I Thought I Would Be Rested

One would think after lazing around for almost two weeks while recouping from the bruiser injury, I would be feeling all rested an raring to run up a steep mountain trail. Instead I have been feeling tired and a bit lame as if I were running hard everyday.

I can't say I haven't run at all as I did a 2.5 trot at Pineland last tuesday and I ran a 5 miler last night there also. Besides that, I have only gone for a few walks. The 2.5 did bother the knee a bit, but last night there were no problems at all and I really enjoyed the run.

Is it possible that not running can leave a body tired if it is used to running on a steady bassis? I can't think of a time that I went two full weeks without running even when I had the surgery two years ago. I guess I mistakenly thought the tired body was from running .......now I am thinking it is just the feeling of old age.

I have heard many "older" people say that their body felt a bit creaky in the mornings and they had to losen things up to start their day. I honestly thought my creakyness was from running.

I guess what this means is that I can actually train a little harder than I thought and not worry so much about rest days. Hey....if I am going to feel creaky anyway, why not get some running it while I'm at it.

One thing I did notice is the heart rate was much higher during these two runs in comparison to the pace. Of course these runs were at pineland which has a constant rolling terrain which will cause a bit higher degree of effort with no real rest.

September 21

2.46 miles @23:12 heart rate av and max 152-168
splits:
10:29....147-162
10:04....157-164
8:19....164-168
I finished this run off with a two mile walk.

September 27

5 miles @49:51 (9:59 pace) HR, 152-173
splits:
9:49......139-166
10:14......148-158
10:48......159-169
9:57......157-165
8:59......162-173 (kick8:02)

Limping In Limbo

I had hoped my knee would be doing well enough by now (Thursday) to get in a post race run and shake out the running muscles a bit. However, the knee is still pretty darn sore so I am anxiously waiting.

Being in limbo means you can't really plan or follow an existing plan. I sit at my desk daydreaming about runs I want to do but not knowing how things will shake out makes it hard to plan.

I suspect that I must have hit more than just dirt when I went down as the knee cap is very tender to touch. Right now walking is a bit of a chore after sitting for any length of time, but it is getting better each day so I am hoping to get in an easy run this weekend.

All and all, I am very pleased with my Bruiser race even though I found out personally why it is called the bruiser!!!

Bradbury Bruiser Report (rambling)

For the second Bradbury race in a row I found a way to sabotage my performance .....yet I did well both times. The day before the 9 mile Breaker I ran the Beach to Beacon 10K ...so not a fresh start for mountain race, but still PRed it. The day before the 12 mile Bruiser, I golfed in a tournament (first time golfing this year)

I felt good and strong for the first 12 holes and keep thinking I was using up the core strength I was saving for the O trail. The last few holes I could feel the fatigue setting in and knew for sure this was a mistake the day before a tough race.

So, Sunday morning (race day) I decided to run a warm up (which I never do before this type of race) by the time everyone was lining up, sweat was rolling down my face because my warm up somehow ended up being a minute per mile faster than my projected race pace.......mainly because I started the warm up 20 minutes before race time and didn't keep track of the time, I was worried the race would start without me. Not what one would call a controlled pre race strategy.

I usually feel like crap the first mile and thought perhaps the warm up would counteract the feeling. I also decided to start a bit further back so I wouldn't get sucked into too fast of a pace.

I don't what God Ian and Ryan talked to but he surely listened as this was about as perfect as a day can get, fairly cool with no humidity. Of course a light rain would make the trail race a bit more fun but also slow things down a bit. A fair trade off on most days, but today I was hoping for cool dry and that is exactly what we got.

The start was a bit slow but thinned out rather quickly. I slid in behind Rick Abradi and figured to pace off him for a while as he was planning a somewhat slower start also. Pacing off someone else is hard for me because I like to run faster when I feel good and slower when I realize I am pushing too hard.

A person running faster than my average pace can sometimes suck me into too fast of a pace and work against me in the end. I honestly thought this was happening with Rick because I was feeling pretty winded in the second mile and he was picking off runners which meant to me he was pushing the pace a bit. Of course I followed him even though I could have stayed back.

I think it is my competitive spirit that causes me to try and stay behind a faster runner. So, here I was running faster than I planned, yet after mile two, I was getting control of my breathing and feeling much better.

I thought for sure this would work against me, but hey it was a race and I was trying to improve my time. Somewhere in mile three we got behind a slower runner and it seemed Rick just couldn't find a good place to pass. I got antsy and found a spot to slip by them both. I felt a little bad after as I think I might have muscled them a bit as I searched for a line that would work.

