Hills vs. Heat

Holy cow, there are a lot of updates to share regarding running.  Like:

1) I did the 12-mile run in northern Georgia.  At the time, it was, by a lot, the hardest run that I had ever attempted.  At one point, I didn't even want to do downhills any more.  It was that bad.  Also, the whole thing was at 2200 feet and over which (who knew) is really hard if you usually run in flat swamps.  I was third last; the two people behind me hiked the course.  But I finished it!  And believe me, that felt like an enormous achievement.  There were at least two points where I was tempted to go back to the start instead of continuing onward.

2) Then I did the Rattlesnake Run and the 10-mile race of Wildhorse.  Both of these were more challenging than I anticipated.  Rattlesnake was hard because it was a week after the Georgia run and my legs were completed dead.  It didn't help that there are (Florida) hills there, plus it got hot that day.  Wildhorse was hard because the last mile was really hard.  Ever had to climb a hill during a race that was so steep, you needed to use a rope (rope was provided)?  I have!

2.5) I sprained my ankle (not running.  Wearing heels during a night out in Pittsburgh).  Fortunately, it was just a mild sprain and I was back and running in a week.

3) Today, which was a mess.  The plan was to do the 30K that is part of the X-Country Marathon.  However, let me share with you the weather this morning.  As a reminder, it is mid-November:

No.

We started at 7:30am, which as you can see presented pretty challenging conditions (far too close to the Threshold of Ick).  By around 9:30am, I realized that I was done.  Just done.  This race will live in notoriety as my first DNF (did not finish).  It was too hot and there were lots of parts of the course that were not shady.  So you can add ten degrees to those temperatures near the end.  And you know what?  After the fun bouts with heat exhaustion that I have experienced in the past, I didn't want to risk it.  I'm pretty sure that I did have heat exhaustion, but it wasn't as bad as last summer.  Probably the fact that I gobbled down some salty foods right away helped.  Go pretzels.

And I was definitely not alone.  There were at least a dozen other people who dropped out of the 30K race.

If you're curious, all of this is training for my next major challenge: Croom Zoom.  I signed up for the 50K.  Yes I did.  My first ultramarathon.  With any luck, the weather will be more amenable (also we start earlier).

So yeah.  I have not had a great month of racing, that is for sure.  But I am reminding myself that the more you challenge yourself, the more likely it is that you will run into adversity--and the races that I have been doing are challenging ones.  But adversity is not the same as being defeated.  Today was a mess, but that was due to circumstances out of my control.

And we now have the definitive answer: hills > heat

It's official: I am a trail runner

I realized today that I have not posted for a while here, which is too bad because I have a lot to say about my running life.  So this entry might be kind of long.  Bear with me.  I have enclosed some photos to help.

Things that I have run since the last time I wrote here:

1) Lutz Independence Day Race: it was hot and for some unknown reason, started at 8am--which is maybe a bit too late to start running a race in July!  But I survived.  I walked in places, but survived.  What was great though was the fact that I decided to make a 'bucket list' of races that I want to do.  Races that look cool and may be elsewhere.  Races that will take some pre-planning.  But I came up with a nice assortment of things, along with the realization that right now, what I really want to be doing is running on trails.  Because almost all of the races that I selected are trail races (with a few exceptions, like the NYC Marathon, which I should be doing in either 2014 or 2015).  Even the runs that I want to do around these parts next year are primarily trail races.  So I guess that this is just where I am right now.

2) Picnic Island Run #3 (final one): Did it!  And finished the series.  So that was cool.  The race itself was less cool, particularly the part where there was a tropical-level downpour and rain was dripping into my mouth.  That part was pretty gross.

3) Watermelon Run #2 (actually #3): Did it!  And it was 100% humidity.  For real.  Not nearly as much fun as the last one.

I also found a trail race that I am excited to do.  It is the 12-mile choice for the Mystery Mountain Marathon in northern Georgia.  Why the 12 miler?  First, because I don't really have time to get in shape for a marathon right now, particularly one that looks challenging because it will be on trails.  Second, because I have realized that it is nice to do the shorter distance when you are a slow and steady runner.  It alleviates concerns about being the very final last person out there.  This may be a new policy (when possible).  Third, because this is the elevation profile:

Honest to God, this makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Notice that the thoroughly ridiculous drop happens after the 12-mile mark.

But it will still be challenging.  These are technical trails with still some elevation change.  And there could be bears.  In fact, the website warns exactly about that possibility: 'Headphones naturally impair the ability of runners to hear one another on the trail.  (They also hinder your ability to hear bears!)  Please consider leaving your headphones behind.'

So my plan to train for this is to do a challenging 1/2 marathon program, along with some tricky runs.  Such as trail runs.  I did one this morning and it was definitely a challenge--and not only because part of the run consisted of dodging from large banana spider webs (I went out with a local trail running group on Facebook if you are looking for trail runners in the Tampa area).  In fact, we didn't go on one route because there were too many spiders.  That seems like a serious statement when the trail runners are deterred because these are people who happily cavort around the woods with who knows what nature craziness in there.

The run was at Balm Boyette Park, which is mostly used for 'mountain' biking.  That term seems somewhat inappropriate for Florida:

Bright and early.  Some people even had their headlamps.

As part of my official conversion to trail-runner-dom, I did buy an official pair of trail shoes.  I figured that I will definitely need them for the Georgia race, but I was glad to have them this morning.  I meant to take a picture of them last night and share it on the blog because they are among the nicest looking ones that I have owned.  But I forgot, so allow me to share what they looked like after the trail run this morning:

Fortunately this mostly came off with a good rinse.

So that is the news.  Trail running.  It's my new thing.  Although I do also plan to do the Aching Quad in September, which is four races within around 24 hours of each other.