All posts by Brian

Practice, Running, Training Log

November 17-23 Practice Running

Monday, November 17, 2014, 12:15 pm

4.6 mi, 1866 ft gain, 53:58. Upper Wallace Falls, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Awesome run today. My sleep schedule was even further from where I would like to be, and I got wrapped up in getting some things done, so I ended up staying up. It’s almost 2pm as I write this, and I’ve been up for 23 hours. I’ll stay up at least until dark. I expect to sleep longer than normal, so hopefully I can reset my internal clock.

Anyway, about the run… It’s so nice out, sunny and mid 40s, and I’ve been itching to get back to real trails, so I went out to Wallace Falls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go early on, but my pace was pretty good. I pushed myself most of the way up and broke my ascent to the Upper falls best time by about 2 minutes. My first time going up in under 30 minutes, 28:35.

I took about 1.5 minutes to catch my breath and rest my legs. Then I took a couple pictures, took off my sweaty base layer to go with just my pullover and took off my gloves. I had already taken off my fleece beanie about 10 minutes in. I guess I was overdressed, but it turned out alright. I ended up spending about 5 minutes at the Upper falls view point before heading back down.

I started heading down kind of slow. Those steps up top are steep and kind of sketchy. Once past them, I started bombing down. I ended up beating my best descent time as well. I could have gone faster. I wanted to break 20 minutes, but missed by 18 seconds. Maybe next time.

The Mio behaved well. Average HR 153 bpm according to Movescount and my Ambit 2 R, 156 bpm according to Strava. Strava only counts during moving time, so it cuts out the break at the top.

 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 3:39 pm

3.1 mi, 45 ft gain, 27:47. Green belt in town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Ended up in bed by 8pm last night and up before 6am. Unfortunately, I’ve felt a little run down today. Probably due to staying up so long and yesterday’s hard run. Not too bad, but enough that I decided not to go very far for today’s run.

Nothing particularly noteworthy during the run. Sigurd kept pulling on the leash more than usual. It made it a little harder to keep the pace slower.

Mio was reading high early, then low, then finally right. Average HR 123 bpm.

 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014,  pm

7.19 mi, 72 ft gain, 1:13:40. RR access road through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I wasn’t sure about where or how far I’d run today. I was about to head out onto US2 after stopping for the dogs to pee and decided to hit the RR access road instead. Down into the park, I hopped over the tracks and ran the other access road that goes into Startup.

The wind was really blowing. When the wind isn’t cold, I find that I really enjoy running in the wind, with, against or at any angle. It mixes things up a bit.

I was going to turn around at 2 mi, then 2.5 mi, then 3 mi and finally decided to turn around at 3.5. On the way back, there was a train going by a little before I got back by the tracks. I turned around and ran back out a little until the train was passed. I didn’t really want to run that close to a moving train with the dogs. Then once I was just nearing the gate to turn along the RR tracks, another train came in the other direction. It was moving slow, so it was probably stopped on the tracks in town waiting for the other one to go by. I think there are 4 lines of tracks on that small stretch.

I ended up only waiting for the engines to go by. It was a short train anyway. After it went by, the wind really picked up. At times, the wind slowed me down by up to 1 min/mi pace. I leaned in and kept going, trying to keep my HR around the same level.
It was a pretty easy day. Average HR 126 bpm.

 

Thursday, November 20, 2014, 3:16 pm

6.40 mi, 269 ft gain, 59:22. Road to Wallace Falls TH & back, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

It’s been a pattern recently. I set out for just a short 3-4 mi run and end up going longer since I feel so good. Nothing really stood out to me during the run. It just felt great.

Once I got to Wallace Falls State Park, I tied the dogs to one of the metal bbq grills and ducked into the bathroom. After a short stop, I grabbed the dogs and headed home.

It was windy again, but not nearly as much as Wednesday. Kept my HR pretty low again. Average 128 bpm.

 

Friday, November 21, 2014,  pm

3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 25:59. Road through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Apparently I accidentally hit pause at 2.04 mi and didn’t notice until about 0.3 mi from the end. Distance is a guess based on running this route a number of times.

