Sunday, July 02, 2006

Misty Mountain

Despite my very late start this morning, the fog hadn't lifted as I wound my way up to Redwood this morning. I was on the trail by 10:15 without Brandy and heavily slathered with BodyGlide....I was ready to go long. Turns out the run I did last weekend was 8 miles. I seem to average a 10 minute mile so my timing was about right last time 8 miles in 80 mins.

Today on the turn around I veered left onto Stream Trail down a steep decent into the canyon. The scent of Eucalyptus was a welcomed change from the stinky refinery fumes from the other day. This trail was quite beautiful, canopied and well groomed. I came across a few hikers. The Redwoods towered above and about an hour into the run I was pretty much the happiest person on the planet.

The trail conditions began to change from smooth duff covered footing to rocks, roots and a steep climb back up. I maintained a steady pace as the climb got steeper. The canopy started to fade and I was out in the open again. The fog had started to lift but it was nowhere near as warm as lastweekend making the tough climb out the canyon doable....hard but doable.

I'm guessing I got close to 10 miles today, the furthest I've run to date. Total time 1hr 40 mins. I'm sure the cooler temps today didn't hurt my timing. I am curious about the numbers but haven't gotten around to setting the stride feature up on my pedometer. The math really was secondary though, it just felt good to be on the trail and to see I'm making progress with the steeper climbs.

My knees are getting abit grouchy though and I actually purchased a dietary supplement today that claims it will nourish joints for easy movement..oh also some grounded flaxseed for added fiber. I think you can sprinkle it on stuff and I thought it would be less noticeable in a smoothie too. We'll see, I will try to keep an open mind as I wade through the topic of nutrition and supplements.

4 comments:

Linda said...

I eat yogurt in the morning, that's where I put my flaxseed, makes it crunchy!!

Hollyfish said...

WOW!!! 10 mile run with trail/canyon running??? That's EXCELLENT!!! I like how you're packing your stuff and just seeing where you end up. That works well for me sometimes - but other times it gives me an excuse to not end up anywhere and before I know it I'm back on the couch!!! Props to you for finding where to land. And thanks so much for dropping by my blog and commenting. I LOVE your mantra of leaving no positive comment left unanswered. Very cool...thanks.

Flaxseed - I haven't figured out how to eat it on it's own yet...yogurt sounds good...there are some good cereals and granola bars by Kashi and Natures's path that are loaded with flax - I think GO Lean Crunch and Optimum Power Breakfast are both high in flaxseed...just in case your current project backfires.

Swimming will come... see if you can find more instruction and possible a group to swim with. I got the most motivation by having someone to critique my stroke and having people who I knew were showing up with me. And don't let those other swimmers intimidate you... the only difference between you and them is about a million laps...you'll learn to do it well and after that it's just a matter of time...it takes FOREVER to learn to swim fast...but there's nothing hard about it if you commit to the practice. KEEP AT IT!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!

Lara said...

Wow, that sounds like such a beautiful run!
I find that ground flax is pretty innocuous in smoothies and yogurt and such. Make sure you keep it in the fridge once it's ground as it can get rancid over time at room temp.

Veeg said...

Your run sounds AWESOME. I love trail running, but I need to hop in the car and drive ~45 minutes to get to "good" trails around here.

I also love flax seed sprinkled as a crunchy topping to my oatmeal and raspberries in the morning. Mmmm!