Week 3 training
Monday:
I got to sleep in! This means I slept until 5:30am, but I did that lovely roll around and just lay there for a while before you actually get up thing. I got coffee, my computer and went back to lounge in my bed while getting a little work done. Because I am on a bit of taper for Whiskey Basin I didn't have to get up and run today. After work I did a treadmill hiking workout. Next workout I need to be a bit faster. NOT complaining! But that said, it doesn’t tell me pace in any way that makes sense to me so I was little slower than I thought. My treadmill was a gift, so I’m not complaining. To get through the torture of hiking for 50 minutes on a treadmill I listened to the S-Town Podcast while I was on the treadmill. It’s really good. I’m hooked!
I bought a headlamp. Norm has a Black Diamond Spot and likes it. I read the reviews and they were good. I kind of wanted to get the Petzl Reaktiv, but that seemed like a ridiculous amount of money for a headlamp.
Tuesday:
Oh G-d! 5am seemed to come so early today! My new dog, Bear, kept me up for hours in the middle of the night. Bear is a 16 year dog that was owner surrender at the shelter here. Someone posted his picture and he ended up on my Facebook or Instagram feed – I can’t remember. I texted Norm immediately and said “we are getting this dog and I am not joking!” We proceeded to track him down, which took a whole day. I then spent 3 and a half hours at the shelter just waiting to get through a 15 minute process of adopting him. Dear Maricopa county, it's a crappy system. I was so late for work, but I couldn't leave. Now Bear is my new bestie! We go for long walks together, he follows me everywhere and insists on sleeping right next to my bed. I love him. Back to 5am. Bear needed to drink 2 whole bowls of water at 1am and then proceeded to make a bunch of old man dog noises for about an hour before falling asleep. ARGH!!! When the alarm went off I could tell Norm was less than thrilled, but he got up with me and we were out the door by 5:15am. I have to leave at 7am to make it on time for the 8am class I teach, meaning we have to get up and get out. Good thing I am on a modified taper for Whiskey Basin because I was so slow in the dark. I think that fall made me a little tentative about running in the dark. I told Norm I was planning to just wait until light to start running at Whiskey Basin and hope I could catch up to everyone. I’m kinda not joking. I was so happy when it was light that I didn't have to wear that stupid headlamp any more! On the other hand, I was a little disappointed to see that even when it was light, I wasn’t running much faster. I think legs might be a little more tired than I thought. The plan is to keep running but take it easy the rest of the week.
Oh, that headlamp I bought – I hate it! When I turn it on and want to turn it off it won't turn off. When I turn it on and want to cycle through to the brighter light, it turns off. Seriously??? Looks like I will be taking a trip back to REI for that Petzl after all. I have dividends to spend so it hurts the pocket book a little less.
Monday:
I got to sleep in! This means I slept until 5:30am, but I did that lovely roll around and just lay there for a while before you actually get up thing. I got coffee, my computer and went back to lounge in my bed while getting a little work done. Because I am on a bit of taper for Whiskey Basin I didn't have to get up and run today. After work I did a treadmill hiking workout. Next workout I need to be a bit faster. NOT complaining! But that said, it doesn’t tell me pace in any way that makes sense to me so I was little slower than I thought. My treadmill was a gift, so I’m not complaining. To get through the torture of hiking for 50 minutes on a treadmill I listened to the S-Town Podcast while I was on the treadmill. It’s really good. I’m hooked!
I bought a headlamp. Norm has a Black Diamond Spot and likes it. I read the reviews and they were good. I kind of wanted to get the Petzl Reaktiv, but that seemed like a ridiculous amount of money for a headlamp.
