Sunday runday funday

Here is a little confusion.  So i technically ran my half marathon today, but I didn't because I ran it last weekend.  I know, right?  I actually ran 12 miles today, but i am switching those two runs:)  I am pretty sure no one doing the virtual would care anyway.  I should have just emailed them and let them know I am preparing for a 25 K, and have to run my 13.1 the week before I was technically suppose to.  My actual 12 miler today was okay.  Well, I take that back, MUCH better than the last long run.  Still not great, but I will take it.  I am hoping that i am just tired from this latest training cycle, which doesn't end after this race, because i have two more halfs this fall.  My leg doesn't really hurt at all when i run, but when i am done, OUCH.  I am going back to my massage guru this week and will go from there.  I am running no doubt this coming weekend in the race, but may have to re evaluate future plans. I want this GONE.  If it means eating a race, I guess that is what it means.

On to the long run.  We had 12 on the books and 12 we did.  It was amazing weather again, much like last weekend.  Nice and crisp when we started out, with the sun coming out and warming us, but not too much heat, and no humidity.  I ran in compression socks and shorts again, and my arm warmers with my hydration vest.  I was tempted to run in my jacket, but i am glad I didn't because I was shedding my arm warmers pretty quickly.

I was trying to take some sort of artsy cool shadow picture of the three of us, but it just turned out creepy looking.  We ran on linear trail, but started at a park at the end of one of the trail heads, so we ran around the park and then headed out.  We crossed two bridges, one of which had a floor made of grating.  Stella said not only no, but HELL to the no.  She went under the bridge instead into a field of grass and who knows what, and is now covered in about 1 million little seed sticker thingies.  On the bright side,  at least they weren't cockle burrs. 

I posted another pic on FB  of our run selfie, but I love this one too.  She is licking the top of my water bottle.  I am so going to miss her next week on Konza:(  At least I have my BRF with me.  We will limp, crawl, run to the finish no matter what.  I am so excited to finally race with my BRF.

After running, I was really craving a mocha with whipped cream. I ended up with a 12 oz minty mocha with whipped cream (i normally try not to do whipped cream to save some calories LOL) AND a smoothie.  This one had bananas and strawberries, and who knows what else, and it was perfect.  

We also had to get more carbs and stop at the doughnut place.  I was good and only had one even though they all looked amazing, and miss stella even got some doughnut holes.  

She is just so dang cute.  Can't stop taking pictures of her.  Between her, Deuce, and my kiddo, I have an addiction.  

After all of those carbs, we had to go shopping at the local running store, especially since i had a free babysitter at home.  They had moved all the summer mizuno stuff to the 60% off rack.  I have been coveting this shirt for quite some time.  Purple and mizuno are a huge win in my book.  I love their clothes and only run in their breath thermal clothes in the winter.  When I saw they still had my size in this super cute purple shirt, it was the sign I was waiting for.  Normally $42 and on sale, with tax I got it for $18.  SCORE!

I also got this yesterday.  My mom got it for me for my birthday. It is up and the medals are hung and I am so excited to finally have a medal hanger versus having them hung on my bedroom mirror.  Looks like I am going to need a second one already after the year I have had in running.  She also sent me her extra fitbit that she had gotten for free.  I didn't get my 10 K in the first day because i couldn't get it charged before my run, so I walked with my BRF.  I also had to walk last night because I took yesterday as a rest day for my injury.  Today in four miles, I got my 10 K steps and am now currently on 31 thousand steps.  May go for another walk tonight to stretch out the legs too. My new fitbit friends, all of whom work out, but do not run, are going to hate me.  

Since I am talking about yesterday, might as well talk about our day trip.  Took the day off from running to go to Topeka and get coffee and food and let cayce my brother in law andrew play at the discovery center.  I didn't take my phone into the discovery center since I have tons of pics of andrew playing there, but I did snap this shot from the windows of my favorite coffee shop in the whole world.  Hello capital building.  What an awesome view!  We had so much fun and I can't wait to go again.  I discover something new in that place every time we go.  

Have a great rest of the weekend or what is left of it!  I can't wait till next sunday when i FINALLY Conquer the Konza!

