Haven't been the most inspired blogger of late... Oh well. Despite the lack of updates, the workouts haven't suffered, on the whole; I just haven't been all that diligent about getting here to post them. I've actually enjoyed the break, at that.
I'm not big on resolutions, but I do have goals for 2011:
Number one, of course, is to get into graduate school. I know what I have to do, and I just have to stay out of my own way and keep on doing it.
Number two is to do my first ultra. I am actually only planning on doing trail races this year, although if my sister and I can work it out to do a road race or two together, I'm game for that, as well. But the biggie for the year will be a 50K trail. I'm also looking at two 15K trails, and maybe a trail half, a 12 hour trail, or possibly a second 50K trail. We'll see, and of course it's all dependent on my staying healthy. I'm very, very encouraged by the fact that I had no real physical issues this past year; I credit that to my strength training program and I plan to keep that up to the maximum extent I reasonably can throughout the year.
And that's it for the biggies. I'd also like to tweak the nutrition a bit, mostly because I think I've gotten into a bit of a culinary rut. I've been reluctant to change much because I feel good and my weight has been rock steady - why mess with success, right? - but my shopping list has been the same, more or less, for several months now and I know I should work in some more variety. I've started working on this already, and need to make it a point to keep it up.
I'm looking forward to a challenging and fulfilling year, and I wish everyone who is reading this the same in 2011.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Hey, it's me!
I didn't really mean to be away this long, but c'est la vie. This will be short, so I can get to the good stuff.
- School's done, obviously! Got an A in Psych, and while I haven't gotten my final grade for A&P, I would have had to have seriously screwed up the final exam - which I didn't, thankyouverymuch - to have NOT gotten an A. So, well done, me. Heh.
- One good thing about school - coming out of exams like that, I had plenty of momentum to do the holiday stuff. Shopped and decorated Saturday, did family stuff Sunday, shopped Monday and yesterday, and wrapped today. Tomorrow, I bake (chocolate peanut butter cup cake and cookies).
- Workouts have all been going well. I reread parts of the RDR book recently (I always seem to be pawing through the source material when I'm following a program) and realized something pretty cool. I have pretty much always done programs that set you up with a given slate of exercises that you do for a certain period of time, anywhere from 3 to 12 weeks; usually, of late, 3 - 4 weeks (the 12 is definitely an outlier). And this program generally periodizes the REP scheme in three week segments, so in my mind, I just figured I'd do a certain set of exercises for each of those segments. Well, I don't HAVE to do that. In fact, he encourages you to change up what you do often, even every workout, so long as you follow the basic template. Which I think is pretty cool, and certainly allows me a lot of freedom especially for those days when I do weights at home & don't have access to pulleys & a proper cage. So, yay!
- My birthday was last week, and I got a TRX! It is a very cool toy to have in the arsenal; adds a nice dimension of difficulty to things and a different dimension to training in general. I'm planning to take it to the gym on Friday to get a better feel for it. At home, I've been hanging it from my pull up bar and from the door, which limits my space somewhat, so it should be fun to test drive it in a more spacious area.
- It has been a great week to be a Philadelphia sports fan. 'S'all I'm gonna say.
It seems I can't do anything around here without tons of feline assistance. The holidays are no exception. I give you decorating and wrapping, chez moi:
- School's done, obviously! Got an A in Psych, and while I haven't gotten my final grade for A&P, I would have had to have seriously screwed up the final exam - which I didn't, thankyouverymuch - to have NOT gotten an A. So, well done, me. Heh.
- One good thing about school - coming out of exams like that, I had plenty of momentum to do the holiday stuff. Shopped and decorated Saturday, did family stuff Sunday, shopped Monday and yesterday, and wrapped today. Tomorrow, I bake (chocolate peanut butter cup cake and cookies).
- Workouts have all been going well. I reread parts of the RDR book recently (I always seem to be pawing through the source material when I'm following a program) and realized something pretty cool. I have pretty much always done programs that set you up with a given slate of exercises that you do for a certain period of time, anywhere from 3 to 12 weeks; usually, of late, 3 - 4 weeks (the 12 is definitely an outlier). And this program generally periodizes the REP scheme in three week segments, so in my mind, I just figured I'd do a certain set of exercises for each of those segments. Well, I don't HAVE to do that. In fact, he encourages you to change up what you do often, even every workout, so long as you follow the basic template. Which I think is pretty cool, and certainly allows me a lot of freedom especially for those days when I do weights at home & don't have access to pulleys & a proper cage. So, yay!
