What I Did Instead of My Long Run

Several months ago, Mark and I decided to go to Costa Rica over my university's spring break. The first few days we stayed in a fishing village called Brasilito and were just a few minutes away from two different beaches. The last day we went to Monteverde to a much higher altitude and into the Cloud Forest.

The timing of the trip turned out to be less than ideal because of all my impending March and April deadlines, but it was also more than ideal as it allowed me to recharge my batteries. I definitely felt refreshed after some time away because I was on the verge of burn out. Although I did have to bring some work with me, I did most of it on the long plane rides or on the terrace of my hotel with a cup of coffee or a fruit smoothie during the hottest parts of the day.

While I didn't get in my long run for the week, I did get in two shorter runs -- one of 30 minutes, which I dedicated to my friend Sherrie, and one of 40 minutes, which I dedicated to the lovely Irene. Thanks so much to both of you for sponsoring me! Running in the heat and humidity and on sand was definitely a challenge, but it was worth it to see the gorgeous views and hear the waves crashing nearby.

I don't regret my decision to surrender getting in my long run because that choice enabled me to catch up on my rest and to balance a couple of lazy beach days with a couple of days of excursions that involved a lot of hiking. Because of that, I got some good activity and time on my feet even if I didn't log a long run. On the lazy beach days I got in a lot of leisure reading, finishing The Nightingale, Pretty Girls, and Station Eleven.

We hiked out to the volcano El Rincon de la Vieja and to a waterfall nearby it one of the days. I celebrated my birthday by facing both my fear of heights and my fear of dark, enclosed spaces by going cave hiking at Barra Honda. On the way to the cave, we heard howler monkeys going nuts, and our way back to the transport we spotted them in the trees. The vertical descent into the cave was intense. We had to climb down a 60-foot ladder, and some of the footholds were precarious as the rungs leaned right up against the cave surface. Our group got to explore two of the cave system's chambers, which involved a lot of scrambling over rocks and some slightly scary climbing.

In case I hadn't challenged myself enough, we also went zip lining in the Cloud Forest near Monteverde. It was an incredible experience, and most of the time things happened so quickly that I didn't have time to freak out about the heights involved. The only times I felt at all nervous was on the first swing out on something called the Tarzan and on the 800-meter line when I looked down over a gulley and felt a brief second of dizziness before I reminded myself that I needed to remake myself into a ball so that I didn't get stuck out there, which would have been really scary.

We also did an interesting guided night tour in part of the forest that abutted a family farm. We saw a sloth, frogs, scorpions, a tarantula, kinkajous, a viper, and a variety of birds and insects.

My only complaint is that the week went by too quickly. I would definitely go back to Costa Rica as there was so much that we didn't get to see. Have you ever been to Costa Rica? Where was the last place you vacationed?

The Week in Workouts: October 14-20

Well, I didn't hit my goal of running at least three times this past week, but I did get in two runs and some good cross-training.

Monday - gym. I did 20 minutes of weights and then 30 minutes on the elliptical Most of the time on the elliptical I held a pretty moderate pace, but I did throw in four 2-minute intervals of 8 seconds fast followed by 12 seconds at a moderate pace.

Tuesday - active rest. I got in 30 minutes of walking around campus.

Wednesday - off. I had planned to go to the gym, but Mark forget his gym bag at his (locked) place of work. Since I was also feeling a bit under the weather, I decided to skip the gym in favor of a night on the couch.

Thursday - gym. I did 10 minutes of weights and then ran 2.3 miles on the treadmill. In order to prevent it from being too boring, I mixed in a couple of faster 1/4 mile intervals. I cooled down with another 10 minutes of walking.

Friday - gym. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical machine at a moderate intensity.

Saturday - run. I did 3 windy and hilly miles in my neighborhood at an average pace of 10:47min/mile.

Sunday - hike. I had planned to run, but instead Mark and I opted to head out for a post-brunch hike. We climbed part of the way up Flattop before I started feeling a little bit acrophobic and we decided to head back down. All told, we got in about 70 minutes of hiking, experienced some wind, snow, and a tiny bit of hail, and got to take in some nice views.

I'm still hoping to hit 30 running miles this month, so my workout goals for this coming week include running at least 3 times as well as getting in at least two cross-training workouts. What was your favorite workout of the past week? What are your workout goals for this next week?

Halloween Half Marathon Training Week 3

I'm happy to report that another week of training is in the books, and, in spite of weather insanity, it was actually a pretty good week. It involved my first run in the double digits since May and plenty of good cross-training.

Monday - scheduled 3 miles hills. Actual 80 minute hike with M. and Bailey. We wanted to spend some time together out of the house and even though it was a little drizzly we decided to go explore a trail that's not too far from our neighborhood.

Tuesday - scheduled yoga. Actual yoga. I went to a 90 minute Vinyasa class at my local studio. With the wind starting to whip and howl, we spent a lot of time doing grounding poses that really activated our legs.

Wednesday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 3.8 miles easy. After our power came back on, I took advantage of it by hopping on the treadmill.

