The Adventures of Crazy and Lazy

Who are Crazy and Lazy?  These guys:

My parents’ dog, Bruce (aka “Lazy”) came to visit us for the weekend.  He and Ike (aka “Crazy”) are polar opposites in just about every way imaginable.  It isn’t always easy to deal with the two of them together–we normally let Ike stay outside as much as he wants when Bruce is here just to keep the separate (Bruce is content to lay around inside, while Ike would be outide every second of his life if we let him).  As my husband and I began to approach stir-craziness, we decided to get them out for an activity that has made them bond in the past–hiking!

We decided to check out Robert H. Treman State Park in Ithaca, NY.  It was a bit of a drive, but well worth it to all of us. 

Ike enjoyed the water…

And the humans enjoyed the views, especially the ones of the huge waterfall and deep gorge towards the end of the trail…

I think Crazy enjoyed the views, too…

Although we embarked on our adventure as a bonding exercise for Crazy and Lazy, we all got a pretty decent workout in, too.  The trails go up and down hills and in and out of the gorge multiple times.  To give you an idea, this was one of the first hills we climbed:

And when we completed that one, I was dismayed to discover what followed it–this:

That was literally just one of many.  I would estimate that we went up and down that amount of elevation about nine or ten times.  No wonder my quads (and arse) are burning right now.  I may very well spend the remainder of the day resting on the couch.

And with that, we closed another summer week.  I can’t believe how fast it has gone by already!

Here’s what I did this week:

• Monday: 45min elliptical + abs
• Tuesday: 8×400 (6:31/mi average pace for intervals), 5mi total (41:33, 8:17/mi)
• Wednesday: 48min bike (9.28mi, 5:12/mi) + abs + yoga
• Thursday: 3mi tempo (22:32, 7:30/mi), 5mi total (40:54, 8:11/mi)
• Friday: Rest
• Saturday: 10.11mi (1:24:50, 8:23/mi)
• Sunday: ~2 hours hiking + yoga

I’m glad we got our hike in when we did, because there’s a thunderstorm moving in now.  That means that I have Crazy and Lazy both inside now.  So much for rest…

 

Why yes, I am a slacker

Sorry for being such a slacker and taking so long to post.  This summer is just flying by.  I kept meaning to put up a new post, but the weeks are passing so quickly that they’re gone before I even knew they were there.

It’s safe to say that I am solidly back in a running routine.  I have slowly worked my way up to 18 miles/week, and I’m going to start training for the Marathon of the Palm Beaches on August 17.  I’ve also got my first race since my stress fracture (actually, my first race of the year, come to think of it) next Saturday–the Willow Bay 5K.  I ran my second-best ever 5K time at this race last year (at the time, it was a PR).  While I’m not anticipating results like that next Saturday, I’m eager to get back out and race a little again and see where I am.

Since starting to run again, I’ve noticed that my fast workouts (tempos, speed intervals) are only ~10 seconds per mile slower than what I was doing last year.  My easy runs, on the other hand, are ~15-20 seconds per mile slower.  I’m not sure why there’s such a discrepancy, but I’m hoping that as I continue to put in the quality workouts that my speed will come back.

Other than being back to running, I haven’t been doing much.  Just enjoying summer!  We’ve spent some time at my family’s camp and taught Ike how to swim (there may have been a gentle shove off the dock involved in order to get him in the water)  Ike and I have started taking agility lessons and he is excelling at it.  I’ve also taken him hiking a few times and he has loved it.  On our wedding anniversary, Mark and I took Ike and my parents’ dog Bruce hiking at Fillmore Glen State Park and had a fabulous time.  Here are a few pictures from our adventures…

The pups and I

"Hey Mom! Look at the water!"

All four of us, post-hike

One more thing about Ike…we’re trying to get to the bottom of why he is so small and skinny.  He is ten months old and about half the size of a small-end border collie (he should be close to full-grown by now).  We’ve been talking to the vet a lot, and after several courses of metronidazole, a few months of a prescription diet, and a liver panel and Addison’s disease test (both negative), we had a GI panel done.  The GI panel showed that he had virtually no vitamin B12 in his blood, which points to congenital B12 malabsorption syndrome.  This is a condition that has been found in humans and cats, and is quite rare in dogs.  It basically means that his intestines do not have the receptors to absorb B12, and this can lead to malabsorption of other nutrients, which can essentially result in malnourishment.  We are starting him on B12 injections, as well as another course of metronidazole to settle his stomach until the B12 has a chance to start working.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Next post: I will give some information about my marathon training plan, and I will follow-up on the post I did previous to this one.

It’s good to be back…I swear, it won’t be so long next time!!!