Le Juneathon - Jour Numero Trois

Day 3 was circuit training class at the gym. If it's Wednesday, it must be lower body and abs, say what? Instructor was hot on the jump squats, muchos lunges, and dastardly crab walks with stretchy band. Oi! I shall have inner thighs of steel.

Juneathon Stats: 3/30. 27 to go.

Day the Second of the Juneathon

Yay for me. First run on a Tuesday for a while. 4.06 miles up Old Mammoth Road at an 8:31 average pace. This felt way better than last Thursday's 3.5 Main Path run, which was completed at a not-so-blistering 10 min+ pace, and feeling like I was going to die for much of it. Day 2, DONE!

Juneathon Day 1

No running, but I did complete a 1 hour circuit training class which included about 300 yards of hopping. Not to mention jumping jacks, pullups, and about 6000 pushups.

Descent into the Cult

I've been meaning to share my disappointment with the world at large that the formerly enjoyable running blog of Little Miss Runner Pants has turned into a bit of a snooze-worthy recitation of accomplishments in the cultish world of Crossfit. Of course, moments after posting this, I visit said blog to see what's been posted lately, and what do I see but two non-crossfit-centric items... so perhaps I should withold judgement and see if LMRP can redeem herself.

Yeasty

Have been in quite a whirl of breadmaking since my new bread machine arrived a week or two ago. The biggest challenge is adjusting recipes to the high altitude conditions here in the eastern sierra, but I've successfully made a loaf of white bread, a loaf of cinnamon raisin (same recipe, but with cinnamon and raisin folded in - nyum) and today a freakin enormous loaf of wholewheat bread. I think next time I will divide into two smaller loaves as (ahem) the recipe suggested, which may help with the evenness of the cooking.

I also attempted to make a multigrain loaf last week entirely in the bread machine, based on a recipe in the usually reliable Pie in the Sky but it didn't rise well (maybe not enough water) so was more of a multigrain brick....but we ate it anyway :)

Fueled by all this yeasty goodness, I ran 10 miles at Casa Diablo last Sunday, with no walk breaks as before, and the extended trail loop in Mammoth (5 miles), and managed to make one express and one yoga class at the gym. Today I'm waiting for it to cool down a little, then perhaps a wee jaunt up the pole road to round out the miles this week to 20.

In other news, while enjoying my regular dose of Jogblog, I recklessly said I would participate in Juneathon (exercise every day, and blog about it, for 30 days in June. There is a winner, determined by some hazily defined criteria, but mostly I just want to see if I can get out there every day and do something.

Catchup

I have been shamed into updating my blog by the ever diligent Lazy Bitch, who apparently is not so lazy about maintaining her blog.

Things have been modest on the training and exercise front, with several alternate recreational pursuits conspiring to waylay my long runs over the past couple of weeks. That said, I've managed to get in a few midweek runs, including a lunchtime 5.5 mi. up in Mammoth, and some treadmill plods with SPEED INTERVALS, god help me.

And also, visits from family, two downhill ski days (now that I can take advantage of my low price 2010 MVP pass at Mammoth Mountain during the end of the season) and a 10 mile canyon hike in Death Valley last weekend. Also being quite diligent about the Monday/Wednesday circuit training (as my increasingly buff arms attest) -though it makes it hard to motivate for a Tuesday or Thursday run on the days thereafter.

My friend Laura's successful finish of the London Marathon made me think again about signing up for one...but that means actually committing to a training program, not shirking the long runs, etc. etc. Perhaps it's the way to increase my consistency though, which I think is the major shortfall in the running program right now.

Anyway, gotta go, because my cinnamon-raisin loaf is about to come out of the oven!

Top Banana

That would be me, ahem. Top female finisher in the Hospice of the Owens Valley 10k this Saturday, no less, and a lovely sparkly trophy complete with plastic Winged Victory atop to show for it. Sure, it wasn't the world's biggest race, and there were even fewer women running, but still, of all of them I was still in first place. Not bad for a little pair of babylegs... 6.2 miles in 50m:51s, average 8:09 min./mile.

