Lake Hinson 24 Hour Ultra

Whew! That's done!

Had a great weekend at the Lake Hinson 24 Hour Ultra Run. This being my first official ultra, I did not enter the race with any specific mileage goal. You had 24 hours to complete as many laps around the lake as you could. Each lap was 1.5 miles. I was however going to use this as a gauge to measure how the training was going for my 50K race scheduled in November, so I really wanted to get 30 miles in at the least.
  With the help of copious amounts of Gatorade, Mountain Dew and PB&J sandwiches, I cranked out 40 laps, for a total of sixty miles. I was going to attempt to run the entire 24 hours, but around 19 hours I really started to wear out. No blisters! But I did have some chafing going on south of the border that was starting to make life a tad uncomfortable. The last few laps I felt like a marionette with all it's strings tangled up, so I shut it down. I had exceeded way beyond my expectations, so I was happy as I staggered back to the tent to collapse in a heap.

Still smiling here, but it was early!

Thank God the weather wasn't hot, as I heard at last year's race it was 97! We did wake up to rain at around 6am, with the race start at 8am. The rain stopped, but the air was THICK! I had put on a long sleeve shirt to start, but quickly sent my trusty pacer/crew member/training partner Hannah back to the tent for a sleeveless shirt! I started out wearing my La Sportiva Crosslite 2.0's, which were awesome since the trail was a little muddy in spots. I then switched over to my Nike Free 3.0's, and did the bulk of my mileage in them. Once they got soggy ( mainly from my profuse sweating) I changed into my New Balance Minimus for the final few laps. I changed outfits four times, sox five times.
  Since half of the run was to be in the dark, I invested in a great headlamp by Fenix, which I had taken out on a 13.5 mile night trail run a week earlier. This thing is BRIGHT! I feel light a locomotive coming down the trail with it on.

It took a while for me to get to sleep when I arrived back at the tent, but I did manage to sleep for an hour or two. Then came the fun part of trying to take down the tent and canopy in a post ultra stupor. It was quite comical.
We managed to get everything broke down and stuffed in the car, then stopped for coffee and a bite to eat. We then made our way north to the town of Southern Pines, and treated ourselves to a room and hot shower at the Holiday Inn Express! Using my "Priority Club" clout, we were able to check in at noon instead of 3pm.
 At one point I was tempted to bring a chair into the shower so I could sit, but thought the better of it. The rest of the day was spent napping, eating and watching football on TV.   Glorious, indeed.

Now for a few recovery days, then back to it! Triple Lakes Trail Half  is next on 10/15, then the Derby 50K will be here before ya know it!  

New Trail Shoes and Endless Spinning

I have added a new member to my Trail shoe collection. I've picked up a pair of La Sportiva Crosslite 2.0. I took them out for their first run yesterday at Harris Lake. Four miles of moderately technical trail and they felt great! I think we will be spending a lot of time together out on the trails!

 One of the other instructors at the gym is on vacation this week, so I have four spin classes to teach on my schedule. I taught last night, (75 minutes) another class this morning (60min) and have classes on Friday and Saturday morning. This is on top of my regular 3rd shift job. Then there is the little matter of fitting in my run training as well. Then did I mention one of my girls is tracked out of school? Good times. So today after class I got my butt on the treadmill for an easy three miles. Tomorrow is a six miler, then a 13.1 mile night trail run on Friday. then another 10 miler sometime over the weekend.There will be some serious power napping going on!  I will be monitoring the 'ole body closely. Hopefully I will not be feeling like this:

Or this........

I will be tapering next week in preparation for the Lake Hinson 24 Hour Run!

Now, where's my coffee???

Weekend Update

It's Sunday, 5:40pm. It feels like I just got the opportunity to sit down.

  I got off work Friday morning around 4am. Got my butt up at 8am to take a spin class my friend Amy was teaching. It was nice to be TAKING a spin class instead of TEACHING one! Went to the bank after class, got home and was about to get in a nap when my boss called and  told me we had an emergency service to take care of. Back out the door I went. Emergency service completed, I returned home around 4pm. By this point, I was fried. I was rocking 2 hours of sleep over 26 hours.I got myself something to eat, claimed my spot on the couch, and spent the rest of the evening drifting in and out of consciousness. Then I officially went to sleep.

Got up early Saturday morning to head out on a trail run with my training partner. New location, some wrong turns, getting separated, running endlessly around the trails looking for each other...... well you get the picture. 18 miles later, "Lewis & Clark" were reunited. What started as a training run turned into an adventure race.

   What does one do to recover after that? Why they come home an mow the lawn. All 3/4 of an acre of it. And they do it in compression calf sleeves.

Then I got something to eat, claimed my spot on the couch.......... you know the rest.

   Up early again on Sunday morning, taking care of all the stuff I did not get to on Saturday. I was hosting a two hour 9/11 Memorial spin class at the gym, and had still not finalized the music or routines. Several cups of strong coffee later, that task was completed.

Headed out to the gym at 11:30am, class was from 12-2pm. Legs felt good 'till the last half hour, then they got tired.
Got home, did laundry. (The workout/funk pile) Then took the girls to Starbucks, went to the supermarket and got back to the house for the 4pm NFL game. I made myself and awesome smoothie, ( hemp protein powder, Udo's oil, avocado, frozen fruit,chia seeds and macca powder) and parked my ass in the comfy chair.
   All that's left is to get my workout gear off the clothesline, slip on my compression sleeves and get myself something to eat. Then I will claim my spot on the couch........... 

Stormy Weather

   I could tell today was going to be  "treadmill" kind of day. After much procrastinating, I got my butt out the door this afternoon and down to the gym to get in my four miler. Got her done in 35:19. Felt good (for a treadmill workout!)
Hoping for better weather tomorrow, then its back outside!!!