Sunday, June 7, 2020

Ice Age Trail 50k Training Week 1

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With all the race cancellations happening, I optimistically embarked this week on my training plan for the Ice Age Trail 50k, rescheduled for September 26. Will it actually take place? Only about 250 runners did the 50k last year, so as a smaller race, hopefully it won't be canceled. The race takes place completely on the trails of the Southern Kettle Moraine Forest in Wisconsin. Reading about other trail races and how they are adapting to the challenges of the pandemic makes me think that with some changes--think staggered start times and hands-free aid stations--this could actually work.

We'll see. For now, I'm sticking to the plan that Marcia has made for me. I've got this.



Weekly Rundown
Monday: Strength/CrossFit
Tuesday: Run easy 5
Wednesday: Trail 10k (6.45 miles actually) for the Uncanceled Project
Thursday: Strength
Friday: Trail run 6.77 miles
Saturday: rest
Sunday: Trail run 10 miles

Running
Adding an extra day of running to my schedule means an extra early run on Tuesday, since I work at 8. I didn't mind it because I caught the sunrise. It was a gorgeous morning and the perfect start to my day.




Wednesday was Global Running Day! I was excited to do my run with Brooks Running, which donated $100,000 plus $1 for every runner to the Equal Justice Initiative. According to my training plan, this run was supposed to be an easy 4 but I'm still doing the Uncanceled Project, so I made it a 10k. In an effort to work on slowing down my longer runs, instead of running by pace, I ran by heart rate. The high humidity made that a challenge and I ended up walking a lot more than I am used to! But it was nice to finish without feeling wrecked from pushing myself. This week's UCP theme was Community--talk about perfect timing. I shared my thoughts on current events on Friday's Coffee Talk post.

My friends Mr Snapping Turtle and Ms. Deer, who posed for me
Due to my work schedule--I worked on Saturday--I moved my weekend runs around, running my scheduled 6 miler on Friday. I returned to the trails which were much drier than they have been. I took this run off the main trail onto the single track. With all the roots and obstacles, slowing down wasn't really a choice but the humidity once again killed my mojo. I took a wrong turn and ended up going almost a mile extra. Still, there is nothing better than a morning in nature. I didn't get pictures but I saw a frog--not a toad-- and a beautiful blue butterfly that I had never seen before!


I had a 10 mile trail run on the plan for my long run this week. After considering all my options, I decided to run on the Des Plaines River Trail, which starts at the Illinois/Wisconsin border and runs south to the western edge of Chicago, south of OHare airport. I drove to the trail access nearest to my house and ran north, doing an out and back. The trail was pretty packed down, due to the flooding from several weeks ago, and I felt it in my feet. I'm thinking that if it stays dry like this, I'll run this trail in my road shoes. There were quite a few cyclists out there, but for the most part, they were pretty courteous. I'll tell you who wasn't courteous--the red-winged blackbirds who divebombed my head! Scared the crap out of me. I ran into some deer and a running club friend, which were more pleasant encounters.

Happy to see some of my friends on this new trail!
I worked on pacing and with the pleasant weather conditions, I did pretty well keeping my heart rate in 'the zone'. It's still a work in progress. While I didn't love running on this trail as much as the Deer Grove Trails where I have been running, it will do very nicely for my long runs. I feel very lucky to have access to such lovely trails out here in the wilds of the Chicago suburbs!

Cross TrainingStrength
***Late breaking news***
In light of the CrossFit CEO's controversial tweet about the George Floyd killing, my gym, along with Reebok and many other CrossFit affiliates canceled their affiliation with the CrossFit brand. This just happened and I'll have more to say on it in future posts.

The gym opened this week with all kinds of modifications, but I'm still working out at home. I've been enjoying my home workouts and it's been pretty amazing what I've been able to do with my home equipment. I finally found some bigger dumbbells on eBay--I bought a set of 20# and 25# for my home gym. I also bought this KettleGryp dumbbell adapter that I saw on Debbie's blog post last week. I'm waiting for that to arrive and I'll share more once I've had the chance to use it.

On Monday, my strength workout included floor presses--chest presses from the floor--at 55#. I had to raise the bar up on some stools so I could get underneath it and that worked pretty well. I followed those with back squats at 65# where I paused for 3 seconds at the bottom of each rep. Without a rack for my bar, I can't get anything much heavier than that over my head and onto my shoulders, so that pause at the bottom made those squats burn. That was followed by sets of Bulgarian split squats, knee-to-elbow planks, and lateral/forward shoulder raises. I finished up with an AMRAP of half burpees to a squat jump, atomic situps, and skater hops. I didn't do the whole WOD, just the core strength part which was 4 rounds/30 secondss each of front plank, right side plank, hollow hold, and left side planks.

