Monday:
Rest day! I normally hate rest days and lazy is not a word often used to describe me, but training for this 100 mile race with all the climbing has given me a new perspective. I am a totally fine with taking a rest day and doing very little work.
Tuesday:
I slept like shit. This often happens, where my dreams feel so realistic that it seems like I get no sleep. I also had a nightmare about running. I was running in the dark on a sidewalk. I couldn’t see anything, but my arms were really long and reached to the ground. I was rubbing the ground with my hands as I was running, but I was so worried about falling. Cars were pulling out in front of me. Then I felt a terrible electric shock. I thought someone one was electrocuting me from behind. I thought actually yelled out help me! But Norm says he didn't hear anything. Of course doesn't hear me when he’s awake so who knows. At the time it seemed a lot scarier than it does now.
I really didn’t want to get up when the alarm went off at 5am. Usually Norm is happy to ignore the alarm and go back to sleep, but today he nudged me to get up and head out the door. Since it was sin the 90’s today, I am glad I actually got up, but not so much at the time.
Holy cow! That 2 times at Ord left me in a world of hurt. I couldn't believe how much my glutes hurt. We were so slow that I was worried about being late for work. It was very slow going, but we got our 6 miles done. And I wasn’t even late for work.
Wednesday:
Norm woke up not feeling good. Honestly, he looked like crap. I wasn’t surprised he was skipping the run. When I run alone people I don't even recognize ask me about him. Today one guy called him my boyfriend. I think because he figured if we were married Norm wouldn't let me drag him up and down mountains.
The goal was 12 miles and 2000 feet of climbing. I got it done, but it’s clear that as my climbing for the week increases, I am going to have to work at planning my plan runs. Not just my daily runs, but for the whole week. I really need to make sure I know what my weekend long run is going to look like for vertical gain. Right now I just leave my front door, watch the climbing on my watch and make it up as I go along. When I was training for sky racing I maxed out at 12,000 feet. I will run 12,000 feet this week and it’s nowhere close to my planned max gain for training.
What is also clear is that I have to stop sleeping in. Well, I guess I don't have to, but it sure would be a lot nicer temperature wise. And with increased climbing comes increased time running. It’s only getting warmer around here.
I felt better running today. I felt a little tired on the up hills. I walked places I normally have no trouble running. But overall, I felt better. I had been thinking about jumping into the Aravaipa Dam Good Run this weekend as a training run, but yesterday that seemed like a no go. Today it seems like a possibility. I am waiting until Friday to see how I feel before I make a decision.
Thursday:
Small change to the summer plans. The community college that I teach at offered me to summer classes, but these are short classes. We meet Monday – Thursday and the classes end on June 29th. I am sad to lose 2 weeks of travel, but I gain in finances. Which means more money for when we do travel. Although I am little bummed to lose time at altitude, we can still spend long weekends in Flagstaff. To be honest, I was a little worried about money. We are pretty hand to mouth around here and I had two major appliances die and need to be replaced in the last few months which made it hard to save money. All of that said, the classes are early college students (meaning high school students taking classes for college credit) and I love teaching high school students.
Also, you might have noticed that I keep talking about my husband, Norm, not feeling good. Well… we think he has Meniere’s Disease. He had an MRI and it’s not a tumor and not Parkinson’s or MS. Which leaves Meniere’s Disease. His quality of life is suffering and he feels really down about it. We need to get him some more medical treatment, but we don’t have insurance so everything is out of pocket. Another reason this extra money will come in handy.
Thursday morning I had to run alone because Norm wasn’t feeling good. Luckily it is light enough outside that I don't feel stressed about heading out by myself into the preserve. My glutes were feeling better and I was actually able to get some turn over. But I might need to set the alarm a little earlier. I am getting out of the house in time to get to work, but it’s tight and I spend a lot of time yelling at people and dogs to get the hell out of my way.
As for the actual running, Thursday morning went well. I was feeling finally recovered from the double Ord. It was the afternoon run that I was really happy about it. The heat is on in Phoenix. I was a little worried that the heat would be difficult for me. I purposely started out easy and just wanted to stay under 9 minute miles. But what I discovered was that I actually felt pretty good. I started pushing the pace a little more and little more. I was happy that the heat didn’t seem to bother me.
