Building A Better Bumblebee

Nick Morris wrote:

Mike MacLellan wrote:Hey, no SoCal bashing!  

...Actually, I text my mom daily to make fun of her horrendously bad Indian Summer.  Still in the 90s where I come from.  Disgusting.

And you're right, Mark, there's a TON of blue sky.  But when every day is a beach day, can you really complain?

I am with ya Mike.  Why do you think that the Hawaiians are so happy?

Which is why 97% of the population of Pasadena grew up in Wisconsin.

Trail Run: 2.1 miles

Weather: Clearing overcast, cool. 57 degrees. Gear: Nike Terra Kigers, shorts, T.

Mixing it up again this morning, changing both the footwear and the terrain this time. I decided to head over to the undeveloped park near my house and try out a 30-minute low heart rate effort on the trails. I wore my Terra Kigers, just to keep things mixed up.


(File photo. That section of trail is probably now 3 inches of gravel.)

We've got rain on the way in a few days, but it was completely dry out on the trails. It looks like they may stay relatively runnable through the winter, too, because of some significant trail improvements volunteers have been making over the past year. The downside of that is that much of the trail is now compacted gravel, so it's more like a narrow gravel road than sweet single track... but at least I won't sink up to my neck in a bog of mud and horse poo.

There's very little flat in this park, so keeping my heart rate in the right zone took a bit of work. I think it'll pay off, though, and there's a decent chance I'll be spending more time here than I have before.



Gee, I can't imagine why. Can you?

Here's an aerial view of the park. It's snuggled in among arable land, but was too steep for farms -- and it was a park before it could be turned into a series of McMansions. Lucky us.



The park is about 1.5 miles away from my house. I drove there today, so I could spend my 30 minutes on the trail, but it'll be easy to run there as a warmup as my fitness comes back.


Walked first and last 5 minutes (and on a lot of uphills and some downhills). Average HR for entire run: 131

Mark B wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:

Tom H wrote:This year we went 160 days between measurable precipitation, and you had to be generous to say that what we had a week or two was measurable.  Now brown is the new green, water restrictions are in place, more and more artificial turf is popping up as front lawns and if we don't get some decent rain soon, it'll be back to the saying that was all over the radio and TV in the 70's drought, "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down".  That all being said, the climate is absolutely awesome when it comes to outdoor activities and I consider myself very fortunate to live here and be able to take advantage of it.  After my stint in Cleveland, I've decided to pass on the shoveling of snow for about the next, oh, forever.

Please be careful with the Cleveland bashing as I still have to live here for at least another year or so.  My hubby would love to live back in SoCal, but I'm not sure I can deal with the real estate price tags and 100F temps - dry or not!  It's too bad that where I am in the summer is so bad in the winter snow-wise as it is beautiful and a great place to run.  Mike can attest to the hills and beautiful area.  I probably should stay longer into the fall, but once everyone leaves it gets very quiet, almost ghost town like.

So there are a lot of snowbirds in Cleveland? I hadn't really considered that possibility, but I've never lived in the Frozen North before. Where do they all get off to, Michele?

There are some but they are typically over 70 and they head to Florida.  There are many diehards though (this is a blue collar city after all) that stick it out regardless and hope (pray) that it snows every Sunday when the Browns play since that makes tailgating way more fun. Especially if they are playing the Stillers.

Awesome scenery! And that terrain definitely looks like it will get the heart pumping.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:

Tom H wrote:This year we went 160 days between measurable precipitation, and you had to be generous to say that what we had a week or two was measurable.  Now brown is the new green, water restrictions are in place, more and more artificial turf is popping up as front lawns and if we don't get some decent rain soon, it'll be back to the saying that was all over the radio and TV in the 70's drought, "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down".  That all being said, the climate is absolutely awesome when it comes to outdoor activities and I consider myself very fortunate to live here and be able to take advantage of it.  After my stint in Cleveland, I've decided to pass on the shoveling of snow for about the next, oh, forever.

Please be careful with the Cleveland bashing as I still have to live here for at least another year or so.  My hubby would love to live back in SoCal, but I'm not sure I can deal with the real estate price tags and 100F temps - dry or not!  It's too bad that where I am in the summer is so bad in the winter snow-wise as it is beautiful and a great place to run.  Mike can attest to the hills and beautiful area.  I probably should stay longer into the fall, but once everyone leaves it gets very quiet, almost ghost town like.

