Mileage reporting 52nd (but not last!) week 2013

[rickwhitelaw]

Wednesday - 1200 vertical foot climb in cross country skis then 5 downhill runs. Later, 6 miles at 10,000 ft. People had to of strained their necks staring at me. One snow mobiler came to a complete stop and dug for a smart phone. I'm sure I'm on a few Facebook posts. Road was mostly dry, but lots of salt and feet were a little tenderized after.

Thursday - 7 miles. Almost feels like cheating in the Winter Challenge when the road is so warm. I don't know if these shorter runs are doing anything for my endurance conditioning, but I've got to take advantage of the good weather.

 

[migangelo]

mr short speak here needs some clarification on why people were snapping their necks and taking pics of you. skiing uphill? running uphill? how do you make 5 downhill runs with one climb??

 

[rickwhitelaw]

My apologies Mike. I didn't want to get long winded (which you low landers don't want to do if you are ever at altitude)

So the skiing talk might get a little confusing so I will briefly try to clarify.

When I ski at home, it is always cross country skiing either in the classic style (keeping the skis straight) or skating or a combination. A few gentile hills, but not steep enough to ski downhill on.

My choices of activities at the ski resort are:

cross country skiing - a few trails, but they are usually trashed by snowmobilers so I usually just hike uphill on my skis and then ski downhill on the resort runs which is very challenging. I really enjoy this because my gear is the most "minimal". Then I have my choice of riding the chairlifts or hiking again. In the previous post I did 1 hike/ski combination then 4 ride chairlift/ski combination.

telemark skiing - hiking with climbing skins and then skiing down. Heavier gear for hiking, but more control downhill. I have about 4 different boot/ski combinations varying from leather boots to plastic and a simple 3 pin binding to a beefy cable binding. This style of skiing the heel is not locked down so it allows for a free feeling. This is my preferred style of skiing if I am mostly riding the chairlifts.

downhill skiing - heavy stiff boots and big skis. The "Hokas" of skiing and the trend is bigger is better, but at my small ski resort it doesn't make much sense to go as fast as you can downhill. No workout at all.

shod running - when the snow is firm enough I can run on the ski slopes or snowmobile trails. Or on the road.

barefoot running - when the road is clear barefoot running is possible. The road is actually pretty warm at the high elevation. That is where the staring happens. It must look very strange for someone to be barefoot in such a winter environment.

Now if you will excuse me, it's back to the mountain to deliver kids to their Oma. I am looking forward to some shod running on the trails today.

 

[Scratch]

I suppose I'm a bit excited because when I get home later today, UPS will have delivered the Christmas gift I ordered with the help of gift cards that I got this year. Decided to get a Garmin forerunner 110 with heart rate monitor, because I'll definitely prefer tracking mileage on my runs with a watch on my wrist rather than carrying around the cellphone, and I'm interested in again collecting heart rate data, and tomorrow should be a great day to take it out for its first run -- temps are to climb into the 40s and plenty of sun. One basic rule of winter running is to take advantage of those good weather days when you get them, because there's almost always going to be plenty of bad weather days.

Just 83 days til spring.

 

[migangelo]

thanks. that all helps. smart ass.

 

[scedastic]

Thursday: about 3-3.5 mi around my mom's suburbs again
3.1 mi barefoot on my sister's treadmill at lunch time. NICE. My feet have been SO covered lately. The treadmill did heat up and I wouldn't have wanted to go more. But goodness, how wonderful to run in barefeet. A rare sweet.
after that, some weights, followed by hour after hour after hour of driving and sitting
Friday: tried to run, but my left calf seized up (front to back), burning, till I hobbled back home after 1.5 mi run/walk/limp. I'm assuming it was the driving, since I've had almost no tightness in my legs this week.
Afternoon: about 1:45 in the pool, I'm guessing about 1.5 hr of which was swimming. Had a bunch of kids and me and a university emeritus circle swimming in one of the 2 lap lanes. Lots of timing pauses, but it was fun.

 

[jldeleon]

I have been recovering from a couple weeks of insomnia and, this week, a couple of heinous anxiety attacks, so I had no energy to exercise at all until today - today I did 1.5 miles of super slow and easy treadmill walking and about 15 minutes of super gentle water exercises. Took me over an hour but I did it!

 

[Scratch]

About 3.5 miles after work yesterday, relaxed and easy pace except for finishing with a fast tenth of a mile. I made an attractive woman who was walking her dog in the other direction on the park path smile nearly every time we went past each other. It was the bare feet, because after I finished and was walking back to the car, she and her dog caught up to me from behind and we chatted for that short while and she opened up the conversation that she was impressed to see someone running barefoot like I was and it had made her smile. M

Maybe I'll get lucky some and she's single and she'll come back with her dog again to the park some evening when I'm running.

 

[dutchie53]

2 miles in slushy conditions yesterday, 2 miles in blizzard like conditions this morning. Time to rest now so I can be ready for the snow clearing later today. Still some soreness in foot but working on that, got the Trigger Point Therapy book for Xmas.

 

[barefootn]

Thirty total miles for the week, (fourteen bare feet).
Ten of the above miles BF on the treadmill. The rubber belt seems to be wearing the skin on my toe tips. Running on pavement doesn't cause this problem. Any thoughts on "dreadmill" running. I do try to keep moving to different areas on the belt to minimize heat buildup.

 

[Scratch]

Took the Garmin out on its first run with me today and it was kind of cool to watch it keep track of the mileage and the heart rate. Went 10.09 miles with it in 1:40:57 and an average heart rate of 139 which is about where it ought to be on the long easy runs for me. Legs were a bit on the tired side, but it was still a good run up and down lots of hills.

