49 posts tagged “trail running”
When I finished physical therapy over a week ago, my trainer and I concluded that the hamstring was about 90% healed. Good news indeed, but in the days since it seems like things have regressed slightly, say 85%. That's not much, but any negative trend is cause for concern.
Then it hit me - I've been doing my running on trails in deep snow. Hilly, off-road terrain is difficult enough without slogging through a foot of snow in chilly weather, and it may have been too much stress for my hamstring given its condition.
Yeah, I know... DUH. I should've known better but live and learn.
Today I hit the treadmill indoors where the the air is warm and the surface is flat and unobstructed. What a difference! The first mile was conservative at a 10:00 pace, then I upped it to 9:45 for mile 2, then 9:30 for mile 3. No problems! I decided to cautiously test my hamstring and began ramping up the speed in small increments during mile 4, promising myself I would go back down if I felt ANY hint of tightness.
By the time I hit 4 miles I was running an 8:00 pace and the hamstring felt great! Staying conservative I made that my limit and held the 8:00 for half a mile before running the last 0.5 at a 10:00 pace, resulting in 5.0 miles in 47:24. Very encouraging!
Best of all, no stiffness or soreness at all in the three hours since the run. Given these results, I might have to resign myself to doing lots of 'mill work until the weather warms up. The extended forecast shows no temperatures over 30 degrees for the next week and a half, so I might be waiting a while. If that means my hamstring will be 100% by springtime, then it's worth it.
The other encouraging news is that my HR was 140-150 at the 9:30-10:00 paces, and stayed at 160 for most of the faster paces until the half mile at 8:00, when I topped out at 170. That's pretty much where I was before the injury, so aerobically I haven't lost much fitness at all. My resting HR earlier today was 56, down from the 60 it reached during the nadir of my non-running but not quite the 54 that was normal before the injury.
Boy did it feel awesome to move my legs at a 8:00 pace! I can't wait to run a 6:00 pace again, even if it's only for a minute.
I got out for a great run tonight despite the 12 degree temperature. I ran 5.6 miles on the trails in just over an hour, my first hour+ run since early October 2007! My hamstring is fine right now so it must be close to fully healed. My lungs better stop slacking off or else the legs will be ahead of them again soon!
I had the trails to myself; perhaps the cold weather kept others at home? Three layers of clothing kept me warm while the trees helped block the wind. On the trails my footprints weren't lonely - there were some tracks to pique my interest such as dogs, deer, and then... a coyote! I never got to see it, though - that would've been cool!
I can hardly believe that I didn't run at all in December - the first time I've missed an entire month since I started running January 1st, 2004. It's frustrating but hopefully this layoff will fix my hamstring and prevent a recurrence. If you find long lists of statistics to be boring, you can read my brief 2007 running summary. While these stats are posted on Why Run? I've also included them here - the breakdown of my running for 2007, by the numbers:
1018.5 total miles
207 runs
156 hours
4.92 miles average per run
13 races
7 5K road
2 5M trail
1 5K trail with Haven
1 4M road with Haven and Beacon
1 10K road
1 26.2M trail marathon
788.9 miles on the roads
229.6 miles on the trails
193.2 pounds average weight
56 bpm typical resting heart rate
181.7 miles running with Haven
85.3 miles running with Beacon
53.0 of the above miles running with Haven and Beacon together
4.3 miles running with foster dogs
218.4 miles running with dogs
51 runs with Haven
24 runs with Beacon
14 of the above runs were with Haven and Beacon together
2 runs with foster dogs, Raven and Reese
63 total runs with at least one dog
30% of all runs were with a dog
Congratulations if you've scrolled down this far and actually enjoyed reading the stats. The dogs will appreciate your effort since I'm now going to share their own personal numbers, which also include hikes and other walks that I didn't include in my running tally. Note that "swimming" means time spent playing fetch in water or accompanying Amanda and I while we waded in the river.
