Running With Turkey

I got out for one more run this work week. It was a gorgeous day, just begging for a trot through town. My legs were tired today after yesterday's run, so it was a bit of a grind and my CV was less than I'd hoped for -- though it may be connected to really working the breathing muscles yesterday, perhaps they needed some recovery too. Sometimes, when I run at noon, I find it harder because I'm hungry so my energy level is less. I don't know, I'm an advertising guy, not an exercise physiologist!

Anyway, I went double layer technical tees up top and shorts on the bottom -- the first shorts-run of the year. It's really a glorious day today, despite the fairly stiff breeze that seemed to be in my face at every turn. A very large red tail flashed it's tail and belly above me within the first mile, and that was cool -- there are some very large Red Tails that live at a pond not far from our house and it's always fun to see them. There is also a Goshawk that lives on the next street over from us -- it was in the town paper last week -- and I've seen him around, but I'm not sure that he's the other hawk that I see frequently (it's a wild kingdom out there!). About a mile-and-a-half from the finish of today's run I saw two large turkey running onto the grounds of the middle school -- in the midst of a bustling residential neighborhood. I, of course, gobbled at them and they bolted. Cool run on a great day.

A Good Run

I posted this on Posterous under the title "52,800, At Least." Hope you guys are well. I'm feeling very much back in the saddle. How's Mrs FA's training going? Two weeks to go.

I headed out this morning for my first official long run of this training session. I had in mind to do 10-11 miles, and had no real time in mind, except to keep it around 90 minutes.
It was a beautiful day under crystal clear bluebird skies and the temp was a very comfortable 38 F. I carried 20 ozs of G2, a cliff bar (peanut butter choco-chip), my mobile and wore a hat gloves, shell polypro shirt, tights and base layer briefs -- much stripped down from earlier in the week. I headed out through the center of town and into the next town over. The wind was a mellow breeze out of the S/SW. The streets of our town were quiet with only some dog walkers, a few runners and a few motorists (one of whom did manage to cut me off as she pulled into the lot of the YMCA....awesome).

I have a 5 mile out route to a distinct landmark -- a bridge -- in the next town. It's part of a longer continuum of out and backs that if I ever geared up for it (mentally and physically) would net a 22 mile long run through three towns and some very scenic neighborhoods. Today's out and back though was just to the bridge. As I neared the bridge I felt good. I decided to go closer to 11. So, rather than stopping at the bridge to eat the Cliff and drink some Gatorade I took a left and ran down a path. The town next to us has a great system of walking trails across the town. I sort of power walked, slow jogged while I wolfed the Cliff and chugged some fluid and then picked it up again. I ran next to a nice little brook, crossed some streets, and followed the path which eventually had me running on top of the Lake Cochichuate Aqueduct for a little trail running. I came back to the main drag that I followed out, and then headed for home. I felt good throughout though my quads were a bit sore -- I went from being "kind-of-running" to at least 28 miles this week, with a stroller run on Saturday.

At about the 40 minute mark I found my rhythm and just kept on rolling. I love it when that happens. I heard loads of Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Crows, saw several Mourning Doves, a huge Red Tail and, what I think, though can't be sure because I couldn't see its rump, which is always white, a Northern Harrier. I enjoyed today, but am glad that it's over, though. This was a good week of running accomplishment and I feel very much back in the saddle. I covered the ground in about 90 minutes, maybe a bit more, but I'm not sure how far I actually went, though it was 52,800 feet, at least.

Good Weekend

We had a great weekend on the Cape this weekend with the VTRs and Mrs. FA and her kids (Mr. FA, we missed you). I ran 8 on Saturday, 5 with VTR and 3 with Mrs. FA. IT was great to have someone to talk to. Near the end with VTR we were both sort of working and I looked at him and said, "you're doing great, this is much quicker than I thought we'd run." He looked at me and says, "I was picking it up to stay up with you . . ." funny. I enjoyed running with Mrs. FA too, she set the pace, we had a great conversation about running work and the usual stuff, and got in a nice run.