Tuesday:
Oh G-d! 5am seemed to come so early today! My new dog, Bear, kept me up for hours in the middle of the night. Bear is a 16 year dog that was owner surrender at the shelter here. Someone posted his picture and he ended up on my Facebook or Instagram feed – I can’t remember. I texted Norm immediately and said “we are getting this dog and I am not joking!” We proceeded to track him down, which took a whole day. I then spent 3 and a half hours at the shelter just waiting to get through a 15 minute process of adopting him. Dear Maricopa county, it's a crappy system. I was so late for work, but I couldn't leave. Now Bear is my new bestie! We go for long walks together, he follows me everywhere and insists on sleeping right next to my bed. I love him. Back to 5am. Bear needed to drink 2 whole bowls of water at 1am and then proceeded to make a bunch of old man dog noises for about an hour before falling asleep. ARGH!!! When the alarm went off I could tell Norm was less than thrilled, but he got up with me and we were out the door by 5:15am. I have to leave at 7am to make it on time for the 8am class I teach, meaning we have to get up and get out. Good thing I am on a modified taper for Whiskey Basin because I was so slow in the dark. I think that fall made me a little tentative about running in the dark. I told Norm I was planning to just wait until light to start running at Whiskey Basin and hope I could catch up to everyone. I’m kinda not joking. I was so happy when it was light that I didn't have to wear that stupid headlamp any more! On the other hand, I was a little disappointed to see that even when it was light, I wasn’t running much faster. I think legs might be a little more tired than I thought. The plan is to keep running but take it easy the rest of the week.
Oh, that headlamp I bought – I hate it! When I turn it on and want to turn it off it won't turn off. When I turn it on and want to cycle through to the brighter light, it turns off. Seriously??? Looks like I will be taking a trip back to REI for that Petzl after all. I have dividends to spend so it hurts the pocket book a little less.
My new dog and workout partner - Bear.
Wednesday:
I am taking full advantage of this taper week. We slept in on Wednesday and it was wonderful! An easy 8 mile run followed by core and upper body.
Thursday:
Rest day.
Friday:
We ran 6 easy miles. We ran into Paul Bonnet at the park by our house. Norm tells Paul about some of the pains that he is suffering and Paul gives him some advice for stretching. Are you kidding me? I tell Norm he needs to stretch all the time! But talks to Paul about stretching and does some stretches with him and all of the sudden he’s on board with stretching? Men! I did a little core and upper body when we got home but I had to get to work early so it was a short work out.
Of course today we had a late parent at the elementary school. And then they wanted to talk on and on about being late. Yeah, you were late, it’s okay, now take your kids and go. I have some place to be! After work I came home to pack and get out the door. That never happens as fast as I think. I wanted to leave by 4pm, but as usual we were 30 minutes off our target. Brandi (Enzo’s girlfriend) was working at the race and needed to be there at 4am so she came up with me. Norm was coming later when he finished work. We were staying at the Apache Lodge. It’s an old 1940”s motor court (it’s been updated.) We check in, but never a mention of room or giving us a key. I look at the receipt as ask if we are in room #35. “Oh sorry, no #28, here’s you key.” Brandi and I go to #28 and I am having trouble getting the door to open. Then I hear in an aggressive voice, “Hey what are you trying to do?” As a large shirtless man yanks open the door. He seemed to soften a bit when he saw little old me just standing there. “Sorry, they gave me this key,” I say holding up the #28 key. The poor guy in the office saw the whole thing and was beside himself when we came back to the office. He gave us the right key and we were able to get settled in the room. We also saw shirtless angry guy going storming into the office. I hope he wasn’t too mean. The guy in the office seemed such a quite, kind soul. Accidents happened dude. Chill out! The room was big, the bathroom super nice and clean. I wish they had microwaves, but other than that, I highly recommend.
Brandi and I decided to walk to a Mexican restaurant to get some dinner. I opted for veggie fajitas. I have eaten this before running long distances before and I was fine. But in retrospect, they were oddly greasy for fajitas and this was probably a poor decision on my part.
