Every Wish That We Put Into Motion.... (comments welcome!)

[Herding_Cats]

Things are.......going?

On Monday I did manage to get my 6mi trail run in (it felt better than I expected it to?) and tried out a new trail for it. While it was nice to change things up, it has significantly less hills (as in nearly none) so it won't really be super useful for my current needs. This trail has a ~2mi loop on one side of the road and ~4-8mi of trails on a loop on the other side of the road (with a few spots where you can cut off some mileage.) The shorter side runs down to a river, so that's where the downhill and then uphill are. The longer loop is basically all flat. This is a local fat tire bike trail so it's very easy to follow, and there are plenty of signs to keep you on the path when you get into one of the fields where there are also old logging-access roads crossing things. I was tired at the end, but felt better than expected on my first successfully-completed B2B trail long runs.

Tuesday: rest day. And shopping with DD for the last-minute food items for our fathers day group camping trip.

Wednesday: was supposed to be 4mi but ended up being only 2 because those Novablasts just are not going to work for me. I gave them to DS2 to try out because he needs a pair of long-run/recovery-run shoes for this summer. If he doesn't like them they're getting exchanged for something else. Seriously, my legs hurt so much from these.

Thursday: 4hrs 45min refereeing girls basketball. The basketball was bad. And then I had to zip home to shower and change and head to the campground for the weekend.

Friday: 4mi running. We camp at this campground nearly every fathers day weekend, and I've figured out the routes I like for it. It's pretty easy to get down the highway to a much less trafficked road to get some miles in. Unfortunately for me, I figured out shortly after turning off the (very busy) highway that this side road was semi-recently "chip and sealed" which means there is a lot of small, loose rocks on the road. And the speed limit is still 55mph. This also makes the shoulder a little more unreliable for footing. The good thing was that drivers slowed down to pass me (less rocks flying from their tires this way) and it looks like it was completed about a month ago, so a good portion of the loose stuff has cleared. I tried to run the hillier direction, but only ended up with about 220ft of ascent for the run. The hills were less steep, but longer, so I did try to stick to my intervals even on the uphills. This was pretty successful, and while I felt like I was going really slow, my pace was a solid mid-13 using 20/30 intervals.

Saturday: I basically didn't sleep Friday night because of dogs, snoring, wind, thermometer alerts (the dads smoked a brisket overnight), and finally fell asleep at around 4am. We also had 5 graduation parties to attend, so that took up most of the day and I pretty much crashed out at 10pm.

Sunday: packing up from camping, all of the laundry from camping, grocery shopping, feeding and watering all of the plants and animals when we got home. Plus it's fathers day and I don't have a high need to dip out for an hour. I have approximately 13 hours of refereeing to do on Monday and Tuesday (long run substitute!), so I'll be doing that and then trying to get somewhat back on track.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Friday flowers from my camping run, and one of the long rolling hills I got to "enjoy."



Trails from Monday. And I found a "Chicken of the Woods" mushroom?



One of the things I always find magical is the way we have seemingly random dirt roads in our area that often have this really nice row of 80+ year old maple trees running down both sides.


13 more days until this little girl comes home! I am both excited (because puppy!) and nervous (because puppy) about it.

 

[avondale]

Good running! The trails look nice. That is quite a hill!

 

[garneska]

Omg puppy! And the trail pics look great, but OMG PUPPY!

 

[Herding_Cats]

Mid-week notes:

-I *finally* found shorts for refereeing at TJ Max of all places! And they didn't ride up at all even when it was so humid and I was so sweaty I felt like I had just gone for a swim. They are men's shorts (Legend is the brand) with a 5in inseam, and "regular" pockets except they zip shut. Not really "running" shorts but definitely athletic shorts and they totally did the job. And they were only $10. WOOHOO! (But now I have 3 other pairs of shorts to return *sigh* )

-I see that Bodi has a new lifting program that's 25min. Joel (the guy who did Liift4/LiiftMore) is the "trainer" and a quick glance tells me that only 1 day per week of cardio and the rest is lifting. This seems doable to try to incorporate? And it's NOT behind an "early access" paywall beyond the regular subscription.

-I'm supposed to do 2 long runs this weekend and it's going to be in the low 90s. That's HOT for our area. Especially this early in the summer. We're talking T+D of 130+ at 7am, which I understand for southerners is "normal" but that's bananas up here!

 

[jmasgat]

Congrats on finding shorts. I abhor clothes shopping of all kinds. Just yesterday I vented to my DH “ Men’s clothes are not nearly as size-random/difficult to fit as women’s”— which explains why I have yet to make it out the door to try and find a swimsuit for my trip to Disney in a week.

