April 20, 2012

Gone fishin'

Yesterday, Jerry and I picked the kids up from school and went right to the Metropark to meet my dad for dip-netting. I used to dip-net all the time as a kid, and it was so much fun. Dip-netting is a type of fishing. Basically, you drop a big net off of a bridge, and pull it up with a rope every once in a while and (hopefully) catch fish. The exciting part is when you're pulling up the rope, you have no idea what you're going to find!

My dad actually made some sort of pulley system to hook up to the bridge so that it would be easier for Noah and Eli to pull the rope by themselves. We also had a couple of fishing poles. I had no interest in fishing, so I just spent the entire time watching, and enjoying the nice weather!
Eli was excited about his "double" catch, two sunfish (bluegill)

Jerry dropping the net from the bridge
We caught about 5 fish in the net, and probably about 8 on the fishing poles. We didn't keep anything though. We actually almost caught a muskrat in the dip net! It was swimming straight toward the bridge, and it would go under for a minute, then pop back up. We just missed pulling it up in the net. Probably better that way ;)
Notice how my boys are standing... Jerry always teases ME for standing
like that! He says it's "Forrest Gump" style. They take after me, apparently ;)
Noah caught a bullhead
And I spent the whole afternoon enjoying the sunshine and quiet...

I loved how the sun looked through the clouds
I had picked up Subway for us to eat at the park for dinner. I wish I could say it was good, but it wasn't. The bread tasted stale. I got a veggie sub on whole wheat, which is my "usual" at Subway. But it was a fun afternoon!



Today I had 5 miles on the schedule. I met Jessica at the state park, and we did our 9:1 run/walk ratio again. I think doing this is helping my knee, and that makes me so happy! My knee didn't start hurting until about mile 4 today, but as soon as we walked, it felt fine again. And after we were done with the run at 5 miles, my knee wasn't hurting at all. Normally, it hurts so badly that I have to go home and ice it and take a Motrin.

So I'll continue to do the 9:1 thing until my knee is healed. After that, I will go back to running the entire mileage, unless I am doing an uber long run (12+ miles or so), when I might do the walk breaks again. The walk breaks are still kind of hard for me (mentally), but I know I am doing what is best for my body right now. And my pace hasn't suffered from it at all:
Our average pace today, with the walk breaks figured in, was 10:42/mi. Something else I found interesting is that I burned more calories during this run than I did doing 5 miles by myself on Wednesday (at a faster pace of solid running). Here is a comparison--on the left is today's 9:1 run/walk. On the right is Wednesday's run by myself, with NO walking:

I was in terrible (knee) pain on Wednesday's run from miles 3-5, but almost no pain today with the walking breaks. Okay, I promise to quit talking about the knee pain and the whole run/walk thing. I'm just still in awe by the whole thing! And SO grateful that my knee is feeling better.

These are our splits from today:
I'm a faster walker than I thought! The last time I tried to do a fast walk was at the Indy half-marathon in 2010. I was 165 pounds then, so I imagine the extra weight loss plus conditioning from running for two years probably helped my walking pace. I don't think I'll ever be as speedy as Jessica, though!

Mid-way through our run today, I saw something splash on the ground in front of me, and I felt a drip on my leg. It felt like rain falling off of leaves from the wind or something, but there weren't any trees at that spot. We kept running, and then after our run, I noticed that it was just what I suspected... a bird pooped on me!!
It's hard to see, but it's there!

If I had been just a split second faster, it would have been on my head. So I am grateful in that sense!

25 comments:

  1. I've been kinda plateau-ing for a few weeks, so I thought about your walk plan today. I did six miles, but picked up the pace for each and then walked for one minute after each mile. I ended up with a below 11:00 pace for each mile but the last one, which is great for me. I thought maybe just shaking up my usual straight run might help with the plateau. At least it was interesting to do something different. : )

    Joan

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  2. Bird pooping on you is good luck!!

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  3. Those fishing pictures are adorable! I used to love fishing as a kid.

    I hate getting pooped on by birds. It happens too often when I ride on the path with all the trees.

    Glad the run/walk thing is working out for you. I know a lot of professionals even run PRs using that technique during races!

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  4. I love the fishing pics and thanks for clearing up what dip netting was!

    A fricken bird actually pooped on my head coming out a walmart a few weeks ago. I had my son with me and he thought it was the funniest thing ever. For days he just kept telling people in his four year old voice, "momma has poopey head!" Thanks, Ben.

