Sounds of Nature

Another 10 miles in the books and I'm feelin' fine!  Today's run was brought to you by the sounds of nature.
It started chill and crisp with feet crunching on the snow and frozen mud. We were feeling a little stiff from yesterday's long run and it was Leslie's first back to back longer run day so we agreed a slow roll was in order with taking the hills at an easy pace. I'm not sure how we missed that left turn at Albuquerque (Sign Post 5), we realized we were not where we thought when we passed the stone fireplace which should not have been on our route.

 Shortly after there was a loud hooting call followed by an answering call of a pair of owls.  We did not catch sight of them but they were very noisy in the quiet of the early morning.  Deciding on an out and back instead of the loop we had planned, we were startled (I jumped and nearly tripped) by a loud honk of swans overhead as we reached sign post 11.  The birds and critters were starting to greet the day and there was gradually more and more bird song.  Shortly after a lovely stream we scared a deer and it took off back into the woods.

It was such a nice run, my legs were feeling good after 8 miles, and I thought if I put 2 more in that would give me a marathon distance for the weekend.  So I did it and I am feeling great after 26 miles in 2 days woot!  Thanks to all the wonderful friends who joined me over the weekend and shared in the the journey.

Into the woods I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.

16 Miles and the need for a translator

Today was the longest run since I trained for the Trail Marathon last year.  16  miles on the Potowatami trail in Pinckney. Good times with friends, smiles, laughter, singing and cheering each other on. In many ways it was not as rough on me as last week's 14 mile, but I was still happy to finish.  The extra hydration and salt tablets I think helped prevent the cramping I had last week. After 14 miles, my inner thighs cramped so bad I couldn't stand up.  Last week I came home, showered, ate then collapsed on the couch for an hour and half nap.  This week I fared a bit better, no nap however my legs were a bit like jello and I had a need for a translator.  When texting a friend I wasn't catching either my typos or the auto correct before sending, and the conversation was a bit nonsensical.  This inspired the idea that we need a google translate for runners after a marathon.  I am pretty sure it may be just translating a series of grunts and groans at first, maybe something like this:

AAAAUUUGG-  Leg cramp!, Leg Cramp! get ice.

Mmmsohugry - Hungry, no really hungry.  Quick hand me a pickle or jar of olives or dump salt on something and I will eat it!

Oooyezz! Boorah!-  OMG I can stop now I did it! please move aside so I can fall over.

Oh my ass - My glutes hurt too much to squat to pee.

stairs?srssly? - where's the elevator, I don't think I can climb those.

Beerme - please hand me the alcohol of choice, I need muscle relaxant pronto.

That's all I can think of for now, maybe more will come to me later, really when you finish a marathon it's all about the food, drink, and falling over all the while laughing at yourself and your shaky muscles while reminiscing about the race with friends who where just as crazy and feeling just as thrilled to finish as you.

Jenna On The Swim

Those who follow my adventures on facebook may remember my mentioning a breakthrough in my swim training.  I had thought I solved my water up the nose problem by using nose plugs and found I could finally keep my head under water without fear as I swam.  After a few weeks of being comfortable with my whole head and face underwater I was still struggling to time my breaths with my strokes, with the encouragement of friends (Thanks Kim!)  I felt brave enough to find a swim coach.
        First of all the coach, Melissa is a wonderful woman with lots of experience and she kindly instructed me in the basics I had been missing.  Everyone in the group made me feel welcome and there were no strange looks about my lack of experience and what was I doing there with a "Masters" team.  Unfortunately the first thing Melissa did was take away my nose plug.  Then she took me back to the basics of breathing which was something I really couldn't pick up from YouTube videos.  I hated it.  Not the coaching which was excellent with tips on how far to turn my head and how to sight to keep water out of my nose.  Also having someone there to watch how I'm doing things and tell me how to fix them was exactly what I've been needing.  What I hated was the water getting back up my nose, and the burning in my nose, and the coughing and choking. There must be enough subconscious panic in the back of my head when it happens that my larynx starts closing up and then my breathing in is a high pitched whistle, I had to reassure Melissa that it's a type of exertion asthma and normal for me.  We spent about 10 min on just breathing at the side of the pool, then adding in an arm stroke with the breath, then finally doing laps.  Somehow the coordinating legs, arms, head turns, and breathing was still a struggle, and maybe I was just trying too hard.  I could get 3 sometimes 4 strokes to go smoothly with the breath but then water would start getting up my nose and I couldn't get it to stay out once it starting coming in.  I kept having scenes from a Dr. Who episode about killer water go through my head (which did not help).  Having everyone cheerfully ask how it went and expect me to be just as excited as they were about swimming was also a bit disheartening, I felt like I somehow failed because it was not a joy, it was a struggle.
        At this point I needed to step back and do some mental work before I talked myself out of being able to accomplish my goals.  I remember reading that 80% of endurance sports is mental and I agree, most of my bad runs have been from mental not physical sabotage.  Here is a good article on mental training: http://www.runnersworld.com/sports-psychology/train-your-brain-to-run-your-best
What I started with is just reminding myself that running was once (and still is on speed training and long runs) very tough.  I didn't have good breathing, it wasn't very enjoyable and 1 mile without walk breaks was a struggle.  Now I have strategies for breathing and most days I can kick out 4 - 10 miles and feel great afterword.  I can learn to do the same with swimming.  I spent the next two nights working on breathing as I lay in bed trying to go to sleep.  I held an image of myself swimming a lap and tried to regulate my breathing with my arm strokes. I tried to make it relaxing and meditative.
          Two days later I was in the pool again, thankfully early enough in the morning that I had it to myself and wasn't embarrassed to start with practicing the breathing before I even started swimming laps.  The first few laps were not as much of a struggle as the other day. The next step was to distract my mind by counting.  I tend to get so caught up in thinking about form and breathing that I lose track of what lap I am on.  This time I timed the lap count with each arm stroke that I was breathing with.  It became a bit meditative for me and by the 10th lap I wasn't really noticing how far away the other side of the pool was, I would get started, keep counting and suddenly I was at the end. By the end of the the 16th lap I was actually a little disappointed and wished I had more time before work to keep going.  I still got water up my nose and had a few times where I mistimed the stroke with the breath and ended up choking, but it didn't panic me. I still have a lot to learn and work on with swimming, but now I can see it becoming enjoyable again.