Training Journal 10/22-10/28

Monday, October 22, 2012- Sunday, October 28, 2012:  I cheated a little this week on my training plan.  I added 22 extra miles.  Hopefully Coach Ian won't mind.  I did it by adding an extra run to several days that had only 1 run planned.  Part of me just felt like I wanted to be around 90 miles for the week (hit that number on the head) and another part of me just wanted to be out running as  much as possible.  Logistically doing 2 runs a day can be pretty time consuming, especially if you need to shower, change clothes and be somewhere!  I spent a fair amount of time doing exactly that.  Much of my running was on flat-ish trails and ended up being pretty fast.  My calf began to hurt enough that I cut my long run day down to 22 miles from 26.  It's better now, but I think all those 6-minute miles strained it a little bit. 

Monday: Cross training day, but did an easy 4.5 mile run (45 minutes, 315 feet of gain) plus 26 mile bike ride (1hr 35min, 850 feet climbing).  In Port Townsend teaching.
Tuesday: 16 miles total. 6 mile run in the early afternoon (50 minutes, 400 feet of climbing), 10 mile speed progression workout in later afternoon ending with 7min, 6:45min, 6:30 minute miles (1hr 15 min, 550 feet of climbing)
Wednesday: 10 mile farlek with 1 min hard running per mile, rest of the time easy pace (1hr. 25min, 500 feet of climbing).
Thursday: 12 miles total, 2 runs: 5 mile tempo in AM (35 minutes, 500 feet of climbing). 7 miles easy in afternoon (1 hr. 500 feet of climbing).
Friday: 22 miles by Lake Padden and in Chuckanuts focusing on fast uphills (3,500 feet of climbing & 3 hr. 45 min).
Saturday: 11 miles total.  7 miles easy in the AM on treadmill (1hr. 10min), 4 miles in PM practicing fast hiking (4-4.5 mph on 12 %+ grade). 
Sunday: 15 miles total. 8 miles in morning on treadmill with 12x400 meter repeats plus 5 miles of warm up/cool down.  7 miles in PM, easy.

Totals:
Run mileage: 90.5 miles
Running Elevation gain: 8,265 feet
Biking miles: 26 miles
Biking Gain: 850 feet
Total time exercising:  15.5 hours

The Leopard answers your questions

A number of readers of the recent Trail Runner magazine article had questions about my run.  I decided to do a blog post to answer some of those questions.  

Q: From Jeff: Is it still considered unsupported if you have someone in front of you acting as bait and chasing away wildlife?...
A: Wow, good question.  I guess so.  Of course it is safer and not as hard core, but certainly you'd get bonus points for creativity. 

Q: From Chris: Did Candice choose not to carry bear spray due to weight issues? Or was it inner bravado?
A: Inner bravado for sure.  Actually, my main defense from the mountain lions was camouflage.  I ran dressed as a leopard.  Which apparently close enough to fool a mountain lion.  Combined with the right mix of angry and scary music, Ke$ha's "Cannibal"--- I was as safe as one could hope and didn't need to carry the extra weight of the bear spray.  See picture:

 And made this face when I saw the lion:

 

Here's your best bet on a music video that will scare the mountain lions away.  When a leopard sings Ke$ha's "Cannibal" to a mountain lion, said lion takes it very seriously.   This may be due to the fact that the Mt. Lion and Leopard are clearly close enough cousins to be considered "dangerous" in a cannibal sort of situation.  Here's the song, think ANGRY+SCARY:

Q: What is one key piece of advice you'd give a newbie distance trail runner?
(PS I'm running my 1st 21k trail race in feb 2013)
A: Always make it fun.  If it's not fun you are doing something wrong.  It just so happens that I think suffering is fun.  Hopefully you do too, or you may be in the wrong sport.  Good luck!

Q: Congrats on an awesome run.  Any advice/wisdom you'd care to share ?
A: Wear leopard print when running long trails solo.  Bring food.  Don't filter your water it's a waste of time. Unless the water is bad.  Then you might want to filter it.

Q: From Reid: Pretty amazing stuff.  Any way to learn the details of her gear? 
A: I wrote a lengthy blog post on my circumnavigation of Mt. Rainier.  You can find it here: Mt. Rainier's Wonderland Trail Part II Intensified!  It has lots of that kind of info.  And lots of mental head games.  I used a Salomon S-Lab 12 pack (the bigger one). Two Ultimate directions water bottles, 2 headlamps.  I brought a rain jacket, running tights, gloves, hat, a long sleeve shirt, extra batteries, 7000 calories, s-caps/Ibuprofen.  All my clothes were packed in zip lock bags to protect them from sweat and rain.  I wore a leopard print dress with tan tights and running shoes of course. For safety measures. 

