Spin was easy and I was happy to have my powertap working again. The run on the other hand was not so easy. It was a chilly 35 degrees outside and we had sideways rain ladies and gentlemen. Within minutes my toes and feet went numb from the cold. The rain poured down and it hit hard. I felt like I was in combat with mother nature and she was kicking my tail.
Saturday - 3 hour muddy trail run - 17.25 miles
I feared this run.
*It would be my longest run to date since IMC
*I would be running the last half alone, which means my mind could turn on me
*It was a mind and finger numbing 30 degrees upon starting and wasn't going to trend up
*This would be day 14 on my 30 day challenge and my calves were starting to yell at me.
I met up with Kyle, Mark, and Mark's brother-in-law at 10am for LSD run along Wildwood. The first half we headed out north.
I ran with Mark all of maybe 30 seconds as he and Daniel zoomed past. They did a quick and easy 20 min out and back. Kyle and I ran the first 45 min out and back together. I immediatly felt pain in my calves and thought it was a bad sign. The trail was muddy. I don't mean a little dirt and mud either. I'm talking about sink your shoes and possibly loose one as the mud monster tries to devour it. I hear it especially likes the taste of Nikes. We took is slow and easy as to not fall on our face or twist an ankle. The first out and back went longer then expect which meant the 2nd one by myself would be a little shorter, I was totally ok with this! The first split we did in 1:45 and covered 9 miles. It was great to have Kyle along as he kept me in good spirits. We chit chatted the whole time which proved to be a great distraction from my achy calves. 75 mins in and my calf pain was pretty much gone.
Part two was done solo. I hit the trail heading south. I kept my GUs on point which kept my mind in the right place. I choose to go south on the second half instead of the first half. I knew the last few miles I would encounter a b^&# of a climb and wanted to suffer in solitude. Oddly enough, I didn't suffer at all. The first 1/2 mile or so of the climb was difficult. I voice came into my head and I remembered something a friend once told. I can't quote him as I don't remember the exact saying but it was something along the lines of "running is the simplest...." It made so much sense. Cavemen used to run barefoot. It really boils down to the root of our existence. I shortened up my steps (Ha! Did ya know that was possible) and hopped up that hill like a bunny in heat. I told myself if at any point I felt fatigued that I could walk up as I know is part of ultra running. Since I am training for an ultra I figured I should put the training points to good practice...BUT I never felt the need to walk. I kept a nice consistent hop up to the top of the hill and enjoyed my recovery flat. Still....I thought by the last mile I'd suffer, and I never did. In fact I felt so energized I started to sprint when I hit the last mile. Lol, that was what we call false perception of energy as my sprint only lasted 1/2 mile. I reached the end, tired but feeling pretty damn good. 80 mins and another 8 miles.
I'm not really sure why I was so scared going into this. I've done the distance before. I've trained in crap-tastic weather before. I've done it solo before. I can't really put my finger on where the fear comes from. But every training session or race I've gone into with fear has turned out to be a successful. I will considerate a necessary evil.
PS - Big thanks to Jesse for letting me borrow her thermal run tights. I think they saved my legs from frost bite.
Post run I strapped ice onto my calves for the ride into town. They didn't hurt but as I'm continuing to run every day I will do whatever I can or know to prevent injury. Picked up 28lbs of ice from the store and sunk into a 15 min ice bath when I got home. Once my skin went from red to purple I drained and defrosted with a hot Lush bomb bubble bath. Ah - utopia.
Mark came over and made Jesse and I Gyros, they were amazing. We preceded to fill our sports bottles with Crown aka Royal and hit up the max train into the city. Not before Kona, Jesse's cat decided to face attack Mark. That's a story for another day though. Along the ride downtown we took lots of crazy pictures and molested lots of random objects. We hit up Life of Riley and I learned how to play pool :). Ok, you got me. Learned is a bit of an exaggeration, but I did managed to hit the ball and one even went in to the hole! And that's what she said :) Anywho, a few crown's and a jagger and red bull and I was done for the night. I was sober enough to remove to take my vitamin I and pedialyte before bed.
Are those bedroom eyes? Nope, we're just tired.
Getting "VALIDATED"
I missed that shot
WTF?
The End
Sunday - Was food/recovery galore day
My day started of stellar as my room mate took me out to breakfast. Sweet potato pancakes, ham and egg whites - mmmm
For lunch I had left over gyros - mmmmmm
During the afternoon I made a lasagna out of whole wheat noodles, italian turkey sausage, tomatoes, garlic, spinach, mushrooms and fresh basil - mmmmmmmmmmmmm
All I did for fitness was my one recovery mile - which was cursed by woman pain. Eh, better one mile than 17.
Today is 15 of the 30 run day challenge. I'm up to 78.6 miles and my legs are a-ok. I PR'd my longest run week with 50.5 miles :D
I'm feeling pretty good about this challenge.
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