I considered going longer today, but I’m running an 8k race tomorrow. It was raining too. I’ll probably wear just about the same thing for the race as I did today. It worked pretty well with the rain.

Average HR 135 bpm. This is probably off a bit.

 

Saturday, November 22, 2014, 8:05 am

1.14 mi, 148 ft gain, 12:26. Ravenna Park, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Warmup for the 8k race. I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I got around 3 hours of sleep, waking up once in the middle as well. I woke up at about 3:40 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I tried writing down the ideas I was having, rolling around to different positions, letting the dogs on the bed, playing games on my phone. I stayed in bed until almost 7am when my alarm was going to go off.

During my short warmup run my HR was elevated significantly from normal, likely due to not sleeping much. Fortunately, I don’t think it really had any effect on my race. I think the Mio was a little buggy as well. There were a couple spikes. Average HR 146 bpm

 

Saturday, November 22, 2014, 8:32 am

5 mi, 480 ft gain, 33:54. Ravenna Refresher 8k race, solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I went out fast, probably too fast. I tried to moderate my pace a little at times. Three other guys and I went out sort of together. I tried to hold back a little bit, because I didn’t think I’d be able to keep my starting pace for that long. After the first short climb, I passed two of them on the following downhill. Then there was just one guy in front of me.

I ended up chasing after him for the rest of the race. I kept it pretty close until the last climb of the first lap, when he started to pull away a bit. I think I finished the first lap in about 16:40, which would have won the 4k, though the guy ahead of me was faster by about 20 seconds.

I could tell I slowed down on the second lap. I made a conscious effort to maintain pace as much as I could. Once I hit the flat gravel access road on the bottom, it seemed a lot longer than the first time. I wasn’t that sure about how far out I was once I hit the short asphalt sections. So I didn’t pour it on again until I knew I was just a couple turns away. Then I let it go.

It turned out that the guy ahead of me was running the 12k, so I wasn’t actually racing against him. It was good motivation to push harder, though.

The top 3 male and female finishers of each event, 4k, 8k and 12k, were given a bottle of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider. I also won a $40 gift card to the Balanced Athlete in the raffle. When they announced my name, they said my finishing time was 33:55.9, but the official results online say 33:54. Either way, I’m happy. I won my first race ever.

The event was well organized. The trail was very well marked and the refreshment area at the finish line was great. I don’t know about the aid station as I blew right by it at the start of my second lap. The only thing that I thought could be better was the other racers. There was very little cheering for other runners as they came around for their next lap or when they finished. I tried to cheer and clap for a little while, expecting that others would join in to no avail. The race staff cheered for people though.

My mile splits, according to Strava, were 6:31, 6:34, 7:02, 6:58, 7:11. Average HR 176 bpm.

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Sunday, November 23, 2014, 3:05 pm

13.16 mi, 478 ft gain, 2:04:36. WFSP, May Creek Rd, home, out & back along US2, Solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I wanted to keep my HR below 140 bpm for the most part. I went up to around 145 bpm on a couple hills, and closer to 150 bpm nearing the end.

I started out not sure which way I was going to go. Once I hit US2, I turned left, partially due to traffic. I went out to Wallace Falls State Park and used the restroom. I then continued around on May Creek Rd and back home. Another pitstop at home, and I went back out. I just ran west along US2 for a couple miles and turned around.

My quads were kind of sore from the race. They haven’t been sore from a run in a long time. My left calf got really tight the last couple miles today. I’m not sure why. It was a little painful toward the end.

With the pit stops, my Average HR 128 bpm. According to Strava, for only moving time, my average HR was 137 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 43.6 mi, 3312 ft gain.

Food, Health

Rebuilding Food Habits: Changing My Mind About Breakfast

When I first started experimenting with changing my food habits, I went gluten free. Breakfast was the one meal I had the most trouble changing. I ended up just going to non-wheat based cereals, oatmeal, or other traditional American breakfast foods like eggs and bacon.

When I went vegan and completely grain free, my ideas about breakfast had already started to shift. I had already given up grains, dairy and eggs at various times, so I had to figure something else out.

