White River

White River is this weekend. Sometimes so many things are going on with the kids, trying to fit in runs, trying to get over injuries, trying to keep the wife happy, etc... it seems like these races appear out of nowhere. I had a goal of going sub-9:00 here before I got injured, but now I'll probably adjust the goal as the day goes on. I'm just hoping the calf feels good all day - and of course enjoy the day and see some of the locals. I haven't done a race in WA in a couple months, so it will be nice to wake up on race morning in my own bed.

Progress

I ran 4.4 miles last night and the calf was a lot better. Lots of massages have helped, and I'm just trying to be really patient. Running last night felt so good, but mentally it was a tough week going from 70+ miles a week average to a whopping 11 miles. I tend to be a person who goes all out or not at all, so this is really a test of discipline. I just need to be focused on the big prizes:
White River
Waldo
P to P

Broke?

Calf muscle is super tight. Had deep tissue massage which helped, but tried to run a tiny bit on the treadmill last night and it was still a little bit tighter than I liked. Maybe I'll get some more DT therapy today and see what happens. Maybe go rollerblading for a long time in lieu of a run. This is a pretty minor deal compared to things that have happened in the past to me, so this should fix itself pretty quickly - I hope. 4 out of my 5 last weeks were over 70 miles, so I guess it's not much of a surprise something happened.

UltraChick Pic o Week - # 6

from the Massanutten 100, I think that's what it's called anyhoo. Great picture. Looks like the early morning after running through the night, still happy and still moving forward, excited and knowing she is going to make it to the finish. I still have yet to figure it out.

Tiger 12 summits run

Finally I got to run 12 Summits! Over 10K of climbing and approximately 35 miles. I feel like Sir Edmund Hilary. I did it! I did it! We never got lost once. It was awesome. Oh yea, Bill H was our guide. But still, we never got lost. Woohoo! Ha ha!

We started at 5:00 am and it was still pretty dark in the woods. Once we started climbing Bill quickly showed us how it was done as he pulled away from Glen and I. The rest of the day pretty much went like that. Run flat or downhill, stay with Bill, run steep long climb, try to keep Bill in sight. Most of the time I could still see him, although he was becoming smaller and smaller as he disappeared up the slopes. Him running up Middle Tiger was impressive, that was a tough climb as I struggled to power hike it.

Highlights:We heard a bear. We didn't see him though. This was somewhere between Summit # 2 and # 1.
I got a stick in my shin descending East Tiger and it bled pretty good. Made me feel and look tough.
I ate shit on the easiest part of the trail cuz I was running with my head up my ass. Easy lesson learned.
Water filters worked well, no one got sick. I drank about 210 oz. during the 6 1/2 hours of running.
Almost bonked, ate and recovered. Bill bonked hard with 4 - 5 miles left. Bummer for him, as it did slow him down.
I was still running strong at end of run, although my climbing legs kind of sucked all day. Maybe I need to eat more donuts?
Glen ran at his own pace all day, I barely saw him. Still, he only finished about 10 minutes behind us.
Thanks Bill for waiting for me , I know you could have crushed me at any time and disappeared. Hopefully you still got the workout in you wanted.

Lowlights.
Weather was wet and foggy. No view from the top.
Trails are grown in a little bit, hard to see in some places.

I suffered and dug deep on the climbs and was still pretty slow.
The run had to end.
My recovery was horrible.

Tipping Point

I have reached my tipping point. I am completely wore out right now. I am learning that you cannot run 80 miles per week on 5 hours of sleep per night. It is just way too hard, too exhausting, too effin' impossible for me. I keep trying to tell myself that it is good training for running 100's…but that is a bunch of crap. It cannot be good to constantly be exhausted and not recover completely from run to run. My legs feel recovered, but the rest of me is a mess. If I had more hair on top of my bald and ugly head I would look like a disheveled crack head. But with a balding buzz cut and a cap I can hide my weariness easy enough. The really weird thing about all of this is my legs have been feeling incredible lately - no matter what I throw at them they respond beautifully - elevation, speed (relative), long descents, and I'm good. Is it because I have been doing Yoga, or what? I do Yoga and stretching about 3 1/2 hours per week, which is pretty good sounding, but I don't know. There just comes a point where something has to give. I'm at that point now. With chores around the house, kids to take to the park, sports, swim lessons, speech therapy, neighborhood parties I am just spread so thin. Yea, my wife does pout up with a lot of this crap - me running till 10:30 at night, being gone every weekend morning, but I do all that stuff at the inconvenient times to make life easier on the home front. I always think it would be easier if two athletic people were married to one another - she doesn't really think so (I do not say this to her - just think it). She has no idea what it's like to get up at 4 am on a Saturday to run 30+ miles with 7-11K of elevation. It is my choice, but I've been doing this type of stuff for so long that there really isn't an option of not doing it. It is part of who I am, my identity. It would be nice if I could get out one day per week at a time that allows me to get sleep, but it never happens. Running is just too flexible. Maybe I should just skip Yoga and then I would get an evening of running in that would allow me to get almost 7 hours of sleep.

UltraChick Pic o Week - # 5

Wide eyed in the darkness in the middle of nowhere - this is what is so cool about running ultras.