Let's Run Homey!: The Challenge of Balance

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Challenge of Balance

So, I’m starting to get a bit nervous about my training.

Why? I think it very important to keep a balance at home and try to make my running “invisible” to my wife and son. I typically head out for my run when my son is down for his afternoon nap. When Nataly is home, she usually goes down for a nap with Deneb so my run ends up being pretty unobtrusive.

Now though, my miles are starting to build and the training is going to stop being invisible. One thing which is particularly troublesome is that where I live, it’s mostly flat. Where I work, I’ve got hills, but I usually only go up there on weekends and that’s the only time Nataly has off. There are weeks where I go up there for a couple of days without Nataly and Deneb, but I really dislike making that a regular occurrence. I’m afraid that for me to finish Leadville, I’m going to have to do that. The question is how do I make it as invisible as possible.

Tough one, to be continued…

In other notes, this past weekend I knocked out a run Sunday morning on the Road to Bella Vista and got some decent shots.

I ran an 8 mile, modified out and back. By that I mean:

I ran 3.25 miles away from the cabin,
turned around and ran 1 mile back in the direction I came from,
turned around and ran .75 miles back in the direction I was heading when I started.
Finally, I turned around one last time and went back home.

The benefit of that is that I climbed the back side (more challenging) of the first hill on the Road to Bella Vista 1.75 times. Ended up with 1500 feet of climbing in my 8 mile jaunt.

The pictures are in chronological order.

Not 1 mile into the run…

Rocky road, not ideal for Vibram 5 Fingers or MT10s. It was along here where I suffered the strain and eventual stress fracture that limited my performance in the Blues Cruise 50k.