In Every Run That Must Be Done; There is an Element of Fun (comments welcome)

[Naomeri]

3 Days Until: TC Women’s Half

So…it’s been a while, huh? Life has been absolutely out of control this month and I haven’t been able to focus enough o write up any journal entries. I was doing pretty well on keeping up with runs until a week and a half ago. Here’s my runs since my last post:

May 30th—Long Hill Repeats with an easy mile before and after:




June 3rd—I attempted 5 miles and really bombed it because I waited until way too late in the day and almost melted in the sun. I’m not even bothering to post the stats. I did achieve 5 miles, but they were slow and terrible, and more than a little of it was just straight walking. I chose a bad place to run with minimal shade.

June 4th—Redemption! I got up earlier and chose to run my 9 scheduled miles on the Katrina Lake Loop because it has a water fountain at the 4.75 mile mark so I could refill my water bottle. Meaning that I set a goal for myself to use all of my water by the halfway point. However, like an idiot, I didn’t take my water bottle out of the holder when I filled it, so it got all wet and I had to take a break and let it dry in the sun a bit. I also paused a few other times to get myself under control. But it was a good run overall, but it did get dang hot by the end, nearly 80°F before 10am.



June 7th—I got out for a run in the evening because I missed the run on June 6th (I don’t recall why) I just did an easy run in the neighborhood because I needed to stop sitting around.



June 10th—another missed run on June 8th, probably heat related or something. So I tried to do my 400m repeats on Saturday. I managed 6 repeats before I stopped. I stopped when I was still feeling good because I usually end up quitting because 400m repeats suck I did finally figure out how incorporate a consistent walk break into the repeats, so I think that will help in the future. I wish I had a different place to do them that had some shade, any shade, but it’s what I’ve got.



June 11th—THE BEST RUN EVER! Seriously, the one day cold snap was bleeping spectacular. It was like 47°F and sunny, with just enough of a breeze to be felt. I wish it had been race day that day, I would’ve decimated my current half PR for sure. Strava says that it was my fastest 10 miles. I definitely could’ve run another couple miles at that pace. I held back on the “out” so I’d have plenty left for the “back”



June 13th—Short Hill Repeats: I didn’t complete all the reps because on rep 6, I overdid it and couldn’t catch my breath. I tried one more rep after that (since they were supposed to start getting easier at the point anyway) and just couldn’t do it. And that was the last run I’ve done. I highly doubt I’ll get any runs in before Sunday because it’s really hot here (ok, maybe y’all down south wouldn’t complain about it as much, but it got hot fast here and I’m not ready) Luckily, Sunday only has a high of 70°F, so I probably won’t die from heat. And I was able to run 11 miles 2 weeks before, so I probably won’t die from the distance either.

June 14th, the AQI blasted up into the mid-200s, so I didn’t think running would be smart, especially since my previous run ended due to lack of ability to breathe. Also, my grandparents left on vacation, and left me to deal with needy cats (one of them has apparently developed some abandonment issues and stayed within 15 feet of me at all times I was in the house and cried at my door in the middle of the night) and a giant fallen tree branch.



It was probably 25-30 feet long, and it took about 6 hours total to deal with. Thursday morning was still bad air, but it was okayish by the time I got off work, so I knocked out the first 2 hour tree work session, which burned about the same number of calories as a 5 mile run (I used the “Other” workout option on my watch)

Friday had a spectacular weather in the morning, but I had to work After work, I put in another 2 hours on the tree, and thought I had done as much as I could, but on Saturday, I found a longer blade for my electric saw so I could finish the last 15 feet or so. I used these big long sections as edging along some pathways in our “park” area.



The whole time my grandparents were gone (they got back Tuesday), I didn’t get a single decent night’s sleep and I just didn’t think I could handle running on top of all the other things I had going on. Some good news came out my grandparent’s trip (to see my uncle in Denver)—my uncle volunteered to come stay with my grandpa so my grandma can come with me to Disneyland in January! I haven’t been to Disney with another person since I was a kid! And I hardly ever have anyone cheering for me, personally, at races.

Now, for some fun:
I have tamed 2 of my baby chipmunks.

This is Star, named for the white blaze on her forehead.



This is Peter, named for Peter Pan (the leader of the Lost Boys) when he was the little lost and blind baby I found a couple weeks ago. He is a child of Ein and it shows, in his brains and troublemaking abilities.

 

[Naomeri]

1 Day After: TC Women’s Half

Well, it finally happened, I had my first DNF. It was a confluence of bad things: high humidity, poor pre-race hydration, lack of sleep, and 10 days prior beforehand any running whatsoever. Also, I started out far too fast, but that’s fairly typical for me The race organizers didn’t give a super detailed map or any elevation data, so I was unprepared for the hills in Miles 2 & 3.

