The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Thursday's 6M training run...... Good.
Friday's off day and prep for Saturday's group training run...... Good.
Coming to the realization that there's no possible way that I can run long on Saturday in between the first group run and the party on Saturday night, and bumping my schedule by one day to go long on Sunday/Monday...... Not ideal, but necessary.
Saturday morning's first group workout of the 2007 Winter Training Session...... Great!
Getting up at 3:00AM to set up the training run..... Fine.
Standing on my feet for the next 12 hours...... Not so much.
Picking up the route at 1:00PM to find out four of our arrow signs have been stolen or thrown away...... Infuriating.
Not getting my typical Saturday afternoon "recovery nap"...... Crabby.
Our "end of the session" party at the Irish Snug for the Summer/Fall Session...... Outstanding!
Being on my feet for the entire night, and not properly carbo-loading for Sunday morning...... VERY bad.
Running the first half of Sunday's 23M training run at Cherry Creek State Park much faster than expected....... Dumb.
My attitude midway through Sunday's 23M training run...... Ugly.
Slamming a large Red Bull and gutting it out to finish all 23M...... Not suggested, but good.
Being apprehensive all morning about the 18M run today...... Nervous.
Recovering to run an unexpectedly terrific 18M today along the Coal Creek Trail...... Good.
Hitting my goal of completing 40+ miles in 2 days...... Great!
The result of the unfortunately necessary ice baths following each run...... Good.
The actual 12-15 minutes spent sitting in said ice baths...... VERY, VERY ugly!
(Even the doggers love the ice bath... Just don't forget your cap to stay warm!)
TRAINING RECAP
The details of yesterday and today? Here they are... Members of the group Karen Kalbach & Mike Kennedy couldn't run with the group on Saturday but offered to do their miles with me on Sunday. Karen was targeting 10-12 miles to maintain her base for Boston 2008, with Mike needing 16 in prep for Tucson on December 2nd. We headed into Cherry Creek State Park to hit a variety of trails, and even did some bushwhacking when Karen found an animal trail that left us all with some nice scratches/welts from the unforgiving underbrush. While the company was fantastic, the pacing was not. At one point Karen asked me if the pace was too fast, and I said, "not if I wasn't going 22+ today" so we immediately backed it down. 30 seconds later Mike looks down at his Garmin and proclaims, "there we go again; right back to 8:20/mile." I knew we were cruising, but didn't realize that we were going that fast. That would prove to be costly later.
It was also VERY warm (what's up with 70 degrees on November 11th?? Global warming in full effect), and I was losing electrolytes quickly. I went through 6 eCaps on the run, plenty of fluids and that still wasn't enough. So after Mike & Karen were done at 13M (Mike smartly stopped his run early with calf soreness), I was left to go solo for the remaining 9M. That moment was pretty low for me and I can tell you that I was not excited about gutting it out because of how bad I was feeling. I got a Clif Bar and some Gatorade down, and made the decision to hit a convenience store to buy an energy drink. I would NOT normally advise this for regular marathon training, however I knew I needed it and since I'm also experimenting with what I can/can't consume during my long runs... The Red Bull didn't sit well with me for the next five minutes as I resumed my running but my stomach thankfully digested it and I felt the results. The next hour of my run was much better as I ran eastward along the Cherry Creek Dam Road and looped back south into the park. I extended the out/back run a little longer so I could find water to top off my hand-held bottle and thankfully found a campground spigot. (Praise God for that as it was ice cold and absolutely refreshing!) The view from up on top of the road was pretty amazing, and I did soak it all up as best as I could to take my mind off of how tired I was. I also had a few songs in my head the entire time... Hall & Oats, "I can't go for that" during the first half of the run followed by 311's "1-2-3". 311 I can understand as they are one of my favorite bands, but I'm still wondering how in the flip an R&B song from 1981 that I didn't even like weaseled it's way into my head... Let's hope that doesn't happen on race day!
