The Saga Continues.......... that's craptastical!

So, my ITB area still hurts after todays run. That sucks. Ice, Ice, stretch, NSAIDS, and a couple days of rest and we'll hopefully see some improvement. It didn't bother me on the short run last night, but todays longer run really kicked it in. I think switching back to my old shoe brand helped, but was kind of like closing the barn door after the cows are out. Just.too.late.
I was looking at my volume totals for this month, and I think I see another major contributor. I increased my miles from 39.77 for March to 64.5 in April, compounded by outdoor mile volume actually doubling, which I am sure is harder on all my parts overall than the treddy or the elliptical.
27 days to the Madison Marathon. Crap. I sure hope I can hang in there and at least finish that beast.

Today's news

So, the puter blue screened again. Completely dead. Nick plans to revive it and hopefully use it for good and not evil.

In the meantime, I need my online fix. Best Buy hooked us in and I am the proud owner of this little beauty. It kills me to start over from scratch......D'Oh!

Yeah this is a picture of me when I plugged in my ipod and lost, like, everything by accident......

Here is a picture of me and Lucas from the integrated webcam.

This was when I played the song from Juno that drove him crazy. It gets stuck in my head all the time.

Crazylegs

Saturday was our second attempt at running the Crazylegs Classic, an 8K to raise money for UW athletics. It is a HUGE event, with thousands of participants. I was nervous about it this year because my knee has been giving me so much trouble, so Wednesday, i took a little recovery run after my stupidity run on Monday. I wore my old Kayanos instead of the new Sauconys and ran a slow little 3 1/2 milers that felt pretty good. Slow, but good.
Friday night before bed, we got ready for the big day. Garmin charged? check. clothes ready? check. Ipod charged? Nope. I plugged it into the side of my computer and instantly got the blue screen of death and an error message. Restart. Got some weird Checkdisk thing that ran before booting, talking about repairing my puter and saying something about fixing orphaned files. Yikes. Long story short- after lots of farfling around, it was determined that I had bad sectors on my hard drive that crashed me and I.had.lost.everything......EVERYTHING. Crap.
Went to bed and woke up to near freezing temps and strong winds, a wind advisory. After postponing the decision to go or not, we finally got packed up and left. It was super windy and cold. We even saw a blackbird flying into the wind that was actually going backwards - no lie.
We got the car parked at Camp Randall and took the shuttle bus to the start on the capital square. the Farmers Market was in full swing, but it was just too cold to check it out while we waited for the start. We ended up loitering around inside the capital building, which was apparently the same idea a lot of other runners had since there were people everywhere and the line for the ladies room was a least 40 deep.
We finally got into the corral for our wave. We were in wave DD, which I thought was funny - my former bra size. We finally got started about 40 minutes after the first wave. Got to high five lots of UW athletes, Bucky Badger, and Uncle Sam on stilts.
I knew I was in trouble about a mile in. My knee hurt. My left foot went numb. I walked Observatory Hill (yeah that hill totally bites.). I basically walked about 1/4-1/3 of every mile. I would run until pain or numbness made me slow to walk. And then there was the cold. And the 40 mph wind gusts. There were actually whitecaps on Lake Monona as we wound around the trail next to it.
As I got near the stadium, I tried to pick up the pace a bit. It hurt. I passes a couple of race walkers and a couple other hobbled up looking runners. As I rounded the corner to run down to the finish on the 50 yd line, the race walkers had started running and passed me. Crap.
I finished with a time of 1:07.26 per my Garmin. You can check out the graphs and data on BIM here. We were supposed to meet up with some of the SWAT peoples - Gary, Al, Brian, Anne, and whoever else was there. We looked and looked and couldn't find them anywhere. Crap.
My official finish: 1:07.26 .... overall 10095/10174, age group 1212/1221. Last years time was 54:32, so this year took me an extra 12.5 minutes. that sucks.

