Building A Better Bumblebee

You are a troublemaker. Watching those Volcanic50 videos get the blood pumping. The views are awesome and you get to run in environments resembling everything from a rain forest to the surface of the moon.

Tom H wrote:You are a troublemaker.  Watching those Volcanic50 videos get the blood pumping.  The views are awesome and you get to run in environments resembling everything from a rain forest to the surface of the moon.  

The main emotion I get watching the videos -- especially this extended video below -- is trepidation.



If you haven't watched it, you should. It shows how the course includes huge boulder fields, lava flows, dental-floss thin trails on extreme side slopes, steep embankments that require skid-stepping, more random rocks, slopes, etc. Losing the trail seems a real possibility at times, since there's hardly a trail there. Yowza!

I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating: This is the sort of course that would have me looking for a seriously robust trail shoe (probably Altra's Lone Peak 2.0)rather than my usual minimalist offerings. Barefoot or sandals in this environment? Not. A. Chance.

I had great plans for today, which went out the window when a cold Alita had been fighting for the past weeks got its hooks into me. There's nothing quite like the combined sensation of restlessness and fatigue, is there?

Oh well. I'm telling myself that if I behave, I'll be over it sooner and able to get going.

I just got credit for entry in a future race for voluneering with the outfit that organized the one on the Oregon Coast*. I also have a transfer available from them for my DNS. That's two races at zero or low cost. If I ever hope to cash in on it, I'd better actually start getting back in shape. They expire at the end of 2015.

*-Naturally, that outfit is NOT the one that puts on the Smith Rock Ascent or Volcanic 50. Figures.

Mark B wrote:I had great plans for today, which went out the window when a cold Alita had been fighting for the past weeks got its hooks into me. There's nothing quite like the combined sensation of restlessness and fatigue, is there?

Oh well. I'm telling myself that if I behave, I'll be over it sooner and able to get going.

I just got credit for entry in a future race for voluneering with the outfit that organized the one on the Oregon Coast*. I also have a transfer available from them for my DNS. That's two races at zero or low cost. If I ever hope to cash in on it, I'd better actually start getting back in shape. They expire at the end of 2015.

*-Naturally, that outfit is NOT the one that puts on the Smith Rock Ascent or Volcanic 50. Figures.

and that 'combined sensation of restlessness and fatigue' are sleeping in the same bed, too.

Really cool on the free entry!  Yeah, as if you needed another motivating factor. 

Finally, and at the risk of being serious, have you ever read that barefoot runners can have less pain on the soles of their feet when wearing shoes in a race because the soles of their feet are toughened up or thicker than a runner who never walks or runs barefoot?  It was a random thought I had that made it to my fingers.

ounce wrote:Finally, and at the risk of being serious, have you ever read that barefoot runners can have less pain on the soles of their feet when wearing shoes in a race because the soles of their feet are toughened up or thicker than a runner who never walks or runs barefoot?  It was a random thought I had that made it to my fingers.

That's an interesting question. I've never heard or read of such a thing, but considering that barefoot running builds foot strength, I could imagine how it might well allow the foot to go further before fatigue starts settling in -- even in shoes. I think that'd have more of an impact (if you'll pardon the term) than "toughening" of the feet. Which, by the way, is more the body's buildup of fatty pads in the soles of the feet than any hardening of skin tissue.

Could improved pads on the soles of the feet help in a race, wearing shoes? Maybe. But I'd think the musculature would help more.

Hack, hack, gag, hack. Hack, hack, hack.

Nothing like the first cold/cough of the fall, is there?

Wondering how long it'd take 'em to 86 me from the office if I decide to try to go in today.

Yuck.  Colds.  Wait though.  You aren't in taper.  I thought colds only came on 1-2 weeks before a race so that you could stress over it more.  In fact, I've already booked mine for Thanksgiving time what with two preschool grandkids!

Glad to see you've decided to stay home.  I really resented the folks who would come in to work hacking up bits of lungs saying, "It's just a cold.", not living in the real world where the true statement is, "It's my cold today, but my gift to you for tomorrow."  Hope this one passes for you quickly.

Tom H wrote:Glad to see you've decided to stay home.  I really resented the folks who would come in to work hacking up bits of lungs saying, "It's just a cold.", not living in the real world where the true statement is, "It's my cold today, but my gift to you for tomorrow." 

Uh... oops, he says, posting from the office...

And you missed the opportunity for people in HazMat suits to come pay you a visit, with a NEW location for the next 21 days!

Fluff was SO looking forward to a little HE time.

ounce wrote:And you missed the opportunity for people in HazMat suits to come pay you a visit, with a NEW location for the next 21 days!

Fluff was SO looking forward to a little HE time.

Annd... I'm back home. It was gently suggested that it might feel better if I went home (and took my cold with me).

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:And you missed the opportunity for people in HazMat suits to come pay you a visit, with a NEW location for the next 21 days!

