Stalking 50

ounce wrote:Ah, those bonny, by-gone days of running in the 30's.  Brings back such memories.  Makes me remember that it takes an extra 5 minutes to get all the gear on, prior to running.

I wonder if the colder weather might have deadened that big tootsie...or even the lack of blood flow to that region?

Did it take a few minutes for the feet to warm up, post-run?

By-gone days? Wait. You mean you didn't always live in hell?

Au contraire on the toe numbing. The cold makes my feet far more sensitive. I could feel every particle of grit that stuck to my skin this morning. But it's a good thing, because it makes you run even more gently.

And my feet actually warmed up *during* the run, so they didn't need to warm up afterwards. That's one trick of running barefoot in the cold - allowing your feet to become heat ablation devices. 

I've read about tricks where you sleep in a cold bedroom with massive covers on the bed and your feet exposed, teaching your body to shunt extra heat to the feet. Yeah, I know. Crazy. But it works.

Nick Morris wrote:Brrr...We haven't been in the 30s yet.  Knowing how my body hates the cold, if I was running barefoot my feet would be frozen solid by the first quarter mile.  I still think that you barefooters (is that the right term??) are nuts.

Upper 30s aren't bad, Nick. I ran (a bit) on snow last year. That was trickier, but it's still doable. And while my feet got uncomfortably cold after about a quarter mile, they warmed back up after about a mile and were fine afterward.

Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:Brrr...We haven't been in the 30s yet.  Knowing how my body hates the cold, if I was running barefoot my feet would be frozen solid by the first quarter mile.  I still think that you barefooters (is that the right term??) are nuts.

1/4 of mile nah don't think so scooter, less then an 1/8 of a mile for me! 

By the way Mark absolutely fantastic pictures!!! One of the reason we are thinking about moving back out west!

Well, yeah. If you wimp out before your body warms up... 

Thinking about moving back to the West? Hey, maybe we'd actually get a chance to meet up, then!  

Walk: 2.2 miles

Weather: Mostly sunny, 55.

I doubled up today with a lunchtime walk. I didn't want to waste the nice weather, and I wondered if the treadmill session was going to make it easier to pick up the walking pace. 

In a word: yes. I averaged a 16:40/mi pace (3.6 mph) - which is significantly faster than usual. Mechanically, it felt fine, though the perceived exertion was surprisingly high. Even though I did my 2.2-mile route faster than I think I've ever done, it felt like it was taking *forever* to do. 

That suggests I'd benefit by continuing to work on this part of my fitness, and that's good. I want this to feel easy.

Good to hear the toe is on the mend and you're back out there.

I think we've seen the end of summer in the Pacific Northwest!

nkrichards wrote:Good to hear the toe is on the mend and you're back out there.

I think we've seen the end of summer in the Pacific Northwest!

I think you're right! We tied a record daily low this morning in Vancouver: 36!

It's going to get a tiny bit warmer, but the 70-degree afternoons are probably gone now. I've shut down the water to my sprinkler system (though I'd turned the sprinklers off a month ago), and the alder in the backyard is golden yellow and losing leaves like crazy. Ah, autumn.

What, no blog post since Wednesday night?

Did you freeze to death out there?
 

Michael Enright wrote:What, no blog post since Wednesday night?

Did you freeze to death out there?
 

Me? Nah, though the colder weather does take some getting used to...



I took a rest yesterday just to play it safe, and I plan to squeeze in a run later this morning, if all goes well.

One good note: The toe seems pretty close to fully healed. I really have to work pretty hard to elicit any hint of discomfort down there.

Low HR Run: 4 miles

Weather: Overcast, cool. 50 degrees. Gear: Instincts, shorts, T, jacket (peeled of after a couple of miles). Fuel: Cereal and coffee before. Nothing during.

I'm a little time-pressed today, so I hustled out the door for a four-mile run. I'd wanted to do more, but it's probably best that I didn't. I had a pretty big speed fall-off, though I did a better job of enforcing HR discipline. I think I need to reset my expectations so I can stop wanting to go frolicking over eight miles of hills when I'm not ready for it. That was then. This is now, and this is where I need to be.

