New (temporary) running blog

I know, I haven't posted in a while. In part, this is because I haven't done a whole lot of running in a while, although since my last post, I did Beach to Beacon in August and the Tufts 10k in October. I beat my previous course records in both of these races--although this is much more of an indictment of how slowly I ran them before than an achievement this time around. Oh well. Take the achievements where you can find them, I say.

Anyway, for the next little while, I am attending an intensive bootcamp to learn how to create web apps. I have noticed that I keep turning to running experiences to explain my experiences with coding, so I have decided to start a new temporary blog during this experience. It's called 'Running Code' and I would invite you to visit me there for a bit.

Upcoming plans include an attempt to qualify for Marathon Maniacs next October/November, so I will definitely be back! See you over at Running Code!

Not enough stairs in Toronto?

Wow, I did not realize how long it had been since I updated this.  And I am not going to lie: I have not been doing a whole lot of running.  I did do a trail run in May, which was a 25k at Sulphur Springs, near Hamilton, Ontario.  It was lovely, apart from the COMPLETELY INSANE hills.  One of which was immediately before the finish line.  That you had to go up twice.  But it was a lovely day and I very much enjoyed the experience, apart from maybe some of those nutty hills.

Anyway, I am currently in Toronto, Ontario (aka 'The T Dot') and was reminded of a classic Toronto song from my teenaged years entitled 'I Don't Want To Go To Toronto.'  Now, the vast majority of this song is completely true (okay, maybe not.  But it is hard to find good bagels and I feel pretty certain that there is a tax on wicker goods).  Except for the part about the stairs.  Because lemme tell you, Toronto has stairs.  I found a set of them this morning on my run.  It was a hill so hilly that it needed stairs to ascend it:

View from the top:

These are the Baldwin Steps, located at Spadina and Davenport.  They are as evil as they look, but today I found the whole experience invigorating.  And kind of fun.  I am hoping that this is a sign that my running groove is gradually returning.

Lovely Sunday in the Woods (Citrus Trail Run)

This month is definitely trail run month, as I will be participating in one for three out of the four weekends, culminating in the social event of the season, Croom Fools Run. I will have plenty more to say about that, I am sure. Last Sunday was the Citrus Trail Run, which had various distances. I did the ten mile one, which I think was a good choice because I am not in awesome running shape right now, but I can definitely handle a ten mile. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. I brought my camera again to get some pictures. The area is north of Croom (near Inverness, FL), but the same kind of terrain.

Nice pine forest

Quiet morning in the woods

I was fortunate to get there right in time for the sunrise colors that were particularly nice as a backdrop to the woods.

View from my parking spot

It was also nice to be out in the spring, since there are flowers.  I went for a run at Croom the day before and saw some of the same.  These are definitely not out year-round; in fact, I am wondering if these are only in March!

The trail itself was very peaceful.  It was the Citrus Trail, and mostly we followed the orange and blue sections.  Relatively easy to follow and lots of signs, so it was easy not to get lost (that being said, some of the people doing the four mile actually did an eight mile by accident).

I think that my favorite part was along some of the fields with lots of grass grown in.  I had recently seen the movie theater broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's Prince Igor, which had a scene set in poppy fields.  If I were going to set this opera in Florida, I would use these fields:

So I spent much of this part of the run with the Polovtsian Dances in my head.  Helped the time go faster, although the race didn't really feel like it was dragging much to me.  It was a nice day to be out in the woods!

This Croom place

Several of the trail races that I have done over the past year have taken place at Croom, an area near Brooksville, FL that includes the Withlacoochee State Forest and other areas.  There is an immense amount of forest, which is why it is so popular for trail runs around there parts.  This is where I did my 50k, my half-marathon where I was first in my age group last year, and that horrid race where I was recovering from the flu and couldn't really breathe.  But you know why you still go, even when you can barely breathe?

