Trails for Two

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Good run - remember getting out there the next day, while feeling rather shitty, will actually help for the future and fitness

+1, although my knee hasn't been getting that memo.

Whoa...you're a tough coach!  How can you get away with that and keep the home life happy?  In all seriousness...looks like you're both making great progress!

Did you hear the trails near the river at Smith Rock are flooded and closed.  The river is running HIGH.  I'm sure it will be fine by mid-May...unless the trail is damaged by the flowing water.  It's been an interesting winter/spring that's for sure.

So, why have the rivers been running high?  Melt off season?

Mark, have any of your homeless informants you were buddy buddy with on the night shift joined you on the day shift?


   Oops, hasn't been long enough.  (Just practicing.)

Oops! I should tend to this blog before Ounce starts up a tic tac toe game with somebody!

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Good run - remember getting out there the next day, while feeling rather shitty, will actually help for the future and fitness

Yep. That's what I told her, then proceeded to ramble on about Central Governor Theory. You know, keep proving to your body that it's actually NOT going to suffer irreparable harm from a bit of discomfort and all that. Good thing she'd refueled before then, or I might have had a fir cone thrown at the back of my head. 

ounce wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Good run - remember getting out there the next day, while feeling rather shitty, will actually help for the future and fitness

+1, although my knee hasn't been getting that memo.

There's a difference between fatigue and injury, though... 

nkrichards wrote:Whoa...you're a tough coach!  How can you get away with that and keep the home life happy?  In all seriousness...looks like you're both making great progress!

Did you hear the trails near the river at Smith Rock are flooded and closed.  The river is running HIGH.  I'm sure it will be fine by mid-May...unless the trail is damaged by the flowing water.  It's been an interesting winter/spring that's for sure.

No, I didn't hear about the trails at Smith Rock. All the rivers are running very high this year, so I'm not surprised. Hopefully the snow is cleared out on the butte by then, or this could be a VERY interesting event.

ounce wrote:So, why have the rivers been running high?  Melt off season?

Mark, have any of your homeless informants you were buddy buddy with on the night shift joined you on the day shift?


   Oops, hasn't been long enough.  (Just practicing.)

Rivers are running high because it's been pissing down rain for months now. Fall and winter were the fifth rainiest since they started keeping records in 1892. Flooding would be a lot worse if it weren't for all the flood control measures we have now. Snowmelt is beginning to have an impact -- the lower elevation stuff is melting off now -- but the snow at higher elevations is till there, and in great quantities. One trail in the area at about 3,000 feet is still under 13 feet of snow, according to our outdoors writer. That's a lot.

And sorry for the lack of posts lately. It's spring break here, and we were out of town for several days. I'll write more about that, with photos, later.

Hang on Mark!  Can you print papers without power?  I heard there were lots of power outages on both sides of the mountain.

We're still planting carrots but I wouldn't be surprised it the crew mutinied.  It's nasty out there!  Even dust masks and donuts may not be enough to keep them working today.

Stay safe.

Didn't realize y'all had a Spring Break different than the middle of March, but it makes sense.  Didn't y'all go to California, last year?

have fun

nkrichards wrote:Hang on Mark!  Can you print papers without power?  I heard there were lots of power outages on both sides of the mountain.

We're still planting carrots but I wouldn't be surprised it the crew mutinied.  It's nasty out there!  Even dust masks and donuts may not be enough to keep them working today.

Stay safe.

It was quite windy, wasn't it? We went to my stepmom's in Eugene to pick up a table we're taking as she gets ready to move into one of those senior apartment places. The wind blew us all over the road, and it knocked her power out all day long. We found a couple of downed trees on the trail today, too, as well as a lot of branches.

ounce wrote:Didn't realize y'all had a Spring Break different than the middle of March, but it makes sense.  Didn't y'all go to California, last year?

have fun

We did go to California, yes! That was a good trip, even with the 6-hour lightning caused flight delay.

Our trip this year was to a part of the Oregon Coast they've never seen and I haven't visited since I was younger than Alec is now. It was a beautiful area, and we had a good time exploring, though it doesn't beat our favorite spot on the coast.

