Canoecopia & Bike-O-Rama and 16 miles

The number of blog posts that I did last week equaled the number of times that I ran. I'll save you the time to go back and look. The answer is 0. I ran zero times last week. Because I was sick. I was feeling decent, OK, by Thursday and it was a lovely day outside when I got home but I just couldn't muster the energy to get dressed and do a run. So I didn't. And I didn't again on Friday. So I had doubts about my run this weekend. Would I really do 16 miles?

I meant to go running on Saturday early morning before Luke & I had plans but alas, I decided to sleep after my alarm went off at 7a and we actually didn't get out of bed until 10a, an hour after we were supposed to leave for Madison. Anyway, the wind was horrendous and the rain didn't help me get out of bed any easier.

Saturday, Luke & I headed to Madison to go to Canoecopia & Bike-O-Rama. (Sorry, no pictures of these places) He's all into kayaks (actually owns one) and his family owns a canoe. So we paid the $10 admission fee and toured the HUGE expo. I was very tempted to sit in a kayak but I didn't. Not like I was really gonna buy one. They had had presenters & speakers all day talking about various topics. We sat in one at the end that explained how to pick & buy a kayak that's right for you. It was very interesting, I actually learned a lot.

After that we headed on over to Bike-O-Rama. This entry fee was free and immediately you're hit with a ton of bikes. We browsed through the road bikes for a bit (I would really like Luke to get a road bike but I think he'll be able to keep up with me on his mountain bike just fine to be honest). And then looked at some accessories. I think my next purchase will be aerobars for my bike. Those look really nice to have!! Just lean forward and no constant pressure on your elbows from the handlebars. Oh and I would like a new bike rack for my car. Something that will fit my mountain bike (and Luke's) top tube easier.

So today was the day that I had to do my run. Unfortunately, the wind stayed with us but the rain went away! I got all the way out to my trailhead and then realised that I forgot my Garmin, so I drove all the way back just to grab it. On my way out the door, I told Luke that the run is already not starting out too well.

But it was a decent enough 16 miles. On my way out, I kept thinking that maybe I should do 5 out and 5 back and then 3 out and 3 back. But then I decided that once I get back to the start, I probably wouldn't do the 3 out again and what's another 3 miles once I made it to 5. Plus, this way, I HAVE to run (or walk) the 8 back.

I was also heading into the wind on the way there. Northeast is where it was coming from. At around mile 6, the wind started to pick up and it was actually blowing me a bit wobbly on my run. I was getting weaker by that time so no surprise. At the 8 mile mark, I stopped to drink some PowerAde & have 2 pieces of the PowerBar Gel Blasts. Then I had to run with the wind at my back, which I thought would help me speed up but alas, it was coming too far out of the north to aid me and the wind at my sweaty back was cooling me off too quickly.

By mile 10, my legs were feeling really sore & tired and heavy. Not cool. I was hurting. And my hip is STILL sore from skiing a couple weeks ago. So I was feeling that during the duration of my run. And a little my knee too, all on the same leg, the right leg. So I'm sitting here icing it currently.

The second half was a lot slower & I stopped a lot more. Boo. I was disappointed about that. But I overall I kept a decent time. I was just over 10 minutes a mile going into the last mile and so I really wanted to knock that down and I did (in the last 1/2 mile).

After running, I got into a cold water bath for 15 minutes. Took a shower and headed up to the gym at the high school and we played some basketball with my friends. Well, a little basketball for me. I did play 2 games to 10 of 3 on 2. Luke & I were even on a team and we managed to keep the score relatively close to the team of 3! Luke was the tallest one there so he got many rebounds, blocks & shots off. He's actually pretty good at basketball. :-)

