Running

Well, I'm back. I got back from vacation Sunday, but yesterday turned out to be a totally craptacular day and I didn't even think about posting food later in the day - I was too busy being upset. (It was work related so I'd rather not get into it here.) Oh well, it happens, moving on.To answer a question in the comments: I live outside Ft. Lauderdale, so Key Largo is less than 90 minutes from my house.So, food today. Things were back to normal, starting with coffee and prunes:Yesterday I bought food but hadn't gotten food prep done, so this morning I scrambled a couple of eggs with a large tomato:Lunch was a salad, but with a can of tuna since chicken wasn't grilled.I had a few grapes mid afternoon (no nuts).Dinner was turkey chili and sauteed zucchini. My husband doesn't like vegetables in his chili, so I serve them on the side.Since I started tracking my food, I've been losing right around 2 pounds a week. Clearly my diet still has room for improvement - I won't pretend that diet pepsi or popsicles are anything other than a serving of chemicals, but my weight loss has been pretty solid in spite of those items.I haven't looked in on the other folks since I got back. Are people still posting? I know for me it seems to make a difference, if for no other reason that it forces me to pause and consider before I eat something.

I’ve told the story countless times about how I ended up a runner. My mom had put me in sport after sport, so the story goes, and my soccer coach pulled her aside. “Ms. English,” he said, “your son is a terrible soccer player, but outruns everyone on the field. Perhaps he is a runner.” About the time I started running (Circa 1972)I always tell this story to get the chuckle that invariably comes when the coach says that I was a terrible player. This is likely true. I’m one of the least coordinated people that I know. In fact, I often refer to myself as a “big dumb engine” — turn me on and I just go. But there is another side to that story that I’ve never really talked about. Another response my mom could have had was, “well, is he having fun?” It occurs to me that we are often so focused on being “good” at things like sports that we forget that we can do them just for the sake of having fun. At the young age of six years old, should it have mattered that I was terrible at playing soccer? Should it have mattered that I might excel at running? What if I loved the game of soccer and hated running? Should we always be in search of the things in which we are most competitive? I’ve noticed a bit of language that I key in to related to this these days. When I’m talking to runners and triathletes, they often use the word “should” — as in “should I run another marathon?”, “should I try to qualify for Boston?” “should I do another Ironman?” What underlies these questions is a sort of obligation. ‘Should’ implies there is a some reason or duty there. ‘Should’ could be interchanged with “must” pretty easily. I think a better question, the one that I often ask in return now is “what do you WANT to do?” Rather than ‘should’, I think the most important part of the equation is what you, the person making the choice, ‘wants’ to do. Rather than trying to see if something fits in your life, your job, or with what other people will think is cool, you as an athlete need to decide if this is something you ‘want’ to do. If it is, then you will figure out a way to organize your life in ways that will allow it to happen. There was a line in a movie, I don’t recall which one, when someone asked “how they have the time” to do something and the person responded, “I don’t have the time, I make the time.” I see this as a good way to think about what I’m talking about here. Many athletes are concerned about “finding the time” for their training, because it is time that takes them away from their spouse. But the bottom line is that it is a balance. If you as a person as doing something that you “want” to do, then you are likely more fulfilled, more happy and a more joyous person. This makes you a better partner in the time that you are together. This is why it is so important that the equation is “want” rather than “should”. ‘Want’ makes us happy. I’m not sure what ‘should’ does for us. I heard someone this weekend at a race proclaim, “I had the second fastest T2 (bike/run transition) time!” He was elated that he had found something that he was best at. On the one hand, I could say that this made me smile to think that everyone can find something they are good at. But on the other hand, the question I really wanted to ask him was “did you have fun today?” because that’s what really matters. Taking us back to the story with my mom and soccer, it’s important that we try to unravel our programming on this issue. It could be that from a very early age, you’ve been programmed, like I have, to only look at sport through the most competitive lens. Let’s work together to