- My birthday was last week, and I got a TRX! It is a very cool toy to have in the arsenal; adds a nice dimension of difficulty to things and a different dimension to training in general. I'm planning to take it to the gym on Friday to get a better feel for it. At home, I've been hanging it from my pull up bar and from the door, which limits my space somewhat, so it should be fun to test drive it in a more spacious area.
- It has been a great week to be a Philadelphia sports fan. 'S'all I'm gonna say.
It seems I can't do anything around here without tons of feline assistance. The holidays are no exception. I give you decorating and wrapping, chez moi:
 |
| Tree in a bocks? |
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| This thing NEEDS somfin'... |
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| I know, ME! |
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| You can has empty bag - I have stocking suffers! |
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| He's looking at me... |
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| Bugger! |
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| And now this little brat is bothering me! |
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| RAWR! |
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| A kitteh's work isn't done until he's messed up the wrapping supplies... |
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Conspiracy Theory
Or, Jesse Ventura is batshit crazy.
I’m an Occam’s Razor kinda gal. I can more or less date my skepticism to pre-Kindergarten or there about, when introduced to the idea of Santa Claus. I recall briefly pondering the overall mechanics of the thing (around the world in one night using flying reindeer?), taking a good look at the fireplace, and thinking something along the lines of, “Hmmmm - prolly not.” I figured the whole thing was a story, and not something I was expected to believe. I was wrong about the latter, apparently, but I never made any pretense about believing and knew enough not to spoil it for those who did. In short, I learned early on that when it came to explaining things, the simple and direct almost always trumped the convoluted and complicated.
I have a great aunt, though, who has always been inclined to prefer those convoluted and complicated explanations; she buys into just about every conspiracy theory I’ve ever heard, and probably many I’m not familiar with. She lives on the computer and believes that if it's on the intertubes, it's probably true. So it was with her in mind that I started to sample a show on TruTV called Conspiracy Theory, hosted by Jesse (the Body) Ventura. Ventura, who leaves his wrasslin’ career out of the mini bio he presents in the opening of each episode (but - why?), is apparently on a quest to further every quacktastic conspiracy theory he can find. Thanks to vertigo-inducing leaps in logic on The Bod’s part, I haven’t been able to make it through the every episode, but I found Friday night’s concoction just so richly bizarre, I had to share.
This one was about the gulf oil spill, and how it was part of a government conspiracy to depopulate the south coast of the US so that that area might be turned into an open drilling zone for the oil companies.
Oh, you didn’t know? Well, let me enlighten you. Jesse didn’t exactly present things in a logical, progressive, or chronological order, but as I reconstruct what appear to be the salient facts, we have:
- Hurricane Katrina was a dry run. Of something, although I’m not sure what; Jesse didn’t ‘splain that. However, clearly, we (we being President Bush and possibly Dick Cheney, near as I could gather) caused Katrina to hit the gulf coast, so something something something, something something. Or other. But it IS part of the conspiracy.
- Subsequently, BP planned the oil spill. They were in cahoots with Halliburton, the source of all evil in the modern Western world, who BOUGHT AN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEAN UP COMPANY mere weeks before the accident, and also controlled the company that did the drilling itself. You see, they could make more money by causing a natural disaster than by drilling for oil. And BP KNEW. (I guess Jesse doesn’t know that Halliburton has been in the environmental clean-up business for decades, or that many large petrochemical companies - I’ll give you DuPont as a more neutral example - have in-house or closely affiliated remediation companies. So for a company that is in the drilling business to have a remediation arm... makes sense. But hey, he’s on a roll.)
- President Bush was a Manchurian Candidate installed into office by an international conglomeration of oil interests that is In On the conspiracy.
- Democrats, don’t get too smug: So was Barack Obama. Hey, don’t look at me. Just ask Jesse’s expert.
- The Army Corps of Engineers (motto: “We flatten mountains! We straighten rivers!”) is In On the Conspiracy. In fact they have a 40 billion dollar plan to evacuate the gulf coast, to get the people out of the way so the oil companies can do their thing and not have to answer to anyone.
