Podcasts

I have found heaven.  I know you all thought I considered running 30-60 miles heaven and I do, sort of...but...I get bored.  Oh there I said it.  I get bored and it hurts a little.  I used to just put on NPR and listen away but ... then... someone told me about PODCASTS.  OMG I am in heaven.  I am not joking here.  I have found nirvana.  I can run and run and run.  There is one slight problem, well if you call laughing your ass off while running a problem. LOL.  Some of hte shows I download or so funny that I get out of breath laughing.  And here is the kicker, you can download podcasts for free from itunes.  I just search under their podcast tab and find shows I want to listen to, then hit "get all" and they all show up on my itune thing on my computer and I can put them on my shuffle.  Yes I just said: something on itunes is free.  Woooo hoooo.  I know I wouldn't have thought it either.  From a company who makes gadgets that you can only listen to with their over priced headphones comes something free.  I am not here to question it, I will just rejoice in it.  Ahhhh the pure splendid joy of running listening to free shows about running, being a mom, current events, cars, etc. it is awesome.  So now let me spread the love.  Here is what I am listening to right now, if you have suggestions please oh please leave them.  Happy Running All.  And try not to get hurt running and laughing at the same time. 

Endurance Planet

Car Talk

The Marathon Show

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me

Stuff You Missed in History Class

The Parent Experiment

Night Trail Running - What was I thinking?

This week I received an invite on FB to join a 12hr night trail run.  The run would consist of 8 mile loops out on some Mountain Biking trails.  I thought this was a great way to finish up my training this week.  It didn't occur to me not to do 3 x 20 miles on T,W and R respectively.  So going into this run I had about 62 miles on my legs.  I didn't know anyone that was going so I was a little nervous about it.  I promised Doug if the people looked sketchy I would turn back.  He said he didn't believe me.  Said something about me not being able to say "No" to a good run.  :), OK, maybe the guy knows me better than I know me.  So I drive almost an hour and find a group of ultra looking runners in the middle of a field, this pretty much had to be them, who else shows up to a park at 7pm at night with camelbaks.  There were about 7 people running and one lady manning the gear.  As they are explaining the route I am thinking, ok I can do this.  One guy crewed at Badwater and I wanted more than anything to get a chance to run with him and hear  what Badwater was like.  But, since the guy paced at Badwater he is a bad ass runner and therefore I just could not keep up to get a chance to talk to him.  As we headed out on the first loop I initially hung with the front group: Badwater guy, next guy and really fast Jen.  I hung with them for a whole mile before I knew that was a horrible idea.  I slowed to my pace and began working the trail.  It was pretty dang technical, it had tons of steep up and downs that I bet are super fun for mountain bikes but for a runner it is really hard on your knees.  The paths had stacks of logs you had to run up and down and the there were tons of roots.  Needless to say it didn't take me long to figure out this was not my best idea for a night training run.  My next race is on dirt roads, nothing this extreme and my knees and feet were screaming by the 5 mile mark.  I rolled to plan B in my head, run this loop and go home.  I am not risking an injury this close to race day for some fun night running.  I think I would actually like the trail much better during the day and Doug would love it too, so I figured I would just head back with Doug  some other day.  So all in all it wasn't a loss but, I am still not quite sure what I was thinking. 

The trail gave me a little time to reflect on this year in running.  You know last year at this very point I could barely walk due to a back injury and hadn't even decided to sign up for my first 100 yet.  Now here I am today having run Rocky and Lone Ranger and am on my way to Heartland.  When I thought of it in those terms it suddenly was obvious why I still feel like such a newbie and why I feel like I am struggling to get a nutrition plan.  I am super new at this.  Experience is key in the sport of 100 mile running.  You can run a 50 miler and not worry too much about nutrition but, you just can't allow yourself to get into a deficit on a 100 miler.  It is a whole different ball of wax.  I think I need to learn patience.  I was reading a Race Report from Leadville (Leadville 100 mile trail run, one of the hardest races in the US), it was amazing to hear one of the top runners talk about why he thought he DNF'd (Did Not Finish).  One of his biggest take aways from the experience was patience.  He said he should have slowed down and taken the time to get his nutrition plan back on track.  I was shocked so even the top dogs in the sport have trouble with nutrition.  He was absolutely right, these races are journeys and patience is key. 

Along the line of patience, I have been taking a more patient approach with my training.  Lately I haven't let mileage drive my running.  I have been listening to my body and let my legs decide the mileage.  I am pushing for higher mileage but if things hurt I am taking the time to let them settle down.  I am hoping this approach will allow me to better prepared for Heartland. 