Q: From Brian: I have wanted to run the Wonderland ever since I learned about the trail. Not sure if I would try to swallow it all at once. Many have noted exciting wildlife encounters on the trail. Is this just coincidence?
A: I heard that there are more mountain lions than bears from a ranger on Mt. Rainier.  Probably not a coincidence, just a very wild place!

Q: From John L.: 93 miles unsupported! No caches, bears & mountain lions! How'd she do it? Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon. Did she carry her own hydration or hit streams? I can't believe anyone would do this without at least carrying a .44 pistol & a sat phone. That's one brave chick!
A: I drank unfiltered water from streams throughout.  No, I didn't get sick.  I do this all the time and have yet to get sick.  I do chose my water sources somewhat carefully when I can.  Cold, fast moving water is good.  Try not to get your water by camp grounds.  I have had giardia as a kid though, so maybe I have immunity??  I did run out of water several times due to poor planning, but apparently I survived anyway.

Q: From Kendall: Love to hear more of the effort and logistics of self-supporting at that distance. Nicely done. Incredibly impressed.
A: Thanks!  Check out my blog post: Mt. Rainier's Wonderland Trail Part II Intensified! for more information on the FKT.  Anyone with specific questions is welcome to email me at: runcandicerun@gmail.com

Lastly, in response to my Dad:
Dad:  Candice, great run, but I plan on buying you pepper spray for bears and cougars. Love Dad Great work keep it up.

Me: Dad, I am fine.  It's all in the leopard outfit.  And even if you buy if for me, doesn't mean I will take it with me.  No, I probably won't.  Very sweet of you, but don't waste your time buying it :)

Teaching & Running in Port Townsend

I spent the week in Port Townsend teaching Sports massage at the Port Townsend School of Massage.  It was fun to run and bike in a new place.  I got some good, fast workouts in on a relatively flat urban trail for running, doing a speed progression and farlek.  The Larry Scott Trail begins in the boatyard in Port Townsend and I believe runs out about 13 miles. 

Trail Runner Magazine Interview

The editor of Trail Running magazine interviewed me for one of their online pieces!  It's about my solo Wonderland Trail FKT and covers some of my race directing.  Check it out: http://www.trailrunnermag.com/people/q-and-a/article/449-run-around-rainier-

Rock on

Treadmill dancing.  Click on pic for closer view.

Training Journal 10/15-10/21

Monday, October 15, 2012- Sunday, October 21, 2012: Back on track and feeling really strong in my running.  I was just under 90 miles of running for the week which is very satisfying. Early in the week I overdid it by going out dancing for my "easy" cross training day.  Bad. Really bad idea.  The dancing was not mild or short lived.  Maybe 3 or 4 hours of intense, uh, athletic dancing.  It was really fun, but not so fun to try to run 31 miles (my long run day) the very next day.  Actually it was almost impossible to just squat down.  My quads finally, as of today (Sunday), feel mostly normal.  Other than that I got some really good faster running in this week and looked like a sissy trying to tip toe down the hills (ouch my quads, ouch, ouch).

I got new road shoes this week.  Saucony Pro Grid. I'm in love! I wore them all week, trail road, everything.  And I played with my blue wig that matches very nicely with my blue nail polish.  Just wait till you see the Halloween costume that goes with it all, oh boy!  You have to come to my Halloween party to see it though...

Monday: 3, or was it 4? hours of dancing.
Tuesday: 31 miles, Chuckanut Mt. 4,500 feet of climbing.  6.5 hours
Wednesday: 6.5 miles easy pace, 200 feet climbing.  1 hour. I really could barely squat today after the dancing and 31 mile run.  Poor body.
Thursday: 14.5 miles total. 2 runs.  Easy 6.5 miles in morning (1,300 feet climbing 1 hour). 8 mile fartlek with 1 min hard running per mile in PM (900 feet of climbing, 1hr10)
Friday: Progression Speed run, 10 miles, 1hr 20 min. 850 feet of climbing.
Saturday: Two run day.  Total of 11 miles.  7 mile easy recovery run in AM with 1200 feet of climbing, 1hr 10min.  4 mile speed walking on 12% grade treamill PM, coverts to 2,500 feet of climbing, 1 hour.
Sunday: Two run day.  9 mile repeats session on treadmill in morning, 1hr 20.  6 miles moderate pace (55 min) in evening= 15 miles total.  No real elevation gain.

