The Red Devil is back!!

Lara took all this week off and wanted to do some riding.  The first few days I had to get some shoeing in and make money to pay bills.  I decided it would be good to at least take Thursday and Friday off from shoeing horses and go trail riding.  Our last endurance race was Thankgiving weekend at JDs Carolina Ride in SC.  After this race I pretty much pulled the horses shoes and let them be through Christmas.  When we decided to go riding today I figured I better put front shoes on.  So Taz and Patton got front shoes last night.

We were going to drive to South Mountain State Park, but at the last minute this morning we decided to head for Latta Plantation.  This was to be Patton's first ride back since August.  We think he had a tendon issue going on and gave him some rest.  Needless to say I was really excited to hit the trail on Patton.  We figured the easier trails at Latta would be a good warmup back to getting him in shape.

We arrived at the horse parking at Latta just before 11am.  Took us a bit of time to saddle up since I was also fitting Patton with a new saddle.  We picked up a couple Wintec saddles off eBay for a great price.  My friend Christine let me try a set of eventing irons, which were pretty nice to use.  Patton had grown a bit chunky over the last few months of pasture rest and I had to use the longest english girth we had.  I ended up not using the breastcollar or a crupper and hoped the saddle would not move.  Compared to South Mountain, the trails at Latta do not have as severe a hills.

Lara was all set with Tazz and I had Patton all saddled up.  I put my foot in the stirrup and swung my leg over and found out what 4 months of rest did for Patton...aka...the Red Devil.  Boy was he ready to go go go!!  Had a hard time getting my other foot in the other stirrup and the Red Devil even gave me a little buck cause we hadn't moved on down the trail.  After a few smacks on the head, he stood still long enough to get my feet in the stirrups and myself set in the saddle.  And off we went.  It was hard to keep him in a walk.  The air was fresh and cool in the 40s and Patton was ready to move out.  Man I love that horse.  I was on cloud 9 being back in the saddle on him.  The new Wintec saddle felt comfy and appeared to fit him well.  We ended up riding in just under 2 hours and did an easy going 8 miles.  The saddle did not move one bit.  Typically you can tell saddle fit by the sweat pattern when the saddle is pulled.  Since we were going so easy and it was pretty cool we did not get enough sweat to tell fit yet.  We're going riding again tomorrow and the weather is suppose to be a bit warmer.  

Over all I'm very pleased with how Patton moved and seems well on his way to getting in shape for our first event in south GA the second weekend of February. 

 

Tazz did really well for Lara today.   Since he's dumped me several times, Lara was a bit intimidated by him.  Surprisingly Tazz settled right in and gave Lara an awesome ride.  He even led a good bit today and was not spooky one bit.  Looks like I'll be slapping some front shoes on Slick in the morning and we'll be taking him and Patton back to Latta again.  We'll meet up with a couple friends this time.

The day after Christmas

Decided to get on the treadmill today after taking a few extra days off.  I wanted to give my ankle a bit of a rest and figured a few days through Christmas was a good time.  My ankle still did not feel 100% before getting on the treadmill.  Planned on running about 20minutes to see how I felt.  I did a warmup walk for the first 5 minutes then started running.  The longer I ran the better I felt so I figured I'd run to the 500calorie mark.  Once I hit that I was close to 40minutes so I kept running to that point.  When I hit 40minutes I was almost to 4miles, so I kept running.  Once I hit 4miles I decided that was good and walked another 3 or so minutes to cool down.  This put me at a 45 minutes workout of 4.2miles.  Did more than I anticipated and feel great.  Promptly iced my ankle.  Of all the junk I've eaten the last few days I was happy to see I had not gained any weight.  I will now continue on with my couch to 10k workouts this week.

Week 10, Day 1

This evening I did week 10, day 1 of Couch to 10k.  53 minute work out with 10minute runs and 1 minute walks in 4 sessions.  Felt really good for the first two 10 minute sessions.  The walk between the second and third run I felt my ankle getting really sore.  Took several minutes into my third run session before my ankle was stretched out again.  Forth run sessions was about the same, had to stretch it back out for a few minutes.  Again I was close to 5 miles as the cooldown started, so I continued to run a couple minutes into the cooldown.  I set my pace a little faster tonight.  For the last minute and on into cooldown I kicked it up to 7mph.  I finished the workout with another 5.2 miles. 

