It's funny that sometimes I get more motivated to do strength when it is NOT in my training plan than when it is. Like today. I usually try to do it first thing in the morning like my runs cause then I don't have to think about it. But today I decided to sleep for bit longer to get better recovery and do the strength in the evening. I was not excited about it, especially after I got home and the only thing I wanted to do is to sit down and relax a bit. But it was already pretty late so I just had to go and do it right away. It was fine but these days always reminds me why I'd rather do it at 5am :D.
70mins easy with some strides at the end was the plan for today's run. Legs felt surprisingly fresh. I thought I would be still bit fatigued from the weekend and maybe from yesterday's strength but it was pretty good. Took it fairly easy and tried for some speedy strides. They were kinda uphill so bit more work too. It was a good run. Got soaked by stupid sprinklers 5mins from the house.
Also had a call with coach. To recap the last few weeks/months and get some clarity on few things. It was great. I guess I really needed to hear some of that stuff cause I wasn't sure if I'm even making any progress. It's been slow. We've been building the base and there haven't been any really big gains or that was at least what I thought. But coach definitely showed me there have been improvements. We also talked about the future. And he gave me some new ideas. There may or may not have been some new fires set on...
Hill repeats for breakfast. Or shall we say before breakfast. I was quite excited for this one. I felt good. And it went really well. Had some more time to think about everything that was said yesterday on call with coach and I'm starting to get pumped about stuff again. I threw in a 50mins strength that was not in the plan but I just feel like I should do more.
Third time is the charm. Right? Right! So I signed up for another race. We talked about races on Tuesday and coach reminded me of few that I completely forgot about cause they were right after my B race or I just didn't even take those into consideration before. Cause it just didn't go as well with my plan. But now, with those failures, it's a new game plan. At first we talked about Powderface Marathon. Which is at the end of June. WSER Saturday. I really want to watch WSER so I'm kinda hoping noone would be looking to transfer their bib :D. It's sold out so I just have to wait if someone would be selling their entry, otherwise I'm not doing it. The Powderface Half Marathon was actually my first ever trail race so it kinda holds a special place in my heart. The second race and the one I eventually signed up for, is the Sinister 7. "Just" the 50K. Would definitely be cool to try to do the 50M at least but for the 50K, I can just drive there in the morning (hopefully) and then go back home without having to stay etc. And then all the recovery and stuff after. I want to do some of my dream routes this summer and with the 50K, that should be an easy recovery after. So yeah, I'm doing that :D. You can place your bets now if it gets canceled...
I had the exactly same workout/run as on Tuesday. 70mins with some strides. I was expecting my legs to be finally tired after the hill sprints yesterday and some leg workout in the evening but I felt pretty good even through the warm up. So I went tiny bit faster. I got some VERY speedy strides at the end too. Okay, 3 out of 5 were kinda downhill but still! I ran further in shorter time than on Tuesday. It felt good and I was really happy with that run.
Was I planning another strength for Friday? Yes. Did I wake up for it? No. I planned to do it after work cause I was supposed to be off early and then had to take Lucy to the vet. But... I got lunch, ate and then had no desire to move :D. So that was it.
Long run Saturday. 4-5hrs. I planned my route and was bit worried about it cause I had to start really early - I had to be in back in Calgary no later than like 2:30pm and it was supposed to be really hot - so I knew there are not gonna be people on those trails as soon as I leave Prairie summit and there has been bear around the Prairie/Powderface creek area. So I bought air horn yesterday. Just in case. Haha. After such a good week I really hoped for a great run where it would show off all the work I've been putting in. I started just after 6:30am. Saw a lot of cars park along the highway so I knew there are people on Prairie. Didn't really see many until like half way up and then only one guy at the top. I was not trying to push it knowing there is pretty long day ahead of me. But when my second alarm for fuel beeped I thought hmm, I guess I'm doing pretty good, I should try to push it from here to the top. So I did. But I was still 4 too many minutes slower than my fastest time. What a disappointment. Oh well. Took some pics and were on my way down the backside. As I thought, noone on that trail, noone on Prairie Creek or Prairie Link until just before the fork with Powderface Creek. And then again all alone until the ridge. I was going slow. When I reached the fork I was around 2:30 in and only 12.6K. That's not even half of the mileage I was planning but half of the time I was supposed to do. Ugh. The new section of Powderface Creek trail kicked my butt. I've only done that old part once when I did IronLegs and it sucked with all those rocks on the trail but I thought it was better? Maybe I just don't remember it good enough. Anyways. This sucked too and I was slow AF. When I finally made it out of the trees I felt hungry, like I wish I brought a sandwich or something solid to eat. It was weird, I usually don't feel like that. I was also trying new fuel, the Naak drink mix that has some protein in it. Taste wasn't the best but I could deal with it, it seemed to be okay. I was planning to go all the way to the east summit of Powderface too, but when I got to the "true" summit, I was already at like 3:30 in and knew I'm not goona make it in under 5hrs if I go and honestly, I just didn't have it in me. I felt bonky and didn't even want to really eat or drink anything anymore. So I went back. The sun finally got out of the clouds too and it was getting hot. The way back was meh. Hot and my stomach started to feel weird. As I'm running down these switchbacks I turned corner and saw this group of ladies. And they were like Oh there was a bear on the trail JUST NOW. And I'm like WTF?! I didn't see anything! I ran past the bear that was somewhere in the bushes/trees and didn't even notice it. Thank doG! I'd freak out hah. I talked to them for a bit cause they weren't sure if they were on the right trail and then I went on. Kinda glad that I've already passed the bear and so there shouldn't be another one, but you never know :D. I also came across these 2 groups that were looking for the same trail but passed it by like 1.5K already. I sent them back. Hopefully they found the right turn off. Rest of the run was uneventful, I was just thinking how the hell am I gonna run another 20K with 700-800m of elevation when I could barely finish this not even 30K run in 5hrs. Why am I not crushing these "easy" runs like I think I should!? Wtf am I doing wrong... this should be easy, faster running by now and I should feel like I can easily do another at least 10K. But I don't... As soon as I sat in the car, I got the worst stomach ache ever. The drive home was horrible. I'm not sure if I'll ever try Naak again. I didn't change anything else.
The one positive thing about this run tho was that I didn't feel very tired for the rest of the day. Yeah I took a nap but usually I'm pretty dead and I wasn't. Will see tomorrow tho...
Decided to do recovery shuffle before I had to do some work. So 5:15 run again, even on Sunday haha. Legs were definitely sore but I could move pretty well after the first 1K or so. Took it easy, did 53mins, then mtn legs and felt okay. Same for the rest of the day, I didn't feel completely thrashed. That's a good sign. Still, not sure how am I gonna run 50K with over 2200m of elevation gain in month and half. Especially if it's hot. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to sign up for that race and I should've thought about it bit more. Too late.
67.5 K / 9:28 TOF
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