Running with the Cows

I love running through farms. Perhaps the smell of farms is not always appealing, but the sights and sounds make up for it. This past weekend on my twenty mile run I ran around quite a few farms. How do you know when a farm is coming up? You realize, oh this is not mud I am running on...it's manure. It is not the most graceful running epiphany, but when calves, goats and a plethora of animals follow shortly it makes up for any misstep into manure.

I have discovered that cows, while normally sedentary, love to run. Last year was the first time I ran past a pasture of cows and noticed how they all ran with me, galloping along with my pace. Over the summer as I cycled across the country I noticed cows running alongside my bike. This past long run I stopped and filmed two calves running with me. They popped out of their barn and came and ran the length of their (somewhat small) enclosure.

Of course, I also stopped to pet these cute animals.

Seeing stuff such as that is one of the reasons I enjoy running so much. Driving in a car you wouldn't experience this. Hardly anyone would get out of their car to go pet calves.

The view from the tops of hills are beautiful. I have begun adding in more elevation to my running. This past long run I added about 1000+ feet of vertical elevation in. I love hills. Perhaps that is a little masochistic to say, but I love them. They give you feeling of satisfaction at the top to go along with the view. Being strong going up a hill can be an amazing feeling, while feeling weak can kill morale. My theory is that I enjoy running hills because of my quad muscles I developed through biking. 

I have begun practicing running downhill as well. The key I have found is that one must lean way forward and  just make sure you and planting you feet directly under your hips. I bring my arms up in an angle less than ninety degrees. In addition, I make sure my shoes are nice and tight so I don't get any wobbling in the ankles or sliding of the toes. It can be hard on the knees, but with my bosu ball stands I feel my legs strengthening. 

New York has been hit by snow and it is only the beginning. Running through snow, especially wet snow, puts a lot stress on the Achilles tendon. Snow runs are some of my toughest. I believe that a snow run can effectively double the effort required for a normal run. It is a whole body workout. I feel my body twisting and turning. I feel my core being worked. When I finish I feel exhausted, and I quickly hit the foam roller to roll out my calves to avoid future pain. This weekend we are getting a foot of snow, I am ready with my micro-spikes and hopefully the roads will be cleared. 

Anyone have any funny or charming animal stories they obtained while running?

To Garmin or Not to Garmin

Garmins can be a curse and a blessing. They allow people to track time and distance to get a PR. Yet, if one becomes enslaved by their watch, checking it constantly during a run, it can take some of the fun out of a run. They can push you harder while making you type-A and obsessive.

I have always eyed my parents' Garmins and upon receiving my own I have had difficulty parting with it. It helped pace me in my marathon training and now it is helping in my ultra training. In the long hours spent on the road I have discovered a slight problem. My Garmin has eight hours of active battery life (give or take). I don't plan on completing fifty miles of hilly trails in eight hours. I have thought about purchasing a Garmin (or other GPS device) with longer battery life. However, today I asked myself if I should really do that and invest that money. A couple things helped lead me to this realization.

First, I was running trails and my Garmin 610 doesn't handle the small turns and minute changes in position well. Garmins triangulate your position with three satellites and the signals are not always strong enough to track every meter of your distance so they make jumps in position and estimate the distance in between with straight lines. This makes tracking a trail run...difficult -- times and distances are misjudged.

Second, because of the first reason I feel like I am running slowly and sluggishly. I felt like I was flying down a curvy hill but my mile time was reading 11:00 or 12:00. It made me speed up even more because I was thinking that I had to bring my mile time down. Of course this is a mental thing that can be fixed, but if I am running an ultra I don't need my mind to be telling me to drop minutes off my time. I need to go at the pace that feels good at that moment in time. Whether it be a 7:00 or a 14:00 I don't need my Garmin to be questioning my running.

Third and most important, it takes away from the beauty of nature. Now don't get me wrong, I love technology. My iPhone goes everywhere with me etc. but running gives me a chance to disconnect from reality and experience true beauty. Snowy hills, marshy swamps, wooded forests, I love it all and it puts me at ease. A Garmin can distract me from recognizing nature.

