May 26, 2010

Dubya Tee Eff?

2010 has been a very odd year thus far.

After basically taking the winter off and then tweaking my Achilles in March, I'd really planned on getting some decent miles in the last couple of months. April was unseasonably warm and things were healing nicely. May started out pretty much the same way.

On May 8 while many of my friends were at Ice Age, I headed out to Afton for the first time this year (saw John P for the first time in awhile). Running on flat trails was going well and it was time to test the Achilles on hills. You never really know for sure if an Achilles injury is fully healed until you get some vertical miles in. Ran the Africa Loop and the Back 40 in mid-30 temps with a rain/snow mix. WTF? We haven't had any snow all of March and April, and now it decides to snow? I'd hoped to also get in Nigel's Hill and Campground Hill, but wasn't dressed appropriately for the "spring" weather. Cut it short at about 7 miles.

On May 16, I went back out to Afton while most of my friends were running Superior (saw Tom sans Nancy). One of the best things about running at Afton is I always see someone I know. Anyhoo, the plan was for a few loops of Nigel's & Campground Hills to get the aforementioned vertical miles in. Holy crap, it was humid! I felt very overheated after just one loop and pulled the plug early - only got about 6ish miles. WTF? Last week it was snowing and now I feel like I'm at Badwater.

Last Sunday I ended up at Hyland for what I hoped would finally be some double digit miles. Nope! The heat and humidity had me melting to the point of feeling sick to my stomach - done after only 6 miles. WTF? Done after six at Hyland?

This isn't exactly primo ultra training folks. I'm not even sure I dare sign up for the 10 miler at Chester Woods in 2 weeks - they might need a calendar instead of a watch to get my time. I'm glad I only committed to the 25K at Afton, and I'm thinking that the 50 miler at North Country is going to be an epic suffering session unless I can get things turned around in a hurry.

I've got a 4 day weekend coming up - not sure where I'll be running yet.

2 comments:

shannon said...

I just finished my first marathon in May. I started running a little over a year ago and have realized that I am definitely a distance person. The first few miles are always the toughest. I would love to try an ultra, 50K. Any advice?

Wayne said...

Are you going to do Chester Woods? A fun event might be just what you need to get things rolling. It'll be June so who knows, we might get May weather? :)