Friday, November 1, 2013

Week Wrap Up

 A few more boxes arrived!! Sophie received this awesome horsey, fuzzy, squishy bedding that she loves!!
 I got this!! My dads boxed set of Louis L'amour hard cover books! I was so excited, I'm half way through my first one.
 Myles now has some cool bedding! He now loves going to bed, which is a first!

 Sophie's bed.
 I had a killer run this week.  My legs were sore after Saturdays Rocky Ridge. I waited till Tuesday and headed out for a short, and what I hoped would be fast (for me) run.  I went out 2 miles on a slight uphill, I think it's a gain of 670 ft  heading out. Then turned around for the 2 mile downhill run back.  I almost immediately ate dirt. Hard.  I was really mad because I was trying to run fast and run negative splits this run and falling just took up time.  I quickly figured out nothing was hurt and took off running again.

 Splits  for the 4 miles - 13:12, 13:14, 12:02, 9:51 - overall pace 12:04.  Huge improvement over my normal mid 13 minute per mile trail pace!!
 Yes, that is a normal amount of dirt per run for me, even w/o a fall.

 I also got this surprise in the mail this week. I love this top, and this company.  They have their own line of Cirque du Soleil inspired clothing.  Most of their clothing is all very unique and bright and different and I love it!! One sleeve is colorful and the other is plain black but at the bottom it says in shiny black "We love love" but the middle "love" is a red heart.  Price wise, I would never/could never buy anything from them for myself, which makes it a huge treat to have someone else invest that sort of $ in a top for me!
 I spent a day this week fall/winterizing the yard. Moved the TP off the grass and onto the patio ( I can get to it quicker in the rain to pull off the blankets, and it's not on the moist grass, also less bugs.) I also pulled up the tomatoes. The plants were still producing, but not getting ripe anymore.  Moved some other plants around and redid a few beds, blew the leaves, mowed, blew the leaves again...raked the leaves that wouldnt' cooperate.(Its been 3 days and needs done again already).



 Kona perfected his jumping into the leaves form...Sophie needs a little work.
 The swing kicked back out from under her and she went in face first, came up crying and all scratched up.
 View peeking into the top of the TP at night. Kids were watching a movie on their kindle in there.
 White board from last week.  More "offs" than I would have liked, but I did what I could.
Here's a peek at this weekends Brazen Racing/Save mt Diablo run outfit.  Myles had a pretty bummer of a time running last weekend, so this weekend it's all about getting his joy of running back for him. I got he and I matching boxers, then with  a few quick cuts made mine into a skirt w/some fringes in the back.  We'll also be sporting our super hero/Mt Stormer capes.  There will be NO tears this weekend!!

By the way, lets all take a minute to wish Brian well this weekend.  He hasn't run in something like 20 days now??  He'll be taking on this 13.1, with 2492 of climbing on Sunday.


5 comments:

  1. I took jens advice on trying to get back to running. Being--try for a straight and work up to a half lap. Tonight was the first time since october 28, 2011 that I have been able to finish half a lap running. I switched to the shuffle step the long distance runners seem to use. I still land more on my heal more than the ball of my feet. This is the first time I experienced no pain of any kind from the injury two years ago. I don't think the distal fibular head moved out of place. The problem is that my non-injured side has been over compensating for two years and it spoke to me by extremly tightened hamstrings which created enough nerve compression to generate nerve pain. It was easily triggered and stretched away. The glide stride hunched forward seems to work for me. How much should I stress landing on the ball of my feet vs leaving it with striking slightly heal first. I carry a lot of weight for a runner. I still stay under 10% body fat but carry 245 pounds of weight. I am open for suggestions from you all.

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    1. I am no expert, but a few things that come to mind are this-
      Make sure your are in stability plus shoes. Your lbs on impact...you need a stability plus shoe. Or at least a thicker shoe. I am considered a heavy runner for a lady and am under 200, should be in a stablility plus shoe, but running on trails makes it a non issue.
      You should also go to a running store (I prefer Road Runner for this) and have a gait analysis. They will watch you on the treadmill and record your strike, make suggestions and shoe recommendations based on how you run, your arch, your previous injury, etc. It's free and worth the time. You do not have buy your shoes there. Just get the info. You can order from Running Warehouse and it's always the best deal.

      Heel striking- at the distance you are running, I would not attempt to change my stride/gait. I think your concern is that with your lbs and the weight coming down on your heels, it's going to cause issues? I would first focus on working up your distance like you are doing and run as the body/foot want to run. Run in way that feels natural to your body/injury. When you start making efforts to change your strike/stride it takes extreme concentration and you have to do it in small distances, working your way up to that being how you always run. If you were to just decide today I will only hit on my forefoot and run your whole run that way, you could easily have achilles/calf issues because that is not how you normally run. Especially if you running on a track, it's a softer surface and heel striking is not as big an issue as it would be if you were running for miles on pavement heel striking.
      Personally, I have been a heel striker from day one, through 6 paved full marathons. Never had an issue. I am still a heel striker, but on the trails you are changing your foot position constantnly to avoid stuff or jump over stuff and so heel striking is a non issue for most trail runners.
      I know you have spectated at races before, you see every kind of gait/strike/stance...everyone does what feels natural to them, and sometimes it's pretty wonky, but that's what works.
      Magazines make a huge deal about heel striking, and it can be detramental to some people. If it's not causing you problems, then don't worry about it at this point. If you get up into longer distances and your running on hard/paved surfaces, then you could need to work on it.
      If hunching forward doesn't hurt your low back, or make breathing harder...then hunch.
      If you really do want to work on moving to a forefoot strike, look into Newtons. They are made for that purpose. But again, you would have to start off wearing the for maybe half a run, or every other run. They come in funky cool colors, which is a bonus, and have a chunk in the front that helps you remember to land in the front and keep your feet under you, not in front of you....like running on your tip toes.
      Hope something in here helps!

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    2. and congrats on that half lap!!!

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  2. With the elavations, trails with rattle snakes, trantulas, steep loose gravely decents, cattle chasing you, these pics of blood and dirt are my favorite. I show your running pics to so many people and they all admire you and the area you get to do your training. They say that both you and jen look great, natural runners. However, I think this picture of blood, sand, rocks and dirt are going to be the pic I end up showning pefople the most. That and sophies head first landing off the swing. Do you remember that I have a permanent hole through my tongue? I was 8yrs old when I took a header off a swing and landed chin first with my tongue hanging out of my mouth. I remember it like it was yesterday. It hurt.

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