The current status of my running "game"

After plenty of weeks of gloom and doom in which I didn't run or as I returned to running I found the process painful and slow, I've finally reconnected with running (let me cross my fingers as I write that).  Recent weeks have marked a few good milestones:  with caution, extending my runs, little by little from 3 to 4 to 5 miles.  In recent weeks, I've actually hit double digits in terms of total mileage with a whopping 11-12 miles run in a week!  It doesn't seem like much to some people, but it boosted my confidence a bit.  Also, I've enjoyed pretty much every run and have prayed to the running gods before and after, happy to be back on the trails and pavement.  In addition to lengthier runs, it's also been nice to see my legs get some faster miles under them, and I've enjoyed pushing myself a bit more.  Yesterday was huge as I hit seven miles right at a 60 minutes.  That seventh mile was all downhill, so it was fun to see a really faster-than-usual time pop up!

As I've been running more and without aches and pains during and after my runs, obviously my mind has turned to the 2013 "race calendar", and I've started to fantasize about new PRs and tons of awesome experiences.  At the same time, I've also balanced out the fantasy with the reality of my life this spring - busy and pretty full with other plans and obligations.  I did finally satisfy my racing lust by signing up for a 10k in March - it looks like a fun, beautiful and hilly course, so a fast time is doubtful, but I'm excited for it!  I realized that my last stand-alone 10K was in November 2011, so why not push myself at that distance this year. 

The big question for the spring is the Mt. Wilson Trail Race in May.  I mean, 8.6 miles, 2,100 elevation gain - it's such a FUN experience!  Okay, it is major suffering and a terrifying experience that turns into fun when your brain can no longer process the pain or fear.  And only really terrifying on the ascent - the descent is a piece of cake! I am feeling somewhat uninspired to start to train, and if I haven't trained at all, I could still manage the race, but I would suck, and it's too hard a race to just do "for fun" in my opinion.  So, I've started to consider not running it, an idea has a certain appeal...

And that has prompted me to think that I'm losing my desire to have a "hard-core" runner's identity (I'm not saying that I actually am a hard-core runner, but I think that I used to really want to be).  Mt. Wilson will still be there next year, and if it means that I can  can enjoy a weekend elsewhere, maybe along the Central Coast, maybe biking with friends and looking at elephant seals and drinking lots of wine, well I think that I can forgo my attempt to be a bad-ass runner!

Cause for celebration

I'm not much of a valentine's day fan, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise since we've even started to not celebrate birthdays around here - at least not with gifts.  But this week did bring me/us several reasons to celebrate, so we obliged rather happily!

First of all, I had a knee appointment on Thursday morning - a very romantic way to start the day, I know.  The good and pretty damn good-looking doctor prodded, poked and groped my knee, commenting that it felt "great!"(I love that a knee can become a point of admiration).  I exhaled a sigh of relief that I have yet to ruin his handicraft!  My last cortisone shot was back in June, so making it 8 months between shots is pretty significant, and the shots seem to continue to work - fingers crossed!  Not that I'm dealing with great pain, but it starts to build up and do more than just "nag".  If the doctor approves the shots as a course of action, who am I to protest, especially if it keeps me on my feet and moving.

While we swore off any 'romantic' celebrations on Thursday, we actually did have dinner plans for Friday due to a Groupon that was about to expire.  As it turned out, we ended up with more than just a three-day weekend and a belated fake holiday to toast.  After work yesterday, we drove to the Valley (amazing when I go to a part of LA and I ask myself or whoever I'm with "Where the hell are we?"; that was definitely my experience yesterday afternoon - not that I haven't been to the Valley, but not to that part of it) and signed what seemed to be our life away in the form of loans and deeds and titles and so much other paperwork.  We also got a date to close on the house that we almost own - a real date and a real house: March 7.  HOLY CRAP!  We are now officially entering adulthood in the form of "Home Ownership"!  Like all major ventures, this is both exciting and terrifying, and we can't quite believe that it's happening.