My first thought was, maybe it was the waffle that morning. Then again, the "Elvis" at Wally Waffle comes with honey, so the distinct smell of maple syrup couldn't have been coming from my pores as the heat sucked all the fluid from my body. Nevertheless, there it was, clear as day, in the middle of the woods. Now, Ohio does have a strong maple syrup production base, but not in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Maybe the heat was getting to me. The Buckeye Trail from Blue Hen falls was almost deserted, except for the family that was returning from viewing a rather pitiful water fall. "The water's pretty low, so there's not much to see," said the man of the family. I thanked him and started bounding down the uneven asphalt, perhaps better remembered as "Beast Mode" hill. I've gone back to wearing my New Balance Minimus Zero trail shoes, which have a ridiculous number of holes in the mesh around the toes and along the sides. They make me feel light and quick. My legs are starting to come around, as I continue to regain fitness. Still, the first big uphill reduced me to a hike. One of the big mental hurdles I've had as a road runner switching over to running trails is that mastery comes when you no longer have to walk. How many of us have been proud of ourselves for making it through our first marathon without walking? That mentality just doesn't fly on trails. You take what the trail gives you, and sometimes that means a walk break. The idea is to just keep moving. This isn't the first time this idea has been a topic for Team BHI, which was covered in the series of Viper's Trail Tips last year. Considering I only made it up to No. 3 proves I still have a lot to learn and sometimes relearn about trail running. To recap, those Trail Tips were: No. 1: Scatter Step No. 2: Pick Up Your Feet No. 3: Walk the Hills These may be my core set of trail running skills. I can't think of a single run through the woods that hasn't required all three, usually with a reminder courtesy of tripping on a tree root and nearly flopping face first into the dirt. Knock on wood: I've still never fallen on a trail run, even when the smell of maple syrup tickled my olfactory senses and distracted me from the terrain. There was a mossy clearing just past the water crossing, near where I smelled that maple syrup, and it looked like someone had planted a stubby tree branch in the ground as a marker. It had the feeling of a gathering place. Perhaps some maple cult met here on dewy mornings to sup on syrupy confections. Perhaps the ground was consecrated with blessed gooey goodness. Perhaps I'm a bit obsessed.

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Yesterday I took a long run on the C+O Canal towpath. Starting from Williamsport, MD, I first navigated some 10 miles of roads, then intersected the Canal at Dam # 4 (Milepost 84). From there I ran upstream to investigate the section of towpath that was repaired and opened in 2012.I had my camera along, but kept getting bogged down with stopping for shots. There were just too many interesting things to shoot: canal historical artifacts, flowers, critters. I finally got a running rhythm going and told myself that unless God himself came down and appeared to me right there on the Canal, I was going to park the camera and keep on running.Well, a very short distance later I encountered this black racer snake. God, being omniscient, must have known that seeing this critter would of course cause me to stop and take some photos. Ergo, this snake must have been God incarnate.[Photo of God...all photos by Gary] I'm thinking about reporting this occurrence to the Vatican. I seem to recall recently where the new Pope created a lot of saints and recognized a number of miracles. Here's why I LOVE running on the Canal: A typical scene The newly opened section Milepost 84-88 More tomorrow....

You know what’s it’s like, running day in and day out and you hit a bit of a rut, so I needed a little change to my routine, I decided to do two things to get me back on track… First, a change to my route, I've been running to work once or twice a week for the last 5-years so it’s no surprise that I'm pretty bored of the 10-mile route. The same long London roads full of traffic, past the same shopping center, and dreading the same hilly bits and annoying traffic lights that take up to five minutes to change. So I swapped that run for an hour around my lovely local park. This means less pollution, different (and in fact harder) hills and not a traffic light in sight. It's amazing what a change of scenery can do-the last few weeks of sunshine has helped too. But then again sunshine and England are not the best of friends, so for a change of scenery on a rainy day I went along to the Jubilee Gym in Convent Garden to try out something called a Zone dome. Very basically, it’s a 1.5 metre screen that surrounds the treadmill and projects scenes from inspirational destinations around the world (there's five to choose from), so you can pretend you’re in California's Venice Beach, the Australian Outback or as I chose…Route 66. I ran along as the road moved with me, cars passing me, deer jumping out into the road. It was definitely different but after half an hour it started to feel pretty similar to a road outside…I probably should have chosen a more exciting destination! But the upshot is that just doing a few new things had put a spring back in my step. This takes me nicely to my second change, a new pair of trainers. I'm a Brooks Adrenaline girl, I love the trainers-on road, on trail, walking up mountains-they're my trusted friends, but I thought I'd treat myself to a new pair to play with now and again. I wanted something different so after some research I settled for the new Adidas Energy Boost. I knew I was taking a bit of a risk as I'm an over pronator and these are neutral shoes but I wanted something light to give me a bit of bounce. The trainers are great for short fast runs of up to an hour, but anything slow or longer my legs need the support I'm used to. So if you need a change: new trainers and new route are a pretty good call. More from The Running Bug 3 Diets that are good for runners 4 Major running for weight loss mistakes Eat your way to fewer running injuries 8 Quick and easy fat burning tricks Fiona Bugler picks three of the top diets that will help you shift the pounds. Here are four important tips to make sure your running for weight loss plan is a success. Here are five top tips for eating a good quality diet that may help reduce the risk of injury. Here are a few of our top tips to help keep you on track to achieve your goals and more. New to the Running Bug? We're the online community for runners with over 120,000 members! Join today - it's free and easy - and you'll get access to all our running events, training schedules and advice, shop, groups, blogs and forums. You will also be able to share and communicate with the running community in bugmiles and the great debate. JOIN THE RUNNING BUG HERE! It's free and takes just 30 seconds.