Frankly, the woman from the ACoE who he interviewed made the most sense of anyone on the entire program. It was very obvious - to me, anyway - that she is one of those painfully earnest types for whom the truth just lands you in deep shit, because you’re prone to laying out facts, not equivocating, and the listener tunes you out after you (probably unintentionally) give them a tidbit or sound that "proves" their point. (I have been that woman.) She spoke to what I presume is an emergency evacuation plan, most likely prepared at the specific request of congress, that dealt with the unfortunate reality that a lot of the New Orleans area is in a flood plain, below sea level, and very vulnerable to natural disaster. She had the unmitigated gall to suggest that we may, as a nation, one day realize that perhaps living in such areas isn’t all that bright an idea because nature tends to remind us of who’s boss from time to time. (Seriously, can you believe that? Never mind that our population growth has vastly outpaced that of our infrastructure, which makes emergency planning a real bitch.)
But the ex-mayor, ex-governor, ex-wrassler, posits that it’s all part of a plan to destroy Our Way of Life, destroy Our Homes, and give it all to big oil. And hey - the show is on TruTV, and their motto is, “Not Reality: Actuality.” You do the math.
I’m an Occam’s Razor kinda gal. I can more or less date my skepticism to pre-Kindergarten or there about, when introduced to the idea of Santa Claus. I recall briefly pondering the overall mechanics of the thing (around the world in one night using flying reindeer?), taking a good look at the fireplace, and thinking something along the lines of, “Hmmmm - prolly not.” I figured the whole thing was a story, and not something I was expected to believe. I was wrong about the latter, apparently, but I never made any pretense about believing and knew enough not to spoil it for those who did. In short, I learned early on that when it came to explaining things, the simple and direct almost always trumped the convoluted and complicated.
I have a great aunt, though, who has always been inclined to prefer those convoluted and complicated explanations; she buys into just about every conspiracy theory I’ve ever heard, and probably many I’m not familiar with. She lives on the computer and believes that if it's on the intertubes, it's probably true. So it was with her in mind that I started to sample a show on TruTV called Conspiracy Theory, hosted by Jesse (the Body) Ventura. Ventura, who leaves his wrasslin’ career out of the mini bio he presents in the opening of each episode (but - why?), is apparently on a quest to further every quacktastic conspiracy theory he can find. Thanks to vertigo-inducing leaps in logic on The Bod’s part, I haven’t been able to make it through the every episode, but I found Friday night’s concoction just so richly bizarre, I had to share.
This one was about the gulf oil spill, and how it was part of a government conspiracy to depopulate the south coast of the US so that that area might be turned into an open drilling zone for the oil companies.
Oh, you didn’t know? Well, let me enlighten you. Jesse didn’t exactly present things in a logical, progressive, or chronological order, but as I reconstruct what appear to be the salient facts, we have:
- Hurricane Katrina was a dry run. Of something, although I’m not sure what; Jesse didn’t ‘splain that. However, clearly, we (we being President Bush and possibly Dick Cheney, near as I could gather) caused Katrina to hit the gulf coast, so something something something, something something. Or other. But it IS part of the conspiracy.
- Subsequently, BP planned the oil spill. They were in cahoots with Halliburton, the source of all evil in the modern Western world, who BOUGHT AN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEAN UP COMPANY mere weeks before the accident, and also controlled the company that did the drilling itself. You see, they could make more money by causing a natural disaster than by drilling for oil. And BP KNEW. (I guess Jesse doesn’t know that Halliburton has been in the environmental clean-up business for decades, or that many large petrochemical companies - I’ll give you DuPont as a more neutral example - have in-house or closely affiliated remediation companies. So for a company that is in the drilling business to have a remediation arm... makes sense. But hey, he’s on a roll.)
- President Bush was a Manchurian Candidate installed into office by an international conglomeration of oil interests that is In On the conspiracy.
- Democrats, don’t get too smug: So was Barack Obama. Hey, don’t look at me. Just ask Jesse’s expert.
- The Army Corps of Engineers (motto: “We flatten mountains! We straighten rivers!”) is In On the Conspiracy. In fact they have a 40 billion dollar plan to evacuate the gulf coast, to get the people out of the way so the oil companies can do their thing and not have to answer to anyone.
