Life without running

Running:
It’s been a really tough week with no running. The only miles I got in last week was 2.5 on Monday the day my injury worsened. The diagnosis was an injury to the reflected head of the rectus femoris muscle. This is the quad muscle at the front your leg that attaches it to knee and hip. The reflected head is where it attaches at the top. At least we ruled out a stress fracture. I will need to take an additional 2 to 3 weeks off before resuming running. This next week I will be on vacation so when I get back I’ll begin to test it a little. This past week I managed to use the elliptical, bike, and rowing machine each day. Over the weekend and the last couple days has been a lot of extra yard work which is also good cross training.

Hunting:
Worked with my brother Tad a couple more days on the new hunting blind. Other than some minor finishing touches it is mostly complete. It is built much more solidly than the old one. It even has lift windows on pulleys on three sides and a real door. Also fixed up my bow stand in the back with an extra board for width and a new 3x4 foot plywood platform on top. The food plot is really coming along. Mowing down the brassica’s worked well. The seeds are really sprouting with good coverage and not many weeds. The corn is also growing real well with all the rain and heat. Last week I got the word about some free broad heads. I had heard it was a free 3 pack worth about $50. I was disappointed to find out this was not the case. It was still a deal, but they only sent one as a sample. The f-15’s look like a good model though. Received my permit, rules, and maps for the Ottawa Wildlife Refuge. Now to go scout it closer one of these weekends.


Gardening:
Here are some new pictures of the garden taken 07/28.  Lots of yard work the last several days getting ready for a few days vacation. Wouldn’t you know the drive belt on the tractor would break with about ¾ of the mowing done. I’m not very mechanical, but was able to replace it with some help instead of having service come or drag it over there. Lots of baby pumpkins, squash, and watermelon. Hopefully they all make it to maturity. The rest of the garden is doing well. Lots of cucumbers, potatoes and onions. I picked almost a wheel barrow full of beans last night and that’s even with tossing lots of them away that were past ripe of chewed on by mice/voles. I can’t even imagine how many of these critters there must be. They sure do lots of damage.

Another injury

Running: 
Last week started off quietly as far as running goes. I was looking forward to a 5K race on the coming Saturday and then at least 18 miles Sunday. My how things changed. 

With the race I was considering I was planning on taking Friday off so I ran on Monday instead. Only 5 miles during my lunch break in 37:21. Tuesday was really warm so again I opted only for 5 miles and not fast in 38:52.   Same route on Wednesday in 39:14. Wednesday I felt a little tweak in the upper thigh area during the last half of the run.  Just ran through it and didn’t give it a thought. Thursday I got out between rain storms and ran the same 5 miles in 40:06.  This run had me a little concerned though. The tweak of the day before turned into a constant dull pain during the run.  Still ran through it.  Because of this I had to try running on Friday to see if the pain was still there. It was, but I still finished the run in a slow 42:11.  I could not run fast without the pain becoming more intense.  There went the race plans for Saturday.  Instead I opted for off completely Saturday and Sunday.


Yesterday Monday 7/19 I was off of work.  I decided to give the leg a try since it seemed to feel OK.  I got out 2.5 miles when all of a sudden on my step the leg had an intense pain that almost made me fall to the ground.  I walked the rest of the way home.  Now my leg is really sore.  I made an appointment to go and get this checked out on Wednesday.  I’m hoping my worst fear of another stress fracture does not come to be.  If that is what happened it will be 7 or 8 weeks off running.  That would likely mean no fall marathon this year for me. Whatever this turns out to be, it is quite a disappointment from how training seemed to be going this whole year. I was getting in some good miles and no major issues at all until now. The funny thing is the last 4 or 5 weeks my miles have been significantly reduced from earlier in the year. Why now?
Through last week
WTD 25
MTD 105
YTD 1444
ODO 26610