If last night’s workout was “mini-Jack” I don’t think I ever want to experience a “full Jack.” Jack is a Hero WOD. For those new to the CrossFit lingo, hero WODs are extremely grueling, butt-kicking workouts named and performed in memory of fallen soliders in the line of duty. Given that it’s the week leading up to Memorial Day, I have a feeling that a lot of our workouts this week are going to be Hero WODs. Jack is named in honor of Army Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III, 26, of Bethany, Okla., assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, Fort Lewis, Wash. He died September 29, 2009, in Jolo Island, Philippines, from the detonation of an improvised explosive device. Army Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III The workout named in his honor is probably as kickass as he was. The full Jack workout is a 20-minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible): 10 push presses 10 kettlebell swings 10 box jumps Last night’s mini version was the same movements for 10 minutes instead of 20. And trust me when I say 10 minutes was plenty. In 10 minutes, I knocked out five rounds + 10 extra kettlebell swings. For push presses I got through three rounds at 45 pounds and dropped to 35 pounds for the last two rounds. I stuck with a 16 kg kettlebell for the swings, but probably could have gone higher. Compared to everything else, the swings felt a little too easy. But since the box jumps and push presses were complete butt-kickers, the respite during the kettlebell swings was much needed. Hero WODs are hard, but they’re also awesome, and I’m really looking forward to tackling more of them this week. Rumor has it we’ll be doing Murph on Friday. I am equal parts excited and terrified. The post Jack – My First Hero WOD appeared first on Jess Runs.

Saturday morning I was beyond excited to spend some time running in Park City, Utah because the scenery was for this mid-western, now Florida girl…breath taking. Part of the reason I am so in love with running is it provides me with an excuse to be outside where I feel simultaneously peaceful and energized. I spent most of each day saying something along the lines of “It’s so pretty”, followed by a contented sigh (yes even though it was gray and cloudy!). I even started apologizing for saying it out loud so frequently, but I really couldn’t help myself! The green landscape, the mountains and the fresh air were outstanding…David is probably reading this and cringing as he knows a thought provoking maybe we should move discussion is probably hatching in my mind.Park City has these amazing paved paths running all over the city! There were bikers or walkers or runners on it every time we passed. You can see the Olympic ski slopes in the distance.This is the view from the airport!! I wonder how many people get there and decide not to leave?! ALTITUDE TRAININGComing from sea level, I remembered feeling a little short of breath a few months ago in Snowbird, Utah when trying to run…so it was no surprise to me that I noticed it here at 8,000 feet as well. Yet oddly enough with the altitude, the cold and RAIN I enjoyed every step of our 9 mile run…even if I was huffing to catch up with the speedsters Bonnie, Bobbie and Taylor. There was apparently a 41 mile relay happening sometime while we were there…we just thought it was nice they put up signs for us! Why is altitude training so different? Running at high altitudes decreases the amount of oxygen getting to the muscles and there is an increased risk of dehydration. “At 6000 feet above sea level, you exhale and perspire twice as much moisture as you do at sea level.” - From High Altitude Life. Many elite athletes prefer to train for a portion of the year above 5,000 feet because it allows their body to produce more red blood cells and enhance their oxygen capacity. However, the downside for many is they can’t train quite as fast…hence the reason they cycle from high to low! According to Greg McMillan, over 7,000 feet you can expect an easy run to be up to 30 seconds slower per mile to achieve the same easy level of effort. There is a lot of science you can read on this, but here are some plain English tips for the common runner who is simply ready to enjoy a run on vacation: Go as soon as you can upon arrival. Altitude sickness often sets in a day or two after arrival. Hydrate - as noted above you need more water here than normal and it’s easy to be dehydrated while traveling anyways. So consciously focus on getting in enough water. Slow your pace - This isn’t the time to force a speed work session, instead take advantage of the great views and enjoy a leisurely paced run. Consider walk breaks - Even if they are not part of your normal routine, a few pauses throughout the run may allow you to BLEND RECAPSI could tell you all about Blend, but so many other women did it already that I’d rather send you to them…I’ll have more about lessons learned but for the nitty gritty they did it so well and now you can meet them too: Love, Life, SurfA Dash of MegCotter Crunch Hungry Mother Runner Eat Move BalanceTalk Less Say More Purely TwinsCooking For the Other Half -TinyNFit Edible Balance -----------------------------------------------------------Gratitude JournalMay 21I am grateful for a great long chat with my dad while I was on my layover. I miss my parents!

