Building A Better Bumblebee

ounce wrote:Your 'abrupt increase' won't be an issue.  Write it down.

On a quick change to weather, I've seen a forecast of the country on which areas will see at least an inch of rain from now to July 28.  Looks like Texas and the whole West Coast north of LA and south of Seattle have a 10% chance (including Nancy).  Miche1e, on the other hand, has a 90% chance at either residence.

No charge.

We actually got a tiny bit of rain overnight and early this morning. Not enough to really make a difference, with regards to plants and fire danger, but we'll still take it.

Trails: 14.5 miles

Weather: Cloudy, damp, muggy. 61-66° some rain. Gear: Lone Peaks, shorts, T, jacket (shed once it stopped raining), hat. Fuel: Only coffee to start. Took first food (100cal) at about 75 minutes, then about that amount every 30 minutes or so afterward. S-Caps starting at 60 minutes, then every 45 minutes or so afterward. Water in handheld.

I was surprised to see it raining this morning when I got up at 4:30 a.m. for my run. It wasn't raining much, but it's the first rain we've seen in quite a while. I grabbed a bit of gear in case it kept coming down, but I ditched the jacket at the end of my first lap.

I headed to my Three Hundred Acre Wood and did laps on the trails there. I started off with no pre-run calories and thought it worked pretty well. It was relatively easy to keep my HR under control while still running uphill in the first couple of miles. I started to feel spacy/cranky/hungry after about 75 minutes,  so I started taking food then. Also switched back to S-Caps.

I think these trails are more difficult than Wildwood Trail in Forest Park. There's virtually no flat, or even extended downhills or uphills, so it's grind up, coast down, repeat. It probably makes for a great workout, actually, but golly. It kind of kicks your butt. I'd hoped to do 16-18 miles but was feeling the fatigue enough to know that what I did was going to be enough. Besides, I had been out there for nearly four hours.

Just to show how unflat these trails are, here's a chart.


(Strava estimates total elevation gain at 1,286. Garmin Training Center says 5,862! Pick whichever statistic seems more awesome.)

Done properly, I think training on these trails could make me ridiculously strong.

Besides, it is kind of pretty in the forest...



Today, I tried to keep my HR as close as I could to my target of about 130, with some allowances for climbing if it didn't keep rising. That got more difficult as time went on, which was another sign that I'd gotten about as much as I was going to out of this run.

Walked first and last 5 minutes or so. Average HR for entire run: 130

Nice HR on those ups and downs!  Since you're married, I'd stick with the Strava elevation.  Seems like you're learning on the food piece, too.  Will wonders never cease?

ounce wrote:Nice HR on those ups and downs!  Since you're married, I'd stick with the Strava elevation.  Seems like you're learning on the food piece, too.  Will wonders never cease?

Yup. What I also need to learn (rather than relearn) is how "time on feet" counts as much or more than mileage. I was disappointed to only hit 14.5 miles, but I need to remember that I *did* run for a full 30 minutes longer, on tougher terrain. I maybe didn't get what I wanted, but I got what I needed.

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:Nice HR on those ups and downs!  Since you're married, I'd stick with the Strava elevation.  Seems like you're learning on the food piece, too.  Will wonders never cease?

Yup. What I also need to learn (rather than relearn) is how "time on feet" counts as much or more than mileage. I was disappointed to only hit 14.5 miles, but I need to remember that I *did* run for a full 30 minutes longer, on tougher terrain. I maybe didn't get what I wanted, but I got what I needed.

You need to adjust the effect of gravity when you do terrain like that.  Then, let me know how you did it.

Walk: 2.4 miles

Weather: Sunny, warm. 77°

Lunchtime walk at work, as active recovery from yesterday's trail run. The legs felt fine, though my right ankle was a bit creaky. Didn't get worse during the walk, though.

Mark B wrote:


Kind of envious of your thunderstorms. We hardly ever get them on this side of the Cascades, especially so close to the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge. Wind currents tend to break them up as they approach.