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  5. Several years ago a bird pooped on my arm/shoulder when I was walking my kids to school. They thought that was HILARIOUS.

    I'm working on the running/walking combo. Like you, I felt I needed to run the whole time but it was too much for my knees. Running/walking combo has been much better.

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  6. I know this is random but I think I finally realized who you remind me of in pictures, the actress Tina Majorino. My husband and I were watching Bones last night and I was thinking hey, that actress looks like the Runs for Cookies blogger! I think I might have found your doppelganger. Haha.

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    1. Oh no! Wasn't she Deb in Napoleon Dynamite? Bahahaha, I guess I can see a little resemblance ;)

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  7. Love the boys stance in that pic. Too funny..."Forrest!" ;)

    Some days you're the bird, some days you're the statue. D'oh!

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  8. I love how the boys are standing LOL!!! It so is the forrest gump pose HAHAHA! That bridge is beautiful! Getting pooped on by a bird is good luck! Something good is going to happen to you!

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  9. LOL The bird story reminded me when my cousin and I were little and we were burying a dead bird in our "pet cemetary." A bird flew by and pooped on my cousin's head. I think birds actually have really good aim and do it on purpose. LOL

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  10. Is it possible you burned a bit more cals cause the run/walk thing is like intervals? Your heart rate has a chance to come back down and then go up again? Just a thought

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  11. I've heard that intervals is way better for fat burning, so what Jen says is quite possible. I tried something similar to your method today for my 12.19 mile run and I think my knees are holding up quite a bit better than they typically are after a long run so I think you're on to something!

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  12. Thanks for always sharing the good, bad & ugly! It makes you so relatable! My daughter would kill me for sharing a bird poop pic, but I live it! Have a great weekend.
    One week till my first mini, oh my!
    Cheers!

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  13. The trail I have started running on passes under some road bridges which are, of course, inhabited by many bird nests. I live in fear that one day I'll be traveling through and they will either dive bomb me or poop on my head!

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  14. LoveAnAnimalApril 20, 2012

    Glad your knee is better! Looks like you all live in an awesome area. Cracked me up about what Jerry says about the way you stand, and the boys stand the same way! As for the bird poop, it's only good luck depending on what type of bird did the pooping. Was a Raven flying overhead?

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  15. Dip netting looks like something my hubbs and kids would have fun doing and I would enjoy just sitting and watching too, what a nice day! I have a fear of getting pooped on by a bird! lol! I'm so glad it wasn't on your head, whew!

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  16. Laura WL is totally right about your doppelganger! I wasn't familiar with that actress so I had to look it up but she really does look like you!

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  17. The boys' stance looks like how you would stand when your back is bothering you!

    When my sister was in hs and I was little, my mom and I went to pick her up. There was a bird's nest in the corner of the entrance. I looked up at it to investigate and a bird shit right in my EYE! In front of a bunch of kids. They laughed at me! Thankfully my mom always has a hankie.

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  18. Never heard of dip netting before. I think my kids would love that. And you got to enjoy so quiet time while watching your how great is that!! Sometimes those are the best moments.

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  19. Getting bird poop in my hair is my biggest fear!! HAHA!

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  20. I've been pooped on the head before! It's the worst! Good attitude about dodging that bullet! You know, I've never been fishing! I'm not opposed o it at all, I just have never had the opportunity! Perhaps I should put it on my bucket list :)

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  21. Oh wow! I would freak if a bird crapped on me! Lol! Thought about you and your blog this morning! I ran in the Cookie Dash 5k where there were tables of cookies at the end :) I was excited because I pr'd & I got 2nd in my age group! Thanks for being such a motivation to me!

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  22. haha - love the Forrest Gump stance! I catch my husband standing like that every once in a while, and tease him for it, too :) It looks like you all had a good time fishing! And, that's great to hear that your knee likes the run/walk combo. My knees bother me sometimes when we're backpacking... it's usually after lots of miles, and it hurts the worst on the downhill portions. It does seem like strength training helps with it though! (for after your marathon, of course ;)

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  23. Katie-
    It seems like everywhere I look lately, someone is mentioning walk/running, so I am thinking of giving it a try also, hopefully on my 20 mile run tomorrow!!! I seem to have misplaced my Garmin since this morning, so I NEED to find it to figure out how to set it up for intervals.
    ~Laura

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