Floor presses!
I woke up Thursday with a Humira hangover, so I just did strength and skipped the WOD. I started with good mornings--woke up those hammies! That was followed by deadlifts (95#) and body rows (55#). The skill work included 3 sets each of DB single arm strict presses (15#), a plank shoulder tap/pushup combo, and situps.

Deadlifts are my favorite.
And this...
I didn't post this on last week's rundown but if you follow me on Instagram, you know I went waterskiing last Sunday when we were up in Wisconsin. It was a beautifully cool day--but I really wanted to go. Holly has been sending me photos of her skiing and I was feeling the FOMO. I pulled out the old wetsuit--I don't even remember the last time I used it--and it still fit, although my thighs are a little thicker than they were back in the day. I got in the water and yeah, it was cold! I got up on the first try. It was great! I was content and I'm looking forward to going back next week.  Hopefully, the water will be warm enough that I don't need the wetsuit.


By the way, my husband told me the water temperature was 62 degrees. It didn't feel that cold!

How was your week? Are you optimistically training for anything? Are you back to the gym or working out at home still?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. Have a great, safe, peaceful week!


44 comments :

  1. What a great week and I love yout trail pics and your strength. I can't believe that a year ago I was ramping up the off-road stuff in preparation for my trail 50k! And that was the last race I did! I'm just trying to keep up the 20+ miles per week to keep my immune system boosted, and feeling grateful that I'm happy to do that without having a race to train for. I'm running with three different people this week, excitingly (one each time!).

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  2. Fingers and toes crossed your race will go off as planned, because yes, you've totally got this. The water was 56 degrees at my first open water tri. Between my special "thermal" swim cap, wetsuit and all the nerves, I barely noticed. Love how you're adapting your home workouts!

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    1. I love having you in my pocket because you definitely know how to keep me positive!

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  3. Way to go on the kickoff to training. I hope it happens for you. It sounds like it's a good size ad I'm optimistic about a similarly-sized non ultra here so fingers crossed for both of. Water skiing just looks like summer, glad you found a way to go.

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  4. I don't know if fall races will happen or not but I do know that all of us will benefit from our training whether the races go on or not. I think it's just fun to have something to look forward to.

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    1. You know what? Even it if gets canceled, I'll run an ultra...

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  5. It seems like both you and Marcia had some interesting encounters with animals this week. What's going on in Illinois? LoL
    I think that your race has a better chance of happening because its a trail race so there's more option for social distancing. Sadly I don't think any road races will happen this Fall, including my half marathon :(

    Thanks for your post on Friday. It touched on a lot of topics that I think should be addressed and opened up a great dialogue.

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    1. I just needed to say it. I can't just sit here and be complicit in what is happening in our country! Love you Kim!

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  6. Sounds like it was a good week, Wendy! I'll bet you enjoyed that waterskiing (62, brrrr).

    Luckily I was already working out at home. :) Gyms just seem like SUCH a high contact area, but I get that people also need that stress relief. And the gyms/trainers need the income.

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    1. I need Sammy Jo to help me with my form. Hopefully I'll get back there soon.

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  7. 62 degrees is way too cold for me! I like my water in the 80's :). I bet that just felt great to get out on the lake. Doing what we love to do sure helps right now. Looks like the first week of your training went pretty well!

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  8. I hope your race goes off. You got this! I have no doubts.

    Brrr. I like the water at least 72 degrees. Good thing you have a wet suit.

    I have a half in Aug, Sept AND Oct.

    So I'm trying to stay in race shape buy running (that's a loose term these days) 10 miles on the weekend.

    I will go to the gym when it opens. I bet it will be pretty empty.

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    1. Sounds like a lot of people headed back to CrossFit as soon as they opened!

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  9. I am hopeful for your trail race — it’s far enough off and small enough that it should be able to happen. Love the waterskiing pic, but not the thought of cold water! I’m a wimp. “Community” is a great theme for this week — and the weeks and months ahead.

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    1. I'm glad I didn't know the temperature when I went because I probably wouldn't have! It didn't feel that cold. Glad I had the wetsuit!

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  10. I've read about some recent 50k trail races happening (I think Bryce Canyon, one my husband ran, just happened this past weekend) so I do think there is a better chance for trail races than road. And like you said, the 50k is pretty small. I hope it happens (safely of course!)

    How fun that Marcia is training you!