Injury update and a pace run

Even though I have been told to run normally, I think I am going to listen to my body and take a rest day tonight and knock my hill repeats back to just a 3 or 4 mile easy run. I am still very sore and my leg did hurt a bit last night while doing my pace run.  I kept my pace under 9:20 (thank you fall like weather) and didn't feel like i was going to croak at the end or even during the run.  I so love fall weather!  Yes, I am going to keep repeating that over and over till I am back to lamenting snow and ice in winter running!

Stella even seemed to enjoy pacing with me, as she has been dragging on pace runs and any speed work for that matter. I had even left her home the last few speed work sessions, just in case her dragging was the fact that she wasn't handling the heat very well.   She was back to her normal happy running self out in front of me versus slinking behind me so the heat must have been bothering her.    We tried out our new stunt puppy glo leash, but it didn't get dark enough to really see how well it worked.  I do think I bought last year's version off of amazon versus this year's version so it may not be as cool as the new version.  The reason why I think this is the leash part does not have the glo strips on it as seen on the website of the newer version.  Serves me right for buying something haste because the price was right.  Someone asked me the other day how i determine when it is too hot for her.  Anytime the thermometer says above 90 or the heat index is in the 90s, she is a no go.  Even on a short non speed work out runs.  It just isn't fair to her even if she really wants to go.

I am still concerned about my leg and have been instructed to come back in to my massage guy if it is not better by this weekend.  I have a 12 mile run that I am planning on doing on a flat route this weekend, and would like to try this run for the last long run of my taper.  I also want to be very smart and proactive about this injury.  I have been icing and wearing compression socks as much as possible.  I haven't been as good about taking advil as i should be.  I am hoping that this lingering soreness is not me being stupid by continuing to run, but just an after effect of the hard work that Doug put into getting all of the knots out of my leg.  We runners tend to be kind of silly when it comes to injuries and sometimes its hard not to think it isn't bad, especially when it comes and goes and doesn't hurt when you do regular things like walk or work.

Enough whining.  On to fun things.  Like this:

Look at that weekend weather report!  I am SO stoked!  I am ready to get out my fall running gear.  Say hello to the running tights legs!  

Also, I read this article this week and it made so much sense.  Four Reasons For a Long Run Gone Wrong  I need to start color coding my runs to see if I can figure out trends.  As a scientist, I love looking at data and interpreting it.  

Well, good luck for the rest of the week with your running.  I am off to go try and get my toddler to go to bed earlier tonight.  He was up till past 11 last night so hoping tonight is an earlier night!

Uh oh. It happened

Well, that title could imply a lot.  Maybe I should clarify.  I noticed my clothes had been fitting a little, shall we say, um, tighter lately.  I at first played it off that my core was getting super buff thus poking out a bit.  Then I started doing a 30 day plank challenge, and my core couldn't even handle a 45 second plank on week 2.  Hmmm.....Then I saw the pictures that my hubby took of me this weekend for my virtual half.  Yep, very clearly a pooch has developed, and not a cute one.  More like a spare tire roll from hell.  I am a food rewarder. I always have been and it is a horrible habit that is hard to break.  I like to reward hard work outs and long runs and any other big or small achievements with bad greasy food and ice cream .  I know it has been bad lately, because I always justify it with the statement of "well, look at how many calories I burned today, i can totally consume that".  Bring on the cooler weather and the pumpkin beer and thick hearty stews and breads and wow.  I have always packed on a few pounds going into winter, but this gain I am seeing is bad so early or at all period.  Now I know some of it is muscle but the muscle parts of me that fit into jeans still fit comfortably:)   I need to cut down and cut out certain things.  I need to stop food rewarding.  We need to start cooking more at home and less eating out.  It is a battle I have fought for years and have conquered from time to time, just have to get serious again and stop justifying the "I run therefore I eat" mentality.

