frogprincess72’s BodyBlog

Well, I did my first complete relay simulation. Sunday, I ran just under 7 miles at about 4 pm, on a comperable course as my first leg on Hood to Coast. Monday, I got up and trained the college kids (yup. it’s that time of year again!) and then went home to run 6 miles of hills (my 2nd leg is actually 6.81 miles) at 11 am. At 3:30 pm, I ran my 3rd leg, 4.25 miles of fairly flat. MAN ALIVE, did that feel good!

 So, today I’m actually not sore. I have a blister on my left foot, but I think that was from the shoes I was wearing last night, not from running. And my left soleus is tender, but if I HAD to run again, I COULD.. but I don’t wanna…

 I also bought a bodybugg. It’s gonna be cool to see how many calories I actually burn with all this running! And with the Cross Fit WODs. Today, I cleaned our soccer camp (about a 3 hour job) and I burned over 700 cals. And today was my recovery day! Oiy vay!

 OH, and did I mention??? I"m famished! Like a bottomless pit! Time to get my grub on ..

So I got my leg assignments for Hood to Coast. Leg #1 6.43 moderate miles and fairly flat. There’s only about a 50 foot change in overall elevation. I’m guessing I’ll be running this leg about 10 pm at night (depending on our start time).  About 7.5-8  hours later, I’ll run 6.81 very hard miles on paved, country back roads (que banjoes). UGH! The first 1.7 miles is uphill, with an elevation climb of 400 feet (starting at 850 feet sea level).. Then, it’s pretty much rolling hills down, ending at 625 feet sea level.. This may just be kinda brutal! And honestly, I’m just a little bit nervous about this one, mostly because I don’t tend to be a big fan of running in the dark. Pure, back country, deliverance darkness in a little logging town we like to call, Vernonia! (que more banjoes) And my last leg is 4.13 moderate "short" run of more rolling country hills.

 Overall, I have the 3rd longest legs overall (out of 12) and the 3rd hardest overall (based on terrain, miles, and perceived exurtion).

 So Sunday, I decided that since I really only have about 3 weeks left to train before I start my taper, I’ll do some race simulation runs. This should help my muscles get used to the lack of recovery time, not to mention my brain!

Sunday’s training consisted of 9 miles of a very easy paced run. I believe my average pace was 8:49/mile. Slow but steady. Then Monday, I had the lofty goal of running hills around the lake when I got off work. BUT, once I got home and sat down to put on my runners, the work-every-other-night schedule I’ve been on, caught up to me and I crashed on the couch. But I did manage to get it done in the afternoon. One of my girlfriends told me I looked like poo, when she saw me and told me to go back home and go to bed. Told her, "I’m gonna be sleep deprived in the vans during the relay and I won’t be able to tell them "sorry i’m really tired. Mary, can you run my leg for me?" So, off I went to run my 2nd leg simulation…. I did pretty well. My quads didn’t give me much grief until the last 0.5 miles…and I averaged a 8:30/mile

Then I went to pick up my son from camping with friends, got home to get 4 hours of sleep, then up at 2:45 am to come in to work for a few hours. Quite honestly, I’m goofy at this point. One more hour, and I get to go home for a 2 hour nap…………. to be continued……