Frankly, the woman from the ACoE who he interviewed made the most sense of anyone on the entire program. It was very obvious - to me, anyway - that she is one of those painfully earnest types for whom the truth just lands you in deep shit, because you’re prone to laying out facts, not equivocating, and the listener tunes you out after you (probably unintentionally) give them a tidbit or sound that "proves" their point. (I have been that woman.) She spoke to what I presume is an emergency evacuation plan, most likely prepared at the specific request of congress, that dealt with the unfortunate reality that a lot of the New Orleans area is in a flood plain, below sea level, and very vulnerable to natural disaster. She had the unmitigated gall to suggest that we may, as a nation, one day realize that perhaps living in such areas isn’t all that bright an idea because nature tends to remind us of who’s boss from time to time. (Seriously, can you believe that? Never mind that our population growth has vastly outpaced that of our infrastructure, which makes emergency planning a real bitch.)
But the ex-mayor, ex-governor, ex-wrassler, posits that it’s all part of a plan to destroy Our Way of Life, destroy Our Homes, and give it all to big oil. And hey - the show is on TruTV, and their motto is, “Not Reality: Actuality.” You do the math.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
So far, so good
I've done both the A and B workout of my new program, and so far, I like. They're taking a little bit longer than I'd prefer, but right now I have the time, so, so be it. I picked exercises that I could do as easily, or with only slight mods (bands instead of cables, for example) at home. Today, because I was at home, I did front squats using kettlebells instead of a barbell. I actually wish I could do that all the time; I really dislike doing front squats with the bar, which kills my wrists no matter what hand position I try, but it's such a great exercise, I'd hate to NOT use it. Front squats with kettlebells, though, I love. Hard as hell, great ROM - talk about ass to grass! - and no wrist issues. Can't ask for much more.
And I have a new favorite exercise du jour - the one arm pulldown. I've done it at the gym using a cable and at home with the band; I think the cable is a bit harder. But I think this is probably the first unilateral vertical pull exercise I've ever done, and I really like the change of pace.
----
Hard to believe, but I only have three more days of school! Tuesday I had my partner oral presentation in psych - our topic was PTSD, something I knew very little about going in. I thought it went pretty well, and I hope it graded the way it felt, because it's 20% of our grade. Tomorrow is my last "easy" day; next Tuesday is the last psych test and A&P lab practical, and Thursday is the last A&P test. So, I will probably be scarce for the next week. Not that I've been a blogging juggernaut of late...
And I have a new favorite exercise du jour - the one arm pulldown. I've done it at the gym using a cable and at home with the band; I think the cable is a bit harder. But I think this is probably the first unilateral vertical pull exercise I've ever done, and I really like the change of pace.
----
Hard to believe, but I only have three more days of school! Tuesday I had my partner oral presentation in psych - our topic was PTSD, something I knew very little about going in. I thought it went pretty well, and I hope it graded the way it felt, because it's 20% of our grade. Tomorrow is my last "easy" day; next Tuesday is the last psych test and A&P lab practical, and Thursday is the last A&P test. So, I will probably be scarce for the next week. Not that I've been a blogging juggernaut of late...
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Up next - muscles?
Yeah, well, maybe.
As usual, I've spent probably an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out where to go next, so to speak, in terms of training. I so totally enjoyed the trail run that I definitely want to do a spring trail run, a 15K held in late April. This one is supposed to be a bit more challenging, in terms of hills/terrain, than the race I just finished. What this last race told me is that my current mileage for this distance is fine, and that I could use more hill and technical work. I also don't think I have to go crazy in that direction just yet, since I have nearly five months to prep. So, for now, the plan is to keep the same basic running schedule, with an eye to finding some new hill challenges and incorporating more of them into the program come late winter/spring. And as I think about it, my winter running program will be in part dependent on the weather, so I guess to a large extent I'll take what I can get - but those are my basic intentions.
Soooo, that left me really wondering what kind of weight program to do. This past week I did a video as an entire workout, first time I've done that in quite a while. It was fun and for a brief time I was thinking that what I might do is lift Monday and Friday and leave Wednesday as a "do whatever" day - video, kettlebell, gym, run, or even (gasp!) rest. But - meh. Somehow that sounds disjointed and ultimately unsatisfying. Plus, if the weather this winter turns to crap, as it did early and often last year, I'll have my share of days where I have to figure out some alternative workout anyway, so it seems like as good a time as any to focus on weights.