One important lesson that I learned in creating new food habits was that breakfast is just a meal, not a category of foods. It doesn’t have to be cereal with milk(or nut milks), toast, eggs and bacon, oatmeal or a muffin. If you can have “Brinner” (breakfast for dinner), why not dinner, lunch or anything else for breakfast?

The first time I tried a salad for breakfast was great. Then I started branching out. Of course I had smoothies and fruit, I eat a couple bananas with breakfast nearly everyday. I’ve had sweet potatoes. I’ve had steamed brussels sprouts. I’ve had soups. This morning I had a small acorn squash, boiled whole until the skin cracked and was easily pealed off by hand once it cooled. I also had 2 bananas, a persimmon, and brussels sprouts with a small sweet potato and hot sauce.

A huge part of changing food habits is changing your mindset. At one time, I couldn’t conceive of giving up bread, pasta, cheese, meat, or sugar. Slowly, one-by-one, I was able to change how I thought about each. I don’t need meat for protein. I find fruit just as satisfying as candy was in the past. Water quenches my thirst better than soda or juice. And breakfast is whatever I want it to be.

Practice, Running, Training Log

November 10-16 Practice Running

Monday, November 10, 2014, 6:35 pm

4.25 mi, 235 ft gain, 40:20. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

A little colder tonight, so I wore a fleece beanie, a tshirt with my 2011 Mt Si 50k tech pullover and tights over compression shorts. These particular tights are kind of thin, so the compression shorts help with wind. It took about 1.5 mi for my body to warm up and I took my hat off.

I had the least discomfort in my achilles/heel in a long time and only very briefly. I felt great for most of the run. Hopefully it won’t be long until I can really get back to the trails regularly.

Another run with the Mio Link. One brief false HR spike shown on my Suunto. It seemed to be perfect the rest of the time. Average HR was 132 bpm. It’s nice to see that an easy aerobic pace is faster than I thought it would be.

 

Tuesday, November 11, 2014, 3:23 pm

5.06 mi, 90 ft gain, 48:18. Road through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10V2.

It was about as cold when I started today as yesterday, but was supposed to be quite windy. So I added a light wind breaker on top. I warmed up more quickly today. The wind didn’t really start going until about 2 mi. There were some pretty stiff gusts on the way back around 3.5-4.5 mi. It was fun to run in.

The Mio had another false spike today. Suddenly my Suunto showed a HR of over 190 bpm, up from around 130 bpm with out any added effort. Sometime I’ll get the wrist band adjusted right. Too tight seems to be more apt to spikes, and too loose seems to read low sometimes. Average HR of 135 bpm, but the spike around 180-190+ lasted for almost 3.5 min.

 

Wednesday, November 12, 2014, 4:06 pm

8.01 mi, 276 ft gain, 59:37. Long way around town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Compression shorts, tights, long sleeve shirt, wind breaker, fleece beanie, gloves, headlamp, flashlight. It was windy. I wanted to keep my HR closer to max aerobic level today. I wasn’t sure how far I was going to go, at least 5 maybe more.

A little before I got to where I’d turn around for 5 mi, I was feeling pretty good, so I decided I’d keep going. I thought I might turn around once I hit 30 min. But when I got close to that, I figured I may as well run the rest of the way around on May Creek rd.

I bumped up to my max aerobic HR around 4.75 mi. It was during a big wind gust, right after I jumped off the side of the road due to a fast oncoming car coming around a corner. I bumped up to it again around the time I had to cross US2. Then nearing 7 mi, I saw that I was pretty close to finishing 8 mi under 1 hour, so I pushed the pace for just over the last 1 mi. I went up to around 160 bpm for a while, and finished the last 0.1 or so around 165 bpm. I had 23 seconds to spare, so I could have backed off a little. I like to finish strong though. Average HR was 145 bpm.

 

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 4:49 pm

6.40 mi, 280 ft gain, 1:01:15. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

On Monday, I saw a camper and two trucks parked with a generator and lights on just over the bridge at Olney Creek, so I decided to not run that way tonight. I went towards the hill at first instead. Turned around at the 2 mi mark, which is just at the beginning of the hill. Then I went out the other direction on the loop, but turned around at the top of the hill on the other side of the creek.