Trail Run: 14 miles (adjusted - Garmin read 13.2)

Weather: Partly cloudy, warming from 40 to 54°. Gear: Lone Peaks, shorts, T, pullover (shed), jacket (shed), hat and gloves (shed and shed)

We were hoping to hit 15 miles today, since we'd skipped runs for spring vacation, and we were doing pretty well until Alita jammed her knee on a stick buried in mud. It seemed fine, but then it started to whinny on downhills. We tried one more lap, just to see if it'd ease up, but it didn't -- and it got worse when she got caught up in a stick on the trail and fell. We did a lot of walking in that last mile or so.

Kind of disappointing, since we could have easily done 18 today, but there was no sense in pushing and risking further injury.

Average HR for entire run: 121

Bummer - hope Alita is ok.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Bummer - hope Alita is ok.

I hope so, too. It seems like more of a tweak than anything. We'll see how she feels tomorrow. We iced it today.

Hope Alita's toe is not giving her any problems.  Training has been going well...not a good time for an injury break!

What part of the coast did you explore this year?  I love the coast but we don't get there often and when we do we usually end up in Newport or north.  My in-laws had/have a condo in Lincoln City so we often ended up there...my least favorite town on the coast.  I love the south coast but haven't spent much time there.  I enjoyed a visit to Yachats and Cape Perpetua a couple years ago and would love to spend more time there.  We've stopped in briefly even further south on our way to California and I'd like to spend more time there.  There are to many people on the central and north coast!

Train well...the rain is coming...

nkrichards wrote:Hope Alita's toe is not giving her any problems.  Training has been going well...not a good time for an injury break!

What part of the coast did you explore this year?  I love the coast but we don't get there often and when we do we usually end up in Newport or north.  My in-laws had/have a condo in Lincoln City so we often ended up there...my least favorite town on the coast.  I love the south coast but haven't spent much time there.  I enjoyed a visit to Yachats and Cape Perpetua a couple years ago and would love to spend more time there.  We've stopped in briefly even further south on our way to California and I'd like to spend more time there.  There are to many people on the central and north coast!

Train well...the rain is coming...

Alita's toe is doing great, actually. Her ankle (the other part of that injury from last year) still gets a bit sore sometimes, but the broken part doesn't seem to bug her at all. Regarding her knee, she did an easy treadmill run yesterday with some discomfort but no serious pain, so that's a good sign. She is feeling the impact from hitting the ground, though, and she's simultaneously amazed and dismayed by the battle damage. She should be fine, though.

We explored the area around Tillamook. We stayed at Cape Lookout State Park and visited Netarts, Oceanside, Cape Mears and Cape Kiwanda. It's a pretty stretch of coastline, but it doesn't displace the Yachats area as our favorite place. If you like the southern coast, you'd like Bandon.

Uptempo run: 4.27 miles

Weather: Cool, light overcast. 38° Gear: Topos, pants, T, pullover, jacket, hat, gloves. (a bit too much)

Out today to make up for my skipped run yesterday. My idea was to make it an easy run, but after warming up, my legs had other ideas. I ended up running negative splits the whole run, giving my HR a good revving and letting my body remember what it feels like to move a bit faster.

Average HR for entire run: 136. MaxHR: 158

Barefoot Run: 4.14 miles

Weather: Overcast, some rain. 51° Gear: Bare feet, shorts, T, jacket, hat.

It was rainy this morning but a LOT warmer than yesterday (51° vs 38°), so I didn't mind heading outside for a barefoot run. Warmish rain isn't so bad.

The run felt rough in the first lap around the block, with lots of stiffness messing with my gait. I kept at it, though, and things smoothed out within the first mile. I kept making small adjustments to my gait as the run continued, trying to prevent blistering with wet feet and finding the more relaxed stride that makes barefooting so much fun. I got to that zone a bit later in the run, at least for a while.

I noticed my HR was near my target and my pace was hovering around 10:30 without much falloff, but I was pretty surprised when I downloaded the data and saw this progression of pace and average heart rate:

10:37/133
10:33/139
10:37/139
10:31/138

Dang. I can live with that. :-)

Average HR for entire run.

Woohoo - progress is always nice to see.  Keep up the good work.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Woohoo - progress is always nice to see.  Keep up the good work.

+1 Looking good.

*

MADras runners has teamed up with RORK (Redmond Oregon Running Klub), CORK (Central Oregon Running Klub...essentially Bend) and PORK (Prineville Oregon Running Klub) for a group run on May 6th.  We'll meet at Lew Hollander's house, take off and explore the trails at Smith Rock then meet back at Lew's for a potluck.  I'll give you an update on trail conditions.  We're encouraged to bring friends....