I've kept mum about the house search - even in real life, as much as possible - because it seemed like such a fragile possibility and because it has been a somewhat emotional process.  After years of vacillating between our dream of moving to another city or state and the idea of buying a house in the LA area, we  finally decided back in October to get serious with the house business.  Redfin.com became not a fun little escape but an important source of information that we scoured weekly and even daily at times.  In October and November, house hunting took over our weekends as we spent hours on Saturday and Sundays at open houses, often feeling deflated because we didn't like the places or equally deflated because we did like them but knew that we would probably be outbid (which did happen - someone put down an all-cash offer on one of the houses we bid on, so how could we compete with that?).  In this process, we learned quite a bit about ourselves and what we wanted/needed in a house and some of our expectations were different from what we thought they would be.  First of all, because of our two larger dogs, we really couldn't be in a tiny place (under 1,000 square foot - believe me, we saw plenty of those!).  Also, a yard was key.  Ditto for a two-car garage.  And decent closet space.  And a logical floor plan.  And a decent neighborhood where I could go for a run.  And not too much work to make it liveable.  And we didn't want to be house poor.  This all seems fairly basic, but we couldn't believe some of the places that we saw (too small, weird neighbors, a nice big pitbull next door, zero closet space, no yard...).  We initially locked into the house back in December, but it did not seem real until the past few weeks when we had the inspection, the appraisal and all sorts of documents come through that indicated that it was ours if we wanted it and if we signed on all the dotted lines!

And now, after all the waiting and looking, we have a closing date and we know when we'll be moving, give or take a day.  Excited and kind of overwhelmed, we definitely celebrated last night at Bashan, indulging in one of the best meals that we've had lately.  We hadn't planned the timing, but it worked out well to eat some amazing food and drink excellent wine after signing away our lives and before the giddy excitement could wear away.  Soon we'll have to face the hard work that comes along with home buying, but for now, I'm content to just enjoy the moment!

A fair weather rider

We've enjoyed some rather chilly days and weeks in the LA area this year.  Obviously I'm not comparing the temperatures here to those far-flung northern locales, but compared to last year, it's been damn cold!  Currently, I'm wearing a wool sweater, wool socks and we have a fire crackling away for the evening.  Michael refused to take the dogs out for a walk this morning because there was frost on the ground, and at one point a few weeks ago, Gus, our ever-so-agile labrador-beagle mix slipped on some ice in the back patio.  I keep wondering if this is the "hell-freezes-over" moment in humanity's history, but other apocalyptic signs seem wanting (unless you count the pope's resignation - holy smokes! This is the first time since the Middle Ages that a pope has willingly - I suppose - stepped down).

As much as I like that the cold weather affords me the opportunity to wear wool sweaters to school and to bundle up in the mornings, as I begin to think about different races and the training involved, I curse the colder temperatures.  Yes, this is yet another example of my total lack of hard-core badassness.  I admit it - I am a fair weather rider.  A wimp, in other words.  There are, after all, several reasons I live in Southern CA, and the weather does make the list.  While we have our seasons here (May Grey, June Gloom, Santa Ana winds...) and there are extremes that come with them, most of the time, I can find a way to train outside, even if it means I drive to the coast, usually in search of cooler temperatures, for a ride or a run.  There are some hot days in the summer, and, apparently, some cold days in the winter!

