Back at it

Nothing gets a person motivated to get back on a training plan quite like a bit of shame! 

After a fairly long stretch of EXTREMELY BUSY WORK OMG and therefore, very little/any running for the past month, I am noticing negative side effects. Minor ones, yes, but negative none the less. I honestly can say that my fitness for equestrian sports is not where it is when I am running regularly. Can I still ride well?? of course. But do I notice a difference? Most definitely. 

Also. I'm just annoyed. So annoyed. But as soon as I got out for a couple good (bad, but good) runs this weekend, I suddenly stopped caring as much about the bullshit that IS actually bullshit. (but I can let it go when I'm running, evidently. also, all work stuff. normal life is fine.)

So that's where I am at. I NEED to schedule in time for my own fitness as though it is an appointment, and stick to it. It has been VERY challenging this Spring. (work is BUSY. that is GOOD. not complaining. however, balance is always the semi impossible dream.)

As of now, I'm looking two goals for the fall season. 

1: Kilkenny Ridge 25 miler, September 

Goal: To finish, with the goal of a 2MPH pace (7K elevation is NOT easy!)

2: Boston Marathon, October 

Goal: Currently, my goal is to show up to the start line uninjured, and to cross the finish line happy. With the summer that I have scheduled professionally, I hesitate to put a time goal out there. Getting in enough running to be able to complete the race, healthy and happy seems like quite enough at the moment!

What do I need to do to meet these goals?

1: Literally get off my ass and run

*I work long, HARD and physical hours, but nothing trains you to run like running*

2: Do a weekly hike or trail run/road run trail run combo workout 

3: Work back up to better mileage- I'll need to be looking at 40 plus miles a week (which can include some hiking) by late August for sure. 

Right now I am coming off some VERY low/no running mileage weeks. So, I'll be looking at low mileage consistency for June, and will not be leaping back into huge mileage. (quantity over quality, evidently!)

4: Some BIG hikes. We hit a 15 miler last weekend which was awesome for early season! I'm definitely thinking a Presi, maybe the Carters for starters (all repeats) for some good long days which involve technical trail skills and vert. 

5: Recon for Kilkenny ridge. I know the second half well- but half the battle of a mega challenge like this is having an idea of the terrain (they try to mark the course- but there is the "leave no trace" mentality (which is GOOD) but causes other hikers to indignantly remove signage.... I really have no desire to be out hunting for the trail with a sad compass. Fuck that. 

6: Running consistency. To finish Boston, I might not have to be throwing down massive workouts, but I MUST run with extreme consistency. 

7: Stay healthy. Stretch. Ice. Roll. For the past 2 years I have had massive shin issues by late July, and I intend to work towards avoiding that. How? Being proactive rather than reactive- I'm working on ankle/foot stability (balance board, one leg squats, and these stupid one foot balance exercises on the stairs..... plus stretching. rolling. icing... here's to hoping it works!)

8: Balance. It is a LOT. Working towards two hefty races PLUS staring a MASSIVE work load in the face is daunting. I really need to schedule in time for nothing (and if I can do that more than once, I will give myself a damn medal.....)

9: Get back into the routine. Once training becomes habitual, I never even think about it. I know it is part of the day, and I do it without thinking. 

10: We eat healthy meals regularly, training or not. But I am impossibly pressed for time, and need to work on a plan for better meal planning and prep. I am pretty sick of resorting to a giant salad when it's 9PM and I'm just getting dinner sorted. But what do?? I have to work on this.....

So, some Spring stats for the week:

Miles run: 13.5

Hottest day: 92 WTF

Coldest Day: Like friggin 52 yesterday.......

Hikes? None this week.... 

Longest run: 6

SO BUSY! REUNITED WITH EVAN! TRAIL RACE STUPIDITY!

Phew, ok so I am a little behind! 

What the heck has been happening. Who knows. 

Well, I have been SUPER busy at work (good. really. but balance, not good!)

