Got the post race blues.....

Sometimes things seems so anti-climactic. This week has been sort of a blah one and I can't determine if it's because the sun is so absent, I'm tired from the race, or it's a recovery week and I am bored. My body bounced back really fast and I think I should have run a bit harder but I seem to be a coward when it comes to pushing myself in unknown territory. I think that might have something to do with the control freak part of my personality. Leaving little to chance in my world and going to a race that on paper looks really tough makes me hold back waiting to see if there will be some big giant hill or piece of trail that's super hard. Seems ridiculous from an experienced trail runner. Also racing is not my speciality. Even though most people get the impression I am super competitive I will surrender easy. I think that is pure lack of confidence in the competitive athletic world. All of this is an interesting self evaluation and it seems I have had this inner conversation with myself many times before. I also seem to get over it by the end of summer but repeat it again in the following spring. Obviously I don't learn my lessons very well. Anyway.....despite running a 50M race I felt great but this was a recovery week and with the exception of one tempo run on Thursday all the other workouts were easy. I know the need for recovery but have to force myself to honor it. On the bright side I got a lot of chores done. :)

My puny outlook could also be a result of the cold grey weather. After being in sunny CA we came home to dark low lying clouds which were producing cold rain. I have lived here for over 20 years and love the PNW but I have to say when the spring doesn't offer much sunlight it's gets really old.....or maybe I'm getting old. :) Finally by yesterday afternoon we got some sun and some warmth which made me feel like a kid in a candy store! Yesterday I had a 2-2.5 hour cruiser run and Scott wrote on my schedule to "HAVE FUN"......yes in all caps meaning don't wear my HR monitor, don't push it and just have a good time. I did just cruise it but I wore my HR monitor. I can't seem to part with it. :) Kris, Stacey and I hit the wildwood trail and really just ran for fun. I was a bit more sluggish than I thought I would be. Afterwards Kris took me to Crossfit. This is her other form of torture and she has been wanting me to go for a long time but if you are a non-member you can only go on Saturday afternoon or Tuesday evening. Since most of my Saturday's are filled with running and baseball and Tuesday's nights are not available I haven't been able to go. But......this Saturday Bill and Alex are at a Boyscout camp and my run was short so it was a trip to Crossfit for me! I think Kris's real intention was see me suffer greatly with these 3 chain workouts which require strength, endurance and range of motion. Now I think I have the strength and endurance but that range of motion stuff......hmmm not so much. I was pretty nervous as I saw the smirky grin on Kris's face. I had the nervous peeing.....you know, like before a race. Anyway the non-member WOD was pretty easy. The warm up was 5 sit-ups, 5 push-ups, 5 no weight squats and 5 pull-ups....repeat this 3 times but up everything by 5 each time. I got to show off my non-assisted pull-ups, he, he , he. After that the WOD was 4 rounds of 400M sprint then 15 overhead squats and not the sissy kind, these babies had to be all the way down. The non-members got to use 10 pound bars instead of 65 pound pound bars. I sailed through this workout but it was the wimpy version while the real Crossfitters had to run 500M and do the squats but with a minimum of 65 pounds. Kris got the second fastest time against even the men! It was cool and motivating to watch her fight to get those squats done. In the end she was grunting....now that is tough girl stuff. It was so much fun and I could see me getting very addicted to this kind of thing. It's like a shot in the arm of adrenaline, fast, hard, competitive but it's over fast. Fortunately for me it's all the way downtown. :) Afterwards we went for lunch in a very eclectic part of Portland and I got see so much personality. I live in the burbs and love it but we don't get to see too many odd things here in Tigard, OR. I got to see a girl with the biggest dreadlock beehive you can imagine riding her retro bike...I was obsessed with her amazing look. We parked and she was standing on the sidewalk. I so wanted a picture with her and regret I didn't ask. Her beehive was awesome and I want to wear that hair. Those dreadlocks were all the way down past her butt but she had most off them rolled up on top of her head in a beehive.....I loved it, it was the best hair I have ever seen. I wonder if it was real......very cool, her bike was perfect, it made the look.

This next week is the beginning of the Peak training cycle for Bighorn 100M. Every year I am excited to get here. The big tough runs and lots of training in the gorge. The wildwood will be a thing of the past at this point in training. Hopefully the weather will be getting warmer and the snow melting.