Thursday, August 29, 2013

Monday, August 5, 2013

Things Learned


Last Week - So I should have been fairly sore from my Sunday run which was the longest and hardest that I've run in a while. But I wasn't. And I felt pretty energetic the next day (but I was wise and took a rest day). I took Zyflamend and I have to say that it REALLY made a difference. I'm now taking it as a supplement twice a day to reduce inflammation. 

I also have a new pair of Vibrams that I'm going to rotate into the mix. My old pair are still pretty good, but I can see that the bottoms are starting to separate from the uppers, so it's only a matter of time until they implode. I don't want to be left in the lurch without footwear. I've been wearing Vibrams on the trail for years now. I used to wear them on the road too, but I'm now wearing some Altras because I was a little worried about running on the concrete all the time with just the Vibrams. I'm actually worried about running on the trail in shoes. I'll have to see how things go training/running wise as I get fitter and run farther. I'm not opposed to shoes, I'm not all religious about the minimal thing, it's just the past few times I've run in shoes on the trail (once in a race) I've turned my ankle badly. I don't do that in Vibrams. My feet grip the ground and mold to the trail. I catch the corner of my shoes, and over my foot goes. So I figure, if I'm strong enough I'll just stick with the Vibrams.

This Sunday, Yesterday - I increased my mileage slightly by adding a bit of an out and back at the top of the mountain. I'll continue to add more to the out and back as time goes on. This trail heads over to Huddart Park open space, and leads to many more miles of wonderful runnable trails. And all of these trails that I'm running are part of the ultra that I'm signed up to do in December. So good specific training all around!

Also, the trail felt less steep this time. I ran more than I hiked, and the long upper switchbacks felt much shorter than before. A sure (and welcome) sign of gaining fitness.




I've been getting to the trail very early on Sunday mornings. I get started running at a tad before 6:30 am. It's fabulously peaceful at this time of the morning. This time I saw a lovely mother deer with her two babies, a male with tiny nubs of antlers and a girl fawn munching on flowers a tad further up the hill. Mamma deer was so comfortable with me that she decided to lay down in a patch of green as I trotted up the switchback past them.

I didn't see much else in the way of wildlife this time other than a few Stellar's jays, squirrels and a couple of banana slugs. But it was beautiful nonetheless, with fog wafting up the hillsides and eventually burning off as the sun rose higher in the sky. It was cool, but comfortable, especially for running.