I do recognize the importance of Garmins though and perhaps I just need to try a trail specific watch. These are just some musings that I had on my run this morning. After all, Garmins back up bragging rights! I do recommend a Garmin to every runner who is training for distance or time, just be careful not to fall into the trap of forgetting why you run. For me, that reason is for fun, enjoyment, to release energy, and ruminate on life among other things.

Why do you run? What is your opinion on using Garmins or other GPS devices?

Let the Training Plan Begin!

I upped the mileage significantly this weekend so that I could start my training plan, and it felt great! I am now considering my base building done, and my training plan started. Eighteen miles in forty degree weather was nice. It didn't feel like winter at all. Wearing shorts, and a light top, I wasn't found complaining. I felt a little bit of muscle issues with my Achilles tendon as has been the case for the past couple of weeks. Upon rolling my legs on a foam roller back home I found the trigger point linked to my pain. I now feel confident that within the next week my Achilles Tendon will begin to feel better as I work out the tightness I found in my calf.

Appealing thumbnail photo, I know

For fuel, I got through half a Stinger Waffle, a bit-sized Mounds Bar, and two packs of Sports Beans (of course I split much of this with my mom). It was my first time trying Sports Beans. The packaging is clever, with a resealable opening (zip-lock). Yet, I found the beans slippery and dropped quite a few while getting them from the packaging, to my glove, and then to my mouth. When I did manage to get them into my mouth they tasted delicious and just like regular jelly beans.

I have read from multiple sources that during an ultra-marathon you can eat anything you want (give or take) as long as you take in about 250 calories an hour to avoid bonking. My mother and I are going to be testing this thoroughly. Today, I tried a Mounds Bar and she tried a Fig Newton. The Mounds Bar quelled my hunger and kept me going, same with my mother and her Fig Newton. Fig Newton's I highly recommend as they have good healthy fats, and a good amount of carbohydrates. Mounds Bars on the other hand are the opposite but it kept me going. Besides, I have an affinity for dark chocolate mixed with coconut. 

When I returned home I made us shakes with vanilla yogurt, peanut butter, Whey Protein, milk, and some ice. A solid amount of protein is packed into that! Eating foods dense with carbohydrates, protein, etc. directly after a run is very beneficial and can help speed recovery time. Some people eat up to five hundred calories within an hour post run. While I don't eat quite this amount I will have a shake, banana, chocolate milk, or crackers with cheese. 

In addition, refueling to replenish your calorie deficit and water loss will speed recovery times significantly and allow your muscles to rebuild more quickly. Not to mention that it will help make you less tired in the days after a run. This is something that I am starting to learn the hard way. 

With each increase in distance, the more I get excited for the race. I have been hitting hills where I find them with the mindset that every little bit will help on race day. Having all of my college applications in helps take a giant load of stress off and makes my runs more enjoyable in turn. The other week I was accepted into UAlbany's Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering Research program. It is an amazing opportunity as this program boasts some of the world's best facilities for Nanotechnology. It is quite small too, with only around 170 undergrads across all four years and close to 200 grad students. I am waiting to hear from other colleges, but it is such a sigh of relief to know that I have this. Being in state, I could save a lot of money if I went here over a private institution. Although I don't see many places to run around Albany (at least on Google Maps) so if anyone know of anything let me know in the comments section below!

I did the little video as an alternative to pictures so that I could show what I was carrying that day etc. Let me know what you think, and if I should do more!

The Race

I believe I have found the race! The Cayuga Trails 50 looks like it's the one. While it is challenging (over 6,600 feet of vertical elevation, yikes!) it is also close to home and thus I can get supporters a little more easily than if I were going out to Utah or California. It is the inaugural year, but I have high hopes that it will run smoothly. I do have mixed feelings about going to Ithaca, getting rejected from Cornell and all. It will be good inspiration to run faster!

Image Taken from http://www.cayugatrails50.com/

The race is held on June 8th, four days before my high school graduation. I will be happily limping up to the podium to deliver a speech, too sore to walk normally. I decided on the Cayuga Trails 50 over the Mohican 50 because the Mohican 50 is two days after graduation, meaning I would have to leave the day of graduation to head off to Ohio. I would miss all the graduation festivities and no one would be able to come out to Ohio to support me, save my family. Not only this, but I wouldn't enjoy running the Mohican 50 knowing that the Mohican 100 would overshadow the 50. While I don't know this for a fact, I would rather not take the risk with all the work I am putting into training. Thus, I chose the Cayuga Trails 50!

