Oh, it was kinda interesting so let me see if I can recap a bit.
Saturday was Hardcore Mudd Run Ultra NY. It was WAY smaller than most other races I've done. Like a few rows of cars small. Like maybe 15 people in the elite wave at 9 and 30? people when I went at 9:30...
Not sure if there was any prizes for the elite wave but I guess I should have signed up, my time was only 10 minutes behind the slowest "winner". Not sure if they were any more picky on the obstacles for that or not...
Anyway, it was a good run. A bit different than I had thought. Let me look at the obstacles to recall...
-Firediver was right at the start, that was simple enough but pretty cool jumping over a couple channels of fire and under a couple more.
-Mudd Run was something of a repetitive theme, a bunch of back and forth mowed paths in a field. Though this first section was up and down hill and through a few smallish mud pits. Not too exciting.
-Landslide I don't even remember unless this was the slide by the pond...
-Cool runnings I guess was the first section through the trees...
This was another issue that could go in either direction...
See, they have an obstacle called "lost in the woods" and it was repeatedly stated by the announcer that the course was 6.5 miles, or 7.5 miles depending on how you went through the woods and that it was very tricky and you might get to a dead end and to just come back, etc...
-So, apparently this first section of woods was NOT intended to get anyone lost... But this was much like the Finger Lakes Trails I've done around home. Which is to say you're just out in the woods with generally no actual trail and you're just looking for the next blaze on a tree. Though they did have some pink tape on these. I guess I did well and found the right way but I really wasn't sure and apparently almost everyone else got lost. So... Not so good if this was NOT the objective here... But I kind of like the rugged terrain so it was kinda fun.
-Rubber bridge is the typical inner tubes on a pond. Eh, it's fine, nothing new.
-OK, I think they misplaced Landslide and that is the slide... Wasn't too impressed with their slide. It was the typical soapy tarp on a hill into a mud pit, but on the other.... 3 of these I think I've done at other races, they were all fun, fast and not really worrying for my safety. This one was somehow not very fast, but still seemed like there were rocks to catch on under the tarp and they'd only cleared one side of the tarp and I kinda slid towards off the side of it into the dirt and into a possibly too small pit at the end. No real problems but it just didn't seem set up well.
-Bobbers were a few rows of 55 gallon drums that you swam under. Quite simple, but the water was nice and warm and I really quite liked hopping in and swimming under them.
-Mission Impossible/Up and over. I think these might be off a bit as well. Basically, it was another not very well marked section of back and forth across a field. Worse this time since the whole field was runnable so I wasn't sure if I was supposed to just stick to the freshly mowed stuff(with no markings at all) or just go straight to the next obstacle. Thankfully there was a somewhat nearby volunteer who told me to stick to the fresh mowed stuff.
That led me to some reverse inclined walls of about 10' I think with a 3/4" rope. I thought I might be able to do it, but dang that smaller rope is really difficult. I managed to get myself on the rope and feet locked on it, but I could get myself up the couple feet to the top of the wall. I was the only one there besides a volunteer. So after a minute or two, I elected to go on around.
-Water stop and a half banana and then to this piece of fence... I've done this obstacle at several other races where it's basically just a tight cargo net on the ground and you crawl under it and it pulls on you. Generally not too bad, bordering on quite easy. Well, this is a section of chain link fence. And again, I was going by myself... This was WAY harder than I had imagined. I spent like 5-10 minutes under that thing. Could barely lift it enough to be able to move myself and could barely figure out which way I should be headed once I was under it and then my Spibelt was getting caught. In the end I made it out, way more energy expended and some pretty good bruises on both shoulder blades.
-Then it was back into the woods where I had previously come out, people were still lost. I was just told this time to follow the paint and that it should kinda go off in a slightly different direction than when I came out of the same opening a little bit ago... Well, I seemed to be following it. Still unsure though. And it was a mix of paint/tape on the trees... Then the paint can lying on the ground near the last paint, but there was still some tape. And then it seemed to dead end... Ok, back to the last tape, look around... Nope... Look some more... Oh wait, way downhill, far to my right in the creek there's another piece of tape. And back on the hunt. Like another mile of randomness through the woods wondering if I'm on the right path or "getting lost"... I finally get out of the woods and there's a guy there and I ask if I was on the right path or not and he tells me that section doesn't come till later and asks if it could use some more marking... Umm, yeah if you're not supposed to worry about getting lost in that section!
-Now we're up to the 10 and 12' walls. Umm yeah, that's about impossible by myself. The last 12' did have a rope though, so i tried and did make it to the top, but there was no way I was going to have the oomph to get myself up the foot or two so I could get a leg over. I caught up to a team at this section and they offered to help, but I didn't get the impression they were going to be able to each lift 100lbs well above their heads...
-So then we're up to the paint ball run where you choose to crawl along hay bales, or run through possible paint balls. The team was going through one by one crawling. No sign of paintballs. I was waiting for them as I talked to the guy and said I wasn't sure which way to go, I've never been hit by a paintball and I wasn't going to get hit in the face, right? So I elected to run for it. It was a short section, I don't think the paintball guys were ready. Took me about 3 seconds to sprint past and then about 2 seconds after I was through I heard a few shots fired. Woohoo!
