Marathon Training

Drove up to Pine Mountain, GA to run the trails to train for my 50k.  The trail was very rocky and had some pretty steep long climbs.  The race is going to be tough.  My legs were feeling the burn at the time of the run, but the next day I didn't have any pain or soreness.

Ran 5.6mi around the neighborhood and then ran with my puppy for 0.4mi.  She is going to be a good little runner.

Biked 25mi with group.  Its been 3wks since my last ride, it was nice.

Nice easy jog before the big race next weekend. 

Ran a base 5k with a couple of co-workers who were trying to race each other at the end.  We ran pretty slow, but they ran the whole thing.  My friend who won sounded like he was going to die during the sprint at the end, I just casually ran along side of him trying to encourage him to keep his sprint until the end.  He missed his goal of 30min by 12s, maybe next time.

Ran along the Chattahoochee River for a little over 6mi in the morning and then walked around Six Flags for the rest of the day.

No more running this week besides maybe a couple of miles.  I have a 50mi trail run this weekend and my Achilles are a little sore, time to rest.

This was the toughest race I've ever done.  The race started in the dark which lasted for about 2hr 15min. The whole race was technical single track trails, so the begining was very slow.  We walk jogged for about 3mi until I could finally break away and use my high powered flashlight to find my way.  My battery died after 1hr 50min, but I did bring an extra.  With just my headlamp I would have been very lost.  The early miles went by quick until I ate a bar while running which made me feel very nauseous.  After that I just ate gu and fruit and drank soda, nuun, and water.  I had no stomach problems after that.  The course was rocky with about 10,000ft of elevation change and several stream crossings with wobbly rocks to step on.  The middle miles weren't too bad, there were several other runners around to run and chat with and I had music from my ipod shuffle playing in one ear.  I felt great from mile 39-43, then I was all by myself and the last miles seemed to last forever.  I still tried to shuffle along when I could.  I didn't want to run the part next to the cliff with jagged rocks along the path.  I was afraid of tripping being so tired.  The race was a mile longer than my GPS indicated, even though the aid stations matched up pretty well with my GPS until the last one.  The last 2mi kept getting longer and I didn't know when the race was going to end, until I saw my boyfriend who told me that the finish really was 0.5mi away, then I started to pick up the pace all the way in.  I was so happy to be done and the pain in my legs started right away.  A couple hours after the race I realized I had muscle sorness throughout my body including my arms, shoulders, abs, back, glutes, and most of all my quads and calves.  This race definitly was the challenge I was looking for and I was so happy I could finish my first attempt at 50mi with only 50k training especially since 31% of the runners who started didn't finish the 50mi.  Hopefully I will have a speedy recovery.

Did an easy jog and my knee started hurting a little.  A couple hours after the run it hurt to walk, but the pain eventually went away.  I'll give running a break for a while to let my knee heal.  I need to be ready for my races/organized runs coming up.

My knee started hurting again pretty bad in the same spot, this time while I was running.  I'm just going to bike and go to the gym for the next few days and see how the knee feels.

The weather is getting nice for an evening jog.  My knee hurt a little toward the end, but not bad.  Its probably some inflamation at the insertion point at the knee of my ITB.  There is no swelling, just a slight pain while running after a couple miles.