Hills of Afton

I've been getting out to Afton State Park for some hill training about once per week for the last month. Hoo boy, am I ever out of shape! Unfortunately, there's only one way to fix that ;)

As many of the Afton regulars know, two of our favorite trails are closed this year: Nigel's Hill and Horse Shit Hill (the trail leading up to Africa Loop on the 25K race course). I never knew the name of that hill, and I'm not sure it's official, but Tom & Nancy told me about it this morning and it fits - so Horse Shit Hill it is from now on. This means that the Afton race will have a slightly tweaked course this year - I'm sure we'll be hearing about the official changes on the brand spankin' new Afton Trail Run blog. I ran what I figured would be the new route: up to Africa from the "down" direction, then instead of Nigel's Hill I took the trail at the far north end of the park, which has a stunning view of the St. Croix River valley. Rumor has it that a little loop later in the course will be dropped - I think this new course may actually turn out even better than the regular course!

I've also been experimenting a bit with electrolytes/nutrition/sports drinks. In the past, I've had problems with muscle cramping and never could find a truly reliable strategy. I had been taking one S-cap per hour which sometimes seemed to work and sometimes didn't. I was starting to think that perhaps it wasn't really sodium depletion, but perhaps a magnesium deficiency, so I've been taking 200 mg of magnesium glycinate every day for the last few months. So far, no cramping problems, even when only drinking plain water and not taking any S-caps or any type of electrolytes at all during my runs (which have so far only lasted a few hours). Been sleeping better too!

Today I tried a newish supplement called Vespa, which supposedly encourages your body to rely more on fat metabolism instead of carbs, therefore sparing glycogen and decreasing lactic acid buildup. I drank only water so I could eliminate carbs from the equation to test the "bonk" factor. I have to say, I felt like I was running on fumes trudging up the last hill at Afton today (I only went about 11 miles) - can't really say I'm sold on Vespa, though I've only tried it once. I'll probably stick with my prior strategy of sports drinks and gels for the time being.

Hope you are all enjoying the trails!

Dubya Tee Eff?

2010 has been a very odd year thus far.

After basically taking the winter off and then tweaking my Achilles in March, I'd really planned on getting some decent miles in the last couple of months. April was unseasonably warm and things were healing nicely. May started out pretty much the same way.

On May 8 while many of my friends were at Ice Age, I headed out to Afton for the first time this year (saw John P for the first time in awhile). Running on flat trails was going well and it was time to test the Achilles on hills. You never really know for sure if an Achilles injury is fully healed until you get some vertical miles in. Ran the Africa Loop and the Back 40 in mid-30 temps with a rain/snow mix. WTF? We haven't had any snow all of March and April, and now it decides to snow? I'd hoped to also get in Nigel's Hill and Campground Hill, but wasn't dressed appropriately for the "spring" weather. Cut it short at about 7 miles.

On May 16, I went back out to Afton while most of my friends were running Superior (saw Tom sans Nancy). One of the best things about running at Afton is I always see someone I know. Anyhoo, the plan was for a few loops of Nigel's & Campground Hills to get the aforementioned vertical miles in. Holy crap, it was humid! I felt very overheated after just one loop and pulled the plug early - only got about 6ish miles. WTF? Last week it was snowing and now I feel like I'm at Badwater.

Last Sunday I ended up at Hyland for what I hoped would finally be some double digit miles. Nope! The heat and humidity had me melting to the point of feeling sick to my stomach - done after only 6 miles. WTF? Done after six at Hyland?

This isn't exactly primo ultra training folks. I'm not even sure I dare sign up for the 10 miler at Chester Woods in 2 weeks - they might need a calendar instead of a watch to get my time. I'm glad I only committed to the 25K at Afton, and I'm thinking that the 50 miler at North Country is going to be an epic suffering session unless I can get things turned around in a hurry.

I've got a 4 day weekend coming up - not sure where I'll be running yet.

Hyland Barefoot Run & Hangin' With Raptors

Finally decided to head out to Hyland Lake to attempt the 2010 Trail Mix course this morning, but realized that I had forgotten the map (thanks for posting it Jeremy) and hadn't uploaded the course to my Garmin. In fact, the ol' Garmin has been acting up lately - freezing on runs, shutting itself off, etc. I'm still trying to decide whether to plunk down $150 for another 305 or wait until the newer 310X drops significantly in price.