The Cayuga Trails 50 is 40 miles of trails and 10 miles of park roads. The website says there are, "Historic stone staircases." Sounds more like a historic pain in my ass. Climbing in and out of the gorges in Ithaca will be challenging (and gorgeous), but hopefully my training will prepare me well for the elevation. I have never been afraid to take on massive inclines!

Cayuga Trails 50 Course Elevation

I am not as concerned about ascending as I am descending. I need more practice bombing down hills. I struggle not to heel strike and place my foot falls directly under my hips while descending. Going down mountains, especially ones so steep, on tired legs is tricky. I hope my quads are up for the task.

My mother will most likely run the race with me. She says that we will have to wait and see how she feels as training mileage increases, but I know she is going to run it. She would feel let down if I ran it and she only watched! In my mind it seems a no-brainer seeing as how she can run it and always get lots of help and motivation at the aid stations that are placed every four miles.

Image Taken from http://www.cayugatrails50.com/

So for right now my biggest fear is not the elevation or lack of motivation. It is the river crossings. How does one cross a river and keep running without their feet feeling like bricks and their toes getting blistered? Something I have yet to discover...

There seems to be a good population of runners from all over the east-coast currently signed up. Comment with anything you have heard about this race or if you are participating! I would love to hear from you.

Snowy Holiday Runs

After being sick for a week and finishing up writing college applications, I can finally get back on top of my running. It is always hard not running for so long. Of course I fit in runs when I could, but it wasn't enough. Or at least I felt like it wasn't enough. It was probably more than my body should have had when it was sick.

One day I tried to get out to run but had to stop after a mile because the world was spinning and I was short of breath after going a ten mile pace. I had a cold along with a sinus infection, or something of the sorts. I was prescribed Amoxicillin and I was healed up soon after. As my training log shows, it was slow recovery. Then, if I hadn't been out of the game long enough I had to crack down and write essay after essay for college applications.

I don't think I am alone in worrying that I will loose shape after a mere week or two of not running. It is not a fun feeling but all endurance athletes must learn it takes longer than a week to fall out of shape. It is better to take the time off running rather than push ones body while it is trying to recover. Doing so can make the sickness last much longer and jeopardize training.

In my household we celebrate Christmas and by the 25th I was just about all better. From my parents I received a beautiful pair of Salomon XT S-Lab 5 trail shoes (be expecting a review soon), along with other running goodies such as micro-spikes and Vaseline! I gave my mom the Nathan Endurance vest. Excited by out new gifts, we hit the trails in Fahnestock Mountain Park. After getting lost and turned around a few times we managed to squeeze out 6.5 miles in our first run on snowy trails. We were quite the sight! I managed to not slide anywhere thanks to the grips on my new shoes, but I hit almost every puddle of mud the trail had to offer. My mom was a whole other story. She was wearing regular road shoes and was sliding all over the place. She made it an important point that she did not fall however (she just looked like someone ice skating for the first time). So our Christmas run ended on a happy note and we subsequently went home to cook up some ham.

Shortly after Christmas we were hit with more snow. About four to six inches of wet snow accumulated. I was so excited by the prospect of trying out my micro-spikes I hit some snowy trails the moment I could get free of college applications. I didn't anticipate the weight of the spikes nor the strain that mucking through snow would put on my Achilles tendon. I did five miles in the snow. It was difficult and felt like I was running through viscous oil rather than on top of snow. No doubt it was fun, but up to this day I am still icing my Achilles tendon, and stretching it thoroughly after runs. If anyone knows of any good stretches for the Achilles tendon please comment (other than the classic hang your foot off a step)!

I have begun listening to a book on tape while I run. It is fun and engages my mind. Of course I still do run without headphones to take in everything around me and reflect on life. Yet, a book on tape is great for the times when I don't want to think and I just want to run. I started A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. This is the second book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series (or Game of Thrones as the HBO show and first book is titled). The parts where there is a lot of detail can cause my mind to wander to other things, but for the most part my mind is totally immersed in the novel.