Weekly Run-Down

Not such a great week this week, exercise-wise, mostly because of a bout of mid-week sickness and lethargy that demand it be treated with rest, rather than recreation. Not to mention being home along with the Real Babylegs while Mr. BL was cavorting down to the Bay Area...turns out that single parenting puts a bit of a cramp in the ol' exercise styleeee. So, Monday: Express; Thursday, about 30 minutes on the elliptical, and finally, a long run of ten (mostly arduous and plodding) miles at Casa Diablo (note, if you will, massive uphill at the beginning and 7,000 ft elevation....

For some reason I had banished the steepness of the first part of this run out of my consciousness, probably because the steepness of the out translates to a fun, speedy downhill on the way back. That is, unless you ran about 2 miles further than you should have and even the speedy downhill isn't much fun. So, a little walking on the pretext of having to adjust my ipod, but running of a sort mostly, and I made it all 10 miles at a "modest" 9:38 pace. And it was beautiful of course, especially the way back when you have a clear view to the Sierra Crest and the Minarets all the way past Mammoth.

Sunday Run

Made it out to the Casa Diablo trail on Sunday afternoon for a long run....sadly, the Forerunner ran out of juice at about 0.8 miles, whereas I continued on for quite a bit longer. In the end, I think it was about 8 miles, and a total time of 1:16:00; thus an average pace of a somewhat poky 9:30 minute/mile. Not too surprising given the couple of walk breaks on the steep uphill (bah!) part...and longish water drinking break in the middle. Oh, and the headwind. Woke up feeling a bit under the weather on Monday, but made Express at lunchtime nonetheless, although big plans to run in town at lunchtime today fell by the wayside. On a more positive note, Mr. Babylegs made a large pot of lamb and lentil curry for dinner tonight, which should scare any sickness away. When the Real Babylegs asked what he was eating, the answer was "meat" least he wonder if there was any relationship to a certain favorite stuffed animal....

Run-Down-Catch-Up

OK, a lot of catching up to do, training blog-wise. Luckily, my training has been (somewhat) inversely proportional to my blogging, so I can feel simultaneously like a slacker and an overachiever. I've been making the Monday/Wednesday lunchtime circuit-training class at the gym, and feeling a bit "wrooooooooaaaaaaaaarr" what with all the lunging and squats and pushups and stuff. And nothing like running sprint laps of the gym at 8,000 ft to make you feel like a tough little soldier.

Weekend before last was an awesome 8-miler at Pleasant Valley Reservoir, at around an 8:15 pace; no outdoor running last week because of my sad trip to Florida for the funeral, but managed a 5-mile (humid) treadmill run on Sunday at the hotel, and about 4 miles on Tuesday at the gym back home. I made it to the Friday "Yogafit" class this week which I have to say is awesome, but hard, involving lots of (of course) squats, pushups to crocodile to upward dog to downward dog and some other manoevers that I, a relative stranger to yoga and supreme inflexibility to boot, finds quite tricky.

And this morning me and Mr. Babylegs and the Real Babylegs went xc skiing up Rock Creek Road, about 6 miles round trip up to Rock Creek Lake and back. For some reason I thought it would be freezing cold, so was totally overdressed and sweaty at the beginning, but adjusted my layers to the correct level and was relatively comfy. I hadn't skiied this this route since last winter, and recalled it being a bit of a slog, but this time felt kind of easy, perhaps due to lunge-induced fitness (or else the two giant bowls of oatmeal for breakfast).

Onwards to tomorrow and hopefully a nice long run either at PV or Casa Diablo...so glad it's Spring!

Hevvy Legs

A not so fun jaunt up the pole road this afternoon, feeling like poo the entire way - out of breath, tired, and having to walk up the steep parts. I am blaming it on feeling under the weather. Even the choco espresso beans did not help. still, even a bad run is better than no run at all.

Sage to Summit February 10K

I did pretty well in this local race from Millpond Park, up to the Tungsten Hills; 15th overall out of 39 runners, 3rd female finisher and a total time of 53:05, despite 1000 feet of uphill in the first half. Hope I can make it to the March race. Here's a link to the race results to witness the magnificence of my performance.