'bout 32k for my 32nd b-day

I actually have only a vague idea of what '32k' translates to in american (miles) & whether or not I ran that exact distance today.. but I think it was close.. & it was actually just a coincidence that we did that distance.. But anyway, it was another good weekend in the woods for me. Saturday morning, which was my actual birthday day, I went over to a local park to run in a 15k trail race. It was a great day for it & the race was a good one.. as far as trail runs go, I felt like this was a pretty easy one.. not too many tough hills.. no walking required.. Think I finished somewhere around 1:18. I pushed fairly hard, but felt good the whole way..good times! The rest of my birthday was spent w/ a little nap, some hanging w/ Mason & Matt.. had lunch, complete w/ gifts & cake.. which all Mason wanted to do was stick his finger in the cake!..what kid doesn't love that?? Then Matt & I actually had a date night planned, so we had a lovely, fancy dinner at the Capitol Grill downtown. Then sunday I had planned on another early, long run down in Brown County with Kim.. That's were I reckon we did around 32k.. I ran about 3 1/2 hrs & I'd guess (I don't wear a garmin these days..not really sure why..) we did around 18-19miles. I think the run went pretty well.. better than my last long, trail run as I realized...again.. that carrying food & water is a must for long trainings.. So equipped w/ my new camelbak & Gu's, I fared much better.. Knee is a little sore (not the one most recently operated on.. go figure) & I didn't manage to escape without at least 1 fall.. rolled my ankle & went down just as we were coming up to a creek crossing.. all it takes is just a second of taking my eyes off the ground below me & down I go!.. so my ankle is a little sore.. but nothing a little ice & meds can't handle! I'm starting to really look forward to this trail marathon.. just 3 weeks away! I'm already looking ahead at what my next race will be after this one.. we'll see! The rest of this week was pretty much 'business as usual'.. did a hill repeat workout at Eagle Creek on tuesday.. that was fun.. Did a couple short bricks on wed & thurs..some swimming.. can almost make the whole length of the pool w/ a functional fly!..still feels pretty gnarly, but I think it's coming.. Anyway, I think that's all I have to say about all of that for now!

Sometimes it's good to just Cheer!

This weekend was a bit lighter on running & workouts.. at least for me.. I'm still trying to run regularly b/c I do believe in 'muscle memory'.. so I had to settle for a treadmill hill workout on thursday.. after my swim & crossfit, of coarse.. Friday was my usual swim & zumba, but this time I added an extra crossfit in there for good measure! Saturday...this is where I felt like things were ''light', but I'd say it was a much needed break, of sorts.. Saturday I just did a short spin on my trainer, then it was Monumental Marathon weekend & I knew several folks running in it, so I mentioned to my son (my husband was working) that we could go cheer on the runners.. Well, I was actually ready to bail on the idea.. partly because we had been so 'on the go' the past couple days I felt like just sitting might be nice.. partly because I get nervous about where to park, etc.. But Mason wasn't to be swayed.. he insisted we go to cheer.. so off we went! I actually found my spot pretty easily & parking wasn't too bad.. not at 1st anyway.. I guess my biggest reason for going out to cheer is that, being a runner myself, I know how much it helps to have people out there cheering.. something to bring a smile.. So I actually positioned myself on purpose right toward the end.. We were at mi 11 for the 1/2 and mi 24 for the full. Even though we missed most of the people that I knew, I still had fun cheering and definitely saw the gratitude of the runners.. especially when Mason was cheering them on & giving high fives.. I know how much that can give a little boost that far in to a run, so we were happy to help in our small little way! So that was fun.. then a little later that afternoon, after some food & a rest, I took just a small, maybe 3 or 4mi run through the neighborhood.. it was just too nice a day to pass up! Then sunday I planned to meet with a group of gals to run some trail miles out at Ft. Ben.. that was a lot of fun! Just did about 9mi, so not too long.. need to go longer next weekend to keep getting ready for that marathon, but it felt good & I'm really having fun running those trails with all my new trail-minded friends..so good stuff! and that was that. Nothing too exciting on deck for this week. More of the same, except I actually have to work a bit more this week, so might be a little light on the workouts, but this weekend (my birthday!) is sure to be a doozey, so that might work out well. Better run.. my son wants me to go ride on his 'airplane', so duty calls!

Trail Weekend completed!

