Fat Kid Fun

I had a terrible hangover this morning! We went on our adventure yesterday, primarily for Bugsy food and shoes for T. We added in a stop for (GF) pizza. Maybe a run or hike at Lake Sonoma. It was muggy and w had to sit in the car with each other for nearly two hours post-lake so we chose to forgo the run. First stop, realising we were hungry near Ukiah, was a restroom stop, with chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries at Jack in the Box. Scoot on down to the feed store in Sebastopol for pony noms, and swing by the used tack store. Got some nice new heritage gloves, sounds like the mare I'm riding in a few weeks will warrant glove-wearing! On to the shoestore, where T was highly entertaining and tried on many many pairs of pretty new shoes. She left with a pair of Nike Wild Horse trail shoes with gortex, and I was $15 poorer thanks to a pair of socks! One pair! Adventures continued with more stops for items that we can't get or are much cheaper than in Fort Bragg such as Aloe juice (also for the pony...) and some clothing basics. Completely forgot to get bodyglide at Athletic Soles, so tried to pick some up at Big 5 and couldn't find it (also no luck on handheld bottles or hydration packs, should have gone to one of the other running stores in Santa Rosa but never mind). Sugar adventures included chocolate and ice cream milkshakes, and feeling awful driving home! It was fat kid day.

This morning we ventured out to JugHandle, both feeling sickish, gassy, and crabby (we're so good at being girls "Go ahead of me, I think I need to fart" and plenty of belching. Keeping it classy!) Both thoroughly sold on not going so overboard on future fat kid days, and suffered the first half of our run for it. T got to get some christening mud on the shoes, and I got to test my new socks, which I wasn't sure I would love as they had more arch support than I typically like. But as soon as my foot warmed up I didn't notice it, and even though my shoes weren't dry after the puddle jumping on Monday, no sign of blistering or even hotspots around blisters that are currently healing. Maybe we have a winner. I went a size up which maybe helped with the support not being too restrictive for my foot. It was good to see again that even feeling as crappy as we did, and having to stop a few times for typical new shoe adjustments, our time was better than what even three weeks ago we considered a decent run! Woohoooo! Love seeing improvements :) Just no more fat kid food for a while...

Speak up Universe

It would appear that powers greater than I destine me to run the half at Golden Gate Headlands, not the full marathon. I had decided to make my decision a few days after an 18 mile training run (that would have had approx 3600' elevation gain). I elected to run on Saturday, and allow for onset of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) before picking my distance. Phone rings, it's work asking if I can work day shift Saturday. Sure, no problem, I'll just go for a shorter run with T, we'll have our Sunday shoe and pizza(!!) adventure, and I'll run long on Monday. My box of Tailwind arrived Saturday so I would get to test it out also. Sunday, message from a co-worker running a fever, could I work for her? Now long run Monday, shoe adventure Tuesday. Wake up 4am Monday and can't sleep, J is snoring loudly and won't stay on his side. He's sick so I get up and move to the couch for a restless couple more hours. Alarm at 6.40, look outside, and it's hailing. Um, no thanks, half hour more sleep. Coffee, still pouring. Spinach juice for breakfast, still pouring. But now it's rain. And not really that cold. And the wind's died down. Made up some lemon tailwind, decided I would do nine or maybe a half, no time for 18 now. Not sure when I can fit one in the rest of this week? Nearly wreck my car aquaplaning on the way to the trailhead. Who needs a warm up when you can send adrenaline shooting through your whole body instead? Didn't want to get out the car, the rain got worse and it's getting windy. Decide to hit the trail, and if it still sucks in 20 minutes I can turn back.

More than enough of these to play in!

Set off, and was soaked to the skin by about the half mile mark. There was a rivlet running down each trail, sometimes covering the entire trail, branches down to jump, and I soon quit pussy-footing around the puddles and splashed right on through. On more than one occasion they were deeper than I predicted and found myself in mid-calf deep water nearly going a-over-t. Decided to keep going to the split in the trail for doing nine or five miles and see how I felt.

