So I am headed down to Titusville Pennsylvania this weekend with a couple of other Ontario runners to race in the Oil Creek 100 miler. I know that you are thinking, Hey I though you were injured? Well yeah I kind of am but the race is paid for and so I have decided to go and run it. This is probably a really dumb idea but I have a great many dumb ideas so its all good.
The plan is to hang in and or tough it out for as long as I can. I would love to switch down to a shorter distance but they don't allow this so I am stuck in the 100. Luckily this is actually the hardest, most technical race of the season for me with a paltry 18,000 feet of elevation gain. Good thing I am undertrained and injured or else I might be worried. Should be a great time. Poor Kim is forced again to sacrifice her long weekend on the alter of my ultra running insanity.
Injury Update
After a couple weeks of no running I have been able to get some workouts in. It looks like what I thought was originally an ankle issue is actually most likely shin splints. Its been a very strange couple of weeks. I feel fine, I run a few days, my leg hurts. I rest, I feel fine, I run a few days, my leg hurts. You get the picture. Even when I do run its short so I have been doing weight workouts and spin classes to try and keep some level of fitness.
This has been as much of a mental roller coaster as it has been physical. I feel great for a few days and start to think about upping my training only to be back in pain where I sulk and wonder if I will ever feel normal again. I have been bouncing between emotional highs and crashing, crushing lows like a 5 year old with a fist full of pixie sticks headed for their next sugar rush.
Oh before I forget spin classes really suck. Its like a room where time stands still. I can get a good workout but sorry it just sucks. I can run all day and never even think about how long I have been running but put me on that stupid bike and minutes become hours. Clearly these bikes are located in some kind of temporal time rift. Who would have ever guessed that the laws of the universe don't apply at the YMCA. Yesterday I biked for at least 30 minutes yet when I looked down at the time only 9 minutes had passed. GRRRR!
Look for the Oil Creek Race Report next week.
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I was just talking about that with a friend, how much I'd rather do most ANYTHING outside than inside and how terribly long the treadmill or stationary bike feels.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Hey good luck this weekend!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck. I would say take it easy and be good to yourself and you will get it done, but you already know all that. Just don't forget it. 100 miles is impressive regardless of the time.
ReplyDeleteI hope it went well! I do a regular spin class twice a week. A good teacher, with decent music, can make it bearable. The good teacher I had last year isn't doing it anymore, but I still have to. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great race!
ReplyDeleteLove your comments about the spin classes. Never done one but have no intention on doing one either.
ReplyDeletewow .. 100 km is very impressive
ReplyDeleteSo give us the race report already! PA can be brutal with the hills.
ReplyDelete