I had my heart set on a long slow run for the end of last week. Friday I farted around all day and never got out for any run. The crapped weather played a part in that, altho I don't mind running in the rain too much. Then Saturday turned out to be a effed-up schedule because of all the rain storms over the past few days. Soooo, Sunday early a.m. I was ready to hit the trails for a maximum distance effort.
Decided to wear my new hydration pack for the first half. Ended up being 11 miles with pack, felt much better than before. Even stopped to stuff in an old bottle along the trail (yes, new hobby is bottle collecting. Sounds so olde fuddy duddy I know, but I like old crap, history, etc., and I've found a few spots in the woods with what I will call farm dumps (ok, so they're trash piles... but they're old trash piles so the stuff is like practically antiques!). Anyway, I'm getting comfortable with the hydration pack. And I came home with a circa 1940's ASCO brand vinegar bottle for me new collection.
21 miles never goes down too easy. Felt tired almost right away. Stopped back at the car every 3 to 6 miles for water, gatorade, Gu & cereal bars. Avoided most of the hills, total climbing over 21 miles was approx. 1200 feet. Time: 3:32 which is about exactly 10 minute pace. That includes a good 10 or 15 minutes of stoppage time for the car refueling pit stops. Quite muddy out there, but I purposely avoided the worst of it. Warm for mid-November; start 50 & end 60 degrees. Did a good bit walking - top of every steep hill plus a few short breaks in the last couple of miles.
My legs & feet feel remarkably good. The slower pace must really work for saving the body! Also I love these trail shoes - Asics Trail Sensor 3. Never dreamed I'd go back to Asics, but being forced into these shoes has worked out great. I am def buying another pair soon before they friggen change (i.e. screw up) them.
Overall impression: i don't know how the heck I'm going to do this 50k race that is now 6 weeks away. I hear the hills ain't too bad over at Fair Hill NRMA, but just the 31 miles itself is daunting. I didn't eat well the night before this 21 mile training run, so maybe I can get some energy there. Also, this is my longest effort since May, so maybe I can add to my endurance some more before taper begins. This run was 3:30 . . . I figure the race may take 5:30 so I really need to increase my 'time on the feet' over the next 30 days.
Anyone want to join me for a four & a half hour trail run next weekend? yeah, didn't think so! and I've got the last race of the year (Rothman 8k) so I guess that 4:30 LSD will have to wait 2 weeks.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Snake Pit Wednesday
I did a small easy trail run today. Kind of an unfocused week for my training, so I decided I'd explore every new trail I saw that I haven't been on yet. Plus I did my usual yellow trail loop & red trail loop both backwards. Woo - hoooo, living dangerously! Total mileage 6, 4 running & 2 hiking.
Funny, when going the opposite direction you really do see things differently. Some side trails that typically look so minor were like open invitations to run down. And I did. Kind of warm day, and I saw deer, squirel & chipmunks all busy and scampering wildly when interupted by random human running down their trails. Most interesting sighting: one new trail led past an old house foundation. I stopped for a few mins and explored around. Stone bldg, with 'newer' front & back patios of yellow brick. Those looked to be 1950's -ish add ons to an older (1920's ish??) house. Basically I suck at knowing how to date these things so I could be way off. House collapsed both into the basement and along the sides. Piles of stones, just a few bricks. Up & just a few feet away was an old hand dug, stone lined well (more in a sec on that). Down the path about 50 feet was another stone foundation that appears to me as a work house of some sort. More crudely built and it's right over a spring that runs out an arch at the one end. Still standing, some wood & hinges intact. But back to the well. I peered down for a moment - hard to guess the depth but maybe 20 feet. Lots of sticks down there, no water visible in the bottom. The 'drum' which used to hold the rope & bucket have been dropped down into the well. Cool stuff, i like to explore old sites like this. Anyway I thought I saw something like maybe made from leather stuck in the wall most of the way down. Maybe some kind of climbing gear that was left behind by someone? Would I dare to climb down there and trust that I could get out? I moved to the other side to get a better view - and damn if the thing didn't move!! It was a big black snake. Very thick and strong looking. Then my eyes focused on several more down there. 2 big ones and 2 smaller. Three appeared black, at least one of those with a white underside. The forth guy was maybe a garter with short stripe pattern (not lengthwise), or maybe even some other type of snake. Freaky snake pit ! I wonder if they were getting ready to hibernate of if they've fallen in there and can't climb out?
