Now, what you have to understand is milestones are important...especially when training for a 100 miler. Think about it. If you only compare your mileage and long runs to the ultimate goal of 100 miles then you'll never be close. My longest training run is 30 miles. That's not even a third of my actual 100 mile race. However, 30 miles of straight running is the longest many believe you need to train in order to successfully run a 100 miler. If you want to succeed in ultra-marathons then, as I am beginning to learn, you have to be proud of what you accomplish and remember that EVERY run counts. All in all, when I run my first 30 miler I am going to be PROUD of what I accomplished, rather than what most people's response to me which is but you still have 70 more miles to run!!! #it'sallaboutperspective
My milestones so far:
1. Five mile runs became easy; the minimum of what I run daily.
2. I ran for more than two hours straight and didn't hit the infamous "wall".
3. Back to Back long runs of 12 and 13 without being tired or sore.
4. Felt strange when I had two days off in one week -- almost like I was going through running withdrawal.
After Monday, I can officially say I hit another MILESTONE. I ran 18 miles. It's my longest run yet, but I ran it after a 10 miler on Sunday. I'll tell you briefly about my two and a half hour run, where you will see where I am still a naive runner trying to find my way... It seems as though everyone here in the athletics department at Gustavus is training for some race. As my one roommate, Dre, claims: we are all drinking the koolaid. What's funny about that comment is that Hubey and I signed up to run our 100 miler and then KP another coworker and roommate decided to run a half marathon. Dre laughed at us, telling us we were all drinking the koolaid. Well, she started drinking it too as she is running her first half marathon this weekend in Washington D.C. (GOOD LUCK DRE!) My other roommate, KP, who is the assistant women's hockey coach here is training of for a half in June. She's a hockey player. Not a runner. #hockeysyndrome. So she's easing into this running deal with long runs each week of 4-5 miles. This week she has a long run of 6 miles. How does this relate to my milestone you ask? Keep reading.
Monday it was gorgeous. 42 degrees and sunny. Everyone was outside in Minnesota. KP and I decided we were going to run together for 3.7 miles and then she would stop and I would continue on for another 14.3 miles alone. We started out on our run and KP asked if I was tricking her into running more than 3.7 miles. I said "no"... at which point there was a silence on her end. I then asked, "do you want me to trick you?" and she said, "well, sort of, yeah..." So I told her I would. The issue was, I was in fact already tricking her but didn't want to confess after her initial question. All in all, she went from her longest run previously of 5 miles to 7.4 miles at her fastest pace yet. #stud. This was great because that meant I only needed to run 10.6 more miles by myself.
Before we left, I knew I was going to be running for 2.5 hours and needed to dress accordingly. I started out with 3/4 length spandex, a very very light running shirt and a light running jacket. After the first 400 yards I was sweating. I had my jacket sleeves rolled up and less than a mile in I stopped to remove my light running shirt to tie around my waist. To get a picture, 42 degrees, after the Minnesota winter we had, is absolute heaven. We ran past my senior soccer players house, where they were outside in sports bras hanging out on lawn chairs on the 4 feet of melting snow. So, when KP and I finished our 7 miles loop, I dropped off my jacket at the apartment and left in just a t-shirt for my remaining 11 miles. Two miles in I realized this was a poor decision. The clouds had rolled in, winds were picking up and the sun was setting. Four miles in my hands were becoming very cold and I was leaving town for the countryside where there was no cover from the wind, which was by no means blowing heavily, but just enough to cause a slight wind chill. #stpeterwind
Six miles in, with the wind chill below freezing, I was alternating putting one hand at a time down the side of my spandex to warm it up before removing it to warm the other. Eight miles in I was running with both my hands down the sides of my spandex in attempts to regain feeling and warmth, except when a car came, when I would remove them and run like a "normal" person. Nine miles in my arms and hands were tingling, similar to pins and needles. Ten miles in I decided to BE A BIG DOG, picked up pace and ran the last mile and half completely normal, which meant when I returned to my apartment I needed KP to untie my shoelaces as I lacked enough dexterity in my fingers to do so on my own. #naf
Ahh, my running naivety...it's always hard to judge what you should wear. But, all in all, I completed my first 18 miles, and despite having to run with my hands in my spandex I ran the last 11 on my own at an 8 minute pace. #boom
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