July totals and a graph!

I ran 9 this morning, consisting of my usual 6 mile loop plus a short 1.5 mile spur out (& then back) with the dog. It was warm & humid again this morning, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Now that I've ditched the heart rate monitor, my easy runs are falling in the 10:00 to 10:15 mpm range, which is fine with me.

Here's a graph of my running mileage by month for the past year. That winter slump was, um, slumpy. Oh, and most of those runs that are color-coded "Easy" in the beginning of this year were actually treadmill runs. I was too lazy to make each run that specific when I was entering in all of the old data.

Sixth Arctic trip update

Hit the X in the upper right corner of the helpful info box on the Rocky Defile so that you can actually see the picture!

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7/30 – 8/5: Days 31 – 37 On Trail
The Coppermine River from Rocky Defile to Kugluktuk on the Arctic Ocean
Our last section of the river includes a few sights, including the confluence with the Kendall River, Franklin’s Route to the Great Bear Lake, and Bloody Falls, a National Historic Site.

"Sir John Franklin, Royal Navy, with Dr. John Richardson, a few Canadian voyageurs, Indian hunters and two Inuit interpreters descended into the Mackenzie in two boats to the Great Bear Lake where they built Fort Franklin near the egress of the Great Bear River and spent the winter. Franklin and Kendall descended the Mackenzie River to its mouth and returned to Fort Franklin. In the spring of 1826, using four mahogany longboats, they embarked for the Arctic Ocean. Richardson and Kendall went east as far as the Coppermine River to map the coast. Richardson then returned with Franklin and Back, exploring west, discovered and named Herschel Island. They returned up-river to Great Bear Lake where they wintered, returning up the Mackenzie in 1827, where Franklin discovered and named the Peel River.

"The historic Coppermine River is one of the most popular of Arctic canoeing rivers. Used for millennia in the lower reaches by the Inuit, once called by others the Copper Eskimo, and by the Dene on the upper river, the river was first seen in 1771 by a European, Samuel Hearne, on his epic overland journey from Fort Prince of Wales at the mouth of the Churchill River.

"The Coppermine rises at Lac de Gras in the center of the Barrens, swings northwest to lengthy Point Lake, passes through a forested area and winds northward through hug rock outcroppings and great clay banks all the way to Coronation Gulf. Historically, the Coppermine was reached by laborious upstream or winter travel from Great Slave Lake, up the Snare, Yellowknife, or other rivers, usually passing through Winter Lake and finally crossing the height of land. The lower river was usually reached by crossing ridges from Great Bear Lake, up the Dease, over to Dismal Lakes and down the Kendall, a tributary of the Coppermine. Recently, however, most canoeists fly into the mid-river lakes from Yellowknife." From Canoeing North into the Unknown: A Record of River Travel 1874-1974 by Bruce W. Hodgins and Gwyneth Hoyle.


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They're going a long way on this section of the trip. Amazing how fast you can go downstream on a single river!

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Kugluktuk is at the mouth of the Coppermine River, in the upper right corner of this picture.

You've got mail

I finally got a letter from Big Boy. Here's where he was ten days ago, on July 17th, awaiting the group's food drop.


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That's the northeast corner of Grenville Lake. The letter must have come back with the float plane pilot. The stamp wasn't even canceled, so I don't know for sure when it was mailed. Zoom around on the map for awhile. They'd come almost 300 miles from their starting point and had another 300 or so to go to get to Kugluktuk.

Gone again

little boy hopped on the bus back to camp this morning. He's going to work for another week up there. I'm sad. I miss him and I'm jealous that he's going to be up there while I have to attend to the business of being a bill-paying grown-up. I also really miss Big Boy.

18 yesterday was fine. Hot, but fine. I finished 50 minutes faster than the 18 miler I ran last month. 8 this morning after dropping little boy off at the bus. It was hot and I felt very sluggish, but the pace was decent. Although I have my heart rate monitor back now, I'm reluctant to start using it again. The snail pace was starting to get to me. I may use it solely for recovery runs after my long runs. The chafing thing is becoming an issue, too. Any way I can avoid it, I'm going to. I got all my runs logged in at RunningAhead, so the totals to the right are semi-accurate. If I tossed in all the 0.45 here and 0.08 there that my Garmin reports to me, the totals, of course, would be different (larger, I rounded down). Let's keep our fingers crossed that this site doesn't go defunct, cuz I can't face entering all that stuff in again! It's too much!! And I'm really close to having run 4,000 miles. Another couple of weeks and I'll cross that border.

