a nice sort of fatigue

Yesterday was a lazy day.  I slept in too late for a long run, and decided to save my energy for today:

3:10 hours, including three loops (56, 57, 57 minutes).  I had hoped to do a fourth, but my husband joined us during the third and it was already above 20C by that point and, etc, etc, excuses, it was a luxury to finish the loop with him and walk home with him.  I was tired and not entirely satisfied with my fueling.

I recently bought a gel flask: $8, thank you, Amazon.   GU gels have been working well for me these past few years--they're gluten free and have umpteen flavours (right now I'm on an orange kick, but just have blackberry left)...unfortunately, I've gotten a bit tired of gels in general.  They're too sweet.

So was the homemade gel recipe I tried: honey, molasses, salt.  Not enough salt.   The sweetness was beginning to overwhelm my stomach during the third loop.  Maybe it would also help to have a bit of citrus, or maybe vinegar.  Something sour.   I need to tinker.  At any rate, the gel flask was already better than gels because I could take smaller portions whenever I wanted--maybe that's what had led to my downfall--but it's nicer to take small bits instead of an entire gel, or even 1/2 a gel, at once.

Time for homemade gel adjustments!  And time for one of my favourite post-long run meals: noodles with fresh tomato and olive oil and an obscene amount of salt but, hey, I sweat lots and my blood pressure has tested about 90/60 for umpteen years.

Tempo

Yardwork yesterday.

And more today.  I'm getting pretty deft with a pickaxe, and there is something so fulfilling about the movement.  One of my will-never-come-to-fruition plans is to devise a bestselling new fitness craze: old-timey prison sweat.  Added resistance from shackles!  Total core workout breaking rocks!  I'm going to call it the Leavenworth Sculpt.

Anyway, before that, the dog and I did a tempo run.  Warm up, then the loop in 45-46 minutes, including his breaks and a minute or two standing to the side to let horses pass.   So, we were under ten minute miles--lol--but not bad for a bunch of sand, hills, and roots.   And I only mostly tripped once.

My good field of vision is narrow (yesterday, I jammed a box into a doorway, and of course someone saw this shining moment) and sometimes my feet are on a different planet, but I'm getting better at anticipating the footing, and picking my feet up in general.  And, as it turns out, trails are an amazing venue for tempo running.   The footing is a great distraction.  At times, I feel like I'm so close to bailing, because I'm going over stuff too quickly to judge it clearly, and the adrenaline is amazing.   

Sure beats slower sloppier runs with more mishaps and more pining for my pickaxe.  I suppose this is why I've been so pumped while hacking those roots out of the backyard.  Payback!

Anyway, it was a tough but great run.  I sweated loads because it was close to 20C, but it wasn't sickly humid and I ended up with a great buzz. 

No weights, just yardwork.  I've been strict about taking iron and protein supplements for the past few days, and I feel like I'm getting out of the hole.  This will just be an easy week.  And I want to run lots tomorrow.

sapped

I was hoping that the German Shepherd wouldn't be loose today, and it wasn't.
I was also hoping that yesterday's unnecessarily strenuous run would portend a much easier one today (sometimes a really good run follows a blah one), but it didn't.

Temps, 17-21 C, but humid (the humidex was 25 C by the end).  My breathing was compressed.  My legs were heavy.  There was not a single moment of comfort, not even downhill.  2 loops of 54 and 56 minutes, and 2:10 running time total. I ended up walking a good part of the way home, and then I ditched the weights.  Whatever.  lol

Factors:

The weather is once again a jail.  There was a good week or two, and now the humidity's back.  I didn't think it would matter because the temps are lower, but I'm still running in 20+ C and soaking through my clothes.  Oh, well.  I'm trying not to be upset about this, but I really want, if not need, some easy running and some real fall weather.  Conditions are still ass-sweat and it's late September.  Can't we all just get along?

I've recently increased my running--I'm on the waitlist for a trail ultra--and the extra load will take a few weeks to get used to. 

Diet--my guts finally feel fine--no more pain! But, I got really lazy about taking supplements, and probably I'm not absorbing enough, much less eating enough to begin with.  I've definitely lost some muscle strength. 

Reacquaintance (doing my best to avoid the laziness of bad language)

Yesterday: walk.
Today: 80 min jog, shoulder exercises.

We met the German Shepherd again, and it was mad today.  It ran across the road to a few feet away from us.  It didn't start barking until it was close, and took me by surprise, so Shock & Awe raised my volume (I don't like yelling at strange dogs).   I held out my hand and told it "Back off, back off, go, go, no," etc.  No improper language.

It didn't want to back off this time though.  It quickly reversed its retreats.  Finally, I heard someone else yelling.   The human who owned it didn't bother to leave her house but her dog eventually heeded her.  I noticed that a white dog was also loose, and perhaps this made the German Shepherd more protective.

For some reason, I am not afraid of this breed, but there was a moment of "oh, poopies," probably while I was looking at its teeth, and then I quickly admonished myself.  Commit.  If this dog was nutty enough to go after us, it would have done so already.  It was just probing for weakness. 

I waved to the owner and called out thanks, and she shut her door without a word.  Maybe she just felt ashamed (probably not), but more likely she was interpreting my gratitude--and I was grateful to have the dog called off--with a good hefty dollop of passive aggressiveness.  My thank you probably seemed akin to "Bless your heart," which I'm sure I've written about before.

