Exercise: 12.5 mile trail run- 12:00pace
Pretty much the hardest 12 mile run I've done. Yeah, it was supposed to be 15. Luckily for me I misread the map and the trail I took ended earlier than I anticipated. THANK THE LORD. At that point I was mentally done. I read this blog, Endurance isn't only Physical. Never has that statement felt so very true.
When I reached the end of the trail I had just completed a 3 mile fairly steep descent. Although running downhill is less challenging physically, the whole time I was psyching myself out thinking "3 miles down means 3 miles up." Mentally, I was already paralyzed. It was way too much for a first long trail run.
Trail running is so very different than road running. And definitely different than my usual flat routes. There are the steep hills, the sloping paths, loose and varied footing. Not to mention rattle snakes, poison oak, and all kinds of creepy crawlies. The wildlife actually doesn't bother me but my body was no match for the terrain. It was definitely a reality check.
The Bulldog 50k is not in the cards for me this year. I need a lot, and I mean A LOT, more trails under my belt before I attempt that distance. I will, however, run the Bulldog 25k. It's still 15 miles, nothing to laugh at and I'm pretty confident I have enough time to train to complete that distance.
For the next few months I'll also have to change up my training. The music man is having a very busy summer and I need to be around to support him (rather than him getting up to deal with little man at 5am after getting home from work after midnight! to support me.) The plan is to run 3 days a week as opposed to 4 and use the elliptical the remaining days. When little man's sleep schedule gets back to normal or decides to sleep a little later I'll go back to running more and hopefully start incorporating road biking into my routine.
One final note: We have an oven! So I got to make pizza again. I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust mix and it was pretty tasty, much better than I had anticipated. I topped it with all sorts of yummy stuff: spinach, mushrooms, chicken sausage and Galaxy Mozzarella Rice Shreds and the pie was perfection. Thank you Music Man for installing the new oven!
Well, you'll kick butt next year when you do the Bulldog 50K! Glad to hear that you are going to do the 25K (unless you changed your mind and I haven't read about it yet).
ReplyDeleteSo glad that you got your oven!!!!! The pizza sounds delicious.
Sorry about all of these comments :)