So I played (a lot, I confess) with the workout plans in the Dos Remedios book, and ultimately decided to do a three day a week, total body hypertrophy program. Why hypertrophy? Curiosity, mostly, plus I haven't done a hypertrophy oriented program since I was working with Jan years ago. I don't really expect significant muscle gains in 12 weeks - between the running and my relative training age, I'd be lucky to put on a pound of muscle in that time - but it would be interesting if I were wrong about that, and even if I'm not, it's still a significant enough change in overall protocol that it'll be fresh. I did a test run of what has become my "B" workout on Friday, and it was a nice step up in workload; I found it very pleasantly tiring without being deadly. (But I'm glad I don't want to do anything with my running workload right now!)
I am also rethinking the first of the two ultras I'd been planning for next year. I took a second look at it and realized the course is a 2.5 mile loop - meaning I'd have to do it 12 times during the race (plus an extra mile on a dirt road). Um.... not really appealing. What I may do instead is a trail half marathon (known as the Half Wit Half - the course is reputed to be challenging) that happens a week later, and do the other ultra as planned. Makes for a nice progression.
Heh. I'm getting way ahead of myself, I suppose - but it's good to be healthy and feel strong and able to take on these challenges.
As usual, I've spent probably an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out where to go next, so to speak, in terms of training. I so totally enjoyed the trail run that I definitely want to do a spring trail run, a 15K held in late April. This one is supposed to be a bit more challenging, in terms of hills/terrain, than the race I just finished. What this last race told me is that my current mileage for this distance is fine, and that I could use more hill and technical work. I also don't think I have to go crazy in that direction just yet, since I have nearly five months to prep. So, for now, the plan is to keep the same basic running schedule, with an eye to finding some new hill challenges and incorporating more of them into the program come late winter/spring. And as I think about it, my winter running program will be in part dependent on the weather, so I guess to a large extent I'll take what I can get - but those are my basic intentions.
Soooo, that left me really wondering what kind of weight program to do. This past week I did a video as an entire workout, first time I've done that in quite a while. It was fun and for a brief time I was thinking that what I might do is lift Monday and Friday and leave Wednesday as a "do whatever" day - video, kettlebell, gym, run, or even (gasp!) rest. But - meh. Somehow that sounds disjointed and ultimately unsatisfying. Plus, if the weather this winter turns to crap, as it did early and often last year, I'll have my share of days where I have to figure out some alternative workout anyway, so it seems like as good a time as any to focus on weights.
So I played (a lot, I confess) with the workout plans in the Dos Remedios book, and ultimately decided to do a three day a week, total body hypertrophy program. Why hypertrophy? Curiosity, mostly, plus I haven't done a hypertrophy oriented program since I was working with Jan years ago. I don't really expect significant muscle gains in 12 weeks - between the running and my relative training age, I'd be lucky to put on a pound of muscle in that time - but it would be interesting if I were wrong about that, and even if I'm not, it's still a significant enough change in overall protocol that it'll be fresh. I did a test run of what has become my "B" workout on Friday, and it was a nice step up in workload; I found it very pleasantly tiring without being deadly. (But I'm glad I don't want to do anything with my running workload right now!)
I am also rethinking the first of the two ultras I'd been planning for next year. I took a second look at it and realized the course is a 2.5 mile loop - meaning I'd have to do it 12 times during the race (plus an extra mile on a dirt road). Um.... not really appealing. What I may do instead is a trail half marathon (known as the Half Wit Half - the course is reputed to be challenging) that happens a week later, and do the other ultra as planned. Makes for a nice progression.
Heh. I'm getting way ahead of myself, I suppose - but it's good to be healthy and feel strong and able to take on these challenges.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Dirty Bird Trail Race Report
So, I lived! Obviously.
My three questions going into the race were, would I get the breakfast portion of the program right, would I dress more or less correctly for the conditions, and was I as prepared as I needed to be to get the job done? The short answers are, yes, nailed it; yes, with a notable exception; and yes, but with a lot of great lessons learned.