It took 20 min or so to warm up. The wind storm of the past few days had finally moved on. My lower calves started to get sore, like they were tight around 4.5 mi or so. I think the cold had something to do with it.

Mio link worked fine. It was cold, so I tried to keep the pace and my HR up a little from the easy pace I was falling into to stay warm.   Once I warmed up and when my calves were bothering me, I didn’t keep the same pace. Average HR was 131 bpm.

 

Friday, November 14, 2014, 6:14 pm

6.21 mi, 689 ft gain, 1:08:14. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Colder for tonights run, but almost no wind. It was like 26f at home when I left, probably 2-3 degrees lower at the tree farm. It took about 20 minutes to warm up to being comfortable. I tried those hand warmer things in my gloves, they lasted about 30-40 minutes. They started to warm up a little again when I got home.

Until I warmed up, I was only going to go 3 mi or so. I was cold and just wanted to go home. But once I warmed up, I felt pretty good. I think I need to find something for better wind protection for my groin and wind resistant gloves. Even just the breeze from running when it’s cold can really cause a chill.

The Mio Link worked fine. Average HR was 136 bpm. I tried to run a little faster early on, so I’d warm up more quickly.

 

Saturday, November 15, 2014, 6:58 pm

6.88 mi, 752 ft gain, 1:17:37. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Got started later than I wanted. I took longer than I wanted when I went to town earlier. Oh well. Just like yesterday, I was considering making it a short run until I warmed up. I took my face mask today and wore it for the first 10 min or so.

I was keeping my pace up to keep my heart rate in the in the 135-145 bpm range, but after the climb up the hill, I fell into a slower pace. My pace in that HR range is a little faster than I’m used to for my easy runs, but seems way too slow and easy on hills. Since it’s in my aerobic zone, I should be able to maintain it for a long time. I think I need to do more faster running to get more used to going a little faster more comfortably. That’s one reason I signed up for 5 shorter races over the next couple months.

Problems with the Mio today. Before I got going, it was reading high, a couple minutes in and it was reading low, then a spike high later. Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Sunday, November 16, 2014, 4:49 pm

8.38 mi, 832 ft gain, 1:19:40. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

It was about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday, but a little breezy. Fortunately, the breeze was sometimes a little bit warm. I left the Nathan vest at home and went with the UD belt. I’d been taking the vest so I could carry leashes and an extra jacket. I haven’t used the leashes all week as no one else has been hardcore/crazy enough to be out in the tree farm in the cold at night, and the dogs have been behaving and not running after wildlife. The vest has also caused my back to sweat, which doesn’t help with the cold later in the run. I still wore the windbreaker, and while I did sweat some still, it wasn’t as bad as the past couple days.

Like the past couple days, I started out thinking I was only going to go for a short run, so I headed around the loop, which would give me about 4.25 mi. When I got back to the “Y”, however, I had warmed up and felt good, so I headed for the hill. At first I was going to go out far enough to hit 10k on the day. I felt even better, so I headed up the hill. I felt good enough to keep going, but decided to turn around at the bottom of one of the climbs on top. I stopped there for a few minutes with my lights off, staring up at the sky. The trees on either side of the logging road were just tall enough to block most of the wind. The stars were amazing.

After one early minor hiccup with the Mio at the beginning, it performed great. Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 45.2 mi, 3267 ft gain.

Practice, Running, Training Log

November 3-9 Practice Running

Monday, November 3, 2014, 3:15 pm

5.01 mi, 91 ft gain, 47:12. Road through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I was not ready for the end of daylight savings time. It gets dark so early. The dark clouds didn’t help. Fortunately, it didn’t rain very hard. Ran out to the same empty lot as Saturday. Other than a slower pace, this run was a lot like Saturday’s run.

