Recovery week #1

 Sorry for the late post but all I did was recover like a boss last week.  My chiro said to take two weeks off to let things heal and I am now a HUGE believer in taking time off when you need it.  Plus our life is super busy with racing, coaching track club, baseball, and end of school fun.  

How about a sentence per picture?

3 inches shorter than me, same size on tops and shoes.  Sigh.  

Tulip time in Wamego!  

Tulip festival food is the best!   Brisket pita with pickled veggies.

Thank you chamber for having a beer/wine tasting tent.  

Got to the aid station right before Cindy came through.  Got lots of hugs.  Damn I miss seeing this woman all the time.

The newest toto in town at the winery.

Race number 2!  Improvements and a broke car that got fixed post race.

Hey Coke, want to sponsor my kiddo?

Down time with the ladies who have been my rocks lately.  Love these ladies.  

No running this next week either per doctor's orders BUT lots of coaching and fun stuff ahead!

The Good, The Bad, and the UGLY 0 Mile Flint Hills 50K

Enjoy some amazing Mile 90 photos from the race and my observations moving forward to my next race!

The Good:  NO CHAFFING!  I wore my runderware bra as it lifts and separates the girls and tends to never chafe me at home.  I also took a small stick of deodorant in my pack (no clue what kind, got it in the dollar bin at Target) and re-applied under my bra numerous times.  I had 0 chaffing around the straps either, so even though it was a PAIN IN THE ASS getting that bra from Europe, it may be worth the mental pain to get rid of the physical pain.

The Good:  Boom did so amazing!  The weather helped and he did get hyped randomly through the day but he didn't get frantic like Stella does at the start.  We did have a random lose dog come up to us on the race course and boom did growl, but we got them separated and the dog left.   Boom did a great job listening as we had a ton of runners who were doing a very great job pacing themselves and not going out too fast which meant a little traffic and weaving for us.  It took a while for the mob to thin out, but he listened and when I wanted him to get up and go, he went.  

The Good: Fueling until it wasn't.  Half a Honey Stinger waffle every 30 minutes and supplementing with TailWind and water worked great.  I also did shots of coke, ginger ale, and mountain dew, pretzels, and the nectar of the gods, Nutella on tortillas.  

The Bad: The top of my foot is still hurting.  It's not a deal breaker, but it does throw my entire stride off.  When I took off my shoe, my foot was bright red like something is rubbing?  Going to ask my shoe guru what could be going on since I have been wearing these shoes for a while now and nothing has changed.  I was all prepared to buy another pair but this foot issue has me stumped.  AND it's only on one foot and not both?

The Ugly: My stomach shutting down.   I have gotten to the point where I didn't really want anymore fuel, but I was always able to get something down.  This time it was like my stomach was shut down completely.  I an effort not to puke I quit fueling both my Honey Stinger waffles and my tailwind and just tried to drink lots of water.  I even tried getting a banana down at one of the aid stations and had to bail and give it to boom. I can't figure out if the headache started the whole dizziness and stomach issues or if those were mutually exclusive, but the headache never got worse than a very dull minor roar.  I have always heard that you can puke and rally, but my fear was that if I let go and puked, I would loose what little energy I had and would not be able to finish.  Will have to discuss with my ultra friends for sure!  I also feel like my brain went, oh, well you only have 6 more miles to go so you can power walk and still finish thus letting me be okay with that strategy where if I had say 20 more miles to go, I would have forced myself to rally.

  

I think that is it!  More good than bad and ugly and I will take it! Here are some more amazing shots by Mile 90.  I seriously want to frame them all!

I bet when the leaves come out this trail is heaven with beautiful shade.

This one cracks me up.  Boom is saying big scary man ahead, must alarm bark and miss kitti is saying, what in the heck are you barking at!

Trying to beat the train!

Loved the arch!

Where do we go from here?  Since spring/summer is super busy with baseball and racing and then football, we are planning on an early fall half marathon and a late fall 25K.  I will keep you posted!

