5th and 6th

Hmmm, looks like my Janathon blogging pattern is a post covering 2 days in a row.  Yesterday was a 7 mile muddy trail run--without Elsie the mutt this time. She was having no part in leaving the warm bed, can't say I blame her, I was wishing I'd stayed there myself in the beginning.  Parts of the path once I ventured away from the canal trails was pretty much a quagmire, there was no running through it and even walking was treacherous a time or three. I even slipped and fell once and it was on a section parallel to the M1 so yes there were witnesses.  All in all it was a good run though, my two slowest miles were on the endless uphill sections that also included the swampy bits (10:43 and 10:05, miles 3 and 4) and I kept a 9:33 pace overall.

The aftermath

Mud bath anyone? A shave wouldn't hurt either 

Today I skipped the run since our club handicap run is tomorrow night. Not sure that what I opted for will leave my legs anymore rested though.  5 minute warmup outside with the jump rope then did a full body workout with the kettlebells. Definitely time to move up past an 8kg bell for the swings and for giggles I threw in 5 burpees with every set. Yes, I am not bright at times ;-).  

Janathon Days 3 and 4

Quick catch up on Janathon--I didn't run yesterday because of still being sore from the kettlebells but did my 90 bicycle crunches and a heckuva lot of foam rolling which seemed to have done the trick because I woke up way less achy this morning.  I'm thinking Sven the foam roller (because anything that causes that much pain must be named) is getting due to be replaced, the indentations from rolling are becoming permanent.

Today I eventually crawled out of bed after the torrential rain and winds seemed to have died down and headed out for a short run with Elsie the Miniature Schnauzer Menace.  I opted for a mostly road route because all the trails are becoming waterlogged and was hoping that I would be able to skip having to bathe Elsie afterwards. No go on that, she's too aerodynamic and low to the ground.  As much mud as she picked up I might as well have headed out on the canal trails and skipped the hills.  We ended up with just over 5 miles and thankfully it was wind and rain free.

Elsie all bundled up after her bath

This week I have picked up a few fitness "toys" to start replacing what I'd given away in the states. I've mentioned the balance ball but I also bought a 5kg medicine ball (actually a no bounce slam ball but it's easier to say medicine ball) and a workout dome.  The latter is very similar to a Bosu balance trainer but it's less than half the price but the dome is a very bright red, very much looks like the Staples Easy button which caused my partner no shortage of amusement.  While I was doing my core workout I was getting additional work from laughing at all the comments he was throwing my way--everything from "it's gonna blow!" to comparing it to a giant shut-off button while I was trying to do back extensions (those are the g-rated ones, it got much worse). 

Ben checking it out

York Fitness Ok! Famously Fit Core Workout Dome, the name is almost a workout in itself, lol.

Today's workout:

5.23 miles in 52:44

3x15 of back extensions, v-crunches, regular crunches, and single leg bridges on the fitness dome

2x1 minute planks on dome

3x10 pushups on flat side of dome

90 bicycle crunches (truckin' runner challenge) on the floor

lots of general standing on the green side of the dome trying to balance--aka not fall off and bust my front teeth out (again)

A day late

While I didn't get around to blogging about #Janathon yesterday I did get my workouts in. Yes, plural. I'm looking to shake things up and get back to strength and speed training in earnest.  The reason I didn't write yesterday is because it was the 2nd anniversary of my mom's death and I was trying to keep busy doing things in order to try and not mope around dwelling on it so much.  Her death and my father's within a year of each other (they had been divorced since I was 5) both of heart failure while in their 60s is certainly one of the driving forces that keeps me working out.  Granted I'm not a smoker, never have been and they were both heavy smokers since they were teenagers but heart disease does run on both sides of the family so there is a genetic factor.