Was having some rumbling in my tummy. Not the fault of the tailwind, as I hadn't been drinking it long or enough or in near enough quantity as early on as the tummy issues started (namely about twelve minutes in...) Finally got to a point that the rumbling was getting more than a little concerning, resulting in a dive off the trail at the first opportunity to, uh... take care of things. Would seem I can drink coffee OR spinach juice, but a combination of the two is highly inappropriate for today's activity. Felt much better after that and continued happily on and headed up the nine mile split. However, it didn't take long to realise that my GI distress may not be entirely resolved and home would be the more pertinent location. Turned back and enjoyed the trail along the creek to the waterfall that looked spectacular with all the rain, and loud!

Russian Gulch waterfall

The steps leading up from the other side were slick as hell, and wouldn't have been fun the second time round if I had gone for 18:

Stone steps above the waterfall

Will try again for a long run either Friday (if I don't go riding instead), or Saturday morning. But looks like I'm being directed towards the half marathon. Though I am riding 100 miles in two days the following weekend so that may be no bad thing...

Half or Full?

I've been having some pretty good runs lately. T and I went out to GPS a route that I had previously estimated at six, maybe seven miles. Yep, that was nine. Sorry, T. Then we set out to race ourselves at JugHandle (with Ruger running back and forth between us, wish I'd put my Garmin on him!). I managed to knock a little more of my time from last week and T set a new PR as well. It's been surprisingly warm and sweaty for February, enough for electrolyting to be on the mind. I have some new goals to work towards that will help keep me accountable, and a new nutrition product on the way to try out - Tailwind drink mix. Tailwind proclaims it is "All you need, all day. Really." Many reviewers comment at how much simpler their strategies have been, with some even commenting on setting 100-mile PRs with just this for their nutrition needs, no gummy tummy or super-bonking. It will be here Monday, so plenty of time for me to test it out prior to the super active end of March/beginning April coming up. Which brings me to goals.

Ruger and Remi on a 9miler break :)

March 15th is the Whale Run 5k, where I have a time in mind that I would like to achieve, then it's back to increasing distance. March 30th is Golden Gate Headlands Half-Marathon and Marathon. I'm pretty sure I want to go, but am not sure of the distance to sign up for. I'm planning on going out for a nice hilly long run tomorrow, and will let that be the guide for whether I can be marathon ready in a month. Part of my concern is that I have been offered, and accepted, a horse for one or two days of 50 mile endurance riding at the beginning of April. I won't get to meet the horse until Friday afternoon, though I am familiar with the saddle I'll be riding in and it's not ideal for me (sheepskin covers at the ready!). I've accepted, all going to plan, both days. Just to make life interesting, right? So do I stick to the half marathon and save myself, or do I go all-out-recovery the week between and do the full? I'm leaning towards the full, but will see how Saturday's long run goes and how I feel on Monday (yay for DOMS). This will also be a great test for the Tailwind. If it agrees with me I will use at the rides also, at a lesser dilution with food Saturday, and on it's own Sunday unless I start to crash.

I think I've settled on TNFEC 50 miler in December, as my goal race. I really want to get a 50 miler completed this year and aiming for this one doesn't exactly leave much wiggle room but it's close, not super expensive, and well organised. It's also tough. So will be looking for some 50k's over the summer, there's possibilities in May and July, and I would really like to do Skyline to Sea in October. Plus wanting to take Bugsy to Chamberlain Creek (September) and maybe Lake Sonoma (October) for some LD experience.

Busy busy busy!!!

Willits 5k and Other Adventures

The Willits Classic 5k was on Sunday morning. T and I left out at the very leisurely hour of 9am, in the Mini Cooper (channeling speed... wheee). Definitely the best way to get across Hwy 20! We found check-in easily, and picked up my number and snazzy gloves. T ended up not running due to a nasty headache, instead opting for excedrin and role of photographer.

At the start hearing about 'Kids On The Run' and the activity league

There was a 5k and a 10 mile race. The ten milers set off at 10:00 so had been gone about 5 minutes before we arrived. In total the run had a turnout of 106, ages ranged from two years old to 73 years old. Note the teeny person with the huge gloves?
It was freezing (relatively...) at the start and they got us lined up too early, so we stood around. Of course I left my arm warmers in the truck but knew I didn't want to run with my sweatshirt so I spent most of my waiting time jumping up and down rubbing my chilly arms.