-Down and dirty... Don't recall, oh yeah it was a crawl under barbed wire. I rolled under.
-Then the cargo mountain... This was a surprise... I've done many cargo nets. Always found them quite easy. This one was NOT... It was attached maybe 15' or more between a couple trees and VERY loose. So, it was a bit more difficult going up, but not bad. But then at the top... Umm this was new... When the nets are loose, my feet are now in FRONT of me, not under me... So how do I get them over the top? The volunteers said something about some people flipping over the top. Haha, very funny. Yeah, I'm sure I could flip over easy enough, but not so sure about not falling straight to the ground afterwards or maybe just busting my shoulder while trying to hold on while flipping... Thankfully the team I had just passed caught up and with a couple guys on there giving it some more tension I managed to maneuver myself just enough to make it over. Still, very scary and difficult compared to all others!
-THEN we come to lost in the woods. I ran into a guy that I thought was quite a ways ahead of me and indeed he was getting pissed at not finding his way out. I kept watch on both sides and thought I could see all the flags, yet they did all seem to end at the same place. Followed the other team and basically figured out I guess the idea was that you were just supposed to loop yourself back to where you started. And sure enough after a bit we found our way continuing on the course. Which then led to more slightly sketchy following of markings through the woods.
-Then to a 40lb rock carry up and down a stretch. No biggie.
-Hmm, they list a few more things, but I'm not sure I recall...
I think it was pretty much just a good bit more trail running over some rugged terrain and thankfully it was more definitive.
-Then to Electric Ave. Now this one was definitely more hardcore as well. Mudder's Electro shock therapy is just a short section you walk or run through and I managed to dodge all of them 2 years ago. This one, not so much. It's down at ground level so you can only roll or crawl through and they all touch the ground so you're not escaping. and it's uphill. I elected to roll which one guy kept saying was the worst idea, but I'm not sure why. I counted 10 shocks as I went through. Only one of them was bad, I think because it hit my head whereas the others just hit my arm.
-But from there, took a minute to figure out where straight was again, then on up the hill, over a couple of maybe 5' walls and to the finish!
A good time overall.
Sunday:Dam Good Trail Race
I'll say that compared to last year it was MUCH nicer. It was about 10 degrees cooler, 50% less humid and the ground was almost entirely dry.
Me? I dunno, I think I must have used up my coordination at Hardcore(or maybe the shocks did me in?) (:
I thought I felt ok as we started out at a quick but not too bad 10 or so minute pace.
But I've never tripped more than a couple times on ANY run. I tripped like in the first mile, then maybe around mile 2 full on crashed and let a group of people on by which was nicer to just run by myself(I guess that kinda depends on who is around, pace, etc as to whether I prefer to run with others in this sense). But I tripped maybe 8 more times and my left ankle/shin something was not feeling too great.
But by around mile 4 or 5 I think my body started to get broken in and not feeling too bad. I was still closer to 13 minute miles than 10's, but I didn't feel like I was hurting and going to crash repeatedly. (Maybe it was just the caffienated shot blocks kicking in).
Kept on trucking and surprisingly around maybe mile 10 I think I felt even better and felt I finished quite strong for the last few miles and not really hurting!
Another good one!
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
I think I can do it...
Saturday was Tough Mudder. Similar to last year, but somehow we took almost 4 hours. I guess we did wait more at the obstacles, etc. for team members to catch up. Not a lot, but I guess a couple minutes at each one adds up.
Most memorable for me was standing on that 15' platform and hearing 3,2,1 and somehow figuring I just had to take that jump off to the trapeze bar ahead, then somehow I got it, hung on and reached the bell on the other side before dropping to the water below. I have no problem climbing or standing on that platform, but the idea of jumping off is not something my body wants to do and that dang bar was just insane... But I did it somehow!
Also, don't let Mike pick a log saying "yeah, we want the biggest one you got, that 400+lb one!" especially when he didn't realize we had to take it down into a gulley, through a couple walls and some mud and back out again!
I made it up the monkey bars and somehow grabbed the trapeze bar, but completely failed to reach the lengthwise pipe on the other side.
But in all it went pretty well. That said, I did find myself again thinking that I didn't necessarily care about the rest of the races this year...
BUT... I woke a bit tired on Sunday, but actually feeling pretty well... Yeah, I had a few scrapes and cuts, but mentally and physically I was feeling overall better/more capable...
So Monday I headed out for a 16 miler and wore my thicker NB Minimus Trail Zero V2's. Supposedly minimal, but there's WAY more shoe to them. So I have the good and bad... I've lost my ground feel, but my feet which are still a bit off/on with lingering pains to a degree also don't seem to be getting much negatives from it... So I can plow over my rocky road and not even notice golf ball sized rocks wherever they end up... As long as I don't end up going stupid it should be OK.
Although the other double sided part is that since they don't fit like a glove, I ended up with a nice blister in my (lack of) arch on my left foot after maybe 6 miles in. I stopped back at the garage around mile 9 and wrapped it with some electrical tape. It survived.