Then it was pie (since it was Pi Day, March 14, 3.14!) of Coconut Creme & German Chocolate cake (yes, I know it's a cake but that was all the pie Wal-Mart had at 5:30p on a Sunday night)!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 873 ft Location: Sycamore, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 03/14/10 Up/Downhill: [+252/-252] Time: 11:05 AM Difficulty: 3.4 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 46 F temp; 82% humidity 46 F heat index; winds NE 20 G 24 Performance Distance: 16.00 miles Time: 2:40:11 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 10' 01 /mi Calories: 1717 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 17 -0' 44 6.5 +0.5 +23 ft 2 9' 33 -0' 28 6.3 +0.3 +7 ft 3 9' 45 -0' 16 6.2 +0.2 -13 ft 4 9' 49 -0' 12 6.1 +0.1 +13 ft 5 9' 45 -0' 16 6.2 +0.2 -13 ft 6 9' 59 -0' 02 6.0 +0.0 +7 ft 7 10' 02 +0' 01 6.0 -0.0 -4 ft 8 10' 06 +0' 05 5.9 -0.1 +16 ft 9 10' 06 +0' 05 5.9 -0.1 -16 ft 10 10' 09 +0' 08 5.9 -0.1 +3 ft 11 10' 12 +0' 11 5.9 -0.1 -3 ft 12 10' 28 +0' 27 5.7 -0.3 +9 ft 13 10' 20 +0' 19 5.8 -0.2 -10 ft 14 10' 39 +0' 38 5.6 -0.4 +10 ft 15 11' 24 +1' 23 5.3 -0.7 -7 ft end 9' 50 -0' 11 6.1 +0.1 -23 ft Versus average of 10' 01 min/mile

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Categories: 16 miles, Great Western Trail, Madison

First run in the snow!

Luke & I headed up to Madison this past weekend.

He needed to go running to prepare for a race in a few weeks. So I took him on the route I did earlier this summer. We ran together for the first mile and then he took off and I tried to tell him how to run. I stopped a few miles up and just wanted to run a 10k.

Keep in mind that it snowed a few days before the weekend. Madison got a lot more than DeKalb did. And then it melted a bit and froze again on the sidewalks. The path however, was pretty clear. A few icy spots here and there.

I forgot to bring a jacket but luckily, I didn't need it! The air temp was 23 but the sun was out so that helped. My lined tights, another loose pair on top of them, my UnderArmour ColdGear turtleneck, another loose pullover on top of that and then a fleece cap & gloves. And I was warm with all that.

By the end of the run, my right achilles tendon was getting a bit sore because of my foot slippage. And of course my left foot went numb because I tied my shoelaces too tight I think.

As I was leaving the park & path on the way back, I glanced behind me and thought I saw Luke. The sidewalk was all one big hill so I tried kicking it into high gear to get enough distance between him & me and maybe I could beat him home!

I was making the final homestretch, looked behind me and couldn't see anyone behind me. Which was odd. So on the final road back to where I was staying, he caught up with me. But I found out that he wasn't the one behind me. He got in front of me and then took a different end when he saw the sledding hill across the street from the path.

I finished up the day with the 10k I wanted. Who knows how far Luke went but he said that he ran up the sledding hill. And peeps, this is not a small little hill. He said that there were a bit of trails at the top of the hill. I was really interested in checking out these trails.

So on Sunday, we decided to hit them up and just run a few miles. He led me this time and into the woods we went. It looked like a good place to do cross country skiing. We eventually found a map and sure enough, they had icons of the trails that determined if they were easy or medium or advanced.

I kept the GPS on but I didn't really care about my time on this one since looking at the maps took a lot of the time out since I keep forgetting to change the setting on my Garmin to pause the time when I stop running. We ran on down to the bottom of the ski hill and then Luke wanted to run back up the hill again. I told him I'd try but I wasn't guaranteeing anything!

I did manage to run up the hill but with one little pause in the middle. There was a time in which I'm sure my walk would have been faster than what I was going but I wanted to keep trying to push myself up that hill! I was sooooo tired after that try! Luke ended up rolling down the hill and then ran back up it again. yes, that's right, rolled down it. At first going head over feet and then I yelled at him to do a barrel roll. That was a mistake. He was dizzy for most of the day.

