RdL Week 1

W/C 5.25.15

Monday - A belly full of cheese stuffed bison burger topped with bacon and more cheese with chilli on the side? Just 1.2 power walking miles to keep the streak (minimum one mile under 15:00 min/mile pace). Blech, not a good start. Gym was clsoed in observance of Memorial Day

Tuesday - 4.2 miles, first real run. I overslept to meet the FogDodgers, then had a double shift so didn't get to run until the evening. Since T was unavailable to join me in the woods, I ended up running the bluffs trail near my house. Not a bad run. Felt pretty good both in stomach and legs department.

A pond full of lilypads

Crossing the river

Wednesday - 5.1 miles (and weight bar class). A new-ish to me route. I've run this road twice as part of a local 5k/10k, but it's behind a huge gate. Today I found how to get down there without going through the gate :) It's not the best running surface, but there's some decent runnable hill practice (as opposed to a lot of hills I run that are both long and steep). It might be an old road, but it's very scenic.

Thursday - 4.4 miles. Woo-hoo got up early enough to go meet others at Van Damme this morning. Legs felt good, stomach didn't feel bad but let me know it was adjusting to being fed two big salads yesterday. Another damp grey day, it must be summer on the coast.

Friday - 1 dreadmill mile for rest day after weight bar.

Saturday - 6.6 miles with S. Tried to get an accurate measurement of this trail since I've not previously run it with my Suunto, but paused and forgot to restart, so not there yet. Didn't take any pictures, but S made a movie of our run, so I'll post that when I get it. Note to self, when running towards a camera set in the middle of the trail, try to remain somewhat upright and not too wobbly...

Sunday - 5.5 miles at Big River with the FogDodgers. Was planning for more but a slightly tweaky knee (think resulting from yesterday's point-to-point run having a net downhill) and the swarm of mosquitoes. I think my neon pink shirt might have been attracting them since they seemed to love me more than my running buddies. On the way back tried to catch up with the guy in front of me, and managed to hit <7:30m/m on the last stretch without feeling like my lungs were going to explode and my legs fall off. No pictures since my phone was dead :( Also tested my new compression sleeves, and really liked them. My bargain score of $32.00 sleeves discounted by $31.00, and they donate $1.00 to charity per sale :)

Total of 28 miles for the week, with 1800' elevation gain.

Here We Go Again!

I think I am finally (finally!) completely recovered from Zion. While the physical aches and pains dimished very quickly, full recovery took quite a bit longer. I noticed on my runs that I would fatigue much faster than usual, especially if I attempted a hill or a quicker than my average pace. there has also been a tough mental element. I spent a lot of extra time in the saddle, having some fabulous rides by ourselves and with friends.

Bugsy's blog can be found here...

I found myself not having time for even a three mile run, when really the time was there but the desire wasn't. It was too easy to make excuses, plus a few genuine reasons. There have been some days where leaving Rocko home alone wasn't ideal. A couple of weeks ago he started limping inexplicably. We went for xrays the next day, and the conclusion was damage to his ACL, but more worrisome was the mass spotted on his spleen. Back a couple days later for an ultrasound and a discussion on next steps for him. He is J's dog (and has been for 9+ years) , so the decisions had to be his. He is going in on Thursday to have either the mass, or the spleen and mass removed. The vet is hopeful since he wasn't showing any symptoms, and so far it appears benign. Keeping him quiet and not bumping into things has been tricky. He's a big rowdy dog in small apartment who no longer has free range of his yard since he has to rest his injured knee as well. Poor guy has had so many issues lately, and was finally looking and feeling the best he has in years. Fingers and toes crossed for him please!

"But why can't I come running with you?"

After some good runs recently on my own, with new running buddy S, and with the FogDodgers I decided it was time to start ramping back up. I have a training plan to get myself ready for Rio del Lago in November. I also modified the middle eight weeks of a marathon plan to help me build back to the level I need to be at to handle the training volume. Today kicked that off with an easy four along the bluffs. Despite the damp, overcast, generally gloomy evening, the trail was still beautiful. 

I'm so lucky to have this only a mile from my house! While not much in the way of hill training, there are a few spots to test your footing, and it's safe to run alone at any time. It's also easy to get to on a time limit. I usually save this for days like today when I can't get to a forest trail (too late by the time I got off work - I don't want to be some critter's evening snack). Of course I could have just woken up on time and gone to Russian Gulch to meet other runners like I planned, but I turned off the alarm instead of hitting snooze (plus had a food hangover from yesterday's barbecue). I learned a lot from training for and finishing Zion, and the races leading up to it. I'm ready to put it all into practice, and show up at RdL stronger than ever.

164 days to go!