Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf

Dory Dory

With just one day under 20 weeks until my first marathon, I decided to finally heed the advice of a few wise people who have contributed to my education in the theory of proper training approaches - in other words, how to avoid total self-imposed all out war on my body every single time I run. So....for today's post 10k race session, I settled on doing a recovery jog as defined by McMillan. I pulled up the McMillan calculator, keyed in my best half marathon time of 1:45, and out popped a pleasantly surprising easy breezy 9:58 to 10:28 pace that I vowed to stay within. Woo hoo......and I did just that....and I feel really good. Of course I kept telling myself to not get too used to this pace, but I was guilt free for 8 relaxing miles. Summary: 8.29 miles, 10.01/mile pace.

catweazle

Well done - Its getting a bit ridiculous now -two race reports two wins

The Virginia athletics association might have to look at handicapping your age in future. Kudos on settling for the slow recovery run - another fast run after a 10k race would have been just fooolish

Dory Dory

catweazle wrote: »

Well done - Its getting a bit ridiculous now -two race reports two wins

The Virginia athletics association might have to look at handicapping your age in future. Kudos on settling for the slow recovery run - another fast run after a 10k race would have been just fooolish

Aye, but in rural small town racing the field looks more like corn-fed clodhoppers than world class Kenyans. I'll be a midpacker for sure come April when I venture out into the big, cruel world of the city known as Charlottesville and run with the masses for 26.2 miles. I'll be just a mere number there.

Recovery run....thanks. I'm learning.

Dory Dory

75 minutes of spinning while watching my boys on ice charge, pivot and dipsy doo the biscuit the length of the pond with their twigs, and curl and drag it between the pipes. Hockey: Caps vs. Coyotes. Caps winning 4 - 2 with 9 minutes to go. Yay!

shotgunmcos

Dory Dory wrote: »

Never went back, but now that I'm older and punishing my body with increased running mileage I'm wondering if this would be a smart addition.

Definitely. Thanks for the tip on the Fly stroke Dory Dory. Your username reminds me of the scene in finding nemo where Dory gets lost bouncing off the jellyfish. shotgunjunior probably watched it a hundred times Anyway on the yoga, seres was asking me about this recently. I'd recommend Pilates if its core strength you seek. It focuses on heavy breathing patterns while holding strength balance poses. Yoga is less about the breathing and more about movement. I find it great for lining you up, stretching you out and generally getting at the little muscles neglected by running and tendons abused by running.

Best of luck with the log and running the marathon!

Krusty_Clown

Dory Dory wrote: »

Caps winning 4 - 2 with 9 minutes to go. Yay!

Don't keep us in suspense!

Dory Dory

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Definitely. Thanks for the tip on the Fly stroke Dory Dory. Your username reminds me of the scene in finding nemo where Dory gets lost bouncing off the jellyfish. shotgunjunior probably watched it a hundred times Anyway on the yoga, seres was asking me about this recently. I'd recommend Pilates if its core strength you seek. It focuses on heavy breathing patterns while holding strength balance poses. Yoga is less about the breathing and more about movement. I find it great for lining you up, stretching you out and generally getting at the little muscles neglected by running and tendons abused by running.

Best of luck with the log and running the marathon!

You have the origin of my user name correct!! And to think, Catweazle thought of the Hunky Dory crips and their rugby playing hotties. Tsk, tsk.

I will definitely be on the lookout for a Pilates class, but right now in our little town I'm fortunate to have yoga offered two times a week at one of our local fitness centers. Let me know if you try the butterfly suggestion. At this point in my life, I don't need to torture myself with the difficulty of butterfly, but I do enjoy this drill.

Dory Dory

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Don't keep us in suspense!

Sir Krusty, it was a crazy nail biter at the end, complete with the Coyotes pulling their goalie with a minute to go, plus a mad scramble in front of our net, but the Washington Caps held their line and pulled it out, 4 - 3. Whew!!!