Hunting:
The big news for this last week was that Kylli and I were selected to be able to hunt deer on the 350 acre Ottawa Reserve.  We will be 2 of only 14 hunters with the privilege to do so this year.  This property borders the land I already have permission to hunt on for bow only. It will be real nice to have another place down this way for the multiple gun seasons and another spot close by to not over hunt my other bow spots.  The past several years there were antlerless only restrictions on this property to reduce the herd.  This year the restriction is lifted for regular rules.  There should be some big bucks running around if they managed to not venture out very far last year.  This past weekend I mowed down the food plot.  The seed heads just exploded as I mowed them down.  The remaining stalks were chopped up pretty good to provide a little mulch too.  Now with a good rain the stuff should really sprout and fill in the area.  If for some reason this doesn’t work I still have time to till and plant something else.  My brother Tad came over yesterday to help me tear down and rebuild the hunting blind in the back yard.  We got the old one down, the new floor and the support corners up so far. Lots more to do, but good to have this started.

Gardening:
The garden harvest is starting to heat up right on schedule.  I should be picking zucchini like crazy right now, but something is still sucking the life right out of any plant that starts growing.  Only the zucchini have this trouble.  I really suspect grubs or mole crickets.  The raspberries are just about done now.  Blueberries are just starting as is the second round of ever bearing strawberries.  I’ve picked the first tomatoes, cucumbers, and peas and I noticed this morning the first beans and potatoes are available to pick too.

Had trouble with the pool pump again this week.  The guys came out and replaced it again yesterday.  This is the 3rd time in 4 years we have had trouble.  Hopefully a brand new one fixes this once and for all.

I noticed when cleaning the pond over the weekend that I have some fish babies.  The small fish are born a very dark color so they are hard to see.  Not sure how many or even what type they are.  I have both comets and Koi that are brightly colored with orange and/or white. I will have to wait a while for identification.  This is the first time in the 7 years or so having the pond I’ve ever seen any little ones.

Imperial moth

Running:
Another warm week of running. I managed a few more miles this week, but still shy of 50.

Monday 7/5 was a holiday for me. I went out for a morning 9.5 mile run in 1:20:39. It was really hot and sticky and my leg was actually a little sore from the bee stings a couple days prior.
I took my off day on Tuesday. The forecast had been for rain but we ended up getting none. Didn’t matter as I needed the rest day anyway.
Wednesday was back to work. I did my usual 5 mile route in 36:23
Thursday was the same route in 90 degree weather in a slower 40:03. Half way through I was stuck in a popup thunderstorm and pulled into the shelter at Marx park to wait it out a few minutes.
Friday I ran 5 miles at work, but did a different route. I ran it in 39:09.
Saturday I got out early and ran the same 9.5 miles as Monday. I ran it in a little faster 1:16:02.
Sunday I made it out for my first longer run in several weeks. I ran 15 miles in 2:05:21. There were lots of turkeys and deer out and about during this run.
WTD 49
MTD 80
YTD 1419
ODO 26585


Hunting:
Still no word on the status of the drawing for hunting rights on the Waukesha Land Conservancy. I assume the drawing was held last week. In this case I know no news is bad news so hopefully this week I hear something.

I know it’s only July, but it’s time to get the bow out for some practice. Like last year I will try to get out a couple times a week for a few shots. Decision time is also coming up on what to do with the other half of the food plot.

I’m thinking if I mow down the dead brassica’s and all the seed heads the plot should reseed itself. My biggest worry is things being taken over by weeds and then running out of time to do anything this year.
I suppose worse case is I have 6 rows of corn standing so I at least have something.

Gardening:

Found this huge moth on the driveway the other day. The wingspan is almost as big as my hand. This is called an Imperial moth. It is rather rare in our area, but is apparently at the northern fringes of its range.









Finished trimming all the Spruce and pine trees in my yard this weekend. Here is a picture of 4 of them. I counted 21 of them along with 9 white pine. Getting to be a big job now that most are over 20 ft tall.

The pond seems to be doing quite well this summer. The lilies are filling out nicely and started blooming the last couple weeks. I found a lotus plant growing in between the water irises. My guess is the seed came from the neighbor’s pond a couple years ago when he gave me a few different color irises.