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    1. Marcia knows me better than anyone and with something like this, that is exactly what I needed!

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  11. Great work on the trails!
    With so few participants that race could actually happen! If they stagger the start and have enough space after the finishing line there shouldn't be a problem. Perhaps the atmosphere will be a bit different, but hey, at least it's a race!
    Great photo with you on the skis!

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  12. Fingers crossed that your race proceeds! It looks like training is off to a strong start! I'm optimistically training for the Indy Monumental Marathon. Whether that happens or not, I'm going to run 31 km for my 31st birthday, so there is something long distance to train for in thee fall.
    I got divebombed by redwinged blackbirds this week too! They must be nesting or something.

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    1. That is a good goal! But let's shoot big and hope for a real race. Should be interesting.

      Oh, and if my race doesn't happen, I will find one...

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  13. Great start to your training! I really hope your race goes off!

    Gyms are still closed here and I'm fine with that. I won't be rushing back.

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    1. I'm just waiting for the ok to work with Sammy Jo. Then I'll go back.

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  14. Good luck with your Ice Age plan. Hopefully the race holds. I find out soon if AFM is still on (Sept. 19th)...if it's canceled, I'm hoping for a deferral option for 2021, and then I tentatively might consider Des Moines 26.2 as Plan B (mid-October). Or, I may just take a year off from marathons LOL

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    1. I hope it holds! Otherwise I'll have to defer too. I don't know how much long distance I have left in me!

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  15. My running club is planning on having their stage race in early August but had to cancel the 50k since it had more participants. I hope that your race still goes! I have a 30k in late September that's still on but who knows. It's multiple races on multiple days. Maybe they can get creative? My gym hasn't opened up yet and I don't have plans to go back for quite some time. I'm just not ready.

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  16. We found out this week that Les will have no business travel until the end of September, putting us at home for over 6 months! I decided I want to increase my cycling distance and have talked Les in to training with me one day a week. I did a solo 20 miler this week, but I'm planning to finish the summer with a 50 miler and hopefully metric century.

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    1. That's a great goal and one I've considered! I'm still a little nervous about riding my bike on the road after my crash, though.

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  17. I am so excited that you are training for the 50k. Crossing my fingers it takes place. I am not training for anything but just continuing to run. I doubt any races will happen this year so next year will be the year to run all of the races!! :-)

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    1. I don't know what the future holds for me, but this year I feel so good-RA has been behaving itself--and so I wanted to push myself. Stay tuned...

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  18. How exciting that your training has started! I'm hopeful for you that the race will take place, maybe with some modifications. It sounds like modifying your workouts to do them at home has been going well!

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    1. The home workouts were definitely a silver lining from the pandemic. I'm so glad I've been able to maintain strength with my home equipment.

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  19. I'm pretty interested to hear your thoughts on the CEO's comments. I'm not as involved in CrossFit, so I didn't hear about it til a little after the fact, but people really don't seem to be getting it.

    I love all the gorgeous nature you get to see on your trail runs! So peaceful!

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    1. The CF affiliates are pretty much all disaffiliating. I think this was a long time coming and the CEO's comments this week were one of a long line of manny inappropriate comments. It will be interesting to see the changes; my gym has already rebranded.

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  20. Exciting that training has officially started! I hope it will actually happen as well. With participant numbers and the organisation making changes to deal with Covid I'm sure you'll be fine :) I start marathon training in a couple of weeks but, full disclosure, I'm not feeling it at all. I'm not super motivated at the moment and it really is a downward spiral.

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    1. It's hard to be motivated when we aren't sure if our races will take place! I have my doubts about Chicago--I'd be really surprised if it happens. I wonder what the hold up is for them to make an announcement. I feel for you.

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  21. I hope you like that Kettle Gryp! I like mine, though it feels a little long on some exercises. I'm really hoping that some of the smaller races will be able to go forward. I like them better anyway. I'm betting my one postposted race will end up being canceled. It's in September. And I'm hoping that a couple of the races that Alan and I work will go forward. I need to get out of this place!

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    1. You and me both! We're planning on another trip to Wisconsin next weekend. It's nice to get away.

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  22. The waterskiing looks awesome. Good for you! I haven't made it back to the gym yet, only because I haven't taken the time to do it! Now that we have an elliptical I'm not in a big need to get back soon. I do like it as part of my routine, so maybe soon I'll get there. If it were up to me, I'd have the trail race. Seems like very little chance to spend much time together, other than the aid stations, right? A big trail race in our area got rescheduled from June to October 31st. Very little chance I would be doing it on Halloween, so that probably won't happen for me.

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