Running in the cold, while it isn't much fun, is not unbearable nor unfamiliar.  Last year, I ran in Boulder and Taos when the temperatures were in the 20's.  Cold, yes, but not intolerable.  Riding in the cold, however, is another matter altogether. As yesterday proved, I am NOT prepared for even slightly cold weather riding.  Honestly, if I weren't starting to think about upcoming events (months away, but still there), I wouldn't have plopped my thin-skinned butt on the saddle yesterday.  However, I've committed myself to at least one ride per week in February and then upping the number when March and April roll around.  So far, I've enjoyed these rides - last weekend's was awesome and made me happy to be back on the bike.  Yesterday's ride, however, made me realize that I seriously lack any cold-weather riding gear.  Okay, not "any" since I have leg warmers and bike gloves, and really I have enough winter gear to layer up for a ride, but it feels unfamiliar and uncomfortable to be so cold on the bike.  Not that I started out cold - I began the ride climbing several miles as I headed part of the way up the Angeles Crest Highway.  It was an AMAZING day (always is after a rain) - lots of dramatic clouds and sunlight peeping through and freshly green mountains that went on and on as I looked towards the eastern range.  I wasn't hot on the climb, but not cold.  However, once I turned around and started the descent, I knew that I was in for some suffering.  At first I couldn't decide if the excitement of the decent would cancel out the wind chill factor, and initially it did.  Once I finished the decent and continued the ride, I started to curse my serious lack of circulation - cold hands and really f-ing cold feet!  I cut the ride short because, by that point, my feet were totally numb and I just couldn't get warm.

In my defense, I do think that it was about 52 degrees when I started the ride and, when I returned, the temperature had dropped to about 48 degrees.  Not freezing temperatures, I admit, but when you're zooming downhill and there's a biting wind, it's cold!  Fortunately, looking at the temperatures this next weekend, we should be back to normal LA digits - ah, the 70's, how I will welcome you!

Three - the magic number

Yes, I'm totally stealing from Schoolhouse Rock which just celebrated its fortieth anniversary - impressive!  We heard an interview with the composer and sometimes singer of the songs, Bob Dorough, on NPR last month.  Apparently, "Three is a magic number" was the first Schoolhouse Rock song, and I would say that it's one of my favorites (although maybe NOT quite up there with "Conjunction conjunction what's your function" in my mind).

Recently, in my own small world, I've seen the number three appear in different configurations, some positive, others not so much.  For instance, I'm on my third cold of the academic year which seems to be a ridiculous number!  I should appreciate that I haven't been knocked completely on my ass, unlike some of my colleagues, but I still can't believe that I've been sick this often.  Maybe this is what the 40's look like?  Along with this third cold, I took three 'rest' days this past week. Gasp!  Just more evidence that I will never be one of those hard-core people who hate taking a day or two off, even when they feel like complete shit.  I didn't feel that bad, just like poop (yes, I'm have the vocab of a three-year-old), but sleeping 10 hours Friday night plus taking a 2 hour nap yesterday seemed to do the trick.  But, still, there are some twinges of guilt about the 3 days of rest.

On a more positive note, I've found that the notion of "third time's charm" is apt for new running shoes!  After a lengthy search, it seems that I've finally found something of the holy grail.  Since the initial flare-up of plantar fasciitis, I blamed my shoes, whether that was a fair assessment or not, I'm not sure.  Since last spring, I've been running with Brooks Trance, which I settled on but never felt that they were a great fit.  So, with PF, I started grasping at straws, reading about neutral shoes, barefoot running and stability shoes.  I decided that I needed extra stability and went for an Addidas shoe that offered such.  To my dismay, that was just about the worst running shoe decision I've made in recent years, and I suppose that I should have known that I needed something a bit more neutral since I've been in Brooks Cascadia for the past 2 years without any issues.  So, if anyone wants a pair of extra stability running shoes, size 7.5, please let me know.  I also invested in a pair of Mizuno's Wave, and they've worked out pretty well - I didn't just *love* them, but they certainly felt better than the Addidas.  However, I recently found my perfect fit in the form of Brooks Ravenna:

Source

The guy at In-Step, the insole place in Boulder, recommended these to me.  I tried them on in his shop, and they seemed to fit just right.  So far, I've taken them out twice for a run, and both times, my stride, gait, all that running jargony-stuff felt great.  YES!  I'm so excited to find a shoe that definitely works for me.  In fact, I might go buy two more pairs so that I'll have three! Ha ha (sort of).