This was a tough one though.  Seriously thought I was going to have to quit.  I pulled out the ice wraps when I was done and gave my ankle a good icing.  Now to put some biofreeze on it.  I also ran in my new Xterra shoes.  Figured it was a good time to work on breaking them in.  They felt good and I don't notice any rubs on my arches.

Now the real running and endurance training begins.

Week 9, day 3

Nothing too exciting to talk about with this workout.   On December 19th I did week 9, day 3 of Couch to 10k.  This day was also my 34th birthday.  This session consisted of 5, 8 minutes runs, with 2 minute walks.  With warmup and cooldown for a total of 58minutes.  I decided to do this workout on the treadmill instead of outside.   I needed to give my right ankle a break from the hard ground.  It's been giving me a bit of trouble since week 8, day 1 where I ran on the paved track at the middle school.  Doing some research and I think it's a tendon issue, not so much as a joint issue, which actually makes me feel better.  Picked up some Biofreeze to see if it helps.  Anyway, this workout went really good.  The last run session I kicked up the speed the last minute and ran until the treadmill said I had gone 5 miles.  Once the cooldown was done I had complete 5.2 miles.

Looking ahead at the coming workouts, I will have one more run walk run walk type session.  Then it will be almost entirely running.  I'm really excited to see how these last few weeks go.

I'll end this entry by sharing a link to a YouTube video that was posted on RunningAhead forums.  This guy's story and blog are so inspiring.
 

Week9, Day 2

Today brought about much welcomed warmer weather to the Charlotte, NC area.  Temp got up around 50 today and the sun shown all day.  Not much was on my schedule today other than 5 trims which I was able to take care of in the morning.  This left my afternoon open to go trail running again for my next Couch to 10k workout.

I chose to head for Latta Plantation again since there were many trails I had not ran on the time before.  This time I chose a route on the west part of the nature preserve.  Not only was I anxious to see new trail, I was also ready to break in some new trail running shoes.   I had wanted a new pair of trail running shoes when I read a tweet from @SeriousRunning about a 50% off sale at Xterra Footwear.  I jumped on the website and ordered the only color they had left in a size 11.  And wouldn't you know it, they were bright orange.  My endurance rider friends could have only guessed I would have picked these shoes regardless since all my tack is bright neon orange.  It was all too fitting.  I received the shoes the day before.  Unfortunately they did not fit my arch.  So I ended up getting a pair of Dr. Scholls Gel Athletic insoles.  They shoes now felt pretty good.  So off I was off to brake them in on their virgin run.

Todays Couch to 10k workout again consisted of 7min runs done 6 times with 2min walks in between.  Along with 5min walking warmup and cooler down, this workout was 58min long.  I started my warmup on Hill Trail and circled back around the equestrian parking lot and crossed the main road to continue on the trail.  A half mile down I came to Shady Trail and took a left.  This was a nice gravel trail that weaves back behind the Carolina Raptor Center.  This stretch took me about a mile before I hit the road and worked my way down towards the lake. 

At the lake I joined up with the Audubon Trail.  This trail was quite technical and slow going, much like Cove Trail.  However, the obsticles were not rocks.  This time it was tree roots.  The trail went up and down quickly along the lake and traversing the roots was harder than picking through rocks.  This trail also had a bunch of fun foot bridges to cross.  Finally got through the worse of it and hit a nice single track trail that eventually brought me out to a parking area.

I ran up the road a ways and took a left on a gravel drive that went to the Historic Plantation home site.  From there I took a right and proceeded to Buzzard Rock Trail.  After Buzzard Rock I took a right on to Catawba Trail.  After a mile I came out by the canoe rental and followed the road to Treasure Tree Trail.  This trail was marked with numbers, which I believe corresponded with species of trees that it was placed with. This was a fun but tricky trail again with tree roots.  It too had another set of fun foot bridges to jump on and run over.

My workout was winding down so I hit Hill Trail and turned to run around the barn and show arenas.  By this time my cool down had begun and I walked on towards my truck in almost perfect timing with a finishing distance of 5.5miles.

