long time no see

it feels like not much has happened since devil's lake but actually a lot has happened.  we moved to tosa from delafield so that's something pretty big.  i am continually surprised by how close everything is and how challenging it is to try and get a long run in the city.  i basically run from my house on the hank aaron as far east as possible (to the lake) and then have to run along the lake until i get the mileage i'm looking for.

 i've found a few trails and routes (all paved so far) and unfortunately the hank aaron heading west is closed in a section until 2018 for the freeway construction that goes over the trail.  i was really looking forward to running that way so i'm thinking i'm going to try it again and attempt the detour... see where it leads me.

i've also just learned today of a short gravel trail that is about 3-4 miles in on what has become my usual route.  i'm very excited to find this trail and check it out.  

i just signed up for the tosa fest 5K.  i haven't run a 5K since may and i guess it's about time.  i'm pretty excited because this race is just blocks from my house.  i don't like the 5:30pm start time, but whatever... could still be fun.  probably won't be my fastest 5K since i'm a faster (better?) runner in the morning.

next weekend i've got the strider 1/2.  mostly i've just been puttering along.  after ice age i feel like ever other race is just a professionally timed run.  i feel competitive about it but not like last year.  after i accomplished the 50K it doesn't seem like any of these other races are as important as they once were.  

i'm not sure what my 2016 goals will be.  i can't decide what my focus should be.  part of me wants to run long but part of me wants to focus on getting faster and to get faster i think i need to incorporate more 5K races into my race season.  if i do that then the longer races will fall to the wayside.  i'm really considering iceage again as my A race for 2016.  i'd like to shave some time off and with an injury free body i really believe i could have run that faster than i did.  

so that's what's been going on with me.  back in the city and couldn't be happier!

emma carlin trail head and the ice age 50K

“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”

- William Faulkner

yesterday i ran with a group of the LPTR.  while i am considered "one of them" i don't always feel like "one of them".  someday i hope that is no longer the case.  this is the group (minus angela who took the photo) i ran the whole way with.  i'm the one in the blue cap.  they were great fun and funny to boot!  lots of laughs and silly topics of conversation.  i really love running with these people.

anyway… we met at 8am at the emma carlin trail head in palmyra, wisconsin for a 15ish mile out and back.

it was really quite cold not hitting more than maybe 5 degrees when we started out.  we showed up in numbers totaling near 15-20 people.  we all take off together but as the group spreads out we ended up in 3 groups.  the 3rd group wasn't running as far as the rest of us so they ended up turning back about 1/2 way through.  this is single track trail for most of the way and we took it to the IAT (or maybe it's the nordic trail? or maybe the whole thing we ran is the ice age trail?) which is also single track.  i had no idea where we were so don't ask me… lol!  we crossed over some horse trails which are wider as well as some trails that the snowmobiles had packed down quite nicely.  the trail was mostly 3-4 inches of fresh snowsand as well as about a foot deep on the bluffs from drifting.  underneath the snowsand was quite a bit of ice especially on the stairs.  this trail (the one i'm not sure of being nordic or ice age) had stone stairs that were covered in ice and it was so slow going!  we walked up and down all of those…

snowsand (my own definition) - snow that is loose like sand. challenging to run in and hard on the body.  often called "powder" - powder is freshly fallen snow that is very light.  formed by tiny snow flakes, it is extremely soft.  many skiers love powder but runners… not so much.  

the run was so challenging but i didn't realize that it was ALL HILLS until i got home and checked the info on my garmin.

          

about 8-10 miles in my hip flexors were hurting something fierce and the last 6 miles of the run it was almost all i could think about.  i think this was caused because i had to lift my legs higher than normal in the stride i use for the snowsand running.  i will be so happy when the snow is gone and i don't have to run in it anymore.  the best (and maybe only good thing) about running in the snow is that my legs are getting stronger each time i do it.  that will make for easy running once the obstruction of the snow is gone.  yay for that!  it took us just under 4 (yes.. FOUR - yikes!) hours to complete that 16 mile run.


i'm hoping that my speed will increase and therefore my time will decrease once the snow isn't a factor.  i am perpetually surprised at how humbling it is to run the trails.  they certainly can knock a person down a peg or two.  probably a good thing… especially given my perchance for hubris and egocentricity.

