Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Saturday's race was my third 50K. After the first and the second, I was so sore that I couldn't walk comfortably for a couple of days afterward, so it's surprising how un-sore I feel right now. Unfortunately, I do have some injury-style pain. First, as I expected, my knee is not happy with me right now. And second, my right foot is killing me. I've had on and off problems with that foot ever since I decided it would be a good idea to wear my MT100s on the rock-strewn Sapper Joe course. In fact, given the nature and location of the pain, I sometimes wonder if I gave my self a minor stress fracture that never healed properly. Whatever the issue is, it's usually not enough to slow me down after I've loosened up.

Anyways, to ensure that the Buffalo Run helps me more than it hurts me, I've decided to take it very easy this week. My plan right now, which, of course, is subject to change, is to cross train all week. This way, I can give my knee and my foot a chance to recover without neglecting my cardiovascular system. If all feels well by the end of the week, I'm hoping to get out for a 10+ mile trail run on Saturday. Weather permitting, of course.

Today, I got up early and went to the gym to lift weights. I went back to the gym with Catherine in the evening and we did a beginning spin class. Unsurprisingly, it was much easier than the advanced class. The workout was not difficult, but I felt pretty tired, which made me realize just how much Saturday took out of me. Still, it was a good way to shake out my legs.

One hour on the stairstepper at a very mellow pace.

We had an ultrasound this morning and a visit with the OB this afternoon. Baby is still small in the abdomen, but she hasn't gotten any smaller (proportionally), so it looks like everything is fine. As of now, she has a little abdomen and a big head. Which I assume means our girl is going to be either a skinny little brainiac or a bobblehead.

I'm having a hard time telling if me knee is mostly fine or if it's killing me. I guess that doesn;'t make much sense.

Anyways, I went to the gym for more stair-stepping action tonight. Twenty minutes in the middle at tempo and the rest super easy. Afterward, I spent about fifteen minutes stretching and strengthening the IT band. I want to be able to run trails worry-free again.

Not much time tonight, and I'm going for a longer run with Jun tomorrow, so I just went to the gym to do my Friday lifting a day early. I also walked a 15:00 mile on the treadmill at a 10 percent grade in the spirit of warming up and doing something training related. 

Jun and I met up at the Battle Creek trailhead this morning to try a route I've had my eye on for a while. Basically, we ran up Battle Creek to Trail 51, which we followed over the the Little Baldy trail, which took as down to the BST, which took us back to our cars. 

Last time I tried a portion of this run I ended up covering one 2 mile section in an hour because of all the deep snow covered by a breakable crush. Today was a lot better, but there were still some sketchy sections. Primarily, at the point where Trail 51 was supposed to meet Little Baldy. There, we lost the trail under the snow and ended up doing some major (and majorly unpleasant) post-holing resulting in bloody shins, until we decided to leave the trail and bushwack our way back to dry ground. This required cutting through some nasty brush, which resulted in even bloodier shins. Eventually, we made it back to the trail, from there it was a pretty straightforward run back to the car.

I went for a run with Dragon Vulture and his posse this morning. We started in Alpine and ended up running over to the Draper temple. This was my first time in that trail network (which, by the way, is awesome, although I still prefer the West Timp network), so my description of the route may be off, but I think it was something like this: up Hog's Hollow, over and up Jacob's ladder, down some other road, back over and down the lower portion of Jacob's Ladder, BST to Clark's Canyon, Clark's Canyon back to Hog's Hollow.

The trail was pretty sloppy in a few spots, but it was nothing like yesterday, and for the most part the conditions were fantastic. It was a great way to start the day.

13.1 miles and about 2,400 feet in 2:08.