But in all, I felt quite good at the end of that 16 mile run...
And Tuesday's 6.5 mile run was a bit more rough, I still think it's doable...
And looking at the calendar...
Basically, it will all be done one way or the other in 2 months and a week...
-Howard 5K this weekend
-22 Miler Monday(let's hope that goes well... I should probably think about a paved route for that one...)
-A 16 miler the following Monday which will be taper week for 8.5 mile Hardcore Mudd Run Saturday and 13.5 mile Dam Good Trail Race Sunday.... I think I'm going to consider that pretty close to the 24 mile run that would otherwise be for the following Monday...
-Another 16 mile the next week which leads to the Spartan College Classic.
--POOF... 1 month and the bunch of "smaller" races is done...
-So... basically 26 miles of suck the Monday after Spartan and we're done worrying... 3 weeks of taper.
Then October bops in and we do 26 flat paved miles... Guess I'll aim for the 4:40 pacer and see how it goes...
Then Green Monster the following weekend at a decent walking pace overall and I made it!
I can do this...
Most memorable for me was standing on that 15' platform and hearing 3,2,1 and somehow figuring I just had to take that jump off to the trapeze bar ahead, then somehow I got it, hung on and reached the bell on the other side before dropping to the water below. I have no problem climbing or standing on that platform, but the idea of jumping off is not something my body wants to do and that dang bar was just insane... But I did it somehow!
Also, don't let Mike pick a log saying "yeah, we want the biggest one you got, that 400+lb one!" especially when he didn't realize we had to take it down into a gulley, through a couple walls and some mud and back out again!
I made it up the monkey bars and somehow grabbed the trapeze bar, but completely failed to reach the lengthwise pipe on the other side.
But in all it went pretty well. That said, I did find myself again thinking that I didn't necessarily care about the rest of the races this year...
BUT... I woke a bit tired on Sunday, but actually feeling pretty well... Yeah, I had a few scrapes and cuts, but mentally and physically I was feeling overall better/more capable...
So Monday I headed out for a 16 miler and wore my thicker NB Minimus Trail Zero V2's. Supposedly minimal, but there's WAY more shoe to them. So I have the good and bad... I've lost my ground feel, but my feet which are still a bit off/on with lingering pains to a degree also don't seem to be getting much negatives from it... So I can plow over my rocky road and not even notice golf ball sized rocks wherever they end up... As long as I don't end up going stupid it should be OK.
Although the other double sided part is that since they don't fit like a glove, I ended up with a nice blister in my (lack of) arch on my left foot after maybe 6 miles in. I stopped back at the garage around mile 9 and wrapped it with some electrical tape. It survived.
But in all, I felt quite good at the end of that 16 mile run...
And Tuesday's 6.5 mile run was a bit more rough, I still think it's doable...
And looking at the calendar...
Basically, it will all be done one way or the other in 2 months and a week...
-Howard 5K this weekend
-22 Miler Monday(let's hope that goes well... I should probably think about a paved route for that one...)
-A 16 miler the following Monday which will be taper week for 8.5 mile Hardcore Mudd Run Saturday and 13.5 mile Dam Good Trail Race Sunday.... I think I'm going to consider that pretty close to the 24 mile run that would otherwise be for the following Monday...
-Another 16 mile the next week which leads to the Spartan College Classic.
--POOF... 1 month and the bunch of "smaller" races is done...
-So... basically 26 miles of suck the Monday after Spartan and we're done worrying... 3 weeks of taper.
Then October bops in and we do 26 flat paved miles... Guess I'll aim for the 4:40 pacer and see how it goes...
Then Green Monster the following weekend at a decent walking pace overall and I made it!
I can do this...
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Change tactics mid stream?
Hmm, not sure yet...
But a couple items that I may try changing based on some more research...
#1 seems to be focus on doing more in less time.
This is easier said than done... I tend to go along the lines of going slower, but getting the miles done. But I'm seeing more about not going out for as long(maybe 3 hours). But the idea is to go faster/better quality runs during that time.
Perhaps this might tie in to:
#2 which is that with the exception of those ultra long runs, just about every other run I'm doing is first thing in the morning with no fuel. It seems that those fuel starved runs may be good, but maybe not for all of them to be that way... So I may want to add some fuel to some of my morning runs.
But a couple items that I may try changing based on some more research...
#1 seems to be focus on doing more in less time.
This is easier said than done... I tend to go along the lines of going slower, but getting the miles done. But I'm seeing more about not going out for as long(maybe 3 hours). But the idea is to go faster/better quality runs during that time.
Perhaps this might tie in to:
#2 which is that with the exception of those ultra long runs, just about every other run I'm doing is first thing in the morning with no fuel. It seems that those fuel starved runs may be good, but maybe not for all of them to be that way... So I may want to add some fuel to some of my morning runs.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
0SPF
Well, this proved to be a rather interesting race mainly because of the odd random pains and numbness etc that had been moving through my toes, feet, ankles, knee, hamstring and hip over the previous couple weeks post 30 mile "run"...
But it seemed like things were feeling pretty decent the morning of. Made it through the flood warnings and torrential downpours on the way up.
