Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

38F; partly cloudy w/ gibbous moon; dry and calm. Easy run. 25 min. strength.

This was supposed to be a "recovery run," but I didn't feel I needed any recovery. Yay for that!  Energy level good and legs felt good.  

What is the deal with Under Armour?  I love thrift shops, and recently found a UA top in my size for $5, so I thought I'd try it out. I'm sure they are at least 10 times that price new.  Now I wish I had my 5 bucks back.  I was chilly and a bit uncomfortable (tight under the arms) in this top.  What is UA for and why is it so expensive?  I would prefer my Smartwool tops to this one any day, and if it were warmer I'd just go with a normal tech-fabric shirt.  Someone enlighten me please.  :)

Did you know that sugar is 4 times more addictive than cocaine?  Willpower, schmillpower. A clinic in Northern California uses amino acids to change their patients' brain chemistry and kick sugar addiction.  You can take their online quiz.  But you're going to have to burn your USDA Food Pyramid. 

High 30s - low 40s F;  first 12 miles: rain showers w/ snow mixed in and very windy at times; last 8 miles: dry, cloudy w/ sun breaks and occasional gusty wind.    Endurance run, club run w/ MP, Leg Builder Hill, and finished around the Ridge. 

Some women whom I know from the neighborhood came to the club run today (I have mentioned them before; they run together weekday mornings but are too fast for me usually.)  I decided to throw caution to the wind and run with them and the pace turned out to be between 9:00 and 9:20 most of the time.  Insto-presto, marathon pace workout!  :D  

Well, I had a feeling I'd pay for it later, and the last 4 miles of my 20 were pretty hard.  I think it was worth it.  It sure was fun (the MP part, not the last 4 miles).  

Also present was a new woman, trying out the club for the first time, and she ran with us as well.  I was enjoying her company, and feeling a bit awed by her tall, slender self, running all gracefully and effortlessly.  Then she told me she is a Smartwool Sales Rep, and I had to elevate her to Goddess Status.  Naturally, I had to gush about the many ways in which Smartwool products enrich my life. I would have earned myself Blabbermouth Status with her, except that the fast pace precluded my talking for as long as I could have. 

I'm so lucky I didn't have to run yesterday, in the horrible storm.  We were absolutely hammered with rain, wind, hail, and sleet yesterday morning. At my house the wind speed got up to 42 mph.  All my porch furniture crawled up on itself in one corner of the deck, and my yard waste bin got scooped out of its little niche and thrown into the middle of the back lawn.   So I was not surprised to see the branches everywhere this morning.  One tree down as well.  It made me appreciate the relative mildness of this morning's weather. 

Shoot, I've got so much to say today... OK, coming to the end soon.  Mr. Sno & I bought a pull up bar for our little home gym, and it arrived yesterday.  Guess how many pull ups I can do?  Zero!  Wow, lucky me to have so much room for improvement!  ;)   SnoFlake, my young gymnast, loves it and can do all kinds of tricks on it. 

Last thing - some folks have been asking me what I eat lately and I wanted to share the yummy dish I made when I came home from my run...  Saute 1/2 C red cabbage, 1/2 C celery & 1/4 C onions in a heaping T of coconut oil (more stable, for higher heat cooking). Salt and cook on medium high until the veggies have softened a bit.  Add 2 scrambled eggs & lower heat.  Stir continuously while cooking for 1 minute.  Top with cheddar cheese (I like Organic Valley Raw), turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan.  Go do something else for a minute or two.  When you come back the cheese should have melted a bit.  Scoop onto plate and top with Muir Glen Organic Salsa.  I also ate a piece of thick slice bacon from Thundering Hooves.   A good source for finding pasture raised meat near you is eatwild.com.  

Happy Easter to my Christian friends!   

48F; sunny, with clouds starting to move in; very windy (20 mph, gusts to 33), felt mostly in open spaces.  Recovery run. 

I'm always glad when I finish a recovery run; they certainly help loosen everything up.  

If you read my post from yesterday, you know that we got a pull up bar, and that I cannot do even one pull-up.  But I can do something like a pull-stayinonespot.  One must start somewhere.  Well, I just have to say, today I am sore in a spot that has never, ever been sore in my whole life that I can recall.  A latissimus dorsi is born? 