First workout yesterday was another kettlebell workout from Pumps & Iron (yes again!) after doing the Truckin' Runner bicycle crunch challenge for a warmup. As I wrote on fb and twitter afterwards it totally kicked my ass and I'm feeling it today. I did make a couple of substitutions, the windmills were sans kettlebells and I did mountain climbers instead of lunges because I knew I would be running later and lunges can sometimes put undue stress on my joints.  Loving the russian twists and I made more of an effort to "snap" my hips and plant my feet on the swings. Some of the moves I started with my lightest bell then moved up to the heaviest one on the last 2-3 tabata intervals. Seeing some improvement already and I'm already considering buying a heavier bell plus I need to buy a second of one of the sizes I already own in order to do some of the moves.  If anyone has any tips on doing the windmills please let me know, a huge part of it is my inflexibility so I realize I need to start incorporating more stretching (I HATE stretching).

Trying to lose the pudgy belly!

2nd workout of the day was the club run which was supposed to be a steady 6 miler and instead became the Speedy Lampposts workout. OUCH. My legs were feeling fatigued from earlier and it was surprisingly warm (and humid)--I'm thinking it was in the mid 40s Fahrenheit/6-7 Celsius.  I ended up doing 5 of the posts which was 3 more than I expected to do. As I've mentioned before part of this workout includes going full-out on a long downhill as well which is not as easy as what it sounds. I was already feeling nauseous on the first part of the speed work and by the time I got to the bottom of that damn hill it was a battle to not throw up. I was so overheated as well that I ended up taking my long sleeve top off and tying it around my waist for the remainder of the run. Don't worry I was wearing a vest (tank top to the US readers) underneath so no one was exposed to the horror of my bare stomach again, that is reserved for the readers of my blog, lol.

Click to enlarge

Last night's splits

Around mile 3.7ish is where the full-out downhill run starts

All in all I'm happy with how the workouts went but today will definitely be a very light day to rest up. Not decided if I will take Elsie out for a short run later or if I will opt for a walk with both the mutts instead. I do think that airing up the new balance ball should count though, sheesh that took forever with the pump they included.  

Committed

I've gone and committed myself to the Janathon 2014 and one of the requirements is that you workout every day and then try and blog about it (or you can tweet).......yep, almost messed that one up on day 1, not the exercise part, that was done and dusted hours ago but this writing every day? Well, there may be lots of picture posts this month without any words to go with them ;-).  One good thing about it is that it will get me more active about commenting on other blogs again, I've gotten very lackadaisical about that over the past couple of years.

2014 has kicked off quite well though. My partner and I opted for a night in because the mutts are terrified of fireworks and thought it would be easier on them if we were here--yes, that's the age old trick of blaming it on the dogs, lol.  A minute or two before midnight I headed out the door with a suitcase to walk around--a delightfully quirky practice that a friend talked me into doing for the first time last year.  Apparently it means you will travel a lot in the coming year and it certainly worked for 2013.  I might not have traveled to many new to me places but I got to go with someone to whom they were new so that's as good if not better.  Although based on how long it took for my belongings to arrive from the US I might should have put some clothes in the empty suitcase I wheeled about just in case that is what jinxed me.

While doing the stroll down the street the fireworks started in earnest, I already knew that British people were quite passionate about their pyrotechnics but nothing quite prepared me for New Year's Eve in England.  There were explosions of color everywhere in every direction for miles......even when you couldn't see the actual firework burst on the other sides of the hills surrounding us you could see the white glow against the clouds and after a few minutes the "smog" from the gunpowder. It might not have been London but we didn't have to deal with the crowds either.  I was absolutely enthralled, Ben and Elsie quite a bit less so.

Oh, back to the workout part.  Elsie the Miniature Schnauzer Menace and I ran 4.62 miles in 45:12 this morning, not bad considering the not quite gale force winds and the two hills we had to huff and puff up. After a small breakfast and a fair bit of wasting time on facebook I finally did my Truckin' Runner challenge of 90 bicycle crunches then a core workout I borrowed from Pinterest which involved even more bicycle crunches.  It was the v-ups that kicked my arse this morning though, couldn't get through the set of 30 and 20 without breaking them up into smaller sets of 5 and there might have been some girl pushups mixed in as well.