Then standing at the starting line I felt some new stabbing needle sensations in my right ankle. Crap, what new pain is this?! Then I looked down after it happened a couple more times and realized it was in fact a bug that didn't care that I was wearing compression socks, it was gonna just chew right through them/me.
But the race felt good as far as my feet, etc went.
But unfortunately the weather was as predicted. Climbing through the 70's and clearing 80 before I was done and humidity was around 90%. So, it was hot and humid to start. And by around mile 8 or so I was really ready for it to be done... I kept looking at my watch and thinking/hoping it must be messed up, it couldn't possible be that far left...
I also was hoping I could just stretch my water out a bit and be ok with my 2 23oz bottles. But yeah, I realized that was going to be a mistake by about 90 minutes in. I got a couple refills in there as well during my near 3 and a half hours out there.
The last half of the race was a lot of my mouth/body saying "just get gallons and gallons of ice water and pour them in!", but my stomach was saying "ehh, just take it easy on me..."
I also made mental notes of being just fine with not running any of the races I am scheduled for this year... As well as the one I think I will try to stand by more which is to probably NOT do this race again, or any this long that may be in this sort of heat. It was just not enjoyable for those last miles. And that last hill was a definite death march just trying to walk up that field road in the oppressive heat, humidity and out in the sun.
So, it was a good race, but that is just too many difficulty factors for me to enjoy at that distance.
But it seemed like things were feeling pretty decent the morning of. Made it through the flood warnings and torrential downpours on the way up.
Then standing at the starting line I felt some new stabbing needle sensations in my right ankle. Crap, what new pain is this?! Then I looked down after it happened a couple more times and realized it was in fact a bug that didn't care that I was wearing compression socks, it was gonna just chew right through them/me.
But the race felt good as far as my feet, etc went.
But unfortunately the weather was as predicted. Climbing through the 70's and clearing 80 before I was done and humidity was around 90%. So, it was hot and humid to start. And by around mile 8 or so I was really ready for it to be done... I kept looking at my watch and thinking/hoping it must be messed up, it couldn't possible be that far left...
I also was hoping I could just stretch my water out a bit and be ok with my 2 23oz bottles. But yeah, I realized that was going to be a mistake by about 90 minutes in. I got a couple refills in there as well during my near 3 and a half hours out there.
The last half of the race was a lot of my mouth/body saying "just get gallons and gallons of ice water and pour them in!", but my stomach was saying "ehh, just take it easy on me..."
I also made mental notes of being just fine with not running any of the races I am scheduled for this year... As well as the one I think I will try to stand by more which is to probably NOT do this race again, or any this long that may be in this sort of heat. It was just not enjoyable for those last miles. And that last hill was a definite death march just trying to walk up that field road in the oppressive heat, humidity and out in the sun.
So, it was a good race, but that is just too many difficulty factors for me to enjoy at that distance.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Is it possible to overtrain and undertrain at the same time?
Oh, let's see I have a couple entries I've been thinking about... This one and then the one for 0SPF which kinda ties in...
Dang runner's mind... I know the waves it goes in and I've heard from so many others that it's the same. Running is great! Why am I doing this?! I'm never running again! OK, Let's sign up for the next one! Something like that... So I'm trying to take my time with decisions.
So the big challenges this year were the Wineglass Marathon which I did last year and was the only race I didn't enjoy and was in a lot of pain at the end. And then the Green Monster 50K which will take me to Ultra status, and is just crazy cause it's like 7800' of elevation...
Well, those 2 aren't until October, but with my other more "normal" races in between and not wanting to run 30 miles the week before or after a race, I worked on building up the mileage early.
So... as of about 2 weeks ago I finished up 3 weeks in a row of a long run each Monday. (there might have been another couple days around the first week, not sure...) but those runs were 26+, 29 and 30 miles respectively. I walked a lot and was out there 6-8.5hrs at a time. I think the 26 mile one I did a lot on the Finger Lakes Trail. The others I kept on my local seasonal road I run which just meant 4 trips back and forth across the hills and the rock laden areas. The first two went about as expected, slow, tiring, but done.
The last one I tried going a bit slower from the start, hoping for some negative splits or just somehow not being in as bad a shape. Yeah, that didn't really work. My feet were still awfully worn out around the halfway point and I was walking most of it.
I think that was my issue. Walking on tired feet in minimal footwear over golfball sized rocks for 30 miles... Still, things felt mostly normal tired afterwards, maybe a tad more knee, hip and hamstring issue, but not too bad. Then like a couple days later I started getting some weird floating issues... I even had a couple pretty good feeling runs in there... But during the course of most of the last 2 weeks, there have been bits of toe numbness, right foot pain, left knee pain, right hip/hamstring pain(that's been pretty minimal). Mainly it was the right foot. I took a walk one day and isolated it to the fact that it was leaning to the right a bit and kind of in the area where an arch would be if I had one. If I kept my weight up on the balls of my feet where it should be, all was fine. it was just the sloppy walking that hurt, which I'm sure I did plenty of and jamming rocks in that area at the same time during that 30 miles...
