Days of the Phoenix

Sorry to hear about Rebel, and BOOOOO Kings - does this mean you are a Sharks or Ducks or even Rangers fan?  I'm a Bruins and (Black)Hawks gal, but King Henry is my favorite player for his skill as a goalie as well as his looks (well, maybe just those eyes through the mask).  Anyway we hockey fans all know the west coast teams are better right now and the series was good.

Lundqvist is a damn good-looking guy, I'll give you that.  I'm a lifelong Ducks fan and recent Sharks fan, but since the Ducks got rid of Parros and Ryan (and Niedermeyer retired a few years ago, and Selanne is done now, too...), I'm definitely a stronger supporter of the Sharks.  Just wish they'd shake their curse.  The Kings are absolute last on my list of teams I'd root for.  Ugh.

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Oh, DOMS, how I missed you.  I knew it was gonna be a sore day today when my quads were tight just laying on the couch last night, and coming down the stairs this morning one stair at a time told the whole story.  The plus side is that it's really easy to stay slow and steady when your quads are sore, so today's run was well within LSD/recovery zones.  A two-parter:

Part 1 was 6.6mi on my own, HR ave 139(!), pace just under 8:45.  Downhills were comical, uphills were surprisingly alright.  
Part 2 was 4.5mi with my dad in tribute of our last dog.  I've never realized how absolutely stupid this route is as a training route - no, seriously, it's the most absurd thing I've ever run - full of bushwhacking, weird out-and-backs, hopping locked gates, etc.  Which isn't to say it wasn't fun, just silly.  My dad's first run since his race and he fared pretty well.  

11.1mi total for the day with only a short break in between.

My daughter would be proud of you as she is a definite Sharks fan (the Jets are her first team though as they are the former Atlanta Thrashers), and Matt Nieto went to BU (she knows him).  Tough choke for them though.

Good job on the run and a nice tribute to your dog as well as Father's Day run.

Unfortunately, the Sharks always choke, without fail, so it's kind of become an ongoing joke.  Send your daughter a virtual high five for me, though

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5.5mi recovery run yesterday.  Wow, the first 100m or so were laughable.  Quads were so sore and locked up that I was kind of shuffling down the road waiting for them to loosen up.  After about a mile, things felt more normal, but still very sore.  I guess Saturday's capriciousness has its consequences.  

I thought a bike ride would help to further loosen them up, so Aileen and I headed out for a jaunt to the beach and back (17.5mi roundtrip) in the afternoon.  With the wind, it was like climbing a 2-3% gradient for much of the ride, and my plan kind of backfired, leaving my legs even more sore.  Meh.  

8mi on the docket today.

Yesterday's 8mi went really well.  Ran from Aileen's parents' to her sister's house for a day of soccer, swimming, and beers.  And a nap.  

6.5mi this morning at a really low HR (143ave) for the pace (8:24ave).  Quads are finally getting to be normal again.

Hiking a mountain (14mi round trip) tomorrow in prep for hiking Half Dome in 3 weeks.  

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Oh, and I guess I'm officially running a marathon.  Signed up for TCM and booked my flight today.

Check off summit #6 on Santiago Peak.  Or maybe it was #7?  Always nice to return to the thing that got me into fitness in the first place - peak-bagging.  Started back on New Year's Eve sometime during college with my dad.  We didn't make it to midnight that night.  

It's amazing how much fitness I've built into my legs in the last couple months of running.  8-12% gradients felt like nothing, and the whole hike was a breeze on a cardiovascular level.  Biomechanically, yeah, I've still got some room for improvement.  My right Achilles is a little wonky today.  

15mi with 4500' gain/loss.  All in all, a good indication that Half Dome will be successful.

Well, that was somewhat discouraging.  I had a planned MAF test today...  

72 degrees at the start and much more humid than my last one (~60%).  The warm-up was fine, but I was definitely amped, as the HR was spiking and I could feel those little surges in my legs.  Unfortunately, there were a good 100-150 people walking the same 1mi loop I was running, many of them with kids on vehicles and/or dogs, and none of them were trained/aware of their surroundings.  Great.  The heat crept up to 79 degrees by the time I had finished my second MAF mile, and the times were showing it.  Hard to keep the HR down dodging people, too.