the trail is really breathtakingly beautiful and we ran over part of the trail that i'll be running my 50K on so that was cool.  it made me rethink my lofty under 5 hour goal but whateves… i will be happy if i finish the IAT50K i think.  this is the course:

i'm rethinking it because it was ALL HILLS and they were STEEP at that.  i'm not going to tell anyone that i'm reassessing my goal (so shhhhhh) but that will be in the back of my head.  my first goal is to finish in under 5 hours.  my final goal is to finish with a smile on my face.  if i miss the first goal then i have the second one to keep my going.  its a win win.

i'm going to have to go out there a couple of more times before the race so that i have those legs under me when i finally run it.  i want to feel confident about my race and the only way for me to do that i think is to get out there and run the course ahead of time.  it looks like a pretty fun course.  a 13 mile single track (uphill probably both ways) out and back followed by two 9 mile loops of rolling horse trail groomed trails.  i'm glad the hard stuff is at the beginning when i'm fresh.  i keep thinking that the two 9 mile loops should be a piece of cake.  broken up in those three parts it doesn't seem like a lot of mileage.  maybe i'm just fooling myself tho'… hey, whatever works right?

peace out 2013...

i'd say 2013 has been a pretty productive running year.  i missed my december goal of 100 miles by a smidge but all in all i'm happy with my progress.  the last time i missed by the same smidge was in march.

these were my running goal miles for all of 2013 and as is evident in the picture to the right…  i made some, came close to others, and fully missed yet others altogether.  injury took ahold of me in the end of september and i only logged 7.23 miles in october but i came back strong to round the year out at a nice respectable 1,060.58 miles.  my goal for 2014 is to log more mileage than that but i don't have an actual number in mind.  

2013 has been a really rough year personally with some really overwhelming challenges.  i did live through it and come out alive so there's that.  i don't suspect 2014 will be any easier on my personal life but i have high hopes for the coming year.  i have HUGE goals and expect a lot of personal triumph!  i hope to stay injury free and emotionally sound.  i endeavor to conquer the marathon as well as the 50K!

i plan to grow in all ways that i can grow and nurture all the relationships that are important to me (new and seasoned) while letting go of the ones that do not serve me.  i will live mindfully and with intention.

which brings me to you… dear readers and friends.  what are your thoughts on 2013 and what are you looking forward to in 2014?  i don't really like resolutions so i'd rather we have goals as goals are something to strive for and keep us motivated to be always moving forward and upwards.  i suppose we can resolve to attain the goals we are setting forth but for me… it seems like when a person makes a resolution it is an absolute and then we always fail with absolutes.  there has to be wiggle room… there has to be room to fail.  without failure there is no growth.  amiright?

so… talk to me people!  what are your plans/goals/resolutions for the impending new year?

scoop of terrifying? sure, i'll have 2 please!

so… at noon today registration opened for the ice age 50.  i went running with friends at 9am on the indoor track at the pettit center which, incidentally, was WAY more awesome than running on the dreadmill but not quite as awesome as running outside in the world.  22 laps is around 6ish miles… i ran 20 because i have these awesome blisters on the ARCHES of both of my feet.  why do i have blisters in such a interesting place you may be asking…

well, i'll tell ya.

on friday i went shopping for winter (read gore tex) trail shoes so that my toes wouldn't freeze off from frost bite the next time i ran in the snow/cold weather.  this is because on wednesday i ran at lapham on the ice age trail in below zero temperatures in the dark at 6pm.  my toes were so cold it took around 2 miles for them to warm up enough that i could feel them.  then they hurt like it hurts when you run your cold skin under hot water after being outside in winter too long.  so i got all paranoid that i would get frost bite and decided i should invest in some winterized running shoes.  my mistake…

i went to 3 different stores and settled on a pair of salomon xr mission cs trail shoes.  

i was reluctant to purchase them but the dude selling them at rei assured me i could bring them back whenever.  i ran 10 miles saturday morning and about 1/2 way through my right arch felt like it was rubbing.  about 7 or 8 miles in and my left started to feel like it was rubbing.  it was uncomfortable but not terribly so and i finished the run cuz what else was i going to do on an out and back?  prolong the pain by walking back?  no thanks… so i got home and got those suckers off and lo and behold… a HUGE blister on the arch of my right foot and a smaller one on the arch of my left foot.  total bummer.  i showered and drained the blisters and decided that those shoes needed to go back pronto.  just a little word to the wise… rei does indeed take anything back within the first year if you are a member.  i returned those stupid things wet after having run in them for 10 miles.  so… thanks rei for being awesome and taking back a pair of $130 shoes that i hated.  later in the day my arches were hurting so bad that i found some blister band-aids and put those babies on.  felt much better!  

