Running in the Rockies

AM: House/yard work.

 Afternoon: 15 mi to friend's house for small gathering in 9:53 avg pace. Max elevation was at our house (~8,520) and min elevation was at our friend's house (7,290'), so a net downhill. However, there are a few really gnarly uphills spaced throughout and the final descent was a bit rough on the knees. Elevation gain: 1,223'; elevation loss: 2,449'. Average heart rate: 157, Max heart rate: 176. Beautiful day for a long run and it was nice to try a new route. Definitely not an 'easy' route, but not too bad. I would probably run it again.

AM: ~6 miles this morning with L pup. Woke up to sleet/snow on the ground and a fierce wind. Headed out to the trails for 75 min easy run (140-145 bpm). Avg heart rate: 140, Max heart rate: 167 and 79 minutes total. Carried a rock this morning. Felt like something was watching me most of the way- probably just on edge because friends and neighbors have seen a few lions the past couple weeks. Guess it's that time of year.

AM: 9.75 mi in 9:16 avg pace. Goal was 90 mins with 70 at 160. I actually thought the goal heart rate was suppose to be 170- oops, should have checked my schedule. At any rate, my heart rate was low this morning, so it was a tough run to maintain a higher heart rate. Avg heart rate: 157, Max heart rate: 172. Avg elevation: 8,500'; 715' gain/loss. The heart rate monitor was giving spurious readings at the end up the last hill; 165 to 112 while I was maintaining a steady pace.. I think not. Really frustrating when that happens, but it is also good to run by feel as well. I think I need a couple easy/slow days to give my legs a bit of rest before the trail race this weekend. Looking forward to it!

AM: Easy 5 on trails with pups in 12:27 avg pace. Avg heart: 145, Max heart rate: 167. Avg elevation: 8,500',810' gain/loss. Legs were tired and heavy this morning so I took it really easy. May drop back to only 3-4 miles tomorrow morning to hopefully have fresh legs on Saturday. Also made the mistake of eating banana and peanut butter sandwich about 15 mins before the run. Definitely was hard on the stomach for the first mile or so. I usually have a snack before I run + 1 cup of coffee, but I was starving this morning. First run back with B pup after her spay. We are a day early, but her stomach looks good and she is just a ball of energy (sprinting laps around the house last night), so I took a gamble this morning and figured she could handle an easy run in the woods.

 PM: Easy 2 with hubby and pups. The hubby wants to get back into running so I suggested we start with an easy two mile loop after work every other day for the next few weeks. He will be running faster and longer than me in no time.. he's just one of those people that are even in shape when they think they are out of shape. Insanely jealous of his genetics.

AM: ~hour hike with pups on trails. Legs are feeling okay, but realized that I may be slightly over the total weekly mileage if I ran this morning. Plus, it felt nice to just hike. Unfortunately, we met about 10 trail runners on the trail this morning. This is essentially unheard of. We hike/run these trails nearly every other day and occasionally see 1 other people and maybe his/her dogs. At any rate, L and B pup were TERRIBLE.. really embarrassed me. Now, of course- I know my dogs wouldn't hurt a fly, they are super sweet and friendly, but really excitable. However, I know from my own experience running out on somewhat remote trails that coming upon a barking dog that is obviously happy about seeing me and trying to jump up on me is slightly disconcerting ...and I love dogs! But you just never know. At any rate, I saw the first runner and grabbed L pup, but B pup didn't even turn to look at me when I called her. She was off and running and barking. I yelled out that she was friendly, just young and stupid and he seemed to understand. I got up to them and grabbed her and a couple more people went by. Unfortunately, they didn't mention that there were a few more people coming over the hill, so not seeing any one else I let them go. Stupid me. L and B pup both saw the additional runners coming up on the trail and again took off to meet them- I yelled and yelled for them to come back, but nope- not interested. I felt SO bad and was so embarrassed. I work with them and work with them, but the reality is that we rarely see anyone else that we do not know on the trails, so it is incredibly difficult to train the dogs for these situations. However, this is no excuse. I realized that if they are not 100% reliable 100% of the time, they are not allowed to be off leash. Which means that they can't accompany me on the majority of my runs because they are typically impossible on leash. I'm a bit depressed about this at the moment.

