Saturday March 3 NJCAA National Indoors

NIACC had a larger squad qualify for indoor national track and field this year.  They had some good results in Charlston, Illinois.

2 miles for me near the hotel before the meet then another outside the field house before competition began.

Stormy

Attempted to get a run in before the days events at the track.  Curtis and I hit a nearby trail that is a reconstructed railroad right-of-way.  We saw thick clouds brewing in the distance and it began to thunder and lightning so....the planned 8 miles became 3 miles for me as I returned just as the rain increased to a downpour! Curtis braved it a while longer and endured a bit of a drenching.

Tale of Two Cities

On the way to Eastern Illinois for indoor nationals.  Ran twice with Coach Vais today, once in Peoria then again in Matoon.  The weather was a bit milder from what we left in Iowa as evidenced by greening grass and presence of sweet gum trees (a more temperate growing zone).

Sweet Gum Tree seed pods

I was pleased with how I felt during a few stretches of the runs today but also it's very apparent that I don't have the legs that I did when I used to train for marathons nor am I able to handle much pavement.  Perhaps I have become too complacent with the training that's evolved at Lime Creek...I hope the Black Hills 50 has a lot of trail running!

12 miles for the day as 8 in the AM and 4 in the PM.

Conflict

Turmoil at home...peace in the woods.

Used the first mile to take care of an errand by returning a DVD rental then finished on the trails.

7 miles

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.

Recovery

Intentionally headed out for an easy day and it was a good thing.  The overnight temps in the teens and then the sun shining on the ice meant very slick portions to the trail.  I saw several other runners today and each one was slipping on ice at some point while in my sight.

I was pleased to come across a new cache of black walnuts that I bagged for cracking to replace what I've already eaten from last fall's stash.

working on the approx. 65 new walnuts picked up today

9 miles and it took me longer than what I was able to run yesterday's 15 mile practice but enjoyable in a different way.  An additional mile walk just before dusk...felt good to get out a second time and loosen up a bit.

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