Winter is Coming

Winter is coming, that's for sure. Winter can be challenging for those of us who enjoy spending time exercising outdoors. In case you did not know, I fall into that category. I am the kind of person that needs recess every 2 hours at the minimum. Otherwise, I get easily bored, distracted, and generally less happy than when I get fresh air, elevate my heart rate, and explore the great outdoors. 

For me, my acceptance of the freezing cold weather, shorter days, and biting wind often depends on my attitude. If I have epic activities scheduled, I seem to have more energy to mitigate the cold grip of winter that can easily cause exercise paralysis. Let's face it, it is much more comfortable to simply stay indoors, eat comfort foods, binge some TV, and maybe try to spend some time on a creative project that does not involve gloves, hats, buffs and the delicate balance between being properly dressed, under dressed or over dressed. 

As I get older, the cold seems to be more daunting. One thing I do to fight back is to commit to some big hairy goals, make the intention to properly prepare for the events, and to remind myself of the Swedish saying: "Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder," which translates to "There is no bad weather, only bad clothing". It is a common proverb that encourages people to dress appropriately for the conditions so they can go outside regardless of the weather, and it is often taught to children from a young age.

As I mentioned, part of my process for staying active in the winter is committing to big goals and building a training schedule based on successfully attaining said goals. Also, I thought it would be fun to bring back my Blog for a while in oder to stay more connected to my intentions. 

So, here we go, what's on tap for next year? These are some of my big hairy goals. I have committed to some of these events already. Before I dive in too deep, I am going to be continuing my recovery from the November 15th RVA marathon and start preparing my body to take on these adventures. 

Date	Event/Activity	Type	Distance/Notes	Location
January 4	Snowy Owl 10 Miler	Trail Run/Hike	10 Miles	York River State Park
March 21	Dogwood Dell Ultramarathons	Trail Run	10 Mile Loop	Twin Lakes State Park
March 30 -April 9	Great Smoky Mountains AT	Backpacking	Week Long	AT/Smokies
April 11	James River Trail Runs	Trail Run	50K - also options to drop back to 50k or even just 10 miler	James River State Park
May 8	Cap2Cap with Bill	Long Bike	110 miles	RVA
May 10 - May 17	Trail Days	Festival/Backpacking	Multi-Day 40 to 50 miles	South Hosten Parking to Damascus
June 20	Night Train Ultra	Trail Run	Half Marathon	High Bridge Trail State Park
Jun 28	High Bridge Time Trial	Gravel Time Trial	19 miles	High Bridge Trail State Park
July 12	Seven Bends Acqua Blaze	Run and Paddle	7 mile (4 run/3 paddle)	Seven Bends State Park
September 12	Odyssey Trail Running Rampage	Trail Run	50K	Douthat State Park
TBA	Vermont Long Trail	Backpacking	Multi-Day	Vermont
October 3	High Bridge Half Marathon	Run	13.1 Miles	High Bridge Trail State Park
October 4	Pocahontas Trailfest	Trail Run	10K	Pocahontas State Park

Big Day Out: How To Take A Day Off

We all need some time off to ourselves now and then. For me, a day off from work can be like a little vacation. If I am able to do whatever I like, on whatever schedule feels right to me, I feel like I am treating myself. Afterwards, I usually feel pretty happy, content, rejuvenated, and ready to go back to the grind. 

Recently, I took a Friday off from work and had some little adventures. Nothing too earth shattering but I ended up with 9 Strava activities over the 3 days. Some of these activities were short but I managed a pretty active weekend. I thought I would summarize it in pictures here. 

Friday, June 14th

4:40 AM wakeup and drive from Richmond to Vienna, VA. Met up with my friend Bill at 8 AM on the W&OD Trail and we did what I like to call, "The Kessel Run".

36+ Miles with Bill

At the end of the Tower Climb

After my ride with Bill, I put my bike in my car, made my way to Anita's in Vienna and got some breakfast burritos to go. I chowed down while driving out to Great Falls where I had my first legit gravel ride on my new gravel bike. It was quite fun. 

After my fun but sometimes sketchy gravel ride, I decided to go for a hike and take in all the sites Great Falls has to offer. 

After my Great Falls excursion, I returned to Vienna, got cleaned up, and then went out with some family. We spent some time at Caboose Brewing and walked around Vienna a bit. We even ran into some long time friends and watched a few minutes of live music before heading out for dinner. 

Saturday, June 15th

On Saturday, I woke up before 5 AM as I usually do. Even if I wanted to sleep in, my body usually says otherwise. I ended up hightailing it back to RVA. I made good time getting out of NOVA but hit mega volume between Fredericksburg and RVA. 