I think Jamie should have named us MORK...it wouldn't be any worse than PORK.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Woohoo - progress is always nice to see.  Keep up the good work.

Thanks! One of these days, I need to do a MAF test, but these barefoot laps around the block seem to be the next best thing.

nkrichards wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Woohoo - progress is always nice to see.  Keep up the good work.

+1 Looking good.

*

MADras runners has teamed up with RORK (Redmond Oregon Running Klub), CORK (Central Oregon Running Klub...essentially Bend) and PORK (Prineville Oregon Running Klub) for a group run on May 6th.  We'll meet at Lew Hollander's house, take off and explore the trails at Smith Rock then meet back at Lew's for a potluck.  I'll give you an update on trail conditions.  We're encouraged to bring friends....

I think Jamie should have named us MORK...it wouldn't be any worse than PORK.

Mork? Shazbot! That would have been a much better name!

Hope the trails at Smith Rock are in good shape. It's been a rough winter, so who knows?

I'm going to post some photos of our trip before I forget again. This new schedule really eats into my time for blogging!















There are lots more on my Facebook page.

Mark B wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Woohoo - progress is always nice to see.  Keep up the good work.

Thanks! One of these days, I need to do a MAF test, but these barefoot laps around the block seem to be the next best thing.

nkrichards wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Woohoo - progress is always nice to see.  Keep up the good work.

+1 Looking good.

*

MADras runners has teamed up with RORK (Redmond Oregon Running Klub), CORK (Central Oregon Running Klub...essentially Bend) and PORK (Prineville Oregon Running Klub) for a group run on May 6th.  We'll meet at Lew Hollander's house, take off and explore the trails at Smith Rock then meet back at Lew's for a potluck.  I'll give you an update on trail conditions.  We're encouraged to bring friends....

I think Jamie should have named us MORK...it wouldn't be any worse than PORK.

Mork? Shazbot! That would have been a much better name!

Hope the trails at Smith Rock are in good shape. It's been a rough winter, so who knows?

At least Jamie didn't name y'all MARK (Madras Area Running Klub) for obvious reasons.

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Woohoo - progress is always nice to see.  Keep up the good work.

Thanks! One of these days, I need to do a MAF test, but these barefoot laps around the block seem to be the next best thing.

nkrichards wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Woohoo - progress is always nice to see.  Keep up the good work.

+1 Looking good.

*

MADras runners has teamed up with RORK (Redmond Oregon Running Klub), CORK (Central Oregon Running Klub...essentially Bend) and PORK (Prineville Oregon Running Klub) for a group run on May 6th.  We'll meet at Lew Hollander's house, take off and explore the trails at Smith Rock then meet back at Lew's for a potluck.  I'll give you an update on trail conditions.  We're encouraged to bring friends....

I think Jamie should have named us MORK...it wouldn't be any worse than PORK.

Mork? Shazbot! That would have been a much better name!

Hope the trails at Smith Rock are in good shape. It's been a rough winter, so who knows?

At least Jamie didn't name y'all MARK (Madras Area Running Klub) for obvious reasons.

Yes, obviously.

Treadmill Hill Climb: 3 miles @ 12% grade (1,900 feet)

Indoors, 70 sweaty degrees.

It's been a couple of weeks since I did a hill climb workout, so the first few minutes felt pretty awkward. That eased up after a while and the rest of the climb went well. My HR steadily rose throughout the workout, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise given the body heat generated by climbing and the room temperature. Still, I wish I could measure signs of improvement here.

Average HR for entire workout: 138

Mark B wrote:Treadmill Hill Climb: 3 miles @ 12% grade (1,900 feet)

Indoors, 70 sweaty degrees.

It's been a couple of weeks since I did a hill climb workout, so the first few minutes felt pretty awkward. That eased up after a while and the rest of the climb went well. My HR steadily rose throughout the workout, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise given the body heat generated by climbing and the room temperature. Still, I wish I could measure signs of improvement here.

Average HR for entire workout: 138

I didn't go back and look but has your HR during these hill climb workouts changed?  You're still doing the same distance and grade right?  To a certain extent your increased effort during the rest of the week might also have an effect as you're doing it without as much recovery.  Taper will do the trick.