Totals
Running miles: 88 miles
Running elevation gain:  8,050
Biking: none
Cross training: 3.5 hours of dancing
Total Time exercising: 19 hours

Drink it!

I'm doing some juicing today!  Makes a tasty post run meal/recovery drink. Today I combined beets, carrots, celery, spinach, apples, and lemons.  My juicing advice would be to try not to include too many high sugar ingredients (apples for instance), be creative and use celery, kale, spinach, ginger, lemons, etc.  What are your favorite juice combinations?  Tell me in the comment section!

Road Shoes and Fall Eats

I have new shoes, Saucony Pro Grid for the road.  Because I am going to run a marathon sometime in the next 2 months.  They are my first pair of road shoes in 3 years!  I can hardly believe it.  My favorite trail shoes are the Saucony Peregrines.  Hands down.  I guess I'm a Saucony gal right now! 

Showing off my new shoes

Some of the food we've been eating lately---lots of kale, potatoes, salmon, portabello mushrooms, avocados, and fruit like apples and plums.

Marina makes cookies

Maneater

AND....

Passion

Call me back when you

Training Journal 10/8-10/14

Monday, October 8- Sunday, October 14: Ugh, again I didn't want to write this post, but by the end was glad I did.  I really enjoyed adding some 1 min fartleks (hehe, yeah I'm in 5th grade) to my training this week.  Did a few double run days which I enjoy immensely.  I also went climbing (in a gym) for the first time ever.  It was a great workout and I hope to climb again soon.  I would also like to add more crosstraining to my workouts.   Between dealing with personal issues that have left me very low energy and work, I have been very busy.  On the upside, I've been scheming on my next business enterprises that will be focused on running.  I hope to make some announcements by Dec1st!  So here is the past week in training.  Hopefully I will get back to a  90+ mile week next week!

I've been working on designing the 2013 BTRS (see my shirt).  Bigger and better!!

Monday: A crosstraining day.  12 mile bike ride (40 min, 800 feet of climbing) and 2 hrs of climbing in the climbing gym.  Was nicely sore on Tuesday!
Tuesday: 6 miles in the morning (550ft climbing), 6 miles in the evening (1850ft climbing) on Orcas Island (at night) 6 mile at night included 1 min per mile of faster running.  2.5 hrs total
Wednesday: Trail run focusing on the downhills.  12.5 miles, 3400 feet of climbing.  2hr30min running time.
Thursday: Recovery run in the morning 6 miles (1400 feet of climbing), 7 mile fartlek in the afternoon (1min hard running per mile, 1000 feet of climbing). 2.5 hours total running.
Friday: 15 mile trail run on Orcas trails. 3,800 feet of climbing. 3hr
Saturday: 12 miles, 1200 feet of climbing.  1hr45min.
Sunday: 8 miles on treadmill. 1 mile warm up.  7 miles at half marathon pace.  Tougher than I expected because I am not used to running on flat surface for so long!  My muscles felt fatigued pretty quick, but lungs felt great. 1hr

Totals:
Running miles: 72.5 miles (about 15 less than I was supposed to do)
Running elevation gain: 13,200 feet
Biking miles: 12miles (yep pretty pathetic)
Biking elevation gain: 800
Other cross training: 2hr climbing
Total exercise time: 16hrs

But of course!  Village Books cafe.  Books + coffee=makes better lovers :)

Heck, on that note, I love running to this song! Warning, it has a little of the above innuendos...enjoy

Mythical Creatures

(Click on picture to see more closely) A little rendition of my retreat on Orcas Island this weekend. 

Another version:

Mountain Lake

Writing with my feet

Running Poetry

My feet write

messages on the trail

my breath mixing 

with the island's fog

A ray of sun touches 

the tree next to me

illuminating my metaphors

my arms adding exclamations

legs leaping to the next verse

Just Relax

Primary Missing

Leaf Music

I saw a leaf fly from a tree

dropping and diving with the wind

As I listened to a song on my ipod

I heard the music loud 

through my skin

The beat pumping my heart,

moving blood through my body

and sending me like the leaf

Dropping to the earth

and flying back up 

toward the sky

by the wind

Training Journal 10/1-10/7

Monday, October 1- Sunday, October 7:  This week was big!  I decided to take on a running coach.  I have been considering the idea for a while, and the timing felt perfect.  So I did it.  I had my first phone conversation with my coach, Ian Sharman, and we set up a 2-week training plan.  In 2 weeks we will set another 2 weeks...and on.  My focus is on increasing my speed and preparing for my next 100 miler: HURT 100.  So far, I really love the intention that is going into each and every workout.  I couldn't be more pleased with how training is going.  We started the week with lower mileage (~70) and will begin to pick it up to 90-100 mile weeks as I get used to some of the new quality workouts.
 