I took Children 1 & 2 out today and we had fun on a fairly short run, in the neighborhood of 3 miles. We played a game avoiding "traps" -- manhole covers and sewer grates that either popped your tire, grabbed your leg or arm or spewed sparks (water valve covers). I'd pretend not to see them and both kids would be yelling "TRAPS!" I'd swerve the whole stroller at the last second and they'd be swerving with it all tossed around in the cabin. We had a blast. It was a gorgeous evening of golden sun and brilliant blue skies. C1 said, "it looks like early morning but it's not. . ." so observant. We saw a couple of big cotton tail rabbits, loads of Grackles and a couple of big Northern Flickers.

I got in five on my birthday (Wednesday) with C3. I felt good much better than my 3/29 run. I'm rediscovering my mojo. VTR gave me a big pep talk this weekend and it was good, thanks. I'm knocking down the wall one brick at a time as that HS rower mentioned -- great comment PR.

A tangential thing: we saw a bunch of birds this weekend that looked loonish, but I think that they were Brants, a small to medium sized goose. According to The Sibley Guide to Birds they winter here and summer up in Hudson Bay/the arctic circle.

Cape Cod Bluebird Day

As the photo above shows, yesterday was a bluebird day on Cape Cod (stealing a term from VTR). We went down to visit my in-laws before they depart for sunny Florida and I decided to sneak in a run. It was a gorgeous day and despite not being totally motivated I got out for 5+ -- how could I not?

There was a surprising amount of snow down there and roads with few year-rounders were downright treacherous, but it was relatively mild (high-20s, mid-30s) and gorgeous (see above photo). I saw a big hawk near the end of the run -- not a Red Tail, but I'm not sure what kind. I also stopped for a minute or so in the early going to watch some little ducks swimming and diving. I have no idea what kind of ducks they were as marine, riverine, estuarine birds are nearly impossible for me to ID.

My right hammy started tightening up on the run and that started to pull the back muscle above my right glute in an uncomfortable fashion. It's sort of twingy right now. What was the stretch that you guys were talking about prior to the CCM to alleviate this? My back has been bugging me for a bit, and I thought that it was injured from moving C3's seat around. That it's related to running is oddly comforting because I think it can be stretched out, and is not a lifting /weight bearing related injury.

Headwind!

I just ran 3.3 into a stiff headwind -- I was shooting for 4 but bailed and did my short loop. The first half of the run felt like running uphill even though it's fairly flat once you finish the first 1/2 mile. It's pretty wild how a headwind will slow you down -- I'm not the most aerodynamic person in the world, to be sure, but I can't believe how a stiff headwind makes me feel like the side of a house. It was a pretty evening with golden light and blue sky but quite chilly -- I bookended the week with pretty runs. I almost stepped on a little dead nuthatch -- that would have been gross.

Turkey Trot

Time: 33:36
Avg HR: 155
Peak HR: 178
Distance: 4.02 miles
Start Time: 6:54 AM
Training Effect: 4.7
Temp: mid-40s

I went out longer today -- adding in a couple of extra blocks and about 6 minutes onto my run -- I'm now just over 4 miles which is good. It was a beautiful day. A cabby asked me for directions but I didn't know what street he was looking for -- I stopped my watch while I spoke with him. Nothing major to report, no deep thoughts, but I was delayed this AM because there was a huge turkey in our yard. I got a couple of snapshots of her before heading out and that delayed me a bit.

The turkey is cool and we've seen her a couple of times over the past week or so. It's kind of cool to have such a large animal foraging on the property.

Ho-Hum-Run

Time: 28:55
avg HR: 158
Peak HR: 176
3.3 miles
6:55 AM start
Training Effect: 4.3
Temp: 35 F

It was a wet and gray sort of day today, but not bad for running. I tried to stretch out my usual route by running slower. Weirdly, my AVG HR was slightly higher than usual and the overall time of the run was about one minute longer than usual -- it felt comfortable though.

I need new sneakers, the toe in the right shoe is basically worn away and you can see the undersole. I guess I push off harder on my right foot than my left and more towards the front -- that's odd, I think, because my right is not my dominant side.

There was a big bird in a tree along my route that I think was a Northern Flicker, but it was far enough away, and up high enough that I can't say for sure -- though there are a bunch of Northern Flickers in the area. It's call was loud and that's how I noticed him. Thrilling post!