I have been reflecting on what happened to cause the problems in my knee lately. I haven't really changed a lot. I have increased training volume, but really not enough to trigger this. My biggest issues seem to have surfaced in the past several weeks, which coincides with purchasing new shoes - a new brand and style, the Saucony Triumph 5. When I ran in my old Kayanos earlier this week, I had no trouble. I really can't continue to use the old shoes as they are definitely too worn to sustain much more mileage. So I think it is reasonable to buy a new pair of Kayanos and see if that doesn't improve the situation. It really can't make it worse. And I do have a marathon to run in 1 month. I don't think I have much choice than to give it a shot.

Mikey got my puter working sort of again, but she is limping. The sector that housed all my personal data was totally wiped and I have to build a new profile from scratch for everything. It wiped out everything, so anything I have done since I backed up last week is gone. Worst of all there are things that were only on my PC, like the templates for the SWAT team website, among other things. If you sent me email this week and I didn't respond, that's why - sorry. Ratfinkie. I hate it, now I don't trust my computer and am going to think she will screw up at any second.

The Accidental Half

Monday was a beautiful afternoon, sunny and warm with a nice breeze. I got out of work about 3 pm and Mike had to work late, so I had some time to kill. I thought since I missed my long run a couple days prior that I would sub the quick 2 miler on my plan with a long run in the country. Mike had been talking about a new route he wanted to try that was a modification of one of our biking routes. If you go straight at Rockport and cut back into town, it was a 7 mile loop. If you went out a little further and picked up the bike trail you end up by Fisher Creek trailhead and it's 10 miles. In my head, I thought I had a pretty firm grip on where the routes went and where to turn on them. my plan was to go for the 10 miler, but if I felt like I couldn't do it, I would just cut in and do the 7 mile loop when I got to that point. I loaded up my fuel belt with 4 bottles of Powerade Zero and a bag of Clif Blocks. I took off into the country at a comfortable pace, not worrying about going fast because I was going long.

I've noticed lately I have had a really hard time getting going the first couple miles, so I just roll with it. i run a while, then walk a few hundred feet, then run some more. No big whoop, and it seems to pass after I have 2 or 3 miles under my belt.

The first thing I noticed is how frigging hilly this route is. I bike this all the time and know they are rollers, but on foot it feels like constant mountain climbing and descents with very few flats. I got a few miles into the run and got onto Rockport Road. As I crested the first hill, I noticed a dog running towards me from the house across the street, a big brindle colored Pit Bull, barking at me from his yard aggressively. I hollered "Stop! Go Home!" This brought him out into the road, barking and growling at me. Shit. I try to remember dog spray when I am in the country. Not today. All I had to defend myself was my wits (not much of weapon) and a squirt bottle of powerade. I squirted some at him. I think I heard him laugh at me. I started yelling as loud as I could towards the house "Come and Call your F'ing Dog!!!" over and over and ordering him to stop and go home. He kept trying to get behind me so I was walking backwards down the street so I could see him. As he stepped out into the road again, still growling, a car came over the hill and stopped in front of the dog, next to me. He heard me yelling and started honking his horn at the dog, which finally turned the dog towards his house. I shouted a thank you and ran away hell bent for election.

As it came to decision time for the route length, I decided I had almost enough drink left for a 10 miler (slightly at risk for being a little dry but not bad), so I took a right up Hayner Road and right into a headwind. I ran and ran for a couple miles (didn't realize until this time that country "blocks" are all almost exactly 1 mile long...)I passed a couple turns and headed towards the corner that would take me around it and to where the bike trail starts right by the poop plant. As I neared this corner I started doing some math in my head....... no way was this going to be a 10 miler - try more like 14....... crap. Realizing that I was somehow way off course and way undersupplied with fluids and nibbles, I slowed way down to conserve energy. As I ran and pondered, I decided to run slowly to the 10 mile mark, then walk home from that point, with finding a place to refill my bottles as a priority. I was certain that there was a bubbler along the bike trail somewhere. Ya know what? I was wrong. I got to the 10 mile mark, which was a real struggle. After that, I pretty much walked the rest of the way. I was way far out of water and there were NO options to refill. No big deal, I wouldn't really need it if I walked the rest of the way. Problem was I was only at the Fisher creek trail head, estimated quickly as about 4 miles out from home yet.