Mile 0 Flint Hill's Trail Race 50K

 Where to start?  I guess the night before?  Let's do this!

Started by laying everything out first.  It was suppose to be cold at the start with a little bit of warm up to the lower 50s by the end.  I decided to go with shorts, a long sleeved light weight tech T and my wind breaker Brooks jacket.  I decided against my new Brooks bra, but went with a tried and true newer bra by runderware that I had road tested quite a bit.  I had some sweat pants to go over my shorts till go time and my gloves.   Fuel was honeystinger that I cut in half and eat a half every 30 minutes.  I had one bottle of water and one bottle of tailwind to supplement and get caffeine in me.  I packed in my drop box some more tail wind/funnel, the second half of my fuel, and band aides, tums, and some other small things I always think I need and I don't.  Stella was NOT happy that I was packing.  I think she knows that she doesn't get to go anymore and she is NOT having it.  Sorry baby girl, you have earned your rest!

The night before I needed to be in bed by 8 pm to get up at 3:00 am so we could head out around 4ish.  I had had several nights of good sleep with no issues, so I figured this would be much the same.  Took my CBD full spectrum gummy around 8 pm when I got in bed, played on my phone, sat the phone down around 9 and.......nothing.  I wasn't nervous, I wasn't stressed about anything, just nothing, no sleepiness and no sleep.  I figured laying there quietly was better than getting up and doing stuff, so I did just that. I am sure I did get some sort of sleep in and out, but I am pretty sure there wasn't much continual deep sleep till about 1 am, as that was the last time I remember looking at the clock till my alarm went off.  

Up at 3:00 to drink some coffee and try and eat a little to make my tummy not so mad.  These early morning drives always tear up my stomach as it gets so confused (isn't it time to fuel brain since we are up?), so I was hoping that if I got something in, maybe it wouldn't be so angry.  I was also hoping by doing some fueling that I would also get some pooping.  Nope, that's a negative ghost rider.  Anyway, got everything ready to go, met Robin at the curb at 4:20 am and we headed out to Osawatomie Kansas.  

The drive was uneventful and the parking was plentiful.  Next time we know to park a little closer to the start/finish LOL.  We were greeted with a beautiful full moon at the start/finish.  I am hoping Mile 90 got some better shots than me of it as they were both standing in my picture looking at it.  I will probably put those pictures in my good:bad:ugly post.  

It was pretty cold to start out and even my legs were a little red from the wind.  I am totally fine with cold and cross wind any day as it keeps the dogs cool.  The trail is pretty flat, but very scenic, much like the rails to trail trail we run on in Marysville Kansas.  Lots of streams, a river, lots of cool old bridges, and farmland.  Boom got to see cows and horses and unfortunately a few loose dogs.

  

We were cruising along doing our 4 minute run: 1 minute walk that helped so much on our last 50K.  I noticed when we got to the aid station at mile 15 that I had a little dull headache.  Nothing bad, more annoying than anything.  On the way back from the turn around at mile 15.5, we shed our jackets to go into our drop box, and I contemplated taking Advil. I know it's a big no no, but I wanted to quell the headache before it got worse.  I was still fueling fine, taking tailwind in with no issues and goodies at the aid stations, and we were cruising.  

I noticed as we continued, I started having bouts with dizziness and nausea.  Every time I would will it away, keep pushing forward, and it would quiet down.  About 6 miles to go, it won, whatever it was.  I had at this point fully started my period so maybe that was what was happening?  I knew I needed to keep fueling to finish strong, but my stomach had a closed for business sign.  

 

I could no longer run, as running exacerbated the symptoms, so I had to settle for power walking. I kept telling my brain that was saying this will take forever and you should just give up to SHUT UP.  I even told Rockin Robin to go ahead and finish strong, but she refused to leave me.  I laughed and told her to just call 911 if I passed out and she did NOT think that was funny.  I turned on my headphones and tried to find any music I had downloaded.  The only thing that worked was Hamilton and I took it as a sign.