I decided to just bag the test after 3 MAF miles and run a Stravacide* instead.  I took the CR by 19sec and ran a sub-6 mile, so I guess there's some good in today's run.  

*Stravacide (n.) - a run designed with the sole purpose of taking the CR/KOM on a Strava segment; a stupid, stupid consequence of social media

I like when training goes well.  

12mi LSD today.  First 4mi with my dad, then the rest on my own.  High 60s to start and mid 80s by the finish, which made the steady 1% incline and slight tailwind feel more taxing than it should've been.  Was definitely dehydrated by the finish and promptly downed a cycling bottle of water.

Next week is my first cutback week in a while, so that should be nice.

So it turns out my body really doesn't like overhead presses (OHP).  Which is what it sounds like.  You take a barbell, you have it at clavicle height, and you press it over your head.  As a result, my elbows have taken turns being extremely tight, sore, and inflamed.  Could hardly brush my teeth this morning.  Note to self, stick to dumbbell presses.  Ugh.

5mi recovery today.  It was warmer and wetter than I thought it'd be (70F, >50%), and with a tailwind the first half of the run, I was pretty much in a swamp.  All training for DC I guess.  Paces and HR were great, but the legs and body are tired.

Mike MacLellan wrote:So it turns out my body really doesn't like overhead presses (OHP).  Which is what it sounds like.  You take a barbell, you have it at clavicle height, and you press it over your head.  As a result, my elbows have taken turns being extremely tight, sore, and inflamed.  Could hardly brush my teeth this morning.  Note to self, stick to dumbbell presses.  Ugh.

5mi recovery today.  It was warmer and wetter than I thought it'd be (70F, >50%), and with a tailwind the first half of the run, I was pretty much in a swamp.  All training for DC I guess.  Paces and HR were great, but the legs and body are tired.

Sucks about the overhead presses.  If you're not quickly bending your knees as you press the bar up (sometimes called a 'push press'), you might try that.  It helps getting the bar up and maybe without trauma to the elbows.

Welcome to my world on the swampy scene.  50% humidity isn't so bad, though.  I imagine 80% or greater will be the norm.  Learn the relationship between ambient temp and dewpoint temp, if you don't already know it.  This morning here, it was 78 degrees with a dewpoint of 76.  I squish in my shoes.

Re: push pressing - I already have too much back involvement in my OHP, and I've never quite agreed with the exercise anyway.  I lack the flexibility to get my elbows up before the bar goes up, and when I do, the bent wrists hurt, too (childhood biking injury).  I don't squat or do deadlifts, either, so I guess I'm a poser weightlifter all around.  

Also, that sounds awful.  Fortunately, the dew point slowly falls away from the temps here as morning progresses.  Unfortunately, I only have 5 more weeks of that.

Well the dewpoint falls during the day on the east coast too - just not as much.  As a comparison, I have thought it to feel a bit humid when running in the Carlsbad/Cardiff/Solana Beach area in the past, but I've never been there when the temp was higher than 75F.  DC will stay humid and warm into late September/early October for the most part and everything is pretty much air conditioned which is in contrast to my experience on the west coast. It will be a joy at first, but you'll adapt in a couple of weeks.

Oh, yes, on A/C.  Houston had the first mall with air conditioning.  Most of the downtown buildings have a connected tunnel system, so we don't have to walk at street level through the heat (or rain).

On running, I had to decide whether I wanted to run in the afternoon heat when it was 95, but a heat index of 104 and some wind, OR run in the dead of the morning darkness when it was 75-80 with 100% humidity and no wind.

You'll adapt and learn to LOVE A/C and hate it when it's broke.

You all act as if Sacramento didn't routinely hit 105+ when I was there...

But it sounds like I'll be going back to my Auburn ritual - either wake up at 4am to run by 5:30 or wait until 9pm.

