Week 3: Two Dogs and Still on the HRH Waitlist

Week of Dec 19-25

Christmas came and went, I hope all of you that celebrated had a good holiday season. It was cold here, not nearly as cold as it was out west but the temperature dropped steeply enough that during our fetch session the mud puddles Mia was running through froze to her coat and she had to get her first bath here to get the mud off.

I signed up for a NEW race on the EC; Mt Mitchell Heartbreaker 50 mile put on by Tanawha Adventures. I’m really excited for this one, it goes up all my favorite steep rocky and rooty trails in the Black Mountain/Mitchell area. If you have heard of Hellbender 100, its basically the same route, but cut in half and cut out all the “flat” sections.

Training changed slightly, the two prior weeks were get-new-dogs-have-easy-endurance-run weeks. This week there was one threshold run on Tuesday,(3*12@threshold HR) and a more specific 5*1k repeats for a relay race my husband and I are running at the end of January. It was suppose to be 5*1k at 10k effort/pace which would be about a 6:26 pace for me. That was the day the big cold front came across the country and the wind was crazy, I struggled to keep any sort of even pace as the wind hit from the front, back and sides, but managed to come away with paces in the upper 6:20s-lower 6:30s which I was happy with because the pacing felt so all over the place.

Wednesday was easy, Thursday poured again so I was back on the TM run/hiking 9 miles with another 4,000ft of elevation. No lifting on Thursday because after almost a full 4 weeks sleeping on the couch downstairs to make sure no one had accidents, I was TIRED and felt a little dizzy. I decided that night I was going back to my own bed upstairs. I slept so well that night, no dreams, just lots of deep sleep. I am feeling better, but its only been 5 days in a bed and not half awake listening for a dog that may need to go out.

Saturday was easy 6, I ran a few miles with Jackson at the end, and Sunday was a long easy run of 16 miles.

Weekly total was 7,665 ft elevation, and 57 miles 8 hours and 24 minutes of running.

No long hikes this week between Christmas and the fact that Mia is still settling down and doesn’t love leashed walks yet. She still tucks her tail from time to time walking outside, so we are still keeping those walks short. (If you don’t know dog language a tucked tail means that they are feeling vulnerable, the tail protects their genitals and is a sign that the are not feeling comfortable. A tucked tail plus showing teeth or growling is usually a sign that they are feeling very threatened and often their last warning before they bite, but a tucked tail alone is not a threat to you.)

I probably got in 3-4 miles of hiking. However, I did get 4-5 miles of running with Jackson. Early in the week I ran him 2 miles to an open field and did some long distance sit/stay/come training. On Christmas Eve day was really cold and there were no people out so I took him off leash for a few miles in the woods to test his recall and where he likes to run in relation to me. Its early still, but he seems to keep his eye on me, if he’s in front of me he stops and turns a lot, if he’s behind me he’s right at my ankles.

We met with a herding breed dog trainer (technically on Dec 26 so more detail will come in next week’s post) but we got lots of tips, and I am excited to learn some training things so we can try some dog agility in the future.

Also as the new year approaches, I will have a few athlete spots open, email me! Rbellkelley4@gmail.com

Week 2: HardRock and TWO dogs

Well, because of course life isn’t challenging enough training for 100 mile race and one new dog, we decided that two would be an even better challenge!

Last week I ran about 63 miles with close to 8,000 ft of elevation. I only got that much elevation because there was freezing rain on Thursday so I ran/hiked uphill on my treadmill for 9 miles and 4,000 vertical feet. (Or so the treadmill says, I can’t confirm because I randomly adjusted the TM up and down between 9% and 12% because treadmills are boring.)

I am guessing I hiked another 5-8 miles with the dog, mostly just hiking, sometimes we’d break into a little jog.

I did one day of heavy lifting/plyo combo workouts both lower and upper body.

Two days of at home core, and 3*15 step ups and one session of mobility for my pelvic floor rehab that has been ongoing since last year about this time, so about 12 months…technically 18 months since diagnosis but it took a while to find the right combo of PFPTs. PF rehab was really slow to start, it was pretty frustrating from about Dec 2021-Aug 2021 but about a month after HiLo100 last summer I have seen leaps and bounds in progression! I still have some set backs from time to time, my deep hip rotators tend to be the problem and they grip and push the head of my femur forward into my hip socket and that feels NO good, it started to give me a tiny bit of arthritis in the the joint, but now that I recognize the pattern and have strengthened muscles opposite to it, the gripping happens less and less and when it does happen I know what it is and can do some mobility and PT to calm it down before it pinches more tissue.

While Jackson has progressed really well; pretty good on leash, comes when he is called (in easy situations thus far) learned to fetch a ball and return and drop it, is good about being in the house and just chilling. MIA on the other hand, she’s the new pup, at a whopping 26lbs she’s all brains and nerves! The rescue believes she’s a purebred BC. She’s whip smart, and terribly nervous. She’s going to be the real challenge. In the two days we have had her she has learned, sit, wait, roll over, dance, fetch, go sit on your pillow and Drew’s name because every time he comes downstairs I tell her to “go find Drew,” and she does. However, we cannot walk her on leash, she basically has not left our house or yard except to walk 100 yards. She was on a farm in the middle of 100s of quiet acres so cars, people, kids and the leash are all new things. The first night she was afraid of the other dogs in the neighborhood barking, and she sees the deer through the cracks in our fence and goes nuts!