The face of a person who has no idea how much the next hour and half is going to suck



I was really sad that I couldn’t finish, since my grandparents had gotten up early to come with me and cheer me on, but by mile 4, I was all alone and could only see the person ahead of me when there was a clear quarter-to-half mile of visibility on the course. Apparently, there were 4 people walking somewhere 5-10 minutes behind me, but since I never saw them and had no idea they existed until I saw the final results, it doesn’t really count in my mind (and certainly didn’t count in the moment) There was no one out there cheering anywhere, except a little girl at the 3rd water stop. I got more on-course encouragement on my last training run

Anyway, I texted my grandma at mile 6 to make sure she had my bag with her where they were waiting at mile 7. Shortly after, the race director went by on his bike, so I knew the leaders would be soon to follow. The leader passed me, and I cheered for her (just because I’m DFL doesn’t mean I’m gonna be a sore loser). 5 minutes later, #2 passed me, and just before I hit the turn off for Lap 2 vs finish line, #3 went by. I met my grandparents, changed out of my shoes, and went back to the car to eat something and go home.




The plan going forward is to keep on with the plan as written. The last 2 weeks aside, it really was going well, I just need to do better with the heat (and hope that Canada keeps its smoke to itself on my running days) I don’t have any other races between now and my goal weekend at the end of September.

The day before the race, my cousin and his wife brought their kids to visit. I got to introduce the older 2 to Star and Peter Chipmunk. Star was pretty much okay with them, but Peter got a little freaked out (but did end up being the chipmunk in the pictures)

 

[Herding_Cats]

by mile 4, I was all alone and could only see the person ahead of me when there was a clear quarter-to-half mile of visibility on the course. Apparently, there were 4 people walking somewhere 5-10 minutes behind me, but since I never saw them and had no idea they existed until I saw the final results, it doesn’t really count in my mind (and certainly didn’t count in the moment) There was no one out there cheering anywhere, except a little girl at the 3rd water stop. I got more on-course encouragement on my last training run

This pretty much describes all of the local races I've run in (excluding the Firecracker 5k.) And yeah. It really sucks. Also, it's a reason I don't do very many races, because it really does end up being like a paid training run. The commiseration is strong.

 

[Naomeri]

This pretty much describes all of the local races I've run in (excluding the Firecracker 5k.) And yeah. It really sucks. Also, it's a reason I don't do very many races, because it really does end up being like a paid training run. The commiseration is strong.

I was really hoping to like this one, because it isn’t in Minneapolis. Most of the other local half marathons are in Minneapolis, which requires A) driving downtown and B) paying for parking. The only other local, non-downtown spring/early summer half I ran has now downgraded to a 10 Miler, which wouldn’t be a problem, except for how much time is spent running on the shoulder of an active highway

Maybe next year I’ll look for a couple 5Ks or 10Ks to run in the summer, since I’m hoping for Dopey 2025 and wouldn’t have to start training until almost fall.

 

[GollyGadget]

Sorry you had a rough day! End of September should have better weather and remember that summer training can lead to fall PRs.

 

[Naomeri]

Sorry you had a rough day! End of September should have better weather and remember that summer training can lead to fall PRs.

At least I know there will be crowd support at my next race, it’s Twin Cities Marathon weekend! I set my 10K PR there last year.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

This pretty much describes all of the local races I've run in (excluding the Firecracker 5k.) And yeah. It really sucks. Also, it's a reason I don't do very many races, because it really does end up being like a paid training run. The commiseration is strong.

This has happened to me too. I have to travel to all races, and quite a few in Tucson are pretty small. It was a 10k and when I got to the starting line there was only about 100 people and they all looked fast. And they were. I don't really mind being on the slower side of things most of the time, but at races I kind of count on the comradery. Now whenever I register for one of the smaller races, I always look at finishing times from previous years.

 

[Naomeri]

This has happened to me too. I have to travel to all races, and quite a few in Tucson are pretty small. It was a 10k and when I got to the starting line there was only about 100 people and they all looked fast. And they were. I don't really mind being on the slower side of things most of the time, but at races I kind of count on the comradery. Now whenever I register for one of the smaller races, I always look at finishing times from previous years.

That’s a good thought to keep in mind

 

[Naomeri]

95 Days Until: TC Loony Challenge

I actually got out for a scheduled run today! I also did the Magic Mile that should have been done last Saturday. I was kind of excited, because my grandma said the weather person on the local news said the humidity would be going down this week. Well, apparently only for people who do things at normal times of day, not crazy people who get up at the crack of dawn to run. I had 88% humidity. Granted, it was “only” 60°F when I started (67 when I finished) but humidity is humidity. I took a 3 minute break between my MM and my scheduled run and my glasses fogged up while I was standing still.

