Auntie Em Goes Running

Delightful easy miles!  Splits were 8:27, 8:26, 8:42, 8:45, 9:00, 10:17, 9:40, and a 9:37 average for the .6 mile at the end.  Legs are a bit tired from yesterday's biking adventures, so somewhat fatigued at the end.  Good preparation for tomorrow's strength workout.

 I ran at 11:30, and it was already 75 degrees, and very humid in the woods.  I really do not like humidity very much!  Ran right through a huge flock (herd, covy, pod) of geese on the road on the way back to my house.  Last month's cute babies are growing up and blocking traffic, crapping on everything, and chasing the occasional runner.  Something will have to be done someday to all these geese.  I have also just learned that their excrement is a terrible source of phosphorous in our watershed and needs to be reduced.  

It was really hard to get to the track by 5:00 this morning!  Barely made it.  For some reason, the legs are really, really tired.  We warmed up, did strides, then did the leg exhausting workout, then ran 4 more miles on tired legs.  We got to run that last 4 on trails, but the 3/4 of a mile at the end getting back to the track is uphill!  A pretty good hill too.  I made it running all the way up the hill, yeah!  Then I took my time with ab work and stretching in the early morning sun on the fake grass infield.  Treated myself to a good breakfast at the food coop on the way home.

Rest day tomorrow will feel pretty good.  If I do anything, it will be in water.

This was group run morning!  We met downtown at 7:00am and no public restrooms were open.  I couldn't believe that.  Our group ran a couple of miles up the hill to Western's track, where we did a warm up, then did 1 mile intervals at 5K pace, followed by 4 minutes of rest jogging in between.  We did four intervals.  I was in a group of two other people; we all have the same 5K pace of 7:30.  We took turns leading and practiced keeping our pace consistent and drafting.  It went really well.  Then we did some easy miles down the hill, out the interurban trail, and eventually back to the green where we began.  It was a fairly tiring workout.

Up in the mountains today.  Ran 3 easy miles in the morning, as per schedule.  We then did a hike up to check out the huckleberry fields.  They are coming on really nicely!  I think we'll have a really good season for huckleberries in a month or so.  Still quite a bit of snow up high; no black bears sightings.  It was a huge amount of elevation gain on the way up, plus the road was washed out 1 mile before the trail head.  So I walked briskly up; best mile was around 18 minutes; slowest mile was around 24.  

I ran all the way down, trying out my new trail shoes.  It was fun!  I entered the running down as  easy miles and the hiking up as crosstraining.

Legs were tired, so I took a nap, then I remembered that I wanted to try out the aqua belt thing and job in the swimming pool.  So, 3 more easy miles in the pool!  What is wrong with me.  The aqua belt is kind of fun, kind of boring though, because you don't really go anywhere.

All I did was run, hike, and sleep.  Oh, yeah, and eat.

Its so hard to wait until 6:00pm to go running!  That's when our Monday track workout is, though, and I don't like to wreck it by running earlier in the day.  It rained most of the day, so I ran to the track along trails for warm up, hoping for some mud.  Didn't find much.  This was our last strength workout; we have a 7 mile race on Saturday, then start hill training next week!  

Rainy morning, but not cold.  Still looking for a good mudfest trail!  Five easy miles this morning.  We have a somewhat light running schedule this week, as we race on Saturday, so I'm trying to stick with the schedule.  Maybe can bike ride more?

Saturday's footrace sounds fun.  Its the oldest race in the state of Washington, and is mostly trail out along Chuckanut Bay in the woods.  Seven miles out to the finish.  Then our group will run back "easy".  There is some grade, although must be net flat because it begins and ends on the water.  There is one nasty hill - truly nasty hill.  My plan is to run up this hill very slowly.  My time goal is around 57-58 minutes.  That's basically my 10K pace. 