 

Tuesday, November 4, 2014, 3:45 pm

5.35 mi, 327 ft gain, 48:39. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I performed some shoe surgery last night, removing the heel cup from my red Altra Superior 1.5s. The second shoe went better. They’re more comfortable without the rigid piece against my heels. They seem to fit more snuggly as well. Without the rigid piece, the heel can conform to my heel better. It’s also softer. I’m hoping this helps with my heel/achilles issues.

I decided to try out the alteration today and headed for the tree farm. About the same level of discomfort as the past few days for about the same amount of time before warming up. The shoes seemed great. I’ll have to see how it feels tomorrow and after a couple more tests.

 

Wednesday, November 5, 2014, 6:01 pm

3.19 mi, 28 ft gain, 23:59. Road in town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Slightly more discomfort today than yesterday. I’m not sure if it was the shoes or the hills yesterday. But I still warmed up and sped up around 0.7 mi. I saw that I kept gradually going faster by about 1.4 mi. I decided to run some fartleks. I did a couple blocks at about 90%. I did that 5 times with 2-3 blocks in between each rep. I pushed the last one. I might have had one more in me. The last two reps were into the wind too.  Very minimal sprinkles, and the road was wet but not enough to splash up through the soles of my shoes.

Average paces for each rep: 4:54/mi, 4:51/mi, 4:54/mi, 4:50/mi, 4:57/mi

 

Thursday, November 6, 2014, 9:07 pm

4.3 mi, 309 ft gain, 37:31. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I made the same modifications to my blue pair of Superior 1.5s. The test seemed to go pretty well. Less discomfort today than yesterday. Ran the same way around the loop as Monday, but didn’t add the extra out and back this time.

I ordered a Mio Link a few days ago and it arrived today. So I tried testing it out. I downloaded the app on my phone to set it up. I got it to pair with my Suunto Ambit 2 R, but it wouldn’t show any data during the run. The Mio Link flashes different lights for different heart rate zones, which you can adjust, and that worked. I had the same problem trying to use my old Garmin heart rate monitor with my Suunto. It paired, but didn’t didn’t show any data.

As it turns out, I had search for HR monitor turned off in the settings for the watch.

 

Friday, November 7, 2014, 5:47 pm

4.25 mi, 311 ft gain, 38:05. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Another run in the dark. It was a little colder today. It seems to be taking me longer to get used to the cooler weather this year than I remember it taking in the past.

Anyway, I got the Mio Link to work today. But it didn’t seem very accurate. For the first half mile or so, it was reading around 70-88 bpm or so. I had it pretty tight, so I loosened it and it started to show a HR more of what I expected. As I went along and started to sweat, though, it started to read way higher than it should have. It was a downhill section. I sped up a little just because of gravity, but I wasn’t pushing the pace at all and it was showing 180 bpm. I wasn’t breathing hard at all. Once I reached the car, it was still showing way high. I spun the Mio Link around so the sensor was on the underside of my wrist, thinking maybe sweat and my hairy arm was messing it up. Immediately, the displayed HR dropped to the low 120s from the 160s.

The run was pretty good. I found myself adjusting based on my displayed HR. I think I may go back running based on how I feel and just use the HR data to adjust from run to run or over weeks or something.

 

Saturday, November 8, 2014, 3:18 pm

10 mi, 435 ft gain, 1:20:30. Long way around town + Wallace Falls TH + West city limit, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

The Mio Link worked much better this time. I wore it with the sensor on the underside of my wrist, where it’s not so hairy. It took a little while for my heart rate to go up when I started. I guess that’s good. I tried to keep my heart rate below 150 bpm for the most part. I found myself speeding up, going over a few times. I averaged 142 bpm.

I ran out Gunn rd instead of turning on to US2 right away. That way I didn’t have to run close to highway traffic for so long. The first climb on May Creek rd wasn’t bad. Once I got around closer to Reiter rd, the views of Mt. Persis, and Prospect Peak were beautiful in the setting sun. Then when I made the turn staying on May Creek rd past Reiter rd the sunset was amazing through the trees. There was a lot less traffic on May Creek rd today than last Sunday.

It was starting to get dark by the time I turned onto Ley rd towards Wallace Falls State Park. I pulled out my headlamp for visibility to cars. I pushed it a bit up the hill to the parking lot, topping out around 170 bpm. After a quick pitstop at the restroom, I headed back out.