Thursday - scheduled yoga. Actual rest -- unless you count spending about 30 minutes picking up twigs and small branches and mowing the front lawn. The fact that it wasn't raining meant that I really needed to take advantage of the opportunity to mow what was starting to become a savannah.

Friday - scheduled rest. Actual 10 miles LSD. I had a weird day of working while waiting so at the end of it I decided to just try to get my long run out of the way. It wasn't a great run but it wasn't a bad run either.

Saturday - scheduled 10 miles LSD. Actual yoga. Since I had done my long run the day before, I had free time Saturday morning to go to my studio for a 90 minute Hatha class.

Sunday - scheduled 3 miles recovery. Actual 2.5 miles with some hills at an easy pace with my new bear bell courtesy of the amazing Kyria. This was a fabulous run on a stunningly gorgeous day. The sky was blue and the air was crisp. I felt like I could have gone forever, but I needed to get back to do some cleaning around the house and food prep as we had a couple of friends over to watch football in the afternoon.

Total scheduled miles: 20
Actual miles: 16.3
Cross training workouts: 3

Up next for Week 4:

Monday - scheduled 4 miles tempo.

Tuesday - scheduled rest. (Originally my plan called for yoga here, but I'm taking the opportunity to meet with a new potential friend for a drink instead.)

Wednesday - scheduled 4 miles easy.

Thursday - scheduled yoga. (Originally my plan called for rest here, but I'm hoping to swap here.)

Friday - 3 miles easy.

Saturday - scheduled 8 miles LSD.

Sunday - scheduled yoga.

So I also need to start thinking about how I'm going to Zombify myself for the trail half that I'm running for training in just a few short weeks. I'm kind of thinking Sean of the Dead-ing it with black pants, a white shirt with some red splatters and a red tie since a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies get-up might not be ideal for running. Any thoughts?

In Which I Buy Trail Running Shoes

Last week before M. and I left for Rushmore and the Badlands on I hopped on the treadmill for a quick and easy little run to shake my legs out before a day of driving. I left my running shoes sitting out next to the treadmill to do a little airing out before I packed them in my bag. I should have moved them to a location where I would have seen them on my way out because in between showering and getting ready and heading out the door, I forgot about them.

A few hours into the drive I suddenly remembered that I had never packed my running shoes. The only shoes I had with me were the sandals that I was wearing, and I knew that they would be no good for hiking in the Badlands. Fortunately, M. had also been foolish and brought his messenger bag instead of his backpack, so on our way out of Rapid City on Thursday morning we stopped a sporting goods store to buy him a cheap backpack, me a pair of shoes, and us a knife with which to cut the cheese that we purchased for a Badland's picnic.

Since I had a new pair of my regular brand and style of running shoes on the way to replace my older and more worn pair as my main running shoes, I decided to look at trail running shoes. When I was in Anchorage house hunting, I scoped a couple of trails and was thinking that I would want to invest in a pair of trail running shoes before too long anyway. The store was rather limited in their selection, but after trying on a few different pairs, I settled on a pair of Brooks.

In the late morning and early afternoon we did some driving through the scenic outlooks in the Badlands and then M. and I went on a tour of the Minuteman Missile Launch Site that is just outside the park. Then we had a picnic at one of the tables outside of the Visitor Center at the Badlands. After eating a lot of cheese and a few other things, we filled up our water bottles and set out to hike.

We started up the Saddle Pass Trail which was short but strenuous due to the steep incline. We then did about two hours of hiking along the Medicine Root Loop and the Castle Trail. These were quite flat trails so we were able to focus on the scenery a bit more easily. We were treated to some incredible views.

Before we knew it we were making the treacherous decline back down Saddle Pass. As those who read regularly know, I am a klutz and I have noted in the past that I almost always fall down at least once on the descent of a hike. It's a testament to the gripping power of the treads on my new trail running shoes that I didn't fall a single time. (I also got lucky and didn't get any blisters even though the shoes were new and a 2+ hour hike might not have been the smartest way to break them in.) M., who is much better at staying upright than I am, fell twice on our way down, but fortunately didn't get banged up too much. Tired and sweaty, we headed back to Rapid City to have some dinner and a couple of local brews at the Firehouse Brewing Co.

It was a great way to spend a day. I got to cross picnicking off my 32 in 32 list. I got to hike with my partner in crime. And I got trail running shoes.

Have you ever forgotten to pack something important? When was the last time you went on a picnic?

House Buying and Hiking

M. and I spent the last week in Alaska and just got back to Midwest early this morning on a red-eye. We consider the trip to have been highly successful. Our realtor arranged showings of about 15 homes for us, and we liked a few of them a lot. On our first day of looking we saw one that we really liked but that was on the very edge of our price range. The next day we saw a home that we loved just as much that was more affordable for us, so we made an offer on it. It was accepted and we close in mid-July!

View from the street

We managed to get a home inspection done while we were in town so that we could be present for it, and, although there were a couple of small issues that need to be attended to, the house checked out, and we were able to breathe a sigh of relief. We were even happier when the seller agreed to fix all those little problems. In between housing errands, we opened a bank account, picked out a few pieces of new furniture, chose paint colors for the master bedroom (which is currently an almost-black shade of eggplant purple) and the kitchen and dining area, and shared a couple of meals with some of my new colleagues.