Monday: Track workout.  200-400-800 ladder + warm up cool down. 10 miles.  500 feet climbing.
Tuesday: 5 miles Sehome. 800 feet of climbing, easy.
Wednesday: first day of coaching! 9 mile run, fast on hills. 1700 ft. gain.
Thursday: 10 mile easy (course marking Mt. Spokane), 2,500 feet gain
Friday: 10 mile tempo on flat-ish trails.  Good, hard effort!  At Riverside Park, Spokane. 600 feet climbing
Saturday: Easy 7 miles, 1,500 feet climbing
Sunday: 17 miles.  John Wayne trail. 400 feet climbing. 2.5 hrs. Pretty flat.

Totals:
Running Miles: 68 miles
Elevation gain: 8,000 feet
Biking: none

Drowning

I had such an intense dream last night I knew I needed to illustrate it.  Seeing babies drown is such a traumatic event.  And my vision was only in a dream.  While I slept, I dreamed that I was on a ferry going to Whidbey Island.  The ferry didn't slow down for the dock, and the boat banged into it the dock, hard.  On the deck of the ferry a bunch of kids were playing, from 2 years old to 7 or 8 years old.  The impact threw all the kids off the boat and into the water.  Only one 7 year old child was able to float on her back, the others were either struggling to stay just above the water or they were drowning.  Even though I was with other adults, I was the only one to jump in the water after the babies.

I grabbed two young children right away but they were heavy and I was having trouble staying afloat. In terror, I watched babies sinking before my eyes.  There was nothing to put the children on and go after the drowning kids.  I treaded water helplessly, wishing that someone would jump in and help me.

I woke in that moment, feeling the terror, the helplessness, and the desire to save the children in the dream.  It was so real, and so hard to understand that it had not really just happened. 

A little FB fun

Fucking Puzzle

Aren't we all just pieces

Fit together like a fucking puzzle?

Falling apart at the seams?

A Days Work: Mt. Spokane Course Marking

All loaded up to course mark

One of my favorite parts of the job of RDing or assistant RDing is course marking.  I'm in Spokane right now working for Rainshadow Running to help put on the Mt. Spokane 25k/50k.  It is a lot of work to organize a race and even more work to orchestrate everything race week/weekend.  So I'm here to help everything go a little more smoothly. 

Mt. Spokane is a ~5,000 foot mountain that rises above the city of Spokane.  In the fall, the colors on the mountain are striking with reds, yellows, and every color in between painting the hill sides.  It's not a race you want to miss!

13onions

Rain thundered down tonight

And I ate 13 onions

One layer at a time

Heather's 100 mile Hallucination

Heather's Running Vision

Heather is over tonight and shared with me her story of hallucinating that she was riding a My Little Pony during the last 7 miles of the Plain107 mile trail race.  Naturally that inspired a little digital art.  Does this relate to running?  Heck yeah!  I have some pretty badass friends.  And if you, my reader, tell me such an inspiring story, then I will illustrate it as well!

No need to cook

 Sashimi grade tuna, baked kale (olive oil + salt), almonds.  Simple. 

Tuna!

Baked Kale

Training Journal 9/24-9/30

Monday, September 24- Sunday, September 30: Considering last week's emotional upheaval, this was a really tough week to make any progress on my running.  Somehow I bagged another circumnavigation of another mountain (Hood) and ran fairly consistently most of the other days.  I don't know what to say other than, I am emerging from this week stronger.  Like my legs that I break down during a long trail run, only to have them rebuild to adapt to their new demands, so too is my heart: broken down and rebuilding. 

A little self portrait for the week

Monday: 4 miles, 800 feet of climbing.  Sehome.
Tuesday: Day off
Wednesday: 40 miles around Mt. Hood.  10,000 feet of climbing.  11.5 hours.
Thursday: 30 mile bike ride, 1,500 climbing. 
Friday: 4 mile run Sehome, plus 10x10 second hill sprints. 1,200 feet of climbing
Saturday: 6 miles on treadmill.  Pretty good wqorkout actually.  With hills and speed intervals added. 400 feet of gain (in treadmill terms)
Sunday: 15 mile run in the Chuckanuts. 3,600 feet of climbing

Totals: 
Running miles: 69
Running Elevation gain: 16,000 feet
Biking Miles: 30
Biking gain: 1,500 feet