There are just 4 short weeks to go until the Golden Gate Trail Classic 50K. I just came off of a much needed recovery week with 16 miles for the entire week. I have just one more weekend of back to back long runs. This coming weekend, I really need to have a 20 mile run where I feel pretty good after that 20 miles- still feeling like I have gas in the tank. I plan on following up with hill repeats the next day. I’ll need to remember to massage my hamstrings the Friday night before my Saturday long run. That really seemed to help the knee situation last weekend. All of my shorter runs this week have felt pretty good. I’ve kept everything easy, trying to stay in zone 2 until maybe the last couple of miles. On yesterday’s run, it was nice to get a PR on the College Rd climb (last climb of the Turkey Trot) and to then be able to push it hard until the end. There was one great piece of advice that I heard on the latest “Drop Bag” episode from Trail Runner Nation. In order to generate power when trying to pick up the pace, it’s nice to visualize pawing at the ground with the front of your foot while kicking your heels back and pumping your arms. In the case of uphill running, it also helps to remind myself to engage the glutes.
I’m sitting here writing as my son is having a skating lesson. My mind is blown by how much he has improved in just 3 sessions. The lesson is weekly and is only 30 minutes long, with a 45 minute free skate practice session afterwards. During week 1, he could barely pick up his feet while skating, but today, he’s confidently picking up his skates and looking comfortable skating backwards and learning how to stop. He has never been a kid that liked team sports, but I love that he has found something that involves movement that he is able to improve from week to week. I also just love when I see my kids surpass me in skill level at any sport or game. He's asked me to come to a free skate with him sometime soon. I've gladly accepted and asked if he could teach me how to stop. I've always been a bit wobbly on skates and I think most of my apprehension is based on the fact that I don't know how to confidently stop.
The neon green skate twins
Since this week was a recovery week, I had a rest day from running this morning. Instead, I decided to get to the climbing gym early. My daughter was going to come, but had a last minute invite to hang out with one of her closest friends for the day, so it ended up just being Chris and I going to climb. It’s so interesting to see that certain routes that seem easy for him are hard for me and vice versa. I’m definitely seeing improvement though. There is a 5.8 route that was a real challenge for me when the gym re-opened. I’ve been ignoring it because I remember that it was hard and took me a long time to send it. I remember having to take many rest breaks on it the last time I attempted it. This morning, I finally decided to try it again and climbed it easily- no rest breaks- it almost felt as easy as a 5.7. So that was encouraging. I also attempted the scariest looking route in the gym on autobelay. Got some beta from a guy who successfully climbed it and I was able to climb at least the bottom part of the route pretty smoothly. I look forward to trying it again when my arms aren’t already pumped. I was also happy to get up part of a 5.9+ overhanging route. It was a route that relied on finger strength, with very small foot holds. I also got on a 5.9 route (that we named Purple Leeches Suck) that has a challenging start. Didn’t finish the route, but will try it again another day.
We call this the "Stranger Things" route. It's tricky just to getting on the wall.
I have a mild cold at the moment. Hoping it’s kicked out of my system before my long runs this weekend. Nice to see that I have another rest day tomorrow. I’ll try to get in a core/strength workout but it’ll be nice to sleep in a little. This morning was heavenly to be able to sleep almost 9 hrs straight without waking up once in the middle of the night. Putting earplugs in and not having to set an alarm definitely helped.
I’m not sure what’s in store after this 50K. I definitely want to keep running, but running in the dark is already getting old. I may just try to fit in some shorter runs during the week and keep it to 10-15 mile long runs once on the weekend. I would also love to plan a climbing trip to use my current fitness and maybe even try to up the climbing frequency to twice a week at the gym. Chris is taking a lead class soon so it’ll be fun to try practicing the sport routes at the gym. With whatever time I have left, it’ll also be great to keep up with the strength and core work. December will be a great time of year to plan for 2022. It's always fun to look for fun challenges and now that races are back, it might be a chance to find a race somewhere I've always wanted to go and tack some extra days on for a mini vacation after the race.
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