157 LostTrailRunner Podcast

I did have a base to run a short trail race, a 5K that I ran out at Chattahoochee Point. Music.

Welcome to episode 157 of the Lost Trail Runner podcast. We'll be right back. Music. Well, I've finally broken down and started another podcast episode. I have a tendency to procrastinate and procrastinate until I finally just get sick and tired of it and go ahead and do it. So I finally got to that point. I really don't know where to start except it's been really low key on my running since my fall, which was a while ago.

I did have a base to run a short trail race, a 5K that I ran out at Chattahoochee Point without much training. So, of course, I ran almost a minute slower than I normally run it, but maybe a little bit more than a minute slower. I don't know. I'd have to figure it out. But thanks to Tim, the race director, for having an 80-plus age group so I wouldn't have to race against the young guys in the 75, 79 age group.

And then, of course, I won that age group. It's amazing. Of course, I was the only person in that age group, but I still did it, and that's all that counts. And that race was on October 12th, so you can see how long it's been.

What's today? Today is the 18th of November, so it's been over a month since I did that trail race, and I'm just now saying anything about it. I ran it out at Chattahoochee Point, and after the race, I got out my new little drone, my DJI Neo, and let it follow me on the trail as I ran, just testing it out. I really like that little thing. It runs by itself. You don't have to do anything but turn it on and tell it what you want it to do, and it'll do it.

It has six different functions that it does, and the one function I use most is it'll follow you. You get behind you and just follow you as you run. Wherever you go, it goes, and it doesn't cut corners. It's got AI in the program and it tracks right behind you. It doesn't cut corners. If you turn a sharp corner, like on a trail or something, it'll go around the corner just the way you ran, which is pretty cool. If there happens to be a branch in the way, it will hit the branch.

I mean, it doesn't have that obstacle detection like the more expensive drones have. It'll just keep on flying and hit something and fall to the ground or whatever. But it's pretty durable. And I've seen tests on YouTube where people have taken them out running and bicycling and things and gone through trails in the woods and they run into things and fall down. And they just get it, crank it back up, and it takes right off again. It doesn't break. So that's a good sign.

But anyway, I need to get back to my training, what I've been doing, which isn't much. I've really had a slump after I hurt my knees and my head on that crash on the trail my knees have been bothering me more.

And I'm getting over it but they still kind of bother me a little bit, they feel tight and so I haven't been really seriously, doing any kind of training for any races so when I did the trail race out of Chattahoochee Point it was just a whatever condition I was in I was just going to run it and if I was slow I was slow if I was in better shape I just ran better but I was kind of mediocre so but I still had a good K plan forever.

And once it, once I get through it, I think it's eight or 10 weeks long. And once I get through it, I start over again, just to have a training plan that I'm actually doing, you know, that gives me something that I'm kind of forcing myself to do.

Of course I do change things around. Like if there, if there's a speed session, I'm not in the mood for a speed session I'll take the same amount of time and just run you know like if I had a. Interval session that lasted for, say, 50 minutes, and I wasn't in the mood to do a 50-minute interval session, then I'd just do a five-minute warm-up and run 45 minutes comfortably and just get the run in regardless, so I didn't lose anything by not doing that workout.

But I really haven't gained anything either because I didn't do that workout where if I would have done the workout, I probably would have gained some speed where at the present time, that's not that important. The present time being in some kind of physical shapes, what's important. So that's what I've been trying to do is just be semi-consistent. I can't say last week I wasn't, I skipped. I walked last Monday. Then I took off Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Then I ran 30 minutes Saturday and 40 minutes Sunday. Today's Monday, and I just walked a little over two miles, not quite 40 minutes. Today is actually the off day for that training plan that I'm doing, so it's really no big loss. In fact, it's a gain because I was supposed to have a rest day, and I actually walked, which is kind of a rest day. I'm down at Lilburn Park. That's where I just finished my walk.

I've been running at Lilburn Park on the Greenway Trail at Mountain Park, and I've been doing more running at J.B. Williams Park over on the other side of my house, about two miles away. It's a little park, and one loop I can get almost a mile out of it, the way I kind of run a figure-eight type thing. And it's got a lot more elevation to it than most of the trail parks I've been running in around here.

So I like to run over there. And what was weird is I ran one time, I think it was a week before last, and Strava told me I was the local legend of J.B. Williams Park because I had run over there so many times and I was way ahead of anybody else. So I don't know if I'm still the local legend, but I was at one time. So I feel really gratified. I don't know.