Walked first and last 5 minutes. Average HR for entire run: 131

Mark B wrote:

nkrichards wrote:Good to hear the toe is on the mend and you're back out there.

I think we've seen the end of summer in the Pacific Northwest!

I think you're right! We tied a record daily low this morning in Vancouver: 36!

It's going to get a tiny bit warmer, but the 70-degree afternoons are probably gone now. I've shut down the water to my sprinkler system (though I'd turned the sprinklers off a month ago), and the alder in the backyard is golden yellow and losing leaves like crazy. Ah, autumn.

Our 70 degree mornings return tomorrow.

Michael Enright wrote:What, no blog post since Wednesday night?

Did you freeze to death out there?
 

He creamed the tip of his typing fingers and had to give them a rest.  It was either that or do some barefoot hand-running.

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

nkrichards wrote:Good to hear the toe is on the mend and you're back out there.

I think we've seen the end of summer in the Pacific Northwest!

I think you're right! We tied a record daily low this morning in Vancouver: 36!

It's going to get a tiny bit warmer, but the 70-degree afternoons are probably gone now. I've shut down the water to my sprinkler system (though I'd turned the sprinklers off a month ago), and the alder in the backyard is golden yellow and losing leaves like crazy. Ah, autumn.

Our 70 degree mornings return tomorrow.

Michael Enright wrote:What, no blog post since Wednesday night?

Did you freeze to death out there?
 

He creamed the tip of his typing fingers and had to give them a rest.  It was either that or do some barefoot hand-running.

Ahem... did you miss the two posts above this one? Sheesh!

A 70-degree morning would be a "hottest day of the year" morning around here... (the highest low temperature on record here is 75, as best as I can tell - it got up to 103 that afternoon - in 1941).

And the chore is done!

It was taking one of our cats, Callie, to a veterinary neurologist for a follow-up, one month after taking her off prednisilone to help her body recovery from what the vet things must have been some sort of auto-immune disorder that attacked her sciatic nerve and muscle tissue in her hind legs.

It didn't look good for a while, which weighed heavily on all of us, but she pulled through. She went from being able to walk two steps to running, jumping and playing - and clearly feeling good.

Here she is a week or so ago, looking quite regal:



In his exam today, the vet said Callie's reflexes and muscle tone was indistinguishable from that in any other healthy cat.

So you'll understand the family happy dance that's ensuing.

                     

Have a great day, everybody.

Don't let Callie here that! She'll think she's just, well, just average! SHHHHHHHHH! Cats hate that kind of thing...

Michael Enright wrote:Don't let Callie here that! She'll think she's just, well, just average! SHHHHHHHHH! Cats hate that kind of thing...

Oh, good point. Except, "just average" for a cat is still superior to all other creatures, right?

Mark B wrote:

Michael Enright wrote:What, no blog post since Wednesday night?

Did you freeze to death out there?
 

Me? Nah, though the colder weather does take some getting used to...



I took a rest yesterday just to play it safe, and I plan to squeeze in a run later this morning, if all goes well.

One good note: The toe seems pretty close to fully healed. I really have to work pretty hard to elicit any hint of discomfort down there.

Try a hammer.

Mark B wrote:

Michael Enright wrote:Don't let Callie here that! She'll think she's just, well, just average! SHHHHHHHHH! Cats hate that kind of thing...

Oh, good point. Except, "just average" for a cat is still superior to all other creatures, right?

Oh, Lord. 

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Michael Enright wrote:What, no blog post since Wednesday night?

Did you freeze to death out there?
 

Me? Nah, though the colder weather does take some getting used to...



I took a rest yesterday just to play it safe, and I plan to squeeze in a run later this morning, if all goes well.

One good note: The toe seems pretty close to fully healed. I really have to work pretty hard to elicit any hint of discomfort down there.

Try a hammer.

Funny, that thought actually occurred to me...  