Love this reminder

bored

Feeling a bit better but had a little trouble breathing while out running with the Miniature Schnauzer Menace this morning, still can't smell much of anything though--well except for the fertilizer piles at the farm we run by on a regular basis but that stink is so potent it will nearly knock you over.  Icy spots on the roads today as well, made it a bit interesting getting up the big hill so on the way back I decided to cut through a public footpath that I hadn't used yet......not sure it was much better because it cut through a well churned up cow pasture and I sank down to my ankles more than once and had rooster tail trails of mud up the back of my calves.  

We passed a group of horse riders twice and the first time I had to pick up Elsie and carry her past because she just wasn't going to run by them. I couldn't figure out what the problem was until we met up with them again and realized one of the horses had shoes that had sort of an echo "boom" when it clattered on the road.  Apparently it sounded like thunder to Elsie and spooked her.  

Anyway, nothing special about today's run other than I got out to do it even though I kind of wanted to stay in bed. I'm just writing about it because I'm a little bored and thought I would share some of that with everyone else ;-).  The pic below is from a run back in Arkansas last December, imagine mud instead of snow and you get an idea of what my shoes look like today. 

December 26, 2012

Getting the jump on.......

Cross-training started back up on Boxing Day, call it my jump start on the new year resolutions.  Kicked it off with a full body 15 minute tabata interval style workout with my new kettlebells, yes there is some DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) today.  In the interest of keeping it going and hopefully making it a habit again I also did another more structured weight workout along with some skipping rope and hula-hooping.  I also woke up still feeling blech and not breathing very freely so this made me feel less guilty about not taking Elsie for a run today but I can't blow it off tomorrow, it's not very fair to her.

Elsie when she sees me putting on running shoes

Today's workout:
--2 minutes jumping rope for warmup
--Pumps & Iron (LOVE her website!) upper body using 4 (8.8 lbs) and 6 (13.2 lbs) kg kettlebells.  Yes, I'm a lightweight at the moment and even worse the coating on the bottom of the bells is bright pink.  Also added in some figure 8s and body weight only windmills because apparently I'm not coordinated enough to do those with weights.

At least the jump rope isn't girly-girl hued

--5 minutes jumping rope
--15 minutes hooping with the weighted hula hoop (7:30 minutes each direction). I need to invest in a heavier hoop, can't remember what size I bought but it was on the lower end.

Now that Christmas is over I'm hoping that we will be able to start putting a gym together in the garage, it's kind of a pain in the butt having to scoot the (very heavy) coffee table out of the way before doing a workout. The hooping and skipping rope has to be done outside which was all right for today because it wasn't raining and the winds were relatively calm but you can't count on those conditions here in the winter. I don't think the hula-hooping would go too well in the 30 plus mph winds we have had so much of this month.

Drying out the trainers

In a sort of resolution based, keep the motivation going vein I've also joined 3 (so far) groups for working out in January--the Janathon 2014, the Jantastic, and the 30for30 challenge put up by one of the Truckin' Runners facebook members--yeah, yeah, I'm no longer a truck driver but it is still interesting keeping up with the group since I was a member almost from the beginning.

Hmmm, suppose I should also formalize everything else I hope/need to do better in 2014 but I think it's pretty much the same as every year: get organized, buy less, run better, eat healthier, foam roll more. Yep, that looks like it's the usual list.    

