I Wear my Sunglasses at Night
Daylight savings hit and getting that extra hour of sleep this morning was a bonus! However switching up the clocks always throws me off a bit and Julie commented that she was also feeling the same. Well, that and being seven months pregnant... Julie told me a few months ago (when she was still fighting bouts of nausea), that she couldn't understand all of those women who loved being pregnant. "Show me where those women are, because I'm definitely not one of them." :-)
My run yesterday had left me a bit more sore than I would have liked, so I was a little apprehensive for this afternoon's run that was targeted for 15 miles. The upside is that friend and fellow marathoner Kyle Hanson, was looking to get in some miles. While we've been friends for several years we've never been able to run together so today's run was going to be a bonus of catching up and finally logging some miles together. Kyle works for a family business called Two Medicine, which is focused on providing workplace preventive health care plans, so our careers certainly have a lot in common and we had a lot to talk about during the run. Since Kyle had Sunday projects to get to and I really wasn't in the mood to run solo, we got a late start. Julie thought we were nuts for starting our run so close to dusk, (come to find out Kyle's wife Sonnet thought the same), but there we were headed up to Barr Lake for some evening miles at 3:30PM.
Interestingly enough and for one reason or another, I had never run Barr Lake prior to today. Neither had Kyle, so it brought in that great sense of adventure I always get when checking out a new route. Barr Lake has always been on my list of potential places to host one of our Saturday morning training workouts for Runner's Edge of the Rockies, so there was the added bonus of doing a little scouting work for the group.
I prepped Kyle that I would probably be running a slower after the 16.5 miles I had run yesterday but he explained his running hadn't been consistent of late so that was OK for him. We finally got started at about 4:00PM, and with the trail around Barr Lake being 8.8 miles long, I knew we would be pushing daylight and threw on my headlamp just to be safe. The soft surface of the trail around Barr Lake was exactly what the doctor ordered, and the run went very well. There is barely any elevation change to the route as it winds around the large lake so it was easy to turn on the cruise control and just let the miles tick by while we talked. The sunset was gorgeous, and at one point we spotted two large male deer running along the edge of the lake right below us. But we weren't moving quickly enough (only about 9:00 per mile), so with less than 2 miles left to complete our first loop I had to switch on the headlamp.
Just like yesterday, I stuck with the same eating/hydration plan but went with one less gel and upped the amount of trail mix at the halfway point of the run. And also like yesterday I had no problems with my stomach; if anything I probably could have eaten more. If I can continue to keep getting solid foods down during my training in the next month, that will be a big positive for me going into Sunmart.
Kyle and I headed back out to get in the remainder of our miles and this time we did an hour-long out/back to get to 15 miles total and afterwards we both felt fantastic. Whether it was the ice bath yesterday, spending more time on my stretching, the soft/flat terrain of today's beautiful trail run, or a combination of all three... I'm hoping that this provides good momentum and vibes for the upcoming week!
The only "minor" nag was that my right Illiotibial Band was letting me know it existed again, and I did have to stop a couple of times to stretch it out. However, considering that I just ran the KC Marathon two weeks ago and logged 31.5 miles in the last two days, I shouldn't complain. (If there's any complaining to do, I'll reserve it for the Denver Broncos who got THUMPED today by the Detroit Lions - The team is banged up, Cutler got hurt, and I'm already chalking this year up to rebuilding.)
Tomorrow I'll be catching up on E-mails, building training schedules for our upcoming 2007 Winter Training Session that starts on Saturday, touching base with members who ran NYC and other races over the weekend, and giving my body a chance to recover a bit. I've scheduled myself for an easy 3 mile recovery run, so that means Champ will get to come along with me. :-)
Have a great week!
My run yesterday had left me a bit more sore than I would have liked, so I was a little apprehensive for this afternoon's run that was targeted for 15 miles. The upside is that friend and fellow marathoner Kyle Hanson, was looking to get in some miles. While we've been friends for several years we've never been able to run together so today's run was going to be a bonus of catching up and finally logging some miles together. Kyle works for a family business called Two Medicine, which is focused on providing workplace preventive health care plans, so our careers certainly have a lot in common and we had a lot to talk about during the run. Since Kyle had Sunday projects to get to and I really wasn't in the mood to run solo, we got a late start. Julie thought we were nuts for starting our run so close to dusk, (come to find out Kyle's wife Sonnet thought the same), but there we were headed up to Barr Lake for some evening miles at 3:30PM.
Interestingly enough and for one reason or another, I had never run Barr Lake prior to today. Neither had Kyle, so it brought in that great sense of adventure I always get when checking out a new route. Barr Lake has always been on my list of potential places to host one of our Saturday morning training workouts for Runner's Edge of the Rockies, so there was the added bonus of doing a little scouting work for the group.
I prepped Kyle that I would probably be running a slower after the 16.5 miles I had run yesterday but he explained his running hadn't been consistent of late so that was OK for him. We finally got started at about 4:00PM, and with the trail around Barr Lake being 8.8 miles long, I knew we would be pushing daylight and threw on my headlamp just to be safe. The soft surface of the trail around Barr Lake was exactly what the doctor ordered, and the run went very well. There is barely any elevation change to the route as it winds around the large lake so it was easy to turn on the cruise control and just let the miles tick by while we talked. The sunset was gorgeous, and at one point we spotted two large male deer running along the edge of the lake right below us. But we weren't moving quickly enough (only about 9:00 per mile), so with less than 2 miles left to complete our first loop I had to switch on the headlamp.
Just like yesterday, I stuck with the same eating/hydration plan but went with one less gel and upped the amount of trail mix at the halfway point of the run. And also like yesterday I had no problems with my stomach; if anything I probably could have eaten more. If I can continue to keep getting solid foods down during my training in the next month, that will be a big positive for me going into Sunmart.
Kyle and I headed back out to get in the remainder of our miles and this time we did an hour-long out/back to get to 15 miles total and afterwards we both felt fantastic. Whether it was the ice bath yesterday, spending more time on my stretching, the soft/flat terrain of today's beautiful trail run, or a combination of all three... I'm hoping that this provides good momentum and vibes for the upcoming week!
The only "minor" nag was that my right Illiotibial Band was letting me know it existed again, and I did have to stop a couple of times to stretch it out. However, considering that I just ran the KC Marathon two weeks ago and logged 31.5 miles in the last two days, I shouldn't complain. (If there's any complaining to do, I'll reserve it for the Denver Broncos who got THUMPED today by the Detroit Lions - The team is banged up, Cutler got hurt, and I'm already chalking this year up to rebuilding.)
Tomorrow I'll be catching up on E-mails, building training schedules for our upcoming 2007 Winter Training Session that starts on Saturday, touching base with members who ran NYC and other races over the weekend, and giving my body a chance to recover a bit. I've scheduled myself for an easy 3 mile recovery run, so that means Champ will get to come along with me. :-)
Have a great week!
Running and headlamps...such fun! The best is running at night in town when everyone has their Christmas lights on. Good luck with your training, David! So cool you are doing an ultra!!
Great run and adventure for sure David, glad we finally got one in together. I learned a ton from you and really enjoyed your company and motivation, I'm looking forward to many more! Kyle
Kyle C. Hanson
TwoMedicine Health & Financial Fitness
www.mytwomed.com
David- please keep working on Barr Lake for a Saturday run as that would be awesome! Keep up the great training.