New Blog! New Trails!

After much consideration I decided to separate my running and art blogs. Seems easier to me, especially since I seem to have too much to say lately for just one blog address. The new site is Jen Torres Sculpture . I hope some of you will become followers and see what I am up to in the art world!

This morning I had a great run and decided that I would do some exploring to find possible new routes. Today was to be a hill workout and there are some side roads and trails off the Trace that have some hills and are also unexplored territory for me. I am excited to say I found some new possibilities! These images are from one dirt road that I found today. Didn't have much time to go too far but I am looking forward to exploring more!

Carrots for My Dog

Here's Frida, my little dog. Look at that tail; it's moving so fast you can't even see it.

Today was a good, no, a great day. I did my long run this morning, 12.2 miles, starting at 6:30 am. I am one of the few people that loves the time change. It was a fabulous day, cool (47*F) and sunny. I have been running the same section of the Rails-to-Trails (Long Leaf Trace) for my long runs for a long time. A long time. All the water stops are perfect, the bathrooms are clean, the pavement clear, the terrain flat, the woods lovely, dark, and deep. This part of the trail is like an old friend to me, predictable, honest and, well, boring. If I am going to keep up all these long runs until February I have got to find some new places to run.

I don't have any issues with running on the roads, I just try and avoid busy intersections. I just need to get out a map and find some new places where I can run for a few hours at a time.

There is some great countryside around here and I need to take advantage of it.

Mystery Solved

This weekend was stellar with how lovely it was. Perfect temps, great conditions and my body was happy the whole time! After that little scare last week with my foot I was understandably keeping an eye on things. Did a 24 mile easy ride with my friend David on Saturday and later when relaxing I noticed the same achy pain in my foot. Ah ha! Why didn't I think of it sooner? Months ago, when I was off my feet from running and pushing my road biking I had had a similar experience but much worse. Perhaps something in my bike fit or just when I am not up to par with my road biking it seems to happen. I have not been doing a lot of riding at all so I am not surprised. Since my ride on Saturday was real easy the foot issue was not any real bother. Thank the Lord for that! I feel relived that I know what the problem is and can deal with it.

Sunday- I got in a nice 6.3 mile run around the hood.
Today- I got in a quickie 3.5 miler with speed work, it was fun and I can see great improvements since my summer injury. Yea! My regular easy pace is the mid to low 10's these days. (I am a very slow runner) Today my half-mile speed intervals were, 9;15, 9;19 and last one was at 8:45! That's fast for me! Even the rest intervals were under 10 and acted more like short tempo runs in-between the faster sessions. I have been reading about doing more sustained speed workouts that have longer rest intervals but at a greater speed. Thought I would try it and it was fun. The best part of it was that I felt as if I could do more and I feel great in the aftermath. I am sure more of these workouts will help to drop my easy pace even lower!

Feets Feel Good

Yea. My little bit of extra rest this week turned out to be perfect. My foot feels good and I'm back on track. I have a bad habit or pushing through small hurts and then making them bigger hurts. I did and easy 4 miler on a hot, humid, and generally gross day, but the run was good and I felt strong.

On a fun note I got a new pair of Balga socks the other day. There is nothing nicer than running on new socks, and Balga are the best. Before running I never spent more than a few bucks on new socks and those were in a six-pack! Now, there is no price to high for comfortable running socks.

I am off in a bit to go get some paint to finish up my most recent Ghost Ship sculptures. I need to get them done so I can enter some shows and get them on exhibition.

Later!

Jinxed or Just Cautious?

Life can be frustrating and stressful. I seem to spend a lot of my life working around those ugly parts to find the easy peaceful moments and try to make them last. Kinda like spittin' into the wind, is mostly my experience!

In a few weeks we have a big event coming up at the University; the sculpture area hosts an annual iron pour. We fire up one of our blast furnaces (called a cupola) and melt iron to pour into molds to make art and other objects. Yes, this is the same way cast iron skillets are made, as well as engine parts, farm machinery, and many other industrial items. We have the distinction of having the largest furnace of any university in the U.S. We can melt many tons of iron over the period of a day and tap out a 1000 lbs at a time to pour into molds. Right now we are making the molds, these use sand and resin and can be hundreds of pounds a piece. Although we use machines and hoists for material handling it still takes a toll on the body, a lot of time on your feet, and since I am responsible for the whole thing there is also a lot of stress.

Monday evening I noticed a small but nagging pain in my foot. I am hypersensitive to injuries right now as I have had a few (always when race training) and want nothing to get in my way with this marathon. So I am going to do something uncharacteristic for me, I am taking the next several days off from running. OMG I can not believe I am saying this! The pain is not huge but I can feel it when I walk a bit, it's in the arch not in the heal. After running on Monday I had a swim session and may have hurt it when pushing off the wall during a flip turn. Other than that I have no idea how it might have happened. With all the stuff going on at work I need to be especially careful. It's really not possible to run or do my job without feet.

Perhaps I am going overboard with taking few days off, but I am convinced I am cursed when it comes to training for races! Mmm, curses... just in time for Halloween.

Training- since my last post,
Sunday- 6 mile run in the local hood and downtown
Monday- 3 mile easy recovery run, 1200 yds in the pool and lots of stretching in the evening
Tuesday- rest day (my long day at work)

Cold

Went for my Saturday morning bike ride, 32 miles. Whoa, it was chilly. I was dressed pretty warm, but when you are working hard you sweat, no matter what, sweat = moisture and when you stop or slow down, it gets chilly. And my legs were tired from Friday's run. Still, nothing a good hot shower and a nap wouldn't fix!

Also got in a hill run with my friend Ginny on Friday. She made me work, I'm not very fast and she's much more conditioned than I. Here she is chatting along and I can barley talk. It was hard work in a good way and I hope we can do it again.

New Ghost Ships

These are some photo's of the latest Ghost Ships I have been working on; Kickstand and Fins. The forms are now complete and soon I'll paint them, probably going to be some of the same red iron oxide I have used on other pieces, but I do like the green wire so I will probably still keep that color. The patina on that copper wire is so luscious. Don't have my regular camera so these are with my cell phone. I'll do better pics when they are done.