Yesterday evening I met up with Barry in Radford on his way home from work for a 5 mile run at Bisset Park. This park has a nice little paved trail that I like to run on every now and then to mix things up. It’s a little over 2.5 miles long from end to end and most of it follows along the banks of the New River. I had a bit of a tough run and was feeling really tired, but Barry helped keep me going and helped me finish strong with a 9:48 last mile. I’m not surprised that I was feeling tired, though, since I hit a new weekly high of 30 miles last week and in the past 4 days I’ve put in 25 miles. Makes sense, right?

I have to tell you about something I saw yesterday while I was at work. I was driving through a certain college campus (said college will remain unnamed, but it was not my alma mater) and saw a girl with jean shorts so short her butt cheeks were hanging out. I’m not kidding. She was walking down the sidewalk and had a backpack on and as I drove up from behind her all I could think was “Seriously!?”

On Sunday night I made Crock Pot Taco Chili. I got the recipe from Stephanie over at Now I Run and I was excited to try it out. Barry and I liked it a lot and it’s going in the recipe book. Did I ever tell you I have a recipe book in the form of one of those black and white composition books? I started hanging around my dad in the kitchen in high school and writing down recipes while I watched him cook. Now anything I try cooking that we like goes in “the book.”

I have two pieces of advice to leave you with. First, crock pot liners are a huge time saver when it comes to clean-up. I highly recommend them. You can usually find them in the Ziploc bag aisle at the grocery store. Second, if you have a Garmin Forerunner 405 and it freezes (as in the time and date are displayed, but it won’t respond when you press the buttons to wake it up) hold down the stop and reset buttons at the same time for 30 seconds to do a soft reset.

What’s the highest mileage you’ve ever done in a week (running, biking, or otherwise)?

Have you seen any of these ridiculously short jean shorts?
Apparently it’s a trend, particularly amongst the college aged folks.

Tried any new recipes lately? How were they?

I can’t believe I’m halfway through training already. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, although I’ve been in training a little over two months. I also don’t feel like I’m anywhere near ready for the marathon. But that makes sense, since I really haven’t gotten into the bulk of my mileage yet. I’m still feeling more like Woody than Buzz.

Monday- 5 miles with 3 at marathon pace (10:18/mile). I decided to swap my usual Monday track workout for Wednesday’s marathon pace run. I had the day off work and had a massage scheduled for the afternoon. I didn’t want to run after my massage and if I was going to do a track workout beforehand, it would have to be early in the morning before school started. Since I had the day off work, I opted to sleep in a bit and then go for a mid-morning marathon pace run on the roads around our house. I was looking for a little redemption from last Wednesday’s tough marathon pace run, but I didn’t find it. My warm up mile was 10:17, but then the middle 3 miles were 10:28, 10:10, and 10:23. But that averages out to 10:20/mile pace, so it’s still pretty close to my goal. When I’m running on hills, I don’t expect to clock in right at 10:18 each mile, but rather to average 10:18.

I took my handheld water bottle with me. It wasn’t too hot, but still hot enough- 78 degrees and 86% humidity. Apparently I didn’t rinse it well enough after I washed it on Sunday, because my water tasted like dish soap. Has that ever happened to you?

Tuesday- Cross training day. After work I did a level three 30 day shred workout.

Wednesday- Track workout at the local high school track. The weather was gloriously cool- 75 degrees and 69% humidity, and the track itself was completely in the shade. The workout itself was 6 x 800m for a total of 5 miles and it went really well. My splits were 4:23, 4:28, 4:26, 4:23, 4:21, and 4:09. I broke the workout down, focusing on the first set of three and then the second set of three. I pushed it on the last one. I’ve discovered that a small bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats is my perfect pre-workout snack before a track workout.

Thursday- Rest day.

Friday- Easy, but hot, 5 mile mid-afternoon run. This was one of those runs where I just wanted to be done and move on with my day. My calves and Achilles felt pretty tight so I did some extra stretching at the end of my run.

The cows ran with me for a short time during mile 4. And by that I mean that they ran away from me, because they spook every time I run by the fence when they’re out in that field.

Saturday- Twelve mile long run on the Dora and New River Trails. I ran the first 3 miles on my own from the Dora Trail up to the NRT trail head, where I met up with Kim. Then we ran six miles together on the NRT. I was feeling kind of rough during the first 3 miles, but once I met up with Kim I felt much better and had a very enjoyable run.

