Back to cool and being cool.

It was below 100 all week! Simply amazing what makes you smile these days...I think I am finally ready to get back to do some running. Last week I had an ache to go out for more than twice-a-week slog, and I did two 10M loops on each day of the weekend. The second time around it felt incredibly fluid, and the running time was rather good. Perked me up, at least for a bit.

Sometimes we face challenges. Let me rephrase it - all and each of us faces challenges often enough to get tired. Tired of dealing with them, fighting obstacles. We want to just sit back and float along the calm river waters. Sometimes, even though we always know that we'll fall, dust off and move on, we get tired to even think that we'll dust off and move on. Sometimes the question rises: why bother? But we get up, dust off and move on. And routine certainly helps with this...

For the last 9 years my routine included running. It's nice to find time for gym visits, get re-addicted to Bikram yoga, do all kinds of other things. But routine is exactly this - a routine. I think I was somewhat scared that I may not want to ever run again. I mean, I took breaks before, but all of them were enforced upon me - whether by injury (and it never was more than a week break), or once I forced myself into a month off because I was told to do so. I never not wanted to run. I was lost in a search of what is my identity.

It is not that my identity is running. But I need running to keep figuring out what my identity is. To calm my mind. To find peace in my heart. To push through and enjoy it, or to back off and forgive myself.

It was good on a running front this week, somehow, somewhy. After the first couple of days, I joined (just as I had been for the last month, despite my official break off running) Larry for his Wednesday morning hill repeats (you know, so I hear no complains of what I prescribe as a workout, I am there as well, and I don't even need to be!), then ran Thursday to work, and Friday - back home from work. And funny thing happen, going opposite direction, what meant more net uphill and all incline, in the heat of the day at 4pm, happened to be faster. And it also happened to bring joy to work harder and start lans of races to be at next season. It was fun...despite the pain.

The pain...with finding another Bikram (real this time) studio in the area and getting 2 free weeks as a promo, if you know me, meant I squeezed every class out of it (every day, if I could find time, I'd have been there twice a day). It also meant that, while my left hamstring was healing nicely, I managed to push, proving some wacky point to myself, and get a tear in my right hamstring, now smack in the belly of it. At least muscle has more fibers to compensate for work and has more blood supply to keep healing quicker. That's what I tell myself. When did injury stop me before?

So Larry and I went to Bastrop park for a long run today. Haven't been there since October, man...beautiful trails, nice and soft, covered with pine needles and under pretty tall trees. Having weird temperature drop down to below 70F in the whee hours of the morning was an added bonus that made it a paradise! I practically froze on the first 3-4 miles, wearing no shirt. And it felt wonderful running long...Funny how our bodies may loose speed when not training for anything specific, but not the endurance part of it (by the way, my last loop gave me my second best time on this loop ever ran). I made 18 miles today, just like that, out of the blue. I always said, I can give up any runs, but not my long runs. Not the times when all is moving like a well oiled machine, the pace don't matter, stride is easy, breathing in tune...they lough at me at work because I mentioned I don't bother to come out for under 4 miles runs. It takes me that long to have any kind of natural movement, and I don't like having to feel like crap and remembering only this part once home. So I ran, and I smiled...all challenges be gone. At least for that part of the day:)

With 12-13 miles tomorrow we're doing (Larry is in best shape for his upcoming Bear 100 and going extra 5 on that), the week will round up to a nice number 50. This is where I like to be when I am off season:) Lets the real off-season begin...

Want summer fun in Texas?

If you want to know what are those tough Texans doing while most of the country enjoys cool mountain air, come and sign up for one of Tejas Trail races, this particular one also being sponsored and benefiting Team Traverse. Since it's 102F outsdide, the summer fun happens to be run (literally) at night, with races beginning at 7pm. And since you won't see me racing in the area at these temperatures, I am a main aid station volunteer coordinator every summer at every race of the series (my 3rd summer now, thanks to meeting my sweetie). The races go in circles (parks are not THAT big to put a 30 mile loop in it, besides Bandera), and I get to see runners and revive them (forcefeeding or sweettalking) a few times. Enjoy the picture story below.

