I am almost done with week 3 of my 18-week training schedule for AR50 ultramarathon. I’m not going to lie. It’s been a tough transition going from dedicated grad student with minimal running back to ultra training and preparing my body to run continuously for 12 hours…maybe more if needed. On the one hand, it feels great to feel the familiar soreness in my calves and hamstrings, but, on the other hand, it sucks to feel the familiar soreness in my calves and hamstrings. This brings to mind the infamous quote my now fiancé, Chris, lovingly says to me to rile me up, “Never happy…never, never happy.”
According to my training schedule for this week, my long runs consist of a 12 miler followed by an 8 miler the next day. My amazing friend, AJ, volunteered to run the 12 miler with me at El Moro, which helped me out a lot. I figured as a fellow nurse, AJ would not gross out if she had to hold my hair back if I needed to throw up trying to keep up with her!
It has been awhile since I ran El Moro so I forgot how tough it was! The first few miles were a bunch of rolling hills and I was exhausted after mile 2. However, since I was running with someone 10 years younger than me, I had to play it cool and pretend my lungs weren’t on fire. I listened as AJ ran and talked and never seemed out of breath while my sentences got more and more broken! How does that girl do it?? Darn you runners in your thirties! (Ha!Ha!)
I was extremely grateful, though, for the company. I usually run solo so I forgot how beneficial it was to have someone cheer you on, pushing you to dig deep and keep running even though you want to give up. AJ has always been my personal cheerleader. Thank you girl! It has been a blessing to witness her running achievements and master the art of the marathon.
We finished running the ridge of El Moro with only 2 miles left to go. We could run the trail for another mile and run back, but I was exhausted and didn’t want to run another rolling hill. So we decided to run on the street, which would consist of running downhill for a mile (Yeah!) but we would have to run back up. I don’t know why I thought that plan was the lesser of two evils. Like I said, I was exhausted and probably lost a few brain cells on the trails of El Moro! The run down was glorious, but going up was horrible! We ended up picking a pole or plant and running to it and walking to another pole or plant. We alternated between running and walking until the end of the last mile. It was tiring but the run/walk method made it more manageable. At least it did for me.
The next day I had to run 8 miles on sore, tired legs. Obviously, I still wasn’t thinking straight after the 12 mile run at El Moro, because I decided to run Hacienda. I have a love/hate relationship with Hacienda. First of all, it’s tough with a lot of elevation gain. The scenery and city views, though, are outstanding and the trail is not heavily populated. But still… it is tough. Usually I take Ahwingna Trail to Native Oaks Trail to Coyote for a 5-mile loop, but to get 8 miles I would have to go into the heart of Puente Hills Preserve.
Ahwingna Trail is an exhausting uphill battle in a short time with twists and turns until you get to Native Oaks Trail. I love Native Oaks, because the beginning is a fast run downhill with tons of shade and beautiful trees. Of course that downhill turns into another uphill battle, but it’s not as intense as Ahwingna. Prior to Coyote Trail, which is my second favorite trail to run down in Hacienda, you enter a flat patch. It’s not terribly exciting and I always find it boring. However, this time I had to fight swarms of bugs and I did not want to get my protein that way. I hate swallowing bugs. I kept my head down for most of the journey. To get the extra 3 miles, I ended up running towards Nike Hill mostly because of the woodchips. At that moment, my legs were really sore and running on woodchips seemed like a nice solution. Of course, I regretted that decision when I had to run up some switchbacks towards the top of Nike Hill. I should have just picked a flat run by Huntington Beach.
Running down Coyote Trail is always a treat for me. With the exception of some baby hills, it is mostly a 2 mile run downhill on a single-track trail. At that moment, I was feeling pretty good and a bit cocky and so the inevitable happened. I tripped. Luckily, I did not fall down. I managed to do some insane dance with my arms flailing about. I probably looked absolutely ridiculous to any hiker or trail runner but I’m happy to say I was able to keep going without falling off the side. This is new for me. I usually fall and not in a cool way.
Today was my rest day and so I spent 20 miles biking San Gabriel Trail. I realized that my cycling also took a hit from grad school and I silently cursed my slowness. I also forgot my sunglasses. I will never forget them again as I now know why they are important. Never forget your sunglasses while cycling unless you want to take bugs off your eyeballs. I’d rather swallow a bug then have to pull bug guts off my eyeball like I did today. Not fun. I thought anatomically, eyelashes were supposed to ward off bugs, but I guess mine suck or are too short. But I digress.
Next week I have a 14-mile run and an 8-mile run. Lets see how that goes. So far, I have managed to follow my training schedule. As always, thank you for reading!!