Category Archives: Exercise

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.

Exercise, Health, Running, Trail run

June 30-July 6 Practice Running

Monday, June 30, 2014, 8:51 pm
4.8 mi, 726 ft gain, 54:06. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #2. With dogs. Altra Superior 1.5

I was going to take the day off, but I was itching to get out and run. I decided to time the run so I’d hit some good view spots at sunset. I was still a little tired, so I took I easy. Still climbed up the connecting hill for a little bit of vert. Brought my total June mileage over 170.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014, 4:05 pm
5 mi, 1892 ft gain, 57:24. Wallace Falls TH to Upper Falls & Back. Solo. Altra Superior 1.5

I was looking for some climbing, but not a very long run. I didn’t push the pace until the last steep section just before the upper falls. Even taking it easy most of the way, I managed to PR going up, 32:30, 2.5 min faster than on Jun 29. I think my previous best was 33:xx.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014, 8:17 pm
6.4 mi, 339 ft gain, 1:03:28. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1. With dogs. Altra Superior 1.5

I kept it shorter earlier so I could take the dogs out for a run after it cooled down a little. Ran toward the connector hill, turning around at the turn just past the 2mi mark. Then out to Olney Creek and let the dogs play in the water for a couple minutes. Finished out the loop and back to the car.

Thursday, July 3, 2014, 5:09 pm
7.1 mi 2680 ft gain, 1:45:34. Lake Serene. Solo. Altra Lone Peak

My brother-in-law, AA, posted a hiking picture a little earlier in the day of an old, very large fallen tree stump. I recognized it from the Lake Serene trail. I hadn’t decided where to run, even as I was about to turn on the highway. Left, I’d go to Wallace Falls. Right, Lake Serene. AA’s picture was the nudge it took to pick Lake Serene. I didn’t feel particularly fast, so I tried to keep a pretty steady effort. I’ve started power hiking steep sections more often. I don’t really slow down much, and it seems to help conserve a little energy. Even so, I set several PRs for segments on Strava. There were probably a dozen or so cars in the parking lot, unlike when I’ve gone on the weekends. It was nice without so many people on the trail. I was completely alone when I got to the lake. I spent about 10 minutes up there looking around. Every other time I’ve gone up there, I’ve just stuck to a very small section of the lake before heading back down. I headed over to Lunch Rock, had a snack and some water. I watched the ravens waiting in anticipation. I sat and shared a few moments with the trees, lake and mountains. Then I headed back down. I passed another runner as he was on his way up on one of the many sets of stairs.

Saturday, July 5, 2014, 1:49 pm
21 mi 4579 ft gain, 4:53:41. Dorothy, Bear, Deer, Snoqualmie Lakes, Otter Falls. Solo. Altra Lone Peak

I’ve been to Otter Falls a number of times. Always from the North Bend side, though. I grew up out there, but I never went there until I moved back after the Army. I’ve wanted to get a little bit higher into the mountains as the snow continues to melt and figured this was a good way to do both. It wasn’t that high, maxing out a bit over 3800 ft. I thought it was a safe bet that the snow from the last trip report I saw from two or three weeks ago would be gone by now. There were a couple small patches on the sides of the trail at the top.

I started at the Lake Dorothy trail head at the end of Miller River Road (fs 6412) off US 2 near Skykomish. The parking area was fairly packed. The trail wasn’t too busy, though. I think most people had already made camp. The first few miles were pretty well maintained. After getting part way around Lake Dorothy, there was flagging tape along the rest of the trail. It seemed to mark spots that needed a little attention. Also after those first few miles, the trail started to get fairly rocky. I like technical trails, so I didn’t mind.

As I got to the south end of Dorothy, the trail ran into a 30 ft wide creek. It wasn’t on the map, but I could see the trail on the other side, and it went in the right direction. The water was cold, and my feet felt pretty heavy for a few minutes.

Next was the climb up to the saddle and highest point. Then down to Bear Lake, and a short distance later was Deer Lake. The descent continued to Snoqualmie Lake. I managed to trip on one of the smoothest sections of the day going around Snoqualmie. With just a small abrasion to my left knee, I got up and kept going. Another mile later, I realized that most of my food fell out of my pack when I tripped. I still had enough to finish, but I’d be pushing it, so I decided to continue and look for it on my way back.

The trail continued to descend down toward the Taylor River. On the descent, I rolled my left ankle and felt a small pop. It was a little sore, but didn’t hurt too bad. It was a little tight for a couple minutes, so I took it easy. After a little while, it felt fine again.

