Monthly Archive for December, 2008

Half Frozen Half of a Half

Published by Lumpy on 29 December, 2008, at 20:42, in training. 2 Comments

Or, in the words of R. T. Rybak: Ice, Ice, Baby.

Yeah, Ice. We ran Saturday and it was partially icy. Yesterday, when I ran, it was mostly icy. A small distinction, but important. See, if you run on ice you get to add an extra 25% to your mileage. That extra bit comes from the number of times you run and stay in place or slip and have to take a few extra wild steps to keep from falling on your ass. Yeah, ice, ice, baby.

Dawg was with me and we did a real 7.0 miles (without the ice factor). Part of my mis-training programmee. From this I confirmed the following Lumpy Running Profile™®(© Lumpy, LLC, 2008. All rights reserved.) :

old-man-running-winter0-1.5 m :: Break-in Period (thinks ache but need to loosen up)

1.5-4.25 mi :: Run Period (earlier aches/pain/stiffness recedes)

4.25-5 mi :: Break-down Period (why am I doing this?)

5-7 mi :: The Glide (Yeah, baby…this is the zone…)

7+ mi :: TBD

In case you are wondering I’m following the in development Lumpy’s Half Training Half Marathon Mis-Training Programmee™®(© Lumpy, LLC, 2008. All rights reserved.) I”ll get back to you on that.
Oh, and this run was all about “Thermal Management.” I’ll get back to you on that, too.

It isn’t really that bad. You should try running in this…(yeah, click it!!!)

Well, that was less than spectacular.

Published by Sally on 29 December, 2008, at 17:33, in quotes and training. 0 Comments

Just did 10 with G. I would say that 80-90% of this run was slick, slippery, or just plain old icky. I feel good about it, nonetheless. I ran the first half into 13 mph winds coming from the nnw, and I felt every mph of it. So, between slipping, half-skating, dealing with an excited dog vs. a sheet of ice and a flock of birds taking off, biting headwind, and such, I got pretty darn tired shortly after the halfway point. I decided as soon as I realized how slick it would be that I would still do my distance, but would just shuffle along as best I could and make this a Guinness Sally Fun Run. It was! We stopped to chat with dogs and owners, we romped in the snow, we both did a lot of sniffing,  for completely different reasons, and we ran as best we could. After close to 10 years of running, the last 4 in the arctic tundra, I’m finally learning that I have to let the runs go and be what they are.

I hope I can walk tomorrow. :-P

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
–Lao Tzu

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.  Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.  Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.  Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.  One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.  ~Mary Jean Iron

Nordic rocks!

Published by Sally on 28 December, 2008, at 14:19, in quotes and training. 0 Comments

I went cross country skiing with Lumpy for the first time on Christmas day. Very cool. Toots, you’ll love it! I have heard that I should try skate skiing, and from what I saw out on trail that day, it looks like a hoot. The Swede has offered to teach me how to telemark ski, as well. I get to rent equipment for free at REI as long as it’s available, so it looks like I’ll be outside doing more crazy shit that justifies the great insurance we have. I’ll be running 10-13 tomorrow. Don’t feel like it today. I’m having to de-fuzz our house all day.

Kona, the guest four-legger departed today, and since I’m allergic to her, I’m glad to see her go this time. It was fun running with her, but she’s not intuitive the way my G is and we miss out on some of our fun when she’s here. Lumpy and I each ran with a dog yesterday, so we ran well and fast despite the icy conditions; we did a simple 3 around Lake Harriet.

“In America, for example, sports have a ‘big bully’ mentality. For instance, if you find a person who is good at running, he is usually small and wimpy. He runs away from other kids and is called a wimp. In Finland, we look at him as being an athlete who is good at running.” -Eino Romppanen

“That’s the beauty of starting lines: Until you being a new venture, you never know what awaits you.” – Amby Burfoot, The Runner’s Guide to the Meaning of Life.

P.F. Chang’s RNR Arizona

Published by Toots on 27 December, 2008, at 23:55, in events and team banana. 1 Comment

WOOHOO!!! 

I got my race confirmation form.  I’m in corral #10.  What about you guys?

Christmas on the run.

Published by Toots on 26 December, 2008, at 09:25, in random stuff and training. 0 Comments

Christmas was rather quiet this year.  We went out to dinner Christmas Eve then on to Pita’s for our traditional midnight gift exchange.  My boys left to Houston on Christmas Day to spend the weekend with Tutus and family.  I decided to stay behind with Pita, Bibiiiisss, and my Alex.  I spent the day doing laundry while watching a movie chez Pita’s (yes, I did say laundry).