I chose to run on the Luce Line, which, in hindsight, was dumb, because we’re far enough into summer that the deer flies are out and they like to land in my hair and it drives me insane. And the mosquitos were swarming, but my pre-run bug spray took care of most of the actual biting attempts (except for the giant determined ones that managed to get me through the strap of my handheld water bottle )

My MM was slightly slower than the last one, but not significantly so. Which, when combined with my run 2 weeks ago, tells me that it’s an accurate indicator of what I’m capable of in ideal conditions.




I don’t have any chipmunk pictures to share today, but I did catch a nice shot of a deer this morning.

 

[Naomeri]

89 Days Until: TC Loony Challenge

I missed Thursday’s run due to unhealthy AQI, and Saturday’s run due to lack of ability to drag myself out of bed

But I did manage to get out Sunday, though it was a struggle to get moving. I had 8 miles on the schedule, and I ran 7, walked 1. It was getting too sunny for me by the time I hit mile 7, I felt like I was overheating a bit, so I chose to walk the rest of the way back to the car. I will no longer be “sleeping in” on weekends—alarms for 6:15 and 6:30 have been moved to 5:30 and 5:45 to match my Tues/Thurs running times.



Looking at the times, I can see that I was going much too fast in miles 6 and 7, which obviously contributed to the overheating feeling. I didn’t think I was going that fast at the time. Mile 5 is only that slow because I stopped to move a caterpillar off the path. It was super fat and green—it looked like Heimlich from A Bug’s Life

My run was long enough to earn me the UFO Day badge from my yearly cumulative mileage tracker.



Angel cooperated for a photo shoot this morning, demonstrating why her name is Angel, since it’s certainly not her behavior—she’s pretty territorial and demanding (she was sitting on the statue and chirping loudly for attention)



Peter is another extra territorial chipmunk (you can see the evidence of his fighting on his back end) but he’s very friendly towards me



And this is Turtle, a new baby chipmunk that I met and fed today (he lives under a bunch of turtlehead plants)



Oh, I also met an actual turtle in our “park” today

 

[avondale]

I missed Thursday’s run due to unhealthy AQI, and Saturday’s run due to lack of ability to drag myself out of bed

Apparently your Bed Quality Index was high on Saturday.

 

[Naomeri]

83 Days Until: TC Loony Challenge

Well, this week was up and down on running.

Tuesday was supposed to be 6 miles, but I ended up with only just over 5. I tried the Katrina Lake Loop, but there were too many deerflies harassing my head, so I detoured to somewhere without flies and had my grandma pick me up and drive me back to my car. My last mile was spent circling a school parking lot while I waited. On the bright side, I did find a better hill to do my long hill repeats on (at least in the summer—I wouldn’t want to try while school is in session, I’d probably get run over)



Even though it was shorter than planned, it was enough to earn a digital badge for mileage on The Fourth



Thursday was 400m repeats, and they were going really well, until I suddenly got a feeling that I needed to be a lot closer to home than half a mile (if you know, you know) so I had to quit halfway through.

Just look at that consistency! Stupid digestive system, screwing with my training!



Thursday was also the day my grandparents had to drive 3 hours to pick up my aunt’s dog, who we’ll be fostering for a while. Our cats are not exactly thrilled about this (and neither are we, really, but what can you do?)

I had trouble getting to sleep Friday night because my wind-down routine was disrupted by visitors knocking on my patio door. I’m all for cute woodland creatures, but these buggers make too much of a mess!



Saturday was a good run. I threw in a fast mile in the middle, just for the heck of it. I’m really glad that I still have one trail that is free of deerflies—maybe because it’s basically running through a lake and there’s more dragonflies near the water? The morning weather was great this weekend—mid-50s F with a decent breeze.

There was also a majestic (and somewhat disapproving?) cat watching me at my starting point.




Sunday’s run was supposed to be 11 miles, and I barely made 1.25 before I had to turn around and walk back to my car. Opposite problem from Thursday, and that’s just all that needs to be said on that subject.

I’ve decided that I need to rethink the remainder of my training plan. My weekend runs have been inconsistent, and I don’t think I’m at the place I ought to be to do the planned mileage. My weekday runs are fine, but the back-to-back ones need refining. I’m keeping my peak week (ending Labor Day Weekend) as originally written, but backing off on the weekend mileage between now and then and building it up gradually. I had wanted to have next week be the peak for weekend mileage, and then basically maintain that (with some variation to keep it interesting) while raising the weekday runs gradually to peak at 37 miles in a week and then taper through September into race weekend.

I’m also going to be working on my diet, because I’m clearly not where I need to be on that.

