I don't make it a habit to wake up at 1:45AM to go run at 3AM. However, Ken and Jason are just a month out from running Leadville 100miles (which should take 26-30 hours for them), and I want to help/support as much as I can (as long as it makes sense for my training too).
We ran Forest Ridge for the 8 mile loop. Forest Ridge is essentially an 8-mile double lollipop loop. We start at the very top of Jester, and run down and back up one for about 5 miles, then down the other side and back up for about 3 miles starting at the Yellow dot. It is VERY rocky (technical), non-forgiving, eith very limited flat running. In other words, it's a bitch of an 8 mile loop, but a great place to get a heck of a workout.
Ken and I ended up doing the double-lollipop loop 4 times for the full 32 miles, with others doing 3 loops. We did some necessary power walking up the steepest parts of the trail, but other than that the pace was very solid pretty much throughout. That probably had something to do with one of two things... 1- Mer and I decided we don't get up to run at 3am, to just lolligag our way around for 6 hours, and 2- Ken made a very sugegstive indirect comment after the first half loop that he didn't think I could last 6 hours at that pace. Ummm... yeah, big mistake, because he lit a fire under my ass, and I was determined to outrun, outlast, outpace, out anything until we were done with those 4 loops. ha! ;) {we had a good laugh about that when I told him on the final climb of the day}
Up this point, the longest time I've ever spent on a trail was 4 hours and 59 minutes out at the Bandera 50km (32 miles) last January, so today I added over an hour and a half to that total. I ran about half the distance I will run at Bandera 100km, and if I can keep the pace we held on the downhills and most uphills, I should do well at Bandera. I'm very happy where I stand right now with my fitness and endurance with still 5.5 months of training left.
Not much wildlife was seen all night other than 2 small white tailed rabbits (that I spotted a total of 7 times), and Mer and I heard some definite rustling in the brush... Either Hogs, Deer or some other decent sized animal for sure. We just kept pushing the pace down the hill... no sense in finding out what the hell is out there beyond trail, in the dark!
I know full well that my first Trail 100km is going to be a jolt to the system, as it pretty much is for every first timer. I also know I have set a very aggressive goal for myself, but I'm determined to go into it the strongest and fittest I've ever been going into any race. Barring injuries, I am going to knock it out of the park.
(I just secretly wish the cold water at home was colder so the icebath could be colder. The 20 lbs I bought were a complete waste of time as my "cold" water is luke warm at best due to the boiling heat outside.)
P.S. I tried some new nutrition strategies today, and made sure I stayed well hydrated and salted. When I got out of the icebath/shower, I weighed only 0.4lbs under what I weighed before I left! Good stuff! (after 3 hour road runs, i'm often 3-4 lbs under weight.)
okay, enough babbling.
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