Week 6-Training to pace the Hawk 100

My coach posed a question to me this week and I had to ponder it for a bit.  Do you want to run faster? I have noticed that your speed has dropped by almost 2 minutes per mile on your easy runs.  Want to get back to that 10 minute mile you use to run easy?  Honestly, I think the answer is no.  I am okay with slowing down, and if anything I am trying to keep my heart rate down and slow down on my easy runs.  Plus, I would love to do more trail runs and that is an even slower pace for me.  I still need to think a bit more, but I am pretty sure the answer is, I am very happy with where I am at.  Now I do need to loose weight as my weight has steadily crept up even more than it ever has.  I am currently at the highest I have ever weighed, especially since I have been running.  I have gained almost 18 lbs, probably due to us eating out every.single.meal.  This has to stop because i can not out run a bad diet and my diet is the worst it has ever been.  Other than that, stopping the aches and pains is my number one goal right now and speed is not even on my radar.

Get ready for lots of cat pictures because well, he's so damn cute!

Monday:  Rest day.  Enough said.

Tuesday:  Fun speed work.  1 minute hard, 1 minute and 30 seconds easy for 8 repeats.  1 mile warm up and finish out to get 5 miles.  We all had different paces for this one and even though it was pretty darn humid, I was able to keep most everything in the 9-9:30 range.  Again, I don't mind doing this kind of speed work because i can do anything for a minute :)  Later on in the day I was feeling super crummy.  I am not sure if my body was fighting something off or the early to rise time was just too much but I canceled my trip into town to do the group run/running form drill clinic and just hit the hay super early with some extra vitamin C.

Wednesday:  Cross training day.  I worked almost 12 hours and called it good.  Is working your butt off a cross training exercise?  If it isn't, it should be!!!  I am super excited though to see the company grow in leaps and bounds and be a part of that!  We are getting ready to move from an LLC to Incorporated due to our success and I am so very proud of my hubby:)

Thursday:  Easy run.  The humidity was horrible and i almost didn't bring stella.  I had a hard time keeping my heart rate down and just keeping up with the girls.  Later after work, we decided to get off at a decent hour and go to the movies to see the new Transylvania 3 movie.  We love that series and while this one wasn't as good in my opinion as the other two, it still was pretty good.

Friday:  cross training day.   Again worked late, ate late, and called it good.  Right now i need sleep and rest post working for my body, and that is what I am doing.

Saturday:  The Snake 10 miler.  What a fun race!  I will do a race review in another post.

Sunday: I woke up sore with a full agenda thanks to my bringing seed ticks home.  Yes, Stella and I got majorly tick bombed, and we were both covered.  Stella is on flea and tick meds, but I am not since sadly they don't make any for humans.  I had picked all of them off as soon as I had gotten home on saturday, but around 2 am, I woke up itching like crazy.  Plus, I still felt like they were moving all over me even though they were not.  I finally got out of bed, took some benedryl, and got back to sleep around 3 am.  I had a million things to do to make sure those ticks didn't spread to anyone else in the family including bombing my van and taking everything out  and doing a deep cleaning.  I honestly haven't done that in years, so it was good to get all of my dog/kid stuff out, sort through all of it, and get rid of some stuff I had been carting around for no reason.  I had decided I would ride my bike later in the day.  I worked on house stuff and van stuff till time for Andrew to head to vacation bible school and then just decided to get some work done at the shop and have an early bed time.  I promise I will get back on the cross training/strength training band wagon next week.

Another trail race and another profession of loving the trail.  I have one more trail race this next week and i am already looking for more.  Even just 10 miles feels like enough to me on the trails and satisfies my running needs. 

Have a great week!

My first.....50 mile race with my dog Miles: Part 2 Training

Welcome to Part 2 of My First.....50 mile race with my dog Miles!  Check out Part 1 here where we get to know Cindy and Miles first, and then come back and enjoy how Cindy and Miles both train for big distances!  Then look forward to part 3, the race report!  You DON't want to miss it!!!!

These two crack me up!

How did you train for your first 50 miler?  What distances did you run prior to your 50 miler?