So I wound up having lots of fun in the woods this past weekend.. I wasn't able to come home to proudly tell Mason I didn't fall down this time, though.. I fell... a lot.. I guess saturday was a success. I started with a 10mi run with a few gals I connected with through a trail running website. We met at Eagle Creek and they wound me round and round through the woods of the park I thought I was so familiar with. You see, I do plenty of running in that park, but normally I'm on the roads.. so the trails were pretty new territory for me. I had tried to run trails with a friend last spring, but we never really knew where we were or where we were going.. we just ran around aimlessly until we found ourselves back at our cars about 6 or 7 miles later. It was nice to be out there with folks that knew the ropes. 1 gal brought her very cool dog with her, which was quite nice to run with her.. both of them, actually! Her dog, Sierra, knew her way around the park VERY well.. kinda made me want a dog.. as long as she's as good a trail runner as Sierra, that is.. So after the run, I made a quick change & head on over to meet Ginger, Sam, Shawn and Danielle at the Broad Ripple Crossfit for a free demo class.. Not sure why I went.. I guess I just wanted to get the extra workout & maybe help my friends venture in to the world of strength training.. not something a lot of triathletes are super familiar with.. It was fun. They ran us through their 'start-up' workout, which was 500m rowing (a weak point for me, as it turns out), 40 squats, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups (elbows in! chest to the floor!), and 10 chin-ups, which I plowed through in a grand total of 5min and change. Considering how sore I already was.. I'll take it! And that was it for saturday. Sunday I had planned on a 'long' run in the woods of Brown County State Park with a friend (of a friend.. but I've met her a few times), Kim, which was great! I don't think I'd ever actually been in BCSP.. I've been on a bike ride before that went down to that area, but I didn't do the coarse that actually went IN the park, so I was in for a treat! I met up with Kim sunday morning and she had planned out a double loop route for us (though she was going to head out on a 3rd loop to do 20mi...I didn't think I was up to that just yet, plus with my 10mi on sat and my sore legs from fri and sat.. I didn't think 20 would be a good idea even if I WAS ready for that distance) meeting at Ogle Lake. The 1st 7 miles went well.. aside from the fall that I took. Falling while running on trails isn't new for me, but this one HURT. I'm pretty sure my knee came down right on a pointy rock.. I'm actually scraped, bruised & a little swollen still from that one.. But I composed myself for a moment & soldiered on. It was nice, again, to run with someone familiar with the trails.. Kim took me up to some nice lookout points & the colors were fantastic.. such a great day for it! After the 1st loop, it was back to the car for some water & what SHOULD have been, for me, some food. I'm still kinda learning my limits w/ trail running. I had my handheld water with me, but opted not to carry it while I ran b/c with my history of falls.. I'd probably just smash the thing.. So back at the car, I just chugged down some of my Accelerade/IM Perform mix & carried on. It felt like enough at the time, but I always forget that after the 1st few miles, I get more hungry/thirsty the longer the run goes on (go figure, right.. DUH). So what felt like 'enough' at mi 7, was NOT enough by about mi 10-ish.. We got to the top of one hill/end of a 3 1/4-ish mi trail & decided to take off on a trail we 'thought' would head to a campsite, which I thought might have some water, which would have been lovely! But.. the trail did not go to any campsite & water was not in my very near future.. So after going down, down, down this trail, we finally turned around and had to head back up, up, up the trail.. Then.. what we 'thought' would be an 'all down' trek back to the car, turned out to be quite up and down (guess we forgot about those 'down' sections on the way up the trail!). So I was exhausted. Completely on 'E', but there's not really an option other than to keep on going until I was back to my car. At last we made it.. Got about 15-ish miles in that day & other than learning.. again!.. that I need to carry water & fuel on these training runs..it went well! I'm looking forward to the next one.. I think this weekend will be a little 'lighter' on the trail runs b/c I'll have another big one the following weekend w/ the 15k race & a long run with Kim back on the trails of BCSP. I guess I should also mention that after my run with Kim last sunday, I decided I hadn't had enough of the woods yet for the weekend, so I met up with my friend, Sam (Ginger's husband), to ride for a bit at Ft. Ben.. and that's where the falls really started! Yikes. Things that I don't remember being hard the 1st time I was out there were really tripping me up! I didn't make it but maybe 5 minutes before I had my 1st fall.. into some thorny branches, of coarse. My next one was a doozy up onto the cement block thing.. didn't quite make it up, but was able to catch myself somewhat.. on what would turn out to be my 'kickstand' for the day.. my poor left arm! Several of those kinds of falls later, my left hand was pretty bruised and sore.. As of now (wednesday), my wrist hurts and my shoulder is sore, too.. Oops. Hope I didn't do anything too bad. I don't think I did.. I'm sure I'll be fine.. But I really need to get better at this trail stuff and QUICK before I really hurt myself out there. I do enjoy it, though! I'm sure I'll figure it out..

So far this week.. Let's see.. I actually took monday off.. I was very tired and sore.. and had some other things to do.. dentist, Halloween.. Tuesday was an early swim (felt sluggish, but decent workout), then Crossfit (great workout! though that's how I found out my shoulder was sore), then later in the evening, I played a soccer game..so got some nice 'sprint' training in. Wednesday has been a nice brick.. man it feels good to get out there & just go 'short & hard' for a while.. Quick 50-ish minute spin, which always kicks my booty a bit.. then off for as many 400's on the treadmill as I can fit in in about 20 minutes.. which this time was 6 x 400 w/ a 200m jog between. Then back a little later for strength & endurance class.. I'm thinking, for now, a good plan is to lift 'heavy' 2 days/wk at crossfit & then do the high rep/low wt stuff 2 days a week.. we'll see how that goes & how long that entertains me! And... that's all I have to say about that..