Not so Festive relay

Running. I do that. Sometimes quite well, other times not so much. But I do run and while I love it most of the time occasionally it just sucks like today.  On a normal day I would love an event like the Christmas Relays--you got pavement, you got cross country, a little bit of mud and a few hills, people around you suffering just as much. Fun stuff.  Right up until you factor in the winds..........and not just a breeze, these were bone-chilling, blow you about winds.  Add in a somewhat stopped up nose and I felt like I was suffocating out on the course which in turn was throwing my heart rate into overdrive. I haven't felt this bad on a run since the Hogeye Half last spring. My pace went from 7:59 on the first mile to 8:37 on the second. Sucked. Oh well, on to the next, eh?

Trafalgar Square, watching everyone take pics of each other

In other news, my partner treated me to an impromptu trip to London on Christmas Eve (which is probably where I picked up the stuffy head, lol).  We didn't do much, just wandered about a little bit and had a meal in one of the restaurants near the Google HQ (Union Jacks--food was ok, service was lackluster, overall nothing special).  Spent a grand total of £9 (excepting the meal and train tickets) and five of that was at Primark for a slip because my dress and tights were not playing well together.  There was a search for a kitschy ornament for the tree but because we arrived so late most of the stores were already closing.  I was a bit surprised that Trafalgar Square wasn't more "done up" but we really should have made our way over to Covent Garden/Carnaby Street/Regent Street for the Christmas decorations.

Where to next?

It's still a bit surreal to me to be approximately 2-2.5 hours away from London, it was even more surreal being in a train station there and seeing Disneyland as a destination, lol.  Can't wait for the first Europe trip via rail.

Happy Holidays everyone! Hope all who celebrate Christmas had a very merry one

Life/Death

Christmas was fine but there were a few clouds hanging over the festivities this year.  A friend of mine's dad lost the battle with cancer, it's good that he is no longer suffering but it is so tough losing a parent especially this time of year. While they may or may not appreciate it now, the closure that they have had with many of their family and friends during this and being able to say goodbye is so very precious.  Sending much love to them.

Another running acquaintance back in the states also lost her life just before the holidays--her funeral is today.  Unfortunately this time it was a case of domestic violence, her husband took her life and destroyed so much more in the process--they had four children who will have to deal with losing both their parents in the ugliest manner possible.  It's easy to say why can't people just let go but you can never predict how someone is going to react when they are angry and hurt when faced with the end of a marriage, something I found out firsthand.

So......live, love, hug, appreciate, don't take life for granted and most of all please be aware of what is going on around you, if there's ANY hint of violence please do something. It may be nothing but you could also be saving someone's life and this applies equally for men as it does women.

Books, races, and shoes

I'm adding "Running Like a Girl" by Alexandra Heminsley to my reading list after watching 3 youtube vids featuring her.  Seems like it would be a fun read and she comes across as quite charming.  

I started to sign up for the Stafford Half Marathon again since it's almost full (I ran it last March) but found this one instead, Newton's Fraction Half Marathon. Love the name, hopefully it will have a cool t-shirt and medal to match.  More importantly I hope it won't be near as miserable temperature wise in the UK as it was this year, so many people showed up to the Stafford race, collected their tee and medal (still seems odd they handed it out BEFORE the race), decided it was too cold to run and went back home.  Another tidbit that tilted me towards the Grantham race is that Brooks Running UK is sponsoring it, gotta love the #runhappy.

The bling--March 2013

Speaking of Brooks, I'm wondering when they will produce a shoe for the UK/Euro market specifically for fell running since the sport is huge over here. They do a shoe called the Aduro that's market specific but it's made for road running, not trail. I love my PureGrit 2 trail shoes but they are better suited for drier trails, the super-slick mud here in wet conditions leaves me sliding about a little too much for comfort.  In the meantime I've gone back to the Cascadia for the muckier stuff, I've even found some of the older 7s in stock online that my partner has bought me as part of my Crimble present.  

My old Cascadia 7s from 2012 along with a KT Tape sweat and mud fail (go with the pro version!)

