Weather - 24 degrees, cloudy, icy, very windy. Tough weather, tougher run - a good way to start my official opening day of ultra training. When I think opening day I think 45 degrees, windy, and Mark Grace hitting a 9th inning opposite field game winning single at Wrigley Field.
I planned to run my usual 13 mile South farms loop, with the added bonus of 10 x 100m arboretum hills at mile 5, and 10 x100m arboretum hills at mile 13. The addition of these hills would change the dynamic of the workout from easy to hard. I was feeling pretty good at the start of the run, my left thigh felt 95% healed from Saturday's race, so I decided to go ahead with the workout. When I was trying to get to the South Farms road a nasty 25-30mph western wind was hitting me in the face, and when I finally turned south on the road, my right eyelid almost froze shut. I was happy to get off the road today, but I was satisfied to do battle with it because I need to constantly work on my strength of mind and will. I was faltering a bit heading back to the arboretum during miles 11-13, so when I reached the hill for the second time, I was spent, but still needed to do the 10 hills, followed by one more mile through town to Jimmy John's. I was not surprised to be feeling so low when I reached the hill, I was expecting it, and was hoping for a tough go of it. I need to practice running when I feel I can't run another step. If I can get good at dominating the low energy phenomena, I think I will know how to run an ultra. Hills 11-14 made me feel low, awful, cold, and miserable. I kept wanting to quit, but concentrated on the old ultra mantra of "one step at a time". When I changed my music selection to Run Lola Run on hill #15 I immediately felt my energy return, and I finished off the remaining hill repeats feeling pretty good. The last mile felt decent, and I was happy to get my sandwich and enjoyed the cold walk home. #418
I worked on this photo yesterday : 
11:11 - Running to the Zendo
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