Friday:
I woke up hungry, which doesn’t usually happen. I run all of my runs as depletion runs. But with about 3 miles left I couldn’t stop thinking about oatmeal and peanut butter. My usual breakfast is blueberries, a small amount of yogurt and chopped pecans. That was not going to cut it today. With the increase in mileage, there has been a definite increase in appetite. I always keep a food log. Sometimes to make sure I don’t eat too much and sometimes to make sure I eat enough. Even with keep track of my calories, I have lost weight over the last 4 weeks. Trying to get enough calories is definitely an issue. On long run days, it’s impossible to replace all I lost. I just can’t each that much food. I just try to focus on the end of the week and compare calories out to calories in. I'm not worried about the weigh loss because while I was injured off and on I gained weight that I struggled to get off. I am actually happy with the weight gain because I feel better running.
Saturday:
Easy run on the books today. I was running a bit late so I stuck to the roads so I could run an easy pace that was a bit faster than my easy pace on the trails. Luckily there is a neighborhood right by my house where I can run on the road, there is very little car traffic and I can get in some decent climbing. I love this neighborhood because I see way more people walking dogs than I see cars. I felt good on the run so at this point it looks like Dam Good Run is a go tomorrow. I will make a final decision when I wake up. If I don't sleep well or feel good in the morning, I will skip the race. So as long as no dog or kid pukes or craps excessively tonight, I should be good to go. Norm and Brandi have to be at work at the race at 5am so I will mostly likely be awake early anyways.
Sunday:
Norm was so quiet, I didn’t hear him at all. The dogs on the other hand where total jerks. I was up at 4:30am no problem. Surprise! I started my period. I mean it’s not a big deal except I tend to feel terrible the first day. I have zero speed and feel like I am running through knee-deep mud. As I sipped my coffee I kept thinking, “I could just start running now and be done so much earlier before it gets hot out.” I ended contemplating life too long and then I was rushing around to get out the door. I got to the lake, but missed the turn because there was no Aravaipa flag. I knew it was the turn, but no flag threw me off. (Later I would complain to Norm and he would tell me he just got back from putting out the flag. A little late buddy!)
I was surprised how windy it was at the lake. I also knew that it was going to heat up a lot so a little wind could be nice. I really wanted to try to break my record from last year, but I knew I was running on tired legs. There were some fast guys out there, but I had to just keep telling myself to run my race. I had ignore what ever they were doing and a run a race that felt comfortable for me. I felt really good overall, but my legs were definitely tired on the climbs. I knew I still had a workout in the afternoon to get through and although I was racing, I was really training and testing my fitness. My mantra became “run fast when you can and when you can’t run slow.” It sounds so simple, but I needed to remind myself to relax. It’s okay that I wasn’t running so fast on the up hills. When it was flat or downhill I was able to push the pace and so I did.
Rest day! I normally hate rest days and lazy is not a word often used to describe me, but training for this 100 mile race with all the climbing has given me a new perspective. I am a totally fine with taking a rest day and doing very little work.
Tuesday:
I slept like shit. This often happens, where my dreams feel so realistic that it seems like I get no sleep. I also had a nightmare about running. I was running in the dark on a sidewalk. I couldn’t see anything, but my arms were really long and reached to the ground. I was rubbing the ground with my hands as I was running, but I was so worried about falling. Cars were pulling out in front of me. Then I felt a terrible electric shock. I thought someone one was electrocuting me from behind. I thought actually yelled out help me! But Norm says he didn't hear anything. Of course doesn't hear me when he’s awake so who knows. At the time it seemed a lot scarier than it does now.
I really didn’t want to get up when the alarm went off at 5am. Usually Norm is happy to ignore the alarm and go back to sleep, but today he nudged me to get up and head out the door. Since it was sin the 90’s today, I am glad I actually got up, but not so much at the time.
Holy cow! That 2 times at Ord left me in a world of hurt. I couldn't believe how much my glutes hurt. We were so slow that I was worried about being late for work. It was very slow going, but we got our 6 miles done. And I wasn’t even late for work.
Wednesday:
Norm woke up not feeling good. Honestly, he looked like crap. I wasn’t surprised he was skipping the run. When I run alone people I don't even recognize ask me about him. Today one guy called him my boyfriend. I think because he figured if we were married Norm wouldn't let me drag him up and down mountains.
The goal was 12 miles and 2000 feet of climbing. I got it done, but it’s clear that as my climbing for the week increases, I am going to have to work at planning my plan runs. Not just my daily runs, but for the whole week. I really need to make sure I know what my weekend long run is going to look like for vertical gain. Right now I just leave my front door, watch the climbing on my watch and make it up as I go along. When I was training for sky racing I maxed out at 12,000 feet. I will run 12,000 feet this week and it’s nowhere close to my planned max gain for training.
What is also clear is that I have to stop sleeping in. Well, I guess I don't have to, but it sure would be a lot nicer temperature wise. And with increased climbing comes increased time running. It’s only getting warmer around here.
