Friday, October 9, 2009

Week of pavement - eye on the woods

As I have previously posted, my weekdays are filled with pavement pounding & grendel on a leash pulling me at warp speed. Interestingly enough, I have accepted this new routine & am looking more closely at adding a Tuesday night track workout (ha I really say this at least once a month; i am in denial). But, to add a positive perspective - when I do hit the trail on the weekends, I breathe more deeply and look for subtle changes since the previous weekend.

This weekend I will be heading to NC to really see some significant leaf change and insert some altitude into my training.

Happy friday!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

running in the double digits again

Now that wedding planning is over, I can divert that energy into running in preparation for my 18 mile run (not race), which will include about 4000 feet in elevation change. And, perfect timing too - because fall has slowly and bedgrudingly arrived in Northeast Georgia.

On Sunday, we drove up to the National Forest in Northeast Georgia to run some hills & go over the double digit mark for mileage. I, being very out of shape, suffered along up the hills, but fortunately, I had slept a LOT this weekend, so I could run with my friend on the downhill & flat parts. We ran up and down the trails stopping so grendel could get water and dip his feet in streams.

Overall, it was a lovely return to trail running and being out running for over an hour. The return was welcome & future weekend adventures are events to look forward to.

Happy FALL

Friday, October 2, 2009

Wedding Joy - exchanging of the rings in Black Mountain, NC

Transition back to running

To anyone who has ever planned a wedding without a wedding planner & on a low budget - you will have empathy.

The last month before the wedding was spent deep in planning with my mother; my amount of stress increased; my amount of quality sleep decreased, and, consequently, my mileage decreased, and decreased and finally leveled off to 0 by last Thursday (before the wedding)

We had our wedding weekend; it was amazing; so much good food & drink & supportive friends and family - the weekend surpassed any expectations I had. But, after the wedding, as before the wedding, sickness came over me, and I have not run since last Wednesday! I think this is one of the longer stretches I have had without running. The lapse has not been without effort to run.

On Tuesday, of this week, for example, the weather was beautiful; cool breeze; bright and cloudless skies, yet I was so exhausted, the thought of even running a mile resulted in nausea. This pattern continued, which I tried to prevent by going to sleep extra early, but to no avail. Finally, last night - I took a good walk with Grendel, and I think I tried to run for about 200 yards; I achieved my goal, and I think I am ready to re-enter the world of running.

This weekend I will hit trails on sunday, but they will be slow, and I will, uncharacteristically, try to avoid the hills