I hope everyone had a happy holiday and a happy new year!

Sickly, Second, Unexpected Cutback Week

Being sick the week after a cutback week makes you feel deflated. You feel like you should be doing more mileage, and getting out there to run when in fact this is not the case. Yesterday I visited the doctor to get a prescription for an antibiotic that will help sinus infections. Snot has filled my head and is leaking into my lungs. It came just in time to help me write my college applications!

 I started running today and instantly felt light headed, dizzy, and ready to fall over. Every little hill felt huge. Once I got to the top I felt like all my energy had just been expended. My breathing became sharp but unable to take a full breath of air I would just end up feeling asthmatic. I ran a mile. A single mile. When I came to halt I was swaying back and forth. I looked like a tower in an earthquake. I got some good advice right then from my mom. I could keep going and attempt to finish the long run, or I could stop then and not set my body and immune system up to be weakened. I decided that it was better if I stop today so that I may run strong again sooner. Let's hope I made a smart decision.

Winter break has started, and with it comes a sense of relief -- half way done with senior year. However, at the same time it brings nostalgia. It makes me remember all the good times that I have had at school that I will miss. I started attending Poughkeepsie Day School (PDS) in seventh grade. My parents wanted to help hone my creative abilities so they switched me out of the public school system. I reluctantly left my public school, with me I brought the criticism of my friends who stayed behind. It hurt to be considered so different from them, but I soon pushed those thoughts away as I began to meet new people at school.

I made my first friends through music. Able to pick up a guitar and strum a few chords, I could hang out with them at lunch and play some tunes. Neutral Milk Hotel's song In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the song we played, over and over. Being only four chords it didn't keep us interested all that long, but those four chords helped me make friendships that will span my entire life.

As school progressed and I entered high school I had come to know everyone in the middle and high school (about 150 kids in total). I began to enjoy learning for the sake of learning and I was exploring different clouds of thought and viewpoints. The athletics were nothing special though. It is expected being a liberal arts school. I started the school's varsity cross-country team when I was in seventh grade. Our team never got higher than tenth out of twelve schools. We struggled to get wins, but we never struggled to find happiness. Unlike the teams who were winning but had coaches screaming at them, our team coach gave us strong encouragement and never yelled. Even though we didn't win we were always the ones walking back to our team van with smiles.

This team has taught me the joy of doing something just for the sake of doing it. It taught me the end result is only a small part of something, and that the journey is often the memorable and honorable part. If you do something you love, you are going to be great at it. I didn't care if we won or lost I just enjoyed spending time with the team and running. I progressively ran more and more as I entered high school. Not to win, just to do it because I loved it.

In my junior year I won the first race of the season. I won the second, the third, the fourth. I kept winning. I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even doing interval training. I was just running because it brought me peace. In most of the photos taken of me during cross-country I am smiling, or waving at the camera, trying to share how I felt. Throughout that season, even though we were doing well, we never lost sight of who we were when we started. Our coach still never yelled, we didn't brag, and we always got on our van with smiles.

This past season our team got out strong. As a team we won about five meets including the championship. I won every single one of those meets (not to toot my own horn or anything). I don't have a concrete thing I did to prepare. I didn't have a rock-solid training plan to attribute my wins to. I just got out there and ran with a few things in my mind: 1) What a beautiful day! I wonder if running makes everyone this happy. 2) Ignore that pain, there is only two more miles...one more mile...a half of a mile... 3) How could I ever think about giving up when my team is working so hard. 4) I wonder if these shorts look O.K. for the camera around the bend.

Our team started from nothing, and rose to victory, all on a feel-good spirit. I am hoping that they continue the winning streak next year when I am gone. The school keeps e-mailing me, asking for me to return my singlet. I think to myself no way, this is my memento.

One thing I would like to see improved next year is increased participation of females. Our inaugural team had around five girls and three boys. This year we didn't even have enough girls at any of the meets to qualify (although one of the girls who did race got first in the championship). I believe it is because it can be intimidating for girls to come out and run with the team which is male dominated. I have thought long and hard about how to fix this. The team has always been accepting of everyone, but they still feel like they need to have a friend there in order to run with the team. However, one of the girls on the team (the one who won) has set a great example and will hopefully be a beacon of hope for attracting more girls to the team next year.  

