Wood Ducks Are Back

They are such curious creatures.  He is quite colorful, she is drab, but together they are searching the trees for a place to build their nest, suitably close to water.  They arrive each spring, flying from one tree to the next, checking out knotholes and other potential living spaces.

After they find their new home, we likely won't see them again.  They'll be in and out of their home, but they don't sit on the front porch or in the trees.  When all of their chicks are born they will boot them out of the house, collect them on the ground, and parade them to the relative safety of the open water.

Thursday, April 17, 2014:

Because of overnight snow and cold weather, we ran in the YMCA again.  The left hamstring warned me right away, just a little, so I switched to 100% walking immediately, rather than exacerbate that injury.  It doesn't hurt at all when I walk.  Maybe it isn't really a serious injury, it hurt very little today and not too much more yesterday, but I'm not taking chances ten days away from the next marathon.

Splits: 12:58, 13:00, 12:51, 12:39, 8:48 (9/13 mile), total time 1:00:15, distance 4.7 mi, pace 12:49.  Add 30 seconds per mile because one mile on that track may actually be 13.5 laps rather than 13; the pace would be about 13:19.  That pace would result in a marathon time of 5:49 if it were sustainable.  Although I was staying on pace in the run, even speeding up in the later miles, I was absolutely walking as fast as I could, and probably would have to slow down eventually for one reason or another.  Let's not forget nature breaks, too.

This marathon has a 6:00 hour limit, so if the hamstring is still acting up by then I will need to walk just as fast as I can, and hopefully also run enough to make the 6:00 hour pace, one way or another.

Wednesday, April 16:

I started to do a regular run/walk on the YMCA track, with a ratio of 2 to 3, but my left hamstrings hurt a little when I ran.  If this is a problem, it may not be a small one.  I’ve had my running career sidetracked before by a pulled hamstring in the other leg, and it took weeks to heal.  Since we have a marathon in less than two weeks, I can’t afford to provoke those complaining hamstrings.

After a few laps I stopped running and tried three different kinds of elliptical machines, but didn’t really like any of them.  Because it didn’t hurt to walk, however, even when I walked as fast as I could, I walked for the rest of the 40 minutes that we three had agreed on.  I didn’t bother to time all of the walking, but I timed one mile at 13:30. I suspect that a mile on that track is more than the advertised 13 laps though, maybe 13 1/2, so my time for one mile would probably be 14:00 or so when I’m fresh.

Since a time of 14 minutes/mile would result in a marathon of 6:07 with no nature breaks, and two or three of those seem to be required these days, and I do tire toward the end of 26 miles, I will definitely have to run at least some of the way to make the 6:00 time limit.  I need to treat those hamstrings very carefully for the next few days.

Tuesday, April 15:

More running on the YMCA track.

Run/walk ratio for the first four miles was 40/100, and for the last mile 60/75.

Splits: 11:57, 11:40, 11:35, 11:50, 11:04, total 58:06, five miles, overall pace 11:37.

Monday, April 14:

Because of the potential blister on my right foot I took the YMCA’s treadmill this time, running at 5 mph (12 minutes/mile) for 60 minutes.  No problems, except I believe that I can run that distance in less time, or in the same time with less effort, by doing a run/walk instead.  In fact I’m sure of it.

Saturday, April 12:

We three ran on the park's paved trails again today, agreeing on a 45-minute run.  I ran 3.8 miles in 41:28, for a pace of 10:55.

Whining: I think that a blister has started on the inside of the ball of my right foot.  I'm probably turning my foot toward the inside as I run, to reduce the pressure on the wart that is on the other side.

Friday, April 11:

I ran 5.37 miles on the paved trails, a new route, just open today, sufficiently free from snow. The grass trails are still closed, and I can't wait for them to open.  I ran/walked 2/3, finishing in 1:00:49, for a pace of 11:19.

No whining.