As I've wrestled with the fact that I've spent a pretty penny while trying to find the right pair of shoes, it's also a relief to find shoes that really work! Through this search, I've channeled my inner Goldilocks - too hot, too cold, just right.  On a final note, I hope that the three bears don't come after me now!

Mammoth: Eastern Sierra getaway

I've lived in California for just over 10 years now (how did that happen?), and every time I visit the Sierra - no matter what the trip is - I think to myself "I must return soon". And then a year or two will pass, and I'll return and wonder why it took me so long to get back, especially when I consider that it isn't a long trip from LA.  In just a few hours, a person can easily find him/herself on a lonely road, passing cattle and the occasional ghost town with the lights of the city far behind and craggy mountains looming large.

Thanks to a timely semester break, Michael and I did enjoy a quick jaunt up to Mammoth Lakes.  We'd been in the area years ago over a bitterly cold Memorial Day weekend but had not returned since.  Going at this time of the year obviously promised to be a different trip - rather than hiking and kayaking, we planned to take advantage of the snow!  After hearing about skiing at Mammoth for years, we'd finally experience it ourselves. Thanks to my semester break, we left the LA area Wednesday afternoon and arrived at our destination in the early evening.  As we headed north, I kept asking "Where is the snow" because we drove through the Mojave, dotted with Joshua Trees and then gained in altitude but the landscape still felt fairly desert-like.  Driving into the town of Mammoth Lakes, the snow was piled up, and Michael could finally reply "Here is the snow!".  It seemed to appear as soon as we turned west and headed into the mountains - duh.

Skiing in Mammoth ended up being an experience of extremes - a terrible ski day followed up by an amazing day!  Thursday, we woke up early and headed out, hitting the mountain around 9:00 am and on the chairlift by 9:05 or so.  In comparison to skiing in Colorado, I couldn't believe two aspects: a. how warm it was!  b. how short the lift lines were!  In terms of the first surprise, I welcomed the warmer temperatures.  Colorado was bitterly cold, so heading outside and discovering that it wasn't too cold - well, that was a treat.  I knew that we were visiting Mammoth on off days, but I still couldn't get over the fact that there literally were no lift lines!  Unfortunately, my appreciation for Mammoth ended there on Thursday as I experienced the worst ski day of my life.  Okay, the second-worst ski day (the worst was definitely when I tore my meniscus). The snow was fresh and thick, and I am not very skilled at skiing through powder - yes,  I prefer the groomed, manicured slopes.  Added to the snow, which fell throughout the morning, visibility went from kind of crappy to just plain terrible.  I couldn't see anything in front of me and even took my goggles off, hoping that would help (which it did, initially, sort of).

We made it through about 4 runs in the morning - runs with lots of stops and starts - before I begged for  a break.  I felt so off because I couldn't see ANYTHING, and it really affected my confidence.  During our break, I picked up a new pair of goggles that would, I hoped, improve the visibility.  Returning to the mountain with new gear in tow, we felt better when we started out in the afternoon.  We probably had two decent runs before we were fighting the visibility issue again.  Not only were we totally frustrated, we were also exhausted by the early afternoon.  So, we called it a day.

Here I am before the fog gathered!

The forecast for Friday called for similar weather, except between the 8:00-9:00 hour, so we were on the slopes by 8:40, determined to at least get in a few good runs.  As the morning wore on, the weather held, and we both enjoyed a perfect day of skiing!  First of all, we couldn't believe how gorgeous it was - I mean, we knew that it was supposed to be amazing, but we couldn't see anything on Thursday.  So, the views of the Sierra just took us by surprise on Friday.  And we couldn't have wished for a better day of skiing - amazing snow, a beautiful day, and very few people on the slopes.  We were the only people on some of the runs!  

Looking down at the clouds - the trees appeared to be sugar-coated!

Enjoying the blue skies!