Anyway, it was way cool as I like to explore & discover stuff like that. When I got home I quick grabbed my boys and we went back with flashlights so I could show them. We were all Indiana Jones snake-pit exploring style. I try to instill them with a sense of adventure with stuff like that. In fact, we were having so much fun that I lost track of time and my son was late to soccer practice. Oops.
I did alot of exploring around when i was a kid. The best line of the day: my younger son said, "I wish I could invent a time machine so that Joey & I could go back in time to when you were a boy. Then we could do nature hikes & explore with you when you were a boy."
Awesome.
Funny, when going the opposite direction you really do see things differently. Some side trails that typically look so minor were like open invitations to run down. And I did. Kind of warm day, and I saw deer, squirel & chipmunks all busy and scampering wildly when interupted by random human running down their trails. Most interesting sighting: one new trail led past an old house foundation. I stopped for a few mins and explored around. Stone bldg, with 'newer' front & back patios of yellow brick. Those looked to be 1950's -ish add ons to an older (1920's ish??) house. Basically I suck at knowing how to date these things so I could be way off. House collapsed both into the basement and along the sides. Piles of stones, just a few bricks. Up & just a few feet away was an old hand dug, stone lined well (more in a sec on that). Down the path about 50 feet was another stone foundation that appears to me as a work house of some sort. More crudely built and it's right over a spring that runs out an arch at the one end. Still standing, some wood & hinges intact. But back to the well. I peered down for a moment - hard to guess the depth but maybe 20 feet. Lots of sticks down there, no water visible in the bottom. The 'drum' which used to hold the rope & bucket have been dropped down into the well. Cool stuff, i like to explore old sites like this. Anyway I thought I saw something like maybe made from leather stuck in the wall most of the way down. Maybe some kind of climbing gear that was left behind by someone? Would I dare to climb down there and trust that I could get out? I moved to the other side to get a better view - and damn if the thing didn't move!! It was a big black snake. Very thick and strong looking. Then my eyes focused on several more down there. 2 big ones and 2 smaller. Three appeared black, at least one of those with a white underside. The forth guy was maybe a garter with short stripe pattern (not lengthwise), or maybe even some other type of snake. Freaky snake pit ! I wonder if they were getting ready to hibernate of if they've fallen in there and can't climb out?
Anyway, it was way cool as I like to explore & discover stuff like that. When I got home I quick grabbed my boys and we went back with flashlights so I could show them. We were all Indiana Jones snake-pit exploring style. I try to instill them with a sense of adventure with stuff like that. In fact, we were having so much fun that I lost track of time and my son was late to soccer practice. Oops.
I did alot of exploring around when i was a kid. The best line of the day: my younger son said, "I wish I could invent a time machine so that Joey & I could go back in time to when you were a boy. Then we could do nature hikes & explore with you when you were a boy."
Awesome.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
All Choked Up
Whoa - something super scary happened last night. I almost choked to death on a dried out "hockey puck" hamburger. No shit, the wife was already on the phone with 911 operator when the chunk of meat popped out.
Like 10 times since then I've repeated silently to myself "must take smaller bites & chew completely". I'm sort of not looking forward to lunch today (not normal for me). Haha, trying to keep the mood light. Here's how it went down... (or not!)
I got home very late, was very hungry & had to turn around to go pick up my son from religious ed. So I had called the wife and she had a burger cooking on the stove when I got home. I remember seeing her smashing it down in the pan with the spatula and thinking that's not good 'cause it always dries it out. But she was trying to speed up the cooking since I was in a big rush. I was wolfing it down, about halfway done when the fateful bite got totally wedged in my throat. My younger son & wife had already gone into the other room to watch Jeopardy & do homework.