38F, cloudy but dry, calm. Easy run.  20 min. strength work.

A little sluggish today.  Lingering effects of Saturday's workout. Lack of zing. Lack of verbs.  :)  

38F, occasional light drizzle. Easy run w/ a wee fast finish: .4 @ 8:51.  20 min. strength

I must say, the ad for high heeled Crocs that's popping up on my screen right now is totally cracking me up.  There's just something really funny about that to me.   

The little monkeys that have been hanging on to my legs since Saturday's run fell off this morning around mile 5.  Farewell until next time, my little friends!  I hadn't really planned to do the faster running at the end, but it seemed like it would be fun, and harmless.

I can do 2 sets of 8 "assisted" pull-ups - Thank you for the tip, Dale!  

Food Corner... I listened to a very nice podcast this morning, which was an interview with Rachel Matesz (scroll down to listen), one of the authors of my favorite cookbook, Garden of Eating. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the book on my blog before.  I highly recommend this podcast; it's encouraging and inspiring for eating a cleaner diet, and I found it very enjoyable to listen to. 

38F; occasional light drizzle and light wind (~10 mph).  Tempo run: 4 mile w.u., 4 x 1 mile at 10K pace w/ 30 sec. recovery b/t.  (8:39, 8:48, 8:28, 8:39), 2.7 cool down, last mile on TM. 

"...at 10K pace..." Hahahahahahaha! That' me cracking up at the thought that I actually know my 10K pace, seeing as how I haven't run a 10K since August of 08.  Pick a number! OK, how about 8:40?  

Actually, during the first mile I just went by feel, getting the speed to a pace where I could think to myself, "I could do this for nearly an hour, but it would be hard," and sticking with that pace.  Second mile was a little hillier than the other miles, hence a bit slower. Third mile was definitely too fast (pant-o-meter too high).  I'm flabbergasted that two of the miles were identical; it's not like me to be so consistent.  ;)

The 30 second breaks were a great idea, if I do say so myself. I have had psychological issues with tempo workouts since last summer, to the point where I'll either worry about the workout so much that I don't sleep at night, or compromise my plan because the thought of how hard it will be is almost paralyzing.  Breaking it up even just a little worked beautifully, and I still worked hard enough to have my legs feel like jello for about 10 minutes after the tempo miles were done. 

Nevertheless, when I ran out of time and had to go home, I still felt like running a bit more.  A mile on the dreadmill cured me of that.  lol   I just love seeing the number 10 on one of my weekday logs.   

Product recommendation...  Thermos Intak Steel Hydro bottle.   (from Target)  My friend has been carrying one around for over a year and recommending it to me. But I almost didn't buy one, because dang! $20 for a water bottle?!?  Worth. Every. Penny.   I adore this thing.  I'd say I'm drinking almost twice as much water now.  Convenient, spill proof, easy care, water stays cool, fits in car cup holder, ergonomic to hold & to sip from.  

34F; snow!!!  Snow falling on about 3/8" of snow and slush (some parts of neighborhood bare), changing to rain mixed with snow and sleet. (Ended up with about an inch at my house.) Short, easy run. 20 min. strength work. 

I knew something was wrong when I got up in the dark and the faint light coming in around the edge of the curtain was oddly bright.  Snow? SNOW?!?  I actually put on Yaktrax. It's April, and I wore Yaktrax!   

So, what was to be a short run got even shorter.  It took me a while to get myself ready, and then I cut the miles short because the slushy surface was causing ice cold water to enter my shoes.  Fun-o-meter dangerously low.  All my shoes are very low profile and light  now that I only wear racers.  In a situation like today's the water just flows right in. 

We watched a documentary about 9/11 the other night that really shook me up.  I keep thinking about it. You can see the trailer here, but the full movie is truly astounding and worth watching.  (If you have Netflix, it's a "play now" movie.)  I would be very interested to hear what others think of this film.  

Crazy cold this morning.  32 on the Ridge and 28F down in the valley. Finished up on the Ridge at 38F.  Light wind from the north; sunny & somewhat overcast.  Objectives: endurance run, club run, exploration, and Leg Builder Hill. 