I saw a shortcut up the onramp to the Crosby bridge, so I headed over the railroad tracks and across the marshy boggy spots to take the detour. I just wanted to get home. My long run was pushing 3 hours, no one knew what I was doing, and I still had a long way yo go. I had my cell phone, but was just too stubborn to call. I reasoned with myself - your legs don't hurt THAT bad, you are closer than you think, it's just a couple miles, Come on cowgirl up you've got a marathon in a little more then a month. by the time I was a mile or so from home, I was visualizing the straightest line to my house, cutting through back yards and any which way to save steps. Ended up with just under 13 miles, just short of a half-marathon. By accident. With nowhere near the supplies I needed. Stoo-pid!

I walked into the house and looked at Mike's mad face. I introduced myself to him as the stupidest person alive today.

As he looked at my Garmin map, he said "I see where you went wrong - you forgot to turn left where I told you to." Well, no shit.

That evening, my legs cramped up. my knee (in particular my left IT band) was killing me. Tuesday, I could barely walk and stairs were definitely out. What an idiot.

Monday's lessons:

1) Uh yeah. Double up on the liquids you bring. Especially if you don't have a place to refill them if they are empty.

2) Perhaps if you are visualizing a map in your head, you should consult an ACTUAL visual image of said map. Then you know you are discussing the specifics of the same map.

3) If you realize you have gone horribly wrong somehow, quit being a martyr already and call for a ride. Seriously.

4) Dog Spray is like American Express. Never leave home without it.

Today the knee felt better so I opted for a short recovery run. It was slow and I still have some knee twinges, but overall not too bad, just slow.

Saturday is the crazylegs 8K. Fun Race - I hope I'm feeling up to it!