So then I tried wearing some more protective shoes for recovery for a few days and I think that led to my ankle pain because I wasn't used to having that extra inch of leverage under my feet, or off-angle stuff on a couple pairs.(the other 2 pairs I have are at least 0 drop so that's good).
Anyway, don't get me wrong, I've felt plenty tired and sore after plenty of runs. But after a number of these 20+ mile "runs" in the 6-8hr range, I've pretty confidently concluded that I don't like them. It's more than I want to do. And I rather wish I hadn't signed up for those 2 long races at the end of the year. I believe my hope was that since more mileage felt fine this year that going longer shouldn't be as hard. Well, it would seem I'm still hitting that dang wall at around 16-20 miles, even with more practice.
Now, I don't know that I couldn't build myself up to that level, but I do not want to invest that much time.
So...
The current questions/thoughts are...
-While I wouldn't have conceived of not doing these races I've already paid for... How much pain will I be in, and how much do I really NOT enjoy these distances? I'm seriously considering the option of just skipping them...
-Unless I make the decision of dropping them, how little training can I get away with(currently still only planning on one more long one in the next couple weeks and then maybe another one or two before taper). And which shoes should I wear during training and/or racing...
After this 13.5 mile race on Saturday I went through the feelings of being pretty much OK with just dropping out of EVERY race I'm signed up for the rest of the year, but now I'm feeling better. But still a bit unsure.
I know Wineglass only offers the option to defer my entry to next year. No refunds or transfers. Not positive about trying to switch to the half... Not sure on Green Monster, but might be similar...
I'm not looking for stellar times, I was already figuring most of green monster would be walking, but I guess that's my concern now... I seem to be having more trouble with walking that running... but there's no way I'm going to be running that far, or that far uphill for Monster...
So, we'll see. Right now my feet and calves have bits of notice, but in general I'm feeling pretty decent. But I think I'd like to get my feet feeling pretty well completely recovered before I were to try another run...
We'll see...
Dang runner's mind... I know the waves it goes in and I've heard from so many others that it's the same. Running is great! Why am I doing this?! I'm never running again! OK, Let's sign up for the next one! Something like that... So I'm trying to take my time with decisions.
So the big challenges this year were the Wineglass Marathon which I did last year and was the only race I didn't enjoy and was in a lot of pain at the end. And then the Green Monster 50K which will take me to Ultra status, and is just crazy cause it's like 7800' of elevation...
Well, those 2 aren't until October, but with my other more "normal" races in between and not wanting to run 30 miles the week before or after a race, I worked on building up the mileage early.
So... as of about 2 weeks ago I finished up 3 weeks in a row of a long run each Monday. (there might have been another couple days around the first week, not sure...) but those runs were 26+, 29 and 30 miles respectively. I walked a lot and was out there 6-8.5hrs at a time. I think the 26 mile one I did a lot on the Finger Lakes Trail. The others I kept on my local seasonal road I run which just meant 4 trips back and forth across the hills and the rock laden areas. The first two went about as expected, slow, tiring, but done.
The last one I tried going a bit slower from the start, hoping for some negative splits or just somehow not being in as bad a shape. Yeah, that didn't really work. My feet were still awfully worn out around the halfway point and I was walking most of it.
I think that was my issue. Walking on tired feet in minimal footwear over golfball sized rocks for 30 miles... Still, things felt mostly normal tired afterwards, maybe a tad more knee, hip and hamstring issue, but not too bad. Then like a couple days later I started getting some weird floating issues... I even had a couple pretty good feeling runs in there... But during the course of most of the last 2 weeks, there have been bits of toe numbness, right foot pain, left knee pain, right hip/hamstring pain(that's been pretty minimal). Mainly it was the right foot. I took a walk one day and isolated it to the fact that it was leaning to the right a bit and kind of in the area where an arch would be if I had one. If I kept my weight up on the balls of my feet where it should be, all was fine. it was just the sloppy walking that hurt, which I'm sure I did plenty of and jamming rocks in that area at the same time during that 30 miles...
So then I tried wearing some more protective shoes for recovery for a few days and I think that led to my ankle pain because I wasn't used to having that extra inch of leverage under my feet, or off-angle stuff on a couple pairs.(the other 2 pairs I have are at least 0 drop so that's good).
Anyway, don't get me wrong, I've felt plenty tired and sore after plenty of runs. But after a number of these 20+ mile "runs" in the 6-8hr range, I've pretty confidently concluded that I don't like them. It's more than I want to do. And I rather wish I hadn't signed up for those 2 long races at the end of the year. I believe my hope was that since more mileage felt fine this year that going longer shouldn't be as hard. Well, it would seem I'm still hitting that dang wall at around 16-20 miles, even with more practice.
Now, I don't know that I couldn't build myself up to that level, but I do not want to invest that much time.
So...
The current questions/thoughts are...
-While I wouldn't have conceived of not doing these races I've already paid for... How much pain will I be in, and how much do I really NOT enjoy these distances? I'm seriously considering the option of just skipping them...
-Unless I make the decision of dropping them, how little training can I get away with(currently still only planning on one more long one in the next couple weeks and then maybe another one or two before taper). And which shoes should I wear during training and/or racing...