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HR's been really low the past couple days, which makes me think I'm overreaching a bit.  I've been sleeping a lot, too...  Then again, I'm on vacation, so...  Legs are there, just not much snap in them.  7mi yesterday, 6mi today.

Mike MacLellan wrote:You all act as if Sacramento didn't routinely hit 105+ when I was there...

But it sounds like I'll be going back to my Auburn ritual - either wake up at 4am to run by 5:30 or wait until 9pm.

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HR's been really low the past couple days, which makes me think I'm overreaching a bit.  I've been sleeping a lot, too...  Then again, I'm on vacation, so...  Legs are there, just not much snap in them.  7mi yesterday, 6mi today.

I was suprised that it got that high, a couple of weeks ago, wasn't it?

As far as HR, if you're running at a low HR then your heart is just doing its efficiency thing, I believe.  Lack of snap isn't a HR thing.  I wish it was.

But it's a dry heat, right??

Are you guys trying to keep me in my hippie liberal bastion-state?  

A little heat training yesterday, meaning ~80 for most the run.  It wasn't intentional so much as a result of waking up groggy, going to watch the US/Germany game at a sports bar with Aileen and her sister/brother-in-law, feeling too full and bleh after, taking a nap, and waking up a few hours later.  So by the time I was out the door, it was 4pm and warm.  

I decided to give "speedwork" one last shot, since I was able to run a pretty decent mile on Saturday without messing up my shins at all.  Instead of 30sec intervals, I went for 1min, since I know my acceleration is lacking and didn't want to feel pressured to sprint it out.  After a 3mi warm-up, I had set my watch for 12x 1min/1min, with plans to take the first 2 a bit easier.  I was definitely gutting it out for the last 4, and the last 2 I ramped it up as fast as I could get my legs turning over, but the run felt good, and there were no weird twinges.  Still aren't.  

8mi total.  Rest day today.

Good, exhausting weekend.  Headed down to Cardiff-by-the-Sea on Friday to visit my buddy and his new wife for his birthday party.  We headed out to a pizza place down there and drank way too much Lagunitas (who knew I could actually stomach an IPA?) throughout the night.  

Even going to bed at midnight (they went out with some friends after I turned in for the night), I was still pretty dazed Saturday morning.  Nothing a bike ride can't fix, right?  I somehow convinced my buddy to go with me, so we toured the coast for an hour with some decent efforts put in there just to sweat out whatever booze remained in our livers.  

Aileen came down after the ride and we headed to my Alma Mater, UCSD, to visit "the Cliffs" (aka Scripps Coastal Preserve).  A lot of new signage warning visitors about how dangerous/unstable the cliffs are and how there is ABSOLUTELY NO BEACH ACCESS from them.  Us locals know better, and after a short warm-up, I headed down the surfer/goat trail to the beach for a run.  It's a 300' drop in the course of maybe... .1mi?  Steep as all hell, and the signs had some accuracy about them; what used to be semi-packed dirt and rock is now fine silt and pea-sized gravel.  Sketchy, to say the least.  I ran up the beach til I hit 2 miles, somewhere at the north end of Black's (read: lots of old, leathery, perma-tanned men and the occasional brave young lady), before turning back.  The whole run was a bit of a drag, as the ride had sapped my legs a bit and I was having some heartburn from the pizza/beer the night before.  Going up the cliffs was TOUGH, worse than I remember, but all in all, glad I did it.

Aileen, my buddy, and I headed to the beach (literally a 5min walk from his house) in Cardiff for some body-surfing, completing my triathlon for the day.  After a very satisfying sushi dinner, we all passed out on the couch at 9pm... and didn't wake up until 8am. 

I never noticed how much I completely rely on coffee to wake up until Sunday morning.  Hoooooooly shit.  No coffee made for a very unmotivated start of my run, despite having company.  After a mile and a half, they turned back, and I kept going until my watch beeped at 2 and it was time to start my MP interval.  5mi at MP (7:24, 7:22, 7:19, 7:18, 7:07) felt pretty smooth and easy, other than my shins being a bit tender (the whole dorsiflexion muscle group).  Cooled off with a mile before settling in for a barbecue.  

