Training for the 2021 Land Between the Lakes 60k (or 50 Miler)

 Okay, again I am just failing at this blogging thing... but in my defense, it's only been like a little over 3 weeks since I ran my first ever solo marathon. I felt really good the day after the marathon, like surprisingly good. I went ahead and took Dorian for a very easy 3 mile hike, kind of felt sore but not bad. Friday I got in 12 miles of rollerblading and more walking with Dorian, I rollerbladed again on Saturday - 15.1 miles. I was rather surprised by how good I was feeling, I mean the last 4 marathons I had felt so damn sore for like a week after the race. 
I got back to running that next Monday, and I've just been going after it since.... like my body is feeling fantastic and I have to force myself to take it easy or take a rest day. My main focus was to maintain a mileage and workouts while taking it easy before my next training cycle (which in fact started this week).
I'll just give a quick run down of the two weeks before the last one.
August 10-16: I ran 34.6 miles and rollerbladed 10.4 miles, of course I went to the gym and worked out.
August 17-23: I ran 37.4 miles and rollerbladed 21.1 miles, and of course I went to the gym and worked out.

So I maintained a good mileage base during those two weeks while taking it easy just a bit, but I noticed that as I've been dropping the lbs, my pace has gotten faster. 

Okay, so for Week 1 of the Training - August 24-30
I ran 5.1 miles Monday afternoon, I was going to take that day off after running 12 miles Sunday but I was feeling good so I ran. It was like 90 degrees with so much sunshine and I was just being cooked, but I survived.

I try not to focus on my weight or anything, but as I have dropped below 150 lbs, my abs are starting to show and that is awesome. I had to take a pic on Tuesday and compare it to me back in 2017 at what I considered my best.

I think I weighed 140 when I took that 2017 pic, and in the 2020 pic I weighed 147 lbs. I've got quite a bit more muscle on me now than I did then.

Tuesday I went to the gym for Back and some Glutes before going out and rollerblading 12.2 miles.

Then, if that wasn't enough... just before picking Dorian up from school I decided to go out and run 3.5 miles. It was freaking hot, like 91 degrees hot and the sun was shining but there was still some serious humidity out. It was death, I felt like death plain and simple.

Wednesday I went to the gym first, hitting Delts with some Chest thrown in. I was going to go for a run but I was so damn tired so I went back home and back to bed, figuring I'd run after taking Dorian to school.... boy did I slightly regret that decision.
The first 3 miles or so was fine, but then the sun and heat started to get to me. I think the weather said 73 but as the sun came out more, it felt like 80 but still humid. I just felt really sick towards the last mile, but I ended up with 7.7 miles with a surprisingly easy effort pace of 9:47 min/mile.

Thursday I hit the gym again, focusing (again) on the Back and some Legs this time. 

I was not feeling too good afterward but I wanted to get out and get some mileage on my rollerblades. I almost called it done at mile 5 but pushed on and got 10.4 miles.

Friday was just awful, it was freaking almost 80 degrees and humid as hell. I headed out the door for what I wanted to be an 8 mile run but I was seriously considering turning around and going back home within the first mile. It was just nasty out there, like the last few days or couple of weeks have been a pleasant 70-75 degrees in the morning but this was freaking miserable. I ended up with 6.2 miles and felt drained for most of the day.

40LB SledgeHammer Productions - Race Timing & Event Management had put out a notice that they had a new insurance company and would be holding the new first of their series for the Friday Night Fever Trail 5k series this Friday. July's race which would've been the first had been postponed to the end of the series (November) because they had lost the old insurance company due to all this nonsense (I will not speak of its name). I had debated all day about doing the race since I ran that morning and felt like crap most of the day. Well by late afternoon I decided I was going to do it, it had been raining all day and I knew the trails would be muddy and flooded and figured I'd just have fun with it.
I got in a .7 mile warm-up on the beginning section and the ending section of the trails and knew what I was in for, as long as I was prepared for it all, I'd be okay. These sections were probably the worst when it comes to mud and flooding so if I could handle those, I could do great on the others.