I love a good thunderstorm...when they don't damage the crops.  We've had hay on the ground for several days and the storms have been all around us.  Fortunately we didn't get hit until yesterday.  We've been working very long hours and finished baling and stacking the hay on Sunday.  Monday we got .7" of rain in 10 minutes!  High winds as well but no significant crop damage.  We were actually having a BBQ at the irrigation pond when it hit.  Poor Owen (nearly 3 years) wanted to cry but we were all laughing so hard he didn't know what to do.  Royce (13 months) just cried.

Nice job on the 14.5 miles on the trail.  If that doesn't get you ready for your race nothing will.

nkrichards wrote:I love a good thunderstorm...when they don't damage the crops.  We've had hay on the ground for several days and the storms have been all around us.  Fortunately we didn't get hit until yesterday.  We've been working very long hours and finished baling and stacking the hay on Sunday.  Monday we got .7" of rain in 10 minutes!  High winds as well but no significant crop damage.  We were actually having a BBQ at the irrigation pond when it hit.  Poor Owen (nearly 3 years) wanted to cry but we were all laughing so hard he didn't know what to do.  Royce (13 months) just cried.

Nice job on the 14.5 miles on the trail.  If that doesn't get you ready for your race nothing will.

Ooo, yeah. Rain and hay on the ground are not a good combination. But still, there's nothing like a huge, fast downpour on a hot day. If you're not accustomed to it, and instead are used to 14 hours of drizzle, it gets your attention.

I bet your little guys didn't know what to make of it. Give them a few more years, and they'll be thrilled. Slip and slide!

Thanks about the trail. I have to keep reminding myself of "time on your feet" on runs like that. These trails aren't like the ones in Forest Park, with miles-long climbs/descents and stretches of slightly flatter trail. Here, it's more constantly rolling up and down, with lots of fairly steep bits thrown in. If I can master this terrain -- or more accurately, learn to adapt myself to it -- I will be a much stronger runner, be it on trails or roads.

Low HR Run: 90 minutes (6.72 miles)

Weather: Darn near perfect. Overcast, 62° with a dewpoint of 55° and a slight breeze. Gear: Lunas, shorts, T. Fuel: Only coffee before, a little water during.

I had major misgivings about this mornings run. I'd skipped a run yesterday and was feeling inertia setting in. So I had to force myself out the door and hope for the best. What I got was one of my best low HR runs in quite a while.

What made the run good wasn't speed; I was actually fairly slow. It was the fact that I was able to relax enough to run with my heart rate at -- and a lot of times slightly below -- my target of 130. It was a surprisingly big confidence builder to see that I *can* still get my body to go at that pace. I've been running at a slightly higher HR (and faster pace) for the past couple of weeks, and I was starting to wonder if that was my body's new default setting. I'm pleased to see that it's not.

One thing that may have had an impact was that I had only a half cup of coffee before the run, which meant I was operating only on fat and whatever glycogen stores I had from yesterday. Gotta say, it felt good.

Walked first and last 5 minutes. Average HR for entire run: 125

One extra bonus that I'm not posting on FB (because I'd never hear the end of it): Look what I found on the side of the road during my run today!



Yup! A hypodermic syringe, with needle! Along a country road, no less. First one I've seen in 35+ years of running. It was so obvious, there was never any risk of stepping on it, even if I had been barefoot (though I was kind of glad I had my Lunas on). I moved it off the road and covered it up with gravel on the shoulder to protect passing tires, then looked back up the road and noticed that the *rest* of the needle was actually four feet away, looking quite pointy and threatening.

I hadn't seen that, which means I nearly stepped on it while I was so smugly spotting the syringe. Eep.

Something I forgot to mention earlier. Once I got to my walking cool-down portion of my run this morning, I was very surprised to see how fast my heart rate fell once I shifted to the walk.