The Legend Joe P. and me (after stepping on a snake).

The start of 30k and 60k.


Wardrobe malfunction – imagine how it looked from the other angle!

A client who had a heck of a race. Hey, you made my blog!

Aww…another committed couple!

HI OLGA!
I just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for getting my ass in gear and getting me back out on the course at Pedernales Falls. I don't know if you will even remember me, but I was crying at the end of the first loop because I had given up on finishing my first 60k. You had me and Stephen sitting in chairs next to each other force feeding us liquids and food. I CAN NOT THANK YOU ENOUGH! Volunteers never get the recognition they deserve. I am a relative newcomer to the ultra distance scene and I learned so much from you that day! I hope that one day I will be in a position to pass on what I learned from you. I saw how you bargained with runners who felt defeated and "compromised" with them. You put things into terms that they could live with. "You can't eat? Then just put the cracker on your tongue and suck on it." You told me "go out and walk for 20 minutes and if you still don't want to keep going, THEN turn around and come back." And "You can sit here for 30 minutes and THEN if you still want to quit, go ahead and quit."
Olga, I only started running in 6/2008, and my first marathon was 10/2009. I have finished 4 marathons and 3 ultras now. I am so new to the scene that at the race, I didn't even know who you were. I've read a LOT about you today though. It seemed like everyone else at the race knew who you were, so I just HAD to look you up, and I am in AWE of your accomplishments. In short, I want to be like you when I grow up!
I just wanted to let you know that I finished, despite not even having trained for the distance this time. My longest run since Hell's Hills in April was 16 miles last Saturday. I had planned to do the 30k, but at the last minute changed to the 60 because the cutoff was a generous 12 hours, and I thought it would be a really cool adventure to run all night long. Well, it was, thanks in part to you. I had no further issues with dehydration after I got back out on the course and actually felt pretty good at the finish. I practically sprinted the last 2.5 miles in!
THANK YOU AGAIN! and I hope to see you at another run soon!! I hope to complete my first 50 miler at Rocky in Feb, so maybe I'll see you there!
With kind regards,
MM#2053
AND while this was a great fun for me (and so rewarding in so many ways), I am not staying on sidelines for nothing. With over 3 hrs of exercise a day, every day, split between 3 workouts (weights/plyometrics, Bikram and cardio equipment), I am on a roll to hopefully be fit before I decide it’s time to start thinking about my next season and goals. So far, the plan is, well, not defined. I am running trails when I want to and planning to spend a weekend with Larry over in PNW, running and hiking trails and breathing air that is not boiled up.

Taking care of myself.

Life can be very unexpected. You can either bitch and whine and make yourself miserable, or you can adapt and try to make something of it. The latter is more preferable. Although I am not sure that a break in a running/racing season is unexpected…it kind of just crept up on me without my realizing it, but it is totally expected! And I am surely making the most of it.

I am learning how to take care of me. The “slowing down” in running miles throws the body into some weird spin of sudden weight gain without stopping the appetite. Besides, we (I) are lazy humans and think since we run, who cares what we throw in. Well, half of us anyway. And the other half is looking at food as correct fueling for the activity we chose to do. While I always thought I was eating healthier than 80% of population, turns out it is still incorrect, and definitely not what I need at the stage of my life I am in (and most of it has nothing to do with how many miles I run or not run anyway). So, the process has been slow – and it’s the way it should be to be a permanent change. I listened to ideas of Julie , then had an extremely helpful and thorough exchange with Ronda, and last, but not least at all, visited Meredith, who is a professional nutritionist to boot. So much information, absolutely great one! You kind of hear most of it, the world these days is not without easy delivery, you know, but you really listen when it’s directed at YOU. Kind of like coaching. 20% of having a coach/trainer is to devise a plan that would work towards your goals and with your preferences/life schedule/ability, and 80% is an accountability of really doing the work. Well, the split can be leaning more or less either way, but that’s the general idea. So, that said, I had made a commitment to take a hard look into what I eat, and follow advice of those who the plan worked for beautifully for a long time. Thank you, ladies! I’ll do you proud! I even signed uo for a local CSI! And I am allowing myself to spend just a bit more money on healthier products, which is a win in its own right if you know me:) The only way to know truly is through practical experiment and experience. Theory and speculation, if they are not followed by trial and demonstration, are useless. Knowledge itself is of little or no value if it does not lead to action. Henry T. Hamblin