Haven
327.7 miles total
107.7 miles on leash
220.0 miles off leash
92 outings
65 hours total
9.9 hours swimming
Beacon
226.2 miles total
65.6 miles on leash
160.7 miles off leash
74 outings
52 hours total
15.8 hours swimming
Foster Dogs
7 of our 17 foster dogs went running - Amber, Raven, Honey, Reese, Betty, Annie, Teddy
51.3 miles total
18.8 miles on leash
32.5 miles off leash
16 outings
14 hours total
no significant swimming
If you're wondering why Haven racked up 100 more miles than Beacon, there are two main reasons:
1) Beacon likes running, Haven LOVES running. However, Beacon makes up for it with almost 6 more hours of swimming because while Haven likes fetch, Beacon LOVES fetch.
2) Beacon's pads become sore rather easily and there are several occasions where Haven is taken for a run in place of Beacon because his paws are still recovering. We think the cause is a combination of Beacon's naturally thin pads and his somewhat stiff-legged gait; in comparison Haven is a very smooth and easy runner.
Yes, I love running with dogs!
Trail runner Paul Charteris wrote a meme-type blog entry (discovered via Scott Dunlap) to recap 2007. I'll play along; however since I'm simply a "runner" and not a die-hard "trail runner" I'm going to be liberal in my interpretation of the term "trails".
1. Most memorable moment on the trails…
When Haven and Beacon encountered a fawn! They chased it to a standoff; Beacon got head-butted and ran away while Haven tried to make friends with Bambi.
2. Best new trail I discovered in 2007…
Sleeping Bear Dunes bluff - perhaps the highest torture:distance ratio of any trail!
3. My best performance of the year was…
...thanks to Haven pulling me at the Doggie Dash. However, "fastest" does not equal "best" since I allowed Haven to do too much work in the second mile, causing her to fade badly in the last mile while I still had some energy. Not only was that unfair to her, it also cost us a shot at a sub-20 time. My best strategic performance was at the Harvest Hustle when I launched my "kick" with a half mile to go, risking total blowup to set a 5K PR.
4. I do not know how I previously survived without…
A canicross-style leash setup that includes a bungee cord:
5. The person I would most like to meet on a trail in 2008...
The meeting would last but a split second as Matt Carpenter zooms past my plodding, gasping self.
6. The race I am most excited/scared about in 2008 is…
The Wild West 100K. Excited because it would be my longest race ever and it takes place in my hometown. Scared because I need to recover from my hamstring injury before I can even start building up a base.
I'd like to tag any runners who feel like answering these six quick questions whether you prefer trails or roads.
Despite training for 5Ks this year, I managed to finish the Fallsburg Marathon this weekend! I was slow, but I had fun and even got to run with Haven for the last mile. Follow the above link for my full race report on my Why Run? blog.
The race course being so close to home, Amanda was able to meet me at several points on the course. One time she was able to drive alongside me, conducting an interview of sorts as we both cruised down the road. Notice that the video starts with me warning Amanda that she's about to hit a mailbox!
Another 5-mile trail run today, very similar to the Road Ends trail run I ran this spring and organized by the same folks at Running Fit. Check out my race report on Why Run? and let me know what you think!
I woke up late this morning, forgetting that I had planned to go running bright and early. Skip running, or be late to work? Naturally I chose the latter! I didn't get out the door until 0730, so the "five" in this entry's title refers to distance - a 5.2 mile run around town.
Tomorrow I have a trail race so I ran slow to conserve my legs. To ensure I didn't start going too fast, I forced myself to breathe only through my nose and keep my mouth closed. To my amazement I was able to do this for the entire run, averaging a 10:00 pace! I was feeling great and enjoying the morning, so my 3-miler became a 5-miler as I just kept strolling about the neighborhood. Interestingly my heart rate was about 150 the entire time.
Last night I wrote an article about VO2 max on Why Run? that runners and endurance athletes in general should find interesting. Finally I'm getting that blog back into action - I really need to maintain a pace of a couple articles a week, but for some of them the research can take hours! For example, I spent two hours writing the text and linking to sources for the VO2 max article, not to mention periods of more casual research on and off for the past few months just to figure out what direction to take with the topic! The catalyst for the whole thing was finding the article about the VO2 max of sled dogs, and the ideas just flowed from there.