1   Training, oy-vey!  Prior to my first 50 miler I was 49 and did my first marathon distance in May of last year (49 years old) and two 50K’s in September and October.  Funny story, my original goal was to do a 50K at 50 years old.  After I did my marathon race (of course it was a trail race) I felt good and thought why not train for a 50K this year too since I had most of the year left.  So I signed up for a 50K in September after e-mailing and making sure Miles could do it with me.  I have never used a plan when training, I was doing it all by feel and with some mentoring from my great friend, but I ended up doing a marathon distance race before she did, so I was pretty much going on my own.  Since it had worked for me and was still working, I continued to do that through my 50K’s.  I never ran more than 26.2 miles before my first 50K and it worked.  I tried to at least run one 20 mile day once a month with a lot of 10-15 mile runs on the weekends between, and 5-8 mile runs during the week days.  I would take days off when I felt like I needed to and run when it felt reasonably good.  Keep in mind that I work outside daily, so I am always on my feet and not just sitting around behind a desk.  I finished my first 50K feeling decent (had blister issues I learned to address before they became blisters after this) and jumped into another 50K a bit more than a month after the first.  We managed to finish the 2^nd 50K an hour faster than the first with limited mileage between them, but I had learned that it was more a mental game after the first one than a huge training mileage game for me.  So, with my 50^th birthday coming up and feeling strong after two 50K’s, I decided to go for it and register for a 50 miler in the following spring.  I wanted to make it a destination race to celebrate how far I had come at age 50, and make it something to remember.  I live in Missouri and put the word out that I was looking for a race and they had to allow dogs.  An RD for a race in Utah reached out to me and said they would welcome Miles.  A few folks in an Ultra running group on FB I am in also reached out who had done this race and sent me pictures and I was hooked.  I was going to Utah for my 50@50.  I decided I better respect the distance and get a training plan for this one.  I asked around, found what looked like a good plan, spoke to some more knowledgeable ultra runners about the plan, and started training on it.  About a month into the plan I started to hate having to run.  How could this be?  I LOVED to run, it was my favorite thing to do and I always felt so good after a run, but I was looking for excuses NOT to run, as it started feeling like a job.  I didn’t like this feeling, no, I HATED that I was beginning to HATE running.  That day I crumpled up the plan and joyfully tossed it in the trash.  I went back to running by feel, but keeping the back to back weekend long runs that it suggested.  That was the only thing I changed about how I loved to train, how I loved to run.  I WAS BACK INTO IT!  It felt GOOD again.  I did see an interesting “running challenge” 3 weeks out from my race.  It was the 4x4x48 challenge.  You pick a starting time, run 4 miles, then every 4 hours you run 4 miles again, repeat for 48 hours.  That weekend I had needed a 28/16 back to back, so I decided to do the challenge instead.  Not only would it give me the mileage I needed, it would help me to understand running in the dark while tired without running through the night completely.  I thought it would show me if I could make myself get up and run even when I would rather sleep.  It worked!  It felt amazing to finish the challenge and know I could run even at 2am in the morning after going to sleep just 4 hours earlier, after running at 10pm and then get up again at 6am and run again.  It was the last little confidence boost I needed to feel good about running 50 miles in a couple of weeks.

1

      What are the considerations you must account for when doing long distances with your dog? 

      The #1 consideration is twofold, water and temperature.  I do most of my runs on trails with water available such as around lakes or with many creeks/streams along the way.  Miles will drink from the stream from my hydration vest, but I like for him to be able to jump in if he wants an have a nice soak too, particularly when the heat goes up.  I NEVER consider my time over his desire to stop for a water break.  Dogs don’t really “gorge” on water, but they need to be able to have little drinks often when it’s warmer and they are running distance, and immersing themselves in water is important to keep their body comfortable and not overheat.  

      A dog that can jump in water every few miles will be able to go a lot further a lot longer than one that only is drinking plenty, but not really able to cool off completely in water.  We often run on 90 degree F days, but we don’t push for time and he can jump in the water at any point he wants, and I will stand there as long as he wants to soak.  Keeping in mind that we are running on trails with mostly tree cover, so the sun is not beating down on us during the summer.  In the winter we explore more open trails and he does fine drinking mostly from my hydration vest without needed a good soak in a stream/pond/lake.  

I address nutrition through his regular feeding.  It’s not safe to feed dogs while running as bloat is a serious health threat.  He gets his breakfast at least 2 hours before we run any distance over 5 miles, and no dinner till 1 hour after any distance run.  I feed mostly RAW and include salmon or trout (skin on) for added protein and fat as distance needs increase.  I closely watch his condition and if I notice that he is getting a bit “ribby” as we increase distance, I will up the protein as needed.  During a race, I will share a bit of a boiled potato I am eating with him to beat the “sad puppy eyes” he would make if he didn’t get a treat too, but other than that he does not require fueling like “humans” do.  After a long race or training run (over 10 miles) I will have a raw hock/leg bone with lots of marrow in it for him to gnaw on for a treat on the ride home.  