So there are a lot of snowbirds in Cleveland? I hadn't really considered that possibility, but I've never lived in the Frozen North before. Where do they all get off to, Michele?

There are some but they are typically over 70 and they head to Florida.  There are many diehards though (this is a blue collar city after all) that stick it out regardless and hope (pray) that it snows every Sunday when the Browns play since that makes tailgating way more fun. Especially if they are playing the Stillers.

Funny I just mentioned snowbirds. One of my neighbors is just packing up the motorhome to head south to Yuma. We don't get much snow here, really, but apparently there is an allure to

Nick Morris wrote:Awesome scenery!  And that terrain definitely looks like it will get the heart pumping.

Definitely on both counts. It's sort of the opposite of the steady-state low HR approach that I've done on roads, but I was surprised to find out over the past couple of years that it's totally possible to combine low HR with hills on the roads. I have no reason to think it won't be the same on the trails.

Though the views alone can make my heart go pit-a-pat.


#trailporn

I wish I had a few of those to run. Would definitely break up the road running while training.

Wow, beautiful!

Nick Morris wrote:I wish I had a few of those to run. Would definitely break up the road running while training.

I kind of lucked out on where we found a house, I think. There are lots of good options.

Julie wrote:Wow, beautiful!

Yeah, it's nice. All that rain we get over those long, dank winters has some benefit.

You can see the trail rehab work in the photo -- with a large volume of crushed rock that should help keep the mud at bay, as well as (alas) most barefoot runners.

I'll take some pictures of the metroparks one day.  They don't really rival that beauty and it is either a bark bridle path or paved bike path, but it all we've got.  Some runners have carved technical trails up and down the hill (you have to go down the ridge to get to the park and then back up to get out, but you can't really run up/down it without going on the road or on these "home made" technical trails.  If I lived where you are, I'd be there every day.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:I'll take some pictures of the metroparks one day.  They don't really rival that beauty and it is either a bark bridle path or paved bike path, but it all we've got.  Some runners have carved technical trails up and down the hill (you have to go down the ridge to get to the park and then back up to get out, but you can't really run up/down it without going on the road or on these "home made" technical trails.  If I lived where you are, I'd be there every day.

I'd like to see the photos, Michele. Just being in a park rather than alongside four lanes of traffic is a huge upgrade, and I'd bet your parks are pretty nice. Those homemade tracks sound like fun, too. I've followed one of them in my local park, but ended up in some farmer's field! Oops.

With so much of the muddy patches graveled in, it's looking like the biggest risk to shoes will be the ample deposits of horse poo randomly distributed along the trail. (In fact, you can see some in the photo I posted above.) Just helps you keep paying attention!

Seriously, this has been a huge upgrade to these trails, and it'll make a big difference for those using it, whether they have two legs or four. Alita saw the photos and is jonesing to get out there herself.

Oh, as far as proximity goes, here's a map that shows the location of the park. My neighborhood is in the lower right hand corner, about a mile and a half away by street.



If they ever created a trail that ran along Whipple Creek past my neighborhood and into the park, that'd be sweet.

Very nice place to run!

Jim Lentz wrote:Very nice place to run!

Thanks, Jim! I really ought to spend more time there. Now that the trails are more all-weather and I won't need a mud snorkel, perhaps I can.

No running today, and not much cross-training. I tweaked my neck or something (gaah), so moving is kinda challenging. Bah.

I did manage to crank out 75 heel lifts, knee locked, on each leg, then went back for another 50 each side, for a total of 125. I need to get these babies built up. Even now, it feels like a car with new shocks.

Mark B wrote:No running today, and not much cross-training. I tweaked my neck or something (gaah), so moving is kinda challenging. Bah.

I did manage to crank out 75 heel lifts, knee locked, on each leg, then went back for another 50 each side, for a total of 125. I need to get these babies built up. Even now, it feels like a car with new shocks.

I want to talk about on that whole "new shocks" comment I made, because I think it's kind of important.

It's dawning on me that building these calf muscles (and core) is going to fundamentally alter my mechanics. I've had weak calves for, well, forever, and I always compensated by recruiting other muscles that were weaker and more prone to injury than the powerhouse that is the gastrocnemius.

