A slightly humid day

HONOLULU -- Went for a short run while visiting Gnome today. Ran on some roads in his neighborhood, a lot of middle-age walkers.

It's a different kind of scenery compared to Maui's country roads.

Kula country roads

KULA, Hi. -- The last three days I've been doing the Holy Ghost Church-Rice Park loop on Lower Kula Road. The 3 mile round trip run is perfect for me right now and I don't think my legs are used to the elevation (at least going up hill lol).

I've been getting up and running just before 7 a.m. It's pretty easy to do that though, since it's after noon ET! The air is still pretty cool now.

Trail impassable

TUNICA, Miss. -- Today I ran along the road that leads to the Riverpark. As I came back, I cut through the dirt roads that lead to the riverpark trail. When I passed one of the boardwalks on the loop, I noticed that part of it was covered in water.

No problem, since I was traveling the other direction to go back out the front of the trail. But right at the end of the big boardwalk near the start of the trail, the sidewalk that connects to it was covered in water.

Not a lot, maybe ankle deep. I could have run through it but wet shoes would not be so nice to 1). run with on Sunday and 2). lug through airports on my way home. So I turned around and hoofed it back, nearly the way I came.

I took a shortcut through the green grove to the other dirt road. Along the way I noticed deer footprints -- they must have been running the same way that I did.

The Riverpark in spring

TUNICA, Miss. -- Eagerly looked forward this morning to running in the Riverpark's Waterfront Trail.

I wasn't disappointed. It was so different from when I was here last in January. A storm must have come through. Mud washed all over the sidewalks. In the preserve you could see plenty of trees down.

And water came just under the boardwalks, which made me a little concerned as I ran over it. But everything was really green.

The weather was nice and it was neat to get my A4s muddy. I saw two deer as I entered the loop part of the trail. One part was still flooded, so I had to walk up and over a muddy berm, hoping there were no snakes nearby.

It was pretty neat again to be running alongside the mighty Mississippi. It's always a treat to visit a trail months later and compare seasons.

A medicine ball

While running this morning, I came across a rather large medicine ball on the sidewalk.

At the last moment I decided to hurdle it, as I hadn't ever hurdled something like that before.

I came down a little funny on my right ankle and I was telling myself how stupid I was for doing that.

But my ankle is fine now.

Really really windy on the bike ride into work this morning.

Running and cycling

That, in fact, is what one professional triathlete did. Desirée Ficker, who is 31 and lives in Austin, Tex., said she decided to concentrate on running when she ran the Austin Marathon in 2007 and came in second with a time of 2:40:28. Not only was that her best marathon time ever but it qualified her for the women’s Olympic Trials in Boston last month. The top three women in that race are on the United States Olympic team.

So Ms. Ficker gave up cycling and swimming and just ran, hoping to make the Olympic team.

“Biking hurts your running performance,” she said. “It tires your legs out, and you are using opposing muscle groups. I actually believe you are tearing up your quads to the point where it hurts when you run.”

When she eased up on bicycling, she said, her legs felt fresher and she ran faster.
-"For Peak Performance, 3 is Not Better than 1," 5/8/08, The New York Times.

This article in today's NYT is pretty interesting, dealing with whether cycling takes away from running and vice versa.

I probably will never train that much to see any effect like this. But it is interesting to think about.