08.15.10: Double Long Runs, Weekly Update

I started off the week recovering from last weekend's 38M adventure. For the first 2 days, I skipped running altogether, which was easy to do as my left achilles was tight and sore. So I stuck to the elliptical and rower on Monday and Tuesday, before returning to running on Wednesday. The weird thing is that other than my achilles, my legs were never really beat up or especially tired after the 38M run. Very odd.

I also kept my runs for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on the treadmill and easy, as a) it was a lot easier on my body than outside running, and b) I knew I had a long weekend of outside running planned.

So through Friday, I had logged 37M of running, 20M on the elliptical and 16K on the rower.

Weekend Highlights
Saturday 08.14 BoldRunning group run @ Wash Park/roads/Cheesman Park. 20M (2:45:55). Ran for only the 2nd time ever at Wash Park in Denver, and for the 1st time at Cheesman Park. I got one loop in around Wash Park before the group run, and then we ran from Wash Park to Cheesman Park, ran around once, headed back to Cheesman, and then did quite a bit of running around Wash Park. It was a pretty nice morning, a little cooler with a nice breeze. I know I have a plethora of trail running options in the Boulder area, but I was digging the urban park thing in Denver yesterday. And another thing - there was just an AMAZING amount of runners out yesterday. I've seen that in general since I've been heading down for these runs - usually on the Highline Canal Trail. I've seen WAY more runners than I used to see several years ago in the early to mid 2000s. Very cool.

Sunday 08.15 20M @ Bear Creek Lake Park, Lakewood (2:46:34). So after the successful 38M experiment, I'm planning on running the Bear Chase Trail Race 50M. With that in mind, I headed to the site of the race to scout out the course. They have course maps and some very detailed course descriptions here. It's a bit of a drive to get down there, so as my family is still out of town (thankfully they get back tomorrow), this was the best opportunity I'll have for awhile. This race should be interesting. I've run down there a few times before, so I was somewhat familiar with the area. While there is only supposed to be 900' of climbing per 12.5M loop, I imagine that some of these climbs will hurt in laps 3 and 4 (and I should run them very conservatively early on). There's some shade, but much of the course will be out in the open. That might not be so great on a hot or windy day. It's hard to say what October 3rd will bring for weather. Some of the trails are a bit rocky, some are a bit sandy (I have a habit of crashing on the sandy trails), and in general the course is pretty diverse: gravel roads, narrow and wide singletrack, doubletrack, concrete bike path, asphalt road, water, etc. Yes, water. Each loop includes 3 creek crossings, all within about a 1/2 mile. Today, the crossings got to maybe 20" deep, and maybe 40' wide. Interesting. Crossing the creek 12 times over 50 miles could play havoc the feet of the 50 milers. One climb is up Mt. Carbon, which sounds worse than it actually is. It's maybe a 200' climb a nice long, gradual singletrack descent. This will be a crucial point in every loop, though. I'm determined to take the climbs very easy on race day. I'm hoping that the course is very well marked. There are so many turns, going from one trail to another, that if it's not marked perfectly, there's going to be problems out there.

Later: added on 6M on the treadmill (55:58) at 5% incline for 26M on the day, and 46M for the weekend. This was the 3rd time since the July 10th/11th weekend that I've run back-to-back 20M runs. Also, I have 14 20M+ runs since May 29th. I'm pretty confident that these 2 training stats will be big for me heading into the 50M.

Weekly/Monthly Totals
Running: 83M / 206.1M
Elliptical: 20M / 20M
Rowing: 16K / 24K

A few days ago, I was leaning away from racing this week, but now it's closer to 50/50 that I'll do the BRR 5000m on Thursday evening.

I realized on Friday evening, that starting on Saturday I would have exactly 50 days to prepare for the 50M. So my plan is to focus on good eating, good sleeping, good flexibility and core work, and just plain healthy living for these final 50 days. 50 days for 50 miles. Day 1 & Day 2 are in the books.