From Bringing Home the Bacon to Thanks Facebook Grandfairy

As our buildup of a running base continues in April, we'll discuss our plan for the night in person and split up into like-minded groups.  For less experienced runners, please ask questions of your more experienced comrades.

This weeks post is a grab bag of "insights":

First, it is important to realize that "love" means very things to different people:



Really, it's all uphill from there.  Let's start the climb with a little bit of overdue research.  I promised Matt an answer about a month ago on making a treadmill workout more equivalent to running outside but I could not find a consensus answer.  Definitely found recommendations about using an increased incline on the treadmill to help offset what is an easier workout.  But some things said 1%, while others said higher.  One thing that made perfect sense to me, was to do varied workouts while on the treadmill, such as doing interval workouts to make sure the workout is a quality one and to not worry so much about the total distance.  So, in the winter, mix in a treadmill interval workout from time to time and now that you are outside most of the time, if you do get stuck inside on a bad weather day, do an interval session on the treadmill instead of a steady pace.

Continuing the climb from bacon love, here is an interesting race report from Kate F from the Syracuse Half last month, given over multiple messages:
"In short, I thought it was a great race. The course was unique and interesting. With the start/stop at the Oncenter there was plenty of space for everyone to keep warm right up until the start and to use actual bathrooms instead of port-a-potties beforehand. The water stops were well-organized (which was one of my gripes about Empire State). Packet pickup was easy--I went with Claire after her soccer practice Saturday and they got me in and out of there before any toddler tantrums occurred (bonus: they gave her a lollipop) and there was also an option to pick up your packet pre-race at the Oncenter. The post-race hot breakfast was a very nice touch. Crowd support was surprisingly good for such a cold day. Race shirts and medals were both nice quality. Honestly, I don't have much bad to say about this race. It had the perks of both big city and small town races and I had a lot of fun running it. Oh also forgot to mention, most roads weren't closed, but in most spots there was at least one full lane dedicated to runners and there were cops at every single intersection directing traffic. Never was nervous about cars driving by too closely.  Oh and parking! Lots of close, convenient parking!"

(Thank you for the detail!)

Now a mix of articles that I liked from the last month or so:
For newbies, "10 Things I Wish I Knew as a New Runner".
For advanced peops, "[3 Things to do to Run a Faster 5K]".  Includes core work, quick feet, and hills.  (The hill part caught my eye - says to FULLY recover during short hill repeats like Faith Hill.  Hmmmm?)
For everyone, "8 Weight Loss Mistakes Runners Make".
And if you want to be reminded how to burn fat while running, think about "Duration, Intensity, and Frequency."  There is a good chance you could use this reminder.

OK, this post has peaked and it's time to plummet to depths even I rarely sink to.  The following links are all brought to you via someone I can only refer to as my "Facebook Grandfairy".  Randomly, inconsistently, I'll get messages from this special person that never fail to amaze.  So, thank you Facebook Grandfairy for teaching me (and us) that today, April 7th, is "International Beaver Day".  Here is the proof:
A local news story from a few years ago.
And a current story that mentions its a "great time to hike into the woods to spot some of these noble gnawers".  (Really, when would NOT be a great time for that?  So if you are reading this on Tuesday...hike into the woods anyway.)
Finally, a partially "not safe for work" (NSFW) song...unless your boss has a soft spot for Scott Baio from when he was on Charles in Charge?  This does shed some light on a hawkward mistake we've all been a part of.  (Most likely.)