Anyhoo, as I was approaching the park I started to notice signs that said "Event." Uh oh. "Events" usually mean the park is crazy busy and you can't always find parking. As I was pulling in, the kid staffing the booth near the entrance said that there would be a raptor release later in the morning and afternoon. Sweet! I've been to several releases by the MN Raptor Center, and it's something I never get tired of watching. I had gotten there early enough that I parked at my usual spot near Jan's Place with the other few cars - the crowds hadn't arrived yet :)

Since I was wearing my VFF's and the raptor event was going to start in an hour, I decided to run the 3.5 mile south loop and see how the Achilles felt. As it turns out, the Achilles is 100% healed - now I am just ridiculously slow and out of shape. Sure enough, I haven't lost my touch for attracting buzzards.

The trails are in excellent condition - no mud what-so-ever. Trees are pretty much leafed out and the tom turkeys are on the prowl for mates. Got back to Jan's Place just as the park staff and Raptor Center crew were setting up and getting the education birds out of their crates. I almost had them all to myself for a little while!

Female and Male Kestrel

Great Horned Owl

Bald Eagles

Turkey Vulture

Merlin

As it turned out, the release would not happen for another couple of hours and I was starving, so I bailed before they got around to that part. Perhaps I'll catch another one in the fall :)

Awesome day to be out on the trails!

Recent Spectating and Pain Free Running

One thing that I've been reminded of with my Achilles tendon tweaking is that the older I get, the longer it takes to heal. Apparently, this trend continues as we age. One of my 100 year old exercise class participants recently told me, "I just don't bounce back like I did when I was 85." Point taken.

Last weekend, I ended up heading down to Zumbro River Bottoms to support several ultra buddies who were participating in the second running of the Zumbro 100 mile trail race. Since the course was a little different this year (and even "sportier" than last year since Larry took out the flat part), I really wanted to get out on the trail to check it out. I also didn't want to do anything stupid that would set me back, since my Achilles tendon still didn't like uphills. Ended up just hiking from the start/finish area to AS 1/4 for about 6 miles of very pretty trail.

Zumbro River from Pine Trail Overlook

Got to visit with Jen who was manning the AS and Donny who had started sweeping the course. Alicia was also there and we got to see a few runners come through on their last loop before heading back to watch the finish. The weather for that weekend was absolutely perfect - it was tough to maintain the discipline to not run and re-tweak my Achilles! Everything was feeling great after the hike, though it did get a little stiff and sore later that evening. Not painful, just tender. My calf also felt like it was on the verge of cramping, but never really did lock up. I decided that my game plan worked perfectly: I stressed it enough to keep it rehabbing without overdoing it.

Today I ended up at Hyland Lake on another perfect day to support my buddies who were running at Trail Mix. Since the parking area gets ridiculously crowded for this race, I didn't get out there until after 11 am when most of the 25K runners had left. The rehab had been going well since Zumbro, so I decided that I would take a stab at running in the Vibram Five Fingers for the first time in 6 weeks. Hyland is the perfect place to try since the trails are soft, flat, and non-technical.

Saw a few familiar faces in the finish area: Eve and Kim had already finished first and second for the women's 50K. Decided to head down the trail in the reverse direction to see if I could find anyone I knew. Les was on his way in to finish his 3'rd lap, Shelly wasn't far behind. Did a little running on the Lake Trail and it felt wonderful! Got almost as far as the AS that intersects Lake and Hill trail junction when Wayne came along. I ended up running back to the start/finish area with him - still pain free running :)))

Decided that I would head over to the ski hill to catch another section of the course, but.... the course had been changed and there was no ski hill section. Went up and over the ski hill to get back into the park, but didn't see any sign of the course in that area. Ended up calling it a day after running about 3 barefoot miles..... 3 pain free barefoot miles....and heading home.

Time to get back to increasing miles, but still not do anything stupid by trying to do too much, too soon. Will probably decide at the last minute whether to head out to Afton with the gang tomorrow (50K fat ass starts at 8, picnic at 3), or go back to Hyland and try to figure out what this year's Trail Mix course was. I don't suppose anyone who ran Trail Mix captured the course on their Garmin and would like to share?

See you on the trails!

Back Into the Dirt

The tweaked Achilles tendon is still not 100%, but very close. Walking and strength training are completely asymptomatic, but running..... still a little tender, especially on uphills. I'd only been doing short runs on the asphalt path near my home, but today I decided to get back onto the soft dirt trails and see how things went.

Headed out to Hyland, which is close to home and relatively flat. What a perfect day for a trail run! Sunny, little wind, no bugs, and the trails are in excellent condition! You would be hard pressed to even find a damp spot - very unlike Hyland in early April.