As much as I love the beach and culture down there (I asked Aileen every 30min if we could just move to SD instead of DC), I can see the problems I would have with it.  A little too rich, a little too snobby, a little too sticky year round.  But hey, hell of a place for a vacation.

Where does your buddy live in Cardiff?  That is where my hubby lived when he was in CA those 3+ yrs before we got sent back to Cleveland.  Loved Cardiff and would consider living there as it was a great place to run/walk/bike/eat.  And Lagunitas is a great beer.  Was the surfer boy statue decorated?  No breakfast at Pipes? Or pizza at that cool place right behind it.

He's off Montgomery and San Elijo (the dog park/community garden thing).  Ocean view from his bed.  Lucky dude.  The Kook was indeed decorated, though not as good as usual.  He just had an orange sign on him that said "TGIF WAS HERE" one of the days.  Meh.  We didn't eat at Pipes, but we did get Besta Wann (that was the pizza Friday night), which is what you're referring to, I think.  Also, coffee at Zumbar and a donut Sunday morning from VG's.  And sushi at...  I forget.  Somewhere off PCH in Encinitas.

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5.5mi recovery today.  Felt nice and easy, had to slow myself back into the 9's a few times.  Went to the gym for quick back workout and I'll probably head back tomorrow to do legs and core after my run.

Besta Wann - yup that is the place!  John lived in an apartment complex that was up the hill from where the New Balance store is and an exit onto the I5.  Still just a walk into town and a bold run or ride back up if you could do it.  No ocean view, but that was ok.  If we ever go back, I think we would rather live close to the ocean rather than look at it.  Heck, I look at Lake Erie now.

Dang, too bad this didn't all take place now; we could have run together this summer.  

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8mi easy yesterday as a double loop around the big lake.  I had the absurd thought of doing a 50k - for fun - as 10 loops over Christmas break.  I still have the absurd thought.  We'll see.

7mi with 5x 2min-2min @ vVO2max today.  The intervals were all on a slight downhill (1-3%) so they were a little fast, 5:35-5:50 pace, but the goal was to just keep up the turnover, run from my core, and not let my form break down.  2min is a helluva lot harder than 1min intervals...  I'll probably revisit this one again before jumping to 3min-3min.

9mi sorta-long today.  Woke up at 6am with Aileen to help her get out of the house early (she usually sleeps in until at least 8:30) but felt really awful all morning.  Probably the chocolate chips I indulged in last night.  I'm sure an egg on top of it didn't help.  Either way, oof.  Felt horrible - flu-like/hungover/food poisoning/etc...  But afflicted by none of those.  

At 8, I finally decided to just suck it up and get out the door.  Fortunately, after about 2 miles my stomach calmed down and I was able to fall into the swing of the run.  I was confronted by a little yappy dog (seriously, people, if your dog is not 100% calm and passive, don't have it off leash) early on, but otherwise, a very pleasant outing.  I was shocked by how quickly the little lake's grassy banks had been covered by blankets - families reserving their July 4th firework viewing spots.  They only started allowing people to stake their claims at 7am, but by 8:30 the thing was nearly at capacity.  On the way home, I accidentally spooked a woman, who laughed it off and told me she couldn't even hear me running.  I guess my footfall is back to nearly silent again.  

Almost 30mi so far for the week.

A new development in the ongoing experiment of Running-Lots (N=1) - I think "off" days could soon be replaced with "very easy, very short" days.  I've long known that Saturday's tend to have very clunky, rough starts, so I wonder if just a strolling 3mi on Fridays would help out.  Maybe I'll implement it and see how it goes.  

So, yeah, clunky, rough start to the run today.  I didn't even overindulge yesterday, and I was in bed by 10pm.  Just something off today, I guess.  Still, 7mi ~8:30 pace and 3x strides at the end.  The strides were definitely the most noticeably meh part of the run.  

13mi tomorrow.

13(.1)mi in the books.  It was pretty warm from the start, and got hot towards the end, but aside from a very few complaints from my legs around mile 11, no issues on the run.  Nice and easy until mile 10, when I picked it up for a "fast" finish at MAF HR (153).