Fluff was SO looking forward to a little HE time.

Annd... I'm back home. It was gently suggested that it might feel better if I went home (and took my cold with me).

That might take a couple of weeks. 

Ok, looks like you got the worst of the cold as I feel better this morning already.  I've been pounding the Emergen-C and it might be all in my mind, but it works.  Take care of yourself!

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:And you missed the opportunity for people in HazMat suits to come pay you a visit, with a NEW location for the next 21 days!

Fluff was SO looking forward to a little HE time.

Annd... I'm back home. It was gently suggested that it might feel better if I went home (and took my cold with me).

That might take a couple of weeks. 

Let's hope not. I burned most of this year's accumulated vacation/sick time with the Fluffpacolypse.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Ok, looks like you got the worst of the cold as I feel better this morning already.  I've been pounding the Emergen-C and it might be all in my mind, but it works.  Take care of yourself!

Thanks, Michele. I'm glad your Emergen-C regimen is working for you. I'll be picking up some Airborne at the store and chug-a-lugging it, myself. This has turned into the worst cold/cough I've had in years. Alec's never heard me hack like this, and it kind of freaks him out. Of course, I coughed so hard at one point yesterday that I threw up, so he may have good reasons...

So no work today, for sure. I'd like to think I'll feel better for my BD tomorrow, but I don't have much confidence in that.

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:And you missed the opportunity for people in HazMat suits to come pay you a visit, with a NEW location for the next 21 days!

Fluff was SO looking forward to a little HE time.

Annd... I'm back home. It was gently suggested that it might feel better if I went home (and took my cold with me).

That might take a couple of weeks. 

Let's hope not. I burned most of this year's accumulated vacation/sick time with the Fluffpacolypse.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Ok, looks like you got the worst of the cold as I feel better this morning already.  I've been pounding the Emergen-C and it might be all in my mind, but it works.  Take care of yourself!

Thanks, Michele. I'm glad your Emergen-C regimen is working for you. I'll be picking up some Airborne at the store and chug-a-lugging it, myself. This has turned into the worst cold/cough I've had in years. Alec's never heard me hack like this, and it kind of freaks him out. Of course, I coughed so hard at one point yesterday that I threw up, so he may have good reasons...

So no work today, for sure. I'd like to think I'll feel better for my BD tomorrow, but I don't have much confidence in that.

Nah, you'll feel like crap and milk it for all it's worth. 

ounce wrote:Nah, you'll feel like crap and milk it for all it's worth. 

Oh, yeah. Because that would be so. much. fun.

I already told the office I won't be in tomorrow, either. I'm still fatigued, and I'll break into a random phelgm-flinging coughing fit at a moment's notice. If I showed up at the office like that, I think I'd be escorted from the building.

Fun note! When you've moved most of the contents of our downstairs into the garage and stuffed much of what's upstairs into boxes, it makes for an interesting time of finding random things like, spatulas, sweats... or cold medicine.

Yup. It's all right out... here.



Somewhere.

Now, some of the boxes are marked, but they've been shuffled around so many times as we've searched for various items that any sense of organization is long gone. One of these days we'll have to empty all the boxes and sort the contents. You can imagine how much we're looking forward to that.

Oh, hey, look! My body's odometer rolled over today.



(And hey, so did my post count! Funky.)

I'd hoped to go do something predictably wacky to mark the occasion, but alas, I'm still hacking up hairballs.  Feeling a little better, though; I can feel a tiny bit more life in my legs, and that's a welcome development. I'd wondered why my last set of PT exercises left 'em deader than usual. Now I know it was because my body was already fatigued fighting this bug long before the first obvious symptoms showed up.

I took today off (lamest way to get a birthday off ever), but I think I'll be well enough to go tomorrow. Hope so, anyway.

Not fun looking through the boxes.

Jim Lentz wrote:Not fun looking through the boxes.

Yeah, it gets old fast. What makes it trickier is that one of us goes out look for something, and see something else that we don't need at that moment. Then the other person goes out looking for something, AND MOVES THE BOXES AROUND, which means when we need that one thing we'd seen... it's not where we remembered it.

It's like a giant shell game.

For example, I remember exactly where the thermometers were... at one point. But not now. Aiee!

Still, there's some benefits of the frantic rummaging binges, like stumbling across this...


(No, Doug, it was empty when I found it...)

I've been looking for this for weeks now, and I'd given up after fruitlessly searching through box after box of individually wrapped coffee cups, glasses, etc. Turns out, it wasn't in a box at all! It was in a cabinet upstairs. I found it looking for the #$@! thermometer.

Finding something with which to fill the vessel took substantially less time.

Nice glass!

Jim Lentz wrote:Nice glass!

Worth every mile.

Mark B wrote:I had great plans for today, which went out the window when a cold Alita had been fighting for the past weeks got its hooks into me. There's nothing quite like the combined sensation of restlessness and fatigue, is there?