After this 13.5 mile race on Saturday I went through the feelings of being pretty much OK with just dropping out of EVERY race I'm signed up for the rest of the year, but now I'm feeling better. But still a bit unsure.
I know Wineglass only offers the option to defer my entry to next year. No refunds or transfers. Not positive about trying to switch to the half... Not sure on Green Monster, but might be similar...
I'm not looking for stellar times, I was already figuring most of green monster would be walking, but I guess that's my concern now... I seem to be having more trouble with walking that running... but there's no way I'm going to be running that far, or that far uphill for Monster...
So, we'll see. Right now my feet and calves have bits of notice, but in general I'm feeling pretty decent. But I think I'd like to get my feet feeling pretty well completely recovered before I were to try another run...
We'll see...
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Struggles
So where am I right now? I'm tired. Not hugely so, but there is the frequent weight of tiredness on me at the moment. Really just mental I think. Though, that is one of the struggles, which is to say trying to determine whether my body is just tired from a lot of miles. Which becomes a bit mentally tiring trying to figure out if I should be pushing harder or taking it a bit easier. I do my best to err on the side of safe while still accomplishing my goals. As far as going the distance this seems to work. It seems speed goals are where injuries are more likely.
Right now my goal is the Green Monster 50K in October. Besides being 33 miles long, it's also got almost elevation as the Spartan beast in VT last year.(which was only 16 miles, but had obstacles as well. That took about 9 hours.)
I also have a bunch of other races before that which will somewhat interrupt training. As such I'm trying to build my mileage base now, quite a bit ahead of schedule. I'm trying to follow the 10% rule(as in don't go increase more than that per week), though when your long runs are in the 20's that means I'm adding 2 more miles every week. On that note, it is nice to see the improvement from last year. It was largely the 22 mile run(of which I had only done once before during the Wineglass last year) where I found myself going "oh yeah, I had forgotten this overly tired leg feeling..." Not to say that my feet and legs don't get tired, but not to that level, but they did a lot more with a lot less mileage last year.
Anyway, I'm not going for speed right now, just looking to injury free completion of Wineglass Full and Green Monster 50K a week later. Although I do want to try to get in a bit more speed work before the Howard 5K in... August I think.
Anyway, this leads us to weight and food.
I guess I'll start with weight. I'm currently about 195lbs. And I've been right close to 200lbs for almost a year now. I believe I just barely nudged into the 180's at my lowest last year. And part of me feels that I should just be ok with it cause I seem pretty healthy. Though for that matter, I don't think I was that unhealthy when I was 225lbs or more. Heck, even when I cleared 250lbs right before I decided I needed to lose weight, it's not like I had any real problems. But it's not like I wasn't doing anything, I was out walking a decent amount.
Still. Here I am at 195 and I definitely have a good 30-50lbs of spare tire/muffin top. I'd really like it to be less. And of course it would probably help my speed and reduce the load on my joints. Not that they are showing any serious issues, but occasionally I feel where I've not quite got my form right.
So we come to the losing of weight... Seems like it ought to just drop right off with all this running, right? Well, it did when I started a year or so ago... And I've dropped 5-10lbs in like a week on occasion. But I'm pretty sure I'm still eating too much. But it's difficult to tell just how much I should be eating. Calorie burn estimates on various running apps seem to have humongous differences... The latest one I've got is from Garmin and other than when I really push it at a race, it generally tells me I'm barely clearing 100 calories per mile. While other apps tell me it should be almost twice that. That's a pretty big difference on a 20 mile run... Did I just burn 2000 calories or 4000? And is my body really going to be happy if I still try to keep my intake to around 2000? Or is it going to want more fuel to rebuild those muscles, etc?
Even considering that I should eat less on the really bad calorie intake days, it comes down to my biggest issues:
#1 Emotional eating. Most of the time, this is stress eating. I love my girls to no end and they are WONDERFUL lots of the time! But then they are insane like half the time... One minute they're hugging and talking to each other, the next they're pushing each other down. So I find most often it seems to be the nights and weekends where I just find myself stressed and just wanting to eat something whether I'm hungry or not.
#2 is probably my bit of OCD where I don't like to see little bits of food around. I want to clear them up and feel like it's cleared off/out. And I don't like to waste food and throw it out. This is a lot worse with my girls since they always seem to leave several bites of whatever they were eating in a bowl around the house or in the fridge, etc.
So... We come down to about the only way I've had much luck in trying to control my eating. Basically I think I try to switch the side of my brain that I use when it comes to food. I try to take it from "food is enjoyment" to "food is a utility". Try to switch off the emotional part when it comes to eating. Not to say that this is easy or just works, but if I can keep focused enough, it kinda works. That also ties into trying to eat "cleaner". Cause snacks sound good. Fruit is just kinda OK, and veggies are acceptable at best, but most of the time a definite negative. I've gotten to the point where I am a bit more accepting of veggies, but I'm basically trying to ignore what I'm doing while eating them.
Anyway. just some thoughts that have been hanging on for a while. On we go!