As far as conditioning and physical stress on him, he has never shown any stress from our runs, but I attribute that to our training and building slowly to each distance and not over training.  Since he is outside with me most of the day, I don’t have issues with him having to go from the house to physical activity as he’s always on his feet like I am.  His pads are conditioned to all outside surfaces that we face on a trail or the gravel road, so they are naturally toughened up as well as being acclimated to the temperatures.  
      

      When we run in below freezing temperatures I do have a coat for him since he’s a short haired, non double coat breed and I use a humans running buff to cover his ears and boots for his feet as those are the places most likely to get frostbit with extended exposure.  We’ve only had to use those when it’s 20 degrees F or lower.  I also have a water resistant jacket for him for rainy runs when it’s in the 30’s and low 40’s but not freezing to keep his core comfortable.  

      What is your favorite gear for you and what is your favorite gear for Miles?

1    Gear for me is based on one ultimate factor:  Is it comfortable?  If it’s comfortable I wear it no matter how it looks.  I have a love/hate relationship with my trail shoes which are Pearl Izumi Trail N3’s.  I love how my feet love them, never any issues since I found them.  I HATE that Izumi stopped making trail shoes less than a year after I fell in love with these shoes.  I bought MANY pairs of them that I could find on line once I heard they were shutting their running gear department down.  I don’t enjoy the thought of opening the last pair and having to find a new shoe that my feet like.  I always wear compression shorts, Heat Gear from Under Armor to stop the thigh rub chafing, and I enjoy wearing running skirts in the warmer weather, no particular favorite, just whatever happens to catch my eye and fit well.  I love all the cold weather running tights from Under Armor, and cannot live without my Storm Gear UA jacket when the weather turns cold and/or rainy.  My shirts are as varied as my personality on any given day, the only concern is that they feel good when I put them on and take them off.  I do like the UA long sleeved running shirts for winter, and I have a favorite wool tank from Smartwool that is the most comfortable shirt in the middle of a hot, humid summer.  My vest is a UD Wink, which they also do not make any more and it’s too bad because you can stuff SO MUCH in that tiny vest and it rides well on my body, so I will nurse it along as long as I can.  I mentioned blister issues earlier and the way I fixed that was to finally break down and get Injinji toe socks, which I now LOVE as I don’t fight blisters any more.  My favorite are the Trail Weight Crew socks in nu-wool.  Not only do they love my feet, but they come in really fun patterns too.  You will always find me in a Buff to keep my wild hair out of my face and for the great sweat wicking properties (and when I drive my jeep topless it keeps me from eating hair too) and often topped with a previous race hat when the sun is strong or it’s raining.    

      For Miles, after looking at many options for harnesses I chose the Ruffwear Omnijore system which includes the harness for him, leash and the hip belt for me.  I have however switched out the Ruffwear leash for a Stunt Puppy bungee leash as I like the responsiveness of it better.  The Omnijore harness is made for canine sports where you want your dog to be able to pull without straining their neck or back, it keeps the shoulders free for proper range of movement.  Miles is trained to “go ahead” when possible and pull me along like in proper canicross events, so I wanted to be sure he was totally comfortable.  The hip belt comes with two good sized pockets and a water bottle pocket along with the emergency release system for safety.  I am a solid fan of Ruffwear gear, as I have had a walking harness for another dog fray within a couple of months of purchase, and when I contacted them with pictures, they sent me a code to replace it with another harness of equal value at no cost to me.  They stand behind their products with no quibbling when something is not right, and that says a lot.  I also have their collapsible water bowl that I carry at races to provide water for Miles.  His jacket for below freezing winter running is the Ruffwear Cloudchaser Jacket, and the boots are the Ruffwear Polar Trex boots.

       Alrighty!  That wraps up part 2 of the series!  Look for Part 3 coming at you next week!

Week 5-Training for pacing the Hawk 100

Another week leading up to yes another race.  I had signed up for Summer Run Toto Run when Mel decided to do the 20 miler, but another ultra friend talked me into signing up for another trail race, The Snake out at Clinton Lake the weekend before that. I am such a push over :)

Monday-Rest day and boy did I need it! I wasn't horribly sore, but sore enough that i needed to take it easy.  We are back to our normal routine post camp, so let the driving back and forth commence!  I am glad that summer will be slowing down soon, but tutoring may be going to three days a week for a while to make up for the 4 hours he missed last week and the 2 he will miss this week.

