WEEK 16 / ?? IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL IT'S OVER...WHICH WAS ON SATURDAY, AGAIN

Monday was a holiday and I was planning to go hiking. But I was still sick. So I just took Lucy for a city walk to get some photos in blooming trees and then had a nap. I was searching for other races, seeing what my options really are. But there aren't any that I want to do. I was still pretty sad. But then couple of people commented on my post and then I also remembered what Sally says - give yourself time to grieve and be sad but after a certain time, you just have to let it go. And that's exactly what I needed to do. And I did that. It's time to focus on something else. It sucks, it really does, but there's nothing that can be done. It's over. Let's move on. And I started to think bit more about Relentless24. A race that has been on my radar too, I haven't signed up yet cause the plan is to wait until the last minute to see if it fits into my training plan and if it's gonna be even beneficial. But now it doesn't really matter. I've already kinda planned it out. How many loops to do on loop 1, average times, sunrise/sunset, all the fun things. I even emailed the race director about nutrition they would have there so I can maybe try it before the actual race. Let's go! 100K is not 100M but if completed in 24hrs you would get a belt buckle too :)). I also decided after some encouragement that I'm gonna try to run the 100M BVU course on the same weekend as the race was supposed to be. They said they are planning to do a "fun run" anyways, with some minimal aid and hopefully by then I can gather some people to help me out with it. So if anyone has a free weekend on the 27&28 of September and wants to help with crewing/pacing, let me know. I don't like to ask for help, I feel like I have no right to do so and I think I can do everything by myself but I can't do this all alone...

I had an interval workout for today but I switched it with Thursdays run, which only had some uphill strides at the end. I could barely breathe and if I bent over, my head felt like it's gonna explode. I didn't think it would be wise to try to run 3min intervals. It was tough, breathing wasn't the greatest but I got it done. All the mixed feelings still but I gotta keep going.

Wednesdays are a double, run and strength. I had 60mins easy which I took really, really easy as my breathing hasn't really improved still. Nose is stuffed, it sucks. Strength was okay, did some deadlifts and stuff again with more weight. My legs gonna feel those.

Ugh those intervals. I felt pretty bad as soon as I started running. Sometimes I have this feeling I can't breathe in properly. Well today was one of those days too. Combined with still stuffed nose, what can go wrong. I went fast on the first 3mins and I could barely hold on. 2mins recovery was not enough. I felt like I forgot how to breathe. Started the second one and only few sec in and my legs were already on fire. Like what. Seriously. I fought for my dear life through the rest. I was gasping for air. And I ran slow AF. At first I thought it wasn't that bad but it was bad. It was only 3mins intervals and I ran it like a 5mins. Terrible. The rest of the run was also just in survival mode. One of the worst runs ever. 

I scheduled another strength for myself on Friday to do some arms/back and core cause there isn't much time to do stuff if you only have 45mins. It was good.

Oh Grotto. When coach suggested that I was kinda like Ewww. Grotto sucks! But I didn't come up with anything else so I had to go with it. I decided to start at the Lady Mac parking lot instead of the ACC hut as usual. Should give me bit longer warm up I thought cause from my usual spot it's just straight up, no warm up really. This route was kinda cool, nice singletrack in the trees on some soft dirt. I was kinda dying already and haven't even started the climb yet. I wanted to go as fast as possible as I knew this is the only thing I'm doing today. It was a tough going tho. About half way up the climb I thought I'd post a photo on my IG. So I turned my data on (I turn it off in the mountains as I don't want my battery to get drained) and I opened IG. Scrolled down a bit and what did I see... post from Relentless24 with IMPORTANT information. Thought it was something about the aid station maybe. Nope. It's been postponed aka canceled. Like what the actual FUCK! How is this even possible?? Another race and another cancelation ??? What have I done?! Why is my luck so bad this year... I don't even know at this point. I don't wanna run anymore. What's the point of all of this... fuck running, fuck everything...seriously. I'm so done! I was ready to turn around and go back home. I definitely slowed down after this. I had zero desire to keep pushing or even going. But I did. It was nice out so I guess I should be happy that I can do this. I slowly made my way to the ridge and then to the top. No rush at all. I tried to run as much as I could or move as fast as I could on the way down. Seems like it worked as I hit my Strava PR on the descend :D. My knees and quads were not happy at all. The rest was kinda meh. It was warm and my stomach started to act up so I was just glad to be done. 

Piglet is on some antibiotics for ear infection, which sucks, but she was still very ready to go somewhere. So we went. It was warm so it was VERY slow hike. But that's okay, my quads and knees are pretty angry from yesterday :D. I wasn't even sure if we gonna make it all the way to the summit, but eventually, we did! Such a nice day to be outside!

55.26 K / 11:30 TOF