A Serious Case of the...Rides??

IT'S A FREAKIN' CONTEST!!!!

I know this is pretty un-running related...since it's a bike...but, since it involves my very most favorite earth-friendly company, Atayne, I felt compelled to share this here.  Yes, it reduces my chances of winning the contest by a good deal, but I think most of you would be pretty pumped about this as well, so enter while you can!

Here are the deets: Atayne is launching their newest addition to the apparel lineup, the Grind Cycling Jersey, and in celebration of said new jersey they have teamed up with fellow Mainers, Dornbox, to give away a handcrafted, custom fit, performance road bike.  This ain't no cheapo, big-box bike...it's worth something like $4500, yowza!  (I've always been a fan of the big-box bike since I'm cheap with things like wheels, but hey, free is as cheap as it gets, right?!)

Basically, all you have to do is fill out some quick info and upload a picture of you in an Atayne shirt (and I know most of you already love the Atayne as much as I do!) and BAM, you're entered in the contest.  You just need to do it before July 4th, that's when the contest ends.

Here's the link to enter:

http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/38327

Good luck!!

Crash, out.

Trash Talk

Before I launch into (almost) All Things Leadville, I wanted to share something I'm pretty stoked about, even a month later.  I got to play cover girl for a month back in April!  Chicago Athlete contacted me in March to do a piece on a running group I started here in the city, The Chicago Trash Runners.

At first, I thought they meant they wanted a little blurb on the last page, under the foot doctor advertisements.  Nothing big, ya know.  But then they asked me to schedule an appointment with their photographer.  Ummmmm, what?  Why?  That's when the editor, John, came clean with me, "We're actually going to make you the cover story." 

Well that's a first.

So there ya go!  Here's a link to the story if you should feel so inclined to skim it:

Chicago's First Lady of Trash

Catchy title, huh?

Next up, Leadville's going to be In Yo Face!  Training has officially begun.  Day one = done!

Crash, out.

Ode to Fast Twitching

Dear Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers,

I do not know where you came from, or where you've been, but I sure am happy to have you back in my life.  We spent some time together many years ago, but then one day you just left and I had no idea where you were going or if you'd ever come back.  I eventually got used to not having you around and I became one with my dear friend Slow Twitch.  We did a lot of fun things together; heck, they got me through my first year of ultrarunning and two 100 milers!  Then, I fell.  I couldn't even use my good friend Slow Twitch for a short bit, while I hobbled around like the putz that I was.  So, I was left with no other choice but to do the unthinkable...cross train (*gasp!*).

One day I woke up shortly after embarking on my cross training, and it was as if the planets had aligned and suddenly you decided to return to me.  Oh how I've missed you Fast Twitch!  You've put life and spring back in my stride!  You've put the wind in my hair, and mid-run sweat back on my brow!  My ponytail is so grateful to swish so fast during a run again.  My running shoes are thrilled to share the road with you! 

You do kind of make my left hip a little cranky, but I think the hips will get used to you being around so don't take it personally.  You seem to be getting along well with my calves and connective tissues.  I think the mitochondria in my cells really enjoy working overtime to produce more energy to help you propel me forward.

:)

I really love having you back in my life.  You make my morning runs fly by, literally.  I think that we should keep it to the weekdays though.  I don't want to wear you out, so you can have the weekends off and I'll recruit ol' Slow Twitch for my weekend long runs.  Gotta share the love, ya know.  I hope you enjoy the compression sleeves I give you after each run; you make them look good! 

I'm looking forward to a long and bountiful relationship with you again, Fast Twitch.  It's been too long my friend!  Make yourself at home and let me know if you ever need anything.

Welcome home, Fast Twitch, welcome home!

Love,

Crash

How Dynamic!

You know the saying, "if it's broke, fix it."  What?  That's not the right saying?  Ooooh, you mean it's actually if ain't broke, don't fix it.  Oops.

:) 

Well, in my case, it was broke so I just changed that quote up a bit.  So, what to do? 