97 degrees was the air this evening when Haven and I went for a run! Due to the heat, and due to my double workout yesterday (4 mile easy run at work, then 2 miles after work at 5K pace), Haven and I took it easy today. I carried a water bottle that was used as much for Haven as it was for me! We also stopped at the river twice and a small lake twice within our 3.5 miles to give Haven a cooling dip in the water each time.
This past week I've been slacking off with the blogging (although I did manage to compose an article about rental dogs yesterday) but I wasn't slacking with the race planning. I signed up for three events recently:
August 11 - The Legend (5 mile trail run)
August 18 - Fallsburg Marathon (26.2 mile trail run)
September 15 - Bridge Run (5K road run)
The Legend is just going to be for fun; I'll run it hard but not all-out race it, and see how it compares to my previous 5 mile trail run in April, the Road Ends Trail Run.
I signed up for the Fallsburg Marathon on a whim, so I have no idea how that's going to turn out. I haven't done any double-digit long runs in quite a while so I'm counting on my base of 750 miles so far this year to carry me through in somewhere between 5 and 6 hours. The reason I'm doing this event is because the course uses the very same North Country Trail sections and nearby roads that I regularly run - the race is in my backyard, so to speak. In fact, I ran the entire paved portion of the course by coincidence when I explored the countryside near home. Plus, the race director is planning to put on a 100K ultra here next year and I want to see how well this guy delivers as an organizer.
It looks like the Bridge Run could be my last attempt at setting a lifelong PR in the 5K. In October I'm doing the Bailey's Doggie Dash 5K but I don't want to do-or-die target a PR in that race since I'll have Haven and/or Beacon with me. The week after that I'm thinking of volunteering for the Grand Rapids Marathon instead of running it, so it'll be November before I get another shot at a fast and flat road 5K... if I need it (fingers crossed).
After running the Michigan Apple Run 5K on Saturday, I've since managed to run each of the next two days without as much difficulty as I'd expect. Hopefully this is a good sign of my fitness.
Sunday Amanda and I spent a couple hours on a section of the North Country Trail near our house pruning back any overhanging tree branches and encroaching prickers. Later that day we were still feeling antsy so we decided to take the dogs to the river. Amanda loaded Beacon into the car and drove to the river to start him retrieving some sticks.
Meanwhile I went the "back way", running 2.5 miles of trails with Haven at a surprisingly fast 8:00 pace. Doing this the day after a 5K was pretty cool, and of course Haven loved it. Now that I've learned that dogs can laugh, I wonder if Haven cracked up when she saw me fall flat on my face? Yep, my foot caught a rock on a slight downhill and I bit the dust. Luckily I didn't even draw blood and ended up with nothing more than dirty knees, elbows, and clothing. In fact the worst effect was that the nozzle of my water bottle was covered in dirt!
We reached the river where I took over stick-throwing duties from Amanda. Beacon continued to dutifully fetch the sticks but Haven spent her river time chasing whirligig beetles on the surface! Sometimes I wonder if she was even chasing minnows as she would dunk her whole head under water! Silly girl.
Today I ran 5 miles during lunch and my co-worker and I did some fire hydrant fartleks that bumped our overall pace up to 8:45 - nothing to crow about although the fact that I could do such a pace after Sunday's trails and Saturday's race has left me feeling pretty happy with myself. That, and the fact that I've "flown" 707 miles this year. Not quite as impressive as the four-engined Boeing 707, but cool nonetheless.
T'was a busy weekend. Awake by 0600 on Saturday for the Reeds Lake Run, then get ready for my little brother Ryan's bachelor party! I had about two hours at home between the race and getting back in the car to drive to Midland for his celebration which included grilling out on a softball field, playing frisbee golf, taking in a minor league baseball game, then hitting the cursory bar for a few drinks. Poor Ryan had to wear a plastic ball and chain around his ankle all day (amazingly he was still good at frisbee golf while wearing it!), a giant sombrero, and a t-shirt with a picture of a pinata and the caption "I'd Hit It". I wish I'd remembered to take a photo! I didn't get home until after 0300!