In other news, we are firmly in the monkey see, monkey do period with andrew.  Case in point:

We have 6 dogs in our household right now.  Six dogs = lots of poop.  I try to keep it picked up daily.  Andrew watches me and now has been helping me by running around and yelling POO at the top of his lungs every time he finds poop.  Yesterday, before I could start, he picked up the scoop and the bag (already full from the day before) and started walking around the yard attempting to pick up poop.  Unfortunately for me, he hasn't mastered the art of using the scoop (its one that has a claw that opens) so I can't pawn this mighty fun task on my son.  

His curls are also trying to return after his hair cut.  I am so excited to see that they might be permanent.  What is cuter than red hair on a child?  Curly red hair on a child!!!!  

I did go to my massage guru yesterday to get some confirmation on what is going on with my leg.  He did agree with Dr. google and says it is shin splints on my left leg.  Because of the way I run, (toes out) forcing my leg into a different position due to the camber of the trails is causing muscles I don't normally use to become over used and angry.  He agreed with my plan of action to not do any more runs out there till the race.  I am wearing my compression socks during runs and also during the day at work.  

Yes, they are that sexy.  Too bad I have to hide them under jeans since I have to have long pants on.   I am also trying to ice when I am not chasing andrew and or a dog around and taking advil.  Not sure what I am going to do about my run schedule.  Waiting on my coach for advice.  I took the day off yesterday since I was planning to anyway after my virtual half I did sunday.  I had planned on doing speed work today, but I am SUPER sore from the work he did and don't think I can muster speed work or hills.  Will probably do an easy run tonight just to see where I am at.   I have two 3 mile runs planned this week since I am officially tapering down for the race September 21st.  I also have hills and speed work in a pace run that may be knocked down to straight miles.  Will just have to see how this plays out. I  want to be smart about this and try and nip it in the bud now.  While i have really enjoyed trail running, I am thinking it isn't for me.  I may be a total pavement runner after all. 

Off to finish up an experiment.  Have a happy Tuesday! 

Recovery run and a virtual Half marathon

I love fall weather. Fall weather means I have so much more latitude on when I can run versus only at the butt crack of morning and the end of the night. Yesterday, after all the fun we had during the day, Deuce and I took off for a little three mile recovery run.  Those are the best for deuce, slow and short.

We just had to walk through the park at the end and get some pictures with all of the pretty flowers.  I miss having one on one time with him and I really enjoyed our run together.  

The wild sunflowers are beautiful so we had to take a picture with them too.  

All in all, it was a great run.  I let him do some running off lead and he was perfect.  Can't wait to incorporate him more in my fall runs.  

Today I did this.  I signed up for a virtual half marathon to benefit cattle dog rescue.  I LOVE the medals, even if I don't have mine yet.  I was suppose to do it next weekend but with my taper starting, I had to do it today.  Shhh...don't tell them I did it earlier than I was suppose to:)

Miss stella and i started out with my BRF and low and behold, two or so miles in we found a full field of sunflowers.  Will have to keep visiting it this week because most of the sunflowers are not open yet.  It will be BEAUTIFUL when it is.  I tell you what, I am going to be honest here.  I don't think either me nor my BRF were feeling this long run. Yes, it was 51 when we started and i am grateful for that but for whatever reason, even though I fueled like normal, I felt like poop at mile 8 and it just got worse from there.  

She cheats on me.  She likes to run with my BRF sometimes, especially if she is in the lead.  Stella got COVERED in burrs and stickers today also.  Fun times.  We did two loops of our 6.5 mile trail and I think that was part of the reason why I had a bad attitude. I don't do well with loops.  I also didn't do my usual pre-run pasta dinner or lunch, opting for grilled burgers last night so there is that as well.  

Oh well, it's done and over and i am going to put it out of my mind.  This is my post race photo I will post to the FB group.  We couldn't get everyone to look at the camera at the same time LOL.  Afterwards I battled that typical sickness I have after a long race.  I have no clue how I am ever going to run more than 13 miles.  I drank lots of water and went to the park with my boys.  I think it helped for me to be up and moving.  I also ran in my compression socks today.  I think I am battling shin splints in my left leg for sure, so I had read that this sometimes helps, and I didn't have any pain the entire run, so I think it did.  I will ice and take advil tonight just in case AND see Doug at body first this week fo sho.  

