Lessons

I think it's easy for people (primarily trail runners; and to be fair, I suppose road runners as well) to take for granted the condition they're in.  As someone who is a runner, today I was able to step back for a moment and assess where I am and where I'm headed.  It wasn't a revelation by any means, but it just opened my eyes and helped me focus more on my goals.

Today we had a new runner join our Saturday morning Clinton Lake runs.  He's sorta a runner (meaning he's not hardcore who runs 50+ miles a week, or anywhere near that number as far as I know), but doesn't have a lot of trail experience.  He's got some, but it's just not extensive.  So today's group of people didn't really split up as much as I thought we would have, and therefore we sorta all ran together.  I don't mind this type of running because I take it to be my endurance days (easy pace but long distances).  I wasn't sure what today's mileage would be because I sometimes like to play it by ear and see who's going what distance.  So today's magic number was 15.  I was tempted by Mark's offer for 23 (one loop), but I had the car key and I knew Lisa was only doing 15 so I didn't wanna keep her waiting out in the brisk weather this morning.  

Anyway, the new guy seemed to be working out well for the first 6 miles or so.  He said felt strong/good and had a tiny blister start forming on his small toe.  He stretched out at Land's End, we briefly discussed whether he wanted to continue with us (15M) or head back.  He said he was fine so he proceeded to run with us.  Initially, he felt good and then slowly started falling behind at some point.  At what point exactly I don't know because Mark, James, and I sped up and left everyone else behind.  At the turn-around point for the 15 and full loop we decided to stop and slowly walk the blue trail hoping the other will catch up.  They finally did and the new dude seemed to be working out just fine (at this point I think the mileage was something like 10 miles).  When I reached Land's End I noticed he was the last to come up.  Again, I didn't think anything of it because this could be due to many things.

We usually break at Land's End but for some reason we didn't really stop and continued onward.  A few minutes into the continuation, I noticed the new guy is nowhere to be seen.  "Where's the dude?" I ask.  "He's back there walking."  Oh boy.  Don't freeze up on me now, boy.  We kept on and I kept checking back for him.  Still walking.  "He's got no water," someone says.  Crapola.  That's right.  Food?  Nope.  Oh well.  I waited up for him and decided he needed water so I gave him some Nuun and a Hammer Gel.  The dude was completely beaten up.  His legs were shot to hell.  He was claiming pains in his knees, groin, and thigh.  12 or so miles into this and he's wasted.  Completely spent.  He was barely walking properly.  So what do you do in this type of situation, especially when they've never been on the trail?  You walk with them and make sure they make it back safely.  But I didn't mind because Lisa was far behind us at this point so I knew she would eventually catch up to us.  She did, at about 14.5 mile so she joined us on the remainder of the walk.

So my point is this: even though it may appear we just go for a light run on the trails, it's not as easy as it seems.  But I can see how it would appear that way to someone.  "Oh, they're not going that fast.  I've never done even 10 miles, but this pace is easy.  I can do this easily."  Look, if you're body is not using to being beat up in this manner, you're gonna suffer.  And, as today showed me, suffer hard.  No questions asked.  It's something that you have to ease in to.  If it were that easy, we'd all be out there running an "easy" 50 miler.  But that doesn't work that way.  I agree that just about anyone willing can run 50 miles, but some will be hurting more than others.  Now, 100 is a different story.  I believe that takes some running ability.  But this is a different issue all together.  

After a brief recent email, he is indeed suffering.  Poor guy.  But maybe not so poor since he made a poor decision to run that far when his body is not used to such distances.  

Maybe next time, friend.  Don't be discouraged.  :-)

Stay strong,

Mircea

Lonely trails

Another wonderful Saturday morning trail run with the Nerds. The only exception is that I really didn't run with them. I did however, end up running with three for a little while, but then we split up. It wasn't anything personal today, I just felt like I needed a faster run as the Psycho race is approaching (Feb. 14). I should probably run the course, but I figured I'll make the best of what I've got.

Everyone talks about the hills at the trail, so since Clinton apparently does not compete with WyCo in terms of hills, I decided to then push myself at Clinton. Everyone seemed to be in their own groove, anyway.

The upcoming race is only 10M, so today I ran roughly 11.3 or so at a faster than usual pace. I wasn't truckin' along, but it wasn't the usual take-it-easy pace we usually do on Saturday. Here's the GPS of today's run:

View Larger Map

Was a great run and made the best of it. And I'll go ahead and publicly say it here on the blog: the reason for going harder today was because at Wednesday's "beer run," I told a few Trail Nerds I'll do the WyCo 10M course in 1:33:00. Mind you, I've never been there and have only heard "horror stories" about the hills. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but I've heard they're nothing like Clinton or River Front Park at all. So I don't know what to expect, except I can promise they won't be horrible hills, just more than I'm probably used to. All I'm saying is that I've been training for hills. :-)

Will I make 1:33:00? I hope so. I'm confident, but sometimes over-confidence is my weakness, if you will. But if not, I won't be mad at myself or feel as if I haven't reached a goal. I'm doing it for fun and it's a friendly bet (push-ups, I believe). Besides, these kinds of bets really fuel me when I'm feeling tired. So I cannot come out of that race saying I didn't have motivation, because the motivation is fully-on! Whatever the outcome, I'm expecting a great time. I'll have my first look at the course tomorrow as I'm volunteering for the Psycho 5K race, held at the same park. I might post something afterwards. Maybe a few thoughts about my observations.