 

[Herding_Cats]

@jmasgat these are literally the first shorts I've owned (aside from my under-tutu shorts that have a big silicone band on the thigh) in probably over a decade that don't ride up. Are they super flattering? Ehhhhh. I do not care.

 

[avondale]

-I'm supposed to do 2 long runs this weekend and it's going to be in the low 90s. That's HOT for our area. Especially this early in the summer. We're talking T+D of 130+ at 7am, which I understand for southerners is "normal" but that's bananas up here!

Don't avoid training in it. The way the summer is shaping up for the northeastern US, you may be smacked with similar conditions on race day.

But do take lots of fluids, be sure to have electolytes, and be ready to do way more walking than usual. (This is one reason to go for time-based runs instead of distance-based...when the T+D is so high, you have to slow down a lot. But at least if you're doing a time-based run, you still know how much time you're committing to.)

 

[avondale]

Don't avoid training in it. The way the summer is shaping up for the northeastern US, you may be smacked with similar conditions on race day.

But do take lots of fluids, be sure to have electolytes, and be ready to do way more walking than usual. (This is one reason to go for time-based runs instead of distance-based...when the T+D is so high, you have to slow down a lot. But at least if you're doing a time-based run, you still know how much time you're committing to.)

I meant to add that this exact reason is why I don't train for long races in the summer! Even with slowing way down and walking a lot, my HR/effort still ends up being way too high for appropriate training when it gets to be more than 90 min or so. Then I'm just so exhausted (and usually dehydrated even with fluids) that I can't train properly in the following week, so it becomes a vicious cycle. Please be cautious for sure! But if you get it done, you will definitely feel a sense of accomplishment - and you should!

 

[Herding_Cats]

I meant to add that this exact reason is why I don't train for long races in the summer! Even with slowing way down and walking a lot, my HR/effort still ends up being way too high for appropriate training when it gets to be more than 90 min or so. Then I'm just so exhausted (and usually dehydrated even with fluids) that I can't train properly in the following week, so it becomes a vicious cycle. Please be cautious for sure! But if you get it done, you will definitely feel a sense of accomplishment - and you should!

is this an instance were it might make sense to avoid the hilly trail I've been using and sticking to a more flat trail (we have a crushed gravel rail trail that I can get all of the miles in on) and supplement with hills/stairs on my route? There's a boat launch that's about 1/3 of a mile hill from the parking lot down to the lake that the XC team runs for repeats I could use. This trail also follows a lakeshore, which will help keep the temperature a few degrees lower, but also add in the delight of peak may fly hatch and nearly no shade.

I agree that heat acclimation is going to be really important for me this summer, but I don't know that I want to throw myself into the deep end this early. (I'm totally not avoiding. For sure. )

 

[avondale]

is this an instance were it might make sense to avoid the hilly trail I've been using and sticking to a more flat trail (we have a crushed gravel rail trail that I can get all of the miles in on) and supplement with hills/stairs on my route? There's a boat launch that's about 1/3 of a mile hill from the parking lot down to the lake that the XC team runs for repeats I could use. This trail also follows a lakeshore, which will help keep the temperature a few degrees lower, but also add in the delight of peak may fly hatch and nearly no shade.

I agree that heat acclimation is going to be really important for me this summer, but I don't know that I want to throw myself into the deep end this early. (I'm totally not avoiding. For sure. )

Yeah, I'd say going for fewer hills so that you can complete the run at the appropriate effort level is worth it. You'll still be working on acclimation because you'll still be out in the high T+D.

 

[Herding_Cats]

6/15-6/23. In which, 6/15 was a Sunday.

Sunday: didn't run. Unpacked from camping, gave my legs extra rest in preparation of Monday and Tuesday's work.

Monday: 6 hours of refereeing. I was originally scheduled to start at noon, but that game was cancelled so I started at 1pm. This wasn't overly strenuous, just loooooong and the gym hotter as the day went on. Unsurprisingly. One coach got grumpy with me, and had it been a "regular" game and not just summer basketball (essentially just getting kids time in the gym to scrimmage) I would have assessed a technical foul on her. But it really irritated me since it's summer basketball and we weren't even keeping score or tracking fouls. We (the officials that were working) talked about it between games since as a never official I am still working out where "the line" is for what is just a coach expressing their frustration and what is a personal attack/unprofessional comments, and they agreed that it would absolutely have been T-worthy. DH worked with me for the last 3 hours and when we finished up he asked what I wanted for dinner. What I really wanted was to stop at the local mexican restaurant, but they're closed on Mondays. So I settled for my 2nd choice, which was garlic cheese bread and pizza. Heavy on the garlic cheese bread. Gimme all the carbs!