Right after I passed them, I saw Rick pass too. Now I was actually in a worse position as I could feel Rick gaining on me at times and I stopped thinking about my own race. I was worried he was going to catch me. How stupid is that? My plan was to run behind him so if he passed me that would actually be better. The smart thing for me to do would have been to pull over and let him by, then settle back in and let him pull me along.

Before long, I noticed Rick was slowing a bit on technical downhills, this told me he was still bothered by his injury as the downhills are usually the place to make up some time. On the flats and ups, he would catch back up to me.

This is also when I twisted my right ankle pretty hard. Rick mentioned it was too soon for that to happen which got me thinking about placing my own feet instead of worrying about where he was (thanks rick) focus is so important on this type of terrain.

The human mind is so weird, here I am only in mile three, worrying about a runner passing me (who is faster than me anyway)and deserves to be running at his pre-injury pace. I would have cheered him on and then been able to settle in on my own race.

I think the real problem is that I love coming up onto a runner and working my way past them but I hate a runner doing that to me. It shouldn't make a difference but is just plain does. The worst one was the guy who passed me a half mile from the finish of the O trail.....I almost caught him with my kick but he had a kick too.

The middle miles went real well as I settled in and felt the pace was comfortably hard. I was only passed by a few runners that I didn't return the favor to and besides that was only passed at the water stops by runners who were not stopping. I think I caught and passed all of those a short while after, so it was no big deal.

I was feeling good, hadn't tripped at all (other than the ankle twist in mile three) and was getting anxious to hit the O trail. I knew I would be all set once I got there from all my previous training on it.

I knew things were going great when I hit the O trail at 1:44. My average O trail runs have been 30-32 minutes even when doing repeats. I felt pretty good going in and decided to push the pace as hard as I could and try to finish under 1:15 for the race.

About a half mile in, as I was basking in my glory of knowing the O trail so well and feeling I was finally the master of it. For no other reason than to prove me wrong, the O trail grabbed my right foot and slung me down to the ground. I slammed extremely hard and felt severe cramping of the calf muscles and hamstrings while I was trying to keep my feet under me.

I was a bit dazed when I stood back up and instead of walking off the cobwebs, I foolishly tried to jump right back into my stride. Merely 25 steps later, I was slammed to the ground again only this time even harder as my mind and body had not recovered enough to attempt to buffer my fall.

This is the first time I remember actually being pissed off and swearing as I hit the ground. I was so mad at myself for my lack of respect and stupidity. I could hardly walk as I tried to trudge forward. For sure I would not PR this course after all, not if I was forced to walk the rest of the way.

I was disappointed and really pissed at myself. I tried massaging the Calv's and kept trying to get a run going. Eventually I was able to run but much slower as I now paid close attention to the ground and my foot placement. My knees were hurting along with my ankle, my left arm and my right fore arm.

I tried to put the pain behind me,just concentrate on the trail and moving forward. Things started feeling a bit better and I realized as long as my Calv's didn't cramp right up on me, I would still have a chance of beating last years time.

I was so drained from the falls that I could barely lift my legs high enough and I continually tripped on the rocks and roots. I did a good job of slowing down when needed and by centering my body better, I managed to stay upright. Something I should have been doing from the start. This is not the place for a lean forward type sprinting form (which is what I was foolishly doing at the beginning of the O)

I begged for the O trail Gods to forgive me and at least allow me to finish..... I think they heard me. It was uplifting to see the stone wall and leave the O trail behind. Now the trail was wide open and I pushed as hard as I could to finish strong.

I crossed the finish line almost 9 minutes faster than last year. There is nothing more exciting than finishing a tough race like this one. It is funny how ones perceptions are though. As slow as I felt in the O trail after falling, my total O trail time including the falls was 32:57.......right about where I planned in the first place.

So today I am limping a bit and I have some tender spots but I am happy.....very happy about my performance and my new PR. 1:17:15 (running time 1:14:56)

Splits......av HR..max
10:26.........145-156
11:12.........151-159
9:48.........149-157
10:03.........150-158
10:46.........145-159(50 sec water stop)
11:12.........148-158(long hill)
10:12.........149-157
9:59.........146-157
10:41.........145-149(45 sec water stop)
10:37.........146-159(hill)
11:31.........153-158(O trail fell twice)
11:22.........151-159 (O trail)
7:51.........157-162

They say it's good to have "step back" weeks mixed in with training. I guess one every forth week. I never really practiced that because my schedule is usually so erratic that I just end up getting the runs in when I can. Many times not making the weekly mileage I wished for.

