Sunday, March 25, 2007

Another 20 miler

I think I've gotten to the point in my training where I can knock out a 20+ miler every weekend. And its a great feeling!

Yesterday, Sharon and I started at the Cornell Rd. trail head, which is at the 5 mile point of Wildwood. The plan was to run 5 miles out and back to the zoo (mile 1), hit the car for an aid station break, and then run 5 miles out and back in the other direction. This route involved a lot of hills. The weather forecast called for light rain, and even as I was watching the 6am news before I went to pick up Sharon, the weather guesser was saying it was only raining lightly. But it definitely wasn't raining just lightly as we drove to the trail. And when we parked, the rain was coming down heavily and the treetops where hidden in a cloudy, foggy haze. I really don't mind running in the rain at all. But the temps were in the high 40's to 50's. So when its warm like that (yes, that feels warm in the PNW!), its difficult deciding what to wear. I'm glad I threw in a lot of different options at the last minute so I had something to choose from. I decided on my short sleeve shirt from Hagg Lake, shorts, a shell jacket, a hat, and some waterproof shell mitts for the beginning, since my hands tend to get really cold. Sharon commented that she thought I'd be too warm in my jacket. I replied, "But its just a...a...a... a shield." I couldn't think of the word, shell. So we had a good laugh at my wearing my "shield". Sharon wore a similar outfit and it worked out well as it rained steadily on the first half of the run. By the time we got back to the car aid station, the rain had let up to a true light rain and we were able to change out of our wet clothes into light long sleeves and vests.

As mentioned, this was a hilly run and our goal was to run all the hills. For the most part, we were successful. We were able to run all the way to the top of the Pittock Mansion hill on the first half. But on the second half, there was a long, steady 2 mile climb where I had to stop to walk after about 1.5 miles. Overall, it was a good run and we both felt much better than we did last week on an easier course. I've been practicing with my fastdraw handheld and I think I'm finally getting used to holding the bottle for a long run. Since we had use of the car as aid station, I was able to use my handheld for the whole run and just switched out bottles at the car. I have shorts with pockets that I can use to carry my ginger, sports beans, clif bloks and electrolytes.

Sharon had said if she had a good run she was going to register for the Mac 50K. It must have been a pretty good run, because she announced she was going to do it even before the run was over. Woohoo! She'll probably kill me on the hills, but I think we are going to more or less try to stay together again.

Next week Sharon is out of town so I'm going to take the opportunity to get in a long run on the roads in preparation for the Eugene Marathon. The last time I ran anything longer than 10 miles on the roads was at the Portland Marathon last October. And that resulted in a month of ITB problems. So I need to get out there and test the pavement again. I don't think the cause of my ITB problems was purely because of the road running. Rather, I think I tweaked something on one of the steep, banked downhills on the marathon course. So I'm not really worried that road running is going to cause any major damage. I'm a lot stronger than I was last fall anyway. But I do think it wise to get at least one long road run in, so its not a shock to my system come marathon day. I'm debating whether I'll taper for Eugene. I don't have the speed to go for a PR, so right now I'm looking at it as a fun way to get in a long training run.

And finally, yesterday afternoon I went shoe shopping at one of the local running shoe stores that's holding its spring sale. My leona divides still have a little life in them (held together by mud!) but I'm ready to get something else into the rotation. I wanted some more Montrails so settled on some continental divides, but wanted to try on something else too. Unfortunately this store doesn't carried Vasques as I'd have liked to try some of them. But as soon as I tried the Inov-8 flyrocs, I knew I had to get them. They are so comfortable! I could sleep in them. So I walked out with both pairs.

One more thing....Marc is out on his last monster run before the Rumble. Unless he's running in the gorge, his method is to just leave the house and run where ever the roads take him. He just told me he has an article brewing in his head about why he's not really a runner, that he'd like to submit to running magazine. I offered him a slot as a guest blogger if he'd like, so maybe you'll see it here first. When he returns I'll head out on a recovery run. I'm not sure how far I'll go, but probably somewhere between 6-10. If I do 10 that will be 50 for the week...an all time high. Actually 6 would give me an all time high too. We'll see....

P.s. I went out for 7.5. So I didn't make 50, but still a new weekly high of just over 47. I think I'll hang around in this range for a few weeks and then work on bumping the mileage up over 50.

14 comments:

Backofpack said...

Sarah,
You are doing great on the training! Feeling like you could do 20 every weekend is awesome. I'm looking forward to Eugene - we might have to pull together a meet-up with everyone - you, Rob, Eric, me, Jenny and Darrell. Any other bloggers that you are aware of?

seagull junker said...

yea, upping the milage, way to go. your flyrocs will be like 4X4's at the mac. very popular in europe. most have said that they are fine in races less than 50k's but do hold up fine in that distance also. but you are a petite little flower so they will be great for you I am sure. hand helds are great, they break my falls. oh, easy to drink out of too. great job. great job in getting in a variety of runs and of course keeping up with the long run. you and sharon will like the Mac. always a great race. ken and scott will have most of the climbs early this year instead of late in the race like in the past.
tom

Kim said...

jiklIsn't it a great feeling to know you can run 20 every weekend? You are doing so well.

Darrell said...

Woohoo, congratulations on the all time mileage high. You are one strong runner, 20 milers every weekend? I really enjoy my shorter weeks every other. It seems to make the whole rest of the week seem easier.

A little pavement before Eugene sounds prudent. What about shoes?

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

GREAT Job Sarah on your High Milers -- way to GO :-)

Jack said...

Sounds like your training is doing great, keep up the good work.

Ginger Breadman said...

"I think I've gotten to the point in my training where I can knock out a 20+ miler every weekend. And its a great feeling!" - That's gotta be such a high to be able to do that - such a sense of freedom. The flyrocs sound comfy. I've always preferred my montrails to my vasques - the vasques have never felt comfortable, even after lots of wear, but my montrails feel like slippers.

Journey to a Centum said...

Sarah,

Be kind when you "chick" me at the next trail race.

Joe said...

awesome Sarah, just awesome. Great run, shield and all. You can imagine yourself to be some medeival warrior, going out to battle, shield in hand. Didn't your running pal use a stick to clear the cobwebs out last week??? THAT becomes your sword!!!

Look out dragons, here they come!!!

Ryan said...

You two are soo consistent with your weekly long runs…GREAT JOB! Good idea putting some miles in on the road for Eugene, enjoy the fast lane! Those are two great trail runners Inov8 flyrocs will be good for the technical stuff and the divides will be nice long trail runs! Let me know what pair you favor because I’m thinking about buying the divides or Inov8 mudroc’s?

Rick Gaston said...

What a studette! 20-miler every weekend, I know the feeling. It's exciting to see since we've been journeying with you when you were building your miles.

Hmmm...one long road run or just a few short ones thrown in? oooh Innov-8, I've never got to try a pair. The great thing about splurging on trail shoes, you know you'll use them well.

Good news on Sharon doing the Mac with you. Guest blogging, now that would be cool, I might have to bite the idea:)

Olga said...

Good deal Sarah! And can't wait on Marc's post:)
Congrats on getting Sharon to Mac!

Stephanie said...

20 every weekend - fantastic - especially since you get to run them on trails. Good luck for the marathon - in knnow what you mean; being strong enough so you won't get hurt from the harsh pavement.

Can't wait for your report:-)

Donald said...

If you're doing 20s every week, you can definitely handle more than 50 miles in a week. Way to build that mileage!