Running Commentary: Three Run Thursday

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And so it begins.

In a little less than an hour, Josh and I will be starting the first of our three runs for the day. We're getting the worst out of the way first. "The Hill" is a nasty 2.8 mile stretch in Mayodan with 7-10% grades that Josh trained on for the Grandfather Mountain marathon and that his wife is using to train for her upcoming half-marathon in Asheville. We'll run it twice. Here's the hill profile (thank you, Iris):

I only got 5 hours sleep last night and my eating was not-so-great yesterday, but I'll probably be tired and off my regular eating patterns on race day, so it's good practice, right? I debated whether to bike yesterday to make sure I was running on tired legs but decided against it. Feeling good about that decision at the moment. More later. 

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A Little Preview of Tomorrow's Misery...

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In the hopes of preparing ourselves mentally and physically for the Blue Ridge Relay, Barefoot Josh and I are doing a trial run tomorrow. We will do three runs throughout the day and see if our legs are able to withstand the lactic acid rush. Our schedule is as follows: 

  • 7 AM: The Hill, out-n-back x 2= 5.4 miles, elevation change: 1100 ft up and down (9 min pace)
  • Noon: Farris Park x 5 = 5 miles, elevation change: 615 ft up and down (8:30 min pace)
  • 6 PM: Local lap(s)= 5.5 miles 675 ft up and down (8:45 min pace)

 For a grand total of 16 miles, 2390 feet of elevation change!

I plan on doing a running blog post throughout the day, posting how I'm feeling before and after each run. I'm also going to run to the store and load up on bananas, bagels, peanut butter, and protein bars to simulate what I'll be eating on race day. 

Even though I think (know) tomorrow will be a brutal, painful, "why-am-I-doing-this-please-make-it-stop" kind of day, I'm secretly looking forward to it. I love a challenge.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had an article on Making Marathons Even Tougher and highlighted the Pikes Peak Marathon, one of the more brutal trail marathons around. Blair saw me reading the article and was like, "No. No. Hand it over. That's it. You are officially banned from reading anything in the media." 

He knows me well. I'm not even close to being in the competitive shape needed to tackle something like the Pikes Peak marathon. But that didn't stop me from spending 40 minutes on the site, reading the course description and thinking, "Hmm... maybe... someday..."

Cheers!