Spring Running Thread

[rocknrollgirl]

So when I started the winter thread, I was running in shorts and confused by the weather. Now I am starting the spring thread, waiting for snow and confused by the weather!

I did the local trail race yesterday. The options were 5k, 10k, 20k. My original plan was to run the 20k as a lead up to North Face on May 1st. But the hamstring issue caused me to drop down to the 10k . I thought is was smarter since I am recovering well to not push it. The race is small townish, local. Many of my students were volunteering, so they were excited to see us there.

Our plan was to warm up for a few miles, run the 10k and then run a few more miles after as a cool down. Got through the warm up, felt great. Lined up, started the race, felt good. They ran us double track for about 1.5 miles and the we made the turn into 3 miles of hilly single track. On the way out on the double track I ran with a few ladies that I know and chatted a bit, and then when we hit the single track, I took off. I got bogged down behind a few folks that were tip toeing on bridges and try to skirt around mud. This is my local park, so I know every root and rock. So in the first 1/2 mile of single track, I passed 5 people and never looked back. Now I am not fast by any means, but I leaned yesterday that I am better than the average bear on trails, that is where I am comfortable.

Just about the time when we made our turn in, my stomach started to get wonky. I had kept my nutrition the same as every Saturday long run. The only thing I did differently was take all of my morning vitamins and pills ( on a partially empty stomach) when I got up. So the discomfort started to get pretty bad. Not nausea, but a feeling of pressure and heartburn. I was really not wanting to slow down and stop so I just pushed it back and kept running.

So I get done and make it across the finish line, manned by my students. They are collecting the finish times. They are asking me my age group and I look up at them, hold up a finger, and walk over behind a tree and throw up 4 times. Nice. I have NEVER thrown up after a race. Not sure what was going on. I felt better immediately, so I must have needed it. The only down side was that after throwing up and cooling down, I did not feel like going back out for more miles. I was a bit bummed about that. So I only got in a total of 8.5 miles.

So no worse for the wear today. Felt a bit sluggish yesterday post race, stomach was not wanting food, but it seems to have all passed.

Onward we trudge.

[emily_in_nc]

Ugh, sorry about that tummy problem. You may never know what caused it, but at least you finished and had a good run before that.

[OakLeaf]

Ugh, RnR. I don't do well with pills on a less-than-full stomach either. Running, even racing after that? Yikes. Your crossing the finish line though reminded me of the fourth of July five-miler year before last. The finish line volunteer asked me my age twice as I'm trying not to puke, and I finally flashed a full hand twice, for "5-5"

So, update from the ankle adventures: the LMT released some stuff in the tibialis anterior, the chiropractor released some stuff in the big toe flexors. I kept a brace on it to ride to the farmers' market yesterday, did a little yoga and took the rest of the day off. I forgot to ask the chiropractor what kind of taping he'd recommend, and I honestly had a hard time deciding whether it was better to tape to inhibit muscles or to activate them. In the end I taped the tibialis anterior with my foot in hard dorsiflexion and the tape wrapped around the bottom of my foot to the lateral side, with shorter pieces of tape in an "X" pattern directly over the swelling (which there was still a little this morning). I did 12 miles easy pace and bailed when it started feeling a little loose (not painful). If I'd been healthy it would've been my second 20-miler of the cycle - still, in his training plans, Jack Daniels recommends not going over 2-1/2 hours no matter how slow you are, so from that point of view I would've only been doing 15 miles today. Some alternating heat/cold and then some electrical stimulation afterward, and it feels pretty much okay. Fingers crossed.

[Catrin]

Hope things continue to feel better Oakleaf & RnR!

While I am decidedly not in the running world, I'm always interested and amazed to read of your adventures here. Even before my fall and eventual knee surgery running didn't come easy to me - though I was easing my way into trail running. I'm just plain amazed at the very idea of "only" running 15 miles, let alone more!

[rocknrollgirl]

Hey Oak, we all have our fingers crossed for you. I hope your ankle is improving daily.

I am still battling an angry belly. I think it is from my spring allergies. I get this at some point every spring, nausea and upset stomach from post nasal drip. So gross. The upset stomach boarders on being debilitating. It makes for very unpleasant running. Heck it makes for very unpleasant everything. All I want to do is eat crackers and drink tea, Yuk.

[OakLeaf]

I'd known for a while that nausea outside of my workouts is often a sign of not enough sodium leading to dehydration. But I've just recently read that GI distress *during* a workout can more often than not be because of dehydration, and it makes perfect sense - if I'm only marginally hydrated going into a workout, then I'm only going to get more dehydrated as it goes on, especially when it's hotter and/or tougher. Might be an issue for you too with the weather getting warmer. Ever since my bout with dehydration over the winter, I've been careful to slam a full water bottle with an electrolyte tablet before any hard workout, and it's really helped.