Right now my goal is the Green Monster 50K in October. Besides being 33 miles long, it's also got almost elevation as the Spartan beast in VT last year.(which was only 16 miles, but had obstacles as well. That took about 9 hours.)
I also have a bunch of other races before that which will somewhat interrupt training. As such I'm trying to build my mileage base now, quite a bit ahead of schedule. I'm trying to follow the 10% rule(as in don't go increase more than that per week), though when your long runs are in the 20's that means I'm adding 2 more miles every week. On that note, it is nice to see the improvement from last year. It was largely the 22 mile run(of which I had only done once before during the Wineglass last year) where I found myself going "oh yeah, I had forgotten this overly tired leg feeling..." Not to say that my feet and legs don't get tired, but not to that level, but they did a lot more with a lot less mileage last year.
Anyway, I'm not going for speed right now, just looking to injury free completion of Wineglass Full and Green Monster 50K a week later. Although I do want to try to get in a bit more speed work before the Howard 5K in... August I think.
Anyway, this leads us to weight and food.
I guess I'll start with weight. I'm currently about 195lbs. And I've been right close to 200lbs for almost a year now. I believe I just barely nudged into the 180's at my lowest last year. And part of me feels that I should just be ok with it cause I seem pretty healthy. Though for that matter, I don't think I was that unhealthy when I was 225lbs or more. Heck, even when I cleared 250lbs right before I decided I needed to lose weight, it's not like I had any real problems. But it's not like I wasn't doing anything, I was out walking a decent amount.
Still. Here I am at 195 and I definitely have a good 30-50lbs of spare tire/muffin top. I'd really like it to be less. And of course it would probably help my speed and reduce the load on my joints. Not that they are showing any serious issues, but occasionally I feel where I've not quite got my form right.
So we come to the losing of weight... Seems like it ought to just drop right off with all this running, right? Well, it did when I started a year or so ago... And I've dropped 5-10lbs in like a week on occasion. But I'm pretty sure I'm still eating too much. But it's difficult to tell just how much I should be eating. Calorie burn estimates on various running apps seem to have humongous differences... The latest one I've got is from Garmin and other than when I really push it at a race, it generally tells me I'm barely clearing 100 calories per mile. While other apps tell me it should be almost twice that. That's a pretty big difference on a 20 mile run... Did I just burn 2000 calories or 4000? And is my body really going to be happy if I still try to keep my intake to around 2000? Or is it going to want more fuel to rebuild those muscles, etc?
Even considering that I should eat less on the really bad calorie intake days, it comes down to my biggest issues:
#1 Emotional eating. Most of the time, this is stress eating. I love my girls to no end and they are WONDERFUL lots of the time! But then they are insane like half the time... One minute they're hugging and talking to each other, the next they're pushing each other down. So I find most often it seems to be the nights and weekends where I just find myself stressed and just wanting to eat something whether I'm hungry or not.
#2 is probably my bit of OCD where I don't like to see little bits of food around. I want to clear them up and feel like it's cleared off/out. And I don't like to waste food and throw it out. This is a lot worse with my girls since they always seem to leave several bites of whatever they were eating in a bowl around the house or in the fridge, etc.
So... We come down to about the only way I've had much luck in trying to control my eating. Basically I think I try to switch the side of my brain that I use when it comes to food. I try to take it from "food is enjoyment" to "food is a utility". Try to switch off the emotional part when it comes to eating. Not to say that this is easy or just works, but if I can keep focused enough, it kinda works. That also ties into trying to eat "cleaner". Cause snacks sound good. Fruit is just kinda OK, and veggies are acceptable at best, but most of the time a definite negative. I've gotten to the point where I am a bit more accepting of veggies, but I'm basically trying to ignore what I'm doing while eating them.
Anyway. just some thoughts that have been hanging on for a while. On we go!
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
A year of running...
Well, it's been somewhere around a year that I've been running.
I know my first race was the Chili Challenge right about the first week of November. Won't be doing that one this year since we'll be in Wisconsin for my cousin's wedding.
The Wineglass marathon was pretty much the end to a year full of a running. Well... The first year. At the moment, I think I'm still planning on the Turkey Trot and Christmas 5K's and there's a half in January I'm eyeing...
So, now that I've experienced most races below Ultras, what do I think? Am I ready for an Ultra? NO. (: At least not at speed. The Wineglass was the first/only race where I was trying to keep up some speed and found out where my physical limits were at least with barefoot form. Never before have I tried to keep running while in agony.
And yet... I think I'm going to sign up again for next year.
Was it my favorite? Definitely not. I mean the Wineglass was a great race, I'd say the best road race I've done, but 26 miles is about twice as far as what sounds nice. Yes, as far as road races go, I think I like the half.
But road races are pretty much my least favorite. Not that I don't like them, but I like trail races better. And better than that are obstacle races.
Definitely what sits foremost in my race desire for 2015 is another Spartan Trifecta.
THOUGH....
MOST FUN? I really have to say that was the Color Run with MaKenzie. I didn't really run at all for that one, but seeing my 2 year old running a 5K and playing in the colors was definitely the most fun I've had at any of my races.