At 10:40pm I am awakened by banging in the door. “Yes?” I call out. “Prescott Police” was the response. I look through the peep hole just to be sure. I opened the door and the officer asked, “Is everyone in this room ok?” I answered, “Yes sir.” That was that. Before I closed the door I heard someone say that there has been a drug overdose, but they didn't know which room. I went back to bed, but the banging on doors continued. I finally went back to sleep only to wake up until to wake up to Norm finally arriving at 11:20pm.
Saturday:
I didn’t feel too terrible at the 3am alarm despite the less than ideal nights sleep. It was apparent that my stomach was not feeling great. I just thought it was nerves. My 50 mile races have all been disasters. Both trips to Leona Divide I had to drop. Once I was pulled by medic for dehydration, once because my knee was such a problem that I could barely walk on it. And Zane Grey, same problem. My knee went south and I was dragging me leg behind me at the end, but at least I finished. I kept telling myself, this is just a training run. Nothing to be nervous about. Brandi was helping me get ready for the race. At some point my watch got messed up. It was on the wrong screen and I have no idea how to use my Suunto except to start and stop it. Thank G-d for Miguel! He got my watch back to the right screen.
It was so nice to line up with my Aravaipa Team Mates. I think it has taken some time, but it feels like we have finally come together as a cohesive team that knows each other and cares about each other. Running in the dark was not as bad as I was making it in my head. Things were going well until after the AS at mile 6. I missed the turn. Did the lead pack of guys. Later we learned that someone has pulled the sign telling us to turn. I know something was wrong when there 3 options for which way to go and there was no wrong way marking. You can disagree all you want, but I’m telling you that Aravaipa does a really good job of marking. When we finally turned around I had gone from 1st female to 3rd female. Thank you catlow for figuring out where we suppose to go! I wanted to try to hang with the boys, but my stomach was not feeling so great. About the time I could see another female in front of me was when my stomach started really feeling bad. I would spend the rest of the race going poo or trying not to go poo or battling major stomach cramping. I caught up to my teammate Del, but it became clear to me I was never going to pass her. My stomach was just getting worse. At every AS I thought about dropping. I just kept hoping my stomach would turn around. My stomach would get worse and then it would feel better for a bit, but it always got worse again. There was one 4 mile stretch where I pretty much walked the whole time. Sometimes uphill hurt my stomach. Sometimes downhill hurt my stomach. My watch died at mile 45. That made me less than happy. It was hard to keep going not knowing where I was in mileage. I was so happy for Chuck to come along! He let me know how far we had left. He continued to give me updates on mileage and was so encouraging to try to motivate. Unfortunately, after the last AS with less than 6 miles to go my stomach was at its worst. I got passed and fell to 3rd women. But there was nothing I could do about it.
My goal was to finish around 10 hours to 10:30 so the fact that I felt so terrible and finished in 10:45:03 makes me really happy. More importantly, I felt great all day in terms of running and my body, just not my stomach. The whole point of this race was to gauge where I am in preparation for my 100 mile race. Bonus – I got a 3 hour 20 minute 50 mile PR.
If you are looking for a 50 mile race, I highly recommend Whiskey Basin 88K. It’s a beautiful run. I kept thinking that I want to go back and just enjoy the trail. It’s also very runnable. I mean it is a trail, some times there are rocks. But I would not describe it as technical.
Once again Norm missed me finish so no pictures of that. I really did not feel so good. I went to the medic tent to lay down. I just needed to lay down. In the medic tent we discovered my blood pressure was really low and my oxygenation was low. I was answering all the questions correctly but I was struggling to stay conscious. I just really really wanted to close my eyes and sleep. Despite my not wanting it, they called the ambulance which means the fire truck also came. Siren blaring and all. By the time they arrived my blood pressure was better. Both blood sugar checks were good. They stood me up and I passed the test. They wanted me to go to the hospital for IV fluids, but I told them that because I did not have insurance I would prefer not to unless it was absolutely necessary. I was cleared and signed all the “you aren’t responsible if I die” forms with a promise to call them back out again if I started to feel bad again. I was feeling better, just ready to go home and shower.