Little Turtle Chipmunk has gotten with the program very quickly. I have a feeling that Turtle is also a child of Ein, and therefore Peter’s sibling.

 

[azrivest]

Maybe you're not at the place where you want to be, but you keep getting out there!

 

[Naomeri]

75 Days Until: TC Loony Challenge

Another week, another failed weekend of runs. Saturday had bad air, and I didn’t get to bed early enough on Saturday to get up at 6am and run (I only run on 4 or less hours of sleep at Disney ) and then there was yard work to do.

I did manage to get my short hill repeats done on Tuesday, and half my run on Thursday (humidity just kicked my butt)




This summer is just lousy, and my plate is overflowing sometimes. Having this annoying dog in the house is exhausting, even though I’m not the primary caregiver. Every time she sees one of our cats, she barks and lunges and scares the bejeezus out of them, so one has basically confined herself to my grandparents’ bedroom and the other has moved into the basement with me.

On the plus side, my first week of dieting hasn’t killed me, and I dropped almost 5 pounds since last Sunday (which will obviously not (and should not) be the norm, but was an encouraging start). We also managed to have some fun this weekend—we got to go see Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo, which was amazing.

Turtle Chipmunk has been particularly photogenic this week—I enjoyed this progression of expressions




I also tamed a new chipmunk, whom I have lazily named “Baby” for the time being.



The mosquitos have been less terrible in our woods lately, so I actually made it down there to visit Rocky for a change.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Those cheeks!

 

[avondale]

I'm sorry to hear that the week has been going badly. Sounds like you've got a non-optimal situation at home right now, but "this too shall pass" even if it takes too darn long to do it! The humidity has just been the cherry on top of everything right now.

While hiking in Banff, we've seen some pikas and marmots. I thought of you and how you'd probably have them named and eating out of your hand before too long.

 

[Naomeri]

I'm sorry to hear that the week has been going badly. Sounds like you've got a non-optimal situation at home right now, but "this too shall pass" even if it takes too darn long to do it! The humidity has just been the cherry on top of everything right now.

While hiking in Banff, we've seen some pikas and marmots. I thought of you and how you'd probably have them named and eating out of your hand before too long.

I only feed my own wild animals, never anyone else’s

 

[Naomeri]

71 Days Until: TC Loony Challenge

Well, so far so good this week, I guess?

I managed to run both Tuesday and Thursday, even if I didn’t quite get all the mileage in that was scheduled.

Tuesday was supposed to be 7 miles, and I did 5. After I hit 5 in the neighborhood, I would’ve been turning east into the sun and it was in that awkward place where it’s higher than the trees, but not high enough to be blocked by my visor, and I decided that running literally blind might be a bad idea.

While on my run, I noticed that a new development is being built and should connect to one of the roads that I run on less than 2 miles from my house, which would give me a whole new bunch of cul-de-sacs to run in. I don’t know when they might get the roads actually put in, but I hope it’s before winter.



I did also get a mile and a half walk in with the annoying dog, but since it ended up at a 26m38s pace, it barely counts as exercise

Wednesday, we hit an outlet mall and the ASICS was having a BOGO50% off sale, plus an extra 10% off for joining their e-mail club, so I got 2 new pair of Gel Venture 8s for $93. I had been moving away from ASICS to Saucony, but I seem to get more Achilles irritation with my Saucony, so I want more ASICS because my other ones have a lot of miles on them.

Thursday was 400M repeats x6, and I actually got them all done! I was only working a half day, and it was only going to get up to 75°F and be windy and mostly cloudy, so I decided to run at 1pm instead of 6am. I was supposed to run another 4 miles after my repeats, but my great aunt and uncle called to say they were coming over just as I was leaving for my run, so I just did the repeats. As it turns out, I’m glad I ran in the higher temps a bit because next week has lows in the 70s, with high morning humidity.

I’m pretty happy with how consistent I was (I got distracted by a butterfly during my brief walk break on lap 5 )



Neither of these is the butterfly that distracted me during my run, but they’re pretty ones that visited our garden




I was sitting in the grass to feed Turtle, because it gets hard to stay in a crouch or bent over, and it’s been windy, so the chipmunks have been less eager to jump up in my hand so I can stand up while they eat.




There’s a mama red squirrel that is very interested in what I’m doing with the chipmunks, but isn’t quite ready to come get food.



In other news, I splurged on the Haunted Mansion Doom Buggy pet bed from ShopDisney, and it was an instant hit with my cats.




Also, it glows in the dark, which I can’t believe the description didn’t mention!!

 

[avondale]

That cat bed is hilarious!

 

[jmasgat]

Okay, I generally don't give a rat's a$$ about Disney merch, but that bed! Very cool.