Last week, I joined the millions of Americans who are out of work. Despite an exemplary year-end employee review, in which I was called a "rising star," and a merit-based pay increase, my position and other positions were eliminated as part of a larger "reorganization" of the department in which I worked. There's a lot more I could say about this situation, but I'll stop here and just point out that being out of work is fairly difficult for an overachiever like me who's been told at many points in my career that I'm valued, needed and fundamental to the success of the organization.So, with that, my job search is under way! I'm looking for a job that allows me to actually put my expertise with communications and fundraising to work. Many people use unemployment as an excuse to "have fun," reevaluate their life, reconnect with old friends and/or family, feel sorry for themselves, read, travel, etc.? Me? I don't see this as "FUNemployment." There's no fun in being unemployed. So, I'm using this bout of unemployment to...find a job. I owe it to my family to get back to work ASAP.That said, when I'm not applying for positions, I can often be found on nearby mountain trails. Last week I put together some solid running numbers: 80 miles, over 12 hours and 10,500 feet of climbing. Never before had I really tracked my climbing numbers, but last week I was determined to surpass 10,000 vertical feet. I hit Mount Falcon, Deer Creek Canyon, Castlewood Canyon and Green Mountain in Lakewood. It's worth noting that I barely escaped being bitten by a vicious adult rattlesnake at Castlewood Canyon on Monday.This week, I'm gunning for 12,000-15,000 feet of climbing. That will require a huge chunk of vertical gain, which I expect to take with an outing or two to Pikes Peak. Last I heard, the Barr Trail is runnable up to A-Frame, with the situation improving almost by the day. Running up to A-Frame will get me about 5,000 feet of vertical.Last time I was unemployed was March 2007. During that time, I signed up for my first 100 and trained harder than ever before. I got into super shape and did really well in that first 100, held in August of 2007. That period of insane training set in motion a few really good years. This time around, I fully intend to be back to work very soon, and that will mean some sacrifices in terms of how I hoped to train for Leadville this summer. Starting a new job, I won't have any vacation time. So, with that, the Friday excursions to Leadville that I'd planned for this summer won't happen. The weekends will be when I hit the big vertical. Between now and when I'm back to work, though, I fully intend to get in some serious climbing, because I believe in my hearts of hearts that what separates the haves and have-nots at Leadville is the amount of time spent on mountain trails.One thing I learned last week is that the guys and gals with daily access to the mountains have a huge advantage over those of who live in Parker. As the week wore on, I noticed myself getting stronger on the climbs. I have no doubt that, if I had ready access to the mountains, I could perform quite well at Leadville. I will continue to hit the mountain trails three to five times a week until I'm back to work.

The sidewalk was hot Friday afternoon. Despite my watch acting as a time governor so I didn't do too much, too soon, that's exactly what I did when I logged my first barefoot run of the year. The ball of my left foot, between the first and second toes, was tender from either pushing off or a result of the scorched earth. But it wasn't so bad. Sand Run was crowded Saturday afternoon. Sticking to a loop along the Mingo and Dogwood trails, my run avoided the throngs of walkers and runners, and apparently the GPS signals too. My calves and quads were sore from the barefooting the day before, and so was the tender spot on my left foot by the time I finished. But it wasn't too bad. Trying out a new reel mower Sunday afternoon already had me sweaty. After a couple glasses of water and a damp rag to cool me down, I hit the sidewalks again for a shod run around the neighborhood. The sun felt like a hot iron steaming down on my already tired body, but I just kept going. When I got back home, I had topped my highest weekly mileage to date. It felt quite good.