I felt better running today. I felt a little tired on the up hills. I walked places I normally have no trouble running. But overall, I felt better. I had been thinking about jumping into the Aravaipa Dam Good Run this weekend as a training run, but yesterday that seemed like a no go. Today it seems like a possibility. I am waiting until Friday to see how I feel before I make a decision.
Thursday:
Small change to the summer plans. The community college that I teach at offered me to summer classes, but these are short classes. We meet Monday – Thursday and the classes end on June 29th. I am sad to lose 2 weeks of travel, but I gain in finances. Which means more money for when we do travel. Although I am little bummed to lose time at altitude, we can still spend long weekends in Flagstaff. To be honest, I was a little worried about money. We are pretty hand to mouth around here and I had two major appliances die and need to be replaced in the last few months which made it hard to save money. All of that said, the classes are early college students (meaning high school students taking classes for college credit) and I love teaching high school students.
Also, you might have noticed that I keep talking about my husband, Norm, not feeling good. Well… we think he has Meniere’s Disease. He had an MRI and it’s not a tumor and not Parkinson’s or MS. Which leaves Meniere’s Disease. His quality of life is suffering and he feels really down about it. We need to get him some more medical treatment, but we don’t have insurance so everything is out of pocket. Another reason this extra money will come in handy.
Thursday morning I had to run alone because Norm wasn’t feeling good. Luckily it is light enough outside that I don't feel stressed about heading out by myself into the preserve. My glutes were feeling better and I was actually able to get some turn over. But I might need to set the alarm a little earlier. I am getting out of the house in time to get to work, but it’s tight and I spend a lot of time yelling at people and dogs to get the hell out of my way.
As for the actual running, Thursday morning went well. I was feeling finally recovered from the double Ord. It was the afternoon run that I was really happy about it. The heat is on in Phoenix. I was a little worried that the heat would be difficult for me. I purposely started out easy and just wanted to stay under 9 minute miles. But what I discovered was that I actually felt pretty good. I started pushing the pace a little more and little more. I was happy that the heat didn’t seem to bother me.
Friday:
I woke up hungry, which doesn’t usually happen. I run all of my runs as depletion runs. But with about 3 miles left I couldn’t stop thinking about oatmeal and peanut butter. My usual breakfast is blueberries, a small amount of yogurt and chopped pecans. That was not going to cut it today. With the increase in mileage, there has been a definite increase in appetite. I always keep a food log. Sometimes to make sure I don’t eat too much and sometimes to make sure I eat enough. Even with keep track of my calories, I have lost weight over the last 4 weeks. Trying to get enough calories is definitely an issue. On long run days, it’s impossible to replace all I lost. I just can’t each that much food. I just try to focus on the end of the week and compare calories out to calories in. I'm not worried about the weigh loss because while I was injured off and on I gained weight that I struggled to get off. I am actually happy with the weight gain because I feel better running.
Saturday:
Easy run on the books today. I was running a bit late so I stuck to the roads so I could run an easy pace that was a bit faster than my easy pace on the trails. Luckily there is a neighborhood right by my house where I can run on the road, there is very little car traffic and I can get in some decent climbing. I love this neighborhood because I see way more people walking dogs than I see cars. I felt good on the run so at this point it looks like Dam Good Run is a go tomorrow. I will make a final decision when I wake up. If I don't sleep well or feel good in the morning, I will skip the race. So as long as no dog or kid pukes or craps excessively tonight, I should be good to go. Norm and Brandi have to be at work at the race at 5am so I will mostly likely be awake early anyways.
Sunday:
Norm was so quiet, I didn’t hear him at all. The dogs on the other hand where total jerks. I was up at 4:30am no problem. Surprise! I started my period. I mean it’s not a big deal except I tend to feel terrible the first day. I have zero speed and feel like I am running through knee-deep mud. As I sipped my coffee I kept thinking, “I could just start running now and be done so much earlier before it gets hot out.” I ended contemplating life too long and then I was rushing around to get out the door. I got to the lake, but missed the turn because there was no Aravaipa flag. I knew it was the turn, but no flag threw me off. (Later I would complain to Norm and he would tell me he just got back from putting out the flag. A little late buddy!)
