Cousin It does a loop around Bachman

I really need to get a haircut.

It's a beautiful 72 degrees at lunch. I debate whether to go play some sand volleyball or do the right thing and go for a run. My head wins out over my heart and I decide to head out for a run around Bachman Lake.

Bachman is situated on the north end of Love Field runways. From SWA HDQ back dock, a lap around the lake and back adds up to about 4 miles, which is just right for a (cough, cough) quick loop at lunch. One of the great things about it is that you can take your mind off that nagging side stich by trying to read the tail numbers of the SWA flights landing. It's beautiful.

Today it was all about the wind though. Springtime in Texas means plenty of wind. Occasionally, a cool north wind is available, but for the most part, it only takes one look at trees around here to figure out which way the prevailing winds are.

The lake is on a slight SW to NE slant sort of in the shape of a teardrop. The widest end is on the east side. Knowing this, it was a smart move to jog clockwise around the lake today to catch a tailwind and feel like doing a fast pace! There was a good tailwind from HDQ to the NW corner of the lake. But as I rounded that teardrop bottom, Cousin It came out to play.

Holy cow, the wind was relentless! Even running with a crab (not the crustacean, the angle against the wind), my hair was constantly in my eyes, mouth; pressed into my right ear. It was enough that I almost felt like running with my hands holding it back. (Note to self: next time wear the headband in your locker.)

All in all, it was a nice run. Run on ladies!

Run/swim/run and channelling Poe

So yesterday I wanted to get in a run. The weather was a perfect 75 degrees when I got home from work today so it was just screaming for me to get out and play somehow. I also wanted to get in a swim. Hmmm...how do you get both in?

It's easy! My gym is 2 miles from the house. I wanted to get in about a 4 mile run. Perfect! So in the spirit of training for the tri, I put on my tr-shorts (a little snug these days) and a running tank, grabbed my super-absorbent camp towel and goggles and took off.

A quick side note, about 1/2 mile into the run, a girl turned in ahead of me from another side street. At first glance she looked like she was a serious runner with her waist belt filled with 4 bottles. Then I looked to see her in pink running shoes and a skirt. Now that's just taking the whole girl-power thing too far, but maybe I'm just a tad bit skeptical. LOL! Oh well. It turns out I was able to pass her without much trouble. But the thing is, she's a shuffler in her footsteps. I could hear her shuffled steps behind me, sort of like Poe's Tell-Tale Heart. It drove me nuts! The shuf-shuf-shuffling of her feet made me push my pace a little more. Only this and nothing more.

In any case, I didn't hear her anymore so I assume she turned off at one of the other side streets. Made it to the gym in 19 minutes, so that came to a 9 1/2 minute mile-ish. I was more than content with that since my legs are still tired from Saturday. I went straight to the pool, wrestled a lady for a lane (she and her husband were in separate lanes doing snorkel swimming) and put in 25 minutes in the pool. This leg is going to scare me at the tri.

Afterwards I dried off and headed back out to home. I felt conspicuously bare in the shorts and still wet from the pool. I hit the turn point at Garden Ridge and Kirkpatrick, heading north. Not a few minutes into that, the shuffling comes back. Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

It was an eye-opening moment though, and an expectation I'll need to set come race day.

Training plan for the week of 4/28

9 weeks to Afton 50k (28 mile week)

Another nice week ahead, weather-wise. Now I just have to be wise about fitting in training.

Mon- Run PM 4-5. Maybe swim at the gym afterwards Run-swim-run. Ran to the gym and back (4m total) and 25 minutes of swimming.
Tues - Run at lunch 4m Nope. Worked thru lunch. Got in 4m at REI working, though.
Wed - Bike and/or swim. Volleyball at lunch. Slept bad so had to run at lunch. Windy 4m.
Thurs - Run at lunch 4m
Fri - Rest day, probably volleyball at lunch.
Sat - Need 15-17 miles or 3 hours, whichever comes first.
Sun - Easy 4-6m to loosen up. Maybe laps at the pool.

Saturday's long run

Wow, you just couldn't have asked for a more beautiful morning to run! I slept in until about 7:15, hoping it'd warm up just a touch, then headed down to Coppell to try out a 6m loop around a long stretch of park there. It was about 55 degrees when I started and it warmed up slowly. It'd rained a couple times last week, so I thought the trails might be too wet, so I opted for some roadie miles this time.

