First Trail Race

Conditions:

• About 24 degrees
• White-outs occurred at least twice, 40MPH wind gusts
• 8 inches of fresh powder

It was unreal. First of all, 8 inches of powder in central Pennsylvania? That just doesn't happen. The beginning of the race went through a kind-of-dark section of the state forest filled with snow covered pine trees. The snow was hanging on the trees, the snow on the ground was deep, sort of packed down, but still pretty loose. It looked a lot more like Montana than PA. I was tired after about the first 100 yards. I have never run in snow like that. It was like running in sand. The first mountain we ran up was steep. It was a single track trail. I was just trying to keep my steps run-like at that point. Then I looked up and everyone in front of me that I could see was walking. I looked back and the people behind me were doing the same, so I followed suit. Seconds later, it was a white-out. I could see only a few feet in front of me. I could feel the snow sticking to my eye lashes, eye brows, skin. I started to run again and continued to do so for the rest of the race. With every step my ankles were turning and rolling. The left one started to hurt and I could feel the snow packing into my right shoe and sticking to my sock around my ankle. I finished the 3.5 miles in 39 minutes and 39 seconds. When I crossed the finish line I had ice still attached to my eye brows and lashes. Even though the run kind of hurt, it was cold, and the snow was like nothing we ever see here- there was no other way I would have wanted to spend my Sunday afternoon. I finished 47th out of 105 overall and second in my age group. We got pretty cool blue t-shirts and age group winners got a knit hat that says "Snowfest 3.5". It was a really fun afternoon spend with 104 other people just as crazy as me for being excited to do a trail run in fresh snow and gusty winds (and all the people who love us enough to come out to watch the start and end of a race with roughly 40 minutes of standing in the semi-heated bathroom in between). My uncle placed 3rd in his age group and finished roughly 20 yards behind the two guys who places ahead of him. A friend came to watch me, he said he loved the way I looked when I crossed the finish line, snow sticking to me and yet I had a huge smile and looked like I genuinely liked what I was doing. I said that after running that race, there is no other way to finish than with a big goofy smile. Because like I said, we were all crazy for doing it, and crazy people smile a lot!

For a bit while I was running I was thinking, "What the fuck am I doing out here!?" But when the awards ceremony started and the organizers asked who was coming back to run next year, my hand, along with some people who didn't run this year, was in the air.

I love the camaraderie that comes with every race. You may not know most of these people, but they are excited for you , and you for them, anyway. Today, the youngest participant was an 8 year old girl and the oldest was a man who turned 70 yesterday.

Good times, though I'm still not sure I am up for the 5k trail night race in March. That may be a little too intense for me. I guess we shall see. Next up for sure: The Run For The Cookies, February 28, 10k. Oh boy...

Swimmin' In The Rain

Well, the pool is inside, but I was swimming while it was raining. And wow did it rain today! There were streams in places streams normally do not exist. Tomorrow morning will probably arrive with more rain which will make for a messy, slippery, chilly, and hopefully fun run on the trails. Today, though, I went with the pool.

I swam 2400 yards, first in the company of about 15 4-5 years old learning how to swim and later with quite a few senior citizens waiting to begin their aquacise class.
The breakdown:
300 free
200 kick
200 pull
50
100
150
200
200 (1000 pyarmid, all free)
150
100
50
200 pull
200 kick
300 free
It took me roughly 50 minutes to finish that workout.

Then I hit the weight room:
Squats with a 40lbs dumbbell 2x10
Bench Press 65-75 2x10
Seated Row 100 2x10
Incline Leg raise 2x10
Cable Pull Through 70 2x12
Push ups 2x10
Leg Press 95-105 2x10
Hanging Knee Raise 2x10

A pretty good workout day, I think. I felt good anyway. My arms were a little tired in the pool, but nothing too bad.

Can I just say I have had the most eclectic music selections today... From The Clarks (a Pittsburgh Band), to The Game, to The Newsies soundtrack, to Nickle Creek now.

"Others have excuses, I have my reasons why..."

Race Sunday

Current weather forecast:

High of 20 degrees, Flurries, Very Cold.

Sweet! My knees love that!

Keeping Track

Since I've been working out quite a bit lately, I decided it would be a good idea to document what I do each day. This way, of course, I'll be able to keep track of my progress and also (hopefully!) keep me committed to working out daily.

Yesterday, Rob asked if I wanted to run with him. It was 3PM, the sun was shining and it was 41 degrees, so I said yes. It hasn't been too warm lately, and I thought it would be nice to take advantage of the great weather. We decided to go to Lewisburg to run because we wanted a change of scenery. By the time we got there around 3:45, it was no longer sunny and beautiful. It was windy, cloudy, and a bit chilly. What happened to the sun!? Well, the sun was gone, but there we were in our shorts and running shirts, so what choice did we have? We ended up going just over 5 miles in an undetermined amount of time because neither of us were wearing watches. It was a pretty slow run. Rob hasn't run much since our 9 mile race on Thanksgiving day, and he definitely hasn't run outside. His lungs were hurting, so I'd say we were at about 9 minute/mile. Slow, but a nice run all in all and I'm really not disappointed.

This morning I made up a lifting program for myself. I took some ideas from t-nation.com. I think it doesn't suck... Well, here it is, just in case anyone should read this and be interested.

Dumbbell Press 3 x 9 with 30 lbs dumbbells
Chest Supported Row 3 x 10 with 50 lbs
Military Press 3 x 12 15 lbs for first set then 20 lbs for the next two
Pull-ups 4/3/4 (My goal is to be able to do 9 in 8 weeks, I'm starting the 4th week!)
Lateral Raises 3 x 10 5 lbs
Tricep Extensions 3 x 11 50 lbs/ 60 lbs/ 70 lbs (but 70 was too much)
Dumbbell Flies 3 x 12 15 lbs

On Sunday I am going to do a 3.5 mile trail race at R.B. Winter State Park. I hope to run roughly 35 minutes. And it would be sweet to win my age group. So those are the goals!

Have fun working out!