But after that one, the Spartan Beast World Championships in VT was my favorite. Yeah, it was 9 hours, almost twice as long as the marathon with only 16 miles, but about 9000 feet of climbing up... And yeah, heading down to the last 5K of obstacles at dusk was really dang tiring and I was more of a floundering fish trying to do any of them than I was an obstacle racer, but dang it I MADE IT THROUGH! And while I was tired and sore, I was not in NEAR the pain I experienced for the last 6-10 miles of the marathon trying to run.
So what now? I'm still working on that... I'm gonna give blood again and see how that goes with trying to run. I recall being more tired when I tried once last year, and looked it up to see that I am essentially reverse blood doping so yeah, it's probably going to have an effect, we'll see how much. I'm also re-focusing on taking off the 10lbs I put back on this year and the other 30 that still need to come off. I'm logging those intake calories again. Tried that a few weeks ago and the morning runs were rough. So we'll see just what this brings and maybe I'll ease up on some runs. Oh, and more barefoot runs. The barefoot group tells me that's my problem with the marathon. It was always on my list, it just didn't seem to get done. Though my feet and hands are the weak points when it comes to cold, so it may be Spring before I get any more barefoot runs in.
I'd like to get more runs in with Kenzie and/or Bella, but we'll have to see how that works out.
I think I'll keep up my Active account and hopefully score some more free races.
I want another Spartan Trifecta so I'll have to see about trying to volunteer for those or something, cause they ain't cheap.
I'll probably do Tough Mudder again since it's just down the road.
I kinda feel obligated to do the local races, though it seemed like last spring was pretty bogged down with races every week, so I may have to re-evaluate that. Most of those are just 5K's as well.
I might go do the Humdinger again, that was my first over a 5K and before the snow was gone and a trail/minor obstacle race...
Probably some trail races, though at the moment I'm not feeling as much pull for them... I think I need to find some closer and/or winter ones...
Dunno, we'll see!
I know my first race was the Chili Challenge right about the first week of November. Won't be doing that one this year since we'll be in Wisconsin for my cousin's wedding.
The Wineglass marathon was pretty much the end to a year full of a running. Well... The first year. At the moment, I think I'm still planning on the Turkey Trot and Christmas 5K's and there's a half in January I'm eyeing...
So, now that I've experienced most races below Ultras, what do I think? Am I ready for an Ultra? NO. (: At least not at speed. The Wineglass was the first/only race where I was trying to keep up some speed and found out where my physical limits were at least with barefoot form. Never before have I tried to keep running while in agony.
And yet... I think I'm going to sign up again for next year.
Was it my favorite? Definitely not. I mean the Wineglass was a great race, I'd say the best road race I've done, but 26 miles is about twice as far as what sounds nice. Yes, as far as road races go, I think I like the half.
But road races are pretty much my least favorite. Not that I don't like them, but I like trail races better. And better than that are obstacle races.
Definitely what sits foremost in my race desire for 2015 is another Spartan Trifecta.
THOUGH....
MOST FUN? I really have to say that was the Color Run with MaKenzie. I didn't really run at all for that one, but seeing my 2 year old running a 5K and playing in the colors was definitely the most fun I've had at any of my races.
But after that one, the Spartan Beast World Championships in VT was my favorite. Yeah, it was 9 hours, almost twice as long as the marathon with only 16 miles, but about 9000 feet of climbing up... And yeah, heading down to the last 5K of obstacles at dusk was really dang tiring and I was more of a floundering fish trying to do any of them than I was an obstacle racer, but dang it I MADE IT THROUGH! And while I was tired and sore, I was not in NEAR the pain I experienced for the last 6-10 miles of the marathon trying to run.
So what now? I'm still working on that... I'm gonna give blood again and see how that goes with trying to run. I recall being more tired when I tried once last year, and looked it up to see that I am essentially reverse blood doping so yeah, it's probably going to have an effect, we'll see how much. I'm also re-focusing on taking off the 10lbs I put back on this year and the other 30 that still need to come off. I'm logging those intake calories again. Tried that a few weeks ago and the morning runs were rough. So we'll see just what this brings and maybe I'll ease up on some runs. Oh, and more barefoot runs. The barefoot group tells me that's my problem with the marathon. It was always on my list, it just didn't seem to get done. Though my feet and hands are the weak points when it comes to cold, so it may be Spring before I get any more barefoot runs in.
I'd like to get more runs in with Kenzie and/or Bella, but we'll have to see how that works out.
I think I'll keep up my Active account and hopefully score some more free races.
I want another Spartan Trifecta so I'll have to see about trying to volunteer for those or something, cause they ain't cheap.
I'll probably do Tough Mudder again since it's just down the road.
I kinda feel obligated to do the local races, though it seemed like last spring was pretty bogged down with races every week, so I may have to re-evaluate that. Most of those are just 5K's as well.
I might go do the Humdinger again, that was my first over a 5K and before the snow was gone and a trail/minor obstacle race...
Probably some trail races, though at the moment I'm not feeling as much pull for them... I think I need to find some closer and/or winter ones...
Dunno, we'll see!
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