Taking in some liquid pleasure at lunch - Mammoth Brewing Company's Epic IPA hit the spot!

After lunch, we skied a few more runs but then decided to stop while we were ahead, at least in terms of skiing.  We were both happy and exhausted and didn't want to push it too much and risk injury (ah, the joys of getting older).  No doubt Thursday's challenging experience on the slopes highlighted how great Friday was, so we tried to take advantage of the conditions as much as we could but were tired by the early afternoon.  Before tucking in for the evening, however, we stopped at the Mammoth Brewing Company.  We certainly enjoyed drinking their IPA at lunch, and it seemed like a logical place to grab a drink.  Apparently plenty of other people coming off the mountain also wanted to grab a drink because it was packed!  While not a traditional bar (they only sell 'tastings' rather than pints), I was a huge fan of their beers, especially their holiday selection - the Dopplebock and Eisbock were amazing, and it was the perfect way to say farewell to Mammoth.

The view from the car - See you next time!

In defense of lazy days and weekends

This weekend has not, perhaps, been full-fledged lazy, in that sit-around-in-bed-until-ten-AM-lazy, but the past few days have felt like a break, and not even "much-needed" since school just resumed on January 7.  However, who am I to complain about a long weekend so soon on the heels of Christmas break?

I do, though, feel a bit guilt-ridden about my sloth-like state these days. In my original vision of January, this would be the month that I would return, reenergized and excited about 2013 and all of its potential and would re-enter the world of active people.  Despite the chipper nature of my last post (yay, I can run!), I need to be honest about running and the fact that I still need to take it slow and not accrue lots of miles.  Averaging less than 10 miles per week has humbled me, but I'll get over it - as long as I can eventually work back to at least crossing the double-digit threshold.  I plan to return to ART (active release therapy) and see if that will bring on faster improvements.  Still, running is running, and I am happy about the small progress that I have made.  But, I have yet to embrace a commitment to any training, despite finally signing up for the Wildflower Oly course the day before prices dramatically increased.  I was sure that would kick me into gear, yet this has yet to happen, interestingly enough.

Because I'm at the end of the semester (our break falls after Christmas, not before), my workload is lighter than it will probably be again until the end of May.  So, I am taking full advantage of the opportunity to be lazy.  To begin, I read the book "Gone Girl" within 24 hours or so and even jettisoned all workout plans in order to finish it.  Seriously.  The ended proved somewhat disappointing to me, but for sheer entertainment, the book delivers.

This weekend has also presented me with ample opportunity to play and take advantage of good weather and little work.  Accordingly, we have indulged in an unusually 'fun' weekend.  We went to LACMA on Friday night, meeting a colleague from work and staying out until 10 pm - crazy night out!  I commented to Michael that we had turned into the LA-equivalent of the New York "bridge-and-tunnel-crowd", you know, going out to the big city is a 'big deal'.  It was totally worth it, especially seeing people goofing around the lamp posts:

(Not sure if the photo comes out, but there is a guy wearing a zebra mask - he periodically put it on, pranced around, and then took it off).

I'm not a huge Stanley Kubrick fan, but I did enjoy the exhibit on his work - both film and photography.  It was also interesting to see some of the letters and telegrams between him and other people (like Nabokov!).  If I had a higher tolerance for blood and also suspense (I like suspense, but the bloody-suspense movies are too much for me), I'd definitely spend some time watching "The Shining" and also "A Clockwork Orange".  However, I fear that I'd spend most of the movies with my hands covering my eyes.  The other exhibit that we wandered into was a small room featuring some of Mapplethorpe's more controversial pieces (they were at the center of the 1980's "Culture Wars").  I wouldn't censor them, but I admit that much of the penis shots did provoke an embarrassed exchange between me and Michael.  Yes, I have the maturity of a kid at times.  I hoped that reading Patti Smith's "Just Kids" would allow me to appreciate these photographs more, but that didn't happen, perhaps because they were so focused on some of the more controversial pieces and the homoerotic nature of the pieces?  Or, again, it could be because of my lack of maturity.

