Running Journal, Saturday, 2010-05-29

Running Journal, Saturday, 2010-05-29
Resting heart rate: 87 bpm (60 second test about two hours after exercise)
Body Mass Index (BMI): 23.55
Weather: pleasant, sunny
Temp: 27 C (80.6 F)
Time: 6:15-8:05 p.m. (1:50:00)
Distance: eight miles
Terrain: flat

Comments: We passed a mother wild turkey and her flock of eight children on the trip down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the American River. I turned down the car fan and we listened to the noises of the chicks walking through the straw on the hillside. On Jim's Bridge a line of fishers plied the waters. A small boy, pants and lower shirt wet, charged into the water to chase the mallard ducks away from shore. No Dutchman's Pipe that I could see. I ran about eight miles today, from mile 20.0 to 24.0 and back. They (SACDOT) are really tearing up the Hazel Avenue bridge; it will be completely shut down from June 11-14. The run up the bridge over the American River is challenging but the run up to the top coming back even more so; really steep those last few meters. On Nimbus Lake a row of white pitched canopies was the only thing left of the NCAA Women's National Rowing Championships, which concluded today. The bluffs of the American River are such dramatic backdrops for training. After turning around, running back down the Hazel Avenue bridge felt great. I coasted across to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery and mile marker 22.5 and kept going, thinking my legs would last forever. For one four-minute block of time, I ran a half-mile. The next half-mile, not so much--about six minutes. At that point my calves were killing me, so I slowed it way down and coasted. At mile 20.5 I thought, screw it, I'm going to finish strong, and ran all-out for the last half-mile, completing it in four minutes. My calves were killing me but walking to Sunrise Bar and across Jim's Bridge helped. The bugs were out tonight after the sun set. A small girl walking across Jim's Bridge noticed a great egret near the shore and exclaimed, "Daddy, look, a swan! Can I go down there?" Responding to her father's denial, she responded, "There are probably sharks and stuff down there, right?" Her father and I laughed. The fishers were swarmed by bugs as I walked past. An young asian girl asked her partner, "Hey, check if The Karate Kid opens tonight!" (it doesn't; June 11). On the north shore, two Slavic fishers were returning and exchanging parting farewells. The water fountains was not connected at Sunrise Bar, so I had to wait until I got home before refilling. So glad I did not do 10 miles; it would have been really late and I probably would have been locked in again by the rangers, not to mention how crappy I would have felt with two additional miles on my poor out-of-shape legs. I am really getting interested in identifying all the various flora and fauna around the parkway.

Weight (after exercise): 80.6 kg (177.69 lb), 18% body fat
Any irregular feelings, aches, pains, heart rate, and so forth?: Sore calves
Foods eaten today: oatmeal + raisins + banana, multi-vitamin, grapefruit, cottage cheese, pumpkin-filled bolani, spinach salad with non-fat feta cheese + pear vinaigrette dressing + shredded carrots + cherry tomatoes + cheesy-garlic croutons + sprouts + sunflower microgreens, orange juice + vanilla whey protein powder, Siggi's Orange and Ginger skyr yogurt (Icelandic; holy 16g of protein, Batman)