Rain

Zoe and I made it out before the storm blew in. We had a wonderful run through the 'hood in the balmy warm wind before the storm. I've discovered that Zoe is not entirely a creature of habit. She likes variety in her runs. She runs best when we explore new routes and places to go, she slows up and acts bored when we run a route too often. And I thought that she was just getting lazy.

Today was just a moderately short/medium run. I'm givin' it a little rest before going long again on Sunday. By then the storm will have blown out an I'll hit the redwood mountain trails of Huddart again.

I'm trying to have a little fun with my local runs. I really don't like running in the 'burbs or the city; I'd be happier in the woods all of the time. But I can't justify driving there every day of the week so until I'm living up there full time (hint, hint at my true desires) I have to do some running around town.

Running with Zoe does help. It's a lot more fun with a partner. We had some fun running in the downtown area too. Here in Coyote's town there's a shi-shi downtown shopping district. It used to be a normal place with vegetable stands, banks, butchers, markets, a pharmacy and a few useful clothing stores. Now it's obnoxious. High end clothiers, fancy restaurants (the kind that serve dinky portions that would never satisfy a hungry coyote) and uber trendy furniture stores. It's nearly totally worthless to me now, I never go there. But in the past few days we've been having a hoot running at least a few blocks on this "strip." We do some yuppie/hipster watching. Lotsa yuppie/hipsters drive in from all around to walk around to see and be seen on these streets. It's great to see their reaction when I come barrelling down the street in my Vibrams, running shorts and giant black dog. I clearly don't fit in with the crowd. Nor would I want to.

Today we encountered a gentleman with two tiny chihuahuas. At sighting Zoe they went ballistic, barking and freaking out at the ends of their leashes. Zoe didn't give a rip. She just gave them a quizzical look and wanted to keep on keepin' on down the street. The Run is way more interesting to the Zoester than a little snack dog. And there's nothing like the spectacle of nutty mini dogs to make a man look, well less manly at the end of a leash. Chihuahua Man got flustered and red faced. A municipal worker who was busy working on an electrical box nearby had a good belly laugh over the whole scene. We headed on home with a smile and got back before the rain came down.

Sludge

• No pictures today because it was raining on the trail
• Doe sighting, she sighted me too
• Vibram Five Fingers are not so good on muddy trails

The rain was beautiful. It felt nice. Unfortunately the trails at Edgewood have some very slippery clay. I had to shorten my planned run as it was too slippery to head out on a second loop. I fell once and scratched up my shin. Next time I run on the trails in the rain I'll have to use my cross country flats instead of the VFFs. I think that the little nubbies will help a lot. Also I think it would be better to run in Huddart or one of the other redwood forest trails in the rain. The pine needles on the trail take the slip factor out of it.

I'll probably head out for a second run today in the evening with the dog. She was sorely displeased that I went out without her.

Sunday's Trails

It was back to Huddart Open Space for me today. I don't think I've run here since the dry heat of last summer.

Fun Facts About this Run

• 5 banana slugs


• 1 yellow bellied salamander


• no mountain lions, coyotes, bobcats or deer


• a really wierd bluish fungus covers horse poop in rainy weather


• I think I may hate it when it gets hot here again

The drive to Huddart was epic in itself. The fog was thicker than I've seen in a few years up on 280. At one point I had about 30 feet of visibility in a blanket of dim white. Luckily right after its worst point the fog lifted enough to give a decent view of the road for the rest of the way to Woodside.

It was foggy and cold at the start at the Zwierlein trailhead. I hemmed and hawed but in the end I decided to keep on my thin windbreaker as I wasn't sure what the weather might end up doing. It could rain or even snow at the top for all I could tell. It's happened before!

The start was slippery, muddy and cold but breathtakingly beautiful in the redwood forest. Once I passed a "no horseback riders" gate on the trail the churned up mud on the trail stopped and my footing was smooth and easy. The vibrams were a bit slippery on the sludge, but I think that anything or barefoot - it was going to be slippery there. My hands were cold and icy.

About a 1/4 of the way up the hill the fog thinned and the sun peaked through the redwoods and California oak. As soon as that sun comes out around here it gets warm. I stopped and stashed my windbreaker in my Wink UD backpack/waterbladder.

At about this point I was cursing those extra 10 winter pounds that I was dragging up this hill along with an almost full water pack. My lack of significant hill training these past few months was pretty obvious to me. I was glad to see only two other runners on the trails this morning, and they were going back down so thankfully they couldn't see my slow upward progress. I chalked up my starting and stopping up the mountain to being "hill intervals." Yeah, that's what I'll call it...

But oh I love the wet lushness of this place right now! The weather was perfect, cool and crisp with clean, damp woodsy air. The oak trees have dropped a lot of acorns along the trail. I stopped to inspect them and found a yellow-bellied salamander. I haven't seen one of these in years. He was a nice size too, longer than my hand.

I didn't push too hard to get to the top. I felt it wise to temper my enthusiasm as this would be my longest run so far this year, so today is for distance and time spent on the feet on not for speed. There were a few new trees down across the trail since the winter storms, but no washouts that I could see. Also, more of the trails have been worked on with some gravel stuff since I was last here. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I guess this gravel stuff isn't too bad or too unlike the natural trails. It's not pointy rocks but almost like soft chunks of asphalt that kind of glue themselves together. I can't imagine how they get all of this stuff up here - If you don't know Huddart, it's very steep and definitely deep-woodsy, not really the kind of place you can bring equipment into. I'm surprised that they went through all the effort to resurface these trails.

