Weekly Check-in :-)

[ell]

Inspiring quote for today:

"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."

-Jesse Owens

So, runners, how was your week? What was your favorite sight while running this week?

Comments

[ell]

My running this week was pretty abysmal - no chance to run during the week at all, but got a good slow 7 miles in on Saturday in the rain and much more painful 5k on Sunday immediately after Bike DC. I ran back to the finish festival for Bike DC while still wearing my volunteer shirt from the event. I think the coolest sight was all the bike riders who recognized me and waved at me on the trail as I was running. Also the 4 person tandem (quadem?)bike with the entire family on it was fun to watch :-)

[linaelyn]

I am intrigued by this quadem bike of which you write. ;-D

[ell]

There was also a tandem with a trail-a bike attached and that whole family was wearing matching jerseys :-) Those kids were having a great time. All my pictures are sort of blurry as i was taking them from a moving bicycle...

[gnomad]

OMG, I rode with these people at the start. We called them the bike minivan.

[yvi]

I ran on Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday was nice because it was my first time doing 25 minutes without walking. I ran next to a beautiful blooming field of Brassica rapus. I wanted to do the same on Thursday, but thought I didn't need my motivating podcast anymore and failed quite spectacularly. I did 10 minutes or so before walking the first time and did so three more times during the 20 minutes I tried.

For health reasons (I have rheumatoid arthritis), I probably need a few days of not running, so I started skating again yesterday. Did 5 kilometers in 30 minutes, which was okay for the start :) During skating, it was not so much the sight as the smell that was awesome - it smelled of spring and summer, with people having barbecues outside.

Plans for this week are to continue the skating with a few 45-60 minute skates in which I'll try to aim for an average of 10-12 km/h.

[ell]

yay for your Tuesday...and skating sounds like such fun. I'm not even remotely coordinated enough for that...

[cleo]

My week was better than lat but still not great. I've been focusing on running outside rather than on the treadmill (because I'm not longer in my PhD program, I can't use the school's gym without paying, and it's not worth paying for the whole summer when I'm moving in three weeks) and trying to run shorter distances faster. it's been rainy, so I've only gotten out three days this week, just doing a mile to mile and a half faster.

It's been good, and I can tell the difference in my stamina with each run; however, i need to find a new place to do it. I live in a college town, and on the past couple of runs I've gotten yelled "run, slut" and comments about my ass yelled at me from guys. Stuff like that happens, but it really isn't conducive to a good mindset mid run (I don't run with headphones or anything...just doesn't work for me).

[ilanarama]

Your second paragraph makes me livid with anger. Nobody should be so disrespectful as to shout things like that at runners.

[cyphomandra]

Oh, I hate people (well, males, in my experience) who shout at runners. Puts me off for the whole run. Last Sunday I had an old guy in a car honk at me, pull off the road and honk at me again, and then do a u-turn back past me again honking and waving. It is entirely possible he's someone I know but didn't recognise, but it felt more like random harrassment.

It is an advantage to running in a group, if that's an option for you...

[ell]

I tend to shout back at them. Doesn't really help, but it makes me feel better. It sucks that there are such assholes in the world. There was just an article in Runner's World about short and fast being the key to increasing both speed and stamina.

[temve]

My LWR (Long Wednesday Run) was spectacularly drowned in torrential and very cold rain, so I didn't even bother going out that day. Instead, I made up for it on Friday and ran 13.5K - the longest I've ever run. Surprisingly, I felt OK afterwards from a cardio/exhaustion perspective, but my feet hurt a bit.

Today I ran 5K, biked 17.5K to my favourite lake and swam 400m in its icy depths - sort of a reverse triathlon spread out over a bank holiday morning. Biked back too and treated myself to ice cream with fresh strawberries.

Best sight? The sun! After four weeks of solid rain and unseasonal winter weather, I'd forgotten what that looked like!

[sophinisba]

That's awesome that you got in running, biking and swimming. I haven't swum laps in about 13 years (and that last experience was pretty awful) but lately seeing people like you talking has made me want to give it another try.

[ell]

Go Tri!Tem!

[starlady]

Ran 4.5 miles straight through, in 47 minutes. Only my second time at that length, too!

[ell]

great job!

[linaelyn]

My week was not bad, considering it was Week of Menstrual Issues (which can be rather hellish, for me.) I had difficulty breathing (pollen issues, anemia, asthma) but my legs felt good. I managed three runs of 4.5~5K each.

Best thing I saw:
It's both migration season and breeding season here for so many birds. This Western Tanager was probably headed for British Columbia or Idaho for the nesting season, but he was singing up a storm in the top of a Cypress tree. Beautiful, both visually and aurally.

[ilanarama]

Eee! I have seen a few Western Tanagers around here (SW Colorado) myself lately - they are so pretty!