It was a gorgeous day for a race. It was clear and around freezing when I left, small bowl of cereal on board hopefully to stay. (Which it did, without troubling me, to my immense relief.) I dressed as I would for a normal road run at that temperature - tights, 1st layer, jacket, gloves, and hat - and brought a few lighter/heavier options along, plus a post-race change of clothes. The drive out was lovely - the race was in truly beautiful hill country - and faster than I expected, so I was there over an hour before the race began. Had a great chat with a gal from California; she was an experienced trail racer out there but this was her first east coast run. She was planning to run with her dog, a border collie; I never saw her out on the trail but I believe they made people with critters start after everyone else.
I wound up running in exactly what I'd set out in. Took off the hat and gloves at some point on the trail and was a bit warmer than I'd have liked (race time temp was about 40F), but overall, close enough. I find standing around in the cold prior to the start the worst part of cold weather racing, and in this case, there was none of the usual clothing shed/pickup stuff you find at larger races, so it was a little bit of pick your poison. (If you've never run a big race in cold weather - it's common for runners to wear an extra layer to the start area, and discard it as the race begins. The discards are collected, washed, and given to a charitable cause.) The only problem, turns out, was my shoes. But I'll get to that.
I don't know how many people ran the race; my guess would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 400. Considering much of the race was on single track trail, it's probably a good thing there weren't tons of people out there. We started on a road, though, and I have to say I was worried at first that that's where we'd be spending out time. Not that the hills wouldn't have been challenging, but that wasn't what I was after.
Silly me. In less than 1/4 mile, we turned off the road onto a leafy, rocky trail, a good preview of things to come. We went up a very long, steep hill, EASILY as steep as any of the hills I'd been running at home and far longer. My cardio was fine, though, and I was very, very happy that I'd done all of those seemingly masochistic hill runs during training and even more happy that I do some stair climbing every school day. I honestly never thought of that as training - more just my stubbornly refusing to take an elevator up a mere five stories - but a good half or more of the ascents were far more like running stairs than running hills (which I very duly noted for future training reference), so I was glad that work was in the bank. Of course, what goes up must come down, and plunging down steep, rocky, leaf-covered trails was just something I hadn't been prepared for, mentally. So I went down with the brakes full on at first, which is actually a great core exercise. However, as I was burning down my brake pads, gazelle-like experienced trial runners were FLYING down past me, and I finally remembered that brakes-on is not the way to go down hills, something I learned eons ago when hiking. (Relax, let gravity work for you, watch your footing, and try not to overspeed your abilities.)
One of the lures of running trails for me is the idea of being in the woods, in the hills, in some kind of incredible natural setting. However, when you're running a trail race in said woods and there are rocks and slippy spots about, you can pay a price for looking up and enjoying said natural setting, and I did. I was very careful on my ascents/descents and any other territory I felt was potentially tricky, but when I thought I could relax a bit and did? I bit the dirt. Actually, I bit the dirt four times. (Another fact, duly noted: keep your eyes/concentration on the trail!) I scraped an elbow on one fall, something I didn't even notice until I showered later, but otherwise was unscathed. The only real damage on the day was to a big toe, and that was from a callus that kind of got detached, to put it gently, due to a blister that formed under it.
Which brings me to the shoe thing. I ran in an older pair of my regular road shoes, figuring even if they weren't the best thing, they'd get me through the day and I could take things from there. And they probably would have been perfectly fine - if I'd had them tied tightly enough. And I don't mean around the top, I mean around the toe box, where I generally LIKE to have a ton of room to move and groove. However on the trail, my feet slid around in the shoes to the point where they cost me traction and were definitely a factor in some unsteady moments, if not one or two of the falls. And of all body parts, my feet came out of the thing feeling most beat up, so I definitely thing some well-fitting trail shoes are in my future, considering my race plans for next year.
So overall the race went very well. I expected to finish in maybe 2 hours, and finished in 1:49. Although I did walk up the last hill, I had a lot of gas left at the end and ran the last mile and a half or so, which was over less hilly ground, at what felt like a normal road clip. So overall, I had a great experience, and gained a lot of useful knowledge about how to better prepare for similar races in the future. In fact, I already have the next one planned out - this same organization runs a 15K spring trail race (nicknamed a mud fest) which is on my calendar.
My three questions going into the race were, would I get the breakfast portion of the program right, would I dress more or less correctly for the conditions, and was I as prepared as I needed to be to get the job done? The short answers are, yes, nailed it; yes, with a notable exception; and yes, but with a lot of great lessons learned.