I parked at Jan's Place and headed towards the north end of the park, trying to remember what the Trail Mix course was (they have changed some of the trails since I last ran that race a couple years ago). I opted to skip the steep hill near the turn around point in the course as well as the ski hill (still a few patches of snow present) since hills are still bugging my tendon. This short cut would also give me the option of heading back to my car for about a 3 miler if things weren't going well. Thankfully, things were feeling pretty good as long as I didn't press on the uphills, so I did the rest of the loop to the south end of the park. Ended up with about 6 miles, which is more than I've run in what seems like forever - and so far the Achilles is still feeling pretty good :)

Felt great to get out there and play in the dirt again, and I think the softer surface probably helped a bit. Looking forward to seeing my trail running buddies again soon!

Starting Over

Remember during our last episode when I mentioned that transitioning to longer mileage while running barefoot was taking longer than I'd hoped, but I was trying to be patient and not do anything stupid?

After a few months of consistent, gradual increases in easy barefoot miles on an indoor track, I decided that it was time to add in some "speed" intervals. This particular indoor track is very small - 16 laps/mile, which means that the corners are pretty tight. My plan was to run just a few half mile repeats after an easy warm-up and see how things felt the next day. The first couple repeats went just swell, but as soon as I took my first step on the third, my right achilles tendon had other ideas. Apparently, it doesn't like tight corners on a repetitive basis. Crap.

Next day my tendon was absolutely on fire! I figured that at least I know what to do to treat it and that it was most likely just the sheath surrounding the tendon rather than the tendon itself... and that it would take about 3 weeks to heal. Things seemed to be progressing as planned, and it even felt good enough for a test earlier this week. Until I took the first running step. No go. Back to foam rolling the calves, eccentric only calf strengthening exercises for gastroc and soleus, trying not to over do it too much during the six exercise classes that I teach every week at the nursing home, etc.

This morning was 3 weeks + 1 day after the initial tweak. Instead of heading out to Afton and pounding hills with the gang, I opted for an easy 2 mile run around Bredesen park near my home to see how things went. Felt pretty darn good! I am optimistic that I can start adding miles again, but will have to go slow since I ran low barefoot miles all winter. Again: be patient. Don't do anything stupid.

Which brings up my 2010 running plans:

Instead of the time and expense of heading up to Lutsen for the spring Superior races, I'm going to stick around town and will probably run the Two Rivers Shuffle fat ass with Shawn and crew. Distance to be determined depending on how things go, but definitely not the full 50.

Kettle Moraine 100K is out for this year for a variety of reasons, but I'd really like to run it in the near future (2011?).

Since I won't be running Kettle, I'm pondering the 50K at Afton instead of the 25K, even though the heat and humidity of Afton in July can be overpowering. It would be 8 weeks before my 50 miler at North Country in Michigan, and it's close to home so I can save $. And I may actually get a legal parking spot at the park this year since the 50K starts an hour before the 25K ;)

I hope to run Surf the Murph again in late fall, but won't decide on which distance until after North Country.

See you on the trails!

February Update

It's been awhile.

Haven't been doing any trail running, but have been doing lots of short barefoot runs on an indoor track. Only ran in shoes twice this month! Feels great, but is taking longer than I'd hoped to transition to longer mileage. Trying to be patient and not do anything stupid ;)

With the shorter mileage, I've also managed to put on a few pounds over the last 4 months since I've continued to eat as if I were still hammering out 20+ mile runs every weekend. Peri-menopause doesn't help in that regard either.

Been trying to eat healthier, as in more natural foods and in better combinations (ie veggies, good fats, protein, and carbs at every meal). This all came to mind after watching Food, Inc.and then listening to a dietician from Nutritional Weight and Wellness give a presentation. Even "good" carbs break down to sugar and result in insulin spikes when eaten alone, which in turn can affect blood cholesterol levels, inflammation, sleep quality, yadayadayada. Trader Joe's has an awesome natural peanut butter with roasted flax seeds (the almond butter with flax is pretty good too), and I've found a few local places that sell free range/grass fed meat, organic eggs, etc. Also found some awesome wheat berry and quinoa recipes :)

I've been enjoying watching the Olympics, though I seem to hear the results before I get to see the events, which kind of spoils it. I used to participate in alpine ski racing (the major source of my current knee problems), so those events are my favorite.

Still not sure what races I'll be doing this year - the column on the right side of the page will most likely change. Probably at the last minute in many cases. North Country 50 mile is the only race I've officially entered at this point, and I'll combine that with a family visit.

Can't wait for spring!