If anyone has any thoughts on how to garner interest in a cross-country team please leave a comment below. Of course, you can also leave any questions, comments, or concerns you may have! Hope everyone else's week hasn't been so filled with tissues and snot!

Cutback Week Woes

Cornell denied me admission. Even though it was a cutback week and my achilles tendon had been a little sore, I got out the next morning and ran ten miles. I didn't run out of spite, out of anger, or anything of the sort. I just ran. The run finished quickly, and while I wanted to keep going, I had school and it was cut back week after all. My head was cleared and I felt optimistic as I drove to school. The advantage of going to a small liberal arts school is that news spreads quickly, so I only had to tell a few people of my rejection and then everyone knew to not bring it up. A few offered condolences, saying I'm sorry, you should have gotten in. That didn't make it any better. My best friend said the best thing to me. I'm sorry, and I am not going to say you shouldn't have gotten in. I am sure you have heard that enough. Just know you will be happy wherever you go. To back that up, a different friend of mine sent me an interesting TED Talks video (see video below) that dealt with synthetic happiness. This is your body's ability to adapt and be happy no matter what happens. The video quickly digressed into other TED Talks on vultures and the likes (very cool and distracting), but that video stuck with me.


I went to tech the school play that night feeling optimistic. I felt like I had plenty of opportunities to explore, and maybe the rejection from Cornell wasn't such a bad thing because I could cast a net out and see what I hauled in and choose from those schools. I was sitting there, working the sound board when I got an e-mail from University of Michigan. I was deferred. My body went numb all over again. I couldn't leave either, I couldn't do anything. I had to sit and tech the production for another hour and a half. It was a long hour and a half to say the least. I was still a little shell-shocked from Cornell so this one didn't hurt as badly. But, it still sucked. My confusion and worry about college only increased. It made me doubt my abilities, my extra-curricular activities, everything. It was hard to find the silver lining (my mom and aunt's favorite expression). I tried dealing with it the way Scott Jurek would deal with it. I told myself that yes, I didn't get in. Yes, it does suck. But, can you do anything about it? No. So why are you stressing over it and shooting yourself down for something that out of your control. you just have to keep plugging away. I put my head down, and I got to work, looking at other schools that very night.

While I got over the actual decisions fast, the confusion, doubt, and over-all curiosity of what I should do in college still loomed over my head. It is still weighing my down whether I should continue with engineering or go a different route. I am fascinated and get electrified talking about organic chemistry, the body, and physical therapy. Who knows, and that is something in the coming weeks and months and years I will be figuring out. All I can say is that for the time being my college list has grown exponentially to cover all the bases. This means that the next few weeks will be college essay writing and running.

Today, my mother and I did a long run of 9.5 miles. It was our cutback week so we did it close to home, on roads, at a slower pace. It was a quiet run, as I was not in the best mood due to trying to figure out my life. Although I was grumpy my mom still ran with me and for that I give her a lot of credit. She has a way of being able to put up with a lot. She always gives me a lot of good advice on these long runs which I internalize more than I lead on to show (you know, have to look manly!).

My body felt rather tired and my knees were a bit achey. I blame it on the stress and not being able to relax my body as well as I should have. My achilles tendon felt good though, which is a plus since it felt rather tweaky this week. I rehabbed it a lot this week, icing, rolling out my feet, and massaging it whenever I could get the chance. People at the school play gave me weird looks when they walked by the tech booth and saw me working sound with one hand and massaging a foot with the other.

This week I have also resumed doing core work and strengthening. I originally started in August doing about a half an hour of work outs a night. I did it consistently, until around thanksgiving, and have just started up again. It's not always about doing it every night as much as it is about keeping it up throughout your athletic career (an example of noteworthy mother advice).

My sister came home this week from college. She is a junior Macalester College in Minnesota. It is nice for her to be home, just in time to see the Hobbit with me!

Be sure to comment if you have any questions, comments, concerns! Anything is welcome and appreciated!