I noticed over the weekend that the pumpkin plants have started to show the first blooms. From past experience its right when this happens there is an explosion of cucumber beetles.  If I’m not vigilant to keep the cucumber beetles off I risk losing the whole crop to the bacterial wilt these bugs drag around with them.

Bald face hornets

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July holiday. We celebrated at some friends house. Each year they have a big pool party with lots of good food and drinks. Played a little horseshoes and volleyball too.  We missed the big fireworks shows and since we did the kids talked me into doing something I normally wouldn’t do. We went to buy some for ourselves at a local place. Just so happened they were packing up the tent for the season.  The guy offered us a deal I couldn’t refuse. If we spent $100 he would throw in at least $300 worth free. Man did we get some fireworks. The neighborhood really got a show last night.

I realized that last week was the 1 year anniversary of starting this blog. I started off with good intentions in 2009 and logged daily entries for about a month. This lasted until dad’s health became an issue and it just wasn’t any kind of priority.  I then was down to 2 or 3 entries per week and now it seems I can only muster a weekly recap. I will have to make time for more entries again especially when there is so much to write about like this past week.

Running:
For the month of June I was only able to log 174 miles breaking my string of 200+ for 2010. I’ve run about the same number of days just cut down on the miles for each run. My weekday runs were mostly around 5 miles and my weekend longer runs were 10 or 11 it seems.  My weekly average is still right around 52 miles for the year which is good. My average pace per run dropped a bit in June with the lesser miles. For now it’s kind of like treading water until the time comes to get serious about training for my fall marathon.


For the weekly recap:
Monday 6/28 was an off day. I took the day completely off.
Tuesday was a lunch time run of 5 miles in 36:39.
Wednesday morning I brought my car into the body shop for some repair. I ran home the 11 miles from the shop in 1:27:11. This rounded out my month of June with 174 miles.
Thursday was another lunch time run of 5 miles in 38:13.
Friday the same 5 mile route in 39:20.
Saturday morning I ran 10 miles in 1:20:19
Sunday morning I did 10.5 miles in 1:26:54
WTD 47
MTD 30.5
YTD 1370
ODO 26536




Hunting:

As you can see from the picture of the tree house turned hunting blind it is in need of some serious repair. If I can’t figure out how to lift the stand to reattach the base boards to the tree I will likely have to dismantle it and rebuild.   That probably wouldn’t be a bad option anyway, but would be a lot more work. I managed to get my hunting application in at the deadline for the Waukesha County land conservancy. Sometime this week a drawing will be held to determine who gets to hunt this year.  It would be great to have another option for a place close by for the multiple gun seasons we have here.




Gardening:

I took some new pictures of the garden this morning. What a difference a month makes. Everything is coming up now and most things are doing quite well, although I’m having trouble with zucchini this year for some reason. Several of the plants appear to have broken off at ground level. The inside appears hollow like a borer had at them. I thought borer’s attacked when the plants were bigger though. The plants that are making it seem misshaped and/or stunted. I’ve never had trouble with zucchini before so I’m at a loss so far with this one. Everything else seems to be doing quite well at this time. I’ve learned that can change in a hurry though from weather, disease or bugs. Raspberries continue to come in strong. I’ve picked 6 to 8 quarts of berries each of the last several days. Froze some and made 2 large raspberry glace pies yesterday. There is nothing better. If you like fresh berry pies this recipe is good for strawberries and blueberries too. My big story in the garden this week came last Saturday. I had sheared about 10 of the large blue spruce in my yard without incident. I had one more tree to finish before I was going to quit for the day. I climbed up to about the 5th or 6th rung of my ladder with my pole trimmer when I realized I had a large hornet nest directly in front of my face. The first bee stung my arm and when I smacked it that must have signaled the others to attack. I had them all over me. I was stung an additional 6 times as I was jumping off the ladder and rolling on the ground. My ear and neck, forearm, and knee/shin really swelled up for a while. This is much better today, but still itches quite a bit. Those black and white hornets are some of the meanest bees I’ve ever come across. Bought some spray today to get rid of them tonight after sunset.