Once we got back to the NRT trail head and Kim’s car, I refilled my water bottle and headed back down the NRT to the Dora Trail for the final three miles. I continued to feel good for another mile, and then I started feeling really sleepy and my legs started to feel very tired. So I played “the water game” for the final 2 miles of my run to keep myself going. The weather was great for a long run this weekend. It was a cool 55 degrees and hadn’t quite reached 70 when I finished up my run. The humidity was still 100% but it really didn’t feel that bad since it just wasn’t hot out. Thank goodness we are finally starting to see some signs of fall!

Sunday- 3 mile recovery run. My legs were feeling pretty sore from my long run the day before, but after the first mile it felt good to get my muscles warmed up and my legs moving. I spent a lot of time stretching afterwards.

Total miles: 30 (new weekly high for me)

Next week’s schedule:
Monday: 5 miles
Tuesday: XT
Wednesday: 5 miles w/ 3 @ MP
Thursday: rest
Friday: 5 miles
Saturday: 5 miles
Sunday: 14 miles (Hokie Half Marathon!!)

I spent this morning as a quiet, low key morning with the dogs. While they slept I finished reading Insurgent, the second book in the Divergent Trilogy. I first found out about the first book, Divergent, from Stephanie when she mentioned it on her blog this past summer. The first book was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a Hunger Games-esque book, although the plot was completely different. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a Divergent movie coming out in the next few years. I didn’t get into the second book as much until the last quarter of the book. Then things got exciting. The third and final book of the trilogy comes out later this month.

After a quiet morning, I decided to get my three mile recovery run done. When I got up this morning my legs and lower back were as sore as they are after a 13 mile training run, which I guess is pretty close to what I did yesterday. I was really hungry, but wanted to get my run done before I ate lunch. I was hungry enough that my hands were shaky, so I ate some fruit snacks right before my run which did the trick. My legs felt really tired during the first mile but then they loosened up some and I spent awhile stretching afterwards. 

Recently we moved Scout to Hank’s crate, because she had outgrown her old crate. Her crate was located in our dining room and now that she is in Hank’s crate (which is in the basement) we have taken apart her old crate and put it away. It’s nice to have my dining room back.

Scout in her crate in the dining room, in March

Although Scout has adjusted just fine to sleeping in the basement in the new crate, and seems to be enjoying having more space, she also misses her old crate. She keeps on sitting or laying in the dining room where her crate used to be and just staring at me.

Hey you know that thing that was here that I sleep in…. where is it??

And then there’s Hank, who hasn’t slept in his crate in a long time. All of a sudden he wants his crate back, and he has taken to sleeping in it during the day when Scout is not occupying it. Dogs are so silly.

In case you forgot, this is still my crate

Yesterday the dogs helped me root on the Hokies as they played Western Carolina. And by that I mean they slept while I listened to the game on the radio, since the game was only be broadcast on ESPN3 and apparently Dish is not a customer of ESPN3 (I’m just a little bitter…). Luckily the Virginia Tech commentators, Bill and Mike, are awesome and make you feel like you’re watching it. Hokies won 45-3, but despite the score the offense still didn’t sound that strong. Our defense had a pick-six, though, and special teams sounded solid.

Detrick Bonner after making an interception and returning it for a touchdown

Lastly, I read an interesting article yesterday that has everything you ever wanted to know about porta potties. Enjoy!

Such a happy sight on a trail

Have you read any of the Divergent Trilogy books?

What did you do yesterday?

This morning I woke up to a cool 55 degrees with clouds and fog. Pretty ideal for a 12 mile long run, which is good because that’s what was on my schedule. I ate a peanut butter-flavored Power Bar, drank some water, and did the dishes (my usual pre-long run routine) and then headed into town to start my run on the Dora Trail.

Sorry for the blurriness

I ran my first 3 miles on the Dora up to the New River Trail. When I got up to the NRT, I headed to the trail head where I met up with Kim. I was feeling a bit rough at this point, as my calves and Achilles were tight and felt like they were on fire.

Good morning, deer!

Kim and I took off together down the NRT for six miles. Like last week, she had another brilliant idea to meet me a few miles into my long run so that we can run her full run together. Once I started running with her I felt a million times better. Guess all I needed was a friend. Speaking of friends, we had someone who wanted to make friends with us today. There was this big-sounding dog barking from a nearby farm as we ran down the trail, and I glanced back and said “oh!”, which startled Kim. There was a dog right behind us, who we never heard approach, and who was not the barking dog. He was really cute and very friendly.