Oh well. I'm telling myself that if I behave, I'll be over it sooner and able to get going.

I just got credit for entry in a future race for voluneering with the outfit that organized the one on the Oregon Coast*. I also have a transfer available from them for my DNS. That's two races at zero or low cost. If I ever hope to cash in on it, I'd better actually start getting back in shape. They expire at the end of 2015.

*-Naturally, that outfit is NOT the one that puts on the Smith Rock Ascent or Volcanic 50. Figures.

If you're asking I vote for using your free entry to run the Oregon Coast in 2015. Smith Rock and Mt St Helens will still be there in 2016.

Glad to hear you survived another birthday and are recovering from your cold.

nkrichards wrote:

Mark B wrote:I had great plans for today, which went out the window when a cold Alita had been fighting for the past weeks got its hooks into me. There's nothing quite like the combined sensation of restlessness and fatigue, is there?

Oh well. I'm telling myself that if I behave, I'll be over it sooner and able to get going.

I just got credit for entry in a future race for voluneering with the outfit that organized the one on the Oregon Coast*. I also have a transfer available from them for my DNS. That's two races at zero or low cost. If I ever hope to cash in on it, I'd better actually start getting back in shape. They expire at the end of 2015.

*-Naturally, that outfit is NOT the one that puts on the Smith Rock Ascent or Volcanic 50. Figures.

If you're asking I vote for using your free entry to run the Oregon Coast in 2015.  Smith Rock and Mt St Helens will still be there in 2016.

Glad to hear you survived another birthday and are recovering from your cold.

I think the Oregon Coast 50K is definitely in the cards for next year, but what I do with the *other* free entry for a Rainshadow Running race intrigues me. Much will depend on how well my body can rebuild after my unexpectedly long hiatus from distance running. The most realistic possibility is the Beacon Rock 50K and 25K on June 8.

I did the 25K version of the run a few years ago, and it thoroughly kicked my unprepared fanny. But I've learned a lot since then, and I know the trails. It's also close to home, which reduces expenses and makes it easy for Alita & Co. to volunteer if they want to. So it's the most likely choice, though whether it'd be the 25K or 50K, I don't know yet.

As far as my cold/cough goes, I need to go to work this afternoon/evening, though I don't really feel up to it, I'll most likely frighten some of my coworkers with an explosive, out-of-nowhere coughing jag.

Oh well, Halloween is supposed to be scary, right?

So you were not able to convince your coworkers that the cough and bits of lung were all just part of your Halloween outfit and that you were fully committed to the part?

Tom H wrote:So you were not able to convince your coworkers that the cough and bits of lung were all just part of your Halloween outfit and that you were fully committed to the part?

No, based on how I sounded, I guess they assumed I'd come as a seal.

Thought a quick update was in order. I'm still alive and slowly getting better, though this cough was so deep and so unusually violent that I did at one point Google "walking pneumonia" just to be sure I wasn't taking a bad turn. (Looks like the answer was probably no, just a nasty cough.) I've been doing a lot of resting, taking a lot of fluids and giving in to a craving for salty things... I think my body wants to retain water.

I still have junk in my lungs, though, and my energy level is still pretty limited. Dang! How can a bug that doesn't even cause a fever have such an impact on a body?? I guess the old real estate rule applies: location, location, location.

So, while I've been recuperating, I've settled on my goal races for next year.

The first one will be the Beacon Rock 50K, which is in early June and conveniently located at the western end of the Columbia River Gorge less than an hour's drive from my house. I did the 25K version of this race back in 2011 , and it thoroughly kicked me in the ass. Well, feet and ankles, actually. Why I even attempted a trail race in Free 3.0s is beyond me now.

Anyway, the 50K is two laps of the 25K route, which takes you up two mountains -- Hardy Ridge and Hamilton Mountain -- affording spectacular views of the Columbia River below.

Here's the elevation chart:



So... yeah. Not exactly the whole "flat as a pancake" sort of run, is it?

Still, I have a secret weapon: experience. Beacon Rock is close enough for me to do a lot of my training on the actual course. I even ran it a couple of times when I was getting ready for Mount Hood. Each time out there, I got a better sense of the terrain and how to navigate it. I hope to get out there a LOT once I start training for real.

Here's a link to a Facebook photo album from one of those training runs.

Extra nice thing about this: It's put on by Rainshadow Running, so my entry fee is already covered, and it'll give Alita and Alec another opportunity to volunteer. That'll give them something to do, and help the good folks who are out there.

The second race, to no one's surprise, will be the Oregon Coast 50K. More on that later.

First, though, I have to get this bug out of my system and get back into the rhythm of running. I figure I have until the end of the year to learn how to run again with my new muscles, then start working on getting ready for the races.

You may have noticed that I've dropped back (if that's something that can be said) to the 50K distance. Once I completed my 50-mile-50-years challenge last year, I decided I want to gain more experience in trail and ultra running. If it works out, don't be surprised if I try out more audacious distances again.