Five easy miles today, as per schedule.  I tried out the new shoes, New Balance Orange lightweight shoes.  Like them a whole lot!  I didn't even mind the rain this morning, and kept my pace pretty well for the first mile, then things got a bit frustrating.  Splits are:  9:26, 8:49, 8:34, 8:53, and 10:49 (this last one is slow because I stopped to adjust a toe discomfort on the new shoe).  I had to work really hard to slow miles 3 and 4 down to easy pace.  Why is easy pace so hard to achieve?   Why is easy pace not easy to do?  My easy pace should be 9:20 or 9:30.  It seems that I often am just not willing to work hard enough at going easy and sacrifice my easy miles for a fun run.  Clearly I am not disciplined or motivated enough.  

OK, all done bashing myself about.

The picture is my right bicep.  Its a nice picture, but I'm pumping more iron now because I'm not happy with the muscle.  I do like the anterior deltoid though.   I am sorry I cannot make the picture a bit bigger, but I'm sort of stupid at things like that.   

Beautiful morning!  The rain and grey skies are gone, and although cool, it promises to be sunny, with lazy clouds.  I'm happy to see the sun again!

5.9 easy miles, splits were 9:40, 9:21, 9:53, 9:21, 9:23, and 9:28.  These are perfect easy miles.  I rewarded myself by meeting my son at a local bakery afterwards that shows Tour De France each morning.  Watched stage 6 into Barcelona.  Those guys are awesome; I want to be a bike racer!  Some of the falls are nasty though.

Race Day!  This footrace is the oldest running race in the state of Washington, and is 95% trail.  It begins on Bellingham Bay, goes up into the forest, and travels along Chuckanut Drive to Larabee Park, also on the Bay.  Our group ran the race, then ran easy miles back to the beginning.  

Start time was 9am, which was really wierd, because I didn't really know what to eat for such a late start.  I was up at 5:00am, to watch Tour De France for a bit.  What an exciting day!  They were riding through the Pyranees, and it was absolutely beautiful!  I love watching it.  Anyway, I had coffee, then made a bagel and ate like two bites.  Met my group at the race start at 8:15, had a Gu, and did our warm up.  

Because the trail funnels onto a narrow trail about 1/2 mile in, they limit it to 1000 people. And it actually wasn't bad.  There was a brief bottleneck for maybe 2 seconds, then it was back to running.  My Garmin wasn't showing me my pace!  I kept hitting the bezel, trying to get to a different training screen, but it just wasn't happening.  So, I didn't really know my pace until mile 1, when I got a split.  It was 7:13!  Way, way too fast.  My plan was 8:30-8:45 for the first mile or so.  So I slowed down.  Next splits were 8:09, 9:06, 8:27, 8:34, 9:09 and 7:34 (nice downhill finish).  The 9s are big hills.  I walked the first one; its really steep and kind of long, and I needed to be able to run at the top.

I did really well just reminding myself of what I had to do to make my goal for this race, which was to get between 58:00 and 59:00, and have a strong finish!  A friend (in my age group) passed me at about 5, and it was soooo hard not to try and catch her.  But I didn't!  I held back and did my own thing.  I saw about a million people I knew, in the race, watching, passing out water, etc.  It was actually pretty hot (mid 70s).  My doctor was trying to catch me at the end, and he kept shouting at me from behind  "Can I borrow your inhaler".  So goofy, we just talked about my medications mishaps yesterday, and agreed that I shouldn't even carry the darned thing.  It was too funny.

I sprinted the finish, remembered to stop my  watch, and my son and his friend were there. The finish is at a beautiful park, with music, food, etc.  Our group hung around for about 30 minutes, then headed back down the trail.  I felt great, and expected to have a great, easy jog back to Fairhaven, but I was SO TIRED!  I've never raced hard before, then run 7 more miles.  It was a challenge.  My average mile on the way back was about 10 minutes.

Happy Day, successful race.  Finish time was 58:02, pretty much what I wanted.  And, if I compare this to my previous 10K pace, its quite an improvement too. 