For the rest of the run, I had consciously make an effort to keep a slower pace. I kept speeding up and saw my HR go above 150 bpm. The main reason I wanted to keep it below was to see what kind of pace it translates to.

I turned west at US2 and ran out to just past the city limits to get a little extra distance to hit 10 mi. It was tough to see the dirt “road” on the north side, parallel to the highway when I turned around facing traffic. With the headlights in my eyes, I had to use both my headlamp and flashlight to dodge potholes and puddles. I managed to keep my feet pretty dry the whole run.

I ran past my driveway almost to the property line, I was still short of 10 mi by a few hundredths of a mile. I enjoyed every minute of today’s run, despite being on roads.

 

Sunday, November 9, 2014, 7:30 pm

4.53 mi, 266 ft gain, 41:33. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #1. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Another run in the dark. Achilles/heel a little worse than Friday, but loosened up. It took almost a mile and a half to warm up with regards to the cold.

A few hiccups with the Mio Link. It showed a few spikes in my HR that didn’t make sense. It seems to be pretty sensitive to maintaining contact to the skin, which is tough to get right with the wrist strap. Too tight and it doesn’t read right or constricts blood flow. Too loose and it won’t maintain contact. Average HR was 132. Irregardless of the hiccups, it’s nice to see how my perceived effort and HR compare at an easy pace. Apparently I can go faster and still stay in an aerobic zone.

 

Weekly totals: 36.6 mi, 1740 ft elevation gain

Exercise, Practice, Running, Training Log

October 27-November 2 Practice Running

Monday, October 27, 2014, 5:09 pm

4.02 mi, 127 ft gain, 59:15. Sultan Basin Rd DNR gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I may have to give up on my goal of 2000 mi for the year. My achilles/heel just keeps nagging. It’s not bad, but not really getting much better. And I’ve given up on running the 12 hour race this Saturday. I should probably take it easy for a while, if I can handle it mentally.

Anyway, a little discomfort for about half of the run. I was shooting for 4-6 mi. Couldn’t go to either of the first two spots I wanted to run because of hunters. It’s firearm deer season. So I went out a little further. I ended up running the two single track sections connecting the closed logging roads around to the third single track section that loops back to the road I started on. I found some chanterelles on the first road, a pleasant surprise.

I was a little short of 4 mi, so I ran across to the other gate and out a little ways to get my 4 mi.

I was planning to take it easy for a couple weeks in January before making a training push for a race in March. I guess my schedule has moved up.

 

Tuesday, October 28, 2014, 5:30 pm

4.57 mi, 66 ft gain, 41:29. Road in town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Not too bad starting out. Then at about 0.2 mi, left achilles/heel started to tighten up and hurt. By 0.4 mi I could tell it was throwing off my gait, it hurt, and I was seriously thinking about turning around and taking a break for a week or two. I decided to slow down and go a couple more minutes. Then everything loosened up and felt fine for the rest of the run.

Before I started, I was feeling pretty good and thinking of going for about 6 mi. After going for a bit, and with the waning light, I decided I’d just go out for about 20 min, turn around and come back. I kept it at a fairly easy pace. I noticed several times that I was slowly speeding up to Sigurd’s pace as he was lightly pulling.

I hit 20 min and decided to go up to the next street. That, a couple stops for the dogs, a pitstop for myself, and taking the rocky RR access road, which slowed my pace a bit, on the way back make up for going over 40 minutes.

I’ve been sort of dreading going running with the rainy, gloomy weather the past week or so. But I’m happier and feel so much better every time I get home afterwards.

If I do scale back my running this much earlier than I planned, I might have to finally get into a yoga class or something.

 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014, 5:24 pm

4.58 mi, 66 ft gain, 39:28. Same as Tuesday, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Still some discomfort from about 0.25-0.5 mi but not nearly as bad as yesterday. After that, it was pretty good. Hit the same turn around spot at about the same time. No pitstops on the way back this time, and stuck to the road instead of the rocky RR access road. I think I also kept a little faster pace today too.