So here it is: The Mileage Contest/Prediction.  Post your bets by Tuesday Midnight.  How many miles do you think I can do this week?  My week runs from Monday to Sunday.  Doug won't be in town so I will have to get in my mileage around Chloe's schedule.  The person that gets closest will get some Aquaphor and whatever else I can think of :). 

Happy Running Everyone!

Ugly Feet

Here we are a little over a month out from LR and my feet are still not quite right.  First my hands shed all of their skin, then the lower half of my legs and now my feet.  I am guessing it must have something to do with the intense heat and the swelling but honestly I don't know and at this point am just annoyed.  My left foot seems to still ache which is kind of a bummer but, if that is the only injury from that race I think I came out on top. 

So how is training going?  Well I finally got around to making a training plan for Heartland.  I mean it is like 7weeks away so this seemed like a great time to make a plan, lol.  I was really figuring out how many more weeks I could hit it hard for before I needed to taper.  I figured I could take one week light and the rest would have to be really hard before my taper.  The plan had me taking this week light but alas I tweaked a muscle last week and decided that was my sign to chill out.  So this week I must see what these legs are made of.  I am not sure if I can hit 100 miles but I plan to go out fighting :).  Lets see if I can kick my own a$$ and get in those miles.  I think we will take bets in a few weeks on the number of miles I can get in a week.  Now that could be fun.  So get your thinking caps on.  I will post next week.  I don't have a prize in mind but the winner could get some Aquaphor. 

Happy Running Everyone. 

Oh whoops forgot some super exciting news....Cindy from last weeks post, my weekly Tuesday running buddy is signing up for her first marathon.  I get to run it with her.  Woooot wooooot.  She is running the White Rock in December.  I am so excited I am bubbling.  I just love running first marathons with people.  Yipppeee.  Now of course I have a reason to bust out my now famous Chariots of Fire ballet once again.  Ahhhh Yahhhhh.  Watch out Dallas. You have been warned.

Hottest Half

I think I must begin by apologizing for being MIA lately.  We moved, Doug went to Korea and sold the house.  In that order.  I feel like my head is constantly spinning with all of the things that need to be done.  Something had to give for a few weeks and the blog seemed like a wiser choice than lets say ohhhh parenting Chloe, :).  Ok apology over.

The above picture is Bethany (pacer from Lone Ranger and Rocky), Cindy (Tuesday AM running partner) and I before the Hottest Half today.  A month or so ago Cindy asked if I wanted to run this race with her and of course I said yes.  When Bethany found out we were doing it she said she would drive up from Austin and run it with us. So here we all are ready to get our tails whipped by some seriously blistering heat.  The heat index today was 112.  No kidding, 112.  Cindy and Bethany's plan to combat the heat was to wear these cute little numbers (see pics below).  Can you see the white things around their necks?  They are some sort of cooling things.  They soaked them this AM in ice water and then wore them the entire race.  They both say they worked wonders. 

My plan was to use this race as a training run, I didn't want to go out so fast that I messed up my legs for next week but, I wanted to get in some solid miles at a pace that taxed me a little.  The first few miles were a  mess and really hard to get going.  There were gobs of people trying to run in a very confined area and cross bridges.  After about a 1 1/2 miles I was able to get in my zone.  I was running around a 7:45 pace and that seemed to feel comfortable yet not too comfortable.  So that was that, I stuck to that pace the entire race.  It was a great course, it did have some shade and there was tons of water.  Some of the stations did run out of water at varying points throughout the race but lucky for me I hit them when they were full.  I made sure to drink at every single aid station.  I crossed the line at 1:43:03 (officially) and managed to get 2nd in my age and 52/989 overall.  Not so bad.  I ran through the finish line.  Tackled the Jamba Juice lady to get a smoothie, grabbed a ton of water and Power Aid and ran back out on the course.  I was able to meet up with Cindy when she had about a 1 1/2 to go and got to run a mile or so with her.  Great fun. Then when she started her kick for the finish I headed back out to meet up with Bethany. I was able to catch her at just about the same place I saw Cindy.  I finished up Bethany's race with her.  As many times as I have run with Bethany I have never run with her when I was the cheerleader, it was fun to be the "pacer/crew" :).  Dang it was a ton of fun.  When Bethany and I got to the finish we met up with Cindy and she said I had earned 2nd so we went to retrieve my loot. Then we all had a snack and headed out to breakfast.  It was the best way to spend a Sunday.  All in all was able to eek out 19 miles today bringing my weekly total over 70.  That is right folks I am back on track. Heartland here we come. 

Happy Running all!! Hope it is cooler where you live.