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Michael Enright wrote:Don't let Callie here that! She'll think she's just, well, just average! SHHHHHHHHH! Cats hate that kind of thing...

Oh, good point. Except, "just average" for a cat is still superior to all other creatures, right?

Oh, Lord. 

I couldn't resist the 'hammer' line.  It was the first thing that popped in my mind and, the scary part, it actually was readable!

ounce wrote:I couldn't resist the 'hammer' line.  It was the first thing that popped in my mind and, the scary part, it actually was readable!

What's even scarier? I wasn't kidding when I said I'd thought of it, too.  

MAF Test: 6.4 miles, with 5-mile MAF test

Weather: Cool and foggy. 42 degrees. Gear: Altras, shorts, T, pullover, jacket (shed), hat, gloves (shed). Fuel: Oatmeal and coffee. Nothing during.

It's been a month since my last MAF test, so it seemed like a good time to head out to the track again. I'd hoped a month ago that I'd be doing better as I continued to recover from my ultra, but viruses and a messed-up toe has meant a frustrating dip in training.

That dip (and the fact that I may be fighting off yet another bug now) was pretty evident this morning. I almost didn't count it as a MAF test, but when I came back and saw the data, I realized that my effort level was right where it was supposed to be. So I'm counting it.

One thing I noticed out there (I had my training partner with me) was that I seem to be doing a better job of running with a forefoot landing. That's changing my mechanics and probably has at least something to do with the slower paces.



It was nice to see the fall-off stop after about three miles. But the difference between now and earlier this year is striking. All that work I did earlier this year seems to have gone *poof!* and blown away with the wind.

I know it can and will come back, but sheesh. I wish it'd stick around longer.

Walked/jogged in first mile to warm up before the test, then walked .4 miles after to cool down.

Average HR for the entire run: 128

Well, I have resembled that and more.  It does come back (and it takes a while) - you just need to get healthy, set the goal and go for it (again!).

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Well, I have resembled that and more.  It does come back (and it takes a while) - you just need to get healthy, set the goal and go for it (again!).

Yes, Michele. I got the hint.

Speaking of which, I was wondering as I drove home from the track today whether doing a 50-miler creates sort of a boom-and-bust cycle, and whether it might be less strain on the system (and thus less of a "bust" downcycle) to do the 50K distance instead*. I don't know, and literature on strategies for ultra recovery and spacing has been impossible to find. (Very much still in the n=1 department, I guess.)

Still, it's something worth considering.

*-At least until I get better adapted to ultra distances. Heh. Isn't it amazing how quickly my ambition butts in?

I don't have any real suggestions, but maybe the 50 miler gave you more slow-twitch muscles from the not-as-slow twitch muscles?

ounce wrote:I don't have any real suggestions, but maybe the 50 miler gave you more slow-twitch muscles from the not-as-slow twitch muscles?

Hm. Possible, but the slump in time probably best correlates to this chart:



I think it's called "entropy."  

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:I don't have any real suggestions, but maybe the 50 miler gave you more slow-twitch muscles from the not-as-slow twitch muscles?

Hm. Possible, but the slump in time probably best correlates to this chart:



I think it's called "entropy."  

I can see some of it due to your reduced weekly mileage.

I don't know about this 'entropy' word you came with, kimosabe.  I don't see the relationship.

All I see are the purdy, purdy COLORS!!!!  

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:I don't have any real suggestions, but maybe the 50 miler gave you more slow-twitch muscles from the not-as-slow twitch muscles?

Hm. Possible, but the slump in time probably best correlates to this chart:



I think it's called "entropy."  

I can see some of it due to your reduced weekly mileage.

I don't know about this 'entropy' word you came with, kimosabe.  I don't see the relationship.

All I see are the purdy, purdy COLORS!!!!  

I guess the other way to say it is: "Use it or lose it."

And aren't the colors totally psychedelic, man? Groovy.

Tough when we hit those slumps isn't it.  I'm sure you'll figure out how to get through it...you've done it before.

btw Wasn't it a gorgeous day to day!