Week 10: Training to Pace the Hawk 100/Flat rock 25K

a little clue for later

Well, plans have changed.  My friend that I was pacing had her other pacer contact her about doing the full 50 miles with her, which would eliminate the need for me to pace her.  He is a very experienced ultra runner and has many long ultras under his belt, so he is ideal for pacing her and helping her through the many stages of what 100 miles on your body brings.    I told her when she told me the news that I would still crew for her and be there, so whatever she decides, I would be there for her.   Now I am torn with my decisions for the fall.  Do I let my body rest and keep my mileage super low for the rest of the fall until I figure out what spring race i would like to do, or do I find a fall race (THERE ARE SO MANY) that I could start training for and possible delay my injuries fully healing?  I still in the back of my mind this whole time held out hope that even if I did the 25 mile loop, that i could do the 6/12/24 and participate in the 12 hour race this year.  I also had thought about doing Konquer the Konza 25K and or the half marathon out at the lake that our local running store is putting on for the first time.  BUT I am still dealing with some lingering pain in my feet and while i feel like my hip/butt/lower back is on the mend, I would like to start the next season of running 100%.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

can you believe how big he is getting?

Monday:  Rest day.  This is our last week of morning sessions at Sylvan and then we go to after school.  We had our first day of morning in Manhattan (me at KSU) and then back to Wamego, and then back to Manhattan for rock band lessons.  I will be glad to NOT be putting this many miles on my van soon.

Making the most of the last week of summer.  

Tuesday:  6 miles either speed work/easy.  We knew the weather might be bad at our normal wake up time so we decided to just postpone to after work.  WE also chose 6 miles easy because it was feels like 93 and our route is in direct sun the entire way.  We struggled mightily.  We both had eaten snacks mid afternoon, but for whatever reason, our bellies were empty.  I was sucking wind like crazy, and I have no clue why because it wasn't humid at all.  We walked a ton, listened to some Prince music and laughed it off.  Some runs suck and this one was it.

Wednesday: Cross training.  AKA me and my bike and some gravel.  Actually felt like riding and my feet (KNOCK ON A HUGE PIECE OF WOOD) are feeling pretty good and tolerant of a bike pedal.

Thursday:   My coach had give me a very tough speed work session.  I honestly didn't agree with it, and decided not to do it.  I haven't even done half mile repeats and I felt like jumping straight to mile repeats was a bit too much, especially since I am still kind of getting over this stupid injury.  Plus for me, my upcoming races have NOTHING to do with speed. I don't mind a little speed but this 6 mile work out was a bit much for my goals.  We decided to do 800 meter repeats but it was 92% humidity and we just couldn't beat that soul sucking humidity.  I tried hard to hang on for the 9-9:15 range, but was more in the 9:45-10 range.  We decided the fact that we kept trying and finished all 6 of them was a win in our books, even if it wasn't exactly the pace we needed to hit.  Again, I have NO time goals this fall so any type of "speed" is good in my books.

I then went for painful massage #2.  My back had held out until this work out and I was pretty bummed.  I was told that it actually held out longer than he thought it would with only one trail one and the rest road/gravel runs.  This time was still painful, but not as bad until he started working on my calf muscles to try at get at the root cause of the PF.  I have been doing my stretches and PT, but apparently that just isn't enough.  While long term, paying 70 bucks a week to get massages isn't totally in the budget, they are helping immensely, and I just want to be able to run/sit/exist without pain.  He would love it if I could do ALL runs on trails, but that just isn't feasible since the trails are all in other towns at least 25-30 minutes away and the closest one isn't dog friendly.  I will just have to continue doing what I am doing and go with it.

Happy SUPER early birthday to me!

Friday: Cross training.  Okay so I decided to do a thing.  My friend Cindy was running the Flat Rock 50K at the end of September and she had tried to get me to join her.  Originally I thought that wasn't a good idea but now that I am not pacing and running/walking 25 miles, I decided to try a new to me race with miss stella ella. Yes, I have lost my mind but I want to try this race and even if I have to power walk a bunch of it, so be it.  Cross training consisted of chasing my crazy 6 year old all around Manhattan city pool.  We swam/played for four hours and we were all exhausted by the end.

a sort of trail

Saturday:  5 easy miles.  I wanted to run while it was cool but my hubby had to work and I chose to sleep in since I would be getting up at 4 am to drive to trails on sunday.  I decided to get to a sort of trail while Andrew was in tutoring and get my 5 in that way.  I headed to a local park that had a dirt/gravel/concrete trail that was a little more than a mile around to do some running.  It was H.O.T. but most of the trail was shaded and the part that wasn't was by the softball fields and they were playing so I had stuff to look at to take my mind off of it!  I also tried out my new headphones.  I had debated getting some Aftershokz after my good friend Lindsey got to try them out  for BibRave and LOVED them so much that they bought a pair for her hubby.  I kept saying I didn't need to spend the money, but when they ran a bundle special that included a sports towel, a bibrave hat, a shoe bag, a stainless steel bottle, a small portable charger, and the head phones, I had to jump on it.  I had the money saved up so I did it and I LOVE THEM!  The rave reviews they get are ALL true!  The only issue I have is that I wear a hat and sunglasses most of the time, so that is a lot on my ear, but I am sure my ears will get use to it.  

Sunday: planned 15 miles out at Fancy Creek.  We decided to get up uber early and meet at Fancy Creek State Park for some miles before the sun came up.  While it was a great plan, we were met with THIS:

Over and over and over again we ran into this HUGE spider webs.  Plus, on top of the sticky large webs, there were really big spiders in them, so you didn't NOT want to run into them.  Sigh.  Our first loop took us almost 25-30 minutes a mile due to running two steps and stopping to clean a web out, then rinse and repeat and repeat.  By the time we got back to the trail head the second time, it had been 4.5 hours and I was DONE.  I had no interest in going back out and getting my 15 miles in.   I also fell, but that was a different story.  I hit a patch of loose rocks and slid and hit my knee on the way down.  It didn't really hurt, but I might get a nice bruise on my knee for it.  Stella and I had fun though and can't wait to go back, maybe with less dang spider webs.

Love my trail running girlie!

Another week of running down and a plan change.  Well shall see how this goes, so keep your breath held that I can pull this off!  I am excited to help Lindsey out as a crew member and can't wait to be there for her for her first 100 miler, even if it isn't as a pacer.  I will be ready if they need me though and excited to run!  Check out this blog post here too for a BIG announcement :)  Changes coming to the Running with Reds family!

Have a great week!