Sections of the trail along the Taylor River were a bit overgrown. I passed a few more backpackers. I hadn’t been to Otter falls from this direction, so I started paying closer attention starting at about 10 miles according to my GPS, to make sure I wouldn’t miss it. I wasn’t sure what kind of marking there would be for the turnoff, if any. There’s no official trail up to it. People have marked it with cairns and even homemade signs in the past. There was a cairn and large arrow made of stones. I sat on a log for a couple minutes and ate some food.

I found my food on the way back. That made me happy. I was hiking a little more of the steeper sections as well. I ran out of water between Snoqualmie Lake and Deer Lake. I decided to use my filter and pump some water at Bear Lake. I ran into a group of three backpackers part way around Lake Dorothy. I very vaguely remembered passing them on the way out, but they remembered me. I stopped and chatted for a few minutes before finishing the last few miles.

The trail was more technical than I was expecting. The views and scenery along the trail were awesome. I’ll definitely head back in the future.

I took my hydration pack, an older deuter I’ve had for 6 years or so. I don’t like to wear it usually, but wanted to carry more water and not have iodine flavored water all day. I also experimented with dehydrated food. I dehydrated some bananas, peaches, and instead of my usual “dateorade”, made it thicker and made fruit leather with it. The fruit leather was what fell out of my pack. I liked it a lot. I plan to make more and use it in the future. I’m going to work on portioning it, so I can keep track of calories better.

Sunday, July 6, 2014, 8:02 pm
6.3 mi 815 ft gain, 1:20:24. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1. With dogs. Altra Superior 1.5

The plan was to do 10-15 miles on trails, but my ankle was sore from twisting it on Saturday. So, I took the dogs out for an easy run. Started slow to let the ankle loosen up. Legs weren’t at all sore, but a little heavy. Let the dogs play in Olney Creek. Headed up the hill towards Wallace Lake, but turned left in the clearcut. Stopped to pick and eat some huckleberries. The dogs found the remains of a predator killed grouse. Just wings, backbone and a couple feathers. Lots of scat along the roads. The ankle loosened up fine, but it will probably still be a few days before I get back to bigger climbs and technical trails.

Weekly totals
50.6 mi, 9h 23m, 11,031 ft gain

Only my second time over 50 miles in a week. Most vert in a week by about 300 ft.

Exercise, Running, Trail run

June 23-29, 2014 Practice Running

My muscles recovered pretty quickly from the Rattlesnake Ridge 50k. My knees were kind of sore most of the week from pounding the descents, but mostly only when bent further than they normally are when running. My form got kind of sloppy and I had to break a lot on the last descent with all the hikers around. I had planned to run both Saturday and Sunday, but decided to take an extra rest day, for my knees and I was feeling a bit run down.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014. 7:03 pm
6.1 mi, 737ft gain, 1:16:36. Kellogg lake Tree Farm Gate #1. With dogs. Altra Superior 1.5

The dogs and I were a bit restless, and I wanted to get out and get my legs moving. Really the only muscle soreness left was in my glutes. I warmed up after a couple miles. Knees felt fine while running. Let the dogs splash in Olney Creek. Left after the bridge. Right at the rock pit. Left shortly after on a road I haven’t been up. Lots of huckleberries along the logging roads in the the clear cut on the south-facing slope. Stopped for a snack a couple times.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014. 7:53 pm
6.3 mi, 330ft gain, 1:06:53. Kellogg lake Tree Farm Gate #1. With dogs. Altra Superior 1.5

Took the left toward the connector hill, turned around at the first turn on the hill. Then out to Olney Creek for the dogs to play a few minutes. Legs were feeling pretty good, so I pushed the pace a bit finishing the loop and back to the car. The 2 mile split for miles 5 and 6 was faster than I ever ran the Army PT test 2 miles.

Thursday, June 26, 2014. 8:30 pm
3.3 mi, 34ft gain, 28:28. Short road run from home. With dogs. New Balance MR10v2

Really wanted to get out for a run, but knees weren’t recovering as quickly as I had hoped, so I didn’t tempt myself with hills and stayed on the flat roads/sidewalks. Took it fairly easy.

