This has been a very, very interesting week of training. It started out great with 18 miles on Saturday, 22 miles on Sunday, and 13 miles on Monday. Saturday and Sunday included some fun running up really steep ski slopes in Michigan (apparently they actually have some steep hills there).
Then on Tuesday morning during a 10 mile run on my favorite trails around DC, my back seized up. Badly. I limped my way home and could barely move let alone run for the next 48 hours.
I felt my training had just really gotten going for the Ice Age 50, and here I was possibly injured only 3 weeks before the race. After taking Wednesday and Thursday completely off (which I hated), I did an easy 7 mile run Friday morning. My back spasmed once around mile 4, but otherwise I felt good other than being stiff.
I decided to postpone my 30 mile run in the Shenandoahs planned for Saturday and instead stick closer to home in case the back acted up. I ended up feeling pretty good and covered 20 miles on the local trails.
Of course that made me overly confident, and I rolled the dice and headed to the Shenandoahs for a tough 30 mile loop earlier today. It was the same route that I ran in early April last year, and I really love this part of the Shenandoahs.
Fortunately, I felt really strong and had a great 6 hour run. The downside is that it was in the low to mid 40s and raining the whole time. Not so awesome. But I got a lot of that character building that I always look for.
The only tough part was when I was in the higher parts of the route over 3,000 feet. I had banked on the foliage to shield me from the rain. But apparently nobody had told trees on top of the mountain that their leaves should be out. Stupid trees! I mean it was 80 degrees for most of March, and it is almost May now. Let's try to get our act together.
Training has been spotty, but it is good to know that the consistent base of training pays off. The fueling system I have now is also working wonders and really helps a lot.
So now I am really looking forward to running the Ice Age 50 with D-Fitz! He has been doing some solid training, and I think he is ready to be the fastest 50 mile runner wearing a cheesehead come May 12th.
Oh, and here is a picture from the run. With all the rain, there were no views to be had, and all of my pictures were pretty crappy. But this one below gives you a sense of how ridiculously green everything was.
Then on Tuesday morning during a 10 mile run on my favorite trails around DC, my back seized up. Badly. I limped my way home and could barely move let alone run for the next 48 hours.
I felt my training had just really gotten going for the Ice Age 50, and here I was possibly injured only 3 weeks before the race. After taking Wednesday and Thursday completely off (which I hated), I did an easy 7 mile run Friday morning. My back spasmed once around mile 4, but otherwise I felt good other than being stiff.
I decided to postpone my 30 mile run in the Shenandoahs planned for Saturday and instead stick closer to home in case the back acted up. I ended up feeling pretty good and covered 20 miles on the local trails.
Of course that made me overly confident, and I rolled the dice and headed to the Shenandoahs for a tough 30 mile loop earlier today. It was the same route that I ran in early April last year, and I really love this part of the Shenandoahs.
Fortunately, I felt really strong and had a great 6 hour run. The downside is that it was in the low to mid 40s and raining the whole time. Not so awesome. But I got a lot of that character building that I always look for.
The only tough part was when I was in the higher parts of the route over 3,000 feet. I had banked on the foliage to shield me from the rain. But apparently nobody had told trees on top of the mountain that their leaves should be out. Stupid trees! I mean it was 80 degrees for most of March, and it is almost May now. Let's try to get our act together.
Training has been spotty, but it is good to know that the consistent base of training pays off. The fueling system I have now is also working wonders and really helps a lot.
So now I am really looking forward to running the Ice Age 50 with D-Fitz! He has been doing some solid training, and I think he is ready to be the fastest 50 mile runner wearing a cheesehead come May 12th.
Oh, and here is a picture from the run. With all the rain, there were no views to be had, and all of my pictures were pretty crappy. But this one below gives you a sense of how ridiculously green everything was.
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