Tuesday:  Fun speed work.  I really like how coach is easing me back in slowly with some fun easy speed work.  This one had 1 mile warm up then 30 seconds hard, 90 seconds easy for 10 rounds and then finish to equal 5 miles.  Stella got to go with us, and while it wasn't horrible with the heat and humidity, it wasn't pleasant, but we were able to hit some nice paces for hard.  Coach wanted under 10:30s for hard, so instead of planning anything, I just tried to push and see something other than 10 on my watch.    We also got to run through some irrigation systems that were on and they felt magical.

Wednesday: 4 on the 4th.  We as a group decided to get our run done on the 4th so we could have the 5th off.  All of us like our beer and knew we would be imbibing on the 4th and not feeling like a hot run after that.  While it was hot and humid and we had to take a walk break every mile, we got it done.  I did not take Stella as the dew point was over 70.  After running the marathon cleaning commenced.  We had two families plus our family coming over to celebrate and honestly, I had not had the time to do anything around the house.  While I know they would give us grace as they know we have our own small business, I like for them to actually have places to eat and sit.  Our deck was in horrible shape, as we had just been storing EVERYTHING out there and Tony's mom and pops and cayce came over and just took over while I cleaned the inside.

Usually we come and go and do all the fun stuff our little town does including the carnival, hot wheel races, and car show, but honestly it was so horribly hot that we just hung out at the house and talked, ate, and drank while the kids played their hearts out. 

We did make it to the parade, but barely.  Andrew fell asleep and stayed asleep till about 10 minutes before the parade.  He didn't get to be on the float he was suppose to be on, but he still got to watch and got TONS of candy.  

We had VIP wrist bands this year, so we headed down to the field to watch the show.  I will never be able to watch them from our house again. It was AMAZING!  Tony will be donating next year so we can get VIP tickets of our own.  The show itself is amazing but being there right at the where they shoot them was perfection.

There was a band to listen to till almost time for the fire works and we had free drinks and goodies for the kiddos.  We had plenty of room to spread out and for the kids to play.  

Thursday:  Rest day.  Partial day off from work to recover!  We were up till midnight waiting for the traffic to die down and shooting off fire works.  We were all spent. I spent the morning cleaning up, recuperating, and getting ready to end the week of work that I had missed two days of:)

Friday:  Cross training!  We had gone to bed the night before around 7 and just laid in bed till around 8ish when we passed out so I finally felt sort of caught upon my sleep.  The boys had plans of a movie post work so I headed out on my bike for some cross training time.  Got some podcasts listened to and got some gravel grinding done.  Felt good to ride, even if they had re rocked some of my gravel road slowing me down significantly.  Since I haven't been doing much serious long running, I am way behind on my podcasts, so started catching up on my favorites.

Saturday:  Long run fun!  Since both of my upcoming races are 10 milers, I decided to do an 8 and call it good.  I hemmed and hawed about getting out to Konza to catch some hills, but in the end, decided to stay at home and take stella instead.  She needs to get acclimated so she can do a 10 miler with me next weekend. It was a glorious morning to run.  Not too hot, a little bit of humidity, and clouds.  We got out around 5 am and got done around 7:30 am.  I took it super easy and tried to keep my heart rate under 145.  I am happy to say that 74% of my run was done in zone 3 which is 126-143 bpm!!!!  That was really the first time I tried this an entire long run an even walked if my heart rate got too high.  Lindsey has been talking to me about HR and also training effect and it was fun to try and keep those numbers manageable versus just ignoring them.  It's just interesting to see where an "easy run" I did this week had an average HR of 161 (versus 138  today) and a training effect of 5.0 (versus 3 today).  I know weather also plays into this and today was very nice and manageable versus the day I did the other run when the temp was high and the humidity was almost 100%.

Sunday:  Easy 4.  Coach gave me a chose between cross training or running.  I woke up around 6:30 and the temperature was amazing.  What I didn't look at was the dang humidity.  OUCH.  While it was in the low 60s the humidity was in the high 80s.  I didn't take water or anything but it was still a good run. I kept my heart rate low and my pace super slow and just enjoyed the run.  I don't know if I will be able to do this every run, especially when I run with others, but it's fun to do when I am by myself and can take it super duper slow. 

I ended the week a little sore.  I honestly did not do my PT like I should all week and I feel it for sure.  My hip hurts, my foot hurts, and my other foot hurts from wearing my new oofos flip flop too much.  I need to be diligent and this week proved that to me.  Looking forward to more trail races in the coming two weekends.  It seems lately even technical trails are kinder to my body that they gravel/road and I am ready to get back :)

Have a great week!