Sunday Amanda and I took Eddie to meet his future "parents" and otherwise tried to take it easy. However, Haven and Beacon started giving me those soulful looks of "let's go do something!" so I decided to take them to the river. After all, the weather was perfect - upper 60's, sunny, and a light breeze. My legs were a bit tired from Saturday's two races but good enough that we bypassed the river access near the parking area and jogged half a mile on the trail up and over a large hill to the prime river access point.
Rather than throw sticks for fetching, this time I took the dogs for a walk, or rather a "wade", up the river! The recent dry spell had lowered the water level enough that I could walk the 50 yards across the river without getting deeper than my knees. Even the dogs were mostly walking or bunny-hopping in the shallow water. We waded about a 1/4 mile upstream to a section of small rapids where there were a couple "nozzle" points that had rather strong flow. It was strong enough that I had trouble standing and the dogs had to swim as hard as they could just to stand still. We had fun playing in the rapids - I walked up the "nozzle" then back through while the dogs went for a theme-park-like ride through the chute!
Finally we jogged back to the parking area, a dirt cul-de-sac next to an old boy scout cabin. Haven loves to eat weeds (I have no idea why!) and there were some nice, long, un-mowed weeds in back of the cabin. As she bent down to grab a bite I was about to scold her when suddenly a fawn sprung out of the weeds! Haven was startled for just a split second before she gave chase, and Beacon soon joined her as they pursued the poor little deer around the building.
The fawn was a bit taller than my dogs, but clearly much scrawnier and probably only weighed 50 lbs to my dogs 65-70 lbs each. As the trio rounded the corner I heard the fawn start bleating like a goat, crying "Mmmaaah! Mmmaaah!" over and over - I feared that my dogs were going to kill it! I sprinted around the opposite side of the cabin, hoping to head them off and get between the predators and the prey to prevent serious harm.
To my surprise, when I rounded the cabin the fawn was nowhere to be seen! My dogs love to scarf their food, but no way did they eat that fawn! :) Beacon was in the parking lot scanning every which way trying to spot the deer. Haven, however, was one step ahead - she was sniffing underneath a wooden staircase. I walked over to grab Haven when the fawn clambered out from under the stairs right past Haven, who merely sniffed it as it started to run away again.
Seeing it run excited my dogs enough to give chase. While faster than me, the fawn wasn't nearly strong enough to outclass adult canine speed and my dogs closed in quickly as the fawn raced down the road. Knowing I couldn't accomplish anything by chasing, I ran back to the car and opened the back door, hoping to signal my dogs that it's "time to go" - usually they'll jump right in. Then it occurred to me... What if mommy deer hears the bleating and comes after my dogs? Luckily I was the only "adult" around!
When I turned back to the action, I saw one of the most improbable sights of my life - the fawn was standing frozen with Haven and Beacon motionless on either side of it!!! I so wish I'd had a camera right then. The fawn must've tired out or realized it couldn't outrun the dogs. Haven and Beacon started to sniff the fawn when Bambi decided to go on the offensive - it reared back and head-butted Beacon just like a goat would do! Beacon was startled and jumped back. Bambi lunged again and Beacon got down in a dog's "play stance" with his front paws down and butt in the air!
Beacon put a couple juke moves on the fawn, feinting left and right and when Bambi went for another "attack" Beacon ran away back to me for safety! I was really cracking up at this point. A little fawn put the smack down on big bad Beaks! Confirming my idea to open the car door, Beacon jumped right up onto the seat and I quickly closed the door to finally contain one dog.
Looking back to Haven, she was trying to sniff the fawn just like she would greet a new foster dog. She was trying to make friends! But the fawn was understandably less trusting and kept trying to head-butt Haven, moves that Haven was easily able to dodge. Finally I think Haven got tired of this belligerent potential pal and she came running back to me to see what happened to Beacon. I got her in the car just as Bambi turned to lope out of sight down the road.
Amanda couldn't believe me when I told her the story and she really wishes she could've seen it. I'm still amazed that the dogs didn't injure the fawn, but even more incredible is that they wanted to play with it! That image of Haven and Beacon standing either side of the fawn is permanently etched in my memory... Classic. I'll probably never see something like that again, but still I hope that someday the dogs will encounter another fawn and try to play with it. My dogs never cease to amaze!
