Day 47(26) - Failing Forward

I totally fell of the wagon. Like fell off, rolled underneath it, and ended up on a couch with a beer fell off the wagon. I killed week 1 and week 2. And then well...things got a little less runny and a little more lifey.

Week 3 (7/14 - 7/20) was supposed to be another 3/5/3 mile sets during the week with a 6m run on the weekend. I "excused" myself that week because it was Masters Nationals. So I did run a lot - league on Tuesday and frisbee Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so for a light rest week I didn't worry a lot about exact mileage.

Week 4 (7/21 - 7/27) was supposed to be a 3/6/3 mid week with an 11m run on the weekend. I did do one run of not quite 6m and some frisbee, but then I went to Arkansas and absolutely did not do an 11m run. Totally got in some cross training in the form of swimming in the pool and nerf gun battles.

Nephews extraordinare!

Since then I've had some spotty spurts of going on a run or a hike but nothing consistent and nothing in line with the training program. Trust me, I've got all the excuses if you want to hear them, most of the stories end in a great new beer to try and in one instance a ridiculous outfit and spiked seltzer.

Technically I should be on week 7. This would include a 14m run this weekend. Could I do it? Yes. I know that as long as I'm active I will always be able to run at least a half marathon so 14m doesn't really sound that daunting. But part of doing a training and sticking to it was to do a training and stick to it and dear readers, I failed horribly.

But I am committed to failing forward*. So I've decided to back up and restart at week 4. So day 47 in real life is now day 26 in training.



Here is what the next two weeks look like:

                       Monday     Tuesday     Wednesday     Thursday     Friday     Saturday     Sunday
Wk 4 Plan       Rest            3mi            6mi pace          3mi            Rest           11mi          Cross 
Actual             3.29mi       5.83mi         5mi walk         rest

Wk 5 Plan        Rest           3mi               6mi                3mi            Rest           12mi          Cross

I have frisbee league on Sundays now so I have my cross training locked up. I'm hoping I can get myself back in the routine of running consistantly. I notice I feel better, I work better, and overall I'm just a better person when I do this.

*Failing forward came from one of my favorite co-workers. We've had a very challenging project going on almost 2 years and had to do a presentation this week on it's status (spoiler status was not great but we're fixing it). She brought up that at least we are failing forward, making mistakes but making mistakes and keeping our focus on how to move forward and fix them to ultimately get a product that will benefit everyone. With that in mind I am committed to failing forward with this training and while I made mistakes and will continue to make mistakes I'm going to keep moving myself in the direction of my goal - completing this training in it's entirety. 


           

Day 14 Week Two Blues

Week two is the hardest. Week one is great, you get to feel successful with each day of training; look at me I did it, I ran three days in a row! Week two you realize you have to do it again, and again for another 17 weeks. This week was hard but I'm glad that I got it done. I got the right number of miles in, sort of unconventionally, but I did it.

Here's what week 2 looked like:

                Monday     Tuesday     Wednesday     Thursday       Friday     Saturday      Sunday
Plan         rest             3mi            5mi                 3mi                 rest          9mi             cross
Actual     rest             2mi            2.5mi(w)         track/2mi       4.54mi     2.23mi        8.9mi     

Total: 22.27miles

I didn't cross train last week nor this week. Frisbee covers a lot of the other type of movements I need. I think when I have less frisbee I can work in more of a cross training workout into my routine. Tuesday and Thursday were both frisbee days. I did a track workout before a double header on Thursday and my quads were sore for the next few days. Wednesday was a walk, so not a run. I know part of my struggle is making sure I continue to do things every day when I can so I can't get too mad if it's a walk and not a run. As long as I get my miles in and make sure I hit my long runs I feel good about it. I thought the run I picked on Friday was 5 miles, when I double checked on mapmyrun.com I realized that the 5 mile route adds one small part that I didn't do. I'm mostly happy about my Sunday run. I ran a similar run last week but shorter (took out an extra section I added to get close to 9 miles) and I did it faster. I'm hoping this gets me slowly to a more comfortable feeling running "pace" runs.

Sorry nothing exciting or profound this week. Just wanted to make sure I kept to my accountability by posting what I did. Week 3 will be interesting. Next Friday, Saturday, Sunday is Master's Nationals so it will be a lot of frisbee. Hopefully I'll have deeper thoughts after that!

Do or do not, there is no try

Hopefully I"ll be drinking some
Firestone Walker beer post race!

