Well this just happened...

Guess I should start writing again...

Saturday Recap

Did a beautiful trail run Saturday morning starting at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.  Really hoped to eek out 10 miles but spent the night prior tossing and turning so I was feeling a bit sluggish as we got moving.  The air was so cold, that the warmer water created a mist above the river and the lake that was ethereal.

A couple of river otters appeared and started eating while watching us watch them.  Patrick had never seen a river otter.  Once we got our fill watching creatures watch us, we continued on our run.

The happy sunrise runners.. Me, Laurie and Patrick.

This run I've nicknamed the "hobbit run" because it is among lush green wild grass and trees, not unlike The Shire.  At about 3.5 miles though, I was suffering badly.  I didn't drink enough water and was generally just was feeling lousy.  Laurie and Patrick were happy to turn around and we headed back.  Got back to the cars in just under 2 hours with nearly 8 miles on my garmin.  I hope to run again tomorrow morning in the rain and then spend the day doing some christmas shopping.

What about you?  Is your christmas shopping all done?  Are you increasing your mileage or backing down now?

Friday Five.. the 2015 edition

6 months? really?  Ok, lets dive in with an easy Friday 5.

1. CIM-- deferred to 2016.  Training was going well until mid October when a whole host of issues came up.. Illness, medication changes, lack of motivation...By the time early november came along, I knew my quest had to be postponed.  Luckily, CIM instituted a deferral program just. this. year. 
2. New races in 2016!  Not just CIM on the docket.  Shamrockn' half marathon is on my calendar -- I even registered the first day so I could get the awesome gift of a trucker hat. Also on tap is the Super Sunday 5k and the. vancouver. marathon.  I think that's enough.
3. Did the local turkey trot for the second year in a row.  Ran it 20 seconds slower than last year, BUT since i hadn't run at all in the 4 weeks prior to it, I'll take that as a win.
4. Read an awesome book by Elizabeth Gilbert called "Big Magic." I cannot say enough good things about it.  Please pick it up. Buy it for your friends for Christmas.  Buy it for your neighbors. Buy it for yourself.
5. Looking at this and thinking , "what the *&^#$* are you thinking?"

Pic of me on the Sacbee website.  I knew it would pay off to wear hot pink in a sea of green!

Dirty Secret Trail Race Report

First an apology.  I was a dope and didn't take any pictures before, during or after the race.  I am not sure why. I simply forgot.  The excitement of participating in a race had me on edge a bit I think.
UPDATE:  pics now from website. 

I originally registered for the long course of the Dirty Secret Trail Race up in Cool, CA.  Long course is approx 11 miles.  After much soul searching, and basically some not so good training runs, I emailed the race director a few weeks ago and asked to drop down to the short course which is approximately 6 miles.  In no time at all,  I received confirmation that I was now registered for the short course.  Phew. That was a real relief.

My training has been pretty hit and miss the last few weeks.  I will have a good couple of weeks-- PT, weights, running, yoga, cycling.  And then something will come up-- work, family, zombie apocalypse-- and all goes to hell.  Its been a struggle to find balance between all the things I like to do and still try to remain gainfully employed.  That being said, interestingly, my back injury/butt injury has been pretty good.  I have occasional stiffness and maybe one day a month i'll have pain, but it is very very manageable--Especially after a Rye Whiskey Manhattan.  But I digress.

So dirty secret!  I was a nervous wreck honestly.  I have no idea why.  My tummy was giving me a bit of trouble before the race.  I ran into a few people I knew while I tried to nonchalantly scrape the TP off my shoe post-porta potty.  With 5 minutes to start, i realized that I left my Garmin in my car, so I sprinted there and back to the start-- we'll call it my warm up.  I wrestled the damn 310xt onto my wrist just as the horn went off for my wave start.

I had planned to go in the very last wave (slower than a 9 min mile) but SOMEHOW got talked into going into the earlier short course wave (faster than 9 minute mile).  I am not sure if this was good or bad idea but either way, I seemed to be huffing and puffing about the same amount as most of the people I could see in front and behind me.

The course in Cool, CA is absolutely beautiful.  Lovely single track and a bunch of early hills to really get your heart pumping.  I forgot that being in the middle-to back of the pack, the dust kicked up my earlier runners irritates my lungs.  Note to self:  either be way in front or way in back in next race.

What was fascinating to me were the sheer number of people who seemed woefully unprepared for a trail race.  Several near me carried no water at all and started bitching within the first mile about how hot it was and where was the aid station?  Uh, ok.  I eventually dropped those 3 young ladies but not before I heard numerous, "This is stooopid!!! Why are weeeeee doing thisssss???" (imagine that in a surly teenagers voice and you understand why I had to drop them)

It was hot that day and i did nearly empty my 20 oz handheld within the hour it took me to finish.