Just 4 easy, easy miles today after yesterday's run.  Feel pretty good.  The right hamstring feels a bit tight; I'll do more stretching and possible a bath later today.  Like an idiot, I didn't go out this morning when in was beautiful and clear, I waited until it was very windy and cold and looks like rain.  

Packed my daughter off to XC camp this morning.  They get to train for a week up in the mountains!  She took all of my socks, so I will have to wash socks every day if I want to run.

We start hill training tomorrow!  Sounds fun, doesn't it? 

Got eight whole hours of sleep last night because of the rain.  I want to go back to bed and wait until its all over.  No run scheduled until 6:00pm!  Cannot, cannot wait that long.  I dreamed I was running an ultra marathon in some desert place, really hot and dry, and I felt great, like flying.  Running dreams are the new flying dreams!

So, I'm pondering something.  If we naturally get slower as we get older (and I'm not saying that we for sure do), but we are at the same time training to get faster, what will happen?  Will the training to get faster just balance the tendency to get slower with age (SWA), or what?   I'm just curious, since I never trained to get faster until I was this age (51).   So maybe I'll get faster more slowly than I would have in my 20s?  Or, maybe I'm an anomoly, and I'll never get SWA, just keep getting faster.  

Enough.  Rain and not running are a bad combination.

PM:  Hill training was a tough workout!  After the usual warm up, jogging and strides, we did 90 second intervals uphill, going from slow pace (on toes, with high knees), medium pace (exaggerating arm swings), and fast pace (high knees and hard arms).  Did twelve intervals, with jogging in between, then some cool down running. 

I biked to and from the workout for some extra crosstraining miles, and because the rain is stopped.  

Did a upper body weight workout midday as well; my abdominals and arms need work. 

Hamstrings are tired! 

No rain.  Very very humid and overcast, but warm.  Did 6.5 easy miles on the trails, with an average pace of 8:45.  I thought hamstrings would be very sore from yesterday's workout, but legs felt great.  The running felt effortless; I love when that happens.  I didn't quite keep it down to an easy pace, but the effort truly felt easy, and that's what counts, right?

Came home, changed to bike gear, and went for a ride - 25 miles.  I just cleaned and tuned the bike and it was shifting like butter.  My average pace was 18 miles per hour, which is medium fast.  No wind.  No hills.  

Didn't feel like running at all this morning.  Got involved in watching the tour instead, then had to work for awhile.  Finally got out at 1:30 or so.  Ran a couple of miles at the track in my new flat nike shoes; really just wanted to see how they felt.  It feels somewhat tiring on my front shin, but the feet are very comfortable.  Impossible to go slowly in these shoes, especially on the track.  Splits were 8:03 and 8:23.

I switched shoes and hit the trails behind the stadium for 3.5 more miles, attempting to keep them slow.  Splits were 9:23, 8:42, 9:06, and 9:21 (for the half).  

Didn't feel any more like running when I was done than I did in the first place!   

Clear, sunny, and calm this morning.  62 degrees at 5:00am.  It will be hot later.  Did hill workouts again, on the trail by the bay.  Enjoyed seeing the early sun on boats and calm water along the trail.  The hard intervals felt hard, but on the last one, I pushed really hard.  Actually felt like I might be sick.  

After working out, I drove the car to the shop and dropped it off for servicing, then jogged down to the bakery where they show Tour De France every morning.  I made this a really easy jog.  Had a really good breakfast while watching TDF.

I have to drive up to Mt. Ranier tomorrow to pick up my daughter from XC camp; its a day off running anyway, so I'll try to get there early enough for a little hike.

Early group run.  Beautiful weather, 67 degrees at 6:30am.  Warm up, then 3 easy miles, 6 maratthon pace miles, 2 easy.  Kept the easy miles easy (splits 9:30-9:45), and the marathon pace miles not too fast (8:20-8:40).  Had a good kick the last 300 yards.  Felt really good.  The last mile and a half of marathon miles were a gradual uphill and I felt strong and still on pace, which is really good.  Probably my last longish run before August 1 half marathon in Tacoma.  