I was surprised how windy it was at the lake. I also knew that it was going to heat up a lot so a little wind could be nice. I really wanted to try to break my record from last year, but I knew I was running on tired legs. There were some fast guys out there, but I had to just keep telling myself to run my race. I had ignore what ever they were doing and a run a race that felt comfortable for me. I felt really good overall, but my legs were definitely tired on the climbs. I knew I still had a workout in the afternoon to get through and although I was racing, I was really training and testing my fitness. My mantra became “run fast when you can and when you can’t run slow.” It sounds so simple, but I needed to remind myself to relax. It’s okay that I wasn’t running so fast on the up hills. When it was flat or downhill I was able to push the pace and so I did.
Start line
And we're off!
With about a half mile to go I passed the wife (she's an author - check it out! Lynn Rush) of my PT and she yelled lots of lovely things about me. Then at the top of the final killer hill I saw my PT Charlie. He gave me a high 5 and called me a beast and that gave me the energy to really push it those final steps. I was pretty sure I was off my course record, but thought it might be close so when I hit the downhill road into the finish I gave it everything I had to get across that finish line.
In the end I finished in 3:33;19 for 1st female, but missed my CR of 3:32:19.Of course I start thinking of all the little places where I wasted precious seconds. But honestly, I am thankful to run a time so close to last year. Last year I was running between 55 and 65 miles with about 4 to 5 thousand feet of climbing. This year I would finish with almost 90 miles and 12,000 feet of climbing at the end of the week. The fact that I ran times so that are within seconds of each other makes me feel really good about my fitness right now.
In the end I finished in 3:33;19 for 1st female, but missed my CR of 3:32:19.Of course I start thinking of all the little places where I wasted precious seconds. But honestly, I am thankful to run a time so close to last year. Last year I was running between 55 and 65 miles with about 4 to 5 thousand feet of climbing. This year I would finish with almost 90 miles and 12,000 feet of climbing at the end of the week. The fact that I ran times so that are within seconds of each other makes me feel really good about my fitness right now.
Pushing hard to beat my CR
Finish line!
I ran with one bottle that I was filling with water. I had some coke and peanut m&m’s at the aid stations. I did grab some potato chips at the last aid station because it just sounded good. It worked well. I felt fueled and had zero stomach problems. I kept wetting my hat to keep my head cool. FYI - the lake water did not feel cold when I dipped my hat in it. I tried ice in my hat, but it ended up giving me a headache so I quit doing that.
If you haven’t run Dam Good Run, you really should. The views are so beautiful and different from what you normally get in the desert because you are running around Lake Pleasant. The best part is the finish line is right at the lake and you can go right in after you finish. I highly recommend it! The water felt amazing!
If you haven’t run Dam Good Run, you really should. The views are so beautiful and different from what you normally get in the desert because you are running around Lake Pleasant. The best part is the finish line is right at the lake and you can go right in after you finish. I highly recommend it! The water felt amazing!
Lake Pleasant is beautiful!
Hydrate people! This is not a fun situation to be in.
Congrats to Zoe Bellingham (2nd) and Rebekah Ryan (3rd)
Aravaipa Awards are always so cool!
After the race we came home to change clothes, grab some food and re pack my running bag. I drink a bottle mixed with Skratch on the way to Ord. It is the one thing I must have after a race. It always make me feel better and always cures my post race headache. We were off to Mt. Ord. I still needed to get 14 miles and between 2000 feet to 3000 feet of climbing done. I felt really good, but I knew Ord was going to be tough. Just going straight up with very little break is grueling even when I haven't already run 24+ miles. We started up Ord and my mantra became “I’m not running anything I don’t want to run.” We did some power hiking. I was really struggling. I was not enjoying this as all. When you are going up Ord there is a fire road that goes off to the right, FR 1688. I have always wanted to know where this went. As we approached I told Norm, I want to see where this goes. It goes no where! But that was okay, trying something new made me happy and I was enjoying the adventure. The road is in terrible shape, even for running on. It’s not just rocky, it’s also rutted and tilted in odd ways. So, the road sucked, but the views were amazing! If you have never run this route, you need to do it. When we got back to the main road, we turned and headed back down to the car. Yay! I was so happy. And so hungry. We devoured a container of Pringles quickly. And we stopped for soda’s. I drink soda when I am racing, but I would never just have a soda in my daily life. I really don’t like them. Yesterday I had 2 cokes.
Due to the shortened run on Ord I ended up with 86.5 miles and 11,870 feet of climbing. But if you add in all the dog walking that I don't add to my workouts I did 90 miles and 12,000 feet for sure.
Due to the shortened run on Ord I ended up with 86.5 miles and 11,870 feet of climbing. But if you add in all the dog walking that I don't add to my workouts I did 90 miles and 12,000 feet for sure.
Best training partner ever! Despite getting up at 3am and working at the race until 1pm he still kept company on my afternoon run.