 The other aspect that I will have to contend with is, oddly enough, my husband. I get the feeling that he simply thinks we are just not working with them enough and that if we put the time and effort in, they will become good companions on the trails (and off the trails). It does not seem like he has not been very supportive about finding trainers or even reading books on dog training. Additionally, he usually also does not want to deal with them in social situations (easier to just leave them home). My opinion is that they will never become better behaved in social situations (hiking on well traveled trails or even taking them to a farmer's market) if we do not introduce and familiarize them to these situations. We can't expect them to magically learn the correct behaviors. Anyways, definitely disappointed in myself for not being on the ball and getting them the proper training sooner. But we will be starting today on more basics and hopefully finding some classes/trainers in the area soon. If anyone has recommendations for good books on the subject, please let me know!

Bit disappointed with my overall time on this race. I figured since it was nearly in my backyard and I run trails and hills almost every other day- I could easily finish around 2:30 (12:30 pace). However, this was not the case today. I ended up walking the uphills much earlier than I thought I would and I think I did okay on the downhills (although, definitely not as fast as some people- I really wish I knew how to fly like some of these runners.. wow, they can move!). The other issue that arose was around mile 3-4 my toes started to go numb. Then when I started the big uphill to Windy Peak, I realized that both feet were cramping up near the balls of my feet and first three toes. I'm hurting pretty bad at this point and was feeling depressed about the fact that I was walking and it was getting pretty hot so I kept telling myself that I was being a wimp and I should just suck it up. Well the cramping/numbness continued throughout the remainder of the race- alternating between numbness on the downhills and cramping on the uphills. I've been pretty good about hydration lately and eating well, and I had first endurance EFS drink in my bottles so I knew my salt should be good (and I felt hydrated, not over drinking or under drinking). I've run in these shoes for almost a month now and never had this problem. However, the trail was much steeper on the incline and decline than what I am used to, so perhaps it was just all the pounding. I also felt like my breathing was way out of control when I tried to run up the steep sections. I purposefully switched my garmin so that I couldn't see my heart rate (knowing it would be really high for most of the race). And I was pretty bummed that I felt the need to walk so early and so often. I was wondering if mentally I was slacking off when I saw other people walk. I don't know. At any rate, here's the stats from the garmin:

mile 1: 10:59

mile 2: 9:57

mile 3: 17:25

mile 4: 19:03

mile 5: 9:24

mile 6: 9:56

mile 7: 21:18

mile 8: 21:05

mile 9: 15:01

mile 10: 10:22

mile 11: 16:23

mile 12: 9:38

Total: 2:50:06, Avg pace: 14:10. Avg heart rate: 170, Max heart rate: 183. Min elevation: 7,616'; Max elevation: 9,126'; 3,110' gain/loss.

 The after race was pretty nice. I got the opportunity to meet Stacy from the blog and that was awesome! So glad we got the chance to meet face to face and chat for a bit. Definitely the highlight of the race for me. I grabbed a bit of food, soaked my feet in the river, and bought a new Nathan hydration backpack (proceeds went to a local group that works to get youths out into the mountains- what a great cause!). The waist belt did not work all that well on the fast downhills. I actually lost a gu and feel terrible about littering. I didn't know it fell out until much later.  Oops. I also purchased some compression sleeves for my calves. I've never tried them before and I thought- 'what the heck..' We'll see if they make any difference. I stuck around for the awards and giveaways at the end. As usual though they didn't do the name drawings until almost 2:15, and by that time most people had left. So- like many events, they just started handing stuff out and it was a total cluster! I don't like to be near these situations, makes me feel a little nauseated.. maybe that makes me weird. My hubby came back to pick me up around 3 and we went and grabbed a burger at one of the local bars in town. I was SO hungry- they didn't have much GF food, so I survived on 1/2 gu and small chicken salad for the better part of the day. I do not eat red meat (or any meat) all that often, but the burger (sans bun) was SO delicious. I even had bacon on it.. shameful, I know.

 After I downloaded the data from the garmin, I did not feel as bad about my time. My average heart rate was 170 and that is pretty high for me. It was definitely a tough course and I felt like I worked pretty hard. I do think I can run more sections of the course though and so I'm determined to run a rematch sometime in the near future. Additionally, the numbness/cramping in the toes did turn out to be real. They were numb the rest of the day on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and now it is Tuesday and while they are getting better, the numbness feeling is definitely still there. Weird and annoying to say the least.