So far today, just a nice bike ride.  I worked at a bike race yesterday, driving the lead car for some of the racing groups.  The course looked fun, and was a good hill workout, so I went back there this morning and rode.   I was inspired by the TDF, and stood up on my pedals and sprinted the hills.  They were long hills.  I felt good until I realized that my hill sprints, although they felt strong, were only about 10 mph uphill, and Contador's are probably like, what, 16-20?  Oh, well.  I was impressed with myself anyway.

My IT band was really tight and sore last night, so I iced it a lot and used the roller a lot.  I'm not sure yet if I'll run today.  I suppose easy miles won't hurt it.  I do have a massage scheduled for tomorrow, so that should help.  Biking does not even seem to use the IT band, so that was good.

PM - 5 easy miles.  IT band felt pretty good, no pain, just tightness.  Finished off with 1/2 mile of walking and then a really good stretch.  Looking forward to that massage tomorrow. 

No running for me today!  I am missing my hill workout right now, and I LOVE my hill workout.  It makes me want to hurl, but I love it.  Had a massage for my IT band, and my therapist did not recommend running afterwards.  I'm not convinced that this is good advice, but I'm willing to try, as long as I can run tomorrow.  Dang it!

I've got a long bike ride planned for am tomorrow very pretty ride, with hills.  40 miles.  Biking is very good for IT bands.  It stretches them.  Then the schedule calls for 7 miles of easy running, so I'll do that in the evening.

Did the bike riding first this morning.  After yesterday's day off, it felt great to ride with totally fresh legs.  I was really able to take advantage of the opportunity to ride hard up the hills.  Rode a beautiful loop for 39 miles; it was 82 degrees at the end.  That's a little warmer than it has been I think.

I decided to just run right away, instead of waiting until this evening.  I found it sort of hard to get right off the bike and run, but it relaxed my legs to do it.  Felt good.   I really didn't want to stop in 4 miles, so went an extra 1/2.  I feel as though I lost about 2 gallons of sweat just running though!

I might have to skip my bike group tonight! 

Seven easy miles along the Whatcom Creek Trail.  I ran out the paved road for a mile or so, so that the first three miles were pavement miles, then into the trails.  I find that adding pavement miles in the week or so before a race is helpful.  Next 1/2 Marathon is august 1!  

Splits this morning were in the 9s, just as they should have been.  Only the first miles was a little too fast.

Hill workout this morning.  Fun, fun, fun.  

Edited to add 8 miles of biking to and from work this afternoon.  Lots of gnats.   

2 easy miles on track shoes.  8 miles to work and back on the bike.  Busy day.  

Early morning hill workout along the bay trail.  Weather was 75 degrees at 5:30am, a little dark(!), and absolutely still - humid.

Workout was tough.  I noticed a big difference from not staying hydrated enough yesterday.  I worked all day in a hot kitchen, preparing food for the RAGNAR relay teams and driving it back and forth to the serving area.  Didn't drink enough water, then stayed up too late, with a bit of red wine as well.  All those factors contributed to some dehydration this morning, and made me feel tired.  It got easier by the last interval; and the fast hill part on that last interval was my fastest.

Had a class for the rest of this day and did too much sitting! 

Out at noon, 82 degrees, sunny and beautifully clear.  A little less humidity I think!  I tried out my new hand held water bottle, and I loved it.  Holds 22 oz, and just slides right onto your hand.  I can't get my splits for this run because I will not have my own computer back for about a week, so can't download my runs.  But I know from the reported splits while I was running that they were all "easy" miles.  