You may have noticed

A couple of new sidebars on the ol' weblog. First, I'm doing the 100 pushup challenge with a dozen or so of my closest running buddies (and coworker K is in on it, too, with her hubby C). I'd gotten up to doing 20 knee pushups (aka girl pushups for those whom it doesn't offend), but couldn't manage more than one full plank pushup, and face it, I like schedules. I finished week one today.

Then, under "how far i've run" I've got a new running log that will actually interface with my blog. I'm trying to get back in the habit of double-logging my runs, which isn't really the hard part. What's difficult is getting all the old info into that format, which involves entering each run all over again (and I've been running for 3 1/2 years, there's a lot of information!) because my Garmin software won't talk nicely to the RunningAhead website. I had saved my 2005 running log from the defunct coolrunning site and that uploaded just fine. I have all of 2008 logged and half of 2007. Another year and a half of entries and we'll have a real total for all my miles run.

Finally, there's Bike2Benefits, yet another log-your-workout site. They promised me something free and to let me enter a drawing for more free stuff if I signed up and logged my bike commutes to work. "Just bicycle to work or to a transit stop once a week over eight weeks instead of driving alone." I had to back track on this one, too, since I started biking to work in June.

Total miles by bicycle: 117

Estimated cost savings: $26.91

Estimated CO2 reduced: 115.34 lbs.

Air quality pollution reduced: 4.67 lbs.

I'm not biking today because I get to pick up little boy from the bus after work! And I won't bike next Monday because I have another dentist appointment. But next Friday's commute will be my 8th consecutive week, plus I still have all of August. We'll see if I can convince little boy to bike to school on Mondays and Fridays for awhile and maybe I can keep this up until the first week of October or so.

I can't wait for little boy to tell me more about this:



Photos courtesy of Jesse, the handsome young man taking the paddle from little boy in the middle picture.

Fifth Arctic trip update

7/24 – 7/29: Days 23 – 30 On Trail
The Coppermine River from the Hepburn River Confluence to Rocky Defile
The Coppermine River in this area is fast moving, mostly swift water with little or no whitewater, depending on conditions. Most groups report fast travel here across the border into Nunavut Territory and through the “Big Bend.” Rocky Defile is a huge canyon.

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You can clearly see the Coppermine River in the map above. The map marker A is supposed to be close to the Rocky Defile.

Another day another tempo run

I was glad that it was relatively cool out this morning. SO had to be in New Market by 5:30, so she left way early. I hauled my carcass out of bed at 5:20 and sort of lurched around for awhile putting on running clothes. Since Sky wasn't real happy with the last 8 mile run we did together, I left her home (I couldn't hear any howling as I left, but it may have started when I was down the block). I'm not neglecting her, she got to run 6 with me yesterday, and had enough energy to play like a goofball with our friend T who came over for supper last night. We had a fire and everything. The bees were out, but mosquitoes didn't really make an appearance.

Today's assignment: warm up for a mile, then run 6 miles at an 8:25 pace, then cool down a mile. Here's how it went:

1 - 10:54
2 - 8:03
3 - 8:08
4 - 7:57
5 - 8:38
6 - 8:12
7 - 8:21
8 - 10:54

I raced that little creep who lives in my Garmin and he claimed that I lost. So I was bummed out on the mile home because I thought that there's no way I'll be able to finish what I've started this year if I can't even do a simple tempo run, one that I could do last year (well, I am hauling around about 15 pounds more than I was at this time last year, but still). Um. I think not. I think he got lost along the way and wanted me to participate in his "I lost the satellite" off-course wanderings. Average tempo pace - 8:13. Overall average pace - 8:53.

Then, day 2 of the 100 pushup challenge, which went just fine. Bobcat was confused about the whole thing and meowed at me, thinking perhaps that filling his food bowl would prevent me from continuing on this quest.