It appears my quiet little Facebook Post wasn't obvious enough. I'm assuming this because I have yet
to receive a call/text from my mom about it which will surely change after this post. Let's cut to the chase, the suspense is killing me....I signed up for another 50 miler! Yep the seed was planted a few weeks ago at Bull and Bush and it germinated on Saturday as I made my first venture out on a trail run post 50k. By Monday I had convinced myself it was a good idea and by Tuesday afternoon I was entering in my credit card info and shirt size. Here are the details:

The North Face Endurance Challenge

Where: Golden Gate National Recreation Area San Francisco, CA
Length: duh..50 miles
Date: December 5, 2015

A couple big things stand out for me regarding this race. First of all, I've never done a long race (or really any race) in the fall. I tend to cram all of my running in to the spring/early summer. Because of that schedule most of my training begins in the fall and ramps up in the early spring. In the past this was largely due to the Ultimate frisbee season and needing to be sprint/frisbee focused May - October. With the series getting pushed earlier each year and my gradual fade away from competitive ultimate the fall is becoming more and more enticing for races. Also the thought of running long distance in September/October sounds so much more refreshing than June/July. I'm not used to logging a lot of miles in the summer and that's about to change quickly. I did a quick draft training plan and looks like it starts for real on Monday!

I'm planning on putting in a bit more effort with longer runs this go around. Especially working on nutrition for longer runs. While I feel successful with my food intake as of late, one good 50k isn't going to make me forget one not so good 50 miler. I really need to test out a lot of different food combos on longer runs and the only way to do that is to...test out a lot of different food combos on longer runs. I've got a couple training races I'm eyeing to help with this; the Black Squirrel Half and/or the Blue Sky Marathon in Fort Collins. I'm also trying to coordinate a 30ish mile run over Kenosha Pass into Breck with my bud Carissa.

Second standout for me is location. In looking at my running history, I've only really run races on trails I'm familiar with. Almost every race I've done I either trained or did a shorter race on the same trails. The two exceptions being Sage Burner 50k and the first time I did Quad Rock. Salida I ran the half prior to the marathon and I ran so much of the North Fork course prior to the 50 miler almost nothing was a surprise. Here I'm not only running on unfamiliar trails, but in a completely different state, at a different elevation, and a course profile much different than the mountains of Colorado.

In addition to a new terrain, I'm out of my comfort zone for support. North Fork was 40 miles outside of Denver. My lovely crew was able to load me in to a car, into a shower, and into bed without having to negotiate much else. California means a hotel or some other sort of lodging and a plane ride (+airport security). Oh yes, and a crew...40 miles is much different than a plane ride away. I checked in with some friends and got enough potential interest that I felt comfortable pulling the trigger and signing up for the race. True, convincing people to come to California in December isn't hard. However, it's not all fun and games since I need people to help support/pace/reassemble body parts at the airport. So if you are thinking it's a vacation, you've got to reevaluate.

All in all this is going to be a challenge and I'm excited for it. I'm excited to tackle another 50 miler and do it on what will be a beautiful course. I've been all talk the last few weeks about races so I'm glad I made the commitment and put a race on the calendar. Do or do not, there is no try.

Salida Run Through Time Preview

Race season has officially started! Despite the road races I did earlier, I feel like my first trail race of the season marks the start of running season for me.  What better wait to start than one of my favorite marathons: Salida Run Through Time.

Currently the weather is looking awesome. Per the race director there's snow on the course which might stick around this week. I'm ok with that. Snow, mud, ice, rocks to trip on, that's all part of the fun of trail running. It is nice to not have to post-hole, but I can manage a little muck on the shoe. Snow and ice make downhills a challenge which is frustrating. I've become accustomed to running as fast as I can downhill to make up for some slower uphill climbs. The word of warning on the email was "no records will be set" so that sort of sets the tone for my expectations.

My training, as I'm beginning to realize at this point of the season, is minimal but doable. I again didn't get in as many long trail runs as I would like and in all honestly I've been a huge slacker the last few weeks. Largely due to being out of town so much. So it is what it is. I would be lying if I wasn't a little disappointed in myself, but I can't change that in a week so I just need to move forward with the current tools in my toolbox.

My time last year was 5:32. I'm hoping to beat that time. Optimistically I would crush it and get 5hrs, realistically if I run a 5:31:59 I'll be happy and count it as a win. I feel physically stronger than last year. I crushed Quad Rock, but that was with the benefit for several more months of training. That training doesn't carry over to this new year, but I am definitely stronger so I don't think it is unrealistic that if I feel good I can do it. I'm more worried about the fatigue that sets in at mile 18 and if my knee is going to do that weird thing where it hurts a lot from mile 17-20 and then mile 22, and then mile 24...etc.

I am also in a much much better mental space than I was last year. I think I literally made it to Salida and ran the race on fumes in 2014. Said fumes also carried me through a night of drinking and loud closet discussions with Tower. (Yes we literally sat in a closet and had a discussion, I don't really remember why). My brain was all over the place, emotionally I was drained and physically I was unprepared. It's actually pretty amazing that I finished last year in retrospect. Being fueled by stress, WTF am I doing with my life, and pure adrenaline doesn't usually last an entire 26.2 miles. So I'm headed in to this race feeling pretty positive about life in general and pretty pumped to run some trails with some awesome people.