Having a family with all it's obligations, working 12 hours a day and owning a house that seems to require constant attention will severely interfere with any type of normal routine.

I had a week of not running which would surely qualify for a step back week and then a week of hardly running, so two step backs in a row. I thought this might be a problem and the first run I had seemed to agree as I felt a bit tired and my heart rate was very high.

The very next day I ran two O loops at Bradbury and felt great. I ran with my two of my sons, my son in law and my daughter's puggle. The run went so well and the heart rate was stable and normal.

I don't know if this whole erratic two weeks will help me or hurt me at the Bruiser but perhaps I will know better after tonites run.

Saturday

4 miles Pitloop which is a combo trail/road

35:48 (8:57 pace)
splits:


9:09.....138-163
9:20.....149-161
8:59.....153-163
8:35.....157-162

Sunday

Two O trail loops 4.8 miles

1st 30:35....148-164
2nd 30:01....153-162

Felt great running today..

It Sucks To Have Nothing To Report

I can't believe I haven't run for a week......yeah.crazy huh? How could something like this happen.

Oh, I had plenty of plans and alternate plans and backup plans..to run, but it didn't happen. I can't think of a week of disruption and chaos worse than this one.

To top it all off, even though I should be rested, I am instead quite run down and tired.

At least I can say I had quite a bit of swimming and other physical activities that can be labeled cross training.

I spent Saturday ripping a skylight out of my Mother's roof which I thought would only take one day and allow me to get my long run in on Sunday. Well I didn't get it done and ended up working on it all day Sunday.

It was very draining as first of all roofing is hard work to begin with, then throw in the 90 degree temps and you have very tired guy. So, no run on the weekend and with how I was feeling, I cherished the thought of using Monday as a rest day.

Tuesday I ended up working late but that was OK because I was still a bit lame from the weekend and decided I would get a good Bradbury run on Wednesday. I figured then heat wouldn't matter much because I would be in the woods out of the direct sunlight.

OK.....so Wednesday I get a call from my daughter and she needs help moving her furniture to a new place.....well no run but the lifting, carrying and climbing to the second floor would surely qualify as a cross training workout.

It qualified all right as I was still beat Thursday during work and that combined with the stagnant air convinced me to skip the run again......I did however accomplish cooling off and working out with some laps in the pool.

Now, here I sit Friday morning at work, wondering how this week has affected me. Did the lack of running set me back at all or perhaps the extra physical activities allowed key muscles to rest up while still getting a pretty good workout.

I suspect I will find out Saturday as I am planning a long run......I hope

Wednesday At Bradbury

Wednesday I ran on the east side trails. It was raining and I decided it would be a good time to test running without glasses. My thought was that during a heavy rain, I might have better visibility without them rather than them fogging up and being so wet that the ground is distorted causing me to run much slower.

Being near sighted, I assumed I would be able to see the ground in front of my feet well enough to negotiate the technical trails of Bradbury but would lose the clearness of seeing what is coming up ahead of me.

I found it much more difficult than I imagined as the depth perception of the obstructions such as roots and rocks were not very clear and I found myself running slower as I re-acted to the terrain rather than command it.

My hope was that as I progressed, my eyes would adapt more and the terrain would become much clearer.....that didn't happen. I managed to run without falling and actually I don't think I tripped once. I did however run much slower and it was a bit uncomfortable.

I guess what it boils down to is that on a day like today when the rain is not that severe, I would do much better wearing the glasses but on a day that is a pure downpour, I suspect I would have better visibility without them. The tricky part is deciding before the race or run which fits best.

I am at a disadvantage as far as information goes because the garmen wouldn't even pick up a signal so I have no comparison and no heart rate info. I can only go by my knowledge of the trails and the nano which reads a bit long. Of course running without glasses surely changed my stride a bit, I am not sure how the nano read today.
below is my best guess as to my miles and pace.

Nano read:
4.8 miles @ 48:16
splits:
10:08
9:06
9:42
10:05
9:20

I estimate the run was more like 4 miles @12:04 pace which seems more reasonable.

08/17/10

I have got to stop this.....something must be terribly wrong with me. You see I ran the O trail again and I suddenly realized that I really like this trail! It doesn't seem to matter how slow I start out, by the time I get to the end I am almost sprinting.