Dory Dory

90 minutes of yoga in the books for today....and I am loving this new addition to my weekly repertoire. My body is back in alignment....sleeping muscles have been roused.....and I feel stronger, at least for the moment.

Namaste.

drquirky

Loving the sports (other than running) updates in your log- I'm from the USA but live in Ireland so scores from home are always welcome (even if they aren't teams I support)....

Dory Dory

drquirky wrote: »

Loving the sports (other than running) updates in your log- I'm from the USA but live in Ireland so scores from home are always welcome (even if they aren't teams I support)....

Not a problem...and, out of curiousity, what teams do you support? I'll keep a lookout for you. I'm a HUGE hockey fan, but love just about all sports. If you're into hockey, then you probably know that Sidney Crosby made his comeback last night and racked up two goals and two assists. I'm not a card-carrying member of the Crosby fanclub, but I applaud his performance.

drquirky

Huge into hockey- I'm from Boston so I'm a big Bruins fan. Saw that about Crosby- pretty impressive....

Dory Dory

Your boys play play the Red Wings on Thanksgiving day at 1. Should be a good game.

Slogger Jogger

Just catching up on your log now. A great read. Good luck with the marathon training.

Dory Dory

Thanks, Slogger Jogger.

A bit of tragedy tonight.....as I straddled my trainer to begin my 75 minute spin-o-rama session and was preparing to launch my iPod into super-funk mode, to my shock and horror I discovered that I had let the battery run down. Crap! I hate that! I even dug out my backup iPod to satisfy my fix only to find total silence from that device as I had let that battery die too. (I have a similar problem with my car's gas tank.)

Workout summary.....75 minutes of spinning at various cadence speeds while thinking of all the words that begin with the letter "L" that accurately describe that lanky lad from Luxembourg, Andy Schleck.

Dory Dory

iPod was revved up, and Caps were on the ice, so I was in sensory overload for tonight's session. After two nights of spinning, I was in need of the full body participation of a run...a run that radiated from the core and orchestrated the collaboration of the legs and arms. So on the artificial landscape of my treadmill, I went for a mix of distance at a healthy clip plus a brief sub-session of speed.

35 minutes warmup of increasing speed every 5 minutes
45 minutes at 8 min/mile
Next 15 minutes: 1 minute each of the following minute/mile pace-
7:30/8:00/7:30/8:00/7:03/8:00/7:03/8:00/6:40/8:00/6:40/8:00/7:03/8:00/7:30
8 minutes cool down

Summary: 103 minutes, 11.63 miles, 8.51 min/mile

Caps report/highlights:
All I have to say is: a good, solid hip check is a beautiful thing. Caps win 4-3 in overtime against the Jets.

Dory Dory

Okay...so the best thing about the Thanksgiving Day 5k in Sperryville (yet another small, rural community in a neighboring county) yesterday was that I won my age bracket and came in third overall for women....but other than that, it was sort of a dud of an event. No great bag with cool goodies in it, the t-shirt was blah, no food tent for us to gather and gnash under, and the organizers opted out of the standard high energy psyche-you-up tunes at the starting line for a more sedate and relaxing flute duo at the 3 mile marker. Very strange, but you'd have to know this county to understand. I'm surprised I didn't see a few of the runners stop and hug a tree along the course.

Overall, the course was tough. The first mile was flat, and I was cooking, but as I turned the corner just after mile 1, BAM, a crazy hill that seemed to go on forever smacked me in the face. (Just once I'd like to run a course that has no hills!) After that, there were some rolling hills, then a descent at the end...with the flautists...playing their peaceful tunes....smiling calmily as we bolted by them in a frenzied gravity pulling push to the finish. I was disappointed with my 5k time, but my Garmin read 3.25 miles, so I'm guessing that these small town races aren't always accurately measured. That, coupled by the fact that each course has its own unique characteristics, I suppose you cannot always compare one race time with another - yet another difference between running and swimming.

