I finished the Platte River Half Marathon this past Sunday and it wasn't pretty. I need to post a race recap soon. In the meanwhile, I plan to switch to trail running for a while because I'm running the Greenland Trail Races 8 miler on Saturday May 5 with my friend. That should be fun. I am SO glad we decided to sign up for the 8 miler instead of the 15 miler, especially after the ordeal that was Platte River.
This post is mainly so I can share my favorite links for trail running in Colorado, particularly in my area. If you have any other trail running links to share, I would love to have them!
I discovered a website listing of Colorado Trail Runs thanks to RunColo. The list can be found at http://www.runcolo.com/section/colorado-running-trails_1-407. I plan on trying out several of these runs.
Jefferson County has a listing of open space parks and maps with trail descriptions. Very handy!
The website for Runner's World has a section on trail running.
Speaking of trail running, I just received the latest issue of Runner's World and it is a special on trail running! I can't wait to devour it.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Chocolate Milk
After reading countless articles and blog posts touting the benefits of chocolate milk as recovery after a run, I finally decided to join the bandwagon. Hey, I'm up for trying anything that helps my body recover more quickly from long runs. However, I have issues with lactose tolerance and must drink lactose-free milk so I bought Silk Light Chocolate Soy Milk. I wondered if that wasn't as good as regular dairy milk, but then I found this article which states:
Chocolate soy milk, which is also available in a light style, is a good alternative if you are unable to digest lactose, a sugar that is found in milk and milk products. Chocolate soy milk does not contain lactose, it contains stachyose and raffinose, prebiotic sugars that help boost immunity and decrease toxic substances in the body, according to the Soya website. Chocolate soy milk also provides the highest quality of protein.
Awesome! I also have to contend with celiac disease which requires me to maintain a gluten-free diet, so that restricts my diet even further. While Silk doesn't label its products as gluten-free, I found the following statement from Silk's website:
We do not make our products using any wheat, wheat gluten, rye, oat, barley or malt ingredients so we would not expect the presence of them in our products. However, at this time we do not conduct the tests that would allow us to label our products as gluten-free. Anyone with severe allergies should always consult a doctor before introducing a new food.It sounds like the only reason Silk doesn't label its products as gluten-free is because of the tests and not because of any danger of contamination. I've drank soy milk many times in the past and I've never had any allergic reactions. I'm not too concerned about an allergic reaction with the chocolate soy milk. It tastes delicious after a nice long run, especially when I drink it out of the carton! I know that's a gross habit but no one else drinks out of it, so why bother with a cup? Hey, I'm just doing my part to conserve water by not having to wash the cup! :)
Are there any other runners out there with celiac disease, gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, or other dietary restrictions?
Friday, March 16, 2012
Pikes Peak Ascent
I think I did a stupid thing. Yesterday I registered for the Pikes Peak Ascent. As in a 13.32 mile race 7,815 feet up Pikes Peak to the summit. Check out the race route:
Just looking at that route scares the living bejeezus out of me! I definitely need to train as much as I can! One way I plan to train is by hitting the mountain hiking trails this summer with my husband. He is tall and thin so he hikes very fast while I'm much slower. I have to ask him to slow down for me, so instead of hiking with him and trying to keep up, I'm going to run the trails while he hikes at his own pace. I also want to hit Pikes Peak at least twice this summer for training runs. I need to sit down and come up with a training plan for the Ascent. I'm not setting any time goals - I just want to finish, period. The cut-off time for the Ascent is 6 hours and 30 minutes! That's over 4 hours longer than my best half-marathon time!
If anyone out there is also running the Pikes Peak Ascent, I would love to hear from you!
Just looking at that route scares the living bejeezus out of me! I definitely need to train as much as I can! One way I plan to train is by hitting the mountain hiking trails this summer with my husband. He is tall and thin so he hikes very fast while I'm much slower. I have to ask him to slow down for me, so instead of hiking with him and trying to keep up, I'm going to run the trails while he hikes at his own pace. I also want to hit Pikes Peak at least twice this summer for training runs. I need to sit down and come up with a training plan for the Ascent. I'm not setting any time goals - I just want to finish, period. The cut-off time for the Ascent is 6 hours and 30 minutes! That's over 4 hours longer than my best half-marathon time!