 

[Runlite01]

Most excellent 6 mile run today at 9:45 am., 46 deg. f., sunny. Saw some of the neighborhood parrots and heard them squawking during flight.
Love to run barefoot.
feet good
legs good

 

[jldeleon]

A 1.5 hour hike at Multnomah Falls.

 

[Go Barefoot]

Friday 1.5 mile run. Legs felt a bit rusty so mostly walked.

Yesterday - Started out the morning with a slight headache so took some Bufferin. About 3 hours later (around noon) temps were in the mid to upper 40s and headache was gone so decided to go for a run in my neighborhood before with wind picked up. With the help of the Bufferin (I think) was able to run 5.5 miles before the leg muscles began feeling slightly tired. Had a great run. OK! So maybe I did kinda cheat with the help of the Bufferin!

Cleaned out the garage then washed the car and the pickup in the afternoon. My wife and I went to the local old restored movie theater called The Grand to watch the Hunger Games movie Catching Fire.

Today probably no run as temps are to reach a high of only 18F.

 

[dutchie53]

Damn it's cold out this way, 2 miles this morning with -33C air temp and a windchill of -42C. Snow clearing begins after a cup of coffee or 2.

 

[Bare Lee]

20 miles on the week, including 13 barefoot Friday and Saturday, on two afternoon run-commutes and two afternoon back-n-forths over wet, slushy, but above-freezing surfaces. Our brief spring break is over however. This morning it's 0F/-18C, -22F/-30C windchill. The Arctic Spike is back. Thanks for blowing it down our way Dutchie! I ran in shoes. Sucks. My left big toe's met head is still sore, but I feel it less when bare or in the Moc3s. Kinda hurts with the Vapor Gloves and Vivo Neo Trails.

No weights since Sunday. I thought I'd use Commercemas as an excuse to let my sore left shoulder heal up a bit, but the rest hasn't done it a bit of good, just as most strength training exercises don't seem to do it any harm. Strange. I don't know what to do except massage it regularly and give it more time to get better and go away on its own. In the meantime, mis' well hit the weights. A week off and I feel like crap, although I've gotten in a fair amount of snow-shoveling.

After yesterday afternoon's back-n-forth up in the fairgrounds, I stopped by the local mom & pop store on the way home to pick up some of their fantastic bbq ribs. I was wearing my Moc3s while my feet warmed up. This is the same place that asked me to wear shoes last spring, made a stink about it, but then took down their noSSS sign after I gave them the SBL pamphlet.

Anyway, a fellow customer notices my Moc3s and asks me about them. So I go into the whole barefoot/minimalist spiel, and he explains that he has backaches and he's seen a podiatrist, and seems genuinely interested in what I have to say, so I keep going on and on. He even asked me to recommend some minimalist shoes for him, and asked me where he could buy them. All this went on within earshot of the clerk who first gave me trouble about bare feet, so I loudly emphasized how healthy bare feet are, and how unhealthy it is to wear shoes all the time, especially ones with heels or excessive cushioning and support.

Our conversation extended out into the street, where he asked me how I liked my car, telling me that he had rented the same model in the mountains and had been impressed by its performance. I told him I liked it just fine, but complained about how I really should put a decent pair of snow tires on the front wheels. He then asked me if I was an expert on tirewear too. I didn't even realize he was teasing me about knowing so much about feet, and replied plainly, "no, I'm not particularly mechanically inclined. . . ."

 

[Larry]

You missed your chance to tell him you're a qualified asphalt technician Lee.

As for me, my first run in a week due to Christmas laziness, summer colds, and my darling daughter's absurd sleep habits. 7.5km, started on the beach, but the tide was coming in and by the time I reached my usual turnaround point I was starting to spin my wheels in soft sand. I switched to the streets for the return trip. Feeling a little gravelly in the throat, but hopefully the run won't make things worse.

Oh, I just realised it is Monday, but given that we only have two days left, do we just stretch this thread out and have a nine day week? All we need to do is come up with two more names for the last two days of the week.

 

[Runlite01]

Great 5 miles at 5:30 am., 40 deg. f. 75 %rh..
last run for this week. Total miles 23.

 

[Tristan]

Got 6.5 miles in today. It was in the 30's and raining most of the day, but stopped in the afternoon. Went out when the temp said 40F, so thought I could go bare but wasnt sure since the surfaces were wet. Nothing was really wet, no standing water, but dampness still on everything. Still it proved to be right at my limit bare. Approaching the mile mark my feet were still getting colder and numb, I was starting to get a couple lumps of numbness where it feels like there is a rock or something stuck to your skin your stepping on. A little after a mile it finally warmed up to just barely above numbness. About a mile from the end when I slowed for my cool down the numbness started coming back. Upcoming 10-day forecast is all below bf for me though.

So 6.5 miles for the week.

Did get 3 days of weights in though.

 

[scedastic]

Saturday: 6 mi run/walk. I would start out, half a mile, then the calves would seize, then I would walk a bit, everything would loosen, then run again. ah well. weights, then ~55 min swim then night out child-free.
Sunday: 6 mi, no calf problems at all, just a tiny feeling of tightness on the left, but nothing to think about. Felt like I could run forever on disturbed sleep from the night before.. then some weights, then a fun swim in the afternoon, then a fun dinner with young people I'd never met who were fun and smart and enthused. Then a good convo with my kids on the way home. Then Dr. Who. What else is there.