All of these were taken this morning during the Long Play run.  This race is put on by Tampa Races, and features a 33 1/3 mile race, as well as a half-marathon and a 5-mile run.  I did it last year, when it was my introduction to Croom and I was pretty much instantly hooked (plus I finished first in my age group.  Of two.  So yeah, legit).  Today, I did the half-marathon and I took my time, enjoying the scenery and taking photos and such.  I don't even know what my time was, actually, because my Garmin was not charged.  I feel like I ran the course more strategically this year, in terms of strategic walking of hills and maintaining a slow-yet-steady pace for most of it.  This year was a little warmer than last year (although last year started at 39F, so there you go), but not enough to be an hindrance.  I enjoyed myself so much that I was a little disappointed when I realized I was almost done with the forest part.  That's right: I wanted to run longer.  That basically never happens to me and I see that as a real achievement in my development as a runner.

I also realized that every race that I have done this year with Tampa Races has put me last out of everyone.  First there was the 50k, where I am fine with my lastness.  Then there was the Flatwoods Ramble, where my lastness was a bit more embarrassing.  But today, I was not last.  I was at least second-last.  Victory.

Incidentally, when you do Long Play, you also get to see goats:

It's like they're posing

An even better bonus?  No alligators!

Everglades Trail Run

When I first started running, I got in the habit of setting three goals before I did a race.  The reason for this is that I am very goal-orientated, and I realized pretty quickly that if I just set one goal and didn't succeed, I would get frustrated with myself and angry.  Fortunately, I had sufficient self-awareness to also realize that if I kept this up, I wouldn't keep running for very long, because who wants to do a sport where you are always feeling frustrated and angry?  And sometimes the goals were good and noble, like when I PRed my 5k time.  Goal 1 was to finish in under 30:00.  Goal 2 was to finish with a 10 minute/mile split.  Goal 3 was to PR.  I PRed with a 10:06 mile split, so I will take that, since it was awfully close to Goal 2.

I'm not sure when I got out of the habit of setting three goals for races, but it probably was around the time that I started doing many more of them and my main goal was simply to get out there and run.  For some reason, I think I brought it back when I did the Philly Marathon in 2012, but honestly I can't remember what the three goals were (probably PR, run the whole course, and finished.  In that case, I PRed).  More often now, I might set one goal; for instance, my one goal for the 50k was finish the 50k, which I did.  I wasn't really worried about anything else, which is good, because I sure didn't accomplish much else with that particular race!

Today, though, I kind of brought back the three goals thing for the Everglades trail run.  This is maybe slightly misleading, since I switched goals during the race, then kind of decided that they were goals 1, 2 and 3.  My first goal, when I started, was to keep a run/walk pattern for the whole thing.  That was abandoned as it got hot, when I started switching goals to try and accommodate a run/walk thing, but then realized that I couldn't keep up any running at all and had to walk the whole remaining course (at around Mile 10 of the 16-mile course).  Then I came up with one goal and one goal alone:

1) Don't get heat exhaustion

And I accomplished that goal.  Heck, I even finished the race.

Lemme tell you, that finishing was no mean feat.  The temperature was unseasonably high today in south Florida, to the tune of 85F in the shade, so around 95F in the sun.  And the last four miles of this course were pretty much entirely in the sun at around 1pm.  This was almost my complete and utter undoing, except for this guy, Norm:

Norm was kind enough to walk me through those last four miles

I am not usually very talky when I run, but I think I am learning to be a more social person.  Although my opening remark to Norm was something along the lines of, 'Has anyone read Stephen King's 'The Long Walk'?  Because this would be good footage if they make a film.'  (Plot summary).  Because that is effectively how most of us looked for the end of the race: walking along at a relatively good pace because no one could run because it was really freaking hot.  Fortunately, no one was shot for dropping below a certain pace.  Whoo!

I do have to say that I thought I was awfully near heat exhaustion, but fortunately that does not seem to have happened.  Trust me, walking for 4 miles with no shade was very tough.  There was a part on the prairie early in the race which was beautiful but warm:

Everglades grass prairie

Some parts were nice and shady:

However, the real killer was the sun and there was an awful lot of it near the end of the race.  The path was nice, but by the time it got to around noon, there was no escaping the power of Mr. Florida Sun.  In fact, I had some pretty choice words for Mr. Florida Sun by the end.

