I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month! This will be brief, but heregoes:
On February 16th I was supposed to run a low-key local marathon but it was canceled due to weather. As such, I had to go out on my own that day to get in the scheduled 26 miles. It was my longest training run ever and went surprisingly well. I was tired, of course, but felt strong throughout.
The next week I got the nasty cold/flu bug that was going around and was out for a few days. As such, I "only" ran a long run of 20 miles that weekend.
The next week, ending on March 2nd, was another solid week and I managed to do another 26 on my own. This one felt even better than the first one. Slow but steady, I kept it easy.
Last weekend, on March 8th, I ran a super duper muddy 50K+ (it was 55K, or 34 miles according the GPS watches of fellow runners) and my goodness was that an experience! We'd had a big snow storm on Monday of that week and it had almost all melted by race day. We were running through a relentless vat of deep, sticky mud and it was hard to really get going at any point. Our shes felt like bricks! It was a fun but very challenging day. I felt strong, though and was happy with how my fitness held up. I'll definitely have to proceed much faster on the trail at Ice Age if I want to finish the race before the cut off. So here's hoping there are no epic downpours leading up to the race. That said, I will be tapered, rested, and have more adrenaline working for me on that day...so I am feeling OK about my pace.
Yesterday, March 15, I ran the Rock 'n' Roll marathon here in DC. I felt pretty good considering I'd run the trail ultra just a week before. I was sore, though, from my strength class at the gym - all the better for training, I guess - the goal, after all, is to be running on tired legs. I definitely had those. That said, I still felt really good all day. My bladder was a bit finicky and I had to stop a bunch of times to go to the bathroom. And, unlike when you're out on the trail, you can't just squat anywhere you want when you're on the streets of DC! (The National Park Service frowns upon it.) According to my GPS watch, I literally spent about 15 minutes not moving! (i.e., waiting in line). I have never had that happen before and I was thankful it wasn't a goal race. I ran nice and easy. To give you and idea of how different the effort level was, my final time was about 50 minutes slower than my marathon PR. It made for a fun finish, though, where I had TONS of energy left to finish the last mile strong. I had a fun day, but the race course was pretty crappy. No, it was really crappy. The first half was scenic, and probably 80% of the runners were only doing the half. After that it was just dreadful...running, for the most part, through industrial parks and construction sites. I have never really been impressed with the Rock 'n' Roll races - they are overpriced and there are just so many other great, independent events out there. I won't be doing this one again.
Next weekend = no race! Whew. The week after that, on March 30th, I am running another small, local marathon. That will be my last organized event before Ice Ace on May 10th. Only 55 days to go!
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