I knew immediately something was very wrong. I was trying to cough but nothing was happening. After a few coughs I realized not a bit of air was getting in or out. My wife called in "are you okay?" and I couldn't talk or get any air in. Not breathing totally sucks! I started banging the table with my hand loudly. I remember getting up and spitting out a bite of burger back onto the plate, but that wasn't the bite blocking my throat. I could see a panic stricken look on my wife's face as she came into the kitchen. As I tried to cough it up, there was absolutely nothing happening. Thinking about it now I don't remember any sound. I was gagging and each time I just tried to get a breath in, but total blockage. I could feel a sort of vacuum pressure in my chest. I think I was trying to expand my chest to get even just a little bit of air to come in. In retrospect that was probably just wedging the chunk deeper into my airpipe by creating a suction from within the ribcage.
My wife asked if she should do the Heimlich - and I motioned for her to go around behind me. Unfortunately she was sort of on the verge of tears already and drew a blank on how to actually do the maneuver. The first thrust was with her arms around my rib cage. I pushed her hands down to my belly, but she moved right back up with her hands over the bottom end of the sternum for the second pull. I moved her clasped hands down again and tried to hold them there and indicate a motion to thrust from the lower position by pushing her hands in at that level. At this point I was getting a bit panicked myself. Why was she not doing this right?? She released her grip and said "can't you do it yourself onto the table or over a chair?" I thought yes, but wanted to scream "help me".... but of course couldn't say anything.
I pointed over to the phone and tried to motion for her to call 911. I was just thinking if she couldn't get this thing out of my throat then an ambulance had better get rolling because I wasn't going to be conscious for too much longer. Of course in hindsight the whole incident at this point had to be less than a minute. Maybe like 45 seconds, although I'm not actually sure. Thinking about it now, if the first responders on the scene would take 5 or 6 minutes, then another minute to take charge of the situation and Heimlich out the obstruction. Plus the minute I was already choking. That's like 8 mins. That's scary to think about 8 minutes without any breaths of air. I can't imagine how freaked out my wife & son would've been waiting for the ambulance with me unconscious on the floor.
I could see her talking to the 911 operator. I tried to calmly and softly get an inhaled breath to get past the blockage. Nothing. I tried again. Relax, slowly and softly just suck in a gentle breath. Nothing - but a building pressure in my chest. (I'm actually getting a bit jittery while typing this now). I threw myself down hard onto the back of the chair and immediately felt a change. I coughed, gagged, and got a breath of air. I remember that I swallowed, I coughed, and I took another breath and then started coughing. But now it was real coughing. I said "I got it." and I could see she was already saying "wait." It's okay, it's out. She told the 911 operator, "yes, I'll hold on." And she asked me if I was okay and I said yes. I could talk & breath in. I noticed she was crying. I saw my son for the first time. He wasn't crying, but he was standing against the wall and was looking really scared. I told him I was okay. I became aware of a instant splitting headache in my right temple. I remember looking around for the burger chunk... and then realizing that I must have swallowed it after it came up. I felt like I might puke, and my head was pounding. I burped a few loud belches. My wife asked if she should just hang up. I have no idea how fast or slow time was moving. I told her to just stay on hold to confirm that I was fine. I didn't want to sit down, I was gulping in big inhalations and then coughing on each exhalation. I was a little dizzy, but so relieved to be breathing in & out.
the 911 came back on and I spoke to them to say all was fine, crisis averted. It was over.
This morning my abs are a little bit sore, and my neck too. I have a scratch on my collarbone right at the throat - I don't remember how that got there. I still have that headache just on one side (weird) and my eyes are really really bloodshot.
A close call. Within 5 minutes we were all over it; our house returned to it's typical calm quiet harmony. We had a review of how to do the Heimlich once my older son was home. My younger son knows how to dial 911. I kind of wished I had motioned to him to place that call rather than my wife. But I know next time he'll be ready. Hopefully there's never a next time. "must take smaller bites & chew completely."
