18 at Greensfelder, improved nutrition, and ticks!

RUN 18.2 miles in about 4:30 with TV

Why is it after years of doing this and after a got-it-perfect race just 2 months ago am I still hammering out a nutrition plan? Well the whole SCD thing isn't helping any, but really this shouldn't be so hard.

Last week I ran out of mental fuel around mile 18 of 21. This week I ran out closer to 12 miles. I had 2 gels and a small potato in the 5 hours, didn't really hold to a schedule, and knew problems were brewing before they got bad.

For today I tested for the first time since SCD a powerbar. Also I had a large russet potato for dinner last night. So no doubt I was fueled for the run, more fueled than last week too. I held myself to a tighter eating schedule today. But still a powerbar and 1 gel in 4.5 hours?! Blah blah blah about being fat-adapted. My body might be, but my brain is NOT.

Another gorgeous day though, can't ask for better summer weather. Still winds, cloudy, really warm but not hot temps. We started out at the far southern end of GRock, where we started a run once with EK and her AR friends. That was the only time I've run this section, forgot how rocky and hilly! Then we did the Fox Creek out-n-back, terribly overgrown and rocky. Then to the VC (10 miles) for some exploring, found what is marked as a dead-end trail that led to the western edge road. Explored a campground site that TV named Sugar Ridge (13 miles). Then came back.

I started nibbling the powerbar before the run since brekkie was hours before. Then around 1:20 (about mile 6) I had some more, then had the rest around mile 12. I was falling apart mentally and recognized the symptoms from last week. So I immediately dug out my back up gel (seriously, a back up fuel for a 5 hour run!?!?!?) that had 50 mg caffeine and ate half. At mile 15 ate the other half.

And wouldn't ya know it, the last 4-5 miles were great! I'll attribute some of it to a "back to the barn" syndrome I sometimes have, but I was definitely more awake on the way home. Aside from a knee-banging fall and and a left ankle roll in the last 2 miles, this was a great run.

Then back at the truck I find seed ticks again! I had some last week at my ankles under my socks, same thing here. Dammit!

Cool temps group run

RUN 7 miles in about 60 mins
BIKE COMMUTE 6.4 miles

Lots of rain overnight, my hydrangeas will be happy too.
I started out with a quick trip into work for a time point and thought for sure I'd be too tired to hold a decent pace. To my surprise, I felt just fine. Sugar and I took a brief walk afterwards :)

8 miles with some light rain to start

RUN 8 miles in 1:13, 9:07m/m
BIKE COMMUTE 12.8 miles, a double

Simple out n back to TGP and back, I'm super happy with the pace! I'm liking this rest week :)

A second contract on the house this afternoon. Up. Down. Up. Down. Ugh.

Four miler with fartleks

RUN 4 miles in 36-37 mins, short fartleks
BIKE COMMUTE 6.4 miles

Ran to LP and back, my usual 4 miler to that park. Felt great, added some block-long builds on the way back.

Last night on my commute I had a flat tire! I could hear 'something' funny from the front wheel just a few blocks from the garage. Nearly biffed it on the last corner into the alley! Best time to get a flat? As you're pulling up to the garage!

My life is like a tragic weekly TV series

BIKE COMMUTE 6.4 miles

Rest week, and rest day.

SUPER happy to report that my stomach survived yesterday, so gels passed the test. So did potatoes!! Next up, powerbars.

Also happy to report that I'm not sure or injured. Just a bit fatigued. Good news -- and funny considering that I don't know what I'm training for. Guess I'm training for OT100. I realized a day or two ago that my niece's surgery is right before Tunnel Hill, takes that off the list for me.

However not happy to report that the current house contract is in jeopardy, and all I can do is wait to hear what happens next. Realtor says there's another buyer. All I see is more stress. But I'll wait until I learn more before I get stressed. There's still hope.

That's a snake! And that's not the visitors center!

RUN 5 hours and 21.1 miles in Greensfelder

TV and I set out with a 20-miler goal in Greensfelder. What a gorgeous day, sunny, light winds, hot but not too hot. Perfect :)

We started out from the stables and followed the new-to-me trail connection that we normally missed, something I figured out in one of my Kettle-prep solo long runs. From there, TV wanted to do Mustang for the hills. Mustang was a bit rough, passed thru some thorny patches and bloodied my knee on a fallen tree.

Then I suggested the Wall, how could you not run the wall, and then we headed off to Overlook. More hills! But on the way to Overlook, we saw a Timer Rattlesnake!! My first!! I saw it, he heard it, and I think we were lucky in that the snake was sunbathing on open flat trail, not in the rough and partially covered trail we were usually running it.

We watched it slither off to the side, and I ate my first root beer gu gel. Eh, it was Ok.

Up Overlook, down Beluah (or however you spell it), then back to the VC as he was out and I was low on water. I snacked a steamed potato, here I was almost 11 miles in and 2.5 hours, with only a potato and gel. I'm setting up the story for later...

I suggested the last 10 miles as the Terrain run I did in April backwards -- Dogwood to Declue. We set out, and pretty immediately my mood tanked and I started stumbling over every stupid rock. Took half a gel (40mg caff, so I just did half), felt better, but still low on the energy meter. But I was doing good, this was my longest run since Kettle, and it was on Greensfelder trails so that adds a level of difficulty.

Passed along SF (hate the noise from the rides, but love the trail, trail wins), and hit a branch that I thought would take us back to the VC. TV insisted the right branch, I thought it was left branch. He said they all meet up and go back to the VC, so I followed along. I was getting low on water, not out but not far from it. We were at 19 miles with my mood really falling off.

When we hit the road and not the VC, I was somewhat disappointed. I wanted to keep running but I was mentally done. I needed fuel! I had a Powerbar, but I was more set on testing the 2 gels and potato (last time I did a long run on those fuels the next day I had a very unhappy tummy, so I needed to test) than I was on being in a good mood. Besides, TV insisted we were only "only a mile away" and "almost there". I trusted him, followed along, but warned him that my sense of humor was falling. We kept going, and I thought were had passed the VC and were on the way to the truck. But to my surprise, we ended up at the VC! What?!

When I saw the VC, I was done. Didn't run another step. Walked to the truck, made a nice cool-down I guess.

So my nutrition needs some tweaking, and that will be easier to do once I get some things tested. See how tomorrow goes!

NUMERICS
RUN 52 miles
BIKE COMMUTE about 40 miles

Five into six miler to Wyoming house under a BLUE MOON!

RUN 56 mins and 6 miles

The original plan was to long run today with TV, then do a shorter run tomorrow and visit what might be my new home. Plans changed, so I just reversed the two runs. Today after walking the doggie under a beautiful blue moon in the southwest sky I took a run to BP to tour the new digs.

After a loop in CHP, then through the CH, I headed south to Wy street. I tracked the distances to measure BP (just under a mile) and check out the 'hood. It's nice!

Goodbye July, and Hello August!