Anyway, so I just restarted my 5K plan. And tomorrow will be my first run and I think it's going to be a fartlek run, and I'll probably do that because it'll give me a I think it gives me a five-minute warm-up and then I might do a little zone two for a while but then I think it's got like six, surges like I run fast for 20 seconds and then jog for a minute and 20 and then run fast for 20 and then jog for a minute and 20, like six times, which is no, you know, that's not a hard workout.

And then a cool down for so many minutes. And I think that's the first workout of my new training plan. And then mostly the first week or so, I'm doing 30-minute easy runs.

And I think the first week, my long run is 40 minutes and the second week, it's 50 minutes. so. Going to be doing that and then i don't have any races on the schedule that i'm interested in doing right now the race that i i would have wanted to do was the chateau elan trail race but after having crashed and burned out at stone mountain and kind of sketchy about running on trails right now that race was too much uphill downhill roots and rocks type of a run and I didn't want to do it.

I mean, I won it. I like that race. It's one of my favorite races, but the portion of the trail that goes through the woods is like that, and I just didn't want to chance it. I didn't want to crash and burn one more time. So it'll probably take me a little while to get over this crashing and burn stuff.

And then when and when I do probably what I'll do is start wearing bicycle gloves on my hands and maybe get me some knee pads or something so if I do trip and I crash I won't tear anything up and that that's probably the answer to it so I'll I'll try doing that and what else was I going to I was going to talk about shoes I've got a group of shoes that I kind of alternate I run through. My go-to shoes are Hoka Mach 4, Mach 5, and Mach 6.

I've got three pairs of Hoka Mocs, and four is the oldest pair, five is the middle pair, six is the newest pair, and I alternate those shoes. And then I also have, of course, I've got Saucony Endorphin Speed 3s, two pairs of those. But I at one time had bought a pair of Saucony Endorphin Shift, which is not a Speed shoe. It doesn't have a plate in it like the other ones do.

But it turned out to be one of my favorite shoes. So between the three Hoka Mok series shoes and the endorphin shift, I've got four really good daily training shoes. And then on my longer runs or when I feel like I'm beat up and want to take an easy rest, I've got my Nike Zoom Invincibles, which I run in, which I ran in those on Saturday and Sunday this last week. And they are really cushy and bouncy, so I run easier, and it's easier on my legs. So I like those.

And I just ordered a pair of Nike Zoom Fly 6s, which are supposed to be a really good super trainer. And I'm going to have to see how I like those. They'll be coming Friday, I think. And I get these super trainer shoes and I'm not running super trainer speeds. You know, I'm running pretty slow. But the thing is, is they make you feel like you're running fast. And that's all that counts at my age. You just want to feel like you're running fast. You don't have to really run fast.

And back when I first started running, Nike was my go-to shoe.

I mean, of course, back then, Nike and New Balance were about the only two around besides Tiger. And really, I had Tigers first because Blue Ribbon Sports was importing them, and Blue Ribbon Sports turned into Nike. So when the Waffle Trainer came out, I started wearing Waffle Trainers and then have just progressed along. And I've always had Nike in the background somewhere.

I don't get into politics much, so some people won't even wear Nikes anymore, but I still wear them whenever I'm in the mood. And I've got those Zoom Flies 6s coming, which are supposed to, from the reviews I've seen on YouTube and such, they say they're pretty good training shoes, so we'll see. And they've got a carbon plate in them, so they should have some bounce to them. And Zumex foam is really a bouncy foam anyway. You get a lot of energy return off those.

So if you put a Zumex cushioning in a carbon fiber plate, I think they should be a pretty good shoe. From reading the reviews and watching the YouTube reviews, they say they're like a good all-rounder. You could do long runs with them. You could do daily running with them, and you could even run them in races if you wanted to. So we'll see how they work out. But right now, most of my running is done in my Hoka Mok series shoes, and that's about it.

Today, walking, I'm wearing a pair of Saucony Ride 16s, which is a comfortable shoe for running. And it's good walking shoe, too.

Anyway, that's about all I've got to say for today. I'll have to see how long this recording is and whether I can make a whole episode out of it. So I'll see you next time, okay? Bye. Music. Hey thanks for listening to today's podcast we'll be here next time keep the emails coming in and be sure to subscribe. Music.