My First.......50 mile Race with my dog Miles-Part 1: Getting to know Cindy and Miles

I can't remember exactly how I met Cindy.  I think it was probably via one of the various Ultra running FB pages I am on, or one the dog running pages.  I was intrigued at the miles her and her dog Miles were putting in as they prepared for various races.  I even raced at the same race she did last winter, but she started before Stella and I, so we didn't get to meet face to face.  We talk on FB a lot, as we have lots of goals in common, and of course we both run with our dogs.  I had to have her as one of my guests, so welcome to my blog, Cindy and Miles!!!!!  This is the story of her first 50 miler with Miles.  Since she has an AMAZING race report, I am going to break this into two parts.  One will be answers to my questions and then her race report of the 50 mile Buffalo Run on Antelope Island.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to running.

      I grew up everything horses and spent years being a typical tomboy doing everything horseback that I could.   I met my husband, also from a ranching family, and married, then spent the next 20+ years raising 4 kids and becoming a “horse show mom” with them along with their other various sporting interests.  I was never a runner because as a “cowboy” you never walk when you can ride, and running is only for when your horse throws you and you have to catch him because the walk home would be miles and miles in boots on your own two feet, horrors.  I had always been very physically active, plenty of chores on the ranch where I start all our colts, and was the Athletic Director and Basketball coach for my daughters basketball team through high school. When I turned 47, I looked in the mirror and realized that the “baby fat” from my 4^th child (who had just turned 14) was not going away this time and might even be increasing. I knew I had to do more than what I had been doing, because it wasn’t working any more.  I decided to start adding walking (on my own two feet no less) to try and get better control of what that sneaky thing called age does to us.  I have a lovely half mile drive way, so I started walking up and down it each night.  The start from the house is quite downhill, and I decided about a week into it, to try and jog it a little bit to see how far I could go before I had to walk.  I surprised myself, and even though I didn’t get very far that time, I didn’t hate it, in fact, I even kind of liked the feeling that maybe there was more in me than I knew.  Suddenly, I was calling and FB messaging friends that I knew were runners for advice and wanting to try and do more.  I signed up for a 5K on the advice one very good friend gave me and set a goal.   I was a runner! Granted not a very good one, but rather a heavy breathing, plodding, sweating mess, but I WAS running.  It just kept going from there to where I am now running Ultras at 50 years old.

      
      
      When did you make the switch from running roads to running trails?

I     I had spent a year just planning to do 5K races and improving.  Then that special running friend (who quickly became a much loved mentor) started encouraging me to try for a 10K distance.  So again, I signed up for my first 10K and enjoyed working on going longer in my training.  Wheels started spinning in my head as my body got stronger, not just my legs, but everything got stronger the more I ran.  I could lift things that had started to be a burden to me, as I had been losing range of motion in my arms, but found it coming back as the weight came off and the muscles grew.  I ran that 10K and signed up for more, and started dreaming about doing a half.  By the time I finished my 3^rd 10K and didn’t die, I bought into doing it and signed up for a half in the spring, that I would have to train through the winter for. Meanwhile, as I was training for the half, my friend herself found a trail race she wanted to try that was 10 miles, and encouraged me to do it too during my training for the half.  I thought “why not” and jumped in for the Psycho Wyco Run Toto Run in February.  While training for it that winter I started training on a local horse trail that I had often used with the horses, and I was in LOVE.  Getting out in the woods was SUCH a break from the routine of running up and down the roads. Using different muscles climbing up hills, over rocks and through creeks instead of the same ones over and over on a flat roads was invigorating!  My body hurt less running longer on the trails than the pounding on the roads, and I was able to go further and not feel like I was beat up nearly as quickly.  I saw so much wildlife up close on every run that I didn’t see on the road, and I didn’t have to worry about the next car coming around the curve or over the hill not paying attention.  I went into that trail race knowing nothing about the community of trail runners and learned SO MUCH just doing that race.  I was welcomed into a group that is all about the FUN, forget the finish.  It’s a party from aid station to aid station, AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT AID STATIONS????  OMGoodness!  It’s really an all day buffet at trail races, as they KNOW how to put out the spread with REAL FOOD like pizza, bacon, quesadillas, burritos, watermelon, potato soup, and boiled/salted potatoes.   I could go on and on as it was so amazing coming from the “do you want water/sports drink and GU” at road races.  These folks know how to make misery into a real party and coming into an aid station is not just someone holding out a cup, but they start asking you what you need, can they refill your water bottle/flask, do you need pickles, salt tabs, here is a bowl of soup to eat, and they even will grab your nasty, messed up feet and slather more trail toes or squirrels nut butter on them for you!!!!!  These volunteers are DEDICATED to making your run a success, as most of them have been there and love the trail family that you become once you step foot at the start line.  I was floored, and it was all I could do after that race to continue to train for the road half I had coming up and not just totally toss it to the curb and look for more trail races right then.  I did do that half, but since then, all my races have been trail races, except for a few local 5K that I will continue to do for the charities they support.  Road racing and I have parted ways amicably, but we just aren’t that into each other anymore since I fell in love with trail running and then leaned about Ultras from my trail family and I haven’t looked back since.

