LM warmup (10 reps), 31.5 miles in 4:25:00, 8:24/mi, HR 156 & stretching. Sunny and warm (68F). Long hilly trail run with 3400' of climbing/6800' total elevation change. Decided to try running to Elbe, WA and back over the connecting forest roads, which would give me two significant climbs of about 1700' each and a place to get some more fluids at the halfway mark (Elbe gas station). Wasn't sure how far it would be exactly.....mapped it out at around 15+ miles one-way, so this would be a long run. Even in the cool morning, the sun made things quite warm to start and it only got warmer. Made it to the turnaround point in about 2:10-ish, took a short break to refill the water bottles and down a G2 and a "cheese croissant". I'm not sure why they called it a croissant, but it beat the GUs I'd been consuming up to this point. The return trip was very tough....the initial climb was at about a 10% grade which reduced me to frequent walk breaks in an attempt to let my pounding heart settle back into my chest. The sun beating down didn't help matters much. Fortunately, the truly steep parts didn't last forever and once I got to the top it was literally all (mostly) downhill from there. Unfortunately, my legs didn't care much and were pretty much shot so my downhill paces maxed out at around 7 min/miles early on and got worse from there. The last 5 miles or so were back on the pavement which my feet and legs didn't appreciate much. Out of water with 3 miles to go, I limped home in 4:25 on the nose. The WR50 course is 18.5 miles longer and with another 5300' of climbing/10,600' of elevation change. Today hurt. That race is going to really, seriously hurt. So I've got my very own personal 50K course and I now own the record. I think I'll reward myself with a nice nap. It could very well be in the chair I'm sitting in right now. I'm not at all sure I'm going to get to the dishwasher installation today. | 