Diverse Opinions

Back on track with the routine...download new podcasts, put on the screw shoes, and hit the trails.  Listening to a new recording from Trail Runner Nation and realize that there is currently a wide gamut of opinions regarding footwear and injury prevention.  This podcast states we need to avoid orthotics at all costs and stresses barefoot (or socks only) at work and home whenever possible. It further claims that stretching is for bozos.  What are we to believe?  The exact opposite has also been promoted.

I guess we need to listen to the "experts" but choose what works for each of us as an individual.  I am game, however, to continue to ween myself away from the orthotics I've used for ten years.  I've already stopped running with them and have begun to go barefoot at home more often.  I still use orthotics in my normal use shoes.

There was still snow covered ice out there today but, as I discovered last week, it's easier to run on the ice than it is to hike.  Not bad traction and the time went by rather quickly.

12 miles mostly running with a few short hikes.

It's Baaack! More Snow

I've gone back and added a few photos to recent posts to help record some of the trip visually.  When I headed to the trails today, it was snowing.  A change from the green grass and robins from the previous two days further to the south.

I intended to write a bit about the training while on the trip to Illinois for indoor nationals.  And while I was pleased with the running with Curtis at the beginning of the trip, the weather and just plain being out-of-sync with my daily routine, left my legs flat and dropped total miles.  However, I am quite certain that the two days at the track...being on my feet, pacing around to various locations at the track and just simple tension of the meet...cannot be totally discounted as having no training effect.  My legs were quite wasted after the first day of competition just from moving around the event center and Eastern Illinois campus.  So even though the rain and timing of the shuttles between the hotel and the event left my mileage total a bit flat, I am pleased with the chance to spend a lot time on my feet.  With any luck, I can build on this and slowly increase the distances of my long run each week.

not quite enough for snowshoes yet again

Several times today, I slipped on ice beneath the snow
Notice the scratches caused by the screw heads in my shoes

10 miles today so 56 for the week

Running Naked

Rain in the forecast and already starting to sprinkle by the time I headed out for today's run.  I chose to use the screw shoes today but not until after working on replacing a few of the worn screw heads with new ones.  I even added a few extras because yesterday's ice was so treacherous.  The ice, today, was less slick because of warming temps and no sun to cause glistening ice.  The screw shoes had fantastic traction and never felt in danger of taking an endo.

By running naked (my reference in the title), I was not talking about my choice of clothing but rather that the iPod was left home today.  No music, no podcast, just the sounds of the outdoors.  I was pleased to once again come to grips with another aspect of what makes trail running so enjoyable...the sound of the woods.  Today there was the honking of the Canada Geese as they took turns taking off from the open river stretch they've been frequenting.  Also the wind in the tree tops, rain on the fallen leaves, woodpeckers drummimg....I had been missing  this by turning on the iPod.  Good to be back!

While running, a glance down provided another blast to the past...an owl pellet.  This is what remains as indigestible (bones, hair, feathers) of their prey and is expelled in pellet form from their mouth.  By dissecting the pellets, sculls and bones can be keyed to determine what the owl has been eating.  I did a rather extensive field project while in college to compare the food habits of  a couple Great Horned Owls in Clear Lake to a different couple in Ames.  I went on to devise an importance value for each the different prey, based on an technique I had learned in class for deer browse patterns in brush.

owl pellet with some rodent leg bones exposed

  10 miles today with rain at the beginning and end but fairly pleasant and dry in the middle.

Blessed With Diversity

I've tried to capture some of the character of the trails afforded by the routes at Lime Creek through the use of photos during those runs.  So far, this year, I've been on the bluff trails, in the upland woods, or around the quarry.  But in addition to the rocks and woods there are also the prairies and a different terrain available.

I was having a great day of "real" running so I tacked on all of the prairie loops for a longer mileage day.  This boded well for the shoes I chose today, a new pair of Salomon Comp 3's that have been on our basement shelf a couple of years just begging to break out.  I also gained first hand evidence of much of an advantage I had been obtaining from the "screw" shoes I'd been using for the trails this week.  Much of the woods trails were ice and, without the screw shoes, I was slipping at times today.  It was actually easier to keep up the running pace rather than try walking on that stuff...as long as I didn't need to stop or change direction the running was fine.

Took advantage of the time to catch the latest podcast with Lucho.

15 miles today for 55 for the week