Mile 1 - 7.01 (felt great...relaxed and steady....flat part of the course)
Mile 2 - 8.21 (omg....thoughts of spewing halfway up the climb....many stopped to walk, but I did not)
Mile 3 - 7:34 (rolling hills...was getting my groove back)
Last .25 - 1:46 (but I forgot to stop my watch at the end, again! 7:04 pace, but some downhill at the end)

Official time was 24:35 - ugh! Over 10 sec slower/mile than my last 5k, but, again, it's a different course. Can't beat myself up too much over it...especially since I am very happy with my pace at the beginning and end of the race.

It was such a gorgeous day yesterday that, upon my return home, I decided to run another 6 plus miles. Between my disappointment in my race time, and the fact that with winter at our heels, I need to take every opportunity to run outside that I can. It felt good. Really good. I ran in my field.

6.23 miles, 51:29.70, 8:15/mile pace

Dory Dory

Today...trail running on the Appalachian Trail -

I needed a change of scenery, plus I need hill work, and plus-plus it was a drop-dead gorgeous day today, so I decided to do some trail running - something I have not done in quite a while. We live right next to Shenandaoh National Park, thus tons of trails are at my doorstep. My favorite hike is to Mary's Rock (it has a fabulous view - so I had to do this one today with runners on!) but it is fairly steep and extremely rocky, which makes running on this path quite an adventure with all the rocks jutting up and exposed tree roots waiting to trip you on your nose. And there are also plenty of fallen trees on the way to the summit that you either have to hurdle over or scamper under to keep you from getting too bored. Trail running on the Appalachian Trial is definitely a foot-eye coordination death-trap that forces you to stay in the moment to avoid certain catastrophe by falling. I was reminded today that the periphery is quite narrow and your running space is immediate - you can't look too far ahead of you for you will not see what is under you. I imagine it might be similar to some of the night mountain running with head torches that some of you do. I also imagined that Radiohead on this trail under a full moon would have been very appropriate.

Any way....I forgot to turn my Garmin on for a brief portion of this run, so the total distance may actually be a bit longer at 8.82 miles, but I'm not really sure since I am still learning this whole Garmin thing. My pace (and there is a stated moving pace too) was like a snail, but I had to watch my footing, especially on the descent to the bottom. The calories that were computed have got to be incorrect!! OMG....I think I burned enough between the elevation and the time spent running to be able to eat another whole Thanksgiving meal and not feel an ounce of guilt. The Garmin data is as follows:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/131089512

shotgunmcos

Nice route to have on your doorstep. Hey the 5k sounded tough, the middle mile especially. Running that close to your pb considering aint all bad

Dory Dory

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Nice route to have on your doorstep. Hey the 5k sounded tough, the middle mile especially. Running that close to your pb considering aint all bad

Where we live is a hiker and trail runner's paradise as we live between two mountain chains with tons of trails and beautiful scenery. Thanks for the 5k pep talk. I appreciate it.

And you....and your wicked swimming. I'm in awe. And jealous that apparently a pool is at YOUR doorstep!

Krusty_Clown

That looks like an incredible run, Dory Dory. You're very lucky to have those trails on your door-step. Next time bring a camera. We want to see photos!

Slogger Jogger

Wow. Great to get a trail runners perspective from around the appalachian's. A run along some of that is on the bucket list.

donothoponpop

Add me to the jealous-of-you-trails list. I looked up the photos of Mary's Rock, it looks an incredible place. America is such a rich country for outdoors pursuits.

We'll be vacationing in DC next April for a few days- would it be advisable to rent a car and go see some Appalachian sights? Or too far away?

donothoponpop

Forgot to mention, whenever I hear of the Appalachians I think of "Take me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver. A few years back, the State of West Virginia ran a competition to determine what State motto they would adopt, and put on license plates, governmental seals, etc. A line from the song inspired the most entries, so the State adopted "Amost Heaven" as the official motto of West Virginia.