After I devoured a chicken fried steak at a late lunch (hello 1300 calorie deficit), I took the fur kids to the pooch plunge.  It was fun and even deuce got in on the swimming. I could only handle two dogs at a time so came back and grabbed harley after these two were done.  For whatever reason, my water dog wanted nothing to do with the water and everything to do with grumbling at any dog that came near.  He was a super grouch and we only stayed for a few minutes after several displays of his grumpiness.  I took him to sonic to let him have a mini milkshake even though he was a grump.  I guess old age is starting to set in with my harley man.  

Hope you had a great Sunday!  We are taking advantage of the cooler temps and grilling out tonight.  Have a great week!

A week in running

It's been a short week thanks to the holiday being on monday. So much going on and the arrival of fall like weather makes everything so much better.  I could seriously just curl up with a big fuzzy blanket and the windows open,  and sip pumpkin flavored coffee and or beer:)  It has made my running towards the end of the week so much better as well.  Hello fast paces, where have you been???

I decided to take a rest day on monday after our 11 miles at out at Konza sunday.  Even taking it easy, Konza whoops my butt every time we run out there.  My BRF and i decided no more long runs out there till after the race.  She is still fighting some lingering hamstring issues and I seem to be battling some sort of shin issue, so we need to heal.  We have a 13 miler on tap for tomorrow and we are running in wamego for sure.  Flat and easy is the name of the game till the race.  I am going to use my long run for my virtual half that i am doing for the Pounding for Paws virtual race.  My dog friends talked me into doing this one and it benefits cattle dog rescue which is fine by me.  I get a medal, stella gets to do 13.1 with me, and my BRF gets her long run done.

I re-arranged my running schedule and did my pace run tuesday night.  It was super hot and super humid, even at 9 pm at night, and my pace showed it.  I wanted to hold a 9:10, which is my 10 K dream pace, but it crept up to 9:30, which is what my 10 K pace has been more like in these summer races.  I was disappointed, but I just keep telling myself, fall is coming, fall is coming.  I am not sure when exactly my left leg started bothering me, but it started feeling off on thursday.  While it didn't really hurt when not running, I decided to put my compression socks on and wear them to work, which has worked for me in the past.  I noticed more when I ran a recovery 4 miler on wednesday night, as it seemed to burn and hurt for the first  half of a mile, and then all the weird feelings went away.  The problem so far has been that it only hurts for a little while as I warm up, it goes away and doesn't hurt when I just walk or work, so I forgot about it.  Thursday night was another steak night date night so rest night.  Got to get these in while my brother in law still lives with us and doesn't mind baby sitting.  He did by the way get a job and starts monday (HUGE sigh of relief).  Now to help him budget and find his own little place to rent.

I decided to do my repeats friday night, my recovery 3 saturday and my 13 sunday, when my BRF would be back in town.  Even though she hasn't been doing speed work, she was a trooper and came with me to my favorite place to do repeats.  She tried but her hammy was really bothering her, and neither of us want her to be injured so she stuck with 400s.  I had two 800s, a five minute break and then four 400s.  I really do love 400s, especially after doing 800s.  My pace plan was 2 minute 400s and 4 minute 800s, and thanks to the much cooler weather (we actually were chilly in our typical summer running gear), I was able to hit some much faster times.  My leg bothered me on and off, but not really a bad pain, just a hey, I'm here and not feeling great feeling.  I have decided no playing around, monday will be a call to doug at body first for sure. I have been trying to stay super hydrated, stretch as much as I can, and keep my leg up and compression socks on as much as possible.  I am sure it has something to do with my calf muscle, so I am hoping it is fixable, and that running 13 on it this weekend isn't stupid.  At least if we can fix me long enough to finish Conquer the Konza, then the rest of the races I have are only 13.1 or less and not near as tough terrain.

We have been putting this off for a while but today was the day:

We took andrew to tony's local barber who coincidentally was named Tony as well.  Tony the barber did an AWESOME job cutting andrew's hair.  Not a peep or a cry was heard and for the most part he sat very still and let him cut.  We didn't use clippers this time but maybe next time.  