Running has been sporadic (bad)

Hiking has been awesome (good!)

I signed up for a 25 mile trail race a few minutes ago, which filled me with the kind of newbie excitement that I have not experienced in years. I have been hunting for this *spark* lately, and may have just found it. I'm pretty excited, and am ready to begin some goal oriented training (this will be in conjunction with Boston training, and I think that this new interest will help shove me in the road running fitness direction. Maybe? Who knows.) For a while I knew I wanted to be a marathoner when I grew up. Now I think I might want to be a trail runner when I grow up. Or a trail walker, because I fall a lot. OR maybe I want to be a beer tester and a pizza eater, yummmmmm. 

It is summer. 

I am still 7th in the challenge, and it is almost time for a new one. 

FINALLY EVAN CAME TO VISIT BECAUSE WE ARE ALL VACCINATED!!!!!

So we climbed South Moat. 

SO SO SO GLAD to see that kid. 

REUNITED!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now, back to work. JESUS!!!!!

(I promise a better post next week. I literally have smoke coming out my ears at the moment, haha why isn't it friday???)

Stats:  

Miles run: UGH

Hike: Umm, Shelburne Moriah (11) South Moat (5+) Chocorua (7.5) 

Warmest day: Oooof 79 yesterday 

Coldest day: Last week we had a day when it was 49.Gross. 

Snow: Can probably remove this one 

Bugs: BLACK FLIES AND MOSQUITOS AND ONE DEER FLY AND TICKS

Place in Challenge on Sunday night: 7th with is a miracle. 

Boston, here I come

I was close, guessing the cutoff would be 7:15. It was, in fact, 7:47 which means I have punched my golden ticket to Boston Marathon #9. 

If we weren't still in the middle of kind of an insane pandemic, I would be over the moon happy. I'm pleased. We'll see what happens. The whole internet is pissed that they didn't make the cut, and basically imploding. Typical. 

But really. I am happy I made it in. I'm sorry for anyone who is bummed that what "would" have been a valid qualifying time last year, isn't this year. That is ROUGH, in a very "relatively speaking" kind of sense. (perspective.... is good.) 

 I feel like there are probably MORE people out there right now who are vowing to train hard, and make the cut again than there are being sour grapes on Instagram. (but the sour grapes are VERY vocal and would probably be VERY fast if they channeled their negative energy into training!) 

In other news.... 

I had a crazy week and ran a grand total of 1 mile. Or like 16 but there is no real difference. 

On the plus side, it looks like Spring!

Spring on the hill

Except the we hiked up Mt. Pierce and it still looked like winter.....

Still windy winter, but not too cold!

Stats:  

Miles run: 14.1 Even worse than 16....

Hike: 6

Warmest day: 65 on Saturday

Coldest day: A couple days of low 50's and HIGH winds and HIGH fire danger

Snow: no but 2" of rain killed the fire danger

Bugs: YEP, black flies GROSS

Place in Challenge on Sunday night: 6th. At least I'm not dead last. 

A fast mile, Boston Registration, and a Summer/Winter week

Thankfully, I was able to log slightly higher mileage last week (key word: slightly.)

On Monday I participated in the virtual BAA Patriot's Day Mile, which seemed like a really sensible distance to tackle. Unless someone asked me to run it with impressive speed, and then I would take a hard pass. 

That being said, I did manage to run the mile in 7:25 while giving a solid, if not breakneck effort (I just could not see the benefit of making myself puke from over doing it!) 

It started sunny, and then poured on me.... TYPICAL!

THEN, on Tuesday, I registered for October Boston and we'll see how that shakes down. People are flipping out that their 15 minute buffer won't be good enough, and I'm pretty sure they need to take a logical breath. I'm going to predict that the cut off will be 7:15 minutes better than qualifying pace, which is SUPER SUPER conservative, but I'm going with it. Let it be known, that is my official prediction.

