Hardrock Training Starts!

Even though I am still number 11 on the list I am pretending I am in the race. With that said it's time to get back in the game and start training. Coyote Two Moon was really fun but very difficult on my not so trained body. The two days following the race I was so full of water I just had to get on the scale and see how much I was holding. It was the weirdest edema I have ever experienced. The water settled in my legs and my face. Nothing in my arms and mid-section. When I hopped on the scale I estimated 12-14 pounds of fluid had found a home in my body. I tried everything to get it moving such as lying with my legs elevated, consuming lots of water, resting and even some light activity but none of that showed any immediate benefit. When I arrived on Tuesday for a workout with Sarah she looked at me and was speechless. She was so concerned she called her dad who is a doctor to describe what she saw and ask it I was okay...it was not a good look. :)Although the site of my huge face and legs was disturbing it was also hilarious and we got a good laugh out of it. Now for the best part. It was all gone by Thursday! I have no idea where the fluid went but it disappeared. Thursday night was my first run after Coyote. I had to lead the Lululemon running group so I sheepishly laced up my shoes and prepared to fake my way through the run by pretending I was fine. It was a tough go. The uphill to Forest Park from the Pearl was hard on my destroyed legs but the trip home was brutal. The downhill back to the store was right down painful on my quads and knees. I was happy to have faked my way through the 6.5 mile run but was thrilled to see the store at the end. When I woke on Friday I felt like a new person so maybe the stretch of the run helped knock the recovery in high gear. Though I was completely disturbed by the amount of fluid I collected after the run I am overall extremely pleased by the rapid recovery.

Last week was my second week on a recovery schedule but I needed to start adding some mild quality back by the end of the week. It was Spring Break for us so we headed to Deer Valley for vacation. Bill and Alex did some serious skiing while I opted for some mild workouts and good down time. The weather was not its usual sunny but cold. Instead it was sort of sleety/rain/sun combination. That meant for less than perfect Utah skiing which bummed Bill out big time. He was hoping for the usual perfect snow. It was so nice and relaxing. By the end of week I was doing 60-75 minute runs with 10X30 second strides. Saturday called for my first real quality workout. I did a 75 minute M-Pace run with only 3 miles at M-Pace. It was a bit of a clunky start when it was time to do the 7:30 pace but by the end I felt in good working condition.

March was birthday month for a bunch of us. Unfortunately Lisa and I are the only Pisces among a sea of Aries! Mark, Micheal, Gretchen and Sarah are all Aries. We are not only out numbered but our sensitive side takes a beating with those rams, ha, ha, ha! We celebrated with some Cosmic Bowling in which I did much better and it's harder in the dark with blinking lights. :)

Monday was the start of Hardrock training. I am going to start off with 4 week cycles and continue that until it gets to be too much then I will drop down to 3 week cycles. I can generally do three 4 week cycles before I have to switch. As the volume of the weekend runs ramps it seems I need that recovery week sooner. On another note: I got a couple of questions about my weekly mileage. I used to plan all my training by miles but after working with Scott I have changed to hours. For Coyote the highest mileage week I got was just over 70 and that was only once. Due to all the quality in the workouts I don't need to have the huge weeks to get the job done. In the past I would do several weeks of 90-110 miles and my speed increased at first but the plateau came fast along with fatigue and minor injuries. I think both methods work well depending on your goals. For Hardrock I will have more weeks in the 70 and 80's closer to end of the training.

Getting back in the game this week felt really good. The training is my favorite part of the racing process so I am excited to get going again. Last year Kris was doing some ultra running and was an awesome tempo run partner with her competitive drive and camaraderie. We really did well when we did those runs together. She joined me yesterday for my M-Pace run and though she had no intention of running the M-Pace portion before she knew it she was making we work hard. It was great. It's seems to be motivating to have partners for those harder runs or at least the presence of another runner seems to make me step up and do my best.