It fell from 130 bpm to 111 bpm in about 30 seconds, and down to 103 after a minute. It hovered around there during my cool-down, thanks to a small hill I have to climb to get to my street, but it was down to 95 bpm by about 4:30 after I shifted to the walk.

The guy who did the VO2max test on me was impressed with my recovery ability, but this is even faster. I suspect part of it had to do with my not pushing myself too hard during the run itself, but still.

Thanks for the heads up on gritty urban life, Tex.

I agree on the speed of recovery being a good sign of fitness. I can *almost* see why some advocate a run/walk strategy, if you can push it slightly harder for 5 minutes and recover with 1 minute of walking to flush out the system. It still seems weird to me, but I can imagine how it might work. Heck, it might not necessarily be a bad idea if one can truly recover quickly. Hm.

---

Speaking of recovery, I did something unusual this morning and bailed out of my second run in three days. I'd gotten to bed late last night, and I knew I wouldn't have a chance to catch up on sleep for several days, so I thought recovery would be the wiser choice. 

It's made me think of the last road marathon I did. I got up early each morning and did every single run in my training plan, just as I thought I should. But come race day, I had nothing. I couldn't figure it out at the time, but I wonder now if I'd been so bullheaded on training that I shorted myself on the recovery I needed to actually improve.

Interesting to me that these are the things they've been stressing at cardiac rehab.  They had a class explaining interval training and are encouraging everyone to try pushing slightly harder than their normal pace for a short time and then slowing back down till they recover.  They said that was the best way to improve heart function.

They also stressed...especially to me...that I should expect to be tired following a workout but I should not be tired the next day and if I was that indicated that I had done more than I should....hmmm...overtraining maybe?

nkrichards wrote:Interesting to me that these are the things they've been stressing at cardiac rehab.  They had a class explaining interval training and are encouraging everyone to try pushing slightly harder than their normal pace for a short time and then slowing back down till they recover.  They said that was the best way to improve heart function.

They also stressed...especially to me...that I should expect to be tired following a workout but I should not be tired the next day and if I was that indicated that I had done more than I should....hmmm...overtraining maybe?

I can't imagine how you of all people might be inclined to push themselves a bit too hard.  

Beach Run/Walk: 5.36 miles

Weather: Unbelievable. Clearing fog and low clouds, mild, muggy and NO WIND ON THE OREGON COAST!! 57°
Gear: Lunas for first two miles, then barefoot, switching back to Lunas for last half mile on the trail. Shorts, T.
Fuel: Just some coffee

We found ourselves at the Oregon Coast this weekend, in our favorite village of Yachats, which just *happens* to be where they're doing the 50K in October... so what choice did I have but to see what it's like to run multiple miles on the beach? I've always goofed around a little at the beach but never just went out for a run. Time to try it out.



This was also a good chance for me to compare running on the beach in sandals vs. barefoot. Several streams cross the beach in the 6-mile stretch you run during the race, so shoes would be soaked and sandy and need to be changed anyway, so why not make the best of what I've got?

Alita went went with me. We started off with a 5-minute walk, then we ran together for a mile. She waved me on and started walking, and I went on another mile. I turned around and saw she'd be stalking me, jogging, the whole extra mile! She said she hadn't wanted to hold me back. Sneaky, this one.



She shooed me on, and I ran back the length of the beach to where it climbs up onto a shelf of lava, then looped back to meet her. We walked the rest of the way in. I had toyed with the idea of doing a long run on the beach, but time really didn't allow it, and I learned enough in the time I was out there.

We had lots of photo ops along the way.



As a test of running on the beach, it was fine. The wet sand here is quite solid underfoot. I barely made foot prints. As to whether I'd rather go bare or sandaled, I'm still not sure. Either way works, though I'd definitely need my sandals for when the beach transitions to trail. It's a bit rocky in spots. So even if I decide to bare it all at the start, I'll have the sandals with me.