Awesome run! So pleasant and so enjoyable.  I started with my usual trip down the Parkway into old Snoqualmie.  No one at the club in my pace, so I ran with my imaginary friends. They are always such good company. ;)

Most of the club runners were going over to the Snoq. Valley Trail, so I headed over too.  The small groups of faster runners all glided ahead of me, but then one by one they started to turn back.  It seemed I always had someone in my sight.  After I thought I'd seen the last of them, I turned around too.

For some reason, I just felt really bored by the SVT today, and I always dislike the gravel. So I took a turn off the trail in North Bend and spend a very nice half hour or so exploring the back roads of NB, under the towering shadow of Mt.Si.  This is my favorite kind of run, where there is lots to see and new places to find.  

Eventually I came back around to Snoqualmie, via Hwy 202 for a short stretch (not too bad) and Meadowbrook Farm. Successful gravel minimization. :)  I hit the LB Hill (Snoqualmie Parkway) from miles 15.8 to 17.8. For new folks, I used to call this hill the Spirit Crusher but that seemed overly negative. Now it's the Leg Builder. Not quite as bad today as it has been the past two climbs.  Finished with a few miles around the Ridge.  

Food corner... yes, I ran these 21 miles with no carbs and yes, I felt strong to the end.  Gluconeogenesis  rocks, once you get the hang of it.   Brunch after run = organic turkey sausages, a pile of veggies, and my secret recipe almond-coconut pancakes.  (It's a secret because I haven't written it down yet.  I will definitely share when I have perfected it!)

Good luck to Dale and Running Donkey on tomorrow's Mt Si Relay and Ultraruns.  I really hope you get the kind of weather I had today.    

44F and overcast, then the sun came out and temp quickly rose to high 40s. Recovery run.

Pleasant but sluggish run around the neighborhood. It's nice to run in daylight and see everyone's gardens coming to life.  

ETA: Mon-Sun weekly mileage 53.35 

44F; raining. Easy run. 20 min. strength work.

Really quick, since I have to scoot in a minute....  The monkeys are back on my legs.  Probably just residual from Saturday, but I took it nice and easy and didn't try to push them off.  

Missed a run yesterday, following my policy of no-sleep-no-run, or too little sleep as the case may be.  Sleep issues still plague me since I discussed them last month, though it is definitely improving.

I don't like these shoes. That makes 3 pairs of very nice shoes with low mileage that I have to get rid of. Is there a market on eBay for this?  All size 8.5: Brooks T6, Saucony Fastwitch, and my last pair of Nike Triax 12.   All well under 100 miles.  

39F, clear & calm.  Easy run. 

Last week my daughter had a bad cold all week, and now I'm wondering if I might be fighting it.  I just don't feel my zippy self.  The abundance of snot I've experienced since the weekend could be the cold air, but now I wonder...  

Food corner: Kale Chips....  take a bunch of washed kale and tear the leaf area off the stems in potato chip size pieces.  Get a big bowl and whisk together: 3T olive oil, 2T fresh lemon juice and 1/2 t celtic sea salt (or any salt, but css has more minerals).  Toss in the kale strips and rub the mixture in - fingers work best.  Spread on parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.  Cool and serve. I strongly suggest looking at them after 8 or 9 minutes; they should be crunchy (feel brittle) but not browned, else they will have a burnt taste.  

I actually stole this recipe from Elana's Pantry website, but changed the quantities a bit.   Even my kale-hating family loved these. 

42F; mostly clear & calm.  Easy run.  20 min. strength work.

Only about 1 mile of total darkness today, then the world started getting lighter.  It was a very welcome change.  And yesterday I saw the first swallows of the year in my yard.  Legs are feeling better today. 

After spending two days telling myself I am not getting sick, I had to admit last night that the back of my throat felt sore.  That is how my daughter's cold started last week.  

Last evening I went back and forth in my mind: run, don't run, run, don't run.  I decided to set the alarm and see how I felt in the morning.  But at about 3:30 AM, I woke up feeling all weird at the back of the roof of my mouth - you know the feeling.  

Optimist that I am, I still feel I can "beat" this, ie not get a full-on cold.  But I had to sacrifice the long run today.  This is when doing long runs all the time really pays off! Missing one isn't quite the tragedy it would be if I only had 2 or 3 scheduled.  