Then we went down another trail and it was so gorgeous! Tall pine trees with long trunks and then the snow on the trails. I sooo wish I would have brought my camera with me or at least a cell phone to snap a picture. It was so serene and pretty. But alas, I just give you this one picture from the run on Saturday.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1038 ft Location: Verona, WI Elev. Gain: -63 ft Date: 12/05/09 Up/Downhill: [+301/-364] Time: 08:52 AM Difficulty: 2.7 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 6.20 miles Time: 0:57:53 Speed: 6.4 mph Pace: 9' 20 /mi Calories: 658 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 32 -0' 48 7.0 +0.6 -88 ft 2 9' 35 +0' 15 6.3 -0.2 +20 ft 3 9' 27 +0' 07 6.3 -0.1 +17 ft 4 9' 33 +0' 13 6.3 -0.1 -30 ft 5 9' 31 +0' 11 6.3 -0.1 +33 ft 6 9' 48 +0' 28 6.1 -0.3 +40 ft end 7' 21 -1' 59 8.2 +1.7 -52 ft Versus average of 9' 20 min/mile

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Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1087 ft Location: Verona, WI Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 12/06/09 Up/Downhill: [+259/-259] Time: 09:51 AM Difficulty: 2.8 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 30 F temp; 65% humidity 30 F heat index; winds Vrbl 3 Performance Distance: 2.12 miles Time: 0:26:19 Speed: 4.8 mph Pace: 12' 25 /mi Calories: 218 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 12' 10 -0' 15 4.9 +0.1 -62 ft 2 12' 59 +0' 34 4.6 -0.2 +56 ft end 9' 14 -3' 11 6.5 +1.7 -16 ft Versus average of 12' 25 min/mile

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Categories: 6 miles, hills, Luke, Madison

Labour Day weekend in Madison

What a funtastic weekend in Madison!

Friday had me going to a bar on the East side that had me watching the most wonderful view of a sunset on Lake Monona.

Saturday had me waking up and running 10 miles. I must say though, this was the hardest 5 miles of my running life. I had no idea when the next mile marker was going to take place or where it was or how to get there! At first I was on a bike path, then it went onto a sidewalk but I was still following the signs for the bike path and then I found another bike path through a high school football & soccer fields then back out of the path and onto sidewalks again. It was odd. I thought Madison had more bike paths then this! I'll look for maps later on since I have a feeling I'll be visiting Madison a lot! This was also the first time that I had a run that took me across major roads and I had to cross them. I also stopped for a long time in Mile 6 at a Citgo to fill up my water bottle since I had almost ran out.

Saturday afternoon had me going to Taste of Madison. Walked around the Capital Square and was checking out all the foods & bands. It's different than the Taste of Chicago where it's a ticket system, this is cash-based and no "tastes." Full portions here. I had a few different items, this one is a portebella sandwich on a bagel. I'm glad no one got a picture of me eating it! Messy messy messy!

Saturday evening was the highlight of the entire weekend. NIU vs. UW-Madison. I can't believe how great the seats were that we got very last minute! They were end-zone but only 5 rows from the front! We ended up losing 28-20 but scored 14 points in the 4th quater alone! We were staging a comeback! Kevin & I are NIU alum and his wife was born in Milwaukee and attended Illinois State so we were giving her a hard time for being a "traitor" and wearing UW garb! We were getting heckled a lot, especially in the 4th quarter when Badger fans started to get worried when their lead started to slip.

I was so sore though, walking back to the car after the game. From the run and then the walking around Taste and then the game, my body is definitely letting me know it's age!