Then, last night, after much cajoling by Michael, I ended up seeing "The Hobbit" with him.  We gorged ourselves on beers and wings beforehand because the movie was so long, which, I think, put me in the right frame of mind for the movie.  I had somewhat low expectations, after reading reviews and listening to people talk about the length, and while I did find myself thinking "It must end right at this point" at least 3 times, I definitely enjoyed the experience.  I do think that Peter Jackson is trying to turn it into something that the book was not.  He constantly links it to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the idea of good and evil rather than letting it be a more playful story which is my experience with the book.  But it was a good outing for a Saturday night!

And today?  It looks to be more laziness, this time in the form of football.  Despite the heartbreak that we experienced last weekend when the Broncos (or donkeys) lost to the Ravens - and they lost, the Ravens didn't win - and the emotional hangover that followed, it is January and it is the final weekend before the Super Bowl so we'll try to enjoy it.  The Denver loss does present problems - I can't stand the Patriots (ugh, Brady and Belichick), but Flacco isn't much better.  Michael said that he hoped the score was 0-0.  Wishful thinking!

Assessing my running game

As a teacher, my colleagues and I probably throw around the terms assess, assessment, and evaluation far too much just to avoid the reality - that we are GRADING our students.  Gasp!

So, when I laced up my shoes today, I started to thinking about my run in terms of grades - would it be a good run (A-/B+) or kind of crappy (C range or below)?  I realize that some people use actual charts and data in order to evaluate their runs, rides or other active ventures, and I do have a garmin which gives me more data than I used to have.  But, I still prefer the inexact science of assessing a run or ride based on how I feel.  While heart rate monitors and lactic threshold training serve more serious athletes, checking in with my body and, lately, gauging the different aches and pains I've experienced, is probably better suited for my aging body.

Today, as I started out the run and nothing felt 'off' initially, I thought - wow, this might be a good run!  I might be at 90% today.  Woo-hoo - that is an A-!  I was a bit nervous about such optimism so early on (it's like reading an essay, of which I've read my fair share this weekend, and the opening paragraph is great but the rest of the paper just turns to shit), but the rest of the run continued at a faster clip than I've seen in ages and, even better, I felt really good for the entire four-and-a-half mile run.  This comes as a huge relief because, in recent weeks, I've spent far too much time worrying about my ability to continue to run in the short and long term.  The plantar fasciitis combined with the tailbone injury sidelined me, and the few runs that I managed to squeeze out were fraught with physical pain and frustration, and I would have given myself a C- for most of them.  So, to finally go out and enjoy a run a is a true delight!

Being injured, especially when it isn't something major but small yet debilitating issues (like plantar fasciitis), probably challenges the active individual more than any big event possibly can.  Perhaps I'm wrong there, but having to sit and wait and see is definitely not my strength.  For the PF, I tried as many different approaches that I possibly could, excepting acupuncture, and I'm not sure that it was ONE trick or another or if the multi-pronged attack worked.  But, after resting for about 3 weeks, doing lots of stretches with a tennis ball and a frozen water bottle, 2 sessions of active release therapy, buying two pairs of new shoes (one of which definitely works; the other pair, well, I may have just wasted a pretty penny on them), using the Strassburg sock, and, finally, getting custom insoles when I was Boulder, it seems that I'm finally running pain-free.  I do credit much of my recovery to the insoles.  I had read some articles that recommended insoles, other articles that recommended bare-foot running, so I wasn't sure about going the insole route.  However, over Christmas, I saw my cousin, who runs crazy ultra-marathons, and he advised me to get insoles.   So, I went to an insole store in Boulder, In-Step, and liked the owner who is a runner and had tons to say about plantar fasciitis.  I don't love running with the insoles, but they do seem to be helping, and I'll take whatever is working!