Introducing...reality

Yesterday (Saturday) was my first zero-mile day in 9.5 weeks. I gave myself the day off primarily because we were having a yard sale which consumed my time for most of the day, but also because I had already run a lot of miles for the week, and because I was feeling awfully pooped by the end of Friday's run. Having had a zero-mile day, I was expecting to run quite long and merrily today, but faded badly (more so than Friday) after about 2 hours. I think there are three things going on:
- lots of miles (another 72 mile week this week, even with yesterday off),
- heat with humidity (the latter being rather unusual for Colorado, but good practice for next summer), and
- not eating enough yesterday.

Upon arriving home, I was completely incommunicative until I'd iced my legs down, eaten some oatmeal with nectarines and brown sugar, and had two glasses of iced chai ...at which point I rejoined the human race, resumed bantering with the family, and started in on another project (in this case, working with my younger son to divvy up his possessions into three piles: that which will fit in our packs for next week's train ride to Knox College, that which will need to be shipped in time for his arrival at Knox College, and that which we will carry in the car when we drive to Knox with his older brother in September).

Another bright spot that helped bring me around: the box I decided to use for Paul's shipping pile was the box that held the newly arrived Brooks Adrenaline from RRS. I'm currently on pair #24 of this model of shoe - they're a good match for my feet. I open up the shoe boxes, and to my surprise, these Brooks Adrenalines are trimmed in red rather than the same old blue I've been running in the past few years! It's the little things that keep us smiling!

A retiree's kind of day

Today has been one of those kinds of days I dreamed about when contemplating retirement:
A 2 1/2 hour run, followed by breakfast with running buddies, followed by preparing a picnic lunch, followed by a free big band concert on the downtown mall with a friend, followed by a leisurely walk home, and tonight we barbeque and watch (pre-season) football between my current home-town team (the Denver Broncos) and my original home-town team (the Detroit Lions). ahhh....this is the life....

A word of advice...

...If you are heading for a Boot Camp hill repeat fit test, do not set a 3 mile uphill run home-to-boot camp world record on the way to said fit test. Aiyyiyi! The fit test: 1 hill (1/4 mile up/down/up/down). Times 2. Did I mention Aiyyiyi?

Now, after a verrry slow 3 mile run downhill home, and a slug of chocolate soy milk, and a cold hose-down on the legs, I'm feeling almost human again. I'm thinking a dinner of shredded wheat, kashi, frozen berries, and milk might be tasty. Assuming I've got the energy to chew.

second wind - is there a third?

This morning, as I headed out with my son on his week's long run of 9 miles, and with husband Kendall accompanying us on his bike, my legs felt a bit...whupped... I'd run ~10 miles yesterday to/from/with the Boulder Road Runners. The "with" part included 2x8 minutes followed by 30 second pickups. The rest of the day was fairly laid back (weeding, voting, financial planning, prepping for garage sale, yada yada). But the legs were a bit slow on the uptake this a.m. However! About 15 minutes into the run they seemed to wake up (I love when that happens - especially when it's quicker than an hour into the run...my usual second-wind time frame) and I was actually able to keep my son well in sight the first half of the run. During the second half of the run, he backed off the pace a bit and I actually caught up to him. Then he really began to fade (it was becoming rather toasty out there), and the rest of the run was spent running from shade to shade, handing him my water/gatorade bottle, dousing him with water from Kendall's extra supply of water, etc etc. He has since rebounded quite nicely - and I'm wondering just how much spring these legs have left in them for tonight's run to/from Boot Camp. Looking forward to finding out!

Rainbows, tunes and sweat

A new session of Boot Camp started up this evening. As the hour wound down, and we were in the midst of our final stretches, the Boulder Concert Band started playing at the southwest end of the Chautauqua lawn (we boot campers were gathered at the northeast end of the same lawn). What a delightful way to wrap up our workout, stretching to the beat of the band. And, to top it all off, as I ran home from the workout, with the tunes floating on the air behind me, a double rainbow grew out of the clouds ahead of me. It just doesn't get much better than this!

Catching air

I took a look today at some of the pictures our department's PR person took at my retirement party. Lo and behold, he actually snapped a pic of me with both feet off the ground - a rarity for this gravity-bound human! I give a lot of credit to my six weeks of Boot Camp of the Rockies training. Quite remarkable! Also remarkable - this week's mileage: 72 - the first time ever that I've cracked the 70s. I must confess, it has me a bit nervous.

blinky light time

Today being Saturday, it was a "satboys" long run day. The guys were talking 75 minutes, starting at 7 a.m. So....seeing as how I was going for something more in the 3-hour range, I headed out at 5 a.m. We must be in the waning days of summer cuz it was dark out there! Time to take the blinky lights off the shelf and put them on the water belt so cars would see me coming & going. Sigh.... I do love to go for those early morning runs where the sun is just beginning to peep up over the horizon to the east with a slow glow growing on the flatirons to the west. To have those early runs starting in the dark already...my, how seasons do fly. Nonetheless, I was treated to a lovely sunrise filled with puffy rose-colored clouds, little traffic, quiet trails - then a most enjoyable 75 banter-filled minutes with the satboys gang. A grand start to the weekend!

Speed - rude awakening

Being a retired woman now, I was able to join up with the Boulder Road Runners this morning for their speed workout. What a change of pace (so to speak). Patti (looong-time running buddy), Sally, and I ran together for a set of 10 x 2 minutes hard/1 minute easy. 'Twas a simultaneous sensation of reawakening fast twitch muscles (the few that I have) and squawking hams and glutes (a veritable cacaphony of squawks). I think I may try this again next week!

Running with the....

You may have heard of the book "Running With the Buffaloes" which follows the CU cross-country team for a season. I may train in the same environs, but I've neither the power nor the speed of the mighty buffalo. On the other hand, as the picture shows, I ran across a herd of something I might be more akin to - the feisty goat. Munch away the day, scamper a bit, take in the sights...

Nutrition wake up call

This past spring, at my husband's school's silent auction, I bid on and won a nutrition and metabolic consult at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. Today I took advantage of it. What a wake up call! Being of relatively small stature, and an easy weight gainer, I've always tried to keep the calorie count down. Today I learned that my resting metabolic rate is 1210 kcals per day. And for years I've figured my daily caloric intake should be in the 1500-1800 range. Au contraire says the nutritionist. With my current training level, I should be consuming closer to 2600 calories per day! Yowza! I'm generally eating enough fruits and vegies, but only about half the grains and milk, and about one-third of the protein that I should be eating. It will be quite interesting to see what kind of difference the increase in calories, protein, carbs, and dairy makes in my energy and recovery abilities. The nutritionist recommends a gradual increase in calories; I'm looking forward to monitoring the effects!