j-lyn's corner

Ran to Naturalist Basin with Milar in the Uintas. He was feeling great which meant I acutally had to run. After about 3 miles my legs were "broken in" again and moving felt fluid. We talked trash sporadically between gasping at the thin air at 10,000ft. We enjoyed the quiet. After rough days for both of us over the weekend, it was nice to hit the silence and breathing and forward motion with a friend.

I was starving and spent the last 30min of the run verbalizing recipe types in my head as they came to me for new running food ideas. I apparently hadn't rebuilt my glycogen stores after the Triple Crown and ate like an animal after. Really. I think I downed at least 2,000 calories in 15min. Making great progress on my 6 pack goals really. Isn't inhaling more food than is usually consumed in a day in a breath part of the weight loss plan? No? C'mon. Really? High metabolism? I'm digging here. Kind of like the time I ate nothing but Nutella for 3 days. My children's diet was only enhanced by Cheerios for those 3 days. At least they were organic cheerios. Parent of the year, I know.

After the run my kids and I sat in the car in heavy hail for two hours before hiking in the hail to Ruth Lake to find their Daddy who was out trying to climb between clouds. We made jokes about the "little mean ice balls." The boys are going to be as tough as nails by the time they're teens, just like their Daddy who caught a fish with his bare hands that morning for our breakfast.

Ran at DD. Listened to music and ran hard. I felt free. It wasn't easy, and I didn't understand why I averaged an 8:10 on the trail when my legs were entirely trashed and I had down jumps/squats earlier that had only increased the trashiness. The little hills felt like mountains and yet my legs swallowed them.

Sometimes after a solid recovery run (after a big day) I feel like there's something in me that needs to be "unleashed" after running so long so slow in an ultra distance. So I unleashed it.

By mile 5 I thought I went 1 mile too far but had to get home anyways. Felt good to "get it out," whatever it was I needed to get out.

Neasts said, "it'll be easy." Neasts said, "recovery run pace for sure." Neasts LIES. But she's a big girl ultrarunner now, and I guess it comes with the territory. It's the unsaid rule of ultrarunning- lies are perfectly acceptable if it makes someone else run.

Big crew up VB. You know how ET puts out his finger and goes "Owoooouch?" Yeah, it was like that. I don't know how my legs kept up with the others. I sucked in air and couldn't contribute much to the uphill convo other than a comment here or there so everyone would know I was still alive. But I think the happy runner part of me curled up inside and died.

Then we ran down. Wheeeeee. The last 1/2 mile or so I needed a bathroom, but just cut back pace and decided to wait til I got home. Squatting sounded too painful.

I spent the rest of the day walking like I had just ran a marathon or rode a horse all day, gingerly taking steps because EVERYTHING hurt. Apparently I not only failed to rebuild my glycogen stores (re: starving) I apparently am still worked over from the Triple C and my body can't cope with additional stress, even if it is "normal" running for me. I'm supposed to take a couple days off, up the amino acids and antioxidants. Take baths. Read books. TV? Sold.

But I may run Friday. "Recovery pace for sure." 

I broke the cardinal rule and drove to go road running. For shame.

 Met Neasts for an easy run on the JRP. True to her word (this time) we kept a steady 8:30 pace. We even stopped for a sip of water. Chatter was about the usual pre-race jitters, I had extra nerves because I have the I'm-not-recovered-yet plus the oh-crap-100-miles-soon combo which I've never experienced. It's like heart burn in your brain.

Afterwards was a pleasant breakfast with books, authors, and words. Of course words are included. They're part of conversation. 

I thought maybe just maybe my glycogen stores were replenished, because I wasn't starving during the run (and I ditched breakfast, gotta take advantage of sleeping in and road running when I can). But sure enough I sat down in the truck after running and wanted to eat a horse. Hunger kicks in the primal instinct for me. Must. Eat. Possibly because of the hypoglycemia? Ever hear about that time I did desert survival and had no food or water for 3 days while hiking 30 miles a day and by day 2 I tried (unsuccessfully) to catch and kill a lizard to drink it's blood? I was a vegetarian then too. Instincts... Fortunately I was fed a yummy carmel macchiato and a bagel and all the world was well again.