Headed out to Afton this morning for more snake hoppin', berry munchin', and hill runnin' as planned. Goal was to get a good 20 mile run of solid hills before beginning to taper a bit for Moose Mountain. I ended up starting the 25K loop in the forward direction, but chose to create a smaller loop so that I could emphasize running hills rather than the flatter terrain (ie Africa Loop and the long, flat, straight stretch that runs parallel to the St. Croix River towards Meat Grinder).
My loop included the run up to the Africa Loop, but rather than run the loop I made a right turn at the top and took the usual trail back down to the start of Nigel's Hill. Then ran Nigel's and the Campground loop as usual. This would allow me to refill my water bottle (Nathan vest) as well as hit the blackberry patch on each loop ;) Repeat 2 more times. For my fourth and final loop, I left off the quick trip up to Africa and just did Nigel's and Campround Hills.
Met up with Karen Gall as I was heading down the flat stretch from Nigel's to my last run up to the Campground. It was nice to have some company after almost 5 hours of hill running! We visited the berry patch up in the campground one more time before heading back to the parking lot. Karen was kind enough to slow to my pace rather than run her own workout - thanks Karen!
Total tally for the day:
20.78 miles
total elevation = 8823 vertical feet
average pace was just under 15 min miles (although the later miles were much slower than the early miles)
Consumed 4 liters of Heed, 4 Clif Shot gels, 5 S caps during the run, and some Endurox R4 immediately afterwards. My pre and post race weights were the same (I think that may be a first for a run this long)! I still start feeling a little queasy after drinking Heed for a few hours, but have found that eating crystallized ginger helps to settle my stomach.
Only 1 buzzard showed up while I was at the top of Nigel's Hill on my last loop, but he wasn't very persistant. Today's workout felt better than my 17+ miler 2 weeks ago, even though I was up late watching the Olympics and tossing back a few Summit Extra Pale Ales.
I'm tired and my knees ache, but I think I'm going to sleep pretty good tonight ;)
My loop included the run up to the Africa Loop, but rather than run the loop I made a right turn at the top and took the usual trail back down to the start of Nigel's Hill. Then ran Nigel's and the Campground loop as usual. This would allow me to refill my water bottle (Nathan vest) as well as hit the blackberry patch on each loop ;) Repeat 2 more times. For my fourth and final loop, I left off the quick trip up to Africa and just did Nigel's and Campround Hills.
Met up with Karen Gall as I was heading down the flat stretch from Nigel's to my last run up to the Campground. It was nice to have some company after almost 5 hours of hill running! We visited the berry patch up in the campground one more time before heading back to the parking lot. Karen was kind enough to slow to my pace rather than run her own workout - thanks Karen!
Total tally for the day:
20.78 miles
total elevation = 8823 vertical feet
average pace was just under 15 min miles (although the later miles were much slower than the early miles)
Consumed 4 liters of Heed, 4 Clif Shot gels, 5 S caps during the run, and some Endurox R4 immediately afterwards. My pre and post race weights were the same (I think that may be a first for a run this long)! I still start feeling a little queasy after drinking Heed for a few hours, but have found that eating crystallized ginger helps to settle my stomach.
Only 1 buzzard showed up while I was at the top of Nigel's Hill on my last loop, but he wasn't very persistant. Today's workout felt better than my 17+ miler 2 weeks ago, even though I was up late watching the Olympics and tossing back a few Summit Extra Pale Ales.
I'm tired and my knees ache, but I think I'm going to sleep pretty good tonight ;)
7 comments:
in my opinion, Moose Mountain should be a little worried about you. Your preparation is top line.
Nice run today Kel! Where do you buy the crystallized ginger and what quantities do you take?
Londell, I doubt that any part of SHT is worried about me, but I do have a score to settle with one particular blown down tree on top of Moose Mountain ;)
Adam, I got my crystallized ginger at Penzey's, but you can probably get it cheaper at Zombie Runner - try using code TRBLOG for a 10% discount.
Kel- was great running into you at Afton, I was so happy to have a grown up to talk to after being alone with a almost 3 yr old all weekend.
What store is Penzey's for the ginger?
Karen
Nice training session Kel!
What is the story about the tree on top of Moose...I was running up there a couple of weeks ago during my vacation and noticed a small tag on a tree that read "now this tree has a story to tell" or something to that effect. Does this have anything to do with you?
At the time it really made me wonder what the story was.
holy cats! that was quite a run!
Way to go, Kel. You've gotten some good training in for Moose... now just gotta survive the taper weeks. See you up there.
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