Training in the Neighborhood

Run recovery in Puget Sound!

I would love to do my long training runs on the trails. But the logistics of finding child care and finding time to drive to the location are just too much for me to handle sometimes. So, last weekend I decided to do my long run, with hills, right from my back door.

First, I want to interject that I thought I had experienced 2 set-backs before my run last weekend: 1) I stubbed my toe while doing some slip-n-sliding. My toe bruised, and it hurt when I walked. My chiropractor assured me it was a small tear in a tendon around my joint, and I don't really need it for running anyway. Whew. 2) I did some 100-yard sprints that felt great at first--I felt like I was flying, and I haven't been able to lengthen my stride like that for years. It is a testament to the effectiveness of the deep tissue massages on my hamstrings that I've been getting from the chiropractor. However, after a few sprints my hamstrings tightened up so much that my stride shortened and I could only shuffle. Again, my doctor assured me I'll get loosened up again, and recommended I don't do 100-yard sprints again for a while.

Bruised toe.

 

Top half of awesome slip-n-slide. The bottom half dumped into Lake Washington.

Back to my training run. I decided to do 4 five-mile loops. The loops consisted of going down Fairmount, up California, down Bonair, and up Schmitz Park. The total elevation gain for the 20 miles was only 2,700 feet but it felt like a lot of hills to me. I wanted to start at 5am to avoid the heat but I slept in a little and didn't start until 6:30am. By the time I was on my third lap, it was getting very warm. I drank a lot of Perpetuem by Hammer. I used to drink this 17 years ago when I was training for Ironman. It's palatable and it works great for me.


Down Fairmount. Why do my pictures of hills always look flat? This really was a hill!

Along the beach for a quarter mile.

 

Up California, a long gradual grade.

A view of the water at the top of Bonair.

Down Bonair, a quiet little street.

Another half mile along the beach.

Uphill in Schmitz Park. The only real trail on my loop. I loved it here because it was shaded and cool.

My drink of choice for multi-hour activity.

My favorite thing to do now after a run is stand in Puget Sound up to my waist for 10 minutes. The water is cold. It's like having an ice bath. I think it helps speed up my recovery.

I'm looking forward to getting in again next weekend because it is in the low 90s in Seattle. That's hot for this area!