1    Tell us about miles!  How old, where you got him from, his personality?

      Miles is my heart and he is 2 ½ now.  I started running with Bogart, an Airedale I had rescued from a local shelter, but he had an accident playing with husbands Border Collie when they were chasing around the yard and caused a Grade 3 ligament injury, This injury effectively caused a permanent limp even after completely healed, but wouldn’t “hurt” him any.  However, you cannot take a dog that is limping to a race without everyone thinking you are abusing him, even with a letter from the vet explaining that it was not hurting him.  Bogarts running career was over just as it had started.  I was sad to not have a running buddy any more, but having not made that heart connection with him, I knew it was much less of an issue for him as long as he could run around pain free and do his own thing.  I put the word out that I was looking for a running partner to rescues, and got a call from one staying there was a dog in a shelter that they thought I should go look at.  I drove 2 hours to this shelter and she was brought in to me to see.  I liked her, but she was actually very short nosed and I worried about her being able to go long distance.  I saw some photos on the wall of other adoptable dogs, and there was one that instantly caught my eye.   He looked the type of dog that my heart dog Nick was, BUT I had shied away from any other Heelers because I was afraid I would always be looking at them and comparing them to Nick and they would fall short of what he had been to me.  This wouldn’t be their fault, so I didn’t want to do that to a dog.  But this picture just pulled at me and I asked to meet him.  They brought Miles in (named Samuel at that time), and he looked at me and I melted,  totally falling in love at that moment.  I asked to take him outside and have a short run with him, and off we went down their trail behind the facility where they run the dogs daily.  He stuck right beside me, clipping my leg with every stride and kept looking up at me as we went.  It was done, that moment that empty place in my heart was full again, and I knew he was coming home with me.  
  

      Miles was a year and a half old and they knew because he actually came in as a puppy on his mom and had been in foster till a couple months before when his foster family had to move and he came back to the shelter.  How lucky could I be, my heart dog from a shelter and he was already house trained, had manners, and knew how to go on a leash.  It was totally meant to be, he rescued me from my solo runs and my almost kid-less life, and I had a heart dog again.  He wasn’t Nick, he was his own self with every good quality Nick had, but in his own personality.  Miles is my Velcro dog, always at my heels around the house, outside doing chores, working cattle, and riding in the passenger seat with me everywhere I go.  When it’s too hot, he is waiting for me at the door when I get back home.  On our runs I can turn him lose when safe to do so, and he never leaves me, even when we flush a flock of turkeys, deer run across the trail in front of us, or there is another dog coming down the trail.  He loves nothing more than to hear me say “Good boy Miles” and will do anything I ask him to do, as long as he can be with me.  

      We started Kayaking this year, and testament to how much being with me is important to him is the fact that even shaking the first time, he willingly climbed into the kayak and sat down between my legs, and bravely stayed right there as we took off down the river without being held there.  I cannot express how much I love this dog beyond saying he is now my 5^th child, and I often refer to him as my son's younger brother and of course, the kids tease me that I love Miles more than them.  He has a “never quit” attitude out on the trails, willing to keep going even when I start questioning my desire to run another step.  He will come to my side, stick his nose in my hand, and go ahead again like he is encouraging me to “come on mom, you can do this”.  He never says no to a run, except on our short ones when we do an out and back from home and questions the turn around coming too soon for his liking.  He knows when we are turning back, and will give me that look and lag a bit begging me to keep going instead of turning back.  He’s simply the best!

1    Favorite cross training or strength training?

1    Our cross training is working cattle and horses mostly.  I don’t go to the gym or specifically “strength train” because all the outside working with animals and assorted gear/feeding we do pretty much covers that.  I am looking at incorporating Yoga into my life to address some recent blood pressure issues I have had, and need to figure out how to include Miles in that too.  He will probably just do “downward dog” beside me as I do everything though and that’s fitting.