You know what else I realized, the last mile is much easier as far as the terrain goes than the first half. Why did I never notice this before? Perhaps it has something to do with hitting the O after racing 10 miles of tough terrain.

I just hope I feel as good as I have lately during the actual race. Now I didn't actually run it tonite completely fresh, I started by pushing a pretty good pace on some of the single track for a little over three miles before hitting the O, but still the deeper I got into the crazy twists and turns, the better and faster I ran.

In the interest of comparing, I restarted my watch when I entered the O to get a good idea of how well I was running it. I say approximately three miles first but I don't know for sure because the garmen just fails miserably at Bradbury.

The garmen read 2.46 and the nano read 3.48, so I called it three even though I think it was a bit longer than three. In the o trail the garmen read 1.19 and the nano read 3.17, but at least I know that trail is 2.4

Stats:

3 miles @30:21 (10:07pace) heartrate av@141, max@160
2.4 miles @31:10 (12:59pace) av@147, max@157
1 mile cooldown, didn't check pace or even time it, but I surely understand Vs remark about sweating....I was soaked!

"O" Trail Repeats??

Sunday Mike and I headed for Bradbury, our plan was O trail repeats......what? Who is crazy enough to run that trail more than once a day? It seemed innocent enough when we planned it.

So, my thought was do a fairly fast first loop then slow the next two down to simulate the fatigued feeling and match my proposed pace at the end of the Bruiser.
A fourth loop would only happen if we had time and had any energy left after three.

We did about 3/4 mile warm up then jumped on the first loop of the O. At first I felt pretty tired and winded, but as we continued, things came together and I was pushing a fairly good pace....well at least for this trail.

The end came suddenly as I was enjoying the run so much that I lost track of where I was (which is quite easy on this trail). I finished the 2.4 mile in 33:33 so not too bad. I waited a few seconds for Mike and we headed back to the beginning to run the second loop. I wanted to run each loop in the same direction as the race to try and get more familiar with the trail.

On the second loop Mike decided to speed it up and run as fast as he could, but I decided to stay with my plan and start out much slower. In a flash he was gone and I enjoyed the mosey pace for a short while until I realized I was consistently picking up the pace.

Mike finished first at about 28:42, which was a pretty darn good pace and I surprised myself with a 32:26 finish......faster than the first lap, even though I started much slower. This means I ran the last half at a pretty good clip.

Even though the speed of the last half of my second loop felt really good, I still wanted to train closer to my expected pace for the race, so again I decided to start out slow. Mike was on board with that because he was feeling a bit spent from his speed loop.

As we started out slow, we discussed ways to pass on this trail and started practicing methods of passing without using a lot of extra energy. I passed him two or three times and each time he managed to pass me back quickly. Well the fourth time I decide to pass and then add a little sprint to create a separation and make him work much harder to catch me and pass again.

I passed him then hit my sprint. I separated pretty good then used the next corner to turn it on again and see if I could lose him. Right after the corner came a bit of a down hill so I felt compelled to continue with the quicker stride.

My full intent was to slow back down and let him catch up, but I was settling in real good and the longer strides felt comfortable and easy. By the time I hit the end of the O, I was sprinting pretty good and I pulled off a 29:28, which may not sound that fast but given the fact that the first third of the 2.4 miles I was running extremely slow, the last bit was pretty darn fast.

I didn't plan it this way but each loop ended up being faster than the last one and I actually felt stronger each loop. I could have easily done a fourth cool down loop but it was getting quite late and we had to get going.

On our way out, we ran into Ian and Emma,they were with Jim and planning on running the new connector to Pineland. Suddenly Blaine showed up with blood streaks down his face and his head all bandaged up. He fell and hit a stump pretty darn hard and was talking about finding a hospital to get it checked out. It proves that even the best can get hurt on these technical trails and a certain amount of respect is warranted.

Splits:

1st loop 2.4 miles@33:33 141-156 heart rate

2nd loop 2.4 miles @32:26 139-160 heart rate

3rd loop 2.4 miles @29:28 150-161 heart rate

In the end, the best part was driving the old jeep CJ7 home as we were pretty hot and sweaty and the fresh cool air felt great!

Broken Plans...Confusing Results

One would think, upon reading my title, that I had an undesirable experience with my training. Of course that is exactly what we humans normally write about, it is in our nature to complain and I know I have done my fair share.

I plan a run, it doesn't go as planned, I complain and ramble on for ever it seems and then I find a way to rationalize my experience into some type of good training thing. Perhaps everyone does that, but they leave out the complaining part so it sounds more positive than whining.