As I started out on my first run session, it took me almost that whole 7 minutes to feel like I'd warmed up.  I was feeling so good after that first session, that I continued to run through the walk sessions.  I ended up only walking at the halfway point for a couple minutes.  The rest of the time I decided to keep running.  Though there were times, especially up hills and through those rooty sections, that I almost decided to walk.  Yet I pushed on.

Over all the shoes felt pretty good considering this was the first workout in them.  They did rub me just a tad on the arch, but nothing that will slow me down.  Apart from the shoes, I'm still having some issue with my right ankle.  This is an issue that has stopped me from running in the past so I'm being really cautious.  Taking my days off is really important right now as I build my body up.  Hopefully my ankle will strengthen up as I go.

I just thought this was a cool tree and took a pic to share.  As you can see it grew horizontal and had two trunks.  Between was almost a perfect height seat.

Trails are more fun than road

Today I drove over to Historic Latta Plantation in the north part of Mecklenburg County, NC.  I was anxious to get out and run today despite the fact it was below freezing.  There was no wind chill and the sun was shining which helped make it feel a little more comfortable.  I was to do week 9, day 1, of my Couch to 10k program.  I'm actually a session behind where I should be cause of a stomach flu that put me out of commission for a couple days.  I felt about 90% better and had to get back on the program.  Typically I come here with my horses, so I was excited to go over these trails on foot for a change.  So I bundled up, started my playlist, my garmin gps, and off I went for a 71min workout. 

This c210k session consisted as usual of 5min warmup and cooldown.  Run sessions are now stepped up to 7min, done 8 times, with 2 mins walks in between.  Week 8 I ran on the asphalt track at the local middle school.  Running on the track was about as exciting as running on the treadmill only I didn't have a TV to watch.  The hard track took a toll on my feet and ankles as well since I was not use to the surface.  Getting sick actually helped my body recover a bit more from the track.  I need more hard surface training that the treadmill does not provide.  Running on the trails should give more variety and give me more hard surface training.  Here's the map

From the Nature Center where I parked I proceeded to the Hill Trail (see pic above left) which was a nice gravel road.  A short ways down I took a right at the powerlines and ran down a field.  We usually go this way with our horses, but his time they had bushhogged a wide path.  In a way it was more tricky since now there was all the brush stubble to pick around.  I startled several whitetail deer on this trail.  Half a mile down I took a left and went up another powerline trail.  This trail was not mowed.  Instead it was very overgrown and barely a trail, but I picked my way up the next half mile and joined Hill Trail again.  A short way down I took a right on to Connector Trail which had a fair amount of rock hidden under leaves.  This trail met the Cove Trail. The Cove Trail weaved around the northern most part of the preserve.  After another mile it comes to a nice overlook of Mountain Island Lake, which is part of the Catawba River.

Back track a short ways from the overlook and took a left to continue on Cove Trail.  Another half mile up I come to a sign (left) which I was to find out was an understatement.  I also found out why we never ride our horses on this trail.  This section of the trail had some major rockage and most were hidden under the leaves.  At times I was literally jumping from one rock to the other since that was the smoothest line to avoid turning an ankle.  All I kept thinking was, "don't twist your ankle...don't twist your ankle".   It may have been slower going and technical, but man what a blast.  Not to mention time just flew by cause it keeps you on your toes.  The pic to the right does not do the trail justice for what it took to run over it.

The Cove Trail circled back around and I joined up with the Hill Trail again.  Another half mile on this nice gravel road then took a right onto Split Rock Trail.

This was another trail I had never really done on horseback, so adventuring on it for the first time was awesome.  Much like Cove Trail, this trail had quite a few rocks (see left) with the added tree roots for variety.  Split Rock ran along the lake and had several spots where you could go right down to it (see right).  As you can see the sun was starting to set so I was working my way back as my workout wind down.  Split Rock eventually came back out on the main gravel trail and I followed this heading back towards the Nature Center.  I still had to find a bit more trail on the clock so I took a right to run through the Equestrian Center.  From there I went across the main paved road and took the gravel road back around to the Nature Center and by this time my cooldown had just about begun.

So far, this has probably been my favorite session since I began.  Considering I had just come off being pretty sick, I felt good throughout the whole workout.  After running those trails it really gives me a greater appreciation for what I ask of my horses.  Bottom line, whether it be on horseback or on foot, I was meant to run trails.