Since I'd never been to the Andrew Brown park before, I wasn't exactly sure of the layout. My friend, Rob, had done some marathon training around this area before and recommended it. The park is right at the edge of a nice housing development. When I wasn't looking at the park itself, I was admiring people's landscaping and trying to get ideas. The MP3 player's battery died about 20 minutes into the run, so I had to squash downer thoughts by looking at the rest of the world. :)
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/coppell+tx/#a/maps/l:::Coppell:TX::US:32.954399:-97.014702:city:Dallas+County/m:hyb:11:32.978183:-96.995576:0::/io:0:::::f:EN:M:/e
The run itself felt really good. I worked mostly on form more than anything, as I'd talked to another runner recently about arm motion and footstrikes. With the sun at my back in these early morning hours, I could watch my form in the shadow. I could see a lot of twisting as my arms pumped across my body as opposed to the forward/back motion they should be doing. I also noticed that my shoulders would tighten up and start to encroach on my earspace. I could definitely feel a difference when I caught myself doing both of these things and recheck my form. I hope it eventually helps.

After the first loop, I headed back to the car to peel off the first layer. I started out on a second loop, got about 1/2 mile out and just couldn't get excited to go out for a second lap. I hopped in the car and along the way, decided to head out to Twin Coves for a few laps of hill training.

I ended up doing the remaining 6-ish miles I needed to do along that 2 mile out/back along the road. The legs were tired, but after each 2 mile out/back, I'd take a quick breather and get something to drink. I probably could've/should've done one more had I done a gel right before the 3rd loop, but my energy was spent. Learned something from this though.

I'd read and heard from others about Hammer's Recoverite http://www.hammernutrition.com/ for after you finish a long event. I got a sample in last weekend's race packet and decided to try it out. It has the right mix of protiens and carbs for post-workout fuel. It was a little chalky tasting, but I have to say that on Saturday afternoon and Sunday I didn't feel like I'd run 12 the day before (on pavement, no less). I'll have to see where I can find more of this stuff.

Good week. Gotta get my long run in Friday after work or early Saturday before heading down to Biloxi. Yikes!

Mom's pushups

I had to laugh last night, because I found out that my mom is in better shape than I am in one respect. That woman can do 40 pushups without any trouble! She's 64!!

Last night I called her on my way home from work since she and Jim are getting ready to go on a trip. We got to chatting about all kinds of things, when she told me she's been stressed at having company in town all the way up to the day they leave. She said that she'd been hitting the gym every day they were there for a little stress relief and to pre-emptively ward off some of the vacation calories.

She mentioned that she had to recently go up to 10lbs in her weight routine, as 8lbs weren't enough anymore. I was so proud of her! I don't think I could do that right now. The legs are strong, but nothing above the hips is in shape. With that, she said that she recently did 20 "real" pushups, then 20 more from her knees and she said that she hardly struggled with it. It made me grin from ear-to-ear! How many of you can say your moms can do that? She's so dang cool!

Training plan for the week of 4/21

10 weeks to Afton 50K - (20 mile week projected)
Should be a nice warm week for good heat training. Sore from the race right now, but by the end of the week, I should be good enough for a longer run on Saturday. No REI until Sunday!

Mon- Pool time (pool run and swim laps) - DONE - did about 750yds
Tues - Easy 3-4 mile run - Moved it to Wed morning...did okay at about 3m
Wed - Something in the morning - bike maybe? Yeah, nothing.
Thurs- Easy 3-4 mile run (Campion trail) Probably nothing again. F/A Liquor mockup tonight, then Survivor. I just slapped my hand. Will have to make up for it tomorrow.
Fri - Pool or stationary bike Nada. I sucked :)
Sat - Long, slow run, probably 13 miles depending on the legs Did 12. Ran around a lake area in Coppell, then went over to Grapevine for 3 laps on the hill route. Nice!
Sun - Work Paddle Day for REI, which means lots of lifting and moving

Rocky Hill Ranch 25K (Smithville, TX)

Wow what a beautiful trail run this was! Next year I'll go for the 50k, because the trails couldn't have been nicer. There were some rolling hills...nothing too big; nothing too small. It was just enough to keep my interest and keep the legs from getting bored. The trail wound through the trees and the woods beautifully. You could see other runners just briefly as they hit the twisty, pine covered trails. Too bad my mind wasn't really in the game.

