Finally! Beautiful weather for the first official weekend of summer! I spent Saturday running at Afton for the first time since last fall. Did about 9 miles on the Africa Loop, Back 40, Nigel's Hill (down only - I'll explain in a minute), and the Campground Hill. Goals for this run were to see how my foot would do on steeper hills, and to try out another electrolyte combination. Also wanted to wait until later in the day to run so that I can start getting acclimated to hot weather (last year's race was 100 degrees with 90+% humidity).
I had intended to do the first half of the 25K race course and even had the map with me, but missed the right turn at the lean to shelter near the end of the Africa Loop. Instead of heading back down the steep hill to the third aid station, I ended up going straight ahead and arriving at the top of the hill near the backpack campground. Just turned left and headed down Nigel's hill, then back up the Campground Hill as usual. As I was picking my way down the Campground Hill, Steve was making his way back up for God knows how many hill repeats. These are pretty steep hills, and the loose gravel can make them kinda slippery - almost like running on marbles - especially on the way down.
My run was more of a lolligag than a training run - stopped to watch deer a couple of times, had to check out the black berry patch on the Africa Loop (still blossoms on the bushes), helped a tourist figure out how to get down to the river, etc. I'm also pleased to report that the water pump in the campground is currently working :)
According to Garmin, my 9 mile run had an elevation gain of +1637 feet and -1634 feet, max grade was 29.7% on the hills, and my post run weight was 2.5 lbs lighter than my pre run weight even though I drank 40 oz of fluids and took 2 S caps.
My foot is a little sore today, so instead of running I did some weight lifting and biking. Hope to get this tendonitis cleared up soon - I'm getting a little worried about not being able to put in decent miles for Moose Mountain.
By the way, Zombie Runner has a coupon code ZRTRAILS that's good for 10% off your order - not sure when it expires, but it worked for me this morning.
Hope everyone who ran Grandma's had a great time! Can't wait to hear all of the race reports...
1 comment:
I didn't do too many repeats of the campground hill that day.
That's NEXT Saturday.
I could not get enough water that day - 40 oz. per hour and still dehydrated!
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