Weekly Rundown- More Trail Adventures
Hello! Hope everyone had an awesome week! I had some fun runs on the trail and increased my mileage a bit. That lingering pain in my foot has moved to a different area (WHAT) and I’m taking the advice of no doctor ever- ignoring it until it goes away. So far so good! I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown. Here’s how it went! Monday Day off as usual. Once again I did the Somatic Movement routine for plantar fasciitis every day this week. Tuesday Ran 3 miles. I decided to run on the trail as much as possible, which only amounted to two days this week. For this run on the roads (as well as all my other pavement runs this week) I wore my Hokas- because a rule of life is, “If your foot hurts, wear Hokas.” My foot felt fine, as it did for every run this week (it’s only when I’m not running that I feel it.) Followed this run by Runner’s Touch exercise. Wednesday Trail run!!! On Wednesdays I have the option of running after I take my daughter to school, so I ran on the trail (I’m not going to run on the trail super early in the dark, obviously.) But first, since I had the time, I did some strength work- walking lunges and single leg squats. When I started my run I could feel the fatigue in my quads- it must have been from the squats. I was trying really hard to get down to where my thigh was parallel with the floor, and it was challenging. This was supposed to be a four mile run, but when I started and my legs were already fatigued, I decided to make it five. Ha ha… I know. It made no sense. I guess I just figured I would make it an extra-hard day! I also was on a mission to try and figure out where I could make the trail loop around, rather than just turning back the way I came. No luck on this day- I ended up doing an out-and-back. Thursday Not surprisingly, my quads were REALLY SORE. I did an easy 3 mile run and called it a day. Friday This was my day off from running, and I had planned to do squats and deadlifts. But my quads were still sore- I really know how to trash them. Instead I did Runners Touch (which targets glutes and hamstrings) and pushups. I do the Runners Touch barefoot so it also works the muscles in my feet- yay. Saturday 3 miles followed by Gauntlet Plank workout. Sunday I love Sundays!!! I went back to the trail for a planned 7 mile run. This time, I ran far enough so that I got to an option to turn onto a more wilderness-y path. Yes! Yes! I’ll take it! Although there was this sign… After a brief hesitation, I decided we’re more a threat to them than they are to us (since they’re apparently endangered) so I took that path. I did not see any Indigo snakes. After a bit, this dead-ended into a road I was 99.9% sure I recognized from last week, when I had taken the other direction on the trail. If my calculations were correct, I could take this and loop back around to where I started. However! I was exactly at 3.5 miles. I could go back the way I came and know for sure I would run seven miles. OR, I could attempt to loop around… knowing it could be longer. I decided to loop! After running a little ways on the new road, I realized I had committed myself to running a couple miles (at least) on pavement. And it was sunny, and the wind was blowing strongly against me. Grr… But then! I looked to the side and saw that if I ran down a hill, there was a dirt path running parallel to this road… not sure if that path linked up to where I would need to be eventually, but it looked way more pleasant than the road I was on. I ran on that dirt path all the way back to where I needed to link up to the last bit of trail that would take me back to my car… and there was a canal separating the two. It didn’t look deep… I could maybe wade through it (I wonder if Indigo snakes can swim?). I decided to find my way back up to the paved road that I knew linked back to the path I needed. I also knew I was going to go longer than seven miles, but I didn’t care. Up until this point, it was my favorite kind of run. Not knowing where I was going, exploring different paths, being out in nature… the miles ticked by easily… UNTIL THE LAST ONE. Actually, more like the last 1.5. I was now on the part of the trail I knew, and I was tired. It’s been quite a while since I’ve run long enough to really feel fatigue at the end of the run, but I felt it now. I used two tricks to get through it- first, I focused only on getting to the next landmark. Just get to that rock… now just get to that tree… now just get to that puddle… nothing actually happens when I get to these places, only that I pick the next landmark to focus on. I’ve used that on long runs and it’s a great distraction. Then for the last half mile I used my mantra reserved for these moments: “I’m strong. I’m good at this. I can do it.” Over, and over, and over again. I’ve had long runs where I hit a bad patch and literally said that mantra again and again, for an entire mile. It never fails- by the time I get to the next mile, I feel like a new runner. But this time