50K Training, Week 10: The Most Gorgeous Week

Some weeks are just made for running.

This past week was an absolutely gorgeous week of spring weather. The week started out in the upper 30′s in the mornings and was in the low 60′s by the end of the week — which is a pretty abrupt change in temperature. The trees are just starting to get their green leaves, the evening sunsets with a thin crescent moon were lovely, and (though I was never able to spot it) there’s a comet somewhere near the Earth. Though spring is inevitably followed by summer, my least favorite running season here in Texas, I can’t help but love running in the early springtime.

Moon

Thursday night’s attempt at finding the comet.

MON: Pace Run 9 mi - Since the rain cancelled my trail run yesterday, and the wind kept me nice and warm in my bed, Liz and I met up for a loop around the lake this morning. Though not 35 mph like yesterday, at 36 degrees we definitely felt the wind this morning. We felt good, added in the hilly path, ran negative splits, and wound up with a pretty fast average pace (9:06). Even though it was only 9 miles, I was too worn out for yoga afterwards.

TUE:  Easy Run - 6 mi, Yoga – 20:00 - It was an absolutely gorgeous morning for a run on the Katy Trail. We are getting a little bored with running around the lake and it was a nice change. Tried to keep the pace more conservative, but the average was still only three seconds slower than yesterday’s. Enjoyed some power yoga later in the morning.

WED: Easy Run - 4 mi - Liz took a rest day so I did an easy run in the neighborhood. Legs felt tight and my allergies made me feel  fuzzy headed and sluggish. Breezy, but another gorgeous spring morning.

THU: Hill Run - 8 mi - Met Liz and Hari a little later in the morning for a hill run around Lakewood. It was another beautiful day, though the temperatures did climb into the low 60′s by the end of the run. In another month I will be dying for runs in the low 60′s, so I’m not complaining. Liz watched a show Sunday morning that highlighted a study about friendship that says people perceive hills to be less daunting when they are with friends. This certainly seems to be the case when we run hills each week. I can’t imagine trying to run them without my friends (and I would do a lot more walking if I did).

FRI: Yoga - 20:00 – Because of running four straight days, I have been yoga lazy this week. Did some easy forward bends.

St Patrick's Day, Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX

The madness that assaults my neighborhood each St Patrick’s Day weekend.

SAT: Long Run - 10 mi - One of the worst runs I’ve had in a long time. It was warm and humid, and I don’t think many of us have acclimated to the warmer temperatures yet. Also, my allergies have been pretty bad all week and, worst of all, my left ITB felt suspiciously tender. It continued during the run and early afternoon, but was never bad enough to call it painful. It was gone after an evening of relaxation on the couch — and it’s not easy to relax on the Saturday before St Patrick’s Day when you live where we do, just off lower Greenville Ave. For those who don’t live here, Greenville Ave. is Mecca to all St. Patrick’s Day revelers in Dallas. The noise of 100,000 drunk people, helicopters, sirens, traffic, loud music, and parties next door and across the alley (including yelling drunk women — why do women yell when they drink too much?) kept us up until 3am. It was a short night.

SUN: Trail Run - Grapevine – 8.7 mi, Yoga - 40:00 – Slept on the couch with the TV on until 3am to drown out the music from the party next door, then got up at 6:30am for the trail run with Hari and Susan. It was 64 deg, overcast, and humid, but surprisingly pleasant during the run. The ITB felt okay today, just a slight twinge of tenderness, so I’m not freaking out. It’s merely making its presence known. I will acknowledge and take tomorrow off. This has been the highest mileage week I’ve run since December, so I will back off. We had a fun encounter with a speeding armadillo on our run who ran right across our path, in a straight line uphill, running much faster than we were. I had no idea they could run that fast! And what kooky looking animals!

Looking forward to Grasslands trail marathon this weekend!

Stats for WEEK 10: Run -  46.3 miles, Yoga – 1:20:00

Armadillo photo courtesy of: Rafi B. from Somewhere in Texas :) (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

 

50K Training, Week 9: Blow Me Away

I was a skinny little girl. My best friend’s mom used to say that one day I would blow away in a strong gust of wind. I think I took those words to heart.

First day of school, 1966

First day of school, 1966

Everyone has their own personal running nemeses. High heat and humidity come to mind, both of which I struggle with. For me, though, nothing is worse than running against a strong wind, especially when it’s cold.

It’s getting to be that time of year when the wind makes its reappearance. My first two marathons are still my toughest races, mostly because of high winds in each race, with the second even windier than the first. Probably because of those two races, strong wind is my least favorite weather to run in. Winter temperatures make it even worse.

Two of my runs this week were “winded out” because of strong, gusty winds and cool temperatures. No guilt; I just didn’t feel like fighting 35+ mph gusts on those two days. I did get in three quality runs, though, so I’ll call it a step-back week and pick up the mileage this week.

Clouds

MON: Yoga - 40:00 – Woke up with a slightly sore lower back (probably from a small fall on the trail yesterday), so I did some back bends, then hip openers to help stretch out the sore quads. 88 degrees today!

TUE:  Rest Day - Heard the wind howling all night long, bringing in a cold front and plunging temperatures. Even Liz didn’t want to run in that wind, so it was easy to convince her to bail on our morning run. We attended a luncheon together and standing in the cold wind afterwards at valet parking got rid of all my guilt at not running. The wind continued into the evening, and I was having dinner with a friend anyway, so an unplanned rest day took place. This only means I will have to try and make up the miles later in the week.

