In Prepatorium

It's like a memoriam for my preparation phase. I finished recovering from the Twin Cities Marathon just in time to taper for this 50 mile trail race on Saturday. That sounds completely absurd. I mean, when you say it out loud you can expect to get slapped.

This past weekend, I planned for an easy 10 mile run just to let the legs turn over for a while. About 1 mile in my quads stopped flushing lactic acid just like they did in mile 22 of the marathon. So my 10 miler turned into only 5. The next day I found a promotion from my hot yoga studio for a week of unlimited classes for only $29 so I jumped on that too.

The quad thing feels like an inflammation reaction to the previous stressor. If it kicks in on saturday I'm totally hosed. And I'm not going to be an idiot about it, if I don't finish the 50 thanks to an inflammation reaction that's totally ok. I am totally grateful for what my body has allowed me to do in the last couple of weeks. The mantra for trail running is to take what the trail gives you, and I can accept whatever the day holds on Saturday.

The course for the WC-50 is supposed to be pretty rough. Some single track, lots of roots, 7000 ft of elevation gain. It's 4 laps at 12.5 miles each. I can pick up a pacer for the last lap, if anybody wants to volunteer. Originally my goal was 10 hours, but since last years results only had 1 guy finish under 10 hours and 22 people that DNF'd, I am going to rethink that. I'm shooting for 3 hours per lap, just like at Umstead. there's a 14 hour cutoff so if I can come in around 12 hours that's a win. Since I've never gone more than 40 miles before, anything over 40 is a PDR. If I make it through 2 laps, 25 miles is close to marathon distance for the 2nd time in 2 weekends, that's another star in my Marathon Maniac  record. I'll take whatever I can get.

I also made it back into the pool this week. We're going through a stroke drill phase on the swim team, so the volume isn't quite as high as it usually is, but in the long run it's going to help me a ton as a swimmer. Really it just feels great to be back in the water.

Hot yoga was incredible Tuesday night. It was just a hot flow class, but I haven't been in the 100* room in months. and I've missed it. Getting a few more classes in over the next few days too. My hope is that the detoxifying affect of the hot box will help keep this quad thing at bay on saturday, then some restorative yoga will help me recover on sunday and monday. After some recovery time from this 50, it's time for the Umstead 100 training to start in earnest.

Here's a few more pictures from the Twin Cities marathon

Me, Lisa, and Megan in strong form. One of Megan's friends put this on facebook.

an actual decent race photo for me!

Evil Genius loved the U of Minn Golden Gophers hat that I picked up

After my questionable run on Saturday my friends William and Jessica came into town, she had a work thing nearby so William and I hung out drinking beers and watching football all afternoon, after a large plate of sushi for lunch. Jessica totally surprised William too, she scored tickets to see his favorite hockey team (the Red Wings) play at the Carolina Hurricanes  that night. So cool.

I'm a bad influence

One other thing I haven't posted about yet. I've been coaching my friend KC all year through her first Ironman, she signed up before ever completing any triathlons and finished IM Chattanooga in a fantastic 13:10! I'm so incredibly proud of the year she's had, the work she put in, and the result of that work that she saw. KC made it to sushi with the rest of us and I got to download her entire race day. What an amazing story. She's also started a blog about her journey too.