It’s been a wonderful time so far, you know. I ran for the first time 2 weeks after coming back from Tahoe, with a Sunday group of Hill Country club, on trails next to our home, and it was so refreshing to have people to chat with, to not hurry, to look at the views I almost forgot…it took me a few more days to WANT to run again, on my own. And I did. It was a sudden urge, and I was delighted to have it, so, even though I was just back from a 90 minutes of Bikram yoga hard work, I refilled my bottles and jumped on a trail. With screaming and over-stretched hamstrings, I plodded along my usual route, and enjoyed every moment of it. It was hot, I was sweating, my hips felt weird – but it felt so natural to be there, on my own terms, knowing that next time will be if and when I want it. Like the next Sunday group run…and it also, finally, made me secretly plan my new races and other explorations in the next year:)

It’s important for me to do things I am drawn to. I would be petrified if I only ran because I needed to train. I never thought of it as such, but when I came from the DNF, I got scared because my desire to get out the door disappeared to zero. I couldn’t imagine doing it even later, in a different place, in the future…and that sent me to some quite depressive contemplation. But it also allowed me to re-access my life’s priorities and question reasons behind them. And that was all worth it.
I won’t bore you with revelations, or confirmations, or considerations, and so on. They are mine to keep, change and live with. And I know I’ll have many more…

The weight training has been great. I never considered it to be an “addition” to my running, but rather something I like to do just as well. I like feeling strong, challenging myself, get inspired by other girls pushing the limits, sweating, smiling, grunting…Time off running and the fact that I don’t need to be “fresh” for some intervals or tempo or such let me explore so much more in the weight room, it is a journey I am enjoying. I am consistently sore! But I am stronger by day without adding on too much bulk, and I love plyo. In fact, I felt better than my honey did on his personal plyometric workout designed for mountaineers – and he is in best shape he was in a while! What reminds me to give him a shout out – way to go! Larry’s been relentless in his workouts, with early morning wake up calls he hates, with pushing body beyond, and we see great benefits – the heart rate drops like crazy while the speed and endurance rise by big margin. The commitment he's made is amazing. One more month, and we’ll start tapering…for now I live my racing life through him and a few other friends:)

Oh, and my Bikram classes…OK, officially the studio is Sunstone yoga, but it is Bikram at its core with a few postures exchanging places and a few added ones (what I like anyway). In a month of consistent twice-a-week practices, the results are amazingly huge! It’s like my body remembers, and it’s coming back to me. I am up to probably 50% to where I was back when then, beginning with 25% residual “memory” I started in mid-July. I am so much more attuned to every small muscle I forgot existed, so much more solid in asana’s, and my muscles, tendon and ligaments are so much more stretched. My left (injured) hamstring is getting close to equal the right one, and I work hard on making it strong and limber at the same time. The difference I see in me is great, and I wish I could express how much it means to me.

I passed the National Board MBLEx with flying colors. They said they haven’t seen this score in a long time…just a prove that Soviet education was truly awesome. I haven’t studied since about 20 years ago. But I love new knowledge, and while I am officially a Licensed Massage Therapist now, I wonder what else I can pick up and study…because without learning brain dies.

I want to do so many things. I want to see so many places. I want adventures, I want goals, I want challenges. I want my life to never be dull, never routine, never boring. I want to squeeze every minute out of the day, wring the hours out, dream, inspire, do…You know, we can't get out of life alive. We can either die in the bleachers or die on the field. We might as well come down on the field and go for it! Les Brown