I had planned to drive to the Sammamish River Trail today because it is both flat and paved (like Newport Marathon), and run 18 miles with an on/off MP mile x 5 or 6 after 4 miles easy, then a few miles of cool down.  Next week was to be a straight easy to moderate 22 miler.  Now I must decide whether to do the 18 MP next weekend or wait until it comes around again in my schedule.  I guess I'm asking for advice and opinions, although you guys know I'm likely to just do as I please in the end. :) Without any rescheduling the weekend lineup would look like this:  22, 18 w/ MP, 22, 23, 18 w/ MP, 10, marathon.  I guess that looks ok.  I'm all foggy upstairs though...

The signs are good. There is a bit of congestion, but just a bit.  I want to go outside. I suddenly care what my hair looks like (dreadful).  My head no longer weighs 50 lbs. My day planner beckons rather than frightens.  And.... I want to run!  Mr. Sno wisely advises me to get one more day of rest.  Ok.  But I can dream...

Would you kind folks take a look at this elevation profile for me?  I have the worst track record when it comes to judging courses by their elevation profiles.  The Portland Marathon (the other fall marathon I'm considering) is offering a discount for early registration (code=ff20), but the cutoff is April 30, coming right up.  I know I can run well at Portland (my PR was there), but not sure I want to run it for a 4th time.  There are pros & cons.  

Anyway, what I need help with is determining whether Winthrop is a net downhill the way that, say, Western States 100 is a net downhill? ie Yikes.  Or is it more like the way CIM is a net downhill (my second fastest marathon and my best in terms of smart running)?  "250 feet of elevation gain" doesn't seem like much, but like I said I am so bad at judging.  And will all that downhill murder my quads? What's the fun-o-meter on this course? 

I think I've posted this before, but here is my recipe for fighting off colds. It really only works if done within about 12 hours of the first signs of illness (that back-of-throat feeling):  rest (obviously), extra vit D3, glass of water every half-hour, echinacea every 60-120 minutes*,  & no sugar or starches!  That includes orange juice.  Eat red bell peppers instead if you want dietary vitamin C. 

*I am aware that the studies on echinacea have yielded mixed results. I just want to say that I have never found it helpful when used as directed, and I have always found it helpful when taken throughout the day, as suggested to me long ago by a friend. If it's a placebo, it's an awfully consistent one.   

58F; overcast and windy at times (~15 mph w/ gusts to 29). Easy run. 20 min strength work. 

A fine and pleasant ride on the SnotnSniffle Express.  I was surprised by my energy level. I left enough time to get at least 8 miles, maybe a little over, but must have been moving faster than I thought to get 8.41.  Good little immune system, good, good. 

About strength training... I have several friends whom I respect and trust, who swear they "love lifting weights."  I'm sure they're telling the truth. I wonder if they know I'm telling the truth when I say "I love running."  Anyway, how can they love lifting weights?  I absolutely hate it, though I am 100% convinced that it is important.   I don't expect an answer; I'm just whining.  I also take cod liver oil, because I'm convinced it's important.  If someone said, "I love cod liver oil!" --that would give you an idea of how bizarre this love-lifting sentiment seems to me.  

50F;  a few showers. Easy run. 20 min. strength.

I forgot how nice it is to have some daylight on every run. I'm still starting out in darkness every day, but the daylight comes quickly.  

44F; steady rain. VO2 max workout - w.u., 4 x half mile @ 5K effort*, c.d. 

*see second paragraph, below 

So, there I am warming up: wet, sniffly, somewhat breathless (psychosomatic I think), with a cycling jacket to keep some of the water and self-pity out, soaking feet... And I'm running along thinking, "this is a bad day for a speed workout."  Yesterday or even Monday would have been better.  I mentally curse the inaccuracy of "Five Day Weather" outlooks.  I spend my entire warm up talking myself out of blowing off the planned workout.  

In the end, I went with the ol' standby of Something is Better than Nothing.  My results for the 4 reps were:  whine, sigh, struggle, and hang-in-there.  Oh. You wanted actual pace splits? Ok. 9:22, 8:49, 8:25, 8:20.  Goal was 7:50-8:00, but at least I got faster as I went along.  