Got home and took a look at a couple more small trees leaning over the driveway. I took care of one a couple days ago. I got out the bow saw and took care of two more today. I also got to enjoy the beautiful sunset through the trees while doing so.

Dry and partly sunny today.

 

Thursday, October 30, 2014, 4:52 pm

4.71 mi, 66 ft gain, 40:00. Same as Tue & Wed, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I didn’t want to go out in the rain—again. But I’m glad I did. Very little discomfort from about 0.35-0.55. Great the rest of the time. I did a quick lap back down the road from the RR crossing at the beginning, waiting for a train to go by. It was shorter than I expected, so I didn’t have to backtrack far.

After that I ran out to the same spot I’ve turned around the last couple days. I got there at about the same time, even with the little extra waiting-for-the-train time. A little slower on the return trip than yesterday, but I think I stopped once more for the dogs to pee than yesterday as well.

The rain wasn’t too bad. The wind on top of the rain was rather annoying on the return trip from about 3.5-4.25 mi.

I’m not running the 12hr. I want to fully recover this time. I’ve pushed it too early, because I felt pretty good, and just prolonged the recovery process. As much as I want to get into the mountains before they get snowed in, I ‘ll stick with flat and easy, so I can keep running.

 

Friday, October 31, 2014, 3:59 pm

3.19 mi, 28 ft gain, 29:12. Road in town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I wanted to run farther today, but didn’t have the time before I had to leave for some errands. I thought about going for another run in the dark after I got back, but I don’t really want to run around in the dark on Halloween.

I had a little less discomfort than yesterday at about the same point in the run. I’m looking forward to no more pain and getting back to longer trail runs.

 

Saturday, November 1, 2014, 5:32 pm

5.04 mi, 92 ft gain, 41:28. Road through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I wanted to longer, but it’s getting dark so early. Maybe I’ll go out later for a few more on my own. I don’t like road running with the dogs in the dark.

Less discomfort than yesterday, happening in about the same section. It was a little colder today. No rain though. Overall a pretty good run. Went faster than the past few days. About 20 min out to turnaround. The dogs took a minute doing their business at the turnaround. I ran past my house just a little bit to hit 5 mi.

 

Sunday, November 2, 2014, 4:03 pm

9.14 mi, 444 ft gain, 1:17:42. Long way around town + Wallace Falls TH, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I wanted to get a little longer run on the roads in today. Less discomfort today starting at about the same point and lasting just a little longer. I started heading east up US2, turned on May Creek Rd, followed it around to Ley Rd and up to the Wallace Falls SP TH, got a little water and headed out again. Then I headed for home on my normal route.

I only had a couple vehicles not give me space while running on the small or non-existent shoulder. I liked the hills on May Creek rd, both going up at the beginning and down a couple miles later.

I pulled out my headlamp shortly after leaving the state park. It wasn’t that dark yet, but I use it more so vehicles see me. I like to carry a flashlight on road runs in the dark as well. I usually carry it in my traffic side hand pointing backwards so vehicles behind me can see me better. Sometime I’ll get some small flashers to just clip to my vest or clothes.

After a few minutes to warm up, I felt pretty awesome for the rest of the run. My effort at this pace was comparable almost 1 min slower pace at around this time last year. It’s great to see progress.
October totals: 215.2 mi, 23,536 ft gain

My personal best monthly mileage total, only by 3 mi, but that’s still pretty good for cutting back as much as I did for the last 2 weeks.

Weekly totals: 35.3 mi, 775 ft gain

 

I’m disappointed that I missed the 12 hour race on Saturday, but I’d rather recover fully for bigger plans yet to come. I guess there’s still time to hit my 2000 mi goal for the year, but I have 481 mi to go. I’d have to average a little over 8.1 mi a day. I’m happy with my year of running, regardless. With the exception of July, when I eased up a lot due to rolling my ankle, I’ve increased my mileage every month from 145 mi in April. I’ve also run at least 3 mi everyday starting August 13th. And I’ve already beat my best yearly mileage. A possible big race in Spring is a more important goal for me, anyway.