One more photo!



Avearge HR for entire run: 113

Well, that was an interesting run.  What are the odds the conditions on the beach over the weekend would be similar on race day?

And how does it feel to be the pace rabbit for the little woman?

ounce wrote:Well, that was an interesting run.  What are the odds the conditions on the beach over the weekend would be similar on race day?

And how does it feel to be the pace rabbit for the little woman?

Odds of being in the mid 50s? Not bad. Not being windy? Well, that's another question. October weather can be fantastic, or awful, and sometimes both on the same day. That's what makes this race so intriguing.

It was nice pacing Alita, and her stalking me for the second mile meant I actually ended up doing more running than expected, as I looped back to the starting point on the beach and back as she was walking, before I walked the rest of the way back to her.

Two other revelations on the run, after I asked Alita to take some photos of me running.

1. My form is still not what you'd call "good." My feet still corkscrew all over the place as I run, and my posture is kinda odd. Years of work on form doesn't seem to be yielding any significant results, despite how it might feel.
2. I need to be more serious about diet. Yipes. Tech shirts are not forgiving.

Yipes.

Barefoot Run: 3.1 miles

Weather: Cloudy, mild. 57° Gear: Bare feet, shorts, T. Fuel: Just some coffee, which sloshed more than usual. (ick)

After seeing photos of me running barefoot on the beach the other day, I made sure to focus on proper form on my run this morning: No feet splaying out this-a-way or that-a-way! Not only does it look bad (no fitness modeling job for me!), it also causes me to bypass the very muscles I am trying to activate and trail - the main calf muscle.

It takes some concentration, and I think I'll need to remember to do some core work, but I think I did a better job. My paces were a bit faster and consistent than before, though my HR sneaked up a little. I thought about doing 4 but decided 3 was enough for now.

I walked my HR down after stopping the timer. Average HR for whole run: 133

Low HR Run: 90 minutes (6.83 miles)

Or: How a 90-mintue suckfest can be AWESOME ultra attitude training!

Weather: Clearing, warming. 57-63, kinda muggy. Gear: Squeaky (!?!) sandals, shorts, T. Fuel: Just coffee. Carried water during.

This was one of those runs where I had to push myself to get outside. Once I got out, I had to deal with heavy legs, low energy and a jumpy heart rate strap. Still, I managed to shut my brain off and drift into a pseudo-zen state -- until my cell phone went "bink! bink" with an "urgent" (air quotes on purpose, with full sarcastic intent) series of texts from a certain teenager that shattered my reverie and left me with a really bad attitude.

Heavy legs. Lack of pep. Bad attitude. Sounds like great ultra training!

I wanted to walk but forced myself to keep running as I experimented with different ways to dealing with extreme crankiness. I figured that, in the worst case, I'd at least cover some distance while being a grouch. Just keep moving.

It got weirder when my feet started squeaking on the sandals (that's a new one - humidity?) and the sun broke through the clouds and pounded down on my nice black shirt.

The best part of this run was being done with it. No, that's not it. The best part is that I didn't let myself quit.

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

Sorry the run was not great...I wrote something earlier and J pressed the power button on the computer and N said "Grandpa Smiling!" but he's not even 2 so don't take it to mean he thinks you look as old as Grandpa.   Cool pictures earlier, though. I hope you get the form figured out and your next run is much better.

Julie wrote:Sorry the run was not great...I wrote something earlier and J pressed the power button on the computer and N said "Grandpa Smiling!" but he's not even 2 so don't take it to mean he thinks you look as old as Grandpa.   Cool pictures earlier, though. I hope you get the form figured out and your next run is much better.

Well, even though I have a 14-year-old, I have classmates from high school who are bragging about their four grandkids... so I guess it's not *totally* odd for your little guy to put me in that demographic.