At one time I thought we might have a chance at a time PR.  We really were keeping some great paces.  Then the wheels fell off and my goal was to keep it below 20 mph, so we only had 2 more hours till finishing. I liked seeing 16-17 on my watch and that became my new goal.  Between Boom pulling, Robin rocking it out keeping my spirits up, and me just wanting to be done so I could sit down and maybe puke, we crossed the line at 7 hours and 13 minutes and 13 seconds for me and 12 seconds for Robin.  

  

I never did puke my stomach would not accept much of anything till about 9 pm that night.  I have heard others have this problem but this is a first for me.  I couldn't even stomach Tailwind or bananas.  Nothing.

It was so weird because at a point post race, I was super hungry, but everything I put in my mouth, my stomach threatened to evict quickly.  I finally managed to eat three lays chips at a time and wait a bit and eat three more on the ride home and maybe got 12 down.  Post race they had a huge variety of free food for the runners, which I thought was a very nice touch, even thought I couldn't eat.  This race was very well organized.  There were several places for pictures with backdrops, nice BIG porta potties, post race food, and vendors including my favorite CBD ZO CBD.  

The medals were very unique, the shirts super soft, and the swag bag was full of goodies.  I saw Mile 90 out on the course numerous places, so I know the photos will be AMAZING.  Every aid station was full of very enthusiastic, happy volunteers and many ultra runners themselves who could take care of you.  This type of course is my kind of jam, so I may have to come back and avenge our time next year.  Winter/early spring are the best times for me to train with how crazy our lives are lately with sports and racing.  

April is a crap shoot in Kansas, we could have 80 degrees or 30 degrees.  We got lucky and got 0 humidity and 30s.  

God Bless Happy Hawk massage for working on my nasty feet.  David got a good tip post massage for helping me out.  Rockin Robin and I both got massages and I am glad we did because running 31 miles and then riding in a car for 2 hours equals lots of soreness.

Right after the race and most of the night I thought, why do I do this to myself?  I was horribly sore and running a low grade fever.  My body couldn't seem to stop shaking post a good warm shower.  I took one CBD gummy and it did nothing.  My neighbors new dog was crying and screaming in the back yard preventing me from sleeping.  BUT I finally got some significant food down around 9 pm, which made my stomach stop hurting due to hunger, I took some Advil finally and the headache went away, and I took a second CBD gummy which finally did the trick and knocked me out.  As I am sitting here on Easter Sunday I am already planning my next ultra :)  And rockin Robin even said she was run 20 miles or less or crew me for longer races.  I am back to being all in!  Boom needs redemption on a race we run the entire race.  I need redemption.  I also need to loose 30 lbs and strength train but I digress.  Onwards!!!!

Look for my the good: the bad: the ugly post with amazing mile 90 photos!  This truly is a great race for someone like me who loves trails but isn't a mountain goat.  The 50K had a very generous 10 hour cut off.  The trail is gorgeous even if it's flat.  Congrats to Midwest Endurance for one heck of an amazing well ran race!

Week 12: RACE WEEK

 WE MADE IT!  Of course not without Kansas trying to throw some major curveballs at us and derail our week.  First we had an 85 degree day without any heat acclimation at all and 55 mph wind gusts. 

 

Then we had snow and freezing temps all within 24 hours of each other.  I was suppose to run Monday and Tuesday and again, weather and time just didn't work for me.  I finally got a four miler on Wednesday and called it good enough.  

With spring sports starting and me coaching/shuttling my own kid around, I am going to have to start going to bed at 8 or 9 so I can start getting up at 4 am again.  Not looking forward to it, but it will have to be.  It's kind of like dieting, it sucks at first, but then it gets easier once I get in the habit.