The next year, their neighbouring State of Virginia ran a similar competition. The winner? "Almost West Virginia"

Dory Dory

donothoponpop wrote: »

Forgot to mention, whenever I hear of the Appalachians I think of "Take me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver. A few years back, the State of West Virginia ran a competition to determine what State motto they would adopt, and put on license plates, governmental seals, etc. A line from the song inspired the most entries, so the State adopted "Amost Heaven" as the official motto of West Virginia.

The next year, their neighbouring State of Virginia ran a similar competition. The winner? "Almost West Virginia"

Never did like that John Denver chap.

And you will be in DC next April for a few days?? We are less than 2 hours from DC, so it's certainly worth renting a car if you have the time to come and bask in the natural wonders of the Blue Ridge Mountains and dip your toes in the Shenandoah River. I can hook you up with trails (perhaps night running with a head torch?), and can provide you with canoes, and might even get lucky with a kayak or two. And if you need a place to stay, we have plenty of room at our house (really, we do). And that offer goes to Slogger Jogger, Sir Krusty Clown, Catweazle, and anyone else who want to come and set a spell in the Shenandoah Valley.

My marathon is on April 7th......you could run it with me if you are in town then.

Dory Dory

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Wow. Great to get a trail runners perspective from around the appalachian's. A run along some of that is on the bucket list.

Let me know when....I'll take care of you!!!

Dory Dory

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

That looks like an incredible run, Dory Dory. You're very lucky to have those trails on your door-step. Next time bring a camera. We want to see photos!

I snapped a few pics with my cell phone yesterday thinking I'd post them with my log....but the quality of the photos is less than impressive. I clicked on your "see photos"...and man, there are some gorgeous places you guys and gals run!! My crappy cell phone photos just may not make the grade in that photo venue...but I'll upload a few here below. Looks like not only does this forum have athletes and talented writers, but there are a few photographers in the group.

This photo is from Mary's Rock - and I live in the valley below.
2011-11-26_12-38-33_219.jpg

2011-11-26_12-42-24_682.jpg

2011-11-26_13-14-11_468.jpg

These last two photos I took a few years back...on a full moon hike...at Mary's Rock.
IMG_1589.JPG

IMG_1596.JPG

shotgunmcos

I love that picture with the water bottle in the foregound, it makes it more than a scenic snap Quick question Dory Dory, what drew you to logging here on Boards.ie?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Enjoying your updates and those snaps are class, it looks like a great place to run about.
I can see Slogger Jogger and Dpop salivating with the thoughts of running around there.....two bloody mountain goats they are:)

donothoponpop

Dory Dory wrote: »

And you will be in DC next April for a few days?? We are less than 2 hours from DC, so it's certainly worth renting a car if you have the time to come and bask in the natural wonders of the Blue Ridge Mountains and dip your toes in the Shenandoah River. I can hook you up with trails (perhaps night running with a head torch?), and can provide you with canoes, and might even get lucky with a kayak or two. And if you need a place to stay, we have plenty of room at our house (really, we do). And that offer goes to Slogger Jogger, Sir Krusty Clown, Catweazle, and anyone else who want to come and set a spell in the Shenandoah Valley.

My marathon is on April 7th......you could run it with me if you are in town then.

Wow! Thanks for the generous offer of accomodation! It's doubtful I could squeeze this into my tight itinerary- I'm leaving DC for NY on the 6th April- but I've already been looking at Google maps for detours, and checking out the route for "The most scenic marathon on the East coast". Very doubtful I could swing it, but the seed has been planted!

Odin Drab Firefighter wrote: »

Enjoying your updates and those snaps are class, it looks like a great place to run about.
I can see Slogger Jogger and Dpop salivating with the thoughts of running around there.....two bloody mountain goats they are:)

You know us too well!:D