So, last week the small college pool where I deep-water run was closed for spring break, but I got in there Monday and Tuesday, did a partial land workout Wednesday and felt pretty much okay. The ankle is still a little puffy but not painful, the other Achilles is worrisome but improving as I really focus on getting my glutes to fire. Haven't decided yet whether to drive back up to the pool again today or try a lap of the bridges. Day by day.

[rocknrollgirl]

Oak,
How much longer until the race? Three weeks or so? When would you normally start your taper?

We drove north today to get some bigger hills. We have not made the trip since Dec, right before the great hamstring debacle of 2016. I was a bit worried given my barfy status last w/e and the state of my quads this week post race, so I took an extra recovery day.

There really is no easy way to start your trail run at this park, it is either up and to the right, or up and to the left. So we opted today to start at a neighboring park and run those trails and then a short road stretch and then into our intended destination. That way we had a bit more of a warm up and some extra mileage.

We got in 11 miles total, and about 1200 feet of climbing, so mission accomplished. My goal today was to just run easy, walk the big climbs and pace myself. At about 2 miles in my legs said, no thanks, we do not want to do this today and my stomach felt gross. So I kept it to a trudge. About 1/2 way through my stomach settled. No help for the quads, they hurt on all the downhills and made my knees barky. But I blocked it all out and got through. And here is the crazy thing. I walked all the big hills and felt awful for 9 of 11 miles and my pace was the same as the last time I ran there, when we only ran 8 miles, I felt great and ran all of the hills.

Go figure. There is something to be said for trudging. So I will draw on this day when things get tough at North Face, cuz it was not fun today. Today put the work in workout. But I did meet lots of nice folks out with their canine friends and saw some mt bike folks that I know, so that was fun.

[OakLeaf]

Yep, three weeks from today. Lots of non-running stuff has to happen between now and then too ... Your race is the end of the month?

Mine was pretty much of a trudge yesterday too, but I got it done without aggravating anything. Besides the injuries it was super hot and humid, which it seems like I've been complaining about all winter, but it hasn't been consistent, so I'm still not even close to acclimated to 80° and 80% humidity. I only did four miles at goal pace (which honestly, my time goal is pretty much out the window at this point), even took a couple of walk breaks, but got all 17 miles done. The ankle was kind of twingey, especially going around corners - that's one good thing about Boston being a more or less straight line point-to-point course - but it doesn't feel any worse this morning. The other Achilles I'm just trying to be as careful with as I can. Day by day.

[rocknrollgirl]

Two hours of trail running today, in the rain. I had a tough time convincing my husband on the way to the park that it was going to be AWESOME! But, once you are soaking wet, you can't get any wetter.

Actually on the way over we reminisced about all of the mountain bike races we have done in pouring rain/sleet/snow/hub deep mud. The last one of those was the last time. we had over 500 dollars in repairs to our bikes! Today, I just had wet gear.

[Crankin]

This is true. Thinking of all the trail runners and people prepping for the marathon today. We decided to walk to the gym (.99 mile the short way) for tabata. OK, it was sprinkling on the way there, and the weather forecasts were very conflicting, so off we went. Class was over and when we went out the door it was raining lightly. Then it got heavier. Ugh. I had a hoodie on, with thumbholes, sort of stretchy, wicking material, but it was only about 50 out. The road into the gym is a downhill, going home, and I really wanted to run, but DH was lagging, as the class wore him out. He had shorts on, too and a heavy cotton hoodie. Once we got to the bottom of the hill, it was not much further to the condo, but I was seriously concerned about hypothermia; i don't think i have ever walked so fast, less than a 15 minute mile. When I took my capris off, the tops of my thighs were turning red, so I am glad I got home when I did.
Will have to wait to show DH the trail and neighborhood way to get home from the club. Today, we needed the fast way!

[Catrin]

Sounds like challenging weather! Here we've had amazing winds today - could actually barely stand up against a couple of the wind bursts. My car even tried to move over into the next lane No hiking for me today, obviously, but glad both of you were able to get out regardless of the weather!

[rocknrollgirl]

It was probably about 48 when we ran today, but in the first mile, it feels like 20 degrees warmer. That is one nice thing about running in cold or wet weather is that you do generate a ton of heat. That being said, we were in the right gear, so it does make a difference.

And it has been CRAZY windy here all week. I almost got knocked over in the grocery store parking lot the other day.

[rocknrollgirl]

Can you believe that I am sitting here waiting for snow on April 9th? This is crazy!
After last week's long run in the rain, we decided to get up and out early this weekend to try and beat the storm. We made it back just as the rain started coming in. It was cold this morning, I think around 26 when we started. Cold enough to freeze my hose again. We only h ad to run for an hour because it is a drop down week. One more really long run to go before race day in a few weeks.

Hope you all had a good week. Oak if you are checking in, I hope your achilles is feeling better. Stay warm and dry North East TE'ers, cuz it is coming your way!!

[Crankin]

Thankfully, we are too far north. We had our snow last week.

[rocknrollgirl]

Thankfully, we are too far north. We had our snow last week.

Just rain so far, but that nasty chilly kind. The 37 degree kind. Been hunkered down all day grading papers and puttering.