Towards the end of the week I started not feeling so great.  Just super tired even though I was sleeping good and having stomach issues.  I started taking all of the things to try and get ahead of whatever could be brewing.  Lots of Liquid IV, Tums, and CBD at night.  My body also decided that maybe I needed to start my period a week and a half early since I had been around others starting their period.  I forgot how fickle my body is when I am around other women who still have periods.  Sigh.  

I'm going to write a recap of the race so stay tuned.  It started out amazing and my body decided it was done at mile 25.  I am SO thankful for my running partner for making me finish even though I really wanted to throw in the towel at the last manned aid station.  We power walked the last 6 and still got done in a decent amount of time.  More later.  

Have a great week y'all!  

Week 11: Training for the 0 Mile Flint Hills 50K

 

I never truly understood what wind was till I moved to the prairies of Kansas.  Sustained winds of 25-30 mph daily for most of spring?  Sure why not!  Wind gusts of 50 mph?  Splendid, let's do this!

Show me a picture of how windy it is without telling me how windy it is.  Geez.  Of course our east/west route is no go right now with the huge rocks and boom's foot.  While his foot seems to be good to go, every time I think we over over whatever it is that is going on, he starts licking it again out of the blue.  

We also went to the brewery again on Wednesday night to support our friends at the DoughBro and try some new beers.  This one was a tropical sour and it was SO out of my comfort zone, but SO good! 

Track club was dare I say miserable Thursday night.  We had a mix of snow, ice, rain, and horrible wind. I am so proud of my kids for toughing it out.  I was so frozen post coaching that I put my run off till the next day!!!!

Sometimes lunch runs are what you have to do.  Still windy but at least the sun was out and temps were a little bit warmer.  

We only had a 9 miler on tap for the weekend and we were blessed with less wind and colder temps and some less chunky gravel.  

Post a target trip and some pizza at AJ's in downtown, we spent most of the rest of the day working on our race cars.  We have had 0 time this year to practice or do any work, which meant my poor hubby had a TON to do before race day Sunday.  The wind picked up over the course of the day, but the shop blocked the southern wind, which meant I could listen to the band at the winery down the street (and enjoy the food truck food), play with my dogs, and watch the boys work on cars comfortably.

Race day!!!!   I had 0 expectations of Andrew and while he had moments of brilliance, he was also very rusty and looked very nervous at times.  He was on the pole for Sr Animal and while super duper nervous, he held his own for many laps and didn't just move over and let them have it.  He even had the second fastest time in Sr Honda with his white car.  He was lapped in both races, but we need to get out to the track and practice and I hope this will give him a big boost of confidence that he can do this!

Before I launch into my diatribe, I will say I did not get my fourth run in.  I was suppose to do 4 miles post race and after the day I had, I chose to have a beer, go to my friend's house, and sit down and talk through things versus pounding the pavement.  Here is what I feel in a meme.

I work my ass off as a volunteer for our club, yet all I get is complaints and insinuations that I am somehow cheating for my kid's benefit (my kid, the one who has NEVER won a checkered flag and probably never will).  I am sometimes the first to get to the track and usually the last to leave.  I don't get to see my kid all day as I am working in the tower. I don't get to strap him in, give him hi fives when when does well, or hug him post race.  I am working my butt off for this club to make race day smooth, so I don't have to hear bitching and moaning on that end (the tower somehow always gets the blame).  We have many in our club who don't lift a finger.  Their entire families are there, it's an all day event hanging out, and they relish in it. I get none of that.  Now let me say, I do sound very petty and jealous and it is my choice to volunteer, but I am tired of being the 10 percent that does everything for the 90% who just complain.  It makes me so sad that we are all there for a common goal, to have fun and our kids have fun and a small minority is ruining it for the majority.  There are options, none of which are pleasant or good but I don't think I can take another season of this mentally.  If I have to walk away and leave the club in a bad spot, I may have to chose my sanity over the club and walk away.  

Have a great week y'all!  I am looking forward to 2 runs and RACE DAY!