Enjoyed the photos from the coast.  Makes me wish we'd made it a higher priority this winter.  We didn't get to the coast at all.  I bought some flash frozen seafood from a new place in Bend yesterday so I'll pretend we're at the coast one day next week.

nkrichards wrote:

Mark B wrote:Treadmill Hill Climb: 3 miles @ 12% grade (1,900 feet)

Indoors, 70 sweaty degrees.

It's been a couple of weeks since I did a hill climb workout, so the first few minutes felt pretty awkward. That eased up after a while and the rest of the climb went well. My HR steadily rose throughout the workout, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise given the body heat generated by climbing and the room temperature. Still, I wish I could measure signs of improvement here.

Average HR for entire workout: 138

I didn't go back and look but has your HR during these hill climb workouts changed?  You're still doing the same distance and grade right?  To a certain extent your increased effort during the rest of the week might also have an effect as you're doing it without as much recovery.  Taper will do the trick.

Enjoyed the photos from the coast.  Makes me wish we'd made it a higher priority this winter.  We didn't get to the coast at all.  I bought some flash frozen seafood from a new place in Bend yesterday so I'll pretend we're at the coast one day next week.

I pulled the data from my hill workouts, and this is what it shows:



There is definitely improvement since January, though I'm puzzled by the lack of progress in the last three workouts. I wonder why? It could well be the extra mileage, or the faster running I've been doing earlier in the week. I can tell the difference out on the trails, though, so that's good.

Edit to add: I went back and looked at the other weeks and noticed that I started consciously doing faster runs on Mondays starting in early March. It's also when our weekly mileage climbed above 30 mpw. So that's a possibility. Maybe I'll try to restrain myself next Monday and see if there's a difference on the following Thursday. Science!

(I've also been neglecting my core work, so that's also a possibility.)

Mark B wrote:

nkrichards wrote:

Mark B wrote:Treadmill Hill Climb: 3 miles @ 12% grade (1,900 feet)

Indoors, 70 sweaty degrees.

It's been a couple of weeks since I did a hill climb workout, so the first few minutes felt pretty awkward. That eased up after a while and the rest of the climb went well. My HR steadily rose throughout the workout, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise given the body heat generated by climbing and the room temperature. Still, I wish I could measure signs of improvement here.

Average HR for entire workout: 138

I didn't go back and look but has your HR during these hill climb workouts changed?  You're still doing the same distance and grade right?  To a certain extent your increased effort during the rest of the week might also have an effect as you're doing it without as much recovery.  Taper will do the trick.

Enjoyed the photos from the coast.  Makes me wish we'd made it a higher priority this winter.  We didn't get to the coast at all.  I bought some flash frozen seafood from a new place in Bend yesterday so I'll pretend we're at the coast one day next week.

I pulled the data from my hill workouts, and this is what it shows:



There is definitely improvement since January, though I'm puzzled by the lack of progress in the last three workouts. I wonder why? It could well be the extra mileage, or the faster running I've been doing earlier in the week. I can tell the difference out on the trails, though, so that's good.

Edit to add: I went back and looked at the other weeks and noticed that I started consciously doing faster runs on Mondays starting in early March. It's also when our weekly mileage climbed above 30 mpw. So that's a possibility. Maybe I'll try to restrain myself next Monday and see if there's a difference on the following Thursday. Science!

(I've also been neglecting my core work, so that's also a possibility.)

 What! Neglecting your core work!  

That could be a factor but I'm still betting it's the increase in your other training.

Conditions should be the same as it's all been on the treadmill.  Have you changed the time of day you're doing the workout?  When did you start your new job...stress? 

It's interesting to me how much outside influences affect training...and also interesting how we all react differently.

The fact that you can feel improvement out on the trail is the important thing.

Nice day for running here today and I've got a couple group events on the schedule.

Low HR Run: 6 miles

Weather: Nice! Sunny and 51° Gear: Topos, shorts, long-sleeved tech T.

Finally nice weather for a run! Alita and I headed out on a road route into the country, which is coming back to life after a very long winter. Alita's knee didn't give her any trouble (woot!), and we cruised along at a pace just under 12/mi for the first part of the run, then slowed a bit on the return. Had a bit of a scare when Alita scuffed a foot on her bad knee, but it didn't seem to cause any problems.

Walked first and last 5 minutes. Average HR for entire run: 126