I’m thinking beagle/basset hound mix? He kind of ran with us down the trail for a brief amount of time, but when we got to the trestle bridge he wouldn’t go on it. We hadn’t ever seen him before and didn’t see him on the way back.

At the halfway point, I tried out one of my new Honey Stinger waffles. The flavor was great, but this is not going to be something I’ll eat in the future during a run. It was too cookie-like for me. I guess I was expecting it to be crispier and resemble a honey comb or something? I don’t like anything that resembles a bread/cake/cookie product while running. But the waffles will be a great pre-race snack.

As we headed back towards the head of the New River Trail and Kim’s car, I continued to feel good. I had a bit of tiredness creeping into my quads, but everything else felt great. With about a mile to go I decided to attempt a selfie of Kim and me. This is the one and only attempt I made at it, and I’m proud to say I got both of our faces in it!

Me, Kim, and baby

Once we got back to Kim’s car, I refilled my water bottle at the spigot they have there and talked to Kim for a few minutes. Then I took off for the final 3 miles of my run. I continued to feel strong until mile 10, and then I started to feel very tired and also started to feel a the heat that was creeping in. At that point I decided it was time to play my “water game” where I get to have some water every 1/2 mile. It helps me break down the miles and have a small goal to focus on.

The water game came through for me again, and I finished up the last 2 miles of my run without falling to pieces. I was feeling really hungry when I finished and my legs were a bit sore. My right hip actually cramped as I climbed into the truck to drive home (after drinking some water and stretching). Totally Barry’s fault for having a truck that’s so tall.

Now it’s about an hour and a half until the Hokies kick off against Western Carolina. They’re at home this week, so Lane Stadium will be packed. Unfortunately, the game didn’t get picked up on TV as far as I can tell, so I will be listening to the game on the radio. There are a bunch of other good college games on today: Texas vs. BYU, Florida vs. Miami, Oregon vs. UVA, and Michigan vs. Notre Dame to name a few. I’ll definitely be tuning in to a few of those later today.

GO TECH GO!!

What is your pre-long run routine?

What do you think, is that dog a beagle/basset hound mix?

What kind of games do you play to get you through a tough part of your workout?

This afternoon I went for an easy five mile run on the roads around our house right when I got off work. As much as I love running, today was one of those days where I just wanted to have my run done for the day. I kind of wish I had gone this morning before work, because it was in the low 50’s this morning but 75 degrees this afternoon. I probably would have felt a little better in the cooler temperatures.

At least these cows were out to cheer me up. I see them every once in awhile and they are so funny. Car after car can drive by and it doesn’t phase them, but when I run by they freak out and take off running. They were all right at the fence as I approached and as I passed they spooked and took off. They actually ran along side me until the field turned and went over a hill, where I guess they were safe because they stopped running.

I promised the chickens would still make an appearance here and there, since Chick Days ended. All six chickens are still doing well and often still making us laugh. Every time I go out to do anything near the chicken coop, they’re all right at the gate of the chicken run area hollering for treats. They continue to get scraps from the kitchen (mostly fruit, veggie, and grain scraps) and they also get cracked corn.

You can see my egg collection bucket in the background of the above picture, also known as last year’s Easter basket. It’s the most use I’ve ever gotten out of an Easter basket. All six of the chickens are laying eggs now, and we usually get 5 or 6 eggs per day. We’ve pretty much got all six trained to lay in their nest area, although every once in awhile someone will lay outside or in their droppings tray in the coop.

———————————————————
I know that Chobani yogurt is popular in the blog/runner/healthy person world, so I wanted to let y’all know about a recall going on for a large number of their products. The company received numerous reports of the packages bloating and swelling, as well as some reports of illness. They are recalling all products with an IMS code of “16-012” (stamped on the lid) with best by dates of Sep 11-13 to Oct 07-13. You can see the full list of recalled products and UPC codes HERE. Most grocery stores are pretty good about pulling products during large-scale recalls like this one, but I wanted to give y’all a heads up in case you hadn’t heard and have any of the affected product.

Do you have days where your exercise routine is just something else on your to do list instead of something you look forward to?