And we're off

At the first turn I found myself running past a four year old and his dad, who was telling the kid that they had to try really hard to run the whole way, no stopping. The little kid agreed, but then had a change of heart. "Or, I could just run even faster" and took off down the street in a (very amusing) sprint. [Luckily I passed him again shortly after! lol]

"Cheeeese!"

It was a nice course that very quickly (well - has to be quickly on a short race..) had us in the countryside running past fields. Mostly flat, a bit of a slope but nothing even I would call a hill. I felt slow, I ran slow, and I hacked up a helluva lot of phlegm. (Delicious, right?) One day my lungs will forgive me. Slower than I wanted, but faster than previous races so ok. Overall place 24th. And upon looking at results online learned that my time of 30:08 got me 3rd in age category - but for the Male 18-29 category :/ Hmm... Something's amiss here lol. After getting changed, we scooted on down to Ukiah to pick up things cheaper than at home (namely Aloe Juice for my pony - $7.50 there, $11.00 at home :/) I got a call from work at noon: "You know you're working today? You have clients at 3pm and 4pm." Eeek, we're more than an hour away from home and I'm gross. Grabbed the things we needed, stopped for bad bad food (Mmm chicken nuggets) and shot home to shower and get to work. Pony got fed between the 4pm and 6.30 appointments, and J had reheated our beef stew so I could eat as soon as I got home after my last one. <3 him!

All finished!

Easy run with D on Monday, who is just starting out on a C.2.5k -esque program. We're aiming for Mon/Wed/Fri runs, and I get to be chief cheerleader and time checker. Run segments begin with a "3..2..1..Bam!" and end with a "5..4..3..2..1..Pow!" With maybe some dancing in between for D's entertainment. Then a trail run with T at JugHandle this morning. Slow to warm up (dead quads?? from where?) but then felt really strong, and vastly improved breathing. While we can't have a fixed day for our trail runs due to rotating schedules, we're going to aim to get out at least once a week. I'm aiming to run trails two or three times per week. And keep up with the speed work. I really want to find a track to run on so I don't have to use the dreadmill for the more specific workouts. Right now - really looking forward to Friday. Trail run followed by trail ride followed by sauna, jacuzzi tub, and hot stone massage? Excellent day off!

Could be a flight traffic director with these guys!

And the best bit? I DIDN'T FALL! Or even trip! I'm just like an adult. Ha.

Speedwork and Vegetables

I had a nightmare about vegetables last night. I was chopping cauliflower and broccoli with a meat cleaver(?!?!) and the broccoli grew eyes, winked at me, and rolled off the cutting board so I instead sliced off three fingers and half a thumb! Eeep! I'm not the biggest vegetable eater out there, particularly salad type items. Last week, five of six dinners involved vegetables in place of pasta or rice. Saturday was the exception. We went to the Purple Rose with Princess for Mexican food and the closest I got to 'vegetables'... refried beans and a strawberry daiquiri. Not even close. Oh well. My favourite so far has been grated cauliflower sauteed with onion and cilantro - we had that twice and cauliflower is far from my first pick. Going to try it with a curry this week in place of rice :) Tonight is spaghetti squash with bolognese, and my biggest accomplishment was making myself eat (and kinda enjoy) an entire plate of cabbage (Meal: chicken marinated 24 hours in lemon juice with cumin/turmeric/paprika/ginger, served on a bed on lemon-infused red cabbage). Getting adventurous over here...

I've done a couple of speed work sessions on the treadmill, doing 400m 'sprints'. They're not quite sprints as I have to pre-determine a speed - stupid treadmill - so can't push as hard as I should. These are on a 1.5 incline. One of my February goals is to find a track or track substitute so I have a safe/flat/suitable terrain place to work on speed. Google earth showed up a couple near me, so I need to venture over and see if they are locked evenings/weekends. So my set speed the first session was 7mph (I know - this is slow for a lot of people. Equivalent is 8:34min/mile. Read the blog title again!) The following week I did three repeats at 7.5mph (8:00m/m) and two at 8mph 97:30m/m). This week I'm planning on 7.5x1, 8x3, 8.5x2. Eeep! I don't do fast. But I'm feeling strong.

