sourpuss's training log

[Sharla]

Yeah, I know what you mean. If you're a competitive person, it's hard to be sensible about what your limits and abilities are when you're actually out there running or competing. You'll do fine though, you're in great shape.

Well I don't think i'm in the best shape of my life but I'll take the encouragement anyway.

Let us know how your river crossing goes - sounds like fun as long as it's no cold where-ever you have to do this race.

Good to see you're back and you didn't leave us too by the way!

[sourpuss]

My coach is out of town so we don't start training again for a few more days.
I'm just focusing on running until the race. Today and tomorrow I'll do 1 hour runs and then probably something light on Monday. I've never run for and hour and a half straight before so this should be interesting.

[sourpuss]

Well yesterday I ran for an hour, for the first time ever. It wasn't as ahrd as I thought it was going to be and I could have went farther when I was done. So that's a good sign. But I didn't plan right and I hadn't had any water all morning and then I set out for the run at noon and it was really hot. So I got really dehydrated later in the day and didn't feel too well. Lesson learned.

[sourpuss]

I did a trail run today that I think is pretty close to the actual race course only 2.5 miles shorter. I think I can average a 12 minute mile if I take into account all of the spots where it is too steep to run and obstacles like fences and rivers, etc. Which would put me under an hour and a half. That's my goal anyway. We'll see, the low for the night before is 34° so I'm hoping it's a little warmer than that by 9am when the race starts.

[sourpuss]

Back in the gym tonight. Yay!
I'll ride my bike there (3 miles) and back. We're there for 2 hours and I assume my coach will have us doing a lot of sprints and conditioning stuff this first day back. (the others from my club can't seem to bring themselves to do any conditioning on their own....BOO!)

[sourpuss]

Well I did the race. I was aiming for 1 hr and 20 min and I did it in 1 hr and 12 min.
I didn't really know what to expect, so just finishing was a goal.
It was pretty tough, but not as hard as I thought it was going to be.
Here's a (not so brief) synopsis of the race.

The first mile and a half was probably the hardest. It was about 40 degrees out and you could see your breath. I, of course, was the only one in shorts and a t-shirt. Next year I will be sure to wear some light gloves. It was on asphalt as well, which I hate. Even though I started out slow, I immediately got a side stitch. I think that was due to how cold it was.

As soon as the crowd evened out and we all found our pace we all bottle-necked on to a single file trail straight up the side of the mountain. I think this is where I could have went a lot faster if I had been out front. Someone at the front was walking, which was fine, it was too steep to run. But they were walking as if they were on a nature walk, not in a race. We were going at a pace MUCH slower than I would have gone if there were no one in front of me. This lasted about a mile, so that slowed me up considerably. Next year I'll start out at the front and try to build a lead.

The trail leveled off and my side stitch was gone after all the walking. But it wasn't level for long and there was another hill almost a mile long and pretty much straight up. I was able to jog a lot of it and pass quite a few people that were walking.

The last half of the race is a lot of loose, rocky terrain. A lot of it was downhill as well. Which sounds good, but it's killer on your knees and hips and really hard to maintain balance on all the rocks.

The last mile has a lot of little hills, quick switchbacks, fences etc. The last half mile you cross a fence, over railroad tracks and then across the river. THE RIVER WAS ICE FREAKING COLD!!!! My legs were bright pink and completely numb the last little stretch.

All in all it was great fun though! I can't wait to do it again next year. I now know that I need to be a lot more aggressive about passing people, even if it means going off the trail and on slightly more dangerous terrain to get ahead. There were a couple of times where I should have bolted ahead to get around some slower runners and I missed my chance.

The race is a re-enactment of this:
John Colter, Mountain Man

[sourpuss]

My coach is working out some potential sparring for me with another club. I'm conflicted about it. There are 3 possibilities. Two boys (105 lbs) and one gilr (145 lbs). All three are pretty inexperienced. The boys will be fast, so that's good practice for me as all my opponents are fast. The girl is one of those toughman club "boxers" and he coach said she hasn't a clue what boxing really is. I was thinking it would be good practice against someone who is wild and unpredictible. I suppose that any sparring that is not my old, slow and injured coach that I've been sparring for the last three years would be good.