The RD stated that .25-.35 miles of trail were not runnable so the usual 5k course was probably just under 3 miles. Friday was a torrential downpour most of the afternoon, luckily it slowed to a drizzle by 6 pm (the race was at 7). I decided just before the start that I would get behind the fastest 3 guys, I did not want to get stuck behind any slow people or clumsy people when we did hit the muddy sections. Back in June, I won 2nd place Female at the Howl at the Moon 5k, beaten by a 12-13 year old girl who is obviously on her school track & cross-country team, she beat me by like 2-3 minutes. I knew she was there, and I was determined to either stay with her or beat her.
It was chaotic at the start, the 3 guys got ahead of us and one boy (probably 10-12 years old) stayed with me for a few minutes before speeding ahead. Maybe 2 or 3 other guys got past me, I can't remember but I was focused on staying ahead of the girl. I slipped a little but could hear someone behind me so I just kept pushing it, once we reached the levee and got upon it, the very girl I was worried about managed to pass me which was frustrating, I won't lie... but 5k's aren't my specialty, speed is just not a gift and I've come to terms with that.
I stayed just behind her and even closed the gap once we got back on the single-track and had to maneuver around a fallen tree, I stayed with her. There was a guy just ahead of her and I was just behind her, we came to a fork and she followed the guy to the right before they both realized they were supposed to turn left. The guy managed to get back on track quick and ahead of me but I got in front of her and stayed on his feet. At one point I managed to move past him, I think we were half-way or less than that but I freaking gave what kick I had and should have saved for the finish, but I wanted to put as much distance between me and them as possible. I just kept pushing it until I could no longer hear them splashing through puddles and mud, I caught up to another guy and stayed behind him. We came out onto the levee again and followed the markers, but he slowed down and I pushed ahead. I wasn't about to look behind me to see where the girl was, but I assumed she would no doubt pass me on the levee (for some reason fields and levees are a weak point for me, mentally). I just kept pushing and trying to hold a steady pace. I was by myself, nobody ahead of me and nobody immediately behind me. I reached the single track trail that leads back to the start/finish, I only had about .4-.5 miles left and held on with everything I had, expecting that girl to show up out of nowhere and pass me... nothing. The final .1 is through a field and I was 100% certain she would finally catch me and zoom right past me, so I pushed harder.
I came to the finish and realized I had won 1st place Female, I looked back and still didn't see her or anybody. About a minute later she popped out of the woods along with 4 or 5 other people. My Instinct said 2.6 miles which is typical, it is usually behind the race course measurements by something like .2 miles. 
The race had me finished at 24:44 with a pace of 7:58 min/mile for 3.1 miles, though my Instinct says 24:50 with a pace of 9:35 min/mile.
Later Saturday I talked to the RD and was told that not only did I win 1st Place Overall Female but I won 2nd Place Overall!!! I guess some of the guys in front of me took wrong turns and got lost or ran longer, so by default I won 2nd place, I'll take it lol.

I took Saturday off from doing anything and ate pretty awful throughout the day... not a whole lot but just awful choices. I got up this morning and wasn't feeling too great due to my bad food choices the day before, but I got ready and headed up to Friedman Park where I could loop if I wanted to and keep my water, gatorade and gu in my SUV rather than carry it with me. I paid dearly for eating horrible, my GI hated me and at mile 9.5 I seriously wanted to call it a day and be done. I didn't want to go backward or do the loop again so I just kept running in one direction and looped around another way and down some busy streets that didn't have a pathway so I had to deal with traffic. In the end, I got my 15.1 miles done and survived. 

So I ended up with 41 miles of running for the first week of this training cycle, and 22.6 miles of rollerblading. Not bad.... 

The 2020 (Virtual) Go! St. Louis Marathon

So back in March, the marathon had been canceled and the RD had given 3 options - defer to 2021, refund or defer to the virtual option. I chose the virtual option... since I had put in all the training and was at that moment feeling good. Well, by the time I had received the race bling in the mail, I had been dealt an injury in my left quad. So I had to take time off from running, rekindled my love with rollerblading which helped. I won't go into April, May, June, and July but I recovered and continued rollerblading, running and hiking, and going to the gym once the gym opened up in June. 