Please review with those around you how to perform the Heimlich.
Like 10 times since then I've repeated silently to myself "must take smaller bites & chew completely". I'm sort of not looking forward to lunch today (not normal for me). Haha, trying to keep the mood light. Here's how it went down... (or not!)
I got home very late, was very hungry & had to turn around to go pick up my son from religious ed. So I had called the wife and she had a burger cooking on the stove when I got home. I remember seeing her smashing it down in the pan with the spatula and thinking that's not good 'cause it always dries it out. But she was trying to speed up the cooking since I was in a big rush. I was wolfing it down, about halfway done when the fateful bite got totally wedged in my throat. My younger son & wife had already gone into the other room to watch Jeopardy & do homework.
I knew immediately something was very wrong. I was trying to cough but nothing was happening. After a few coughs I realized not a bit of air was getting in or out. My wife called in "are you okay?" and I couldn't talk or get any air in. Not breathing totally sucks! I started banging the table with my hand loudly. I remember getting up and spitting out a bite of burger back onto the plate, but that wasn't the bite blocking my throat. I could see a panic stricken look on my wife's face as she came into the kitchen. As I tried to cough it up, there was absolutely nothing happening. Thinking about it now I don't remember any sound. I was gagging and each time I just tried to get a breath in, but total blockage. I could feel a sort of vacuum pressure in my chest. I think I was trying to expand my chest to get even just a little bit of air to come in. In retrospect that was probably just wedging the chunk deeper into my airpipe by creating a suction from within the ribcage.
My wife asked if she should do the Heimlich - and I motioned for her to go around behind me. Unfortunately she was sort of on the verge of tears already and drew a blank on how to actually do the maneuver. The first thrust was with her arms around my rib cage. I pushed her hands down to my belly, but she moved right back up with her hands over the bottom end of the sternum for the second pull. I moved her clasped hands down again and tried to hold them there and indicate a motion to thrust from the lower position by pushing her hands in at that level. At this point I was getting a bit panicked myself. Why was she not doing this right?? She released her grip and said "can't you do it yourself onto the table or over a chair?" I thought yes, but wanted to scream "help me".... but of course couldn't say anything.
I pointed over to the phone and tried to motion for her to call 911. I was just thinking if she couldn't get this thing out of my throat then an ambulance had better get rolling because I wasn't going to be conscious for too much longer. Of course in hindsight the whole incident at this point had to be less than a minute. Maybe like 45 seconds, although I'm not actually sure. Thinking about it now, if the first responders on the scene would take 5 or 6 minutes, then another minute to take charge of the situation and Heimlich out the obstruction. Plus the minute I was already choking. That's like 8 mins. That's scary to think about 8 minutes without any breaths of air. I can't imagine how freaked out my wife & son would've been waiting for the ambulance with me unconscious on the floor.
I could see her talking to the 911 operator. I tried to calmly and softly get an inhaled breath to get past the blockage. Nothing. I tried again. Relax, slowly and softly just suck in a gentle breath. Nothing - but a building pressure in my chest. (I'm actually getting a bit jittery while typing this now). I threw myself down hard onto the back of the chair and immediately felt a change. I coughed, gagged, and got a breath of air. I remember that I swallowed, I coughed, and I took another breath and then started coughing. But now it was real coughing. I said "I got it." and I could see she was already saying "wait." It's okay, it's out. She told the 911 operator, "yes, I'll hold on." And she asked me if I was okay and I said yes. I could talk & breath in. I noticed she was crying. I saw my son for the first time. He wasn't crying, but he was standing against the wall and was looking really scared. I told him I was okay. I became aware of a instant splitting headache in my right temple. I remember looking around for the burger chunk... and then realizing that I must have swallowed it after it came up. I felt like I might puke, and my head was pounding. I burped a few loud belches. My wife asked if she should just hang up. I have no idea how fast or slow time was moving. I told her to just stay on hold to confirm that I was fine. I didn't want to sit down, I was gulping in big inhalations and then coughing on each exhalation. I was a little dizzy, but so relieved to be breathing in & out.
the 911 came back on and I spoke to them to say all was fine, crisis averted. It was over.