The rest of the week was pretty normal as of late. A couple little runs. A big hike up the baldfaces. 

Always a great hike

Weather is everything from 28 degrees with a "real feel" of 10, because of the wind, to 72, sunny and SWARMS of black flies. Typical Maine crap. It does look like Spring now, for sure, and many things are well ahead of schedule (like, the ground is dry. flowers blooming. and, BUGS, as mentioned)

The grass is growing

Two bikers won the challenge last week, and there's nothing a runner can do to chase people putting in solid bike mileage. While I did up my game and was well over the "required" number of miles, I'm sitting solidly in 6th. 

However, I am the 1st place person out of the "on foot only" competitors, so it's not like I really have dissolved into puddles complete uselessness. I just can't keep up with normal mileage bikers, while running pretty low mileage. 

Stats:  

Miles run: 17

Hike: 9.5

Warmest day: 70 on Saturday

Coldest day: Low of 25 high of 38 Thursday with mega wind SUCK

Snow: NOPE

Bugs: YEP, black flies

Place in Challenge on Sunday night: 6th. My fate is sealed

Covid shot, bad bad running, Spring, Snow, Chaos!

Phew, ok. 

so the past couple weeks have been a bit of a cluster, for a variety of reasons. 

I have basically had two solid weeks of crap/no workouts. Lame. 

The week before that, I really took step forward! I had 4 decent runs, as hoped for. I managed a bit over 24 miles in that time, which I was very happy about! Plus, Spring arrived, the snow melted, and all was well. 

That weekend we also cranked out about 15 hiking miles in some chilly but solid weather. Cold enough to pause some of the rapid spring melt, but not so cold as to freeze us to death. 

We checked off Pierce for April, and took the long walk up Moriah for the first time in a couple years. 

Pierce for April!

The following week..........

After two 12 hour work days, I got my Covid shot on Wednesday the 7th and the shit hit. I was DOWN and OUT. Easily the sickest I have been since I was in my mid 20's (yeah, I got pertussis when I was 28 and I'll NEVER forget that....) But this shot shut me down. 

Great success!

I suppose the good news is (thus far) I have managed to avoid the one in a million blood clot problem. Go me. 

We did venture out for a very messy/shoulder season/muddy/monorail hike on Sunday, visiting Madison via Valley way for the first time in years (we did Madison Via Howker last summer.)

I felt great during the hike, but a little lethargic/super headachy in the following days, prompting me to continue my "rest".

Ellington on Madison

ALSO, I was immediately slapped with three more 12 hour work days. SO, not exactly R&R by ANY stretch. 

And THEN, it snowed and was gross. 

AND THEN. I began to get these stupid, red, hot, ridiculously itchy rashes that apparently are something that can happen after the Covid shot. LOVELY. So that kind of slowed me down AGAIN GROSS WTF. I have never felt such itching. TMI. All over my poor legs and my shoulders and it was BAD. 

This is how my shoulder rash looked. It was wayyy worse on my legs!

UGH! So I think I managed 9 total miles this week and that is just plain silly. 

On Tuesday I can register for Boston and see how my qualifying time from 300 years ago holds up.

Hopefully this coming week brings ZERO 12 hour work days, NO snow, 4 runs, and 1 hike and NO NO RASHES. And one successful Boston registration (we'll know in May, from the sounds of things. And then we just hope for fewer Covid cases and all that normal 2021 stuff.) 

Oh, After my pretty decent week of mileage I was low key pissed to still be in second place in the challenge! BUT, we now have a biker in the lead, and you can't compete with someone who is putting in both running and biking miles. I did not even check after Covid shot week, because I was too sick/itchy/headachy to give a crap. And after this past week's lousy mileage I am currently in 8th place, the first 2 are almost finished, due to hundreds of miles of biking and there will be no catching them. Hopefully, in the upcoming weeks I can crawl my way back up at least a bit!