Do you see any shade there?  No, not really

The race itself was well-organized and I plan to keep my ceremonial anti-gator whistle for a good long time.  Aid stations were totally stocked.  One trick that I learned was to add ice to your Camelbak when it is hot because it will cool off your water/beverage for an extended amount of time.  Also, this race had pretty sweet swag in the form of a great bag:

You might be wondering if I saw any fun nature on the trail.  For most of the race, all that I saw was buzzards circling, which seemed quite appropriate.  But there was a bit of fun after a while:

Take a close look

Then this happened (no zoom with this photo):

My theory is that the alligator hit the wall, tried some Powerade, and decided to take a nap instead.

So I definitely got my money's worth!

Bonk

I done bonked in a race today.  'Bonking' is the same as hitting the wall, it is where you just don't have the energy to keep going, although somehow you find minute amounts of energy to keep going but the whole thing is just a world of bad, and then you are last.  Okay, the being last part is not mandatory, but it is a likely eventuality when you are a slow and steady runner in the first place.  Bonk.

I have bonked before, although never in a race.  In fact, I once had what I termed a double-bonk in training, where I was both dehydrated and out of energy.  Bonks usually happen because you didn't fuel correctly and I can attest to that today.  Last night, I didn't really have dinner (long story), then today I decided not to take my caffeinated jellybeans with me, which was a huge mistake on a 10-mile race.  Part of me was thinking, '10 miles is not that long.'  That same part of me needs a crash course in distance.

I think that the bigger problem is that I don't have time like I usually do to keep track of everything and as a result, my nutrition and training has suffered--that being said, I don't feel like today was necessarily a training fail, since I felt pretty strong through the first 6 or so miles and my legs aren't in agonizing pain or anything now.  So I would chalk this up more to a bonk, but one that was in part due to not having enough time to cook/prepare food like I normally do.  In fact, I came up with a few percentages while out there today:

Normal percentages
Work: 40%
Running: 20%
Cooking: 20%
Other stuff: 20%

These days
Work: 60%
Major life-changing events that need to be dealt with: 30%
Everything else: 10%

So as you can see from this highly scientific study, I am much busier than normal with stuff, and as a result sometimes I don't have healthy, nutritious dinners.

I made a conscious effort not to get too upset about today.  It was only one race and I can pretty much guarantee that it was a nutritional bonk.  So I will just try and avoid that in the future. Next week is the Everglades race, which is 16 miles, so I will eat dinner the night before.  Learning.  It's all learning.  Even when you thought you had already learned that lesson, still learning.

50k complete. Barely.

Yesterday, I completed a 50k race!

Not well, but completed.

In fact, I see it far more as a learning experience than anything else.  This is new for me.  When I did my first long distances (half-marathons and marathons), I followed the training plan, did what I was supposed to and finished around where I thought I would finish.  Not so in this case.

I should say that I turned my ankle at 2 miles and while it hurt for a while, I realized that I was fine to run.  This was, of course, the same ankle that I sprained in November.  So I had to walk any sections with roots.  This wasn't too much on this particular course, but it was still a decision that had to be made.  I figured that if I turned my ankle again, that might be the end of my day.

Also, I broke pretty much every race rule ever.  I ate something I don't usually eat for dinner.  I stayed up late watching a movie.  I ate new things on the course.  And you know what?  None of these things were my undoing.

The weather was perfect.  The weather could not have been more perfect, in fact (today is hot again).  The course was great.  Organization was stellar.  Friends wanting to help were incredibly great and I am very grateful.  So all of these things were good.  Even the forest spiders weren't that scary, except maybe when I saw what appeared to be a nest of them.  Ew.

Here is what I learned (and there are so many things):

1) I undertrained.  One of the ultramarathoners came and joined me for my last little stretch, and I grumbled that I undertrained.  He said everyone always feels like they undertrained.  Fair.  But really, I did.  In the future, I will need to set aside more training time if I want to do this distance.