I happened across one of Stacy's blog posts, In Case You Missed It, on Wilderness Running a couple of months ago and after reading it I decided to give it a try.  It was a link to an article/video about this little thing called dynamic stretching for runners.  Hmmm, I've heard of that before.  But, me being me, I've never looked into it because I didn't see a need to change anything up.  Well, now I have a need to change things up.  Ever since watching the short video and reading the quick write-up about the stretches I've been doing them.  Before every run now I go through 10 reps of each stretch, rather than the old static stretches I used to always do (figure-4 stretch, calf stretches, ham and quad stretches).  Static stretching should be reserved for post-run, technically, when your muscles are warmed up and pliable.  Dynamic stretching is best before a run.  Your muscles are cold beforehand and all they need are a little warm-up (hence, dynamic) and slight elongation (hence, stretch) without any real stress placed on them.

These stretches feel good and loosen up all the right places (hips, hams, calves) really well, they also kind of get my heart rate up sometimes.  Going on two months now and things feel pretty darn good.  I highly recommend giving these a try.  It takes all of two minutes, three minutes tops before heading out for a run.  It certainly can't hurt!

Here's the link to the video and article.  Enjoy!

A Dynamic Routine, by Nikki Kimball

Crash, out.

The Great Voyage

I woke up craving writing a blog today :)  Then, I remembered that I had some news to share...I signed up for race number two of the year!  Time to do a little jig.

Geof and I decided to go ahead and sign up for Minnesota Voyageur 50M on July 24th, up near Duluth, MN as a last really long run before Leadville, less than a month later. Seems like forever since I've run a 50M...but I guess, technically, it's only really been since February (and that was 50M x2!). But the last actual 50 mile race I ran was last October at the NFEC-Wisconsin.  This same time last year I was heading into my fourth race of the year, and here I am excited about number two, which won't be until 7 months in.  I love ultras so much I don't want to ruin it by racing too much :)  I also don't want a repeat of my injury-laden year last year.

So that's pretty sweet!  Voyageur was Geof's first ultra over 10 years ago, so he's pretty excited to return for another go of it, and I'm looking forward to running somewhere I've never been before...I mean, how often are you up in northern Minnesota for a weekend?  I've never even been to MN before!  This time, I plan on actually being ready to run 50M, rather than just throwing caution to the wind :)

Crash, out.

Where Did THAT Come From?

Last night I proclaimed that I wanted to do 8 miles in the morning. 

After which, I went about setting out my running clothes, drinking plenty of water, and laying in bed pretending like I might fall asleep before 10:00.  I had decided that I wanted to get my early week longer run done in the a.m. so that I could use the evening to work on school stuff.  I knew this meant earlier to rise, but, really, lets not push it. 

The alarm went off as usual at just after 5:00 and since I had only been pretending like I might fall asleep before 10:00 (I didn't actually get around to it until closer to 11:00) I woke up not wanting to wake up and reallllly wanting to sleep another three hours.  Alas, it could not be.  So we reluctantly thrust ourselves into the cold air of the apartment (um, brrrr, what month are we in again?!) and got to it.  Miraculously, we headed out the door by 6:45 (usually it's more like five or 10 after 7:00 before the run starts).  Geof said he didn't think there was any way we were going to get in 8 miles in an hour since we wanted to be back before 8:00, "even if we run sub-9s the whole time."  I just got quiet and immediately went into formulating plan B (do I do another run tonight? should we just scrap this? why do I care again?).  I was also grumpy now that I believed the run was going to be cut short.  Oh well.  I decided 6 miles would be fine. 

Oh yee of little faith, what has come over you?

We set out heading north.  I knew Fullerton was going to be the 5k-ish turn around, and when we reached the water fountain there I checked my watch and saw that it had only been 25 minutes...wow, that's fast for an early a.m. run for me.  Now, anything beyond this point was going to be bonus time for me.  So we kept at it, Geof just in front of me, and I hanging behind using his footstrike as a sort of hypnosis.  Before I knew it, we got to Belmont Harbour and he signaled to turn around so I followed.  This run wasn't easy.  I was working, hard.  I was in a zone with this Train song, "Hey Soul Sister", playing on repeat in my head (it's such a good song!), and imagining I was actually fast :)  This was certainly not a conversation pace for me so I was quiet and Geof continued pushing forward, me following.  I was feeling better and better, and noted to myself that I consistently speed up after a few miles.  Cool.  Just before the North Ave. boathouse, a cyclist had pulled to the side, clapping and cheering us on.  Smiling as we past him, he yelled, "you don't recognize me, do you!"  We turned to look at him again, it was Brendan, our super-star PT!  We didn't recognize him in his cycling get-up :)  It's always fun to run into peeps on the path!

