Gold

Last week I was complaining about heat and humidity and today was already so chilly that I can't believe it's July in Iowa!  Beautiful morning for running and I embraced the chance to get in a relaxed run.

Surprised to see a Fox Snake getting out in the cooler weather but it was still spry enough to bluff a few strikes at my hand when I picked it up to observe. 

Fox Snake

Also enjoyed seeing some Goldfinches flitting around in the thistles.

With today's total of 9 miles, I reached 62 for this week.  Some runs are feeling easier now so I'm hoping to continue sustained runs in prep for a September race.

Black-eyed Susan

Very nice weather moved in after a thunderstorm last night.  I took the time to get out on the trails and included some of the prairie loops.  There was a rather impressive display of Black-eyed Susans out there.

Nice to be out with no time constraints so able to get in a 10 mile loop with some recovery hiking planned for yet this evening.

RAGBRAI 2013 and Pilot Knob

Tuesday was a break in routine so that Cathy and I could drive down to Des Moines to experience a bit of this year's RAGBRAI.  There was a new "History of RAGBRAI" exhibit opening in the historical museum and some great entertainment scheduled.

The day was lots of fun and beer.  I helped generate some electricity at a couple of the booths and truly enjoyed seeing so many bicyclists and their rigs.

Helping Tiny Circus with an animation project. (black hat and shirt with red shoes!)

Booths were set up on three of the bridges downtown

Live performing live

Wednesday was spent getting work out of the way so we could head up to Forest City to dog-sit for Cathy's niece.  This allowed me to get out for the evening hike on a different golf course then go to Pilot Knob State Park today for some better hill running.  Some of the trails were quite overgrown and footing quite tricky at times due to rocks and horse traffic in mud.

Some interesting layers of Bracket Fungus.

Colorful mushroom beside the trail.

3 miles Tuesday, 9 on Wednesday, and another 9 today.

Slogging

By listening to podcasts from across the country, it seems that many of us are dealing with heat and humidity during our workouts.  The trips to Lime Creek have been necessary to find shade but the warm, humid weather is still a drag!

The days go past with my getting out for some steady mileage...nothing real long or fast but steady none the less.  So the week ended with decent totals and one of the highest mileage weeks of this year at 67 miles. More encouraging for me is that I'm feeling some incentive and pace increases.  Some days are, again at a more continuous run regimen.

Looking forward to more sustained running and mileage as I ramp up for the half in early September.  I'm even beginning to entertain thoughts of redemption for last year's failed attempt at Black Hills.

8 miles for today's total.

Bouldering

One of my most enjoyable places to run has been in the mountains of Colorado....unfortunately, I live in Iowa.  So imagine my surprise when running the trails of Lime Creek Nature Center and coming across some boulders!  Just not quite like what I see in Colorado.

Colorado

Lovell Gulch, Colorado

Colorado

Lime Creek, Iowa

Iowa

So perhaps there's a difference between boulders in Colorado and Iowa....at least now I can see some on my daily run for inspiration!  Prairie flowers continue to emerge and today's Prairie Cone Flower was also a bit inspirational.

The humidity and heat have been uncomfortable so I'm waiting for a break before continuing any speedwork. 

Got 5 in on Tuesday, 11 on Wednesday and 6 today with another 3 mile recovery outing tonight.

Self-defeating Prophecy

Perhaps I settled into an easier pace because of my self-defeating prophecy.  But more likely an accurate assessment of my current state of fitness.  I thought I was pushing a decent pace and tried to stay relaxed yet mile one was still in the 6:50's so very unlikely for me to pull that back to 6:40ish average in only one more mile.

The 2 mile race on Saturday certainly revealed that my idea of breaking the over-60 record for the race does not occur with three weeks of speed work.  My body is too conditioned to long, slow miles.  Another revelation regarding this attempt was, this is my 1st race of the year and I had only run 3 races last year...so it's safe to say I'm out of practice.

I won my age group but missed the record by over a minute and a half.

The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun but also some work.  Setting up for bicycle races and corner marshaling. Then helping follow the Cat 3 riders of the 83 mile road race.  Saw some nasty accidents and helped the guys get their bikes back together and back on course.  

My wife watched some of the finishes including the winner of the Pro/Cat 1/Cat 2 race have a mechanical breakdown (endo when he stood up to sprint) within sight of the finish but enough of a break-away to run his bike across the line for a podium finish!

Just got some miles in on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so finished the week at 48 miles.

Today is my 61st birthday and I got up early to help re-stack all the borrowed barricades from the bike race then got out for 9 miles.  The trail-side vegetation is changing and I was distracted today by the opportunity for fresh, wild raspberries.

Sumac is starting to show it's color.

Black raspberries are coming on.

Interesting how as an individual I still age 1 year at a time...as a competitor I now only see significant birthdays in 5 year intervals!

BBBBQ Weekend...Bring On the Bikes

There's been some real decent days for weather and steady running.  I've cut back a bit in hopes of feeling fresher for tomorrow's short road race.  Most of this weekend is devoted to volunteering for the annual bike races in Clear Lake.  

In order to get back out on the bike myself, I took time to get the Trek tuned up and it's now running smoother than when I first got it.

Got in 8 miles of running each of the past two days and an easy 3 this morning.  Tomorrow, my day starts with the running race in Garner then I'll be corner marshaling at the criterium in Clear Lake later in the day.