John and Me
There has been a heat advisory the past few days in the Area which has created less than ideal running conditions. We had a long run planned for Sunday which meant we had no choice but to suck it up, heat and all. Rick planned out our route and he put out 2 water drops along with the 1 I was reponsible for. We also used the fitness center as a water stop, so in all we had 6 stations set up to refuel on the way. Rick, John and I all set out about 6AM while the temps were a cool 82 degrees. Our route was 2 out and backs, 1 to Liberty hospital and back and 1 to Holt and back, mostly consisting of gravel roads. John was having stomach issues and had to stop about 24 miles in. Rick and I ended up putting in 34 miles with the temp at 100 when we finished a little after noon. It was a good hot run although my left shin is really hurting today so I am gonna take aday or 2 off until it feels better.
Friday night was the Psycho Night 10k+ a little extra. It was really hot and muggy and the trail had a few shoe sucking mudholes scattered throughout. It was an out back course, running out through the triangle and back. I started out as planned, staying conservative the first 4 miles, knowing the 2.5 back from the traingle was a lot of downhills with good rocky sections. I planned on going all out the back section since I had been running that portion really hard on the training runs. Shortly after coming out of the triangle section I passed my wife who was on her way into the triangle. She grabbed my flashlight from me and said she needed it. It was her first trail race and first time ever running in the dark also. I just kept running, not even realizing she was trying to give me my headlamp she was wearing. So now I was at the fastest part of the course, it was pitch dark and I had no light. I stumbled my way through the last 2.5 miles, rolling my ankles several times and wandering off the trail now and then until I would run into a bush or something to let me know I was off course. I had a few people get close behind me and I would try to use their light until they would get a bit too close and I would pick it up so they wouldn't pass me. I ended up in 10th place, about 4 minutes slower than I was hoping for with a light. Once John finished we went back in a little over a mile to find out wives and run them the rest of the way in. We also grabbed all the signs and cones we could to help clear the course. It was a good time out there, I really enjoy running at night, but it is definitely much easier with a light.
clearing the course
Kyle enjoying an Icee
The boys are suffering well through football, we have to keep a close eye on them with the horrid temperatures that are experiencing. Lots of water breaks and ice cold towels. 3 boys from the high school team were taken to the hospital last week with heat related problems. Both of their teams have practice games this weekend so we will see how they do then.
I ended up with 103 miles last week, which makes 4 weeks in a row over 100 miles. Good Stuff. 3 weeks till the North Face 50 mile, 5 till Tulsa 50k and 8 until Traveller. Mike Prentice is moving back to Kearney after living up the Cali life for a year or 2, I ran my first trail 50k at Psycho Wyco with him last Feburary. It will be good to have him back around to get in some good training runs with. He is going to go to Arkansas Traveller along with John to pace for Rick and I. Our little town of Kearney will now be the home of 4 ultra runners, not bad for a little MO town of 6000 people.
3 comments:
OK, nutcase, first you guys are crazy running in 100F heat (and himid!), then you make 100+ miles a week for a month (I did it once, pretty darn engaging, don't want no more), and then you run at night with no flash light! Though saving your wife gives good points:)
Nice!
Where do you find the time and what value do you place on sleep? I've only run 100 mile weeks a couple of times in my life and never 4 in a row. WOW!!! I don't know how many times I've sat down and tried to refigure my running in a way that I could come close to that. But it always comes down to never having enough hours in the day. I'm curious just how many miles you could actually do in a week? 125, 150...200... Well on your way to cracking 20hrs at Traveller brother keep it up. Good Job.
Not really planning anything right now. Just training. If I feel ready to roll and have the confidence to do it fast then I'll go if not then theres other races. I think that doing four really hard races the first three months of the year took a lot out of me. I didn't quite know how to react to the fatigue I was feeling. I normally only do about 6 races a year. This year was a good year to find out how fast I can recover and show up to the next race ready to go hard again. The legs are starting to come around again as far as making them do what I want goes. If I show up anywhere this fall it will more than likely be at Heartland to do the 50 miler. After that who knows we'll see how it goes.
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