the drive out it started snowing more and the wind became fierce. Flags were whipping in the C-field valley. We joked about how awful it would be to run on the Levee Trail. As soon as we started in the park we were shocked at the cold. When the wind hit our face it burned a bit. But we were convinced that'd we'd warm up in a mile or two. The light snow was pellety, and pretty. It rested on fallen, wet leaves and highlighted them without obscuring.

But that's about as pleasant as the weather got. Oh we had other pleasantries in the run, let's focus on them for a bit. It's great to be running with TV again, we joked about what people say when you mention doing a 100-miler (the best answer was from TV-- don't like driving 100 miles, well you just need to train for it!!); joked about how these hardships will make us stronger (and how we'll be running in nothing-but-shorts-and-gloves come March or April); and overall focused on positive things (which included an appreciation of that fact that the ground was freezing so it was less muddy, TV said it was like frosting, lol).

But oh the weather. What a lesson learned. TV had a mylar blanket in case something happened, but we needed more. We could have easily run by the truck for warmer clothes if we'd only had them available. By mile 4 I was mentally thinking "just do this 3 more times". By mile 7 I secretly wanted to quit. By mile 10 I quit looking at the Garmin, it was depressing. By mile 11.5 we were on an uphill horse trail with my face burning from the wind, and we decided that we'd average the half mile difference between our Garmins. By mile 13 I threw that idea out and said I'd be happy with at least 15 miles. By mile 14 I joked about heading to the truck for mile 15, starting the truck to warm it up, then running the last mile in parking lot circles around it. Then at mile 14 we got on the wrong road, I didn't recognize the house we ran by but kept going anyway. Soon after that TV found the positive that now we'd reach 16 miles! :) We did hit 16 miles, exactly at the trailhead and I didn't run another step. I admitted that at mile 7 I wanted to quit, he said the same!

I barely ate or drank because pulling my hands out of my mittens burned them, they were barely functioning and it took 3x as long to do anything. I ate only half a powerbar and a few sips of water! The misery didn't abate until 20 mins of a truck warming up (and happily the blower in the truck was working when we were done, it's been on and off the last few days). Our hands were swollen, my nose raw from wiping with a half-frozen snot-covered mitten, and my toes so cold I didn't know about the blood-filled blister I had until later in the day.

To top it off, my left back muscle is still a spaz-ma-taz, hurting the most when I start running from a stop. Ugh, what a day.

Some new Numerics for the year. Now that I realize how much I'm walking the dog I'm going to include it. Although that number could drop as the run miles pile up! And I set a goal of doing at least 15 minutes of strength, stretch, roll, meditate, something!, for at least 15 mins a day. So I'll add that in.

Next I need to register for my race!!

NUMERICS
SWIM zero
BIKE zero
RUN 44.4 miles in 8 hours
    running as 8/3, 3/3, 7.1, 4.3, 16.  So two work commutes.
BIKE COMMUTE 6.4 miles (1 trip)
WALKIES 14.3 miles!
Strength/stretching, rolling: 15 mins all four days of goal.

Puddle jumpin' errand running

RUN 4.3 miles in about 43 mins

The weather today was supposed to be rain all day, at least up until 5pm. Not great long run weather, so we moved the weekend long run until tomorrow. But I still had a short run today, and since it was a warm (relatively anyway) day morning at 37F I decided I could just run the four miles in the rain and be OK.

As I planned the morning, I realized I could fit this into a grocery store errand and skip driving altogether today. I like that idea! Driving is frustrating sometimes! I left once the sun was up enough with the Camelbak and my new reflective suspender-vest.

The rain was steady but light, pleasant, quiet, therapeutic. I wandered down to LafPark, around the park through new-to-me streets, did good not tripping over some of those bricks, and ended up at the grocery store right on mileage target.

The checkout personnel chatted with me about what I was doing. Was I biking? I ran?! They noted the reflective gear, the "big watch", this is something I love about commuting. With running or biking, other people tend to want to talk about it. How far I rode, the weather, how good it probably feels, and quite often how they wish they could do the same. :)

First run of 2015!

RUN 7.1 miles in 1:04

I skipped the group run to have brekkie with DH, so I was on my own for this. I was also working this morning, so during an incubation step I squeezed this in. I give "running a PCR" a whole  new meaning!

Woke up with a calf cramp this morning, and had to wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that I didn't salt last night's filet mignon. I put butter on it (Paleo!) but no salt. It had to be already salted, right? Anyway, salt levels are just a guess anyway.

I spent the first half of today's run wondering if I was doing an out-n-back or a loop, and if I did a loop would I need to run a few extra tenths to hit the goal of 7 miles? Once I passed the halfway point and committed to a loop, I was also running with the wind and was overall much happier. And then in the end, I was able to skip the last part of the loop because I was already at goal distance! I keep telling myself to "just run", but I can't turn my mind off.

I think registration opens today for the Kettle 100. I should talk to DH first. But already I have two songs for the 2015 Songlist: Running Down A Dream and Breakaway. The latter stuck in my head this morning, better than the third song I had earlier, the one that I hope never makes the list.

Found a good quote for now: Just For Today: I will live through this day only; I will be happy; I will accept what is; I will improve.

And a quote from last night's wedding: Embrace Change.

But the theme for January: Ask yourself, How Shall This Day End.