But that's all changing as my calves get stronger. And as I'm building up my calves, I also seem to be activating my gluteal muscles, including the gluteus maximus, another one of those huge power muscles that's been just along for the ride.

That all means that I'm learning how to run all over again. Which means it's probably going to take longer than coming back from previous injuries/lapses. But it also offers the tantalizing possibility that what will results will eventually be better (faster, more enduring, more durable) than ever.

I think I can be patient for something like that.

Mark B wrote:

Mark B wrote:No running today, and not much cross-training. I tweaked my neck or something (gaah), so moving is kinda challenging. Bah.

I did manage to crank out 75 heel lifts, knee locked, on each leg, then went back for another 50 each side, for a total of 125. I need to get these babies built up. Even now, it feels like a car with new shocks.

I want to talk about on that whole "new shocks" comment I made, because I think it's kind of important.

It's dawning on me that building these calf muscles (and core) is going to fundamentally alter my mechanics. I've had weak calves for, well, forever, and I always compensated by recruiting other muscles that were weaker and more prone to injury than the powerhouse that is the gastrocnemius.

But that's all changing as my calves get stronger. And as I'm building up my calves, I also seem to be activating my gluteal muscles, including the gluteus maximus, another one of those huge power muscles that's been just along for the ride.

That all means that I'm learning how to run all over again. Which means it's probably going to take longer than coming back from previous injuries/lapses. But it also offers the tantalizing possibility that what will results will eventually be better (faster, more enduring, more durable) than ever.

I think I can be patient for something like that.

I think even I could be patient for something like that! Sounds very encouraging to me.

That's what I really like about this whole fitness thing.  There is so much learning to be had along the journey necessary to get you to the races.  While you are spending a lot of time working on one aspect, you may ignore or even adversely effect another, but once you get a solid base on the focus item, you can build on it and make the other aspect stronger too.  I don't know if that actually makes sense the way I've written it, but it does in my head. 

It's like you told me Mark - you spend a long time and many miles doing nothing but LHR runs.  Eventually the rate of pace improvement at LHR levels off, but if you then bring in the speed work, your overall performance can improve significantly.  Then, lo and behold, when you go back to some LHR runs, you are seeing improved paces there as well.  This game is as much mental as it is physical.

Sounds like a great prospect to just get all-over stronger like that. Do you run a lot of hills? I think they really help the calves and glutes. It's always interesting to me how most runners seem to have a weak spot (mine is very much my left knee but it's basically structural) and to figure out what can help us compensate or overcome.

Tom H wrote:That's what I really like about this whole fitness thing.  There is so much learning to be had along the journey necessary to get you to the races.  While you are spending a lot of time working on one aspect, you may ignore or even adversely effect another, but once you get a solid base on the focus item, you can build on it and make the other aspect stronger too.  I don't know if that actually makes sense the way I've written it, but it does in my head. 

It's like you told me Mark - you spend a long time and many miles doing nothing but LHR runs.  Eventually the rate of pace improvement at LHR levels off, but if you then bring in the speed work, your overall performance can improve significantly.  Then, lo and behold, when you go back to some LHR runs, you are seeing improved paces there as well.  This game is as much mental as it is physical.

Those are good points, Tom. I think you really have to become a student of the human body to really understand how to train effectively and safely. Besides, it's cool to get a sense of why one type of activity might work better than another.

And yes, we often get tunnel vision, focusing on one type of activity, or workout, or intensity. It's so easy to drift out of balance, and it takes knowledge and a concerted effort to get it back. The great thing? It can be done.

Julie wrote:Sounds like a great prospect to just get all-over stronger like that. Do you run a lot of hills? I think they really help the calves and glutes. It's always interesting to me how most runners seem to have a weak spot (mine is very much my left knee but it's basically structural) and to figure out what can help us compensate or overcome.

Hey, Julie! We do have lots of rolling hills near where I live. No massive hour-long climbs, but lots of ups and downs. I used to think that it made low HR training runs a lot more difficult, until I realized how much the variations in pitch can actually accentuate the training effect. Sure, you're crawling uphill at a low HR, but you're working muscles in a whole different way.

My body is nothing *but* structural problems, from the feet on up, so I can relate. It has been fascinating this year working with the PT and podiatrist as we figured out why I tended to run the way I did, and what things I could do that would help make it better. In all the times I've seen a PT over the years, this particular thing never came up. I guess it's one of those things to where, when there are so many different trouble spots, it's easy to miss one while concentrating on another.