In the late afternoon, Bibiiiisss and I headed out to do our midweek training runs that we were about to miss by just hanging around the house doing nothing.  I had to run nine 400 meters at a 5K pace and Bibiiiisss had a 3 miler.  A workout on the track would be best – at least for me it would be.  We were going to go run on the beautifully maintained and cushiony Incarnate Word University track; however, much to our dismay, the campus was closed for the holidays and for the Parade of Lights they host on campus every year during the holiday season…I forgot.  We tried the Alamo Heights High  School track (a lot of people run there for some reason) but it was also closed, or rather we could not find the way in.  It was starting to get dark, I suppose we could have run in the park and guestimated a 400 meter distance?  I usually do these types of runs in the daytime on the Jefferson High School track near my house because it’s not lit and it’s not very well maintained (we should have just gone there in the first place while it was still daylight, but we thought the IWU track would be a special treat).  We decided to loop through the Trinity University campus and their track was open AND lit!  So, voila!  We got our runs in!

The whole time we were there, there was this little black cat just sitting there quietly watching us as we ran round and round the track.  It never moved from it’s spot and it really did watch us the entire time we were there.  We decided it was Banana, making sure Bibiiiisss did not wimp out on her run.  ;-)

Post #2; the real one.

Published by Sally on 23 December, 2008, at 22:26, in random stuff. 0 Comments

I ran Guinness and our guest dog, Kona, today. Kona is a lot more focused than Guinness, but has a lot less joy, so it’s usually a lot quicker run. However, it’s also nice to have another dog to make Guinness GGGOOOOO, when she’ s feeling like dorking around. To sum it up, I ran one of the fastest 3 milers I’ve run since I ran with Tucker, my husky boyfriend from down the street.

Here’s how I think about where Lumpy and I live, vs. Toots and Larry…

Published by Sally on 23 December, 2008, at 22:12, in random stuff. 2 Comments

Ouch.

Published by Larry on 23 December, 2008, at 01:27, in random stuff. 2 Comments

I tried doing the 5 that was on my schedule today and had to modify for fear of messing up my legs for the rest of the week. Swapped it for my 3 on Wednesday because a half mile into the run I felt constant pain shooting up my thighs and shins (and that darn blister), which are still in shock from Saturday’s run (which was all pavement…is this part of the problem?).

Argh. Not happy.

I’m still trying to get warm.

Published by Sally on 21 December, 2008, at 18:14, in quotes and training. 2 Comments

I did 12 today, thinking it was going to be in -25° weather (with windchill), but it was a balmy -5°. Quelle chance! I started out a little bit too fast. Since I like a bulleted list, I will now provide the ups and downs in a clear and concise format.

Bad stuff about today’s run:

  • Had to jump a few plowed snow piles.
  • The southeast and northwest corners of every lake (ran 3.5 of ‘em) were soooooo cold!
  • Said corners had major snow drifts. Ya gotta go through ‘em. It’s tiring.
  • Draining sinuses – once you put on a face covering, your sinuses say wheeeeeee! Thank goodness I know the farmer blow.
  • Not being able to make mistakes. Larry, this is part of what changes when you get to double digits, especially in cold weather. You just cannot afford to screw up, or you put your health, running, joints, and in our case, fingertips and toes and face at risk. Oh, and your sanity.
  • I got a little slow at the end due to reasons listed above. (Still did it in two hours with potty breaks, walk breaks, and general slowdown!!!)
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Trust me. I’m a weather Ninja.

Published by Lumpy on 21 December, 2008, at 10:07, in lumpy's wisdom and training. 0 Comments

12-21-08-tempsToday is going to be another in a long string of days that make me want to run not want to run want to run. Yeah, it is a battle between:

“Been there: Done that” vs. “Yippee…COLD!”

I’ve posted about this before. Today, it is currently -10°F. Wind chills are expected to be -25°F to -35°F for most of the day. Not uncommon.

Truth is that it all comes down to planning and proper clothing choices. All topics we’ve covered before, so I won’t bore all’ya’all with the details again. That’s what the site search is for. I will rant about one particular aspect–face coverings.

Having to wear something covering your face is a self induced asthma attack. It is like altitude training, without any of the benefit. Feh…but, you get to look like a Ninja.

I think today is going to be a fine day for a run.

Trust me. I’m a weather Ninja.

ninja