Week 7-Training to Pace the Hawk

Sore, sore, sore.  If you didn't catch my recap of the trail race, check it out here.  Since I don't get to many technical trails (and YES I need to change that), my body feels like I have been beaten up by a UFC fighter.

I put all of the race photos in my last post, but I sure do love these!  Ultra and Trail photogs do the BEST job at capturing the beauty and the beast of the courses we do.  I seriously want to frame all of these!

Monday:  Rest day.  Still pretty sore.  Glad that today was a rest day.  Did get a little bit of time in the pool with Andrew, which helped get some of the soreness out.  I tried to do some water jogging when he was in the deeper side of the pool.

My legs looked pretty rough and pictures really don't do it justice.  I had broken out in red welts all over my calf and upper thighs on both legs as well as on my back.  They all itch like CRAZY!  I am using benedryl at night and an anti itch cream during the day.

Tuesday:  Fun speed work.  Again with the 1 minute hard, 1 minute 30 seconds easy, but 10 reps instead of 8 for a total of 5 miles.  When we woke up, the humidity was 91% and I didn't feel comfortable taking Stella.  We even ended up walking most of our recovery intervals since the humidity was SO bad.

already back to school shopping.  EEEEK!

Wednesday:  Cross training/strength.  I sound like a broken record, but after a very busy day in Manhattan, I was mightily behind on my work at Coleman Electric, so I decided once I dropped Andrew off for VBS that I would get caught up.  I worked late but before I hit the bed, I tried out the Run Gum core work out that was posted on their blog.  It's suppose to take 5 minutes (if you are an elite athlete, I am sure it does) and I wanted to see if it was something I could start adding to my easy days.  It took me a heck of a lot longer than 5 minutes of course and was very challenging to me, especially V ups.  I have never been able to do those silly exercises, as I just don't bend that way.  I tried, even modifying the bridge to V up to a bridge to crunch to bridge.  I did feel like I got something out of it, so I will call this day a success with strength, sort of.

One of my most favorite Totos!

Thursday:  Woke up to storms north of us.  While they appeared pretty far away on the map, the lightening was pretty spectacular, and we decided not to chance it.  This of course meant a night run, which meant high heat.  While it was good practice for the upcoming race on saturday, it sucked horribly bad and we took lots of walk breaks and even took selfies with the totos around town.

Friday:  Travel day.  We had our first meeting with the dietician today.  I am going to talk more in detail with my runfessions post but my hubby was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.  While the medication seems to be working to get his blood sugar down, we needed some more information on how to modify our diet since we are doing this together.  She gave us lots of good snack ideas and food ideas.  Her motto was to not cut anything out completely, but to balance any carb with fat and protein.  I like that.  While we will be cutting out a few things (pizza is a main one with tortillas and white rice also going bye bye), we are pretty much going to eat the same with a few things added in.  He is on the go all day, so he will have to have portable snacks to keep with him at all times.  

Saturday:  Race day.  I call it race day, but I am not really racing.  I like to call it a supported long run  with a few hundred of my trail running friends.  I don't get on technical trails near enough (I am trying to change this) and I am not a great runner in the heat of the day.  The Psyco Psummer run started at race (10 miler) at 9 am, which is not ideal for me since I start my summer running as early as 4:30 am on hot days.  I am very excited to say that other than the three sisters from mile 9 to mile 10, I ran a strong race for me.  My mile times were ranging from 15 minute miles up to 22 minute miles (thanks to the three sisters).  The summer loop for me is way more runnable, and I am in awe of my running partner for doing it TWICE for a 20 miler.  

I also got to run with my friend from my second 50 K, Rebecca.  When I started struggling, I had her go on, but we were together for probably 8 or so miles.  She kept me going at a good pace for most of the race when I probably would have walked way more if she wasn't there.

photo courtesy of Trail Nerds FB page

If you have ever wanted to do a Trail nerds race, don't hesitate, DO IT.  The aid stations are amazing and the volunteers are amazing.  I mean what other race has a unicorn blowing water out of it's horn?  I had so many wonderful MALE volunteers that filled my boobs up with ice.  Thanks guys for not even flinching when I asked :) . BONUS, since it was my first time doing this loop, I got a  PR :).  I would have loved to do better, but when my body started yelling at me on the three sisters to slow my roll or I was going to pay, I paid attention and slowed down.  

Sunday:  Coach gave me the choice of cross training or running.  I wasn't horribly sore from the race, which is shocking, but I wasn't feeling quite up to a run either.  I decided to bike for about 45 minutes and call it good.  

I am trying to figure out how to get to the trails as much as I can the next few weekends.  I love Konza, don't get me wrong, but I really LOVE the trails at Clinton and KC.  Stay Tuned!

Have a great week!