Just for fun pic, trail runner "ice bath"

Also upcoming are the cross country Christmas Relays where I seem to have mistakenly been placed on the "fast" team. No pressure there then, lol.  This will be interesting because the only relay race I've done before was a road race, will have to see how this goes.  At least there won't be a long tunnel as part of the course......or there isn't as far as I know, I'm now having flashbacks from the Hogeye Half relay and my claustrophobia induced panic attack.  

Monday-Wednesday catchup

Friday's knee issue led to me taking two days off and I managed to catch a little something as well (sneezing, sore throat, achy joints, etc) so the weekend was pretty much a wash as far as getting anything productive done. Monday night was a short easy run with both the mutts to test out a Christmas present from my partner, the Silva Trail Runner II headlamp. There will be a more comprehensive review as soon as I get a chance to try it out properly.

Last night's workout with the club has been dubbed the Speedy Lampposts run by one of the other members and it can be a killer.  There's a pacer that maintains a 9 minute per mile pace and everyone else turns around and goes back 1, 1.5, or 2 lampposts then tries to catch back up to the "rabbit". Once you've caught back up, you catch your breath then do it all over again, it's much harder than it sounds but like everything it's all dependent on how much effort you put into it.  The difficulty is also increased by what is at first a slight incline that just keeps going and going.  After that part is done there is a much more laid back run up a steep hill then we run full out going down the other side of the hill.  Very good at simulating a race situation in that it forces you to keep pushing hard to catch up.  Good stuff, I love having the opportunity again to train with people who are faster and better than I am.

Speedy lampposts details

Today the conditions were less than ideal due to the 20 plus mph winds so Elsie and I headed out after lunch for a no-pressure trail run.  We both enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and since there wasn't anyone else out at that time, she got some off-leash running time. I'm kind of wishing I'd chosen a less hilly route though, my legs are still trashed from last night.  

Look ma, no leash! 

Fungi. Anyone know what type of mushrooms these are?

I think I should have worn my trail shoes. And turned the flash off.

 

Photo of Ben so he doesn't feel left out :-)

wonkiness

RIP PureFlow 2 trainers

I had planned on doing another cross country style race today but woke up with my left knee all sorts of wonky and no idea why until my partner started giving me the third degree about it.  Afterwards I was walking down the stairs and a quick glance at the cupboard in the entry where I store my running shoes when it hit me--I'd hit my personal mileage "use-by date" on the Brooks PureFlows I wore on yesterday's run. The slight achiness in my knees that I use as the gauge to replace my trainers had been building up for the past few weeks and that one last run I kept promising to quit using them after kept getting postponed in the hopes of prolonging their life.  Alas, that final trip around the canals was yesterday, on a Friday 13th no less, which seems an appropriate date for their demise.  I can't complain though, these shoes made their running debut with me back in late August when I was still in Arkansas and have over 400 miles on them. Not bad considering the average life is estimated to be 250-300 miles and most of those miles were on the uneven surfaces of canal trails.

The running partner who was by my side most of those miles

Hey, I'm an expat!

Interesting article that seems to be creating a lot of conversations on various forums. I agree with some and I think she has her head up her ass on other parts of it.  http://www.businessinsider.com/us-expats-in-england-2013-10

Yes, there are derelict buildings and strip malls in England, we passed what I would call a strip mall last night--not as prolific as the states and the billboard/signage is not as overwhelmingly obtrusive but we are talking a vast difference in the size of the countries. Note I didn't say population, just the sheer land mass difference.  Not everyone in the states has walk-in closets, basements, or garages and quite a few houses here have the latter two (basements are called cellars though, and as an aside it depends on where you're at in the states as to what nomenclature is used) but I will agree that walk-in closets are few and far to find. Shoot, closets in general are scarce unless it's a new build.

