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June 13, 2005

Weekend Update

Thursday's Easy Day

On Thursday I was hoing to get to Caty's Falls for a run. My day turned out to be swamped and I only had time for a three mile run. I ran a mile and a half up hill on an old dirt road that is found right out of the camp drive way and ran a mile and a half down hill. I felt sluggish and just considered the run a maintenance/fresh air type of run.

Friday's Adventure: Getting Lost in the Woods for a total of 4 hours!

On Friday I ran about 50 minutes in the morning over to the main beach on the lake. The 8th grade class at Mark's school was having a beach day and I decided to join them for some swimming and lunch. I felt good on my run over and just ran easy because I knew I wanted to do a longer run in the afternoon.

At 2 p.m. I left the picnic scene after swimming for a couple of hours. I decided to run up to the top of Mt. Elmore and then back to camp. I figured this would be about 10 miles and I had a water bottle with me so I felt fairly prepared. It was terribly muggy and hot outside so I just decided to run at a fairly easy pace and just learn how to run the trail and not worry about how quickly I could get to the top of the mountain. It turns out that Mt. Elmore is 2,450 feet so it is a decent 2 miles worth of climbing.

I ran a few side trails to explore them, the Nature Trail and a Pond Loop before hitting the main trail to the top of the mountain. I felt pretty good and had a great climb to the top of the mountain. I had been running for an hour by the time I got to the top of the mountain and decided to sit and rest and enjoy the view from the look out tower. I spent about 10 minutes resting and relaxing before I made my way to the base of the main climb. Once I made it to the base I had an option to go left or right. Going left would include running down a dirt road and returning to the main camp road leaving me with a mile and a half of running on a dirt road where all of the camps are situated. I did not feel like running in that direction because I always finish my runs that way.

I decided to go right and run on a single track trail until I hit an old dirt road that would take me to the back entrance of the camp. I was doing great and recognized everything until it came time for me to take a left and find the dirt road which would take me back to camp. I could not find the turn anywhere. This part of the trail is not marked very well at all and it is pretty muddy. I was getting frustrated because there are a ton of horse flies and bugs in the area and the slower you go the more they attack you. I soon realized I had passed the turn. I decided to explore further ahead thinking I may eventually hit the road by chance. By this point I had been running for about 2 hours. I did not even realize it but before I knew it is was a half hour later and I still had no clue where I was and was worried I would end up miles away from camp when I eventually found my way out of the woods. I decided to back track and look for the turn along the way. I wasted a ton of time looking for the turn to take me back to camp and eventually decided to go back to the base of the mountain, go down the main dirt road leading to the park, and return on the camp road.

By this point I had been out of the trail for 3 hours and knowing I had already run 50 min. in the morning and knowing that I had no water left and was quite thirsty I decided to alternate walking and jogging. I did this until I knew where I was again and then slowly jogged down the mountain on the trail that I knew.

I was extremely relieved to return to a familiar place and was pysched to find Mark looking for me on the main road. Secretly I was hoping he'd have his jeep so I wouldn't have to walk/jog the last mile and a half. He had no jeep but he jogged back with me very slowly back to the camp. I had been out for a little over four hours.

When I returned I drank about 2 nalgene bottles full of water in about 15 minutes. I was worried I'd get sick but I did not. Once I felt more recovered I jumped in the paddle boat with Mark and we paddled out into the lake and jumped in (I realized Mark enters the water this way so he doesn't have to touch the slimy bottom of the lake when your feet can touch the bottom! :)). It was very refreshing to jump into the water and I felt much better. I then went inside and had an ice cold coke and some banana bread and showered.

It was then time for some water skiing. I had no idea if I could manage water skiing after all of my outdoor activities and adventures but somehow I managed to get up on the skis on my first try and make it two times around the lake. I stopped myself after two laps because my hamstrings were incredibly tight and I was satisfied with my ride. After dinner I was so tired I went to bed. Unfortunately I only slept about 3 hours because there was a big party at the camp hosted by one of Mark's brothers and Mark and I had to get up at 4:30 to head to the New England track meet in Saco, Maine. It was a tough night especially since I was so beat.