If anyone out there is also running the Pikes Peak Ascent, I would love to hear from you!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
I'm back!!!
Today I hit my treadmill for a combination of running and walking for a total of 7 miles. I walked the first 0.5 mile, then ran 1 mile, then walked 0.5 mile, then ran 0.5 mile, and so forth until I hit 6 miles, then I walked the rest of the way. I also discovered that my treadmill shuts down at 100 minutes which is annoying. I wish my treadmill had a "pause" feature which I really needed when there was a brief incident with my dogs that I needed to jump off and deal with quickly. I had to reduce the speed to a very slow crawl and then jump back on, so my time on the treadmill wasn't actually 100 minutes, but whatever. I tried hitting the "stop" button a few weeks ago when I needed to pause, but by the time I got back to the treadmill it had shut down and I lost my progress. Perhaps this is a good time to peruse the owner's manual for my treadmill.
I'm still having balance issues from the surgery but at least now I know I can start running again! I wanted to run this morning with my running club (Arvada Running Club, I love them!) but I wasn't sure how I'd do on the run, plus my usual running partner was running the Rock 'n' Roll half-marathon in New Orleans (which she killed by the way, congrats Allaina!!). The ARC just started its Tuesday night track workouts, so I'm looking forward to that!
On a side note, I've been playing soccer in a women's only adult soccer league (no coed for me anymore ever since getting hit in the jaw by a soccer ball kicked from a male player). I've decided to give up soccer. At least three women on my team have been hurt this season, one badly enough to require surgery and months of rehabilitation. That makes me nervous, plus I've found I don't enjoy playing adult league soccer as much as I did when we still lived in Alaska. I tore my MCL in my left knee a number of years ago so I know what it's like to be injured and unable to run, and soccer just isn't worth it. I've been meaning to get back into swimming laps so I can do an open water swim race this summer, so I'll do that instead.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
If you can't run, shop.
I still can't run, let alone walk for long. In the meantime, my running club started its spring session this week. I wanted to be at Sunday's long run and Tuesday's track workout so badly. Hopefully next week. I saw my surgeon this morning for a short appointment to address why my recovery is taking so long. He basically told me that everything was normal and to buck up. Awesome.
I am concerned about one thing, though. First, I should probably explain why I had surgery. I have had a cochlear implant in my left ear since 2002, and this surgery was to get a cochlear implant in my right ear. This kind of surgery literally messes with your head and balance. I've had vertigo, dizziness, nausea, and all that fun stuff. I don't remember my recovery the first time around being this rough. Anyway, getting to the point... I am experiencing a side effect of the surgery which my surgeon told me today may last for months. I have lost my appetite/taste for a lot of foods. At this point I can stomach oatmeal, eggs, applesauce, and grapes. That is basically it. Normally I'd be excited to lose a few unwanted pounds this way, but I like to eat!
Anyway, I may have just done a bad thing. I took advantage of today's Leap Day sales and bought a ton of running stuff online from the Sports Authority and Road Runner Sports websites. I need to keep my husband from checking the credit card bill online in the near future because he will definitely have a stroke. However, at least half of the stuff will be going back because I bought different brands of the same items to see which ones I like best so I can return the rest. I hate shopping in person, so this is the easiest and most painless way for me to buy clothing and gear. At least now I have something to look forward to. I say if you can't run, then shopping for running stuff is the next best thing. :)
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Introduction
After using DailyMile to log my running, I decided to start this blog as a better and more detailed way to track my running, PRs, and races, as well as keep up with my favorite running blogs and websites. Right now I am in the middle of a two-week period of not being able to run because of my recent surgery, and it's driving me crazy. I'll post more when I'm finally able to run again. I hope it's soon!
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