The two dogs love each other though. They have nice give and take play and because they are both herders they have the “nip at the neck and ankle” play-style so they get along. Many dogs do not like getting herded, or nipped on the neck or heels, so not all dogs want to play with herders. Never the less, we will be meeting with a herding Breed specialists because I would like Mia to overcome her fears and be able to run in the woods with me, I can tell once she learns how to focus on me and adjusts to things in the world that she is unfamiliar with she will be a fantastic running partner. There is also a rumor that once your herding dog is properly trained there are a few farms nearby that will allow them to herd sheep and I want us to do that!

I have trained an overly nervous, smart and high energy dog once, but only as a single dog, its much harder to do it while training two dogs at once, I need better strategies and the trainer will be able to help me learn new methods.

Week 1: HardRock and dog

Well Sunday marked the first full week we had Jackson with us. The first few nights were rough with mid- night wake ups. Even though he is 10 months and can hold his bladder, a new place and new people can be tough and getting on a schedule can help avoid accidents. Its not unusual for a newly adopted dog, who is potty trained, to have an accident in the first week or so as they get accustomed to a new home and schedule. In order to avoid that, sleeping on the couch I could let him outside if there was a bathroom emergency, though he had none! He is still not comfortable enough to pee or poop on a walk, preferring to go to the bathroom in the safety of our fenced in backyard. He checks the perimeters less often, but still likes to have someone stand outside with him while he is at his most vulnerable.

Herding breeds are loyal and hard working, but can also be very stubborn. The old idea that you need to roll-dominate a dog has fallen aside to better training methods of teaching pack order. Now leashing a dog and making them sit and wait when you go in and out doors, having them sit for dinner, and crating them is a better way to teach and set boundaries, so then when you are out in the world, you are in charge and the dog looks to you as a leader. We extended our walks a bit longer, threw in a 1 mile run/walk on leash, and during some long trail hikes we practiced heeling off leash for a minute or two. He’s already pretty good at that as we do a lot of on leash heeling on the roads. He will for sure be a good running buddy, he just gets a tad to close to my heels when he heels 🙂

In terms of running, not too much has changed for volume yet. I mapped out all the trials that have some elevation, which is not very much, but something is always better than nothing. I started doing more runs on single track to practice technical running. With no races I often default to running roads and non technical trails, so bringing back more technical trails should help with foot placement. If you run roads and trails you would notice that your gait changes slightly depending on which surface you choose.

I ran about 54 mpw, and hiked probably12-15 miles, some with a weight vest to add some strength components to hiking. I lifted for an hour on Thursday, working up to 95lbs squatting on the hex bar, and pressing 50lbs, which is about half my weight. Pull ups, core work, and some mobility for a heavy pack and poles.

I signed up for a 50 miler in March with as much vert as I will be able to find on the EC nearby and started doing 4*20 step ups each leg every other day. Unweighted for now, working up to weight as the year progresses.

HardRock and Dog adoption

On December 3rd we adopted a dog….and my name got pulled for the HardRock 100 lottery waitlist! A short explanation of the HRH waitlist if you don’t know: the lottery was cut into 4 parts; men/women and then men who have finished/men who have never finished, women who have finished/women who have never finished. I am first on the women who have never finished list, which means there are 18 women in this group, if one drops I get in.

This means I will act as if I am in the race, as in the past they have gone at least 3 deep into the waitlist.

This will be a challenge I am excited for; not only getting ready to run the hardest 100 mile in North America, but also train a herding dog to run with me, and not destroy our home along the way.

I am writing about this because in the next few months I hope to record all the things I do to prepare for Hardrock and the things I do to train Jackson.

He is a (probably) 10 month old pup, found in Mississippi, dropped in a shelter. A herding dog non profit found him and took him to NJ where he stayed for several months with several other herding dogs in a private home. So far he is very sweet, doesn’t know a lot of boundaries, is learning that he’s not allowed on our furniture, allowed to eat my shoes, or my dental floss…yes he chewed up a roll of dental floss, fortunately he didn’t swallow any of it. He has been in our home for 4 days now, we are learning sit and wait and look at me because he is an escape artist who will sneak out any open door and he needs to learn not to bolt, though the one time he did, he didn’t know where to go. He mostly just looked at me on the porch and then came inside when he saw the treats. Also the sit wait and look at me commands help him learn to look to me for guidance, which is important in teaching a dog good leash running manners. That way if they can pay attention to the runner, they will be more likely to be running along with you…rather than dragging you down the street following their noses, or the nearest squirrel.

In terms of starting HardRock training, much like Jackson I will be laying the groundwork for training by looking at trails and elevation that may be helpful for the terrain of HRH…yes I know, this is basically laughable as I live where the average elevation per mile is, well, FLAT! Its about 100 ft/mile if I just run without planning ups and downs. 30 min away there is a short 2.5 mile loop that if you run it repeatedly you can get probably 250ft/mile. Anything better than that is a solid 3-4 hour drive west or north. Instead I will work on getting fit, hiking with a weight vest, working with a PT and lifting heavy weights, making sure to pay attention to my upperbody for a heavy pack as well as poles and lots of step ups. I did the bare minimum for HiLo last summer and, while it was not my finest moment, I did finish the race.

I hope to write here once a week, so if you are interested, come back next week for dog updates and HRH notes as well.

Happy Trails!