Trail Walk: 2.1 miles

Weather: Overcast, mild. About 60 degrees. Gear: Altra Instincts

Back to the trail with Alita and Alec this afternoon. They both enjoyed the scenery, though they could have done without having to dodge all the horse poo. I'm hopeful that we can do this more often.

The Altras felt fine on the trail. With all the gravel, the chance of a mud-slip is virtually nil, at least on this section. It's not as idyllic as a pure forest floor, but in exchange for being able to use the trail through the winter... it's a trade-off I can accept.

No timer or HR data. We just walked.

It was a pretty afternoon. Nice thing, because some significant rain is expected later this week.





Also, I just got an email from the organizers of the Oregon Coast 30/50K. Turns out they had some volunteers drop out, so it looks like I (and Alita and Alec) will get a chance to help out, after all.

---

Wrapped up the day with my "stress position" exercise: standing barefoot on one leg, knee locked, for as long as I can manage. I'm allowed to use support to keep from toppling over because this is as much a strength-building exercise as a balance-training one. The balance will come as the strength builds, I suppose.

I'm up to six minutes per leg. It's quite a stimulus for the foot muscles, as well as the ankle and rest of the core.

No running today, I'm back to keeping an eye on contractors as they (hopefully) wrap up the house.

We've been waiting a few weeks for this visit -- it took some cajoling on our part -- as they hit a couple of fairly major punch list items: replacing baseboards and windowsills that didn't make it through the flood and demolition process in a usable condition, but were left pretty much as-is, anyway.

Unfortunately for them, they have to come back in a house that's essentially done and pull this material without damaging walls, floors and furniture that wasn't there when they had their first crack at it. Crossing my fingers that it goes well.

Hope all goes well with the contractors Mark.  My experience has been similar, they seem to power through all the heavy lifting but when it becomes time to get that punch list done, it is kinda like getting your kids to do their chores.  I've got a tree guy coming to thin our trees today, so will be in a similar position.

Tom H wrote:Hope all goes well with the contractors Mark.  My experience has been similar, they seem to power through all the heavy lifting but when it becomes time to get that punch list done, it is kinda like getting your kids to do their chores.  I've got a tree guy coming to thin our trees today, so will be in a similar position.

Well, they're making progress on the baseboards, taking their time and doing it right. That's good. But it seems they incorrectly measured the windowsills, so they got the wrong size wood. (D'oh!) They talked about just trying sanding and refinishing, but I said no, insurance agreed to pay to replace it, so let's stick with that plan.

Of course, that means this isn't the last day of this. Once they get the right sized wood, get it prepped and can reschedule, who knows when it'll be. Hopefully before and his arrive.

Mark B wrote:

Tom H wrote:Hope all goes well with the contractors Mark.  My experience has been similar, they seem to power through all the heavy lifting but when it becomes time to get that punch list done, it is kinda like getting your kids to do their chores.  I've got a tree guy coming to thin our trees today, so will be in a similar position.

Well, they're making progress on the baseboards, taking their time and doing it right. That's good. But it seems they incorrectly measured the windowsills, so they got the wrong size wood. (D'oh!) They talked about just trying sanding and refinishing, but I said no, insurance agreed to pay to replace it, so let's stick with that plan.

Of course, that means this isn't the last day of this. Once they get the right sized wood, get it prepped and can reschedule, who knows when it'll be. Hopefully before and his arrive.

And you think that you've been THAT good of a boy? 

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Tom H wrote:Hope all goes well with the contractors Mark.  My experience has been similar, they seem to power through all the heavy lifting but when it becomes time to get that punch list done, it is kinda like getting your kids to do their chores.  I've got a tree guy coming to thin our trees today, so will be in a similar position.

Well, they're making progress on the baseboards, taking their time and doing it right. That's good. But it seems they incorrectly measured the windowsills, so they got the wrong size wood. (D'oh!) They talked about just trying sanding and refinishing, but I said no, insurance agreed to pay to replace it, so let's stick with that plan.

Of course, that means this isn't the last day of this. Once they get the right sized wood, get it prepped and can reschedule, who knows when it'll be. Hopefully before and his arrive.

And you think that you've been THAT good of a boy? 

Jury's still out on that one.