Sunday:
The best news is that I woke up feeling good. I am not sore. A little tight after I am still for a bit, but that’s to be expected. Mostly I would just like a really good foot rub. I may try to get out for a few miles this afternoon, but it’s back to hard training tomorrow.
Huge thank you to Charlie Boeynik at Cadence Physical therapy for helping me get my foot problem straightened out quickly. Huge thank you and love to Squirrel’s Nut Butter. Honestly, the best product out there! Zero chaffing and no blisters yesterday. And when my lips got dry at an AS I was able to apply Squirrel’s Nut Butter. Not only is it an amazing product but Chris Thornley is an awesome human being. And he gives great hugs for moral support at the AS! Thank you to iRun for all their support. You don't just get shoes and supplies, you also get the ability to get advice and support from truly knowledgeable runners who compete at all different levels.
I am taking full advantage of this taper week. We slept in on Wednesday and it was wonderful! An easy 8 mile run followed by core and upper body.
Thursday:
Rest day.
Friday:
We ran 6 easy miles. We ran into Paul Bonnet at the park by our house. Norm tells Paul about some of the pains that he is suffering and Paul gives him some advice for stretching. Are you kidding me? I tell Norm he needs to stretch all the time! But talks to Paul about stretching and does some stretches with him and all of the sudden he’s on board with stretching? Men! I did a little core and upper body when we got home but I had to get to work early so it was a short work out.
Of course today we had a late parent at the elementary school. And then they wanted to talk on and on about being late. Yeah, you were late, it’s okay, now take your kids and go. I have some place to be! After work I came home to pack and get out the door. That never happens as fast as I think. I wanted to leave by 4pm, but as usual we were 30 minutes off our target. Brandi (Enzo’s girlfriend) was working at the race and needed to be there at 4am so she came up with me. Norm was coming later when he finished work. We were staying at the Apache Lodge. It’s an old 1940”s motor court (it’s been updated.) We check in, but never a mention of room or giving us a key. I look at the receipt as ask if we are in room #35. “Oh sorry, no #28, here’s you key.” Brandi and I go to #28 and I am having trouble getting the door to open. Then I hear in an aggressive voice, “Hey what are you trying to do?” As a large shirtless man yanks open the door. He seemed to soften a bit when he saw little old me just standing there. “Sorry, they gave me this key,” I say holding up the #28 key. The poor guy in the office saw the whole thing and was beside himself when we came back to the office. He gave us the right key and we were able to get settled in the room. We also saw shirtless angry guy going storming into the office. I hope he wasn’t too mean. The guy in the office seemed such a quite, kind soul. Accidents happened dude. Chill out! The room was big, the bathroom super nice and clean. I wish they had microwaves, but other than that, I highly recommend.
Brandi and I decided to walk to a Mexican restaurant to get some dinner. I opted for veggie fajitas. I have eaten this before running long distances before and I was fine. But in retrospect, they were oddly greasy for fajitas and this was probably a poor decision on my part.
At 10:40pm I am awakened by banging in the door. “Yes?” I call out. “Prescott Police” was the response. I look through the peep hole just to be sure. I opened the door and the officer asked, “Is everyone in this room ok?” I answered, “Yes sir.” That was that. Before I closed the door I heard someone say that there has been a drug overdose, but they didn't know which room. I went back to bed, but the banging on doors continued. I finally went back to sleep only to wake up until to wake up to Norm finally arriving at 11:20pm.
Saturday:
I didn’t feel too terrible at the 3am alarm despite the less than ideal nights sleep. It was apparent that my stomach was not feeling great. I just thought it was nerves. My 50 mile races have all been disasters. Both trips to Leona Divide I had to drop. Once I was pulled by medic for dehydration, once because my knee was such a problem that I could barely walk on it. And Zane Grey, same problem. My knee went south and I was dragging me leg behind me at the end, but at least I finished. I kept telling myself, this is just a training run. Nothing to be nervous about. Brandi was helping me get ready for the race. At some point my watch got messed up. It was on the wrong screen and I have no idea how to use my Suunto except to start and stop it. Thank G-d for Miguel! He got my watch back to the right screen.