I don't know there's much to figure out on my form, though. I know that I have skeletal and muscular issues that'll always give me a fairly unique style. It's just weird seeing it captured in photos. But as long as I can run smoothly, without injury and keep improving in distance and/or speed/efficiency, I guess it doesn't really matter, does it?

Mark B wrote:

nkrichards wrote:Interesting to me that these are the things they've been stressing at cardiac rehab.  They had a class explaining interval training and are encouraging everyone to try pushing slightly harder than their normal pace for a short time and then slowing back down till they recover.  They said that was the best way to improve heart function.

They also stressed...especially to me...that I should expect to be tired following a workout but I should not be tired the next day and if I was that indicated that I had done more than I should....hmmm...overtraining maybe?

I can't imagine how you of all people might be inclined to push themselves a bit too hard.  

Pot...kettle...hmmm.

The run at the beach sounded awesome.  I love that part of the Oregon coast!

nkrichards wrote:

Mark B wrote:

nkrichards wrote:Interesting to me that these are the things they've been stressing at cardiac rehab.  They had a class explaining interval training and are encouraging everyone to try pushing slightly harder than their normal pace for a short time and then slowing back down till they recover.  They said that was the best way to improve heart function.

They also stressed...especially to me...that I should expect to be tired following a workout but I should not be tired the next day and if I was that indicated that I had done more than I should....hmmm...overtraining maybe?

I can't imagine how you of all people might be inclined to push themselves a bit too hard.  

Pot...kettle...hmmm.

The run at the beach sounded awesome.  I love that part of the Oregon coast!

Who, me?

Yeah, probably. It doesn't help that stress levels have been a bit higher lately, too. Very hectic at work, and we just deposited the remains of my stepbrother who passed away a year or so ago. That's why we were at the coast in the first place.

I will probably skip running tomorrow as we pack for a long-overdue vacation. We've all been looking forward to time away since before the Fluffpacolypse. We are heading to Colorado, and I hope to get a few runs in. Or at least hike.

This blog has been repossessed.

Hey, Mark, I saw this picture on FB and it mentioned a girl from Vancouver.  You can do with it as you wish for the newspaper.

https://www.facebook.com/USSGW/photos/ms.c.eJxlzckNwAAIA8GOIszt~;huL8opkvqPFwFCRvdUV5sF98EteoUijR8RGJUuvaqWZ870JbTJchdLstKucJlYaQpcZ~_OQF5HI6lg~-~-.bps.a.10153468562142398.1073742955.177732872397/10153468566167398/?type=1&theater

ounce wrote:This blog has been repossessed.

Hey, Mark, I saw this picture on FB and it mentioned a girl from Vancouver.  You can do with it as you wish for the newspaper.

https://www.facebook.com/USSGW/photos/ms.c.eJxlzckNwAAIA8GOIszt~;huL8opkvqPFwFCRvdUV5sF98EteoUijR8RGJUuvaqWZ870JbTJchdLstKucJlYaQpcZ~_OQF5HI6lg~-~-.bps.a.10153468562142398.1073742955.177732872397/10153468566167398/?type=1&theater

Very cool! I wasn't able to access the link from my remote location earlier this week, but it's pretty cool. The military PR folk are usually pretty good about sending tidbits like that our way, but I sent a link to my email at work, and I'll see if anything arrived while I was gone.

And yes, I was gone. Spent a week and change in Colorado, visiting friends and family. Did one run and a bit of walking, but it was all pretty much a bust as far as training went. The air was thin, the temperature was high (though not as hot as it got back home -- it hit 103°) and the social demands were great. Lots of late nights and early morning wake-ups just to go do things. It's going to take a few days of catching up on sleep before I can go back to the early morning run routine. I'm pooped!

I'll post up some photos at some point. Colorado is a beautiful pace, and it's a great place to get high -- above sea level. I think we hit 12,258 feet (or so) at one point during a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park, and we spent much of our visit at least a mile or more above sea level. Quite the change from running on the beach the week before.