WEEK 22/33 HEAT TRAINING

Plan said to do nothing but I did some strength cause after the week of doing no strength at all, I noticed my back hurt bit more again and I just feel overall better, more accomplished. And it was only 45mins anyways. So yeah.

Happy Canada Day! Which means a day off wohooo! And that also means hike with Piglet! Cause she didn't go anywhere on Sunday. I was thinking about Nihahi Ridge but as I was driving there, I changed my mind to Jumpingpound Summit. And thank doG I did! Lucy decided she doesn't really wanna go after like 20mins :D. But there was no reason for her to be like that and so I kinda dragged her to the top. Don't worry, she was fine, just walking super slow. We eventually made it...she ran down like no issues so she definitely wasn't sore. Just a lazy ass.

I got home and still had to do my first real heat training run. It was hot, like really hot! I wasn't excited about it at all. I was thinking about running just in my sports bra but I then I looked in the mirror and was like nope, this is terrible, I don't look like someone who should be running like that, also my tan lines ... :D . I have never run in just a sports bra outside before. Anyways. I put tanktop on. Dipped my hat in cold water and off I went. For whatever reason I started fast. Like my first K that's uphill was fast and everything else was too, I just couldn't slow down?! I tried but still was clicking some faster paces, not easy at all. It felt kinda fine but it was hard to say if I'm running too fast or if it's the heat :D. After like 3K I decided to take that stupid tanktop off cause it was way too hot. Luckily my short are pretty highwaisted so I didn't have to look (and everyone else) at my not flat belly. It felt nice. But it was also the only thing I could think about the whole run. Like how do I actually look? Is it terrible? Do people care? What do they think? And at the same time I was also like Fuck that, who cares, noone actually. It's all in your head. And even if they do, you will never know, you will never hear anyone say anything so just keep running and make sure you don't overheat. So I did. I stopped to refill my bottle and splash some water everywhere I could. It helped but only for a little bit. I had to do strides still. I went to a new spot, it was nice and flat and straight haha. I ran again like a maniac, sprints. It was awesome in this heat. Went back to the water fountain afterwards. I actually felt kinda good during the run, it wasn't as bad as I thought. But after I felt pretty exhausted. 

I had just strength for today in my plan. I decided to get some more sleep and did it in the afternoon instead of in the morning. It worked out but I think the heat took a bit out of me for sure. 

Another heat training day. Except the weather didn't want to cooperate. For once I really needed to be hot and instead I got rain and 18degrees. So had to pivot and put some layers on. Ugh. Long sleeve tshirt and thick hoodie. Should do the trick right? I wasn't excited about that run anymore. This is gonna suck! Everything felt kinda hard, legs were heavy. I wasn't even that warm. It was coming&going in waves. One second I was really warm and then some wind blew and I felt fine...not sure if it had any effect, I definitely wasn't sweating like crazy, nothing was dripping...so I guess that's it for my heat traning haha. I'm sure I'm ready. 

I really wanted to do another strength this week but woke up in the middle of the night with headache. Tried to sleep for another hour, woke up again, it was the same/worse so had to get up and get some Advil. So instead of getting up at 4:30, I slept for an extra hour or so because I was still feeling like crap. And then I didn't really have time to do anything in the evening. Just to get ready for tomorrow's adventure.

First time going with RunUphill group. I don't really do groups but I was really interested in this loop and it needed 2 vehicles to get point to point. It was supposed to be my down week, only about 3hrs run. I knew this is gonna be bit longer but basically the same distance/elevation as coach suggested. I was quickly reminded why I don't do group runs - all the waiting, all the trying to figure out where/when to go, with who, all the not knowing anyone...anyways. We finally arrived to the start point and got ready to go. I thought I'd go with the middle group but some gentleman was asking about the trail just before we went and I ended up in the very back with what was supposed to be the "party pace". I wasn't feeling the best but holy crap, I had pretty hard time to keep up, I was working bit too hard to be able to run with them. I usually start easy. I'm sure this was easy for them and the pace wasn't overly fast, it was a consistent run? Even on the slight uphills? I don't know, it felt hard for me and I was just like Holy shit, how am I gonna keep up with this for the rest of the run? It got bit better later and some of the steeper uphills when we were just powerhiking, I was fine. It was 5 of us and I again ended up at the back, by myself, not talking to anyone. Perfect! We talked a little just after the waterfall and up to the lake. The chains/lugs were bit terrifying again, but I managed well. Slight stomach issues there, but luckily, there was an outhouse by the campground. I've never been past Ribbon lake so that part up to Guinn's pass and down to Galatea was brand new to me and it was beautiful. And I started to struggle again on those ups, big time. I was just dragging my feet, getting behind...it was frustrating! I'm so good on climbs...or am I?! Well, made it to the top, got some incredible views and then had some cruisy downhill towards Galatea. I started to feel bit worse, my stomach wasn't happy. But these girls were cruising and I had to keep up cause I needed to finish with them so I would have a ride back to Ribbon parking lot. So I had to suck it up and just keep going. Another good lesson tho. Even when things get sideways and you're not feeling it, you still can keep going, you're capable of more than you think. Overall it was a shitty run, not something I hoped for, for my last run before the race. Like how am I gonna run 30 more kilometers with twice as much elevation, when I had really hard time to finish something like this, in way colder conditions...yikes

Sunday was Piglet's time again. Based on our last outing, I picked something very easy and short. Well like 2K in and Lucy was again like Ok I'm good now. So I dragged her a bit to make it to the "summit". She had no issues on the way back and was dragging me, what a lazy ass! I felt really good tho, kinda like I didn't even run anything the day before. Oh well...time to taper, right?

60.6K / 12:12 TOF