Saturday's Long Day

On Saturday we drove four hours to Saco, Maine leaving at 5:30 in the morning. The New England high school track meets in Maine were fun to watch but I was surprised that the 800 and mile races were not won in faster times. At these big races all too often the races are run so strategically and no one wants to take the lead. The mile was won in 5.04 but required a huge negative split to get that time. The 800 was won in about 2.17 and again had a slow start. We did not return to the camp until almost 7 p.m. and when we did we went for a short three mile run and then went to get some pizza. We decided to spend the night in town and Mark's apartment to get more sleep as the party was continuing at the camp. We had to get up at 5 a.m. on Sunday as well to get to a road race in Rutland, VT where Mark was running a 10k at 8 a.m.

Sunday

I slept much better on Sunday night after a long day on Saturday. It was terribly hard to get up on Sunday at 5 a.m. but somehow I managed to drag myself out of bed and be alert in the jeep to help Mark with directions. It was a bad sign that it was already muggy at 5:30 in the morning. We arrived to the race site by 7:10 which was great timing. The course was point to point so at 7:30 I decided to run the course so I could be at the finish to cheer for Mark. I did not run the race because I knew the course was hilly and I knew my quad would be aggravated and sore after almost 5 hours of running on Friday. I was right, as soon as I started running my quad tightened up and I felt pain the entire run in my hip, quad, calf, and foot. The entire leg was tight and I had to concentrate a lot to not think about it. I stopped and stretched multiple times to relieve the tightness. As soon as I stop it is fine but once I start running again it gets cramped up and begins to ache. I was so happy not to have to race the course because it took me about 49 minutes to run the course. Mark finished in 4th place overall and third in his age group to earn some prize money. He ran in the mid 35 minutes which I think is equivalent to a 33 minute 10k considering the hilly nature of the course and the incredible humidity. After the awards ceremony we ran back to the start of the race. Fortunately, I left about 15 minutes before Mark so that I would not slow him done. I ran about the same pace on the return trip and ended up stopping every mile to stretch my leg out. I was happy to return before Mark and take a nap on the grass.

I got to drive the jeep half way home which was a huge deal for me because I have never really driven standard. I did not create havoc until the final intersection where I was stopped on an uphill and stalled the jeep out trying to get through the intersection. It was incredibly embarassing. Mark had to jump out of the jeep and take over as we were blocking the intersection. Meanwhile I slumped over to the passenger side and hoped that everyone was not royally annoyed with me. We got out safely and then headed to an evening track picnic for Mark's team. It was a long day and by the time we got back to camp I was ready for bed.

Monday

I have not ventured out on a run yet today. Mark was up and running at 6:30 and I was about to do my morning run at that time as well but opted not to because I really don't want my legs to feel bad today. I have spent the first part of the morning doing chores and plan to do a three mile run when I drive into town to do laundry. This evening I will probably do another 7 miles or so.

Posted by mary at 8:17 AM | Comments (6)

June 9, 2005

Another Long Overdue Update!

Saturday: Took the day off because I was at the VT Division III High school track meet all day. Mark's girls track team took home the title in a neck and neck battle that lasted the entire meet. It was very exciting. The day ended with a fire truck escort through the town of Morrisville, VT when we arrived back to the high school and a parade of cars following us and honking the horns. The athletes jumped off the bus and ran up the hill to the school with the sirens blaring and cars honking the horn. It was like a scene from a movie.

Sunday: Great 7 mile trail run at a fast pace with Mark, very fun hilly windy trail along Mt. Elmore, technical and muddy and challenging. I was beat when we returned. We went out in the paddle boat and hopped off to go for a swim after our run. In the evening I tired water skiing for the first time. After five attempts I was finally standing and made it almost 3/4 around the lake only to fall in the wake flat on my face. I can't wait to try again. It did make my hip flexors very sore! Yikes!

Monday: Completed the 7 mile trail run again. Very disappointed to run the same course three minutes slower without Mark. It made me feel very slow compared to Mark but his normal slow pace (7 min) is my marathon pace!

Tuesday: Hamstrings very very tight. The trail run that I ran on Sunday and Monday begins with a 2.5 mile climb and has a one mile down hill around mile 6 that I flew down. I think the combination of those two element made me very creaky! Ran back to the camp from the high school. Had to run the first 2 miles uphill on the road. Had to stop 3-4 times because my quad was so sore and tight and cramped up. I was going to quit the run altogether and then I turned left and added on three miles on a dirt road. I immediately felt better once I was running on the dirt road. Ran about 55 minutes for the day but felt horribly sluggish and my legs felt dead.

