The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

A standard, overused title for a simple post. I had three moments that stuck with me and this title is appropriate to describe my ride
The Good: A 20 mph Tailwin!
The Bad: Other than everything UGA; that tailwind as it becomes a headwind because i ride in a circle, damn geometry.

The UGLY: Again other than every UGA dog, 22 miles in i needed to unclip from my peddles at a light. To cut the long embarrassment again, i forgot to unclip my left as my right foot forgot how to stand and did this kinda leftward hop across an intersection looking like a fool, a fool in spandex shorts!

Go Jackets,

Injury Time

So other than never updating my blog, which will change, hopefully. I've busted my left ankle up again. So I've been on injury time and since I've stopped traveling as much due to a job change I'm going to rebrand this somehow. Adding in some more routes, maybe some biking and go into a few more reviews. Not sure

Onto healing. I'm pretty sure I gave myself a nice Class III sprain because its been weeks and i still have problems running(ok jogging or fast walking) let alone really going out for the 10 to 15 milers i need to be with the MCM coming up. So thoughts on healing?

So far the standard RICE has been used, along with anti-inflamatories, WoeBenyzne and the fish oil, all to some varying degrees of success, I think. Anyone else have thoughts?

Collection Of my Local Routes

Hey there fellow runners, so I've become a Cyclist as well as a runner now so there will be a new feature when i have some sort of knowledge on what I'm doing when biking. For those curious, this is my new bike a Felt Z6 and I LOVE IT! Smooth ride, but this is to post some of my local routes here in Waldorf.

From shortest to longest, these are part of my regular staple runs when I need a day off or a light run with the last being my base run most of the time. For anyone curious, Dorchester is a neighborhood loop nearby about a mile long.
TSID - To School Inner Dorchester It's a nice little run, about 3.6 miles, low on hills and has a path the whole way
TSOD - To School Outer Dorchester This one is best described as when I feel okay around the 3 mile mark, and want to push another mile out of the route even though its an off day.
Loop Run Eventually this will be my standard daily run, when I get back in shape here.

Funemployment

Hey all, I'm unemployed, until the 16th or 17th at least, and its great. I've needed to get back in shape and this is the perfect time to do it. Bought myself a bike, and will be running around the Southern Maryland area, frequently, so..look for updates, more routes, and more photos of the area since I have time for a change

I Ran That way

This is a fallback to a route i ran this past weekend while sojourning down at Atlantic Beach in Jacksonville, Fl. The location was great, the hotel was definitely sub-par(very, but that's a different rant). One of the positives is that it was on the beach so I ran down the beach, or rather that way, towards that big ole streak. The route is pretty simple, run towards the buildings, and the pier(about 3rd street) go a little further then turn around and come home.
The run was great, but a little tougher than normal because I'm not used to running on the sand but well worth it for the 5 miles I ran down.

Hotel Crossfit

Hey there everyone, hope its been a good week of running or training for y'all. As the title suggests I'm going to be adding a component to my blog here.
Why? Mainly because I needed something to complement my running in order to achieve better fitness. That and the CrossFit routines tend to fit my lifestyle; short, high intensity workouts meant to bring humanity back to its incredibly fit roots. It also fits the hotel situation because I think I can get away with just having a kettle bell here with me and then I should be able to use stuff that's lying around.

Today's workout is as follows, 3 sets in the following order with reps
Burpees 9 - 6 -6
KB Swings 19-16-12
Couch Jumps 12-6-6
Push ups 20-20-10

Now as you can see I suck at Burpees, just not that flexible and quick so I'm hoping this new routine can help fix that. Happy Training

Surviving the Wheel

Hello y'all, I run on a wheel..but I'm a lot less fuzzy than my buddy over to the right here. Also technically I'm on the outside of the wheel but hey, details smetails. It's not by choice I'm on it this much, but more by location and the random hours I end up working by being on the road all the time. Being that it's a frequent occurrence I've come up with a few methods to survive a long run on the wheel of PAIN(ok boredom).

1. Do not use headphones, unless you don't sweat. Being that you're indoors they'll fuzz up and slip off, destroying your mojo. Most hotels have a radio now that works with an iPod or other mp3 player, just take the whole radio down with you.
2. TV, always put it on, I also jealously guard the remote because I'm too antsy and like to change the channels frequently, to try and fool myself into new scenery.
3. Towels, always bring one...worst case it gives you something to play with.
4. Something to read, during any runs on the wheel over 50 minutes i need a break so I'll bring a magazine to read for a bit while walking in order to break the monotony.
   
5. Always wear proper gear, no one wants to run with a fat sweaty guy on the wheel next to them, I usually am that fat sweaty guy.
6. Don't be lazy, set the rise at 0.5% min, and raise and lower it as you want, you're not outdoors, so make it a challenge.
7. My Hotel Brands Rankings for treadmill quality, if you have a choice...Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hyatt, Marriott
   

So it's not a complete list, it will grow and is by no means a way to support going outside, but it happens. Enjoy your runs and the wheel, I'm hoping to be outside tomorrow

I found Wildlife!!