Stay strong,
Mircea

Nice day off

I've decided to take a day off today since Saturdays are my long(er) runs. it seems to work well for me if I take the day off before a long run. I still try to stay as active as possible, but still relax at the same time. I typically hydrate and eat well so tomorrow I'm properly hydrated and fueled. Admittedly, I do feel lazy on these days, but I know they'll help me out in the long-run (no pun intended, really).

Having a running log is something interesting because when the week is almost over and you review the log, it's hard to fathom that you haven't run more than is logged. Not that this is bad, but for example this week I was looking over my log and thus far I've logged 17 miles. It's not that I feel terribly sore and therefore feel as if I should've logged more, but there's something about it that doesn't feel right. As if I should be at least at 25 miles or so. This number of course will increase dramatically with tomorrow's run and Sunday's lighter run, but it's still hard to believe I've logged so few miles. I wonder if anyone else encounters this issue, even if in reverse (you feel as if you've run fewer miles than the log states)?

One thing I started doing is not being so concerned about distance, but more so with time spent running. I recently picked up a book titled The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running and here's an interesting thing it noted, and why I started on this time and not distance kick:

The measure of time is often more meaningful than distance because, assuming a relatively constant level of exertion, unlike the constant of time, the distance covered will vary dramatically, depending on factors such as changes in grade, altitude, footing, and weather condition.

This is somewhat comforting for me since there are days when I go a bit easier with my running than others, and I would like a way to convert that time into something more meaningful. Trail running is invariably slower than road running, so this makes a lot of sense to me. I also highly recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read it and has any plans of possibly converting to trail running. Great intro book.

Stay strong,
Mircea

Trail latest

As mentioned in my last post, I've been running on trails this week. As a matter of fact, I even joined a local group called the Kansas City Trail Nerds. As their names implies, they're trail runners and they're a great bunch of people. They run the local trail here in Lawrence, River Front Park (RFP), on Wednesday nights and other trails around the KC area throughout the week. I'll join them at other trails when I can. One of those times will be tomorrow at Clinton Park, also here in Lawrence. Tomorrow will be my long run for the week: 10 miles.

Unlike RFP, the trail is supposedly much more technical and I think the hills are a bit meaner. But that's not necessarily a bad thing because I was convinced by Gary, a Nerd member, to do the 10-mile trail race in February (Valentines Day, actually). I haven't signed up yet, but I'm pretty sure I will (as long as I discuss this again with Lisa and make sure it really is OK to do it). I think Lisa was thinking of going to Springfield, Missouri for the weekend. But I think we can leave Saturday after the race, maybe around noon or so. Again, I need to recheck.

I do have to admit that since running trails, I'm feeling leg muscles I haven't felt in the past just running road or track at the gym. For one, my quads are a bit sore. Hamstrings--oh, hi...I forgot about you guys. And I'm still having shinsplint problems. This crap doesn't seem to go away. I'm really tired of it. And lately its been getting pretty extreme during any run, but 20 minutes after the run, it's as if nothing ever happened. After Wednesday's run with the group, I had a pretty rough time walking because of that pain (and we only ran about 7 miles or so). So I'm trying different exercises to strengthen my shins on all sides.

I hope tomorrow's run goes well and 10 trail miles won't kill me! Nah, I doubt it, but I hope I have fun (and stay warm because it's supposed to be about 20 degrees tomorrow morning!).

My first trail experience

I just got back from a terrific run on trails here in Lawrence. This was honestly my first run on trails and I must admit, I think I'm hooked. There's something about running in nature with nothing but you, your thoughts, and peacefulness. No iPod or other annoying everyday sounds to disturb you. It was amazing. I can't understand how we're all not hooked on trail running. Granted, it's a bit tougher and you have to be a little more alert, otherwise you can easily twist or even break an ankle. But to be in that type of environment running cannot be compared to any other experience. If anyone has never tried it, I highly recommend it.

The only problem is I don't know for sure how long it was, but my best guesstimate is 8.5 miles. Today is my long run/endurance day according to a schedule I had made on Runner's World. I look forward to soon purchasing a Garmin Forerunner 305, and that way I'll have a really good idea about my running distance on trails.

I hope to post many more of my experiences on trails on the near future. Tomorrow is my rest day, but perhaps Tuesday I'll head out there again! I'm totally sold on trails.

Issues with Blogger

I had to create another blog as Blogger still hasn't reinstated my blog.  Yeah, they thought/think it's a spam blog.  What the hell?  It's ridiculous.  I think once it is reinstated, I'll transfer it over to this blog.  I'm tired of these guys taking their sweet time.

Anyway, I think my Saucony Hurricane 10's are not as great of a fit for me as I thought.  They're excellent shoes, don't get me wrong, but I think they're giving me shin-splints.  I'm not entirely sure, but it's my guess.  I'll stick with them a little longer before I go over to Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8's.  I tested one on each foot and I think there's a bit more cushioning in the forefoot of the Brooks shoes, and that's where I think the problem is starting and giving me the shin-splints.  The guy at the shoe store suggested I try some softer terrain such as trails, so I'll try that before I pick up the Brooks.  However, I think I'll still end up getting those shoes because they get awesome reviews and a lot of reviews say they're great shoes for trail running as well, which is something that I'm gonna get a little more into (not because the guy suggested it, but I think I'll like it since it's a way to be really close to nature).  

I'll post results of how I feel after running the shoes on the trail.