So with the 23M run completed, it was apparent that my biggest error was not properly carb-loading the night before. Since I'm burning many more calories, I can't lose focus on my diet. So last night was pasta and then my early lunch today was pasta/bread prior to the 18M in the afternoon. I was definitely a bit anxious about going 18M today after what was a definite struggle yesterday and thankfully Dr. Michelle Wolcott was able to join me for the first 14M. Michelle is a member of our group and also heads up the University of Colorado's Sports Medicine Center. Not only is she one of the best orthopedic sports surgeons in the state, but also a very accomplished distance runner. (And today was her birthday too!) The company was good, the pacing was good, my legs felt good, and we banged out 14M pretty easy. Michelle called it a day back at the car and I let Champ out of the 4Runner to run the last 4M with me.
From a training perspective, the one thing that has been a big surprise to me is the way my body has rebounded after my first long run in each of the last two weekends. Last weekend it was a poor 16.5M run followed by a terrific 15M run the next day. Today was no different as I rebounded from a brutal 23M yesterday to have a fantastic 18M. I'm hoping that this will also be the way that I race, and my body will find a great zone in the second half of Sunmart. I'm also learning that for these longer miles, I will have to find the speed that is most comfortable to me early on and leave it there for as long as possible. To quote Vin Deisel's line from The Chronicles of Riddick... "One Speed."
The bottom-line is that there are lessons to be learned from every training experience, whether you are running your first local 5km, your first half, your first marathon, or your first 50M ultra marathon. Every week I remind the members of Runner's Edge of the Rockies that they are guaranteed to experience tough times during their training, and to expect at least one (hopefully only one!) "crap run" in preparation for their races, and the key is to block out the bad days and remember that they will always be surpassed by the good ones. For me, the last several days have been a roller coaster of ups & downs, good & bad, yin & yang... And I've had to repeatedly remind myself that this is all normal as I put my body through the necessary training to prepare it for what will hopefully be a very successful 50-miles on December 8th.
THE LAST TWO CENTS
One of our members Michelle Baxter recently ran the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon in Scotland (no relation to the race), and despite having to deal with a rowdy wedding party keeping her up all night before the race, she still had an outstanding performance and set a new PR! Check out some of the great pictures from her trip, HERE. (I wonder if they serve haggis at the finish? Mmmmm!)
And, for those of you who met and ran with Shiri Leventhal during the Blue Planet Run, Shiri is soon to move to India for a short-term work project. You can keep up with Shiri and her always fun & adventurous life as she travels the globe via her blog.
Friday's off day and prep for Saturday's group training run...... Good.
Coming to the realization that there's no possible way that I can run long on Saturday in between the first group run and the party on Saturday night, and bumping my schedule by one day to go long on Sunday/Monday...... Not ideal, but necessary.
Saturday morning's first group workout of the 2007 Winter Training Session...... Great!
Getting up at 3:00AM to set up the training run..... Fine.
Standing on my feet for the next 12 hours...... Not so much.
Picking up the route at 1:00PM to find out four of our arrow signs have been stolen or thrown away...... Infuriating.
Not getting my typical Saturday afternoon "recovery nap"...... Crabby.
Our "end of the session" party at the Irish Snug for the Summer/Fall Session...... Outstanding!
Being on my feet for the entire night, and not properly carbo-loading for Sunday morning...... VERY bad.
Running the first half of Sunday's 23M training run at Cherry Creek State Park much faster than expected....... Dumb.
My attitude midway through Sunday's 23M training run...... Ugly.
Slamming a large Red Bull and gutting it out to finish all 23M...... Not suggested, but good.
Being apprehensive all morning about the 18M run today...... Nervous.
Recovering to run an unexpectedly terrific 18M today along the Coal Creek Trail...... Good.
Hitting my goal of completing 40+ miles in 2 days...... Great!
The result of the unfortunately necessary ice baths following each run...... Good.
The actual 12-15 minutes spent sitting in said ice baths...... VERY, VERY ugly!
(Even the doggers love the ice bath... Just don't forget your cap to stay warm!)
TRAINING RECAP
The details of yesterday and today? Here they are... Members of the group Karen Kalbach & Mike Kennedy couldn't run with the group on Saturday but offered to do their miles with me on Sunday. Karen was targeting 10-12 miles to maintain her base for Boston 2008, with Mike needing 16 in prep for Tucson on December 2nd. We headed into Cherry Creek State Park to hit a variety of trails, and even did some bushwhacking when Karen found an animal trail that left us all with some nice scratches/welts from the unforgiving underbrush. While the company was fantastic, the pacing was not. At one point Karen asked me if the pace was too fast, and I said, "not if I wasn't going 22+ today" so we immediately backed it down. 30 seconds later Mike looks down at his Garmin and proclaims, "there we go again; right back to 8:20/mile." I knew we were cruising, but didn't realize that we were going that fast. That would prove to be costly later.