Wednesday: Ran about 10 miles on some new trails that Mark showed me, Cody's Falls trails. The trails are single tracks and meander through meadows and cut across streams and in and out of the woods. A lot of mountain bikers use the area so there are a lot of short steep uphills and fun winding turns on the trails. The trails are not flat but they do not have a lot of long uphill running or donwhill running. I ran very easy and felt much better than I had felt on Monday or Tuesday of this week.

Thursday: Today I am about to go to Cody's Falls again to run another 10 miles or so. I need to start to begin my 50k training. This week I feel like I have not been that inspired but next week I'd like to start some double session days and begin to work my way up to some high mileage so that I can be hitting a few 100 mile weeks by July.

Posted by mary at 11:03 AM | Comments (3)

June 1, 2005

Tuesday Life Guard Lessons and Wednesday's Bike Ride

I am taking this week easy and playing it by ear. I just want to listen to my body and do what comes naturally to me to allow my body and mind some time to rest. I should be working on breaking up the scar tissue in my quad. A lot of people commented on what I am doing about the problem and the truth is that I am not doing that much. I worked on it seriously for a year seeing many therapist, getting deep tissue massage, chiropracter's, etc. and nothing really seemed to work. I have sort of resolved myself to running through it and have this plan to use the roller every single day and to strengthen the quad over the summer by doing lots of hills and lunges and things of that nature. We'll see, it has been such a problem that I get frustrated thinking about it because if I don't want to run under 7 minute pace I would never know I had a problem.

This week I have life guard lessons every day. On Tuesday I had to swim 1000 yards for a swim test and dive 15 feet under water, pick up a 10lb brick and swim 50 yards with it. I was so tired on the swim and I was extremely conjested. As soon as I finished the marathon on Sunday I started sneezing and coughing like crazy. I caught Mark's cold so for the past few days breathing has been a challenge. I was about to try to get out of the dive test to retrieve the 10lb block but then I wondered what would I do if I was sick on duty or if I was just sick and a friend started to drown, instinct would kick in and I'd forget about the cold and just get them or do the best I could to save them. I used that mentality and quickly got the block and then performed about 2 hours worth of life saving drills in the pool. I had to return in the evening for another hour of practice. Needless to say by the end of the day I was pretty beat and not entirely inspired to do any other form of exercise. I was not that sore walking around during the day. Towards the last 200 yards of the swim my quads grew very fatigued and I could feel the marathon but otherwise I felt pretty good except for the cold.

On Tuesday night I slept like a log. I can't remember the last time I slept so soundly. I think it was a combination of the marathon and the three hours I spent in the pool. I woke up feeling very tired even though I got about 7 hours of very very deep sleep. I went to my life guarding class for six hours and then met the local high school team for practice. I watched the long jumpers and gave them some tips for about a half hour. Today was what I am calling the first official day of summer. The weather was awesome. I actually had the roof top opened on my car, both windows down and considered wearing a tang top. It has been a very chilly spring here in VT. Towards the end of practice one of the distance runners was heading out for a three mile run. I decided to join her and wondered how my quads would feel. The pace was very easy. As it turned out I felt great. After the run I decided to go for a bike ride. I had wanted to bike to the training session this morning but I got up too late. I decided to explore the area and ride for about two hours. I was able to ride 30 miles during this time and stopped twice to visit with some people along the way. I fell once on the bike ride when I was crossing a narrow one way bridge. I did not realize that you had to ride on the boards of wood that were layed out along the top. It was a very embarassing fall because cars on either side observed my fall. Fortunately I was not hurt, I'll probably have a few bruises. I got up very quickly. Towards the end of the ride with a 1/2 hour to go I became very exhausted and really wanted the ride to end. I have been conjested all day and I think with all of the warm weather today I got spring fever and tried to do too much. As soon as I got back to the camp I consumed a large amount of water, had a bunch of tomatoes, and an avacodo and immediately felt much better. I have that humming tired feeling now and am looking forward to another sound sleep tonight.

Posted by mary at 8:34 PM | Comments (4)