Cool down paddle for little boy

Before I left camp yesterday, little boy took me for a tour around some of the nearby lakes. This was a warm up for me, but a serious cool down for him. We took a kevlar canoe (35 lbs, not like the 65 lb plastic canoe he'd been hauling around for a month) and a bit of lunch. We paddled from Bearskin Lake (where Camp Menogyn is located) to Daniels Lake, did the mile-long portage to Rose Lake (waved at Canada, which is the black & white area of the map below), hiked around Rose Falls, did the Stairway Portage (yes, it's really a stairway, and I'm really glad that little boy was portaging the canoe!) to Duncan Lake, then the last portage (I got the canoe this time) back to Bearskin Lake, where we had trail lunch on the water. I tried being in the stern for the last paddle back to camp, but I'm miserable at it. Apparently, I can't steer. I also fell in Daniels Lake cuz rocks are slippery. Although I wanted to stay pretty much forever up there, I left little boy (he's job-shadowing for the week as part of YCEP) and headed back to the Cities.

Back from camp

Just me, though. I drove up for little boy's Nor'wester welcome at camp. It was a really nice weekend and an added bonus was that all the parents of the boys were cool and fun people to hang out with. Which is a really good thing, because the transition from being in the wilderness for a month with what come to be your new best friends is a hard one to make. The boys were happy to see us, but sad that their time together was coming to an end. Jody, mom of Jesse, took a whole bunch of great photos and shared them with us. These are all her shots. My camera is up in the Arctic with Big Boy.

Paddling into camp.

Their banner, hanging in the dining hall.

Banquet dinner. Still looking a little shell shocked.

Jules, Pete, Chris, Tanner, Misha, Jesse, Greg.

Saying goodbye.

Fourth Arctic trip update

7/18 – 7/23: Days 19 – 24 On Trail
Along the Parent River to the Coppermine River, through Red Rock Lake to the Hepburn River confluence
This will be our first downstream travel and includes some whitewater. Max Ward’s cabin is also in this section. We will cross the tree line again here, back into the taiga.

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Grenville Lake is the one on the bottom of the map in the middle. They've paddled from there to Red Rock Lake, which is the skinny lake that runs east to west where the map marker A is.

Cutback week with some travelling thrown in

I am very glad that this is a cutback week. That 25 mile weekend just wore me out. I biked to work yesterday and it went fine. I think that was bike to work #8, bringing my total of bike to work miles to 104 for this summer. I had to stake up K's tomato plants because there's lots of wind in her backyard and the cages just aren't doing the job on tomato plants that are as tall as I am. It was successful except for the part where I hammered my left index finger. Nice bruise today.

Today's run didn't start out so well. I was just tired (although I've taken to waking up before my alarm clock) and my legs didn't want to cooperate. I figured I'd feel better after a mile. After a mile, I figured I'd feel better after 2 miles. Around the 3 mile mark, things felt a little better, but still not good. I finished 8 miles in a reasonable amount of time with an average HR of 138. The dog seemed to think it was hot today and lingered in the lake splashing around and taking big drinks.

I have a 3 day week this week because I get to go up to camp to welcome little boy back from his 30 day canoe trip in Ontario. The only slightly icky thing about that is I have to be up north by 11:30 am and it's a 5 1/2 hour drive. And I have 7 miles on the schedule for that morning! Looks I'll be getting up pretty early on Thursday!

Third Arctic trip update

7/12 – 7/17: Days 13 – 18 On Trail
Brown Water Lake to Rawalpindi Lake
North of Brown Water Lake, we will leave the Emile River and paddle up Dune Creek to Dune Lake, and then into Grenville Lake and the Coppermine watershed from Mesa Lake.

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Click on View Larger Map to see where they are. I can't figure out why Google Maps insists on putting those three blue markers on this embedded map, but the larger map shows where Grenville Lake is. You can see how far they've paddled from Yellowknife!

Out in the country

SO & I drove up north this weekend to visit our buddy T's farm. We had lots of food, lots of fire (until it rained) and lots of time with her two labs, who are nearly as cute as Sky (though, truth be told, they're much better behaved).

I ran 18 yesterday, the first 12 with Brandy, and it was alright. The part I ran with Brandy was definitely more fun than the last six miles. I ditched the heart rate monitor and just ran. The last three laps of the park preserve were really slow, but on the very last one, I tried to pick up the pace for most of the 1.8 miles. Today I ran 7 after we got back from up north. I took Sky along and we stopped off at K's house to water plants (Sky helped) and play with the kitty (Sky didn't help).