This morning my abs are a little bit sore, and my neck too. I have a scratch on my collarbone right at the throat - I don't remember how that got there. I still have that headache just on one side (weird) and my eyes are really really bloodshot.
A close call. Within 5 minutes we were all over it; our house returned to it's typical calm quiet harmony. We had a review of how to do the Heimlich once my older son was home. My younger son knows how to dial 911. I kind of wished I had motioned to him to place that call rather than my wife. But I know next time he'll be ready. Hopefully there's never a next time. "must take smaller bites & chew completely."
Please review with those around you how to perform the Heimlich.
Monday, November 2, 2009
LSD for fun
I've decided to begin my long runs for January's 50k. I don't remember if I've even mention yet that I'm going to attempt a 50k trail run - this will be my longest run ever!
I've been racing quite a bit, and got some new PR's. The last race I've signed up for this fall is the Rothman 8k (same day as Philly marathon). After that I plan a phase of longer trail runs at easy pace. I just feel a bit burned out from the same old 5k / 10k race circuit so next year I want to focus on fewer races overall, with more trail races, and longer distances. Then maybe next fall I'll be ready for my marathon redemption.
The best of my recent racing was my PDR half marathon 1:31:13 in late Sept. This is a new PR by several minutes. That race was followed by an awesome 10 mile trail race, very challenging course. Next was the 15k which was a PR by about 30 seconds. Then Sunday - i haven't written the race report yet - I nailed another PR. This time it was 10k distance and only 9 seconds over the old PR. I ran some other races in the last few months, but those 4 are the highlites.
I like that the PR's came in order from longest distance to shortest. And the longest race was a PR by alot of time, and the short distance was a PR by only a few ticks. The race in the middle was PR'd by an amount in the middle. That's nice. It's not symmetry, what's the word for it? Fung shwei? NOT. Balance or harmony or something. Jeez, I wish I was better with the written word.
Anyway, I usually don't do long slow runs unless they're aimed at a speific target. Last Wednesday I headed out to the trusty woods for a scheduled 5 or 10 depending on how I felt. It was a crappy rainy morning, and I was very close to not running at all due to the weather. I didn't want to do the treadmill . . . but I wasn't really looking forward to the mud bath. I had actually mentioned to a few people in the morning that I was schedule to run long in the woods and was going to cancel. But I forced myself to get out there. I'm glad I did.
The rain was mostly over by lunchhour when I started. Light drizzle with huge puddles. Right away I felt good to be out there when nobody else was around. I planned to do a 5 mile loop back to the car and decide how I felt. I wore my new Coleman hydration backpack. After a few miles I was feeling much better about running in the weather. I purposely took the creekside trail. Wow, it was totally flooded. Some of the puddles were 8 or 10 inches deep, but i kept going. When I got to the creek crossing I had to turn back. The river had backed up so far that the creek was like 4 or 5 feet deep. No way was I going to try it. I was having fun but that was just too much to attempt. Not worth it. I could see the fallen tree that acts as a bridge. First of all it's grounded on the other side. Secondly, it just disappeared down into the murky water. So the prospect of jumping into there and hopefully landing on the log and then climbing up & out the other side was just too much. So I back tracked to get back up onto the ranger road.
Most of the rest of the run was uneventful. As the hours passed the sun did come out a few times. The warmth felt good. I ditched the back pack after just 5 miles. Pretty uncomfortable, will take some time to get used to running with that thing on. After 2 of the 5 mile loops and wanted to keep going. Luckily nothing scheduled for the afternoon that couldn't get done any other time. So I ate my 'after run' snack at 10 mile mark, and finished the last of my water ( I hadn't planned to go so far). And I headed back out. I saw a solitary deer. I felt the same as our paths crossed and we headed separate ways inthe woods. I found a light from a mountain bike. It was flashing on the side of the trail. Weird, but I couldn't get it to turn off. Later at home I took it apart, dried it out, and then it switched off.