Over the last couple of weeks, I had been feeling pretty good with my running and working out and overall training. Last week I saw the weather forecast was showing a break in this nasty, humid heat we've been dealing with. So I decided that I was going to attempt my solo marathon on the coming Sunday.

Now I've been dealing with tooth pain for about three weeks, I had scheduled my appointment for the 18th (it was the soonest they could get me in). It had been a minor, dull ache but was causing me some headaches,  but that Saturday night things got really bad. I couldn't sleep and no amount of pain killers helped with the tooth pain or the terrible headaches that would not go away. 

By the time the pain had gone away, at around 5:30 am, I knew it would be a huge, stupid mistake to try and attempt any kind of serious run (I had A LOT of pain killers in my system, ibuprofen and excedrin).

Through Sunday and Monday I used tips from friends, rinsing and gargling warm salt water (nasty) like multiple times a day. I bought Orajel toothache rinse AND the one for mouth sores, and numbing gel. Monday and Tuesday I didn't even need ibuprofen or anything, although I did take some before bed so I wouldn't wake up in pain.

The Plan: So a woman I idolize and hope to one day grow up to be just like her (she turned 50 back in June and looks freaking amazing), she runs ultras and is always out running like anywhere from 20-40 miles, sometimes on a work day! I want so much to one day be able to join her and the other ladies who just constantly run like nonstop and have so much fun doing it. She asked about my route and suggested Friedman Park, which I run at often - it's mostly a 5.3 mile loop but there have been some add-on pathways that are out and backs. After a minute of thinking about it, I realized it was a great idea (though I hate loops)! I wouldn't have to really carry anything on me, and could keep water, gatorade and even my energy gu in a freaking cooler with ice (gu tastes better if it's kept cold). I could also keep my Monster Muscle Protein Shake in there as well, so that was the plan and I was excited. Not having to carry a hydration pack would mean I could just wear a sports bra (the pack can sometimes rub my skin raw if I don't have anything between the pack and my skin).

This morning I woke to my 1:45 am with a headache so that was a bit of a disappointment, I almost considered just staying in bed and saying "F" it. But damn it, 59 freaking degrees in July!!!!! I could NOT pass this up, no freaking way. So I got up, reluctantly took some Excedrin, tried to eat some oatmeal but didn't want to. I got all my stuff ready and headed out, I figured if anything I would at least try for 10 miles or something. I also figured that if I posted on FB at the end of each loop with pics taken during that loop, it would hold me accountable and I would make sure I'd complete the entire 26.2 miles.

The first "loop" was 8 miles, I stopped at my SUV and had a Cola gu (it don't taste like cola, I couldn't decide between root beer or pumpkin spice)... and while ingesting that crap and some water, I decided that this next loop I was going to do my best to fit as many miles as I could in it (using the out and back pathways) so I decided to grab my handheld and put some gatorade in it and I grabbed a Chocolate Outrage gu.

Onto the next loop I went, feeling good and relieved that the headache had disappeared. I took the new add-on which was about 1.5 miles and at the end of it I went a little further down the road, determined to get as much as I could in there. By the time I got back on the actual loop, I had acquired 12.35 miles.

I stopped and took a pic at the halfway point, and had my second gu.. the chocolate outrage is way tastier than the cola crap... just wish I had water instead of gatorade to wash it down.

One thing I do like about these solo runs is that I get to stop and take pics and stuff and not feel like I'm being left behind. Guess one could call this more of a long run than a race, lol.

On the second loop, as I reached the park, to my disappointment it was starting to get busy. I really didn't want to come back through this between miles 23-26, nobody would understand why I look like I'm dying. 

  

I made it to my SUV with 18.45 miles finished, I wasn't majorly tired yet... though it was starting to wear on me, mainly trying to quickly come up with a plan to finish the remaining 7.75 miles without having to go through the park. I managed it, though the mistake I sort of regret was turning down a side street at mile 21 and going through one of the suburban neighborhoods with awful concrete streets... my legs were feeling pretty okay until that point.

I survived it though, I finished the run in 4:43:40 with an average pace of 10:50 min/mile and I actually wasn't feeling too bad until an hour later. Now my legs hate me and I just want to sleep....