There was some bribery as he got a little fidgety at the end.  I think what bothered him the most was the little cotton stuff that they put on his neck.  Why do they use that anyway, anyone know?

We took him to the park first to wear him out and ride the train, so maybe that helped.  I am sad to see his curls go, but I am proud that I didn't cry.  He looks like a little boy now with the curls gone:(  I did have him cut me one big curl to save, and have already put it in his baby book.  

After the barber shop, we loaded up and headed to manhattan to play at the chick fil a play place.  Am i the only mom that gets a whee bit annoyed when parents dump their much larger and much older than suppose to be playing on the equipment kids in the play place?  The place was hopping, even at 1, and even a few weeks after opening.  We also made a quick visit to the local running store to load up on fuel for the coming weeks and to see how many miles I had on my current shoes, just in case that is the cause of my leg bothering me.  After I added in when I bought them, it seems I have at least 100 more miles on them before I should really think about retiring them.  Good to know.  Glad that mapmyrun now has a shoe tracker so I don't have to guess as much either.  

  

Have a happy rest of your saturday!  Hope your long runs are great and the weather is fall like, like it is here in north west kansas:)

Dog running accessories

At the latest dog race that I did with miss stella, I got lots of questions about what I gear I use when we run together.  I thought it might be appropriate to do a dog blog of sorts on accessories.  I know there are lots of choices out there but here are my favorites:

Hands Free running leash and waist belt:  Before I knew better, I would tie a longish leash around my waist and go.  I don't like having things in my hands while I run and i really hated having a leash in my hands.  If I can't swing my arms correctly when I run, I feel like I can't run.  I would often come home with massive bruises on my waist and back from stella pulling, as there is always a learning curve when dogs are learning to run with you.  There are tons of options out there for running hands free, but the leash and waist belt combo from Stunt Puppy are my favorite.  Plus, bonus, they are MADE IN THE USA!  Here is a link to their website if you want to read up on their story.  I am very lucky that our local running store carried their products and were very knowledgeable about them.  What I love about their hand's free leash is that the material slides so the waist belt slides and the swivels on the attachments swivel, so stella can comfortably switch from side to side without me having to re arrange everything.  I also like that the leash portion attaches to her harness but also has a hook attachment that I can take off from my waist if I want to hold on to her better.  When we are out on the back roads and I know we are safe, I will unhook her from her harness and just wrap the leash around my waist and hook it to the D ring on the waist belt.  Nothing left to dangle or get tangled or to hang on to and since it is light weight, I don't even notice it on my waist.  I have also on occasion y y yoked both dogs via their harness to the waist belt and have had no issues with both dogs on the same belt.  The leash portion is nice too because it is a stretch bungee like material that is short but can be longer if pulled on.  There is also a handle on the leash portion if you need to reel your dog in closer that i really like.  Sometimes stella is a road or sidewalk hog so I have to gently remind her to stay close.  I noticed that now they even have a reflective waist and leash belt combo that looks really cool and very reflective, something miss stella and I need while we run since we got out a lot at night.  I have even gotten to where this is my everyday leash for her as it is so easy and comfortable to use.

Harness:  Since all of my dogs start out pulling when we start running, I prefer to start them out in a harness, specifically a Y harness.  My last two running dogs, stella and deuce have stayed in harnesses even after they learned not to pull.  The harness I prefer is the Hurrta padded Y harness.  I have let them run in comfort flex harnesses before hut I really like the way the Y harness gives them freedom of extension in their shoulders.  Plus the padded Y harnesses have reflectiveness on them already.  The only problem is that my dogs have a ton of hair so you may or may not be able to see the harness or the reflectiveness.  I have not noticed any rubbing or hair loss with the padded versions.  I like the bright colors though and miss stella does look pretty in pink.  They are very easy to get on and off with one very sturdy snap on the side/back and one D ring on the back where I attach the running leash.  Note to those who use harnesses, this harness does not have any other rings on it, just in the back so you cannot attach your leash to the front to use as a no pull type of harness.  This harness has been through mud, snow, sleet, hail and rain and still is very bright and pretty.  I was lucky and found a local dealer that I bought my harness from but if you don't have anyone local, you can order from amazon for very reasonable prices.   