In all it turned out to be 16 miles. Done in 2:41 - just about perfect 10 minute pace. About 2x3=6 minutes of that was refuel at the car. So actually running pace is closer to 9:30.
Followed up this LSD with a rest day on Thursday. Body feels good except for toes which took a pretty good beating. Then Friday 5 miles easy on flat trail in woods. Legs wiped out tired.
I've been racing quite a bit, and got some new PR's. The last race I've signed up for this fall is the Rothman 8k (same day as Philly marathon). After that I plan a phase of longer trail runs at easy pace. I just feel a bit burned out from the same old 5k / 10k race circuit so next year I want to focus on fewer races overall, with more trail races, and longer distances. Then maybe next fall I'll be ready for my marathon redemption.
The best of my recent racing was my PDR half marathon 1:31:13 in late Sept. This is a new PR by several minutes. That race was followed by an awesome 10 mile trail race, very challenging course. Next was the 15k which was a PR by about 30 seconds. Then Sunday - i haven't written the race report yet - I nailed another PR. This time it was 10k distance and only 9 seconds over the old PR. I ran some other races in the last few months, but those 4 are the highlites.
I like that the PR's came in order from longest distance to shortest. And the longest race was a PR by alot of time, and the short distance was a PR by only a few ticks. The race in the middle was PR'd by an amount in the middle. That's nice. It's not symmetry, what's the word for it? Fung shwei? NOT. Balance or harmony or something. Jeez, I wish I was better with the written word.
Anyway, I usually don't do long slow runs unless they're aimed at a speific target. Last Wednesday I headed out to the trusty woods for a scheduled 5 or 10 depending on how I felt. It was a crappy rainy morning, and I was very close to not running at all due to the weather. I didn't want to do the treadmill . . . but I wasn't really looking forward to the mud bath. I had actually mentioned to a few people in the morning that I was schedule to run long in the woods and was going to cancel. But I forced myself to get out there. I'm glad I did.
The rain was mostly over by lunchhour when I started. Light drizzle with huge puddles. Right away I felt good to be out there when nobody else was around. I planned to do a 5 mile loop back to the car and decide how I felt. I wore my new Coleman hydration backpack. After a few miles I was feeling much better about running in the weather. I purposely took the creekside trail. Wow, it was totally flooded. Some of the puddles were 8 or 10 inches deep, but i kept going. When I got to the creek crossing I had to turn back. The river had backed up so far that the creek was like 4 or 5 feet deep. No way was I going to try it. I was having fun but that was just too much to attempt. Not worth it. I could see the fallen tree that acts as a bridge. First of all it's grounded on the other side. Secondly, it just disappeared down into the murky water. So the prospect of jumping into there and hopefully landing on the log and then climbing up & out the other side was just too much. So I back tracked to get back up onto the ranger road.
Most of the rest of the run was uneventful. As the hours passed the sun did come out a few times. The warmth felt good. I ditched the back pack after just 5 miles. Pretty uncomfortable, will take some time to get used to running with that thing on. After 2 of the 5 mile loops and wanted to keep going. Luckily nothing scheduled for the afternoon that couldn't get done any other time. So I ate my 'after run' snack at 10 mile mark, and finished the last of my water ( I hadn't planned to go so far). And I headed back out. I saw a solitary deer. I felt the same as our paths crossed and we headed separate ways inthe woods. I found a light from a mountain bike. It was flashing on the side of the trail. Weird, but I couldn't get it to turn off. Later at home I took it apart, dried it out, and then it switched off.
In all it turned out to be 16 miles. Done in 2:41 - just about perfect 10 minute pace. About 2x3=6 minutes of that was refuel at the car. So actually running pace is closer to 9:30.
Followed up this LSD with a rest day on Thursday. Body feels good except for toes which took a pretty good beating. Then Friday 5 miles easy on flat trail in woods. Legs wiped out tired.
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