Once we started up again and rounded the corner by the chess boards, I suddenly had the sensation of no control.  I mentioned this to Geof, saying that it felt like my legs had a mind of their own.  I surged forward, Geof following in suit.  Wowza!  I kept my eyes down, watching the ground under me, noting that it felt really fast watching the yellow dashes fly by as I moved with such ease.  My heart rate seemed to lower and my breathing felt almost entirely unlabored for that 1/2 mile or so.  As soon as I looked up though, I lost focus and eased back into our previous pace.  I love when that happens :)

Crossing the street to the apartment, we stopped our watches and I noticed it had been just a few minutes over an hour.  Perfect, home just in time!  I asked Geof if we had at least gotten in 6.5 miles and he laughed a little and said we had actually gotten in our 8 miles...!  "Where did THAT come from?!"  I dunno.  It just felt good.  He continued to shake his head, smiling, wondering out loud how we managed it.  Hmmm, I guess that is pretty darn good for an hour's run :)  Not only did we pull off sub-9s, but sub-8:15s...I haven't done that in a few years.

I immediately set about stretching, elevating my legs briefly and then putting on my compression sleeves.  I really, really don't want to be paying for this one later in the day!  Ice and some ibuprofen as preemptive strikes were also included once I got to work.  Other than a sore butt from all the new lunging and plyometric exercises Brendan gave me to work on, I feel like gold...no, make that platinum :) 

Yow!!  I love having good reminder runs...a reminder that I actually do have it in me to move faster.  It's so easy to relax into ultra mode and just shuffle along.  I had forgotten that I used to have some speed in my legs, and that it does feel good.  Picking up the pace allows your body to move more efficiently and to let it work out the kinks better.  I'm hoping this is a sign of things to come, and that my diligence and adherence to my recovery and maintenance actually does have some benefits :)  Tomorrow I'll take it a little easier though, just 'cuz.

Thanks for pushing it out there, G :)

Crash, out.

Dream A Little Dream

Today was my office's "Staff Appreciation Day" and so all the non-lawyer staff gathered in the main conference room for some kickass lunch and an hour-and-a-half long gabfest (a la TMZ).  While in the midst of listening to about 17 different conversations about the exact same thing, I found myself wandering off and day dreaming about going for a run.  Not uncommon at all...

Rounding a nearly-blind corner alongside a mountain ledge, the scree rolling under my feet and I negotiate the iffy terrain...To my left, a steep drop off and a vast expanse that goes as far as the eye can see, a wide river flowing through the canyon below, tree tops reaching for the stars and mountain peaks standing proud and keeping watch over the runners below...Coming upon a wildflower field, it's like the poppy field in Wizard of Oz, I follow the markings and fly over the trail as effortlessly as the wind...pushing, pushing, breathing heavy, pumping arms, moving up the switchbacks...legs tired from an entire day of running, but I can smell the barn and I keep pushing down the other side of the mountain...fried quads, downhill running not my forte...spilling out onto a forest service road, I know I'm almost there and suddenly I'm flying again, it feels so good!...and then, as if by magic, the finishline appears and I am crossing it, arms in the air...absolutely smashing the course record!!!

Okay, now you really know I was dreaming :)

I'm really looking forward to an evening run with Geof after work.  Yesterday morning's run was so awesome that it's got me even more excited to get out there again.  Oh, did I mention I ran over the weekend?  Yep, got in a little over 11 miles up in the Kettle Moraine during the Ice Age Trail training run that the Badgerland Striders were hosting in prep for the Ice Age 50 in a few weeks.  Brian, Geof and Ed K. did a little over 26 miles and I stuck with a loop and some change on the Nordic Trail (start/finish of the Kettle Moraine 100 and Ice Age 50 races), then hung out in the parking lot until the guys were done.  It felt good to get some hills and soft trail under my feet again, and it felt even better to run pain free again.  It was also fun to run a few miles with Ben and Sarah, fellow CHUGs, and talk about Leadville (Ben ran it last year and finished in a blazing fast time; I can't recall the exact time but it was in the 24 or 25 hour time frame). 

This weekend holds another weekend of Kettle Moraine running and some camping.  Hopefully, the weather holds and we don't have to worry with any rain or crappy stuff.  Kinda makes it difficult to make a bonfire, but have no fear, the beer will be safe :)

Crash, out.