Later on, I realized that perhaps she hadn't heard "Back off," but something including another four-letter word, which isn't acceptable here.    Yes, it's perfectly fine to let one's dog roam up and down a 45 mph road hassling others, but to curse?  My lord and saviour Jesus!  I don't think I've heard a single curse word here.  Even in Kansas, there were plenty of f-bombs.

I felt a substantial surge of adrenaline and the added boost of "Oh, snap, I really hate living here sometimes."  I've started counting down even though we have no departure date.  n(3XX) days to go!

Anyway, my jacked up nerves and the humidity made my run slightly uncomfortable.  However, we made it through the forest loop in 55 minutes, including walking up a couple of steep portions and my dog's breaks.  We were out later than usual, and we saw a few dogs in there, including the cutest little puppy.  Hopefully the owner was unfit and/or doing intervals: she was jogging with it, and dogs that age are too young for sustained runs.  Dem joints!

My shoulder exercises were feeble.  Things felt a third heavier than they were--I know, because that's how much I had to cut back!

more running than lifting

Thurs:  75ish minute run mostly in the forest.  We did the loop the other way for the first time.  Changing direction made less of a difference than I thought it would: the intersections looked much more familiar than I was expecting, and the hills were manageable.  The worst part was the softness of the sand in parts.  We need some rain!

My legs felt like crap for the most part, and then near the end of the loop, I realized that, thanks to the cooler weather, I was perhaps moving more quickly than I'd expected.  It turned out to be the case.  We did the loop in 50 minutes.   This is an expanded loop from the 50 minute one this past weekend.  It helped to have cooler weather today.

This has inspired thoughts of tempo runs.  It's been ages since my last one; I can't think of a more miserable type of run in hot weather.  Even long slow runs are more comfortable.  Anyway, I'm considering moving my tempo runs to the forest.  This will require some fancier footwork, but I think it would be fun, and I could definitely keep my heart rate jacked up, which is the point of the exercise.  And I wouldn't have any interruptions from cars.

Umpteen hours later, I biked with groceries.  I must remember to weight my right pannier more than the left (they should be equal, of course, but sometimes that's impossible.  Anyway, I have this lovely long downhill on the way home, with a curve to the left near the bottom, and I started getting the wobbles once I leaned in.

And then, legs!  And failure!  My benchmark for the clean, set last leg day, was too high.  I was too tired, too biked out, and my strength and energy drop during afternoons.  I went to clean and, failure!   I paced, recollected my thoughts, etc, went to clean and, failure!  Worse than the first failure, too.  I stitched things back together with ten pounds lighter.

Fri: dug in the backyard.

Sat: 2 hr quasi-tempo run.  The weather felt great and we picked up speed on the road leading to the forest.   The first loop: 45-46 minutes.  The dog started to drag on the 2nd: 46-47 minutes.  It felt a bit hard at times, but seeing the path roll under my feet more quickly than usual was a thrill.  And it felt good to stretch out my stride.   It was a tough run, though!  I didn't do weights, I just dug some more.

Sun: 2:25 run.  I was tired!  The weather was reasonable, 21 C and supposedly not humid, but it was surprisingly damp in the forest after a night of rain.  My husband and the dog ran with me for the first loop, and then I did the second alone.  Fatigue had a disassociating effect by that point.  I managed to keep my feet up and I didn't trip once, but I was on auto-pilot, periodically returning to trails that looked foreign and strange.  It was an odd run, and fulfilled the purpose of back-to-back longer runs very well.  The point is to run tired.  Too bad I wussed out of a third loop, but I hadn't brought any gels.

oh, yeah, we tested the dog on the route--we dropped back whenever we got to an intersection and let him tell us where to go.  This was a bit confusing for him, not because he didn't remember the new loop, but because there were a few places where we used to turn another way, and he's not used to being in charge.  However, he got the first few right, and he accepted dropping back beside us after the intersections...altogether, he did very well.  The only one he got wrong was part of the old loop.  We've never done this before, and I don't want him to get into the habit of choosing, but it was a good mental exercise for him.  He was very polite about indicating the right direction too.  My husband remarked that he (the dog), would turn his head for the left turns, but veer with his body for the right turns.  At any rate, he didn't pull.

Unfortunately, I failed to tap into a more relaxed feeling--my breathing was slightly more elevated than I wanted--but the warmth and humidity withdrew my lowest gear.  It was disappointing to return to the summer stress, but I suppose this has toughened me up for the tough 2-hour run the day before.

Then I did arm/chest exercises, 2 sets.  I was tired but didn't drop anything on myself.  I suppose that my slackening of weight workouts this past week foreshadowed the inevitable: as my runs intensify, the weights will suffer.

coooool

It felt almost chilly this morning!  The dog and I jogged for 2 hours and 10 minutes, including his breaks.  I don't time him; I have no idea how much time he takes.

And then shoulders, just two sets, but I made sure they were grueling.  Then I did yardwork.

!

Foggy humid morning, so we just walked.

And then I did leg exercises.  I pared down the routine for the sake of mental fortification: it felt time to increase the weight on the (front) squats, and thus the weight on the cleans.  And I've told myself to take my time with the cleans, but meanwhile I'm itching to get more out of the squats.  Going to the proper depth helps, but I need more weight to get this certain kind of feeling...

What's ten pounds more?

It actually worked out fine.  So that's one fewer mental block!