Saturday morning I headed out for a trail run at Russian Gulch (my favourite route). My fastest time here has been 59:57, and I had to kill the last little stretch to get in under an hour. It sucked, I hurt, I gagged a little. Saturday, I was hoping for around an hour, under would be great so would keep that in mind on my pacing. I felt pretty strong most of the way around, although was more fatigued than I would like for the last hill. But far from the worst I've felt there, and whilst I could feel I'd been pushing myself more, I didn't feel exhausted. So it was a very pleasant surprise to hit the end of the trail and stop my GPS at 53:43! Wheeee! Happy Cyd!

Come on, Lungs!

Umm.. I have a confession to make. I know why I'm so bad at running (as opposed to running/hiking, which I can do all day). For a long time I have been an on & off - mostly on - smoker. For the last couple of days (2d16hr40min) I have not smoked. I've been wearing my patch, which I hate - it itches. I also have a back up of lozenges, just in case there's need for a booster. I just came back from a run. It was terrible. I could breathe less than normal.

I know my lungs need to adjust, and cells all throughout my body are figuring out what to do with all this extra oxygen they've found themselves with, but it's very demoralizing!! I walked quite a bit on exactly the same route I did on Saturday, because I couldn't catch my breath. It's also warm out, and I haven't eaten all day (yes, yes, bad, I know). I usually do better on unfueled (bonk) runs, but I also usually run in the morning so intake wasn't as long ago (dinner). I made myself go the full three (!! ssh) miles, when I could have easily turned for home on several occasions. I was also sure to run the last half mile to end on a somewhat good note; I don't want to feel so disheartened that I'm not wanting to go out again, because we all know that isn't going to help.

Physiologically, it's going to take time to adjust. My chest felt congested, my throat both aches and burns, and even ten minutes after getting home my breathing wasn't quite right. Tomorrow is my first scheduled speed work (I use the term loosely here), so maybe that will help clear things out a bit.

But yay for quitting! This time it will stick.

Motivation?

Mine has been lacking. I was really determined that this year I would complete Lake Sonoma. It wasn't going to be fast, or pretty, and probably not very fun all the time, but I wanted it. Apparently I didn't want it enough to get up half an hour earlier to register in time (the race sold out and had a full wait list within 37 minutes). Even though I picked out a back up race, I have had no desire to train, or run just because. I kept making excuses for myself - I feel like I'm coming down with something, I really shouldn't push that ankle, I don't have time, ...tomorrow... Well tomorrow kept happening and still no running. What's wrong with me?

I just wasn't excited about my plan B race. It wasn't what I was working so hard to do. So I've decided to scale back for a while, and work on my speed over shorter distances. It's been so easy for me to not push myself; in ultras, and even many shorter trail races, it's perfectly acceptable and often recommended to do some walking. And I realised that in the last year, unless my run is shorter than two miles, I take walking breaks. Really? I'm training for a 50 miler and can't run a 5k? Pitiful.

So that's what I'm going to do. There's a couple upcoming 5ks locally: Feb 16th in Willits and March 15th in Fort Bragg. I'm going to sign up for both to keep me pushing. That way I have to train, because otherwise I know I can blag my way through a single race and get a terrible time. But I set one of my goals this year to run a sub-27:00 5k. Eeek! For me, that's fast! So I had better train.

"It's not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."

"The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare."

"By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail."

This morning, even though it was raining (kind of, pretty drizzly by halfway but enough to be puddle jumping), I laced up and headed out to run three miles and see where I was compared to where I want to be. Not fast, but each mile was a little faster than the last, and for an easy run the pace wasn't too shabby. With some consistent miles, some interval work, and not skipping my tempos, it might even be doable. I found the website for our 'local' running club (based about an hour away), with some semi-regular races throughout the year so I have a few tries to get it right. I would be happy with ~28:00 for these upcoming races.

Happy Running Feet

I still have a few ideas for plan-B 50s, as that is also a 2014 goal, and LS will be there next year (by lottery now though). Around March/April I will look more closely and pick something out.

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."