Most grocery stores (shops) here do offer delivery service but it's not used by "everyone".  In my experience it's about equal on the eating out or carrying your own for lunch in that with both countries it depends on the workplace.  I'm not sure what the conveniences are that she is referring to when it comes to housework and I air-dried my laundry quite frequently in the states.  I do concur with missing my American style washer and dryer but that is more of a time issue rather than the quality of the machines because I could usually wash and tumble dry a load of towels in less time than it takes to do only the wash cycle.  Tumble dryers are widely available here but in our case it would have to go into the garage (that mythical thing again, lol) and it's quite expensive to operate here so we have made the decision not to buy one. That's not to say that we don't have a dryer, our machine is the combination style and it simply takes far longer so it's easier (and cheaper) to just hang everything out when possible

The public transit is far more available than in MOST areas of the states but depending on the area it may not  be near as convenient as what she has in her corner of the UK. I can't speak as to the effectiveness of the NHS as of yet because I haven't lived here long enough but the US insurance system has bloated the health services industry to a point where it is disgraceful.

I could go on and on and there are quite a few insightful points made in the article I do agree with but there were just a few that had me scratching my head and wondering if she'd traveled much into the rest of the UK.  However I am still very new to living here myself so my perceptions and experiences will continue to evolve.

Monday meandering

Things. There are certain things I have too much of......like clothing.  Some would also say shoes, especially boots, but I am willing to put up with that opinion and ignore it.  The recent move from the states where built-in closets are the norm to the UK where they are most decidedly not common (not including new builds of course) has hammered home the importance of being more discerning with your (my) purchases. There were several purges over the previous year knowing that I was going to be moving someplace with limited storage so it is almost sickening at times seeing how much I own. The problem is that I've built up an interesting wardrobe that includes quite a few vintage pieces and I'm reluctant to part with any of it. I also stocked up on running gear before moving because the selection here is not near as extensive as what I had access to nor are the prices as pocket friendly (hello clearance racks!).  Yes, definitely first world problems and I've put myself on an indefinite clothes buying moratorium with socks and tights being the only exceptions.  Of course it doesn't hurt that I personally don't have a steady source of income at the moment :-(

On a less whingy note, Elsie the Miniature Schnauzer Menace and I had another running adventure yesterday with the route being based on visiting an intriguing geological feature, The Hemlock Stone.  A quick search on the history of it reveals that basically no one really knows the origins other than it is ancient and prehistoric but it is certainly intriguing, and HUGE.  The pics do not show the magnitude of the size of this formation.

View from the road--note the people standing in front of it for scale

Coming around the back of the stone

Elsie is more interested in a nearby dog than posing for a photo

After stopping to read the information sign and taking a few pics I continued to climb to the top of the hill and discovered some amazing trails and even more amazing views.  They are quite extensively used and maintained by local cyclists (mountain bikers and down hillers) so perfect for trail run training! Yes, I'm a little excited by that, the park across the road offers even more uphill trails AND there's an ice cream van for a snack afterwards :-)

Trig point

There's always litter (albeit not much) but why is it always a Foster's or Stella Artois can?

I apologize for the quality of the pictures but it was cold so my phone was having trouble going from being warm and snug in the SPIBelt against my sweaty back to the chilly and damp outside air. Just means I will need to make another trek out there with the good camera.  Elsie and I had our longest run to date in the UK (not counting my half marathon last spring) at 11.7 miles so we were both close to useless for the rest of the day.  Fortunately we weren't in the state of this poor thing we saw on a deserted trail in between two fields ("roadkill" in the UK)

Polecat, escaped ferret, or hybrid? 

Things that make my life easier

It's a silly thing but I adore the octopus shaped sock hanger/dryer from ikea. Keeps my sock mating issue under control and we all know how frisky those pesky socks can get with running away all the time. I can't even blame their disappearing on Elsie anymore, she's finally gotten over her sock chewing problem, it took years of "therapy" aka me yelling bad dog but it's no longer an issue.

sunsets

I have seen sunsets in all of the lower 48 states, Canada, the Mexico border, and Malta but I swear the most beautiful ones I've experienced so far have been in the UK.