We modified the Velo Club's Beckman Mill Route, just because Mike felt like it. It was hilly and challengin and I got my first set of weird tan lines for the season - glove tan, Garmin tan, watch tan, and bike shorts line. Activity Route: Beckman Mill modified Elev. Avg: 842 ft Location: Rock, WI Elev. Gain: -3 ft Date: 04/20/08 Up/Downhill: [+1745/-1748] Time: 10:20 AM Difficulty: 4.4 / 5.0   Weather: Clear with Haze   68 F temp; 56% humidity   68 F heat index; winds Calm Performance Distance: 34.86 miles Time: 2:31:46 Speed: 13.8 mph Pace: 4' 21 /mi Heart Rate: 136 bpm (Avg) Calories: 1890 170 bpm (Peak) Map Rock, Wisconsin   Elevation (ft)   Speed (mph)   Heart Rate (bpm)   Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 167 - 185 0h 02m 1%  0.45 mi Zone 4 148 - 167 0h 39m 26%  6.84 mi Zone 3 130 - 148 1h 07m 44%  16.95 mi Zone 2 111 - 130 0h 56m 37%  15.01 mi Zone 1 93 - 111 0h 03m 1%  0.96 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0%  0.00 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 4' 32 +0' 11 13.2 -0.6 123 0 ft 2 5' 06 +0' 45 11.8 -2.0 138 +6 ft 3 3' 40 -0' 40 16.3 +2.5 138 -46 ft 4 4' 41 +0' 20 12.8 -1.0 131 +33 ft 5 4' 25 +0' 04 13.6 -0.2 146 -3 ft 6 3' 38 -0' 42 16.5 +2.7 132 -55 ft 7 3' 58 -0' 22 15.1 +1.3 120 -16 ft 8 4' 10 -0' 10 14.4 +0.6 130 +17 ft 9 4' 27 +0' 06 13.4 -0.4 146 +26 ft 10 4' 04 -0' 16 14.7 +0.9 131 -65 ft 11 4' 04 -0' 16 14.7 +0.9 135 -13 ft 12 4' 19 -0' 01 13.9 +0.1 119 +16 ft 13 12' 31 +8' 10 4.8 -9.0 147 +135 ft 14 3' 13 -1' 07 18.6 +4.8 114 -111 ft 15 0' 03 -4' 17 1008.2 +994.4 140 -10 ft 16 4' 59 +0' 38 12.0 -1.8 -- +59 ft 17 8' 04 +3' 43 7.4 -6.4 151 +42 ft 18 4' 51 +0' 30 12.4 -1.4 138 -46 ft 19 0' 01 -4' 19 3564.1 +3550.2 144 +13 ft 20 4' 04 -0' 16 14.7 +0.9 144 -26 ft 21 5' 14 +0' 53 11.4 -2.3 131 -46 ft 22 0' 31 -3' 49 115.0 +101.2 127 -7 ft 23 4' 41 +0' 20 12.8 -1.0 144 +27 ft 24 5' 21 +1' 00 11.2 -2.6 134 +56 ft 25 5' 17 +0' 56 11.3 -2.5 145 +66 ft 26 3' 39 -0' 41 16.4 +2.6 125 -62 ft 27 4' 21 +0' 00 13.8 -0.0 122 +14 ft 28 3' 25 -0' 55 17.5 +3.7 114 -134 ft 29 4' 36 +0' 15 13.0 -0.8 135 +36 ft 30 4' 15 -0' 05 14.1 +0.3 134 +3 ft 31 3' 23 -0' 57 17.7 +3.9 134 -43 ft 32 2' 56 -1' 24 20.4 +6.6 136 +7 ft 33 3' 27 -0' 53 17.4 +3.6 141 0 ft 34 3' 55 -0' 25 15.3 +1.5 147 +33 ft 35 4' 49 +0' 28 12.4 -1.4 139 +20 ft 36 3' 46 -0' 34 15.9 +2.1 134 +6 ft 37 4' 05 -0' 15 14.7 +0.9 146 +23 ft 38 5' 01 +0' 40 11.9 -1.9 146 +36 ft 39 4' 36 +0' 15 13.0 -0.8 138 +10 ft end 5' 50 +1' 29 10.3 -3.5 141 0 ft Versus average of 13.8 mph

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Six Word Meme for today's bike ride

After work tonight I set out on my pretty pink ride out into the country. I have a 25 mile ride on deck for tomorrow with a swim, but I won't have time for both after work tomorrow so I swapped out the ride for tonight.

I thoroughly enjoyed my ride, although it was painfully slow at times and I actually had to walk one GIGANTORIFFIC hill just on the other side of Hanover. You see, I hadn't ridden there since last fall and I knew the turn was coming up and couldn't recall exactly where it hit on the hill, so I was going slow looking for my turn and simply lost momentum. I had some mean hill climbing goat like skills last summer, I need to get those back into shape soon.

I did manage to get in a little blog reading and so I was thinking about Misty and Pirate's posts about the 6 word memoir. Seeing that it took me almost 2 hours to complete my ride, I had plenty of time to work on a few myself. Here is one to describe my experience today:

Riding outdoors, country roads, exquisite bliss.

To see the pretty graphs and stuff from my ride on Bones in Motion, click here.

In other news, we got the call that Nick was accepted to Charter School. He starts tomorrow morning. It is self-paced so hopefully that will be motivation to work on this as quickly as he can and get that diploma in his hand in time to graduate with his class. Yeah! We will get the chance to update his last graduation picture!

My Life in Pictures

(Click To see my Bones in Motion Log for this run with all the data, maps and graphs.)

Today, we took a slow run down to our usual pre-winter running grounds. This used to be a nice run for us that was quite scenic, picking up the bike path that runs alongside the Rock River. In the fall, we could watch the boats go by, watch the Water ski Team practice their pyramids, and watch a whole host of birds and critters go by. Quite a different story these days. The river is flooded and much of the neighborhood that the bike path passes is underwater after the snow melt from massive quantities of snow, followed by the last week or so of torrential rains. Our path is closed from the hospital through Riverside park, our usual turnaround spot to head back towards home. Today, we ran into Riverside Park a different way and this is what we saw.