Speaking of awesome people:

I'm extra excited because there's a good crew of newbies joining me. I unintentionally started a mission to convince ultimate frisbee players that trail running and distance running is awesome. I think it's working. There will be an awesome crew running the half marathon and I think they are going to love it! Wait until they see the bounty available at the aid stations: M&Ms for everyone (except for the 2 milers you just get to chill at the finish and drink beers).

It's going to be a great weekend to cap off 4 weeks of traveling every weekend. I get to stay in Colorado, run on trails, drink beer, and be with friends. Woop Woop!

Sageburner 50k

Well writing the recap of my 50k took longer than the race and probably all the training leading up to it. I have had a draft on the back burner for awhile, but as soon as the race finished I was informed that I would get to play on Molly Brown (ultimate frisbee team) for the 2013 season and just hit the ground running - except this time in cleats. More on that in a future post but for now I do want to recap what my first ultra marathon was like and whether or not I'll do it again.

I did it. I finished. Put a big check next to 50k on the running resume. Also move it to the top of the list of the hardest things I've ever done. I did a lot of thinking over the 7 hours and 15min I was out roaming the Gunnison wilderness and one thing is for certain a lot changed from the start of the race to the finish. As runners we often see changes in ourselves over a longer period of time and in a way that is so subtle it can often be missed. You're running and, if almost by accident, you realize that you've just run 15 miles without really thinking about it. The long road of training helps mold our mind and bodies into a runner able to complete a race. It's important not to discount the changes we experience as we run a race and let me tell you - you can cram a lot of changing into 7hours and 15 minutes.

Here's a list of things that changed for me during the race:

My stomach

I used to think one of the perks of running longer races is the joy of a healthy appetite following a race. Usually I'm starving and want to eat everything that I see. Not always immediately following the race, but typically within a few hours. However after this race I didn't want food. I forced myself to eat some stuff, but I really wasn't hungry and remained that way for several days. I literally could not eat a meal. I have a couple theories on why this race affected my stomach so much and the biggest one was probably the sun. Almost all of the race course was out in the sun - no shade in sight. Just being outside for that long made it hard to eat during the race and it is not too hard to imagine that effect lasted beyond the finish line.  I also consumed way more Gus then I ever have in that amount of time so perhaps I was fueled by Gu for days after.

My legs

I've hit the wall plenty of times in a marathon and even in some half marathons. You don't have much of a choice if you are going to continue or not because the choice for most runners is simple: you finish it even if you are shuffling the last mile. During this race I experienced a wall, I climbed over the wall and then I hit a 6in steel reinforced wall. I learned early on in trail running that if you don't know what the trial ahead has in store (and even if you think you do) just assume it goes longer and goes uphill. I pushed every thought out of my head regarding how much time I think I had left, how many hills I had left, and who was behind me gaining ground. Ok I did think a little bit about how close the person behind me was but just as a motivator. I realized that my legs can do a lot more than I ever thought possible. Especially after it feels like they cannot do any more. I went through every stage of leg fatigue twice and came out still running at the end.

My approach to a challenge

I started the race a bit faster than I anticipated I would. I've always been worried about starting out to fast and having it negatively affect me later on. What I found out was the pain comes no matter how fast you start out and it's about how you overcome that challenge mid-race that makes a difference and you can overcome a lot more than you think (see above comment regarding legs). Sure there's a balance and I still believe you can start something in a way that makes your finish harder to reach, but it was eye opening to me to know I can start faster - blow up a little bit - and keep going all the way to the finish.

Not everything changed during the race some things did stay the same and I'm grateful for that.

Here's a list of things that didn't change

I love Dr. Pepper and I don't know why I don't drink it after every race.

My old patagonia running shorts are and will always be the best running shorts I'll ever own. I can cram Gus, M&Ms, pretzels, oreos, probably another pair of shoes in the pockets.

My love of running - seriously. Despite the pains I cannot wait to do another race. I love ultimate so it's not a bad switch to go into that, but I am already planning my race schedule for next season and hopefully I'll be able to find a race I can do in October after nationals. I doubt I'll do this race again. Logistically it was fine, but the course itself was not my favorite and I felt underwhelmed at the aid stations.

As I noted above I'm now transitioning back in to Ultimate Frisbee season. Another activity you can do for 7+ hours at a time. You can follow us on twitter @mollybrowntown and find us on Facebook. You can also read about our team on our website Molly Brown Ultimate.

Until then here's a picture of me at the Sage Burner 50k with a big goofy smile on my face as I ran the final stretch into the finish. Look at all that crap in my pocket! Why didn't I eat it?