Cooling coats:  I started using Cool Coats  carried by clean run many many years ago when outdoor agility trials were popular.  

This one has been handed down from miller, to deuce to stella and is still in perfect condition.  I love the fit and I love the belly band plus the purple trim is perfect for at KSU fan like me.  You simply dip the coat in cold water (i have a specific thermos cooler for cool coat water LOL), wring it out and then put the coat on the dog.  I love the fact that when you put your hand under the coat after they have had it on, that they feel cool and comfortable.  This coat has been all over the country with miller and I, and now it travels to all of the runs stella and I do, and the agility camps that deuce and I do.  There a more options out there than ever for cooling coats, but this one is so simple and affordable and carried on the clean run site.  Just make sure you measure according to their instructions to get proper fit.  I am sure you can get them on Amazon and they are made by Saratoga Horseworks and are carried on the Clean run website.  I have not tried running her with this on so I use it post run and am currently on the hunt for something we can use mid run.  Will get back to you on what I find.

Other gear:  I am still on the hunt for some good boots for snow running. Last year was our first full year to train in the winter, as we usually hibernate and go into strength training mode.  I had too many spring halfs to do that, so we braved the winter weather and ran in all sorts of winter conditions.  I did notice that after 4 or so miles in snow, the snow would start to ball up on stella's feet and cause her some discomfort.  This winter, we are going to try some different options and report back on what we liked.  I never felt like she needed a coat for warmth as she has a nice moderate under coat already in place.  

So those are my favorite products for running with your dogs!  Feel free to leave a comment on what your favorites are and why. 

 

Photo dumpage

So here are some random photos I have accumulated over the past few days that I need to dump.  Like this one.

Love great free pictures from races. Wish I was looking up but oh well.  Body First, here is a good advertisement for you.  I think you should sponsor me and give me free massages for advertising for you at all of my races:)  What can I say, I love my running hat.

The local paper did a little pic from this weekend's 5 K, the Purple Paws Trails for Tails.  This is stella and I getting our medal.  

This was the new field for disc dog practice.  I guess I failed to mention we had disc dog practice right after our 5 K.  Miss stella was hot and tired so it wasn't our best but it still was fun.  We are learning so much about this great sport and can't wait to learn more.  We officially have our practice discs and have been practicing.  

She was very interested in what Nadja was doing with that big camera.

Love this one!  Thanks Nadja for shooting these.

A funny outtake from picture taking at the 5 K.  

Not really sure what I am pointing at.  A little down time with my aussie posse before awards.

And finally this!  My first 100 mile month!  I know that isn't a biggie for most runners but it was HUGE for me.  For some reason, it didn't count my 5 K i did saturday so I was actually at 103 but who cares.  Can't wait to keep logging big numbers like this.  

And finally, a few words about something that I have been thinking about a lot lately.  If your read my other blog at all, I whined about debated this a lot.  This weekend I missed one of our local dog shows.  I really thought it would kill me to see everyone's updates and pictures.  Instead, I thoroughly enjoyed all the updates but did not feel one bit of sadness for missing.  This is a show that I have gone to for years, no matter what, and this year, I just didn't enter.  Partially because we are supporting a fourth member of the family for now and I just couldn't justify spending a hotel/food costs on me and put the family in a financial hard spot.  Partially because I just haven't had the time and or desire to drive out to the practice fields and practice.  I have learned at the beginning of this year, when I put the time in to work on issues and practice, they get marginally better in the show ring, but when I use agility shows as practice, I walk away very disappointed.  So, to combat these issues, I am  not entering anymore shows till we are back down to a family of three, AND I have put in good solid work on deuce.  Right now, I am still battling allergy issues with him and the affects of yet another round of steroids.  I am sure that having this aggravations will not help his success in  agility.  Agility is just going to go on the down low for now and I am at peace with that decision.  I do miss my friends very very much and may have to plan a KC day trip just to see all of them.