When I got home, Melissa and I walked to the Farmers Market to get some fresh veggies. 

After bringing our groceries home, we decided to go for a short trail walk so Melissa could break in her new hiking shoes. 

Sunday, June 16th

On Sundays, I run with the Sportsbackers Marathon Training Team. After another early morning wake up, I ran with MTT. 

After MTT, I refueled and then headed to the park for my recovery walk in the woods. 

I love walking next to the water and listening to the birds. I had a very pleasant walk and then my usual trip to the grocery store. I had plenty of time left in the day so I decided to walk to the movies, watch a movie, and then walk back home.

All in all, it was a very pleasant long weekend of activities, contemplation, rejuvenation, and general fun. I am sure somewhere in there, I also took a hot bath. Maybe. 

Is Winter Over Yet?

Winter has just about come and gone. We have changed the clocks and the first official day of spring is today. I have to admit that this winter has been motivationally challenging. Last year at this time, I had just spent the entire winter training for a 50K trail race. I was up early every day, running long trail runs with friends, doing hill repeats, speed work, easy runs, and tempo efforts. I had lots of early season fitness as I usually do after a winter of consistent training. 

This year has been different for sure. I have been less enthusiastic about braving the cold weather, and doing a lot less running. In fact, I have felt like Homer. However, I have increased the number of strength training sessions I manage to get in, so I am doing a little more strength and core historically speaking. And, I have been riding my bike like crazy. I estimate that in the last month alone, I have biked about 420 miles. But overall, I am doing less these days, taking more rest, and trying to find a balance between couch potato and epic over achiever. Historically I am a "go big, or go home" kind of person in just about everything I do. One of my goals is to figure out a sustainable workout regimen that keeps the fun, offers interesting challenges, but also allows me to have time for other things. Right now, I am suspended somewhere in between lazy and consistent. 

I did start out the year running a bit. Despite not really training much, I did the First Day 5K on January 1st, the Snowy Owl 10 mile trail race the following weekend, and the Frostbite 15K the following weekend. All of that running without the requisite training did cause a few niggles and issues with various body parts including a little bit of a knee problem. So, now I am mostly riding my bike and trying to rehab the knee. I am hoping that I will be well enough to run the Monument Ave 10K coming up in mid April.

My next big event is the Cap2Cap bike ride along the Capital Trail. I signed up for two days. My plan is to ride from my house down to the trail on the first day, May 12th, and then complete the entire trail from Richmond to Jamestown and back. Since I am adding some mileage from my house, I am looking at a 110 mile day on the bike. I anticipate riding mostly alone on that day.

Since I signed up for both days, I will do the same ride on Saturday, May 13th. I am hoping I will be able to meet up with some friends and share some mileage and some laughs. Or maybe we just hammer. 🔨

So, who is up for some riding? 

RiverRock Bust the Banks Half Marathon Trail Run

 

It was a hot and humid day on Sunday in RVA. The annual Riverrock festival was back in downtown Richmond along and through the James River park system and the other open spaces surrounding the River. I have done many of the Riverrock events over the years and always have a great time. This year, I stuck to just one event, the "Bust the Banks" half marathon trail race. 

Of course, simply driving down there and racing does not jive with my preferred activity parameter of "no driving". So instead, I got up at 5 AM and left about 5:53 on my bike with backpack full of all my running gear which included my hydration pack. For this hot day, I had 2 liters of water in my bladder. Thankfully, a friend of mine agreed to let me stop over at his house and store my bike and bike gear. I then did a short run down to the venue.

Here are some details for the first two segments of my day of human powered movement.

Ride to Jon's house
https://strava.app.link/bK83zx7Weqb

Run to venue
https://strava.app.link/tw4fMgdXeqb

I arrived at the venue about 10 minutes before go time. I had a chance to quickly take care of business in the porta john before getting into the starting corral. It was indeed hot so, while I was up front at the start, I planned to take it easy. In addition to the heat, I had not really been training that much and had run one 5 miler in the last couple of weeks. That plus a few bike workouts was the extent of my exercise leading up to the race. 

The trails were fantastic and I had a great time racing! I paced myself well I think and managed to have lots of energy for the final part of the race on the Northbank trails. It was really a glorious day to be out on the trails, sharing my effort with strangers and thanking all the volunteers as I passed by. In the end, I knew I had done fairly well but later when I got home, I discovered I had come in second of 17 in my age group, M50-59. Not too shabby!

Bust the Banks Half Marathon
https://strava.app.link/YNaXXGgXeqb