It was a gorgeous day for a race. It was clear and around freezing when I left, small bowl of cereal on board hopefully to stay. (Which it did, without troubling me, to my immense relief.) I dressed as I would for a normal road run at that temperature - tights, 1st layer, jacket, gloves, and hat - and brought a few lighter/heavier options along, plus a post-race change of clothes. The drive out was lovely - the race was in truly beautiful hill country - and faster than I expected, so I was there over an hour before the race began. Had a great chat with a gal from California; she was an experienced trail racer out there but this was her first east coast run. She was planning to run with her dog, a border collie; I never saw her out on the trail but I believe they made people with critters start after everyone else.
I wound up running in exactly what I'd set out in. Took off the hat and gloves at some point on the trail and was a bit warmer than I'd have liked (race time temp was about 40F), but overall, close enough. I find standing around in the cold prior to the start the worst part of cold weather racing, and in this case, there was none of the usual clothing shed/pickup stuff you find at larger races, so it was a little bit of pick your poison. (If you've never run a big race in cold weather - it's common for runners to wear an extra layer to the start area, and discard it as the race begins. The discards are collected, washed, and given to a charitable cause.) The only problem, turns out, was my shoes. But I'll get to that.
I don't know how many people ran the race; my guess would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 400. Considering much of the race was on single track trail, it's probably a good thing there weren't tons of people out there. We started on a road, though, and I have to say I was worried at first that that's where we'd be spending out time. Not that the hills wouldn't have been challenging, but that wasn't what I was after.
Silly me. In less than 1/4 mile, we turned off the road onto a leafy, rocky trail, a good preview of things to come. We went up a very long, steep hill, EASILY as steep as any of the hills I'd been running at home and far longer. My cardio was fine, though, and I was very, very happy that I'd done all of those seemingly masochistic hill runs during training and even more happy that I do some stair climbing every school day. I honestly never thought of that as training - more just my stubbornly refusing to take an elevator up a mere five stories - but a good half or more of the ascents were far more like running stairs than running hills (which I very duly noted for future training reference), so I was glad that work was in the bank. Of course, what goes up must come down, and plunging down steep, rocky, leaf-covered trails was just something I hadn't been prepared for, mentally. So I went down with the brakes full on at first, which is actually a great core exercise. However, as I was burning down my brake pads, gazelle-like experienced trial runners were FLYING down past me, and I finally remembered that brakes-on is not the way to go down hills, something I learned eons ago when hiking. (Relax, let gravity work for you, watch your footing, and try not to overspeed your abilities.)
One of the lures of running trails for me is the idea of being in the woods, in the hills, in some kind of incredible natural setting. However, when you're running a trail race in said woods and there are rocks and slippy spots about, you can pay a price for looking up and enjoying said natural setting, and I did. I was very careful on my ascents/descents and any other territory I felt was potentially tricky, but when I thought I could relax a bit and did? I bit the dirt. Actually, I bit the dirt four times. (Another fact, duly noted: keep your eyes/concentration on the trail!) I scraped an elbow on one fall, something I didn't even notice until I showered later, but otherwise was unscathed. The only real damage on the day was to a big toe, and that was from a callus that kind of got detached, to put it gently, due to a blister that formed under it.
Which brings me to the shoe thing. I ran in an older pair of my regular road shoes, figuring even if they weren't the best thing, they'd get me through the day and I could take things from there. And they probably would have been perfectly fine - if I'd had them tied tightly enough. And I don't mean around the top, I mean around the toe box, where I generally LIKE to have a ton of room to move and groove. However on the trail, my feet slid around in the shoes to the point where they cost me traction and were definitely a factor in some unsteady moments, if not one or two of the falls. And of all body parts, my feet came out of the thing feeling most beat up, so I definitely thing some well-fitting trail shoes are in my future, considering my race plans for next year.
So overall the race went very well. I expected to finish in maybe 2 hours, and finished in 1:49. Although I did walk up the last hill, I had a lot of gas left at the end and ran the last mile and a half or so, which was over less hilly ground, at what felt like a normal road clip. So overall, I had a great experience, and gained a lot of useful knowledge about how to better prepare for similar races in the future. In fact, I already have the next one planned out - this same organization runs a 15K spring trail race (nicknamed a mud fest) which is on my calendar.
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| My race T shirt, commemorative glass, and bloody sock. Forrest and Jack had to get in on the photo op, of course. |
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