My plan was to do an easy run on Bradbury East side trails last night.......well let me backtrack a bit, Saturday I ran the Beach to Beacon 10k, then Sunday I raced the Bradbury Mountain Breaker 9 miler.

Now I do not normally run back to back races and even though I didn't all out race the Beacon, I did run the race when I should have been resting for my mountain race. All in all I had a plan for the Breaker and I followed it quite well.

In the end I had a respectable time that gave me PR of about three minutes and though I felt sluggish during most of it, I think I accomplished a pretty good race. OK...so I suspect this whole piece is getting a bit boring as I already wrote about my race.....but the background is important as it leads up to my latest run.

Sunday afternoon I was dead tired and decided to take at least one maybe two days off before I ran again. For sure my Achilles needed to calm down after the hills of the 9 miler.

I spent Monday and Tuesday just swimming laps and water running. It actually felt good and it didn't allow my muscles to get too stiff. At the same time my brain wasn't thinking that I was lazing it.

I knew Wednesdays run would feel sluggish and decided to just hit Bradbury and do an easy three or fours miles on the Bruiser course just to work the body back into running trails. It was quite hot out when I left work and I almost canned the whole idea of running and hit the pool again instead.

For some reason I did end up at Bradbury but assured myself I would take it real easy and felt my body would demand it anyway, so I actually had no say in the matter.
When I first started running down the link trail, I felt tired and sluggish and my legs were not too solid......every thing I expected.

Once I turned onto the single track of the Lanzo trail, I just kept running faster and faster. Suddenly I was breathing near the top of my capability, hitting extremely high heart rate numbers that averaging up to 154(89%HR) with peaks at 162(93%hr) for the first three miles...... surprising because these are my normal racing numbers.

Funny thing is, I didn't feel like I was racing, I felt more like I was running comfortably hard and it actually felt extremely fast and doable. Usually when racing hard I feel like I can't go on and have to convince myself not to quit.

I stopped at the 5k mark just to double check my watch and my monitor to be sure I was reading it right. After 20 or 30 seconds I continued at what was going to be a cooldown pace, but before long I was running fast again...OK..well fast for me anyway.

I ran the next two miles faster than the first three and topped it off with a great kick. Though my average heart rate was a bit lower because of the slower start, my kick peaked my hear rate up to 173.......I haven't reach the 170s since last year.

What the hell happened? I somehow flicked some hidden switch and now I want to know how to do it again......in slight disbelief, I rechecked my stats on both the Garmen and the Nano to be sure there was not something wrong and I found everything to be normal.

I wish I could put this run in the bank and make a withdrawal for my next race. It sure is funny how perceived effort and condition is totally relative to factors that seem way beyond our comprehension and control.

Stats:
5.2 miles @49:07(running time)9:30 pace

avHR,147.....max,173

10:21...143-159
9:58...150-162
9:44...154-162
9:33...144-156
9:00...148-165
8:24...173 (for .2 miles)

BtoB and Bradbury B

It may not be a fair statement to say I raced the quad B this weekend as I really didn't race the B to B as much as I paced a very important beginner. It does however qualify as a strain on my racing freshness for the Breaker, so I have a semi excuse for not doing as well as I would on rested legs.

That being said, I had a fantastic time running the Beacon as a run instead of a race. I actually was hardly sweating at the end. My wife raced it for the second time and it was her second race ever.

I went in with a plan to use my expertise to help here push her limits at just the right times to hopefully gain her a PR. It worked! She PRed by four minutes so I guess I proved I do know something about race stradegy and pacing.

The Breaker race was perfect from a participents point of view as Ian and Ryan did another outstanding job. It really made me proud to wear my trail Monsters shirt for all those out of staters to see.

As far as my race goes, I am very satisfied with my effort, my race plan and my results. Reguardless of of my freshness, I ran smart, stayed with my plan and actually PRed by 3 minutes. Not only a PR but I felt so much better this year.

The other exciting thing is that there were a bunch of places, I could have tweeked the pace a little and even done better. This was not the time or place though to push the envelope.....I am saving that for the Bruiser. This race was all about sticking to the plan and proving to myself I have some of the answers.

The only draw back to the day was that my son, who was heavy into training for this race and others, ran into a tough knee injury and had to pull from the race after a disapointing warm up run. I know it was a tough decision for him as we headed for the start line, but overall health and having a great fall of races was much more important.

One last thing........don't you just love that 3/4 mile downhill finish!!! This has got to be the most fun finish of any of my races.