WED: Hill Run - 8 mi, Power Yoga - 20:00 – Liz and I packed in as many hills as we possibly could on our run today. As usual, I dreaded the run and wound up loving it in the end. Liz and I had a great conversation on our run, and it reminds me that I’ve made some truly amazing friends through running. Power yoga in the late afternoon wore me out.

THU: Tempo Run - 6 mi – Yoga - 20:00 – After yesterday’s hill run, I don’t know how we did it but Liz and I picked up some serious speed today. We ran fartleks in between what we thought was an “easy” pace, and couldn’t believe some of the splits we pulled off. Liz loves sprinting, especially at the end of a run (I don’t), but our fast fartleks felt exhilarating. It was a great workout, and I could barely keep my eyes open later in the evening.

FRI: Rest Day - I thought about doing a few miles in the neighborhood in the afternoon, but after a hill run followed by a tempo run, and two scheduled long runs this weekend, I decided against it. Somehow I got busy later in the day and never got around to yoga either.

SAT: Long Run - 12 mi, Yoga – 20:00 - What a warm, humid, windy run. I guess I should be thankful that the wind kept us cool, but it was mostly just plain irritating. After morning runs these past few weeks in the 30′s and 40′s, starting with a  temperature of 61 degrees was a shock to the system. It certainly kept our pace slower than usual, and there were some hills in the end, but I managed to have a great run.

SUN: Rest Day - Another trail run rained out. I enjoyed sleeping in on a Sunday morning, but could hear the wind blowing and gusting outside. I had planned on running in the afternoon but felt absolutely zero desire to battle the wind. I took a rest day instead and will make up the miles next week.

Stats for WEEK 9: Run – 26 miles, Yoga – 1:40:00

 

Jemez 50K Training, Week 8: My Cup Runneth Over

My friend Hari had some of his favorite running friends over for dinner a few months ago. As we stood in the kitchen, shooting the breeze while we waited for Hari’s world famous pulled pork to be ready, someone noticed a jumble of running stuff in the small pantry off the kitchen. When I say “jumble,” I really mean an overflowing waterfall of running stuff spilling from the counter. It was everywhere — and it was a MESS. After giving him a hard time for it for the next few weeks — because that’s what I do — I looked around and realized my stash of running stuff looks just as bad as Hari’s.

Hari's running stash.

Hari’s running stash.

This is my confession.

My running stuff is not confined to one area, like Hari’s. It’s all over the place. There’s the bookshelf next to my computer that’s a jumble of office supplies, yoga DVD’s, teaching materials, yoga mats, weights, and running stuff. There’s the dining room table where I put out all the things I will need for the next day’s run. There’s the closet where I keep all my shoes, jackets, shorts, shirts, capris, tights, gloves, caps, etc to ensure I’m warm/cool/dry enough for any type of weather or season. And there’s the dresser drawer where I keep all my socks. Yes, three-fourths of an entire drawer of socks — thin socks, toe socks, trail socks, and thick trail socks. And I won’t go into depth about the TEN pairs of Nike Frees I bought on sale last year that are stacked up along the floor of my closet.

Running stuff

At least it’s not too messy . . .

Don’t get that snooty look on your face. I know I’m not alone. I bet your place looks just as overrun with running items as mine.

MON: Recovery - OUCH. My quads are very sore from yesterday’s half marathon.

TUE:  Recovery - Still sore. Too sore for yoga even.

WED: Recovery - Just a little residual soreness in the quads, but I have a headache, so I’m taking another rest day and not feeling an ounce of guilt for doing so.

THU: Easy Run - 5 mi – Yoga - 20:00 – I thought I was just being lazy for not running yesterday, but my quads were still pretty sore on my run this morning, especially the left one. It was cold (37 deg) and Liz and I had to keep slowing ourselves down. We ran negative splits and finished off much faster than either of us really wanted to. I have to admit that it feels kind of awesome to be running so fast again. Enjoyed some forward bends afterwards and hoping it will help with the quads.

Running socks

Obviously I have a sock addiction.

FRI: Yoga - 35:00 - Since my quads were still sore yesterday, and I have two long runs this weekend, I decided to do some easy yoga and take a running rest day.

SAT: Long Run - 13 mi - It was SO COLD on our run this morning. 32 degrees at the start with an icy cold wind to boot. My fingertips were frozen the entire run. Nevertheless, it was still a good run — despite the trauma of having our start time pushed back to 6:30am, UGH — and we kept a good pace. I am going to appreciate every single cold run from now on because I know these days are numbered. (I really could have done without that cold wind, though!)

SUN: Trail Run - Rowlett Creek Preserve – 11 mi – A gorgeous morning for both a trail run and a birthday. The weather was perfect, and we had a nice group running with us. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done an extended trail run with my friend Hari, so it was nice to spend the morning on the trails with him. Afterwards, breakfast at Hubbards with some of the group, and a quiet birthday at home.  It was nice to take some time off this week from running to recover and to run a semi-long trail run to cap off the week.

Stats for WEEK 8: Run – 29 miles, Yoga – 55:00

Running clothes

The horror that is my closet.