1    How did you fit training in with your busy life of being a mom and work?

1    

      Luckily, I am self employed and my kids are pretty much grown (youngest is 17) so I can train pretty much whenever I want or have time depending on what needs done that day.  One of the benefits of taking up running at an older age and working for yourself, the time constraints are a lot less than being tied to a 9-5 job and kids really aren’t a big factor.  I had more issues scheduling around social responsibilities than “work” life.  Friends who don’t run don’t really understand the desire to run 20 miles instead of going out for lunch or shopping.  On days that we had all day cattle work or I was helping with the crops, I would take every chance to jump off the horse or out of the tractor and run around pastures and fields (I would carry my running shoes and stuff in a bag with me and toss it on and off as necessary during the day) as I could.  Often I would only get a mile here and two miles there and then another mile or so as it went on.  However, time on feet even interrupted is time on feet.  Most of my runs were focused, but many were piecemeal as I could get them.

Okay stay tuned for Part 2!!!!  We will focus on questions about training for both Cindy and Miles!

Week 4-Training to pace the Hawk 100

Oh boy talk about nerves.  I have my first night race where I am pacing this weekend.  It's only 10 miles, but it is my first real long run since my last pacing duties a few weeks ago.  Plus it's trail at night.  Gulp.  I can do this right?  I will joining my friend as she finishes up her last 10 miles of her 50 K.

Monday:  Rest day.  First day of camp for my little man!

Last year was his first year at camp and he was a newly minted 5 year old.  This year he is newly 6 and way better at handling the challenges that Camp Invention throws his way.  One one hand it makes me so happy that he is growing up, but on the other, sad that he is quickly maturing.  

Tuesday:  Easy Speed work (say what????).  Coach dropped the S work on me after the chiro gave her the blessing that intensity isn't going to screw anything up.  This routine was an easy one, the first 400 was to be 5-10 seconds faster than my easy pace . The next was recovery.  The next was 10-15 minutes faster than easy pace, and the final was recovery.  Then you repeated that cycle 3 times after a mile warm up and then a mile cool down.  The hardest part was defining easy.  I decided to do a 12 minute mile as easy, and work back from there.  Of course when we got up at 4:20 to head out, we were greeted by storms and lightening.  Back to bed and another wake up call at 5:15 to yet again lightening.  I decided to just sleep in and run post T ball practice to get some heat training and some afternoon/night running. I got plenty hot and sweaty at practice, so I was primed and ready to go.  I headed out with my nathan handheld full of ice water and several chunks of ice wrapped up in my buff.  

I use to be a night/evening runner and since I can't get my butt out of bed, I may return to that.  Anyway, I started my first set of 400s and got to the recovery round of 400 meters and felt like I had been running an awfully long time.  I looked at my watch and I had put 400 miles instead of 400 meters.  Whoops.  Stopped, got on my phone and edited the work out (thank you garmin for adding that to the phone app) and got started again.  It was tough and I felt like quitting several times, not going to lie.  I used the tall corn to shade me, and just about when I was done, my hubby showed up with fresh ice.  I filled my hand held back up and then stored as much as I can in my boobs. See getting fat does have it's advantages, I now have an abundant amount of cleavage that holds a ton of ice.  

these two crack me up

Wednesday:  Unintentional rest day.  Too much going on, not enough time in the day, and another morning slept in.  Not good excuses I know, but it is what it is.  My bike stared accusingly at me all night, as I had promised we would get out.  

Thursday:  easy 4 with the ladies.  It was feels like 84 at 4:40  am when I got up.  All of the doors and windows were completely fogged over which is never a good sign.  We all had our handhelds and we took walk breaks and took it super easy.  It was still BRUTAL out and the sun wasn't even up.  I truly hate summer running with a passion.

His "Smart house" that has functioning lights and amenities!

Friday:  Rest day again.  I know, I know, I need to get my butt out of bed and do SOMETHING!  Andrew had his last day of Camp Invention and we got to go around to all of the rooms and see what he learned and what he made.  He had such a great time this year at camp that he cried at the end!

Saturday/Sunday:  Pacing the Night Hawk.  Last T ball game :(

It's been a blast coaching these kids this year.  They have ALL improved in so many ways.  I can't wait to see them start regular ball next year!