[ell]

Pretty birdie! (that's about the extent of my knowledge of birds...)

[starlurker]

I didn't get a chance to run for most of last week due to illness and bad weather conditions, but I did run for about 45 minutes this past Saturday, which was probably the most fun I had running for quite some time. I ran consistently for that entire time, chasing all four of my nephews and nieces throughout a massive park. Not coincidentally, their excited, happy faces as I ran after all of them pretending to be a dragon were the loveliest things I saw during my run.

[ell]

That sounds like so much fun!

[ilanarama]

I got out for a 3-mile run on Saturday morning - my first run in 3 weeks - but even though it didn't hurt while running, my peroneal tendon was tweaky-feeling the rest of the day, and really bothered me yesterday and this morning. Fortunately, my physical therapist made the owie go away, and she assured me that I hadn't totally torpedoed my recovery, but I don't think I'll be running for another few weeks.

I did take several nice mountain bike rides last week, and the desert wildflowers are out now. I posted some photos on my journal.

[ell]

Those are gorgeous flowers! What a great place to bike!

(resting after injuries is the hardest part of running, isn't it?)

[cyphomandra]

Ooh, pretty. I hope your peroneal tendon calms down and relaxes while you're in non-running mode!

[lydiabell]

I've only been running twice since the half-marathon three weeks ago. I've been catching up on all the stuff I didn't get done because I was training. *g* Also, my feet are really sore. I don't know how to describe it -- they're sort of sore on top? Not like my shoes are rubbing against the bone, but more of a connective tissue soreness. It's much worse when I've been sitting for a while, especially if I've had my feet up. ::shrug:: IDK. I may switch to biking anyway if it's going to stay this hot (92 degrees WTF).

[ell]

i didn't run for about 2 months after the marathon...i think it's a natural reaction.

[sophinisba]

Last week was great. I did 16.8 miles in four runs, including five miles on Wednesday, the longest I've ever done without a break.

I've been doing a loop around two bridges and both sides of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. It's beautiful and not too crowded but not too isolated either, and nice chunks of it are shaded by trees along the path. Here's a view of one of those bridges from the other, though of course the leaves look different now.

I want to do 18 miles this week but I'm not sure how I'm going to manage it, between my new school schedule and this heat. Will do my best though.

[ell]

Gorgeous river! At least it stays light out really late these days...that helps me get my runs in - i do them after work at 8 at night sometimes.

[sophinisba]

Yeah, I had a clever plan to get up at 6 this morning and get my running out of the way before school and that...did not happen, so it looks like it will be an evening run. :)

Starting up

[maxwells]

I have been walking for a few weeks now, I start running lightly next week; weather's been good, and am seeing lots of families in the park.

[heuradys]

My favorite sight this week was actually post-run and was a very wee fawn following its mother across a field.

And I keep making myself laugh because when I run on turf trails, I keep accidentally picking dandelions with my toes. One hazard of VFFs that nobody warns you about...

[cyphomandra]

I did two very slow runs over the weekend - 8.2 and 5.4k - while keeping my heart rate in the 130-135 range. I spent so much time admiring the very slow moving scenery that I'm not sure I can isolate any one incident! I do like sneaking off track in the park to kick through the large piles of fallen leaves, tho'.

[ell]

This is maybe an idiotic question, but where do you wear the heart rate monitor strap? I find that it constantly slides down unless I cinch it so tight it makes me feel like i can't breathe...

[cyphomandra]

Not idiotic at all, as I had to stop on one run and do some creative rehoisting - I don't think my heart rate was really going from 78 to 140 in 10 seconds! I put the heart monitor strap on before anything else, as high as I can get it, then my sports bra over the top (so the strap's under the band), then a crop top over that to hold everything in place. Usually works.

I also had the strap way too tight the first time I tried it and developed a new sympathy for wasp-waisted corset-wearing romance heroines :)

[ell]

That is hysterical! I don't run all that often with my VFFs and usually on pavement so that hasn't happened to me yet...

[gnomad]

Last week was pretty good. I did another 10K training run, which makes me giddy to know that I can run that far even if it takes me 1.5hrs to do it. I shredded my pants while I ran, so I must have been an interesting sight to others.

The best thing I saw this week was...hmm, maybe the matching tourists. A lot of tourists like to wear the same t-shirts, usually in a solid color or with touristy slogan. But this week I saw a gaggle of women who all wore match navy and white glitter striped outfits. I'm pretty sure they weren't costumes, merely well matched tourists in stripes...

[blnchflr]

I ran 5.4K in one stretch \o/ - no favourite sight, but on the warm, sunny days the fir trees in the forest are beginning to give off that baked smell that I love, mmm.