Tuesday: 5 hours of refereeing. And here came the tired legs. And the gym was even hotter, and the weather had turned humid. The same coach from Monday popped off on me again and this time it was so clearly over the line from her that I did assess a T (which for summer basketball is ridiculous.) The very-experienced official I was working with even commented on how out of line it was. *sigh* And now I get to deal with the down-stream effects of being "that ref" although it'll probably be very minor since that coach's school is 2.5 hours away and out of the range I work.

Wednesday: I was sore. And exhausted. And as planned, did nothing.

Thursday: I can't remember exactly what all went down, but I didn't manage to get my 5mi in on this day either.

Friday: took the dog to get neutered, which was a 75min drive away, and then spent the day at SIL's house hanging out until pick-up time. Didn't get home until 6pm, and our heat wave was already settling in. Talked with DH about the plan for Saturday because I needed to get a run in, it was supposed to be a long one, and we had a lot of things to get done.

Saturday: The plan said "12 mi with 30min moderate in the middle." I got up at 6am to hear a pretty impressive thunderstorm rolling through to the north. How impressive? They were warning of up to 2in hail, 70mph wind gusts, and possible flash flooding. And there was a LOT of lightning. I dragged my feet a little bit since the storm cell was flaring up to the south/toward where I was running to let it get all the way through before I went out. Ended up starting my run a little after 730 instead of 7 as a result. Starting temperature was about 70 degrees, 98% humidity, and the dewpoint was about 65. So a bit moist, and the temperature was going up fast (82 on the car ride home with about 75% humidity)

I had loaded up my vest's bladder with ice cubes to start, had a 250mL softflask with blue powerade, a mini packet of skittles, 2 maurten 100 caf gels, and a stroopwaffle in the pockets. I had planned to front-load all of the hills as I ran on the rail-trail around the lake, so every half mile or so there was an uphill I could run for the first few miles. I did a total of 3 hills, and got about 400ft out of them. After the 3rd one I decided that it was more important for me to complete the time/mileage than it was to get in the hills. I was not having a great time. I settled in with 30/30 intervals to start (walking the hills because they were pretty steep and I was also trying not to blow up my HR first thing) but dialed them back to 15/30 by mile 3. When I was unable to get my HR back under 160 I walked miles 3 and 4. (At the skittles here.) So much for not blowing up my HR! It was sooooo hot and humid. This weather is about 15 degrees over the average, and I am not acclimated. I was able to get back to the intervals for miles 5, 6, and the first half of 7.

I had to do some estimating since I had decided to NOT run the hills on my way back to the car, and figured that if I went until my watch said 6.5mi that I would be close to to 12mi when I got back to the car. (I ended up being within 0.2, so go me!) And when I turned around I decided that I would attempt to do the 30min of moderate pace. I paused my watch to set up the intervals so it would tell me when I was done, made a bathroom stop, ate a gel, and put on my cooling buff. And then it was off to the races. I had set my intervals for 40/30, and by the 20min mark I had pretty much flipped them to 30/40 because I.Was.Dying. Did I get my pace from low 14s to 12:37/12:47/13:00? Yes. Yes I did. Did that result in my walking in the rest of my workout? Also yes. Should I have fueled after this? Yes.

However, I think the big win out of the whole run was that I did it in really crappy conditions and also I got my walking pace for the last 3.2mi down to about 15:30. My overall pace was under 15min/mi, which is the goal for August, when hopefully the weather is better. After I got back to where I parked, I peeled off my shoes and socks and stood in the lake out just past knee-deep for about 10min. The water is still pretty cold, so this felt really good. I was creaky and a bit stiff for the rest of the day, but surprisingly felt mostly OK.

The cone the vet's office gave us wasn't long enough and doggo could reach his incision site. We added an inflatable neck donut to the mix, and also started giving him some of the trazadone we had leftover from our other dog's ACL surgery she had last summer. I'm hoping he doesn't end up with an infection because that's all I need to deal with on top of everything else.

Sunday: Was supposed to do 6mi. But the weather was in the 90s, so we decided to float down the river instead. The river is still cold enough that we felt great temperature-wise, but despite applying SPF 60 multiple times, I managed to sunburn the front of myself. I totally got a workout when I had to help swim/paddle our 4 tubes (while DH towed us in the kayak) across one of the lakes into a 20pmh+ headwind. Just a good reminder as to why we don't put in that far upriver....we can completely skip the lake if we put in further down. Also did a lot of just walking in the river to get breaks from the sun, or when the wind kept trying to push us into the banks. As a result, I'm counting this as a cross-training day.

 

[Herding_Cats]

A fun sign, a Lady's Slipper, and a Wood Lily



A very pretty part of the trail, minus it being full of biting flies.


Sooooo many turtle nests along one stretch of the trail!



Where the river dumps into Lake Michigan. With Sleeping Bear sand dunes in the background.


A funny reminder that hills aren't that serious.