Went up to Glacier today, where it was even hotter than in Bellingham!  It was 94 when I arrived about noon, so I waited until 7:00pm to run.  Still 94, plus about 100 percent humidity once I got into the woods.  I tried to duplicate the workout that I was supposed to do in town, which was 4X1600 at 5K pace, interspersed with 4 minute jogs.  I turned into more of a free for all fartlek session, which speedy portions being 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile.  Narrow trails, a few technical bits, overgrown forrest on both sides, humidity, and HORSEFLIES!  Horseflies are carnivorous flies, approximately as big as a small airplane, and persistent.  They will follow you for miles, circling in case any body part stops moving long enough, then they will sink their teeth into you.  The bites swell up terribly and last a long time.  It was a really fun run.

Not much sleep, on account of the heat.  It really didn't cool down until early morning.  I got out a bit earlier in the day, at 6am, when it was only 70!  Still humid in the woods, so I did about 3 miles on the pavement on the roads around our little community up here, then tackled the woods for the second half.  Had a nice hilly run down along the river and back up again.  The woods are so dry!  That's very unusual here, but we've had an unusually dry summer. 

Our community also has a pool, so in the afternoon, with 102 degrees still, I took the water belt down to the pool and "jogged" for about 1/2 hour.  I'm not even counting it as miles, since I really don't feel that I'm working hard.  I am not breathing very hard when done, although my leg muscles are working. Maybe I am doing it wrong. Anyway, it was cool and nice to be in water.  

I slept better, because I think that it cooled off a bit and I moved my bed to a back room on the lower floor of the cabin.  Did my easy miles early; it was 65.  Nice.  Was too afraid to go into the woods at all because of horseflies, so I just ran around the roads.  I kept imagining that one would bite me in the leg and I would swell up and not be able to race on Saturday!

My friend Rebecca made me some coffee after, and it was yummy.  Then I drove up the mountain on an old logging road to check out the huckleberries.  I found a whole bunch!  Its a very technical place to pick, meaning its steep, brambly, thick bushes, and many red ant hills, which must be avoided.  Luckily I wore long pants.  I was so excited to be getting so many nice berries that I stayed way too long, and realized it was hot, hot, hot up there.  Then the flies drove me reallly nuts and I bolted to my car.  

Back home now in Bellingham, still hot.   

Not so hot this morning, but even more humid!  3.5 easy miles, with actual easy splits - 9:00, 9:27, 9:28, 9:15.  It is supposed to be a bit cooler today, and I'm going to spend some time in the lake, staying rested and cool for tomorrow.  I'm going to put some work and my cell phone in the kayak and paddle out to the floating boat and work!

Also have some chiropractic work scheduled, and a massage.  Why am I falling apart like this?  Hopefully I can get patched together well enough to run Saturday's race.  I'm considering carrying my handheld water bottle for the race, just to make sure I'm hydrated enough.  I would think that if the heat keeps up, they would have extra water stations, but you never know. 

Update:  Chiropractic work is done!  The hip thing was not painful to fix, and he was able to give me some exercises to help keep it in place.  The IT band, which he insisted on attacking, even though I explained that a massage therapist would be dealing with it later, was excruciating.  Imaging a really sweet faced, gentle, altogether likeable guy hurting you to the point of yelping!  Yes, I yelped!  He promised that my leg will be horribly bruised on Saturday, but I'll be running well.   

Day of rest!  Rest from running anyway.  The is a 7" X 2" bruise down my left IT band; I'll look; I'll look really colorful tomorrow.  It feels better though, and that's what counts.  I've spent some time working out some stretches for it, so should keep it in shape. 

I think I figured out what caused the IT band flare up in the first place too.  Was talking to the chiropractor, who, in addition to being an expert at torture, is a very smart running coach/trainer guy.  I've been doing some hill repeats on a hill near my house that is quite steep and seriously canted to the right (when I run on the right shoulder).  The combination of running hard up a hill and running on the canted surface is not so good for the opposite IT band, especially when its already feeling stressed.