This first view is from higher ground coming down into the park after going through the Riverside tunnel and turning right. You can see a street branching to the left. Going forward from there you see a house and what used to be a street in front of it. This next shot is a little closer up of the same area.The part underwater? Yeah, that's our run path, there along that tree line.

See that line of posts sticking out of the water? That is the spot where the path becomes a run/bike-only blacktop path. If you look closer, you can see the street sign there behind it. It normally stands about 8 feet high, but most of it is submerged.

See Mike crying? This is the spot where the path goes underwater inside the park. Behind him is normally a winding path that goes behind that stand of pines and around to the right, back to the spot where the street sign looks to be about 2 feet tall. Not running there today buddy!











Here is the sign pointing to the start of that Kiwanis trail from Riverside park. Apparently its a true triathlon trail now. You can run, bike, AND swim on it!



















Here is a shot of the pavilion where I normally would refill my water bottles for the first time on my long runs last summer. See that speck in the middle of the picture? Yeah, that's a park bench. We didn't wade out that 200 yds or so to sit on it though. Not today.

Here is another park bench in the middle of the river. No thank you, I'll just stand on shore.

When I took this picture, I patted the pocket of my jacket I had taken the camera out of and had a mini-panic attack that my cell phone was not in it. We then back-tracked our steps around the park Family-Circus-style for the next ten minutes. Then I patted the pocket of my tights and realized my phone was in my pants pocket. I forgot to take a picture of Mike's happy face ;-)

Looking back through my camera, I realized we never posted pictures of our bike fittings, so here they are. What a difference it makes to have someone make your bike just the perfect fit for you and the way you ride. It was an awesome experience!

And last but not least is a picture of Nick with Mike after picking him up in Bessemer Michigan to bring him home last Sunday. we had just stopped for lunch about an hour back south into our drive home. Notice how high the snow is around them. Did I mention this was in April? Insane. This same day in Janesville, it was in the 60's sunny, warm and beautiful. Best day for a bike ride all year. It's a good thing we like this kid!

Keep your fingers crossed for Nick tonight. We interviewed yesterday for the Rock River Charter School yesterday and we will find out on Monday if he can get in right away. Best case scenario is he can start right away in the self paced e-learning program and he moves quickly enough through it to complete the coursework in time to walk the stage with his graduating class in June. I've been crossing my fingers, toes, legs, arms, and eyes since yesterday, which might account for why I was running so fricking slow today!

Lucas had a track meet, I had some miles on the training plan to get in. So as a compromise, we froze our asses off at the track meet at Monetery Stadium and I ran home. I was hoping it was 5 miles, but ended up at a little over 3.5 with an extra loop up to Austin Road and back to the house. Would have added more but it was dark and I was a popsicle. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 834 ft Location: Janesville, WI Elev. Gain: +124 ft Date: 04/09/08 Up/Downhill: [+301/-177] Time: 07:08 PM Difficulty: 2.4 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   43 F temp; 76% humidity   43 F heat index; winds NE 8 Performance Distance: 3.56 miles Time: 0:47:02 Speed: 4.5 mph Pace: 13' 13 /mi Heart Rate: 164 bpm (Avg) Calories: 392 175 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Heart Rate (bpm)   Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 167 - 185 0h 23m 49%  1.69 mi Zone 4 148 - 167 0h 27m 58%  2.20 mi Zone 3 130 - 148 0h 01m 1%  0.08 mi Zone 2 111 - 130 0h 00m 0%  0.02 mi Zone 1 93 - 111 0h 00m 0%  0.01 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0%  0.00 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 12' 57 -0' 16 4.6 +0.1 159 +20 ft 2 13' 47 +0' 34 4.3 -0.2 163 +40 ft 3 12' 26 -0' 47 4.8 +0.3 166 +53 ft end 12' 55 -0' 18 4.6 +0.1 167 +14 ft Versus average of 13' 13 min/mile

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