Okay on to the race which happened post T ball, post sparky vet visit number 2, and post one fun birthday party.  Our idea was that I needed to get some night races under my belt as that would be the time I would probably be pacing Lindsey the most.  I needed to get a feel for the terrain and for how it is to run trails at night.  After a brief misunderstanding in which the RD was not going to allow me to either pace or register for the 10 miler, I was allowed to step in and pace her last 10 mile loop.  Well, we had several wrenches thrown in the mix including 40 mph winds  and a hellacious storm that held all the runners for 30 minutes and put me in my car for a bit, muddy trails that made our times much slower, and busted cut off times.  Lindsey still got her medal and swag and I got 9.5 miles of nice technical trail goodness.  I have a MUCH better feel for the trail now and a much better feel for how I operate at night/early morning.  Note to self, when I stay up that late, I get hungry....a lot so bring lots of food to graze on.  Also, while reading books is a good way to pass the time, bring either a friend or some other form of entertainment to pass the time.  Sitting by your self in the dark for hours can put yourself in your head way too much and that is a scary place.  I kid but it's kind of true.  I sat with another group that had a runner they were working with but the storms and the dark drove us to our cars.  I spent way too much time thinking about stuff sitting in the dark:).  Running at 3:20 am didn't seem to bother me, I felt normal, even though I had had maybe a 30 minute nap in the car.  That was the best take away message from the experience, I can do this.  

I think someone missed the momma

 I got home around 7:20 and had a shower, but not time to sleep. Andrew had music lessons and swim lessons, and I was pretty much a zombie all day.  I decided to try and stay up versus naps all day, and other than a 30 minute nap in the car between music and swim, I was able to stay functioning till 8 pm, where I crashed hard and got around 10 hours of glorious melatonin induced sleep.

I even made it down to the carnival to watch little man ride some rides

Another fantastic week of training with minimal pain. I  am sure post trail run I will be sore thanks to running on slick mud, but overall, nothing hurt while I was running other than my hand when I grabbed a thorny bush to pull my butt up a slick hill.  I did run in my new hokas and I did run in my PF sleeve, as I forgot I had it on.  Finger's crossed nothing gets too angry at me and stops my training this week!  Have a great week!!!!

June runfessions

Welcome to my June runfessions. I have found a new beer I really, really like Passion Fruit Belgian style White ale. I never thought i would like that combo and bought it on a whim and I LOVE it!  Grab one of your favorites and crack it open because this runfession post is going to go down as easy as a wonderful summer beer.

Crazy summer.  Working two jobs, both pretty much full time, plus driving andrew to and from his summer activity is running me ragged.  I honestly don't know how I haven't gotten sick.  Of course our small business owns us and I can work with the small business at any time, but I need to be aware that I do need some down time and some weekend time.  I love being a part of our company though, and I LOVE watching it grow!

Andrew and T ball.  Wow.  He really has proven me wrong in so many ways.  He hasn't complained about the heat.  He has hustled.  He has wanted to play multiple positions.  He has made plays.  He has gotten some hits off of pitches.    He is actually thinking through how to swing and how to position himself to be successful without much prompting now.  Again, I think it is pure confidence and as he has more batting time (we bought a back stop this year) I think he will gain that confidence he needs. I am just so very proud of him to trying something new, and not having a complete and total melt down yet (knock on a huge piece of wood because we have one more game).

Well, we are cat owners now. I  love cats and I love having them, but I am allergic.  I have lived with a constant head ache since we have rescued him, but it is worth it.  Right now he is going back and forth from being shop kitty to the house with supervision till we can work with the dogs and get them to not be so freaking high intensity with him.  Eventually I would like for him to be 100% at the house but I just can't trust the dogs and I hate having to keep him cooped up in the bedroom.  I take him to work as much as I can and that gives him a break from the dogs and andrew some time to play with him without having to worry about the dogs.

He cracks me up sitting on our heads, licking us constantly, and curling up around our necks to naps.  He LOVES Tony and is getting more and more use to Andrew.  I really feel like he thinks he is one of the dogs even though he is pretty mean to them.  

Well that is about all for June!  Ball is winding down, summer is really starting in earnest and we are already wishing for fall and the cooler temps :) . 

My First.....

Okay I have been wanting to do this type of blog post for a while now.  I have several questionnaires out for various runners on their first including specific races, distances, and running itself.  I am working on my first firsts  so stay tuned!!!  You won't want to miss it and it is so amazing, I will be breaking it into two parts!

Here's a sneak peak!  I want to be there right now with Mr. Miles and not here in Kansas in this horrible heat wave!