On Sunday morning, Kevin & I tried to go on a bike ride. However, that ended up failing. At 4.5 miles into the ride, I heard this whoosh, whoosh, whoosh and then a whoooooooooooooosh. My front tire got a flat. Oh great. And this was happening on a pretty woody, downhill part of the ride and Kevin was far far ahead of me by this time. I yelled his name but he didn't hear me. Luckily, as I was walking my bike down the hill, a guy passed me and told Kevin (since he was stopped) that I was walking my bike. So he came back to find me. As we were at the bottom of the hill getting his CO2 pump ready, we were getting bitten by mosquitos big time. So we decided to leave the area and just have his wife come and pick us up. Up to a neighbourhood where the mosquitos followed us for a bit. We went to an intersection and sat down and decided that we both would try to change the tube in my tire. Apparently, we didn't do it right though since the tube went flat again as it was on my bike rack these past 2 days. I took it down to North Central Cyclery and got a new tube and they fixed it up for me. (On a side note, I got a NIU Cycling Jersey while down there too!)

We got it finished just as Jess was pulling up! HA! Kevin took off to ride back while Jess & I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for...

The beach! Nothing really to report here. We pretty much just laid around getting some sun. The water was a bit too chilly to really get in there. Later on that night was a fire pit and rum runners and neighbours in the cul-de-sac. Good times.

Monday was a relaxing day. I didn't do any exercise but it didn't mean I was just lounging around! Down a local pool, they closed it down for humans but invited canines and their owners down so the doggies can enjoy the pool for a day! It was great fun seeing all the dogs running and playing with each other. Later on was grilling out and then I headed on out back to Illinois.

It was the first time that I was actually truly sad leaving Madison and going back to DeKalb. It was just that great of a weekend!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1033 ft Location: Verona, WI Elev. Gain: -50 ft Date: 09/05/09 Up/Downhill: [+442/-492] Time: 07:56 AM Difficulty: 3.2 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 10.00 miles Time: 1:40:57 Speed: 5.9 mph Pace: 10' 06 /mi Calories: 1069 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 05 -1' 01 6.6 +0.7 -89 ft 2 10' 00 -0' 06 6.0 +0.1 +16 ft 3 10' 14 +0' 08 5.9 -0.1 +7 ft 4 10' 34 +0' 28 5.7 -0.3 +4 ft 5 10' 32 +0' 26 5.7 -0.3 -39 ft 6 13' 28 +3' 22 4.5 -1.5 +82 ft 7 9' 53 -0' 13 6.1 +0.1 -46 ft 8 11' 11 +1' 05 5.4 -0.6 -3 ft 9 9' 53 -0' 13 6.1 +0.1 -27 ft end 10' 09 +0' 03 5.9 -0.0 +40 ft Versus average of 10' 06 min/mile

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Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1004 ft Location: Verona, WI Elev. Gain: -98 ft Date: 09/06/09 Up/Downhill: [+318/-416] Time: 10:44 AM Difficulty: 2.6 / 5.0 Weather: Fair with Haze 72 F temp; 65% humidity 72 F heat index; winds Calm Performance Distance: 5.01 miles Time: 0:51:05 Speed: 5.9 mph Pace: 10' 10 /mi Calories: 338 Map Elevation (ft) Speed (mph) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 5' 12 -4' 58 11.5 +5.6 -20 ft 2 4' 11 -5' 59 14.3 +8.4 -26 ft 3 8' 08 -2' 02 7.4 +1.5 -91 ft 4 4' 29 -5' 41 13.4 +7.5 +63 ft end 30' 46 +20' 35 1.9 -4.0 -49 ft Versus average of 5.9 mph

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Categories: 10 miles, biking, Madison

Life got in the way

Haven't done much running since my 20 mile last Saturday. Work has been pretty crazy. Stayed late on Monday until 7p and Tuesday until 6:30p. Couldn't even run at work either, ate lunch at my desk. Came home both nights and worked again from home. It was just that crazy. Finally decided that today, I would leave "on time" and run. I got 6.2 miles out of my run! Yay!