After all of that, SO & I did some yard work. We trimmed the tree in the back yard so that it's no longer in the power lines. That was fun. I was up on the neighbor's garage roof cutting branches. Now we have a gigantic pile of tree limbs to take to the composting site tomorrow night. We still haven't mowed!

Fast!

Not me, of course. But zappos. Given that my mileage is edging up into 50+ mpw territory and I can only seem to make shoes last for 300 miles before things start to hurt, I needed some new shoes. I ordered these and these from zappos yesterday and I got an email this morning saying "Hi we upgraded your shipping, your shoes will arrive soon." I checked the UPS tracking number and they're going to be delivered TODAY! Unbelievable.

So I ran tempo this morning. It was alright. I hate the little guy in my forerunner. He's way more consistent than I am. Here's the data:

Mile pace HR
1 - 10:25 - 123
2 - 8:05 - 164
3 - 8:10 - 163
4 - 8:40 - 163
5 - 8:32 - 167
6 - 8:17 - 169
7.45 - 10:26 - 149

Ave tempo pace - 8:21. Ave HR during tempo run - 165.
Ave warm up/cool down pace - 10:26. Ave HR during warm up/cool down - 136.
Ave pace overall - 9:07. Ave HR overall - 155.

Fourth weekend

SO & I actually did something over the 4th of July weekend, instead of just staying home and being hermits. We headed out to a state park to car camp and explored the Mankato area. Sky came along for the trip, because my usual dog-sitter is out west on a much more ambitious camping trip. Other than Sky's barking (and howling!) when we had to leave her in the car (only for the briefest of times, the longest was 20 minutes and then I'd go out and walk her around), we all had a good time. Even the mosquitoes, having lots of fresh, tasty metro-area blood to snack on. Bugs - the worst part of camping.

Free berries - the best part of camping. SO noticed wild black raspberries growing around our campsite. We picked a bowlful from various spots and breakfast on Sunday consisted of wild raspberries and banana, with scrambled eggs & snausage cooked on the fire, along with cowboy coffee (only we didn't swing the pot to settle the grounds, we used a strainer instead). In another area of the park, we noticed mulberries and picked a whole bunch (there's conflicting information about picking things in state parks, but we asked the ranger in the office if we could and he said yes). I still have to figure out what to do with the mulberries (other than dye things purple).

I ran 8 miles this morning. It was ok. I have to try to run fast tomorrow.

Second Arctic trip update

7/6 – 7/11: Days 7 – 12 On Trail
Basler Lake to Brown Water Lake, along the Emile River
This section is characterized by long, winding lakes and very little river travel.


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A bad run followed by a good run

I tried to run fast yesterday and it was not good. It was supposed to be 7 miles with two mile repeats at 7:40. Uh huh. Right. That didn't work. Of course it was about 75 and a million percent humidity at 5:30 in the morning before the cold front went through. I felt like I was running through mud and my legs weighed a ton each. My average heart rate was 155. The dog was bewildered by my sudden need for speed. She thought it was hot, too.

Today, however, was another story. Twenty degrees cooler (!), not humid, nice breeze and I ran 7 miles at an average pace that was almost 30 seconds per mile faster than yesterday and my heart rate was 138.

Finally! little boy's route

Yeah, I sent my little boy off to Canada without knowing where the heck he was actually going. Ontario! My Irish grandmother was from Ontario, though not this far north or west.

Their route consists of a big river with some big rapids, there are some burly sections of upstream that become pushing and pulling and working together to get canoes and gear through, there are some big open lakes, there are some small streams, there is some of the most beautiful scenery they’ll ever see, there is a cliff portage, some more whitewater, and the chance to end on a BIG lake.

THE ALBANY RIVER -> WITCHWOOD RIVER -> KOPKA PUDDLES -> LAKE NIPIGON


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First Arctic trip update

6/30 – 7/5: Days 1 – 6 On Trail

Great Slave Lake to Basler Lake, through Marian Lake and upstream on the Emile River
Starting on the Great Slave Lake about 100km east of Yellowknife, and traveling through a channel to Marian Lake, we will begin our trip up the Emile River. This section of travel will be mostly lakes with short river sections in between. The sets in this The sets in this area will be portaged or lined.
All river travel until Grenville Lake (in the Coppermine Watershed) will be upstream, and the section after Marian Lake will have the most sets to line or portage.


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