Once I made it to the top I GU-ed up, took a picture or two and headed out towards Chincapin Trail for the rollercoaster ride down. In a few weeks I'll take the connector trail towards Wunderlich to add some more miles back and forth and eventually run into Wunderlich for some very long runs. For now, this was ideal. I tempered my downhill on Chincapin because there are some sections that tend to get narrow and wash out. Also trees tend to fall over this trail a lot more than some of the others. But Chincapin had been gone over too quite a bit with some of the narrow sections shored up and stabilized and all of the fallen trees removed. I'll let it fly more next time I'm here.

There were lots of birds chirping on this run. It really felt like early spring. I saw maybe two squirrels the whole time which is amazing because the bushes are usually shaking with them. I guess they are still winter hibernating or such. The lower down on the trail I got the more confident I became so I started to push the pace. I had no problems with the vibrams or my feet. No stubbed toes or stepping on pointy things...just a nice stable pitter pattering on the trail.

I know some people worry so much about barefooter/minimalists stepping on rocks on the trail or turning ankles. One great thing about trail running in VFFs is that I know I won't turn my ankle. You really can't in VFFs or barefoot because there is no platform (sole or heel) to catch and roll off of. Plus, think of your landing, it's forefoot, heel touch and up again - no rolling from heel to toe where you turn your ankle as your weight transitions to midfoot. And rocks? Well, stepping on them isn't nearly as bad as you'd think, plus, just look out for them and don't step on them. Easy.

I ran the last mile the fastest and let my legs churn freely beneath me. There was an even downhill and then an uphill finish to the trailhead. It was about 11 miles in 1:40, which was actually pretty good. It feels good to be back!

Wind Aided (Addled) Workout or
Running Against the Wind and Myself



So I did my speed (not) workout in the hurricane force winds that we had last night. It was both better and worse than expected. I dressed like a ninja in all black for the occasion (because all of my white and colored shirts are in the wash basket getting moldy).

It was better than expected because it wasn't as frickin' cold as I thought it was going to be. I managed to layer enough to keep those wet cold ocean winds outta my clothes and off my skin.

It was worse because on the backside of the track the wind was so strong that it blew me into the other lanes and almost brought me to a complete stand-still several times. Running for time was not really an option. I can blame it entirely on the wind but hell, I've lost fitness these past two weeks AGAIN, (two steps forward one step back) so I can't blame it on the weather, even if I want to.

I did two mediocre 800s and was depressed about them. It was all I could do to keep times under 8 minute miles. So I switched it up to 400s, looking for some leg speed. That was a bit better. It's cheating though. But heck, at least I did something and maybe this half a$$ed speed workout helped pushed my fitness a tiny bit forward.

I could blame the hurricane force winds for my crappy speed training times last night but that wouldn't be the full, true story. Truth is, I haven't been as dedicated as I need to be and the irony is that as my times get worse, the harder it is for me to face the track. Does anyone else do this? I'm a little worried about speed work due to the hamstring issue that I recenly had...but I need to get over it. So in interest of keeping me on the straight and narrow I'll post details of my workouts here to keep track of them.

I've been getting rid of the things in my life that get in the way of my improvement. That little drink in the evenings to relax...gone and not missed. Trying to get to bed early? Done (when sick little ones don't interfere). Lightening up my eating habits to loose weight...done (still waiting for results though).

I'm going to add a little improvements gadgets at the side of my blog to keep track of all of this stuff and to keep me honest.

Tomorrow is THE DAY

Yikes, or Zoikes! as Scooby would say.

It's here, I knew the time would come eventually. I wish I could have gotten two more looooong runs in to feel really confident...but there's no time now. Skyline to the Sea is tomorrow.

I have my transportation all figured out. Hubby and girls are going to drop me off at Saratoga Gap at about 8ish and meet with hubby's aunt for breakfast and hanging out together for the rest of the time. Maybe going to Santa Cruz. I will run for 6ish+ hours through the woods. I'll give them a call from just before the finish if I'll be earlier (by some miracle of the running gods no doubt).

I'm going to get my bag all packed and my hydration pack all packed today/tonight. I'll make sure that I have everything set so that I don't have to worry about it at all. Since I already have the willies I don't want to add any more stress to myself because I'll just become a crazy whiny fool.

Today, a little yoga and stretching. And my usual Friday evening volunteering at the local no-kill animal shelter. And then a goooood night's sleep if I can get it.

Wish me luck! The next post will be about the race.

Monday's Run

I did a little 5k of my own. Not fast, but not slow either. I think I'm speeding up! The weekly track sessions are helping put some spring in my step again.

This run was orchestrated to get the lactic acid out of my muscles and relieve the soreness from my long run on the roads. It worked! I felt much looser and soreness-free after my run and shower.

Today....track workout.

Sawyer Camp Trail

View from the trail.

I really wanted to see some deer, but this is the closest I got.















At the five mile turnaround.

Yesterday I did a pleasant, easy, 5 miler at Sawyer Camp. It was a gorgeous day. Today I'm going to hit Rancho San Antonio and get in some major hills and trails. Not sure how far I'll go, I'm playing it by ear.