Hola! Just got done processing the pictures from tonight's run up the east side of Wild Horse Canyon. I have no idea on the distance, again, but the topo map is here.
This time i went to the right side of White Mountain Road, starting from roughly the intersection of I80 and White Mountain road on the map. The view from the parking lot gives a little perspective, went up the road about a 1/2 mile and cut up a bare spot in the hill. The "path" was just a water drainage spot which turned out to be a lot steeper than it looked.
This translated to a lot of run/walk/bear running up the side as it got steeper. The Image below shows the view about 3/4's of the way up, roughly 500' of climb
I Cheated a bit in this one and used a red arrow to show the hotel/starting point, so it's definitely a ways up. Also the drop off that shows up at the bottom of the frame is the way i came up.

After i hit the top I did some running around, fairly aimless and saw three of the wild horses that are in the area. They were more scared of me, and a lot faster so the only picture was too blurry to use, next time. I did however find an elk hanging out at the top, so I proceeded to run after it and actually get a decent photo.
Not sure how scared it was of me because i was able to follow it for about 5 minutes with the white tail visible in the right image below.
About this time the light started to die on me so I had to head down. Surprisingly going down, was harder than going up because i could see where i was going if i fell, that and I didn't plan ahead enough so the path down was snow covered.
The last view is of the hotel as I started my run and or stumble and hop down the Canyon Wall. Based on the topo map and rough idea of the area, I figure its about 2.5 to 3 miles and 1000 to 1200' of elevation. The overall route ran around the horseshoe to the peak to the right of Riverview Cemetery, then back on the loop to the peak over the Interstate and then down. It was a good run, and I'll definitely be doing it again and hopefully running more of the initial 500' climb. The last view is of the hotel as I started my run and or stumble and hop down the Canyon Wall. Based on the topo map and rough idea of the area, I figure its about 2.5 to 3 miles and 1000 to 1200' of elevation. The overall route ran around the horseshoe to the peak to the right of Riverview Cemetery, then back on the loop to the peak over the Interstate and then down. It was a good run, and I'll definitely be doing it again and hopefully running more of the initial 500' climb

Finally outdoors for a real run

I'm back, and outdoors, again, which is amazing and excellent all at once. This run wasn't spectacular, actually it was incredibly painful. For some reason while being in Jacksonville my allergies flared, so that combined with the first day back up at elevation combined to make it hard to breathe. But enough with that, the route's a simple one with a 300 foot climb to end.

So here it is, I'll call it the early towner just because i don't know the area at all yet.

Hill Runs behind the Hotel

I'm off the Hamster Wheel!! Ok at least for today I am, hopefully the light will hold so I can run the hills around me a few more times. By Hills i mean canyon walls. The hotel is the Hampton Inn & Suites in Green River, Wyoming. To give a shout a great spot if you're out here. But the topo map of the area looks like this . So the map location isn't correct but the hotel is basically the intersection of I-80 and White Mountain Road.
I've done the East side of the Canyon and plan to run it again(right side of the map) but today i decided to handle the West side and i took pictures because the view is pretty spectacular. I will give a disclaimer that I am not a photographer, and I'll do better next time. The first shot is the view from the start, I started and ended at the same spot to try and keep it consistent. The start/finish is in the dark because i cut my runs short outdoors here due to darkness and wild animals out in the hills here. My Run went straight at the hotel, and up the hill to the left, it's only a 200 foot climb at first with the second climb being closer to 300 feet.

After the first climb I stopped for a bit to take a shot of what it looks like since I'm not talented enough with a camera to capture the elevation change. The hotel is right below and you can see I-80 and then past it the town of Green River, Wyoming.

After this the run involved circling the two spires behind the hotel and then heading up to the 6600' peak and then the 6800' peak.

After much running, struggling, some sprinting and raw exertion I hit the closer end of the 6800' peak, stopped and took a picture of the town. You can see the hotel in the center middle and Green River in the distance. I ran another 2 minutes up the hill, lost the light and turned around. It's definitely a great run and I look forward to going further when the sun stays up longer.

Either way I think this embodies the spirit of primal, find a hill or something and run up it. Gotta do it again and see more because the views are stunning

Update for the middle of February, i think

So it's been a while since I've posted, honestly I think my last post was Christmas~ish. So it could be that I've stopped running, which i did for a week and change when i realized I'm allergic to the state of Wyoming, but its more because I haven't run anywhere interesting.
Right now I'm in Louisiana, much warmer than Wyoming, and even Maryland, but well, the hotels in quite possibly the worst part of town so running outside is out. However the treadmill has been my friend for the last week and a half. Otherwise though it's been race planning. For anyone interested, below are my current races, hopefully.

• New York City Marathon(2nd attempt)
• Marine Corp Marathon(hopefully, registration opens 4/1)
• Peachtree Roadrace(again if i can register in time)
• Bourbon Chase, the first one I'm already registered for
• Covered Bridges in VT

Seeing that I'm only registered for 1/5 and 3 of them require some luck and setting a dozen reminders I'm looking for a few more. Ideally 1-2 marathons this upcoming fall and a tri late August.. any thoughts?

happy running and if we get out of work early enough next week in Wyoming I'll do some mountain runs and take pictures.