I drove down with another member of the club. She's a sweetheart, but boy she can chatter! It was non-stop commentary all the way down to Austin and back the next day. I'm not completely sure why my head wasn't into the race though, unfortunately. I think I started off a little too fast with a group for the first mile or two, then had to slow down. I really struggled with the first 5 miles and kept thinking that the aid station would come any moment. I got to the first one about 10 minutes behind what I'd expected and this probably set me down the path for the next 5 miles of mental agony.

I tried some new shoes this time around, Brooks Adrenaline trail shoes. I like the comfort of them, but think that I had problems with them because they're technically a stability shoe and I really should be in a neutral. I rolled my ankles a lot this race; more than usual at least. And to make matters worse, I'm used to a wider toe-box on my old shoes (Asics Gel Eagle IV), so the slightly longer, pointier toe probably contributed to some trips over roots and rocks. I ended up with a good spill about halfway through the race. I'll try to get a picture of it if it bruises up well (I'm wearing a skirt to work today to show off my "badge of honor"). After a little pity-party and tantrum, I got back up and continued running.

Fortunately after the second aid station (around 10 miles) I just decided to go for it. Ahead of me was a runner who I'd been following at about the same pace for a couple of miles before the second aid station. He tended to start speed walking at about the same time I would. We stayed like this for a while, when he slowed down so I could catch up with him. His name is Nick and he's a bar/restraunt owner from Houston. He's a great guy who was doing the 50k, but doing it at a reasonable pace. Despite my not being one to chat much during a race, he and I talked a lot during those last 5 miles or so. Thankfully, he kept my mind off enough to get me through it. If you're reading this, Nick, thank you!!

I finished the 25k in about 3:25, which was about 25 minutes longer than I'd planned. The hammies were tight (I didn't fuel well this race), but otherwise felt unspent. There's a long way to go and a lot of tough training miles before I"ll be ready for the 50k in July. Yikes!

I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with NTTR friends, met a few other ultra people and found a coupke old adventure racing friends I hadn't seen in a long time as I waited for my chatty, driving buddy to finish her 50k.

Overall, it was an okay training day on a spectacular course. There's always next year.

Getting started...

Shhh...don't tell anyone that I'm doing this at work and avoiding working on use cases. Yeah, I'm not completely sure what they are either, but I'm supposed to know.

In any case, my dear freind, Deeann started up a blog to track her adventures in training for the Danskin Triathlon we're doing down in Austin in June. That inspired me to start up my own, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while. As an added bonus, I'm also hoping to do some race write-ups as I go through them. Should be fun, right?

In a nutshell, I do enjoy trail running, though there are some days that it's a struggle to get out and just do it. Everyone goes through that from time to time, but I tend to fight it more when it chilly outside. Fortunately I live in TX and the heat will be kicking in any day now.

I'm training right now for a 50K race up near Minneapolis later this summer. I figure I can enjoy a holiday weekend with Deeann and her hubby, Greg, as well as get a little exercise in. Afton is right on the St Croix river on the border of MN and WI. The trail looks like it can be hilly at times, but not too hilly. There are very few long straightaways which is a good thing. I tend to bore quickly and love all the twists and turns. This race has plenty of twists if you look at the map.

I've attempted 2 50k's in the past. My first attempt was down in Hunstville TX for my birthday 2 years ago. It was a good effort, I felt great, but somehow got to chatting with the folks at an aid station on the 2nd loop and missed doing a 3 mile portion of the trail. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper once I figured this out and reached a lake about 1/2 hour sooner than I was supposed to. I 'fessed up to the RD and took my DQ.

The second attempt really wasn't a true attempt. Dianna, Maribel and I went out to CA to do the Shadow of the Giants 50k which is near Yosemite NP and Sequoia NP. In actuality, we signed up for the 15k, but found out all the beautiful parts of the race only through the giant sequoias on the 50k. We devised a plan to just run what we could and drop at the end of a loop that would take us back to the start. We joggled a good portion of it, but stopped to take pictures along the way like the tourists that we were. We ended up doing about 26 miles, untrained mind you, but still enjoyed the race. Maybe next year I'll go out again and make a true attempt at it.

I'm running a 25k tomorrow at the Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville, mainly as a training run for Afton. I'll update you later with a race report.

Gotta run! KK