At the end of the run, I got the pain in the ball of my right foot back like I had training for my first marathon. Not happy about that. Will keep a thought on it and watch to see how it does. As I was walking back, that's when I noticed it, not while running. I can still feel the spot even though I'm not even on my feet.

For the past few months now, I have started my own version of Operation Beautiful, but with runners. Every runner that I pass, I take out an ear bud and say something positive; "Good Job!" "Keep it up!" "Looking Strong!" I've thought about saying "Looking Good!" but once I almost said that to a shirtless male runner and decided to hold back. I don't think that would have been good. :) So I just say those three sayings and said it to a few today when we passed each other (going in opposite direction). They usually just smile or don't do anything back. Not used somebody talking to them I guess. But I actually got a response out of one of them today "Hi, thanks, you too!" It's funny though; everytime I tell them something, I get a little charged up too. I get a little more spring in my step for a few seconds. But I'm a waver and a very friendly runner; get used to it DeKalb!!

Today's run was really odd in terms of speed. Started out fast but then I got really slow. It was bad. And it hurt too. I guess that's what having nearly 4 days off will do to ya! But still my average pace was decent for a training run. And my blister, that was flat and not puffed out at all before my run, is puffed out again. I guess I should have put a bandaid on it before I went running. I've never had to deal with blisters before so I don't really know what to do!

This weekend won't have me blogging at all. I've got mad super duper plans! I'll be in Madison all weekend visiting Kevin & Jess. Leaving work at noon on Friday from all the overtime I'm putting in, will be heading up there around that time and then hitting up Happy Hour (potentially) & a Meetup group with them. Saturday will have me running 6, 8 or 10 miles (yay for step back week!) in the morning. Then Taste of Madison that afternoon, followed by NIU @ UW-Madison football game that evening (kickoff at 6pm). Sunday will be doing a 30 mile (2 hour) bike ride to a beach that's a favourite of ours, relaxing on said beach. Monday will be at a water park (dogs are allowed to swim in the pool on this the last day, so we'll have their dog with us too!) where Kevin has a radio thing to attend. Then later that afternoon, one of his co-workers is throwing a party so we could potentially stop by that as well! A fully packed, fun filled weekend will be had and chock full of exercise too!! Plenty of room for that beer drinking I'll be having!

What makes me kinda sad about the weekend is that I won't be able to run my usual race in Rockford. It was my first race ever starting in 2006 and also the very first race that I placed in my age group! They hold thing thing called On The Waterfront, 30 blocks of food, carnivals, and 7 stages of bands. All sorts of great music comes out for this! It's a chance to see and hear bands that you normally wouldn't. Open your ears to something new. And I'll miss it. Since 2000, I've only missed it twice; 2003 when I was living in Mississippi and 2005, the year after my ex & I broke up and he forgot the promise he made about going with me (this was long before I was independent). I've been to every one besides those years. But this stuff I'll do this weekend will keep my mind off of it!

Have a lovely and enjoyable Labour Day weekend. It's the unoffical end of summer!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 858 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: -4 ft Date: 09/02/09 Up/Downhill: [+219/-223] Time: 06:11 PM Difficulty: 2.6 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 63 F temp; 69% humidity 63 F heat index; winds E 7 Performance Distance: 6.20 miles Time: 0:58:41 Speed: 6.3 mph Pace: 9' 28 /mi Calories: 662 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 52 -0' 36 6.8 +0.4 +26 ft 2 9' 14 -0' 14 6.5 +0.2 -16 ft 3 9' 20 -0' 08 6.4 +0.1 +4 ft 4 9' 36 +0' 08 6.2 -0.1 +10 ft 5 10' 07 +0' 39 5.9 -0.4 +7 ft 6 9' 42 +0' 14 6.2 -0.2 -33 ft end 10' 06 +0' 38 5.9 -0.4 0 ft Versus average of 9' 28 min/mile

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Categories: ball of foot pain, blisters, DeKalb Nature Trail, Madison