Best not to dwell on it.  Instead, how about we amuse ourselves over... My Very Own Special Brand of OCD.  I have a very specific, benign little OCD thing regarding sidewalks.  I have had this sidewalk thing since I was a small child.  It may have come from the "step on a crack, break your mother's back" rhyme.  (What kind of monster teaches that kind of crap to little children?)  From the time I started walking to school (1st or 2nd grade),  I have had this compulsion to make the cracks "even" between my two feet: one steps on a crack, the other had to as well.     

Now that I'm an adult, and presumably more logical and mature,  it only bothers me when I step on one of those bulging sidewalk separations. I always want to find one for the other foot. Real mature, I know.  I think this may be one of the reasons I like running in the street so much. ("Yes, Officer. But you see, there were so many cracks on the sidewalk...") It's great when I remember to just hold up my head and not pay attention to the ground.  Only, that can lead to tripping over things you know. 

Into this tiny quirk in my otherwise sane existence,  add: worms.  I don't know if it's because of Spring, or what, but with the rain falling steadily, the sidewalks are totally covered with worms today.  Oy. Maybe we should just not discuss this anymore... 

We're halfway through the week, folks!  :D   

44F, cloudy, dry, calm.  Easy run w/ form drills.  10 min core, pushups, pullups. 

Nice morning for a run.  Mr. Sno has the day off so I ran in complete daylight - such a pleasure!  

Happy Earth Day, everyone! We're off to DD's Science Fair, appropriately I think.  Just coincidentally, the socks I finished last night are a sort of multi-color scheme of browns, greens, and purple, which the yarn company calls "Treehugger."   So of course I'm wearing them today. :)  

Low 40s to mid 40s, mostly rainy with some breaks.  Endurance run w/ MP: 5 x (alternating 1 mile @9:00-9:15,  1 mile easy) + Leg Builder Hill.  MP miles: 9:03, 8:50 (part down L.B. hill), 9:02, 9:00. 

We learned Thursday night that a very close friend of ours had died Wednesday.  Grief does not necessarily preclude running, but I didn't feel like being with people and skipped my club run today.  This friend was the most influential person in my whole life, other than my own family.  And mourning someone seems to dredge up all the grief from past losses, you know what I mean? My parents, a favorite aunt, our little nephew, even the cats I've lost, all seem to come to mind and make the new loss harder. It's a balancing act to let yourself grieve but not fall to pieces.  

44F, clear. Recovery run, with lots of walking. 

55F,  mostly clear, very windy (20+ mph). Easy run.  20 min. strength.

Legs feel better than I thought they would.  A little stiff though.  

48F, partly cloudy, calm.  G-A run w/ unplanned MP mile to finish.  20 min strength.

A mile from home I saw Sean Sundwall's sister, a very nice, very fast runner from our club, who kindly slowed down (off her "easy" 8:00) pace, to run with me for a while.  She knows my next marathon course very well, and talked about various questions I had, as well as her recent Boston experience.  I glanced at my Garmin as we were heading up relatively steep hill (me, trying to conceal my gasping for air) and the pace was 9:02.   I wanted to do a hard workout tomorrow, so I hope I didn't overdo it.  

Legs feel fine today. The Piranhas are becoming my favorite shoe, though I haven't tried going long in them.  

43F, occasional light sprinkles.  G-A w/ hill repeats: 1 min hard on ~8-10% grade, 2 min recovery coming down.  Finished run on TM.

Pretty lousy performance on the hill repeats.  I tried a hill that was really too steep (more like 20% grade I think) on the first rep - a real mistake. Moved over to an adjacent hill for the remaining reps.  Better hill but not a better me.  Splits: 11:32 (on the too-steep), 10:03, 9:39, 9:14, 9:45, 9:50. 

On the bright side, I was moving well and enjoying the general aerobic part of the run.  

I feel like I'm on a roller-coaster.  Even though the weather has been only a little wet, the show arena where my daughter's horse show was to be held is too soggy and the show has been postponed yet again.  

That means I am free to run the half-marathon on Saturday.  I decided in the middle of the night to take 2 days off in hopes that my legs will be fresh on Saturday.  Now I have to wrap my brain around it, go back and look at the course maps, etc.  Meanwhile, our friend's funeral is today.  I'm just trying to take one moment at a time.