2) I thought of this as a long-ish marathon.  That's silly.  It's not.  It's a whole other thing.  That goes back to undertraining; I missed some runs because I thought, 'It will be okay, it's like a long marathon.'  No.

3) My fueling strategy was not good because do you know what?  By the time you have been on a course for 6-7 hours, you want something other than caffeinated jelly beans.  So next time I will think more carefully about how to fuel and get advice from other ultra runners.

4) I should have started run-walking early.  I started for real on the second of three loops (I mean, I had had sections where I walked earlier, but there wasn't a routine).  No.  Earlier.  Possibly throughout.  Also, I did get advice from a ultra person to learn how to walk more efficiently because it will help save time. 

5) I didn't hate it, I didn't die, and I'm not injured, other than an ouchy ankle.  I would like to do it again, although now is not the time because I have too much happening to put in the training.  But I am not swearing them off.  Someday.

Never a dull moment

The trail run is tomorrow.

This happened today, near the place where we are running: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/24355685/2014/01/03/pcso-lion-on-the-loose-near-spring-hill

Legs of Lead

Okay, I think this is a good sign.  Today, I went out and ran 3 miles and had legs of total lead.  Why is this a good sign?  Because my very first ultramarathon ever is on Saturday.  Saturday!  I will go in the woods and run 50k.  If you're counting, that is only 10 consecutive 5ks.  This is my mantra.

Running has been better as of late--better than my previous blog post, at any rate!  I did the Hillsborough River Half Marathon and while I was somewhat slow (over 3 hours), it was hot and my legs were tired, so I feel perfectly fine with that result.  It was really a training run, so slow is just fine.  I also landed in a pretty severe amount of mud and had muddy shoes for around half of the run.  Trails!

Last weekend, I finally got up to Croom for the first time in forever.  Croom is where the race is Saturday (Saturday!), so I am glad that I had a chance to run up there.  Groups of people hadn't been going because it was hunting season, which makes perfect sense to me.  I also got to practice running at night, which was helpful because the start of the race is at 6am, so it could be dark.  Did you know that the forest floor glitters at night in Florida?  The glitter is created by light reflecting off the eyes of wolf spiders out hunting.  Seriously.  SERIOUSLY.  Florida is not for the weak.

I am in the unusual position of having no idea what I will be doing after the ultra.  Well, okay, I have a vague idea.  I am doing the 5k of the Florida Challenge later this month.  Originally, I was planning to do the half-marathon, but there is a 3 1/2 hour cut off, and I don't want to come up on that.  It is a very difficult course, lots of up and down.  So the 5k is a better idea anyway, I think.

I have also been going back and forth on the Everglades Ultras.  It is in February and yes, it is smack dab in the middle of the Everglades (okay, truthfully it is a bit off to the side).  You get a whistle to get help in case you see wild creatures that don't want to move off the trail!  This is code for 'alligators.'  There are three distances: 50 mile, 50k, and 25k.  The 50 mile is out because there isn't enough time to train and I would be worried about the time cut offs.  Rationally, I know that the 50k should be out, except that logic dictates that as a runner, I am not rational.  I am going to wait and see how I feel about life on Saturday after Croom.  If I don't hate it with ever fiber of my aching being, then maybe that will be a cool thing to do.  Or maybe the 25k.  Rarely am I this indecisive about running, but there you go.

I also signed up to do a 5k challenge this year.  The challenge is to complete 12 5ks in a year.  I think I did it last year (seeing as how I did 7 in a summer, I think I must have).  This challenge is part of Mojo for Running, a website set up by my running coach, Deb Voiles (she is also the founder of Run Tampa, which is a great group to join if you live in the area).  There isn't much information on the challenge yet, but you can find out more on Facebook.

Anyway, lots to think about, lots to plan, and lots to dream about.  I didn't even mention the Zion National Park run or the Yellowstone Ultra.  Many dreams.  But I will wait to sign up for things until after Saturday.