This weekend was my last set of long runs before the Goofy Challenge next month.
If you don't know what the Goofy Challenge is (how??), you can check it out here - runDisney makes it sound so fun. You run the Half Marathon Saturday, followed by the Full Marathon Sunday. Two races, three medals. What could possibly go wrong?
So for the last few months, I've been doing back to back weekend runs - 5-7 miles Saturday, and my normal long runs on Sunday.
I'm kind of at a point where running 5-7 miles is not really a big deal - I usually don't really feel fatigued or need any extra recovery after running this type of distance.
But this weekend was peak week - 10 miles Saturday, 20 miles Sunday.
I was a little terrified.
And, for some crack-head reason, decided that it would be ideal to run the 10 miles on some local trails by my house.
They aren't anything CRAZY, but certainly hilly and tougher than I normally would do. But, I'd been wanting to do this route with The H, and my Saturday miles were finally long enough to justify it.
And it was pretty great. We walked a fair amount of the uphills, but still ended up with a respectable sub-11 pace (good for me!) (as in, that's a decent pace for me on a hilly route, not yay me).
Aside from the H potentially experiencing frostbite (cured when he stole my armwarmers and gloves, and I TOLD YOU SO, dude), it was a lovely, uneventful run.
Sunday, I planned to do my 20 miles on the treadmill.
Since I'm a fairly slow long-runner, I was looking at FOUR HOURS on the treadmill. FOUR HOURS.
Lucky for me, Bravo was running a Top Chef marathon that lasted - it's fate, obviously - four hours. Excellent.
And there's nothing at all to report on this run, either. It was easy, I negative split the hell out of it, and I got caught up on Top Chef. Excellent.
And now I'm shopping around for a 50K. So there's that.
Um. Yes. A 50K is a perfectly sane idea. Since I would never EVER run a road 50K (THAT would be crazy), and you enjoy running trails, yes... do it.
ReplyDeleteYou know what I'm saying.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I'm tearing up....(sniff)
ReplyDeleteSo proud...
I have the perfect 50K for you, the Pemberton Trail 50K in Fountain Hills, AZ in early February.
I wonder if you mention my name when you start doing ultras, if I can get a toaster for recruiting you. Nobody has to know...
great cranberry island 50k! it is sooo awesome!! best race ever!
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to train any harder for a 50K than you do for a marathon, either. What you're doing is perfect, back to back 10 +20 is plenty.
ReplyDeleteTWENTY MILES ON A TREADMILL??? You are my new hero. ;) I can't bear two miles on the thing yet - that's my new goal, tackle that mental hurdle. You rock!
ReplyDeleteOf course a 50K is a god idea! Sounds perfect:-)
ReplyDeleteYour always seem to write exactly what I need to read to keep at running. I started running when I read about your 5K training plan, have had a bad 6 weeks and am starting again. And here you are not that many years after a 5K deciding to run a 50K. So impressive and inspiring. Thanks again for sharing your journey so honestly.
I think running a road ultra is nuts, I'm thinking a treadmill 20 is pretty close to that!!! Glad you had some distraction, I think I'd collapse from boredom.
ReplyDeleteone day i will jump on board. the whole trail thing isn’t for me just yet (got let the ankle really heal and see how eugene goes). can’t wait to see what you think of goofy first!
ReplyDeleteWhoa! You ran 10 trail miles then 20 on the treadmill the next day? I think both of those should count at least double b/c they are so much harder than regular road miles. So. impressive. You must be crazy, yes. And inspirational.
ReplyDelete