The Holidays

This ends week #2 of winter break.  So far, it has been very nice.  I left Nashville on a Friday, drove to north Georgia to spend the night with my uncle, aunt and cousins.  I then drove down to Gainesville, FL, to spend a couple nights with my sister and brother-in-law, who are in med and pharm school, respectively.  Go Gators!  Finally, on Monday, I drove home to Brooksville.

My running has been mediocre.  I ran short 3-4milers on Mon, Wed, and Thurs, followed by a long run on Saturday on the trail.  The three short runs all felt bad.  My legs feel tired; my left achilles is very sore, and my right shin would tighten up.  I don't know what is going on.  I wanted to do the 15mi trail loop on Saturday out at the Withlacoochee State Forest.  The trail is all sandy, sunny, singletrack the the oak and pines of central Florida.  I was feeling pretty good and going along fine until I took a wrong turn.  The bonus miles added about 2mi and some scenic lakeside running.  As I was looking at a map, I flagged down a ranger in his SUV.  After asking him for directions and if the park had any water, I soon learned that he knew nothing and was absolutely useless.  I'm glad I wasn't in any danger.  After getting back on track, I ran for a few more miles and then just felt worn out.  It wasn't so much a wall feeling, just tired and sore already.  Not really feeling like pushing myself mentally or physically, I decided to walk the last mile or two back to the car.  All together I probably did around 12 or so.  I am not really sure.  It was over 2.5h though and a beautiful day.  Hopefully, I can just start feeling better and doing better.  Those 31 miles in Huntsville are going to be a bear at this rate.

Christmas was great.  The family all enjoyed nice family meals on Christmas eve and Christmas lunch.  Our tradition is to go to the gramps' place on Eve to eat dinner and open gifts from family (as opposed to those from Santa).  The last few years we have enjoyed prime rib and fixins.  After dinner we all sit down and distribute the gifts.  Then we go around and open them one at a time in age order, so my little sister starts.  This was the first Christmas for my sister and her husband, so it was nice to share with them.  It was also the first Christmas that she was not at home Christmas morning.  When we wake up, which came around 9am this year, we first eat some breakfast.  The grandparents used to come over early but now they wait until lunchtime.  My parents and we children gather around and enjoying present opening - round 2, again by age.  All together, it was a very nice holiday spent with family!

I have also gotten some good hangout time with friends this break.  My buddy got me into tie-dying, so we have done a couple batches.  This time, I dyed 3 shirts and a set of bed sheets.  They turned out really well, and my collection is growing.  Also, today I am getting some good hangout time with a friend who is home from Fairbanks.  Yesterday there was a 99degree difference in temp from Fairbanks (-32 F) and Brooksville (67 F).  Welcome home!

Some relevant gift highlights include a new Timex Ironman watch (w/ lap memory) and money for a climbing rope and draws.  I am drawn to the Petzl stuff, but may go with BD or Metolius.  If you have any suggestions feel free to post.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Finals Finale

What a week!  This was the hardest finals week I have had in my five semesters at Vanderbilt.  All five of my classes had exams.  Fortunately, the exams were spaced well, but I was still study non-stop for most of it.  I haven't been in that stressed out 'get er done' mode since last fall in the midst of eighteen hours.  All of this meant that my running has been sporadic.  This is the fourth week since the marathon.  My mileage has been 0, 26, 15, currently 22.  I've been feeling progressively better since the marathon, which only makes me want to run more.  One achilles has been bothering me some in the last couple weeks.  

Most of my runs have been general aerobic 6-8mi runs with friends about 8:00/mi pace.  They have been good for keeping me in shape and helping me run faster.  I have also fit in some short runs before exams, even one ten minute jog.  

Today I enjoyed a very nice, and tough, twelve miler on the trails of Percy Warner.  The "Red, White, & Blue" was a soggy, muddy, leaf covered track this morning making footing vital.  My Brooks Cascadias handle the mud pretty well with their aggressive lugs.  Those logs tend to be rather slippery and hard when wet though, so I was extra cautious.  These will carry me through Mountain Mist, trail very similar to that of Monte Sano, so it's good to get some good running in on similar trail and similar winter conditions.  

I plan on getting some 5-8mi in tomorrow and then heading home to FL for a couple weeks for winter break.  There, I'll have to make do with the sandy and flat trails of Withlacoochee Forest.  I plan on getting several back to back 10-15mi runs in out there.  

Ah.  It is winter break.  Five semesters down, three to go.  Here's to you Vandy!

Little by Little

That's how I'm approaching the next 5weeks or whatever until Mountain Mist.  I am definitely still in recovery mode, still overcoming some aches and pains and tight spots.  This last week was aboout 26miles total.  That makes my weekly total equal to the amount I ran two Sundays before.  That's okay.  I'd rather be well recovered and a little undertrained than overtrained and injured.  

This is the beginning of finals week(s), so things have picked up fast.  I will definitely be getting my miles in though.  In fact, they will be a much desired break and release from studying and exams.  

The last week had some very nice runs with friends.  Saturday was particularly nice because it was a beautiful crisp morning on the trails of Percy Warner with a really good friend.  We had blast.  The 7mi were just about what I wanted and needed too.  

This week I plan on doing a 12mi run at PWP on Wednesday morning with locals and friends.  Should be fun.  I will be resisting the hammerfest that may develop.

*sigh*

It's been over a week since the marathon.  The first couple days were great, a real high, after such a successful race.  Since then, though, I've been down.  At home for Thanksgiving break, I just didn't feel motivated to run.  I didn't do much of anything in fact.

I was pretty sore for the first couple of days after the race.  I'd say the soreness was gone by Thanksgiving (4 days) and I attempted to go on a run with my dog.  He was uncooperative, though, and I was getting pain in my left knee (the one that was hurting earlier in the year).  That was a very short run.  Today was the first real run I've done.  It was a short 49mins with two friends at a real casual pace.  I felt very lethargic and slow.  Going up an uphill, I felt worn out.  Plus, the left knee and left leg just didn't feel good - almost like it needed support.  

Anyway, I am going to go at the running kind of slow for the next week or so.  I want to really focus on my body and my health.  That means I need to do a lot of stretching, leg exercises, and crosstraining.  I'd like to incorporate some running drills like kareoka, skips, bounding, etc. along with some sort of lateral exercise, such as tennis or raquetball. 

We'll see what happens.  All I know is that I have to take care of myself in order to get to race day before I can worry about performance.

**P.S.: I'm lucky to have these friends in particular who keep my spirits high and are always entertaining and fun!  I look forward to more runs with them.  Hopefully we can do some Christmas runs to see the neighborhood lights.