Overall great race, I definitely will do it again next year.  Since it was my first time racing the short course, do I get to claim my result as a PR? I'm thinking yes!

1:07 overall for 5.8 miles.  Meh.  Not the best i've ever done, but not the worst either.

http://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-13351?lc=en

Next up is either Nike Women's 5k OR  She Rocks the Trails OR Blood Sweat and Beers.  Or maybe all three. ;)

Suck it up, buttercup!

 So I suck as a blogger still.  Getting back into the groove of writing is almost as difficult as starting to run or bike or swim on a consistant and regular basis.  I am getting better at it though. I cannot fathom how I used to get up at 4:15 a.m. to go run.  It seems like such a lifetime ago!! But I suppose life is full of changes and we adapt and those changes become our new normal.  Its implementing the change that is so painful and difficult.

Ok, done with the philosophy!  Yesterday’s track workout was a killer.  I haven’t been very consistent in my running.  Some weeks im doing 15 miles, others 0.  Again, habit is just something I need to build again.  the track workout was 2 miles warm up; strides; 5X 1k @5min; 2 mile cool down. I only managed the warm up, strides and half the 1k workout and 1.25 mile cool down.  I was cooked.  My times were slow on the 1ks, my tummy was a little off and I just felt LETHARGIC in general.

However, on a social level, I had a grand time.  Talked with several long-time friends who were super encouraging!  It was amazing!  We were discussing upcoming races, upcoming trail training runs and aches and pains.  I felt so good about being a part of a “community” again, even on a small level.

That said, my upcoming “races” are

Dirty Secret
She Rocks the Trails
Blood Sweat and Beers
Run on the Sly
Overlook 50k
CIM

 
All of these races are totally contingent upon non-injury of course.  But I like having some goals to focus on and some things to do! 

The Bitch is Back

Knock knock? Hello?  Anyone out there?

After several painful and frustrating years, the "butt pain" was finally diagnosed as a low back L4/5 disc issue.  Despite lots of PT, the only thing that has worked to get me back running and biking again is Bikram Yoga.  Yes yes I know-- bikram himself is questionable and is likely a serial rapist and freak of nature (and not in a good way).  But at least for me, his system of 26 poses in a hot room has allowed my back to gain enough strength so that i can now run small distances-- up to 9 to 10 miles on dirt, 6 on cement/asphalt with no lingering back issues.  I can also get on my road bike up to (so far), 30 miles.   I have done a couple of short races and somehow , even with my slow pace, managed to place in the top 5 for my age group.  I chalk this up more to aging up than to any sort of speed... but hell, i'll take any ego boost i can get at this point.

So what does that all mean for my blog?  I hope that i can continue to post training and racing updates here.  the blog works as a good accountability system so that i don't get too lazy.

As such, my next trail race is May 9 in Cool, CA and is called "Dirty Secret Trail Run" ; and yes, i did register for the long course.

I am also wanting to get back into triathlons but not really sure where to start.  There is a half ironman in October locally.  It is all flat and i can train on the local roads.  There are also several sprint and oly distance races over the summer.  Thoughts?

Ultimately, and i don't know if this will ever be a possibility, i would like to do another marathon.

On a personal note, both rugrats have moved out of the house and are on their own and in college.  So its just me and the hubs wandering around our empty house together wondering what we should do to keep ourselves occupied.  Get your minds out of the gutter.

Later.

Boom and Bust

It's been a very long time since I've posted mostly because I didn't know what to write about. My life is so different than it was a year ago, I hardly recognize myself.

• I am still not able to run. I've been to several doctors, PTs etc but to no avail. All diagnoses confirm the first --high hamstring tendinopathy. 
• I've had several instances of grand improvement for a short time period (I.e. a few days) where I have no pain. 
• Then I do something as simple as bend down to pick something up and my injury comes back along with the pain.
• I feel like if I do heavy weights at the gym, the resulting muscle soreness diminishes my awareness of the tendon pain. 
• MRI completely normal in September 2012
• MWFSu I do core work from an iTunes App from "Daniel Miller"  
• TThSa I do my PT exercises.
• Somewhere during the week I do some weights at the gym
• I ran on the treadmill 1 mile last week at 13:45 pace. I just went ahead and said "fuck it". My heart rate was 155 at the end of 1 mile
• Listened to some podcasts by clinician Jill Cook specifically on HHT and I learned a lot about things I've been doing incorrectly for nearly a year,specifically stretching and compressing the injury. 
• I am now using a Donut-of-shamehttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1KN0DZ7994&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA. 

Believe it or not, I am more hopeful about this stupid injury that has sidelined me for so long. I see what I need to do to get better--it's just a matter of implementation.