I didn't run the entire time we were there because of a combination of factors, including the location of our hotel and our schedule. However, M. and I were able to fit in a couple of 1.5-2 hour hikes. It was still snowy on the mountains and we didn't have very good gear for tackling inclines, so we stuck to more gentle inclines and easier paths.

Hiking the Powerline Trail

The trip was a success and now we just have some paperwork odds and ends to deal with and of course packing and preparing for the move over the next few weeks. My stint in the Upper Midwest is drawing to a close, as I'll be gone for part of next month, working on a research project in New York. I need to more or less divide most of my days between writing and prepping for the move between now and the time I leave for NYC. I do have some plans to get in some favorite running routes here while I can and a group run or two.

Weekend Adventures: Hiking in La Pedriza

On Saturday I went hiking with a group of people in the countryside to the northwest of Madrid. A couple of years ago I had encountered this hiking group on Facebook. It popped up in my suggestions, possibly because I had posted something about doing the Camino de Santiago or possibly because every now and then FB’s algorithms can be spookishly spot on. I had liked the group and every now and then had seen it pop up in my newsfeed. On Wednesday while I was checking email and waiting for my documents to arrive at the Biblioteca Nacional a post popped up from the administrator of the group to say that the group’s email account wasn’t working so that anyone who wanted info about the upcoming hike should contact him on the FB page or by his personal email. I emailed him and asked him for details about the hike and decided it would be a fun way to get some exercise, breathe some fresh air, and meet some people. Plus, he was offering pb&j’s as part of the lunch fare. In my opinion, peanut butter always tastes even better in a country where it is harder to find and spendy to purchase.

Saturday morning I got up, got ready, and caught a bus to the meeting point at the bus station at Plaza de Castilla. From there the group took an 11:00 bus to pueblo called Manzanares El Real and walked about 20 or 30 minutes to the real starting point of the hike in La Pedriza. We were a group of about 30 people, and we were very international in nature. There were people from Spain, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Venezuela, Columbia, and the states. Many members of the international crowd had been living in Spain for several years. Everyone was very nice and it was a fun day of switching languages and climbing up and down rocks.

The Castillo in Manzanares El Real

Hikers

The group’s leader, a super nice guy named Beau, had described the hike to me as having a medium level of difficulty. But it was a pretty hot and humid day with temperatures getting up to the 90s, and I struggled a bit at some points to keep up the pace. We did a line hike, and the scenery was stunning. The group was moving a bit too slow for us to go to the point that we had intended which was about 7 kilometers out from the official starting point of the hike. By vote we decided to take an alternative route to another spot which Beau promised always had a terrific breeze. We were all sweating a bit and wanted to stop more frequently to rest and drink water during that last hour or so on the way up. That last half kilometer on the way up was the most difficult for me. I was fading fast and let several people pass me. We had been walking about 3 hours and had made it to the turn-around spot, though, and once I had some lunch – sandwiches, chips, fruit, and chocolate – and some more water, I felt revived and only slightly nervous about the descent. (I frequently bite it going down on hikes.) However, I was less nervous about the descent than I was for the people climbing near the peak of the rocks.

Still sweaty but fortified by food and ready for the descent

The descent was mostly physically easier if a bit more mentally taxing. I put my camera away and focused more on my footing. I did bite it a couple of times and got a nice scrape on my hand the second time. I wasn’t the only one, though, as several other people got a bit scraped and bruised on the way down. Fortunately, though, no one was seriously injured in any of the falls. On our way down, we suddenly heard a loud noise as if someone was tumbling end over end in the brush just a few yards from where we were standing. Although I never spotted it to be sure, several people in the group were convinced that it was a mountain goat rushing down. All I can say is I nearly had a heart attack because for a few seconds I thought a hiker was tumbling end over end down the hill. During the last hour of the hike it started to rain, and I actually didn’t mind, as I had been hot and sweaty during the better part of the day. We arrived back in the village and had a caña (a small glass of beer for those not in the know) and caught the 6:45 bus back to Madrid.

It had been a full day and I was exhausted, so I turned on my hot water heater, ate some dinner, took a blessedly hot shower, and climbed into bed. The restorative sleep definitely helped and I was only about as sore as I am after a half-marathon the next day.

What did you do this weekend? Any races? Any museum trips? 

Interview at yes and yes

The talented and beautiful Sarah Von interviewed me over at her lovely blog about my experience of hiking ten days on the Camino de Santiago.  Just a little over three years ago, when I was living in Madrid, I stuffed to much crap into a pack and took a train from Madrid to Leon.  I checked out Leon's magnficent cathedral, had a cafe con leche, and hopped on a bus to Astorga.  The next day I started walking.  In those ten days of walking I suffered ankle pain, but I also met some incredible people and made some incredible memories.  I lost my first toe nail right after the Camino and would go on to lose some more after my first marathon.... 

Here I am patching the blister of a fellow pilgrim.

Happy Monday!