so this morning i went to the pettit to run on their track with some lady friends.  i was about 18 laps in when my right arch started to bother me so i was glad when kellie needed to go home so that i could stop at 20 laps.  got home and in the shower the band-aids were coming off… i pulled the right one off and was quite successful at leaving the skin intact.  i wasn't so careful with the left (because the blister was tiny) and that proved to be the wrong strategy because I PULLED THE BLISTER CLEAN OFF!  that freaking hurts!

but i digress…  the ice age 50K.

so after my shower it was almost time to sign up for the race.  registration opened at noon and i was reloading the page from about 11:57 on… it was true… didn't open until noon.  at noon i registered for the race and even tho' i got in there right away i still ended up being the 17th person registered!  the race then proceeded to fill up more than 1/2 way during the first hour (somewhere around 180) and was full within 2.  crazy!  now for the terrifying part.  I'M REGISTERED FOR A 50K!  i haven't even run a marathon yet!

for those of you who don't know (and/or don't want to look it up) that's 31.0686 freaking miles ON TRAILS! *gulp*  

i don't even know what sort of training i should do to prepare for this… i think i'm just going to run a lot and for a long time. ha!  training plan schmaining plan.  actually i already started a marathon training plan for the trail breaker marathon that i'm thinking of doing in april.  of course… i might not do that one because it's looking like i've got a lot on my plate already so far and it's not even 2014 yet!  i'm not really worried about covering the distance as much as i'm worried about my hydration and fuel.  i mean… i know they have tables of stuff throughout the course so i guess i don't need to worry but i've had so many issues with my gut in 2013 that it concerns me none the less.  i've finally gotten a good pre-race food thing going on and i don't want to compromise that by eating unworthy items on the trail during the race.  of course, i also don't want to carry a bunch of crap with me either so i think i'm going to rely on the latter to get me through this.  i've been experimenting with drinks too.  it seems to me that i do best on plain 'ol water.  first i was mixing gatorade and water and i think that was upsetting my stomach.  then i moved onto nuun but i'm not sure that does anything at all for me.  at least, i've not noticed any difference when i drink it or just plain water… so there's that.  i am just totally against carrying too much stuff with me.  i don't want to have to leave any clothing or things behind on the trail because i like my stuff which is why i have my stuff.  so i have to figure out a plan for my fuel/hydration.  the mileage i think i will be able to handle without a problem.  i'm going to ramp up training as soon as the snow is gone and work up to 2-3 laps on the black loop at least once a week in preparation. 

right now i'm at about 20 miles per week and i'm going to start upping that by 10% a week until i'm back at my fighting mileage.  so there are some plans in the works. 

but man oh man…

to think that just a few months ago i was telling jeff there was no way i'd even consider doing a 50K.  stick a little bug in my ear about something and i sure as hell will figure out a way that i can be up for the challenge.  maybe i'm too competitive for my own good?  i mean with myself mostly and others secondly.  i just want to prove that i can do it, do it well, and maybe try to do it better than others in the process.  doesn't make it any less terrifying tho' does it?

what does your race schedule look like?  are you stepping out of your comfort zone with any races in 2014?  doing anything that just a short time ago you wouldn't dream of trying?

let's talk about the ice age 50K

is it naive, cocky, and/or overly confident to believe that i can complete a 50K trail race in under 5 hours? 

i mean... i can complete the black loop at lapham in (best time) 1:03 which is 6.5ish miles... with that said i think that finishing 31 trail miles in under 5 hours is doable.  i mean... the top 10 finisher (female) in 2013 finished between 4:04 and 5:29 so i think i should be able to do it.  this could just be my ignorance talking tho' but i don't see why it wouldn't work out like that?  i guess i don't really know how hilly the course is in comparison to lapham.  although, i have been reading every.single.race.report that exists on this race and it seems like i shouldn't have any problems running it in that time.  maybe in spring i'll start running 2 loops in lapham for preparation.  i've never gone into a race with a goal time that i didn't manage to squeak out on par or really close.   

so my question for you, dear readers, is this:  has there ever been a time where you had a goal finish in mind and it turned out that you were really really off in the estimation?  if so, why didn't you make the goal?  injury? too cocky? or just gross miscalculation?

talk to me people!