Sunday, June 29, 2014. 3:45 pm
13.8 mi, 2826 ft gain, 2:33:13. Upper Wallace Falls, Wallace Lake, Jay Lake. Solo. Altra Lone Peaks

Should have warmed up first. Lower legs were a little tight until about 4.5 miles in. It had rained the last couple days. Stopped before I started the run, but the trail was still a little messy. Shoes did well in the mud.

Drove to the trail head. Made it to the upper falls in about 35 minutes. Pushed up that last steep climb, so I caught my breath a couple minutes. Continued up the trail to the dnr road and out to Wallace Lake under an hour. Took some pictures, looked around a bit. Stopped at the “pebble beach” at the north end of the lake and ran into a couple of hikers. Went on to Jay Lake, a little bit more climbing. Some nice looking camp sites around Jay Lake. Didn’t find as nice of a beach though. On the way back, I passed the hikers about halfway around Wallace Lake. Return trip from the Upper falls to the trail head was about 23 minutes.

Brought 2 water bottles, a couple ounces of baking dates. Drank about half by the Upper falls. Sipped the rest of the way, finishing just a little before the end. Had a couple bites of the dates at Jay lake. Had one salt cap there as well.

Sunday, June 29, 2014. 8:11 pm
3.2 mi, 33 ft gain, 30:02. Easy Road and Green Belt. With dogs. New Balance MR10v2

Legs a little tired. The dogs were a little disappointed when I didn’t take them on my earlier run. I knew they’d enjoy it and I wanted to stretch out my legs a bit. My legs loosened up a little after the turnaround.

Last year, the city let the grass in the green belt grow high, only cutting it once, and not very short. They’ve had a bit more work done this year. The grass was short enough today that with the few hours of dry weather, it wasn’t too wet and didn’t soak my shoes. I didn’t particularly enjoy running through wet knee high grass last year.

Weekly totals
32.6 mi, 4h 55m, 3959 ft gain

Even if I don’t run Monday, June 30, I’ve hit a personal best for total monthly mileage at 166.3 miles in 28h 35m, and most gain at 33,423ft.

Exercise

Am I Just A Runner?

I didn’t like running when I was in the Army. When I got out, I tried running once in the next year. It sucked so much. I was so out of breathe, my lungs were on fire. I was sure my heart was going to crack a rib or three.

I didn’t run again for over a year. One day I was walking up some stairs, and I was breathing heavily after just a flight or two. I thought I should get back into shape, but it didn’t go beyond that. Then a while later, I was looking in the mirror after a shower. I’ve always been a skinny guy, but I was starting to get the skinny guy gut. That tipped the scales on my motivation to start running again.

In the 7 years since then, I’ve dabbled with other exercises a couple times. They never stuck. I’ve never enjoyed lifting weights or other strength training. I’ve sort of considered myself just a runner and didn’t need anything else. I’m starting to reconsider a little.

As I’m increasing my mileage with three 50k races scheduled this year so far — two down, one in a few days — and looking to run a 50 mi race after that, I’m noticing a few little things here and there. When I go over 15 miles or so or do some significant uphill, I have some tightness in my hips, some minor muscle imbalances and some breakdown in form when tired. I’ve had some lower back pain a couple times so far this year, and I’m not sure the culprit. And I’ve also had muscle spasms in my trapezius muscles since 2004 in the Army. They’re not constant, but certainly get pretty intense on some long runs.

I think I can suffer my way through a 50 mi race with my current plan involving just running. I’d like to do more in the future and potentially a 100 mi race as well. In order to minimize my suffering, I should probably introduce exercises for my core, hips and back. I’ve recently started stretching some, but could use more. I’ve done minimal stretching since I started running. Never before a run, and rarely after.

On that note, the one exercise other than running that I enjoyed when I tried it was yoga. I took a class at Shoreline Community College in 2008. I’m considering giving yoga a shot again. I’m not sure whether I want to attend classes or try practicing on my own. Even having taken a class, I’m definitely still a beginner, so I would probably get more out of and keep up with it more regularly taking a class.

I kind of live in the boonies, so finding a class within a reasonable drive is a little tough. There is a gym in the closest “city” about 15 mi or a little over 20 min drive that has classes, but I’d have to join the gym. The next closest classes I’ve found are almost twice as far away. It would probably be beneficial to do some strength training once or twice a week as well, so I’m considering the gym. If the time it took for me to start running after “considering it” is any indication, it might be a while, though.

Part of why I started writing this blog is to keep myself accountable and motivated, so maybe this will tip the scales to action. I think I’ll check their class schedule for something after my 50k race this weekend.