That runs the length of my right foot is still sore but three days later, much better. Photo to come. More achy than really sore. If it feels alright then I’ll go for 30 minutes tomorrow - any pain and I’m stopping. One more physio appointment on Thursday and if it checks out, then it’s a go for White River. (I am pacing back and forth and ready to race)
How about ’snap’.
That was the sound of my ankle as I was floating down a hill on an easy run this afternoon as I rolled over it. Feel no pity for me, though. I am in great shape, it just may not be used in 2 weeks at White River. On top of that, mentally, my focus was elsewhere so it’s not surprising that it happened. (My reaction to rolling it was more than embarrassing enough to put everything in perspective - and pretty hilarious if you had been a bystander)
So, here I am. Unable to run (at least hard) and 2 weeks out. The things I have going for me are:
- 14 days
- I am a quick healer (my Gobi experience taught me that)
- My training to this point has been very hard and overall I feel in great shape.
- STORMY is my back-up race (mid-August)
Things I am challenged with are;
- Fuck, that really pisses me off.
- Bruising around the ligament - hmmm, wonder what that means…
- Technically, I would only run 8 more days total before the race. If things look good and I heal sufficiently to give it a go, I’ll have been off my legs for 14 days.
Raise your hand if it’s ever happened to you…
Ok, I cheated a bit and ran hard yesterday (about 44km total with 8km of 4:05-4:10 pace at the end). I was feeling great so I just relaxed into the pace. Logically, I know I’m as fit as I can be for White River - sure, I could be fitter but I’m out of time. Emotionally, I was thinking about another, last, long run just to make sure. Not very strategic but emotions take over sometimes and the next thing you know, you are out the door running…again.
I haven’t done any racing since Elk/Beaver and I am physically/mentally tired of training. I really digg tapering and am looking forward to giving my legs a break over the next 2 1/2 weeks.
About once a month I weigh myself - more out of general interest in how I ‘feel’ than anything else. I use the same scale every-time at work so even if the actual weight isn’t accurate (I’m confident that it is), monthly fluctuations in my weight would be.
I feel ’skinny’ right now. I mean skinny and bird-like. It’s not a good feeling and so I jumped on the scale to see if my weight had changed from roughly 6 weeks ago.
I’ve lost almost 5 lbs and am sitting at 159lbs. I weighed 159lbs in grade 9. I haven’t lost any strength at all (wide grip pullups are my test and I am right where I should be), but I feel ‘weak’.
Panic ensued, and no word of a lie, I drove down to Thrifty’s and bought a rib-eye steak.
I took last week off to work on house projects. It was a week of hard labour with evenings of training. It looks like I am paying for it a bit with what now looks like strep throat that hit me on Saturday.
In any case, I finished the weekend with 9 hours of running (5 Sat, 4 Sun) 7hours at Gowland. This is my last long run weekend before White River - I’m not happy that I could only crank out 9 hours but considering how I was feeling, I was lucky to get that much in. As it stands, I’ve had two weeks of 16 hours+ of running (and weights). I’ve found that my hardest week has to be at least 4 weeks before a race to feel my best so I’ll be bringing down the mileage and increasing the intensity.
This weekend (Friday) I was in Vancouver for my high school reunion. Hilarious. The last time I saw everyone I was 208lbs and had been in the gym for a few years. So, coming into this reunion, I was 45lbs lighter. I actually had 3 people come up and ask, “Are you OK? Are you ill?” No just running….
Anyway, on Saturday I got up a little hung over and went for 3:40 in the trails of North Van. It’s no wonder the North Van/Squamish boys are so freakin’ fast in trail ultras. You could train on the Powerline trail probably all year and be well ready for STORMY. I ran to the top of Lonsdale across the Powerline trail to the Grouse Grind, up the Grind (the Grind was a big traffic jam and my heart was hammering probably due to the alcohol), down the BCMC trail back across the powerline and down, down, down to M’s parents place. (The last 30 minutes downill I was flying) My legs were done but I felt great.
I have 2 heavy 160k + coming up and thankfully lots of time to get the mileage in…
Today’s training:
26 min/5:56-6:00 per mile pace. Warm up, cool down and all that. Felt like puking and was frantically looking for a garbage can at 24 minutes but the stomach settled.
Feel like puking again.
Here’s a question: Do you know you are training hard when you really enjoy your rest day? Today is it for me - no running, no weights. Maybe some meditation if I can get it together.
It’s like being a civilian for a day when you’re a soldier.
The weekend? 2 days of solid running and no sore legs. Yesterday I ran 20km at 4:15/km and felt light on my feet. Today I ran 22km at 5:00/km and felt great (I felt like I could have gone on for a long time) I am feeling light/fast and am weighing in at 163lbs.
The next four weeks will include 2-3, 100 mile weeks of running plus spinning and weights. I am looking forward to getting up to 160km.
Yesterday was a day of mixed emotions and it sometimes suprises/concerns me how much I depend on running to keep me grounded.
I still have White River in my sights and have upped the mileage/intensity this week. Yesterday was 20km including a 4.2 mile tempo run (6:00/mi) and I finished not feeling trashed. Perpetuem helps and I’ve found that by pre-loading before a tempo run, I have lots of energy for the workout. Recovery was really quick and I was feeling great - this was one of my better tempo runs of the year.
If I took stock of ‘the rest of’ my life, though, (including work, family, education, etc…) I’d say that things are overwhelming right now. In other words, when I’m not running, I’m not all that happy.
Psychologists say that humans, particularly young children, fall asleep to deal with high stress situations. I was gone by 9:00pm last night.