It was so nice to line up with my Aravaipa Team Mates. I think it has taken some time, but it feels like we have finally come together as a cohesive team that knows each other and cares about each other. Running in the dark was not as bad as I was making it in my head. Things were going well until after the AS at mile 6. I missed the turn. Did the lead pack of guys. Later we learned that someone has pulled the sign telling us to turn. I know something was wrong when there 3 options for which way to go and there was no wrong way marking. You can disagree all you want, but I’m telling you that Aravaipa does a really good job of marking. When we finally turned around I had gone from 1st female to 3rd female. Thank you catlow for figuring out where we suppose to go! I wanted to try to hang with the boys, but my stomach was not feeling so great. About the time I could see another female in front of me was when my stomach started really feeling bad. I would spend the rest of the race going poo or trying not to go poo or battling major stomach cramping. I caught up to my teammate Del, but it became clear to me I was never going to pass her. My stomach was just getting worse. At every AS I thought about dropping. I just kept hoping my stomach would turn around. My stomach would get worse and then it would feel better for a bit, but it always got worse again. There was one 4 mile stretch where I pretty much walked the whole time. Sometimes uphill hurt my stomach. Sometimes downhill hurt my stomach. My watch died at mile 45. That made me less than happy. It was hard to keep going not knowing where I was in mileage. I was so happy for Chuck to come along! He let me know how far we had left. He continued to give me updates on mileage and was so encouraging to try to motivate. Unfortunately, after the last AS with less than 6 miles to go my stomach was at its worst. I got passed and fell to 3rd women. But there was nothing I could do about it.
My goal was to finish around 10 hours to 10:30 so the fact that I felt so terrible and finished in 10:45:03 makes me really happy. More importantly, I felt great all day in terms of running and my body, just not my stomach. The whole point of this race was to gauge where I am in preparation for my 100 mile race. Bonus – I got a 3 hour 20 minute 50 mile PR.
If you are looking for a 50 mile race, I highly recommend Whiskey Basin 88K. It’s a beautiful run. I kept thinking that I want to go back and just enjoy the trail. It’s also very runnable. I mean it is a trail, some times there are rocks. But I would not describe it as technical.
Once again Norm missed me finish so no pictures of that. I really did not feel so good. I went to the medic tent to lay down. I just needed to lay down. In the medic tent we discovered my blood pressure was really low and my oxygenation was low. I was answering all the questions correctly but I was struggling to stay conscious. I just really really wanted to close my eyes and sleep. Despite my not wanting it, they called the ambulance which means the fire truck also came. Siren blaring and all. By the time they arrived my blood pressure was better. Both blood sugar checks were good. They stood me up and I passed the test. They wanted me to go to the hospital for IV fluids, but I told them that because I did not have insurance I would prefer not to unless it was absolutely necessary. I was cleared and signed all the “you aren’t responsible if I die” forms with a promise to call them back out again if I started to feel bad again. I was feeling better, just ready to go home and shower.
Sunday:
The best news is that I woke up feeling good. I am not sore. A little tight after I am still for a bit, but that’s to be expected. Mostly I would just like a really good foot rub. I may try to get out for a few miles this afternoon, but it’s back to hard training tomorrow.
Huge thank you to Charlie Boeynik at Cadence Physical therapy for helping me get my foot problem straightened out quickly. Huge thank you and love to Squirrel’s Nut Butter. Honestly, the best product out there! Zero chaffing and no blisters yesterday. And when my lips got dry at an AS I was able to apply Squirrel’s Nut Butter. Not only is it an amazing product but Chris Thornley is an awesome human being. And he gives great hugs for moral support at the AS! Thank you to iRun for all their support. You don't just get shoes and supplies, you also get the ability to get advice and support from truly knowledgeable runners who compete at all different levels.