It was also VERY warm (what's up with 70 degrees on November 11th?? Global warming in full effect), and I was losing electrolytes quickly. I went through 6 eCaps on the run, plenty of fluids and that still wasn't enough. So after Mike & Karen were done at 13M (Mike smartly stopped his run early with calf soreness), I was left to go solo for the remaining 9M. That moment was pretty low for me and I can tell you that I was not excited about gutting it out because of how bad I was feeling. I got a Clif Bar and some Gatorade down, and made the decision to hit a convenience store to buy an energy drink. I would NOT normally advise this for regular marathon training, however I knew I needed it and since I'm also experimenting with what I can/can't consume during my long runs... The Red Bull didn't sit well with me for the next five minutes as I resumed my running but my stomach thankfully digested it and I felt the results. The next hour of my run was much better as I ran eastward along the Cherry Creek Dam Road and looped back south into the park. I extended the out/back run a little longer so I could find water to top off my hand-held bottle and thankfully found a campground spigot. (Praise God for that as it was ice cold and absolutely refreshing!) The view from up on top of the road was pretty amazing, and I did soak it all up as best as I could to take my mind off of how tired I was. I also had a few songs in my head the entire time... Hall & Oats, "I can't go for that" during the first half of the run followed by 311's "1-2-3". 311 I can understand as they are one of my favorite bands, but I'm still wondering how in the flip an R&B song from 1981 that I didn't even like weaseled it's way into my head... Let's hope that doesn't happen on race day!
So with the 23M run completed, it was apparent that my biggest error was not properly carb-loading the night before. Since I'm burning many more calories, I can't lose focus on my diet. So last night was pasta and then my early lunch today was pasta/bread prior to the 18M in the afternoon. I was definitely a bit anxious about going 18M today after what was a definite struggle yesterday and thankfully Dr. Michelle Wolcott was able to join me for the first 14M. Michelle is a member of our group and also heads up the University of Colorado's Sports Medicine Center. Not only is she one of the best orthopedic sports surgeons in the state, but also a very accomplished distance runner. (And today was her birthday too!) The company was good, the pacing was good, my legs felt good, and we banged out 14M pretty easy. Michelle called it a day back at the car and I let Champ out of the 4Runner to run the last 4M with me.
From a training perspective, the one thing that has been a big surprise to me is the way my body has rebounded after my first long run in each of the last two weekends. Last weekend it was a poor 16.5M run followed by a terrific 15M run the next day. Today was no different as I rebounded from a brutal 23M yesterday to have a fantastic 18M. I'm hoping that this will also be the way that I race, and my body will find a great zone in the second half of Sunmart. I'm also learning that for these longer miles, I will have to find the speed that is most comfortable to me early on and leave it there for as long as possible. To quote Vin Deisel's line from The Chronicles of Riddick... "One Speed."
The bottom-line is that there are lessons to be learned from every training experience, whether you are running your first local 5km, your first half, your first marathon, or your first 50M ultra marathon. Every week I remind the members of Runner's Edge of the Rockies that they are guaranteed to experience tough times during their training, and to expect at least one (hopefully only one!) "crap run" in preparation for their races, and the key is to block out the bad days and remember that they will always be surpassed by the good ones. For me, the last several days have been a roller coaster of ups & downs, good & bad, yin & yang... And I've had to repeatedly remind myself that this is all normal as I put my body through the necessary training to prepare it for what will hopefully be a very successful 50-miles on December 8th.
THE LAST TWO CENTS
One of our members Michelle Baxter recently ran the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon in Scotland (no relation to the race), and despite having to deal with a rowdy wedding party keeping her up all night before the race, she still had an outstanding performance and set a new PR! Check out some of the great pictures from her trip, HERE. (I wonder if they serve haggis at the finish? Mmmmm!)
And, for those of you who met and ran with Shiri Leventhal during the Blue Planet Run, Shiri is soon to move to India for a short-term work project. You can keep up with Shiri and her always fun & adventurous life as she travels the globe via her blog.
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