Holiday runs

Welcome to 2010! I've been behind in my blogging and kinda on my running. At least so far in January I am. I was still on hiatus in December so I never felt like I had to run. I was just running when I wanted to.

To catch up a bit:

Weekend before Christmas, I did get a run in southern Illinois while Luke ran his 5k in northern Illinois. I knew I wanted to run farther than him so I did 4.55 miles. HA!

After that, another run of mine was not until the following week (Christmas) again in southern Illinois, this time on a treadmill that barely could hold me! It was scary to say the least! I have NO IDEA how far I ran just how much time I was on the treadmill. Luckily, it was out in the garage so I didn't really have to worry about overheating and I still have to wear my gloves and one layer of cold weather gear.

Then the last full week of December, I spent with Luke. Which meant a lot of running. Monday was 3.5. Then Tuesday was all day skiing. Wednesday was a very stupid late night run at 6pm. And my winter running clothes is all black. Genius. Luke allowed me to borrow a bright orange race shirt of his to try to stand out to the cars. It was an interesting run. I guess I better pack a headlamp just in case from now on. Thursday (New Years Eve) was a 15 mile hike that turned into a 10.10 mile hike. We were trying to follow a 25k course race in Rock Cut. But the cold got to us and we were a little hungry since we didn't eat lunch. I was still pretty impressed that we made it that far and now Luke has an idea of what his 25k is going to be like in September!

But that week was a great way to cap off 2009.

First run of 2010? I ran at Luke's gym and got in about 7 miles in an hour. I was booking it! Even got up to 8mph. It was crazy. I was on such a runner's high. Luke & I ran together for the first 16 minutes since he was just doing a 5k. What I noticed is that our stride was the same length. His foot would land when my foot would land. How odd is that considering he's 6'3"? I wasn't purposely doing that as well. Eventually we did get off so that it was my right foot and his left but we were still doing the same for a while and then we got off again. So it was like even 1 in 20 strides made us get off.

And I haven't ran since that day, the 2nd of January. :-( Nearly 2 weeks. I got sick the following Monday with a sore throat and congestion. The congestion and green mucus has stayed with me since then. Well, over a week. On top of that, Sunday I woke up with a sore back. Not just sore, in pain. It's my SI Joint. Not a fun thing. When I went skiing day before New Years, I landed on my outside hip pretty hard. No, not during skiing, I never fell on the slopes. It was walking in my ski boots in the cafeteria, on wet concrete hard floor. Genius. And even though it was a week since that happened, I wondered if it just built up??

Rockford Marathon training begins at the end of the month. I was supposed to be base building during these weeks. I can't now. I also in no way, will be joining Luke on the trails for the 10k in Rock Cut. I'm a little disappointed about that. I'm a little nervous about running now with this back problem of mine. It hurts to get in and out of my car, to roll over in bed, to arch my back. It pretty much sucks.

But I'm excited to start this marathon training with Luke by my side. Just gotta remember to be a lot more diligent with my gym workouts! Maybe I'll even incorporate a few machines workouts in with that too.

For Christmas, Luke gave me the Perfect Push-up. Which I have been using and it has been a great relief on my left wrist. A lot easier to use and I can get deeper into the bend as well which made me weaker earlier. Luke said it's not the number that's important, it's how deep you can go. So I have to get that in my head I guess.

Categories: hiking, holiday runs, Rockford Marathon, sick, sore back

My legs are trashed!

Campfire!

Last week I drove up to Devil's Lake in Wisconsin on Wednesday and was camped a few nights. The week before, my friend Jesse was up there and had mentioned on his blog about running around the area. I immediately left a comment asking him to send me his route. He was so kind to actually do so and was very excited to hear about a bike path but a little nervous about the hills.

I woke up on Thursday morning from many reasons. First the birds. That was kinda before the sun even came up. I think I dozed off again and finally there was the noise from the campsite beside us. Yes, the started a fire in the morning. WTF? Anyway, finally got up and it was FREEZING outside. I only brought shorts but I figured that I should be fine even it was in the 50's. But I still went with my short sleeves instead of my sleeveless shirt.

I started out just as Jesse said and encountered my first downhill just outside of my campsite. That was fun on the hamstrings. Then got my first uphill outside of the park about a mile into the run. It was tough. I was chanting, "can't quit, won't quit." That's my chant.

Then I found the bike path and towards Baraboo I go! Lots of hills that was kinda tough but I stuck it out. It was awesome. I passed lots of weird things; noticeably an old mini golf course. They even had a windmill! I stopped at the top of one hill and decided to turn around. At first I was only going to do 30 minutes but then I was feeling good so on I went until I hit the 2.75 and turned around. It was started to get warm by then and I was sorry for wearing a short sleeve shirt instead of sleeveless! But I managed to do it. The hill going down was interesting. Hard on the hamstrings. Then the hill going back up was hard. I ended up walking it but then when I looked down at my watch, it said I only have .1 mile left and I really beat myself up over walking with that little to go but the hill was soooo tough!!

I cooled off a little, went shopping at WalMart for food, cooked an early lunch and then after that day, we hiked a few miles. Took it nice and easy and slow. Off the beaten path too. Very pretty ravines.

Came back, gathered up our bikes and away we went to try to bike. Come ot find out, the bike trails SUCK at Devil's Lake. They have the really big railroad rocks and even with our big mountain bike tires, we were still slipping all over the place. Plus, the hills were not fun to go up and they scared me going down. I think we did only 2 miles or so. Back to camp where we gathered up a few things, drove down to the south of the lake and hiked UP lots of rocks to see Balanced Rock. That was almost a mile I think.

So for Thursday it was: run, hike, bike, hike. CRAZY! But I was feeling good by the end of the day!

On Friday we just hiked. About 3 miles. Down to the lake north shore and then a path that I did before but it's a favourite of mine. Up the side of the mountain and over looking some gorgeous views! Pictures are below. Enjoy and be jealous!!!

Friday night a lot of beers and good cookout was had with Wisconsin fireworks!! Totally nice way to round out the weekend.

Leaving the park for my run

The hill. I swear it's more impressive in person.

The Barn Restaurant?

The hill going down. I got up to a 7:10 min/mi according to Garmin!

My campsite!

The first hike of the day.

Taking a small break.

The "stairs" for Balanced Rock trail

But worth it!!

There it is, Balanced Rock itself.

Many hawks we saw.

My first s'more!! yes I realise I'm 29 and just now eating my first s'more!

And of course there's the eating of the s'more.

Next day hiking.

Another quick rest.

What a view. GORGEOUS! So is the moutain & lake behind me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

A map of the area.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 944 ft Location: Baraboo, WI Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 07/02/09 Up/Downhill: [+551/-551] Time: 07:43 AM Difficulty: 2.9 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 5.50 miles Time: 0:54:19 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 53 /mi Calories: 424 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 27 -0' 26 6.3 +0.3 -16 ft 2 9' 07 -0' 46 6.6 +0.5 -148 ft 3 9' 45 -0' 08 6.2 +0.1 -39 ft 4 10' 05 +0' 12 6.0 -0.1 +59 ft 5 9' 54 +0' 01 6.1 -0.0 +23 ft end 11' 48 +1' 55 5.1 -1.0 +121 ft Versus average of 9' 53 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: camping, hiking, pictures, vacation