Saturday, April 9, 2022

Finding Confidence in the Mud

"In Just-spring when the world is mud-luscious...and the world is puddle-wonderful."~ee cummings

Trying to find something positive to say about this spring. It's been muddy and puddly for sure.

This is the wettest spring I can remember in a long time. I guess I just have to embrace it, considering that my trail race next Saturday is going to be muddy. I am certainly well-prepared. Of all the places to find the confidence to tackle a 15 mile hilly trail race, who knew it was going to be in the mud?

Can't you just hear the squishing sound under my shoes?


Weekly Rundown
Sunday: trail/pavement run 12 miles
Monday: pool running
Tuesday: CrossFit
Wednesday: trail run 7 miles
Thursday: CrossFit
Friday: run 6.1 miles
Saturday: rest

Running

On Sunday, I met up with the Trail Sisters Chicago Northwest at 'my' preserve for a run. The group is using the preserve as their home trail, alternating runs there every other week with runs in other preserves. In addition to my trail race, I have a road race coming up later this month, so I wanted to do some miles on the paved path there in addition to the trails, for a total of 12 miles. I put a message in the group that I was planning to start an hour earlier than the group run, and 2 other women joined me. But you know running math is hard, and the route I planned was only 9 miles total! I finished solo, looping around for 3 more miles, getting my 12-- 7 on the trails and 5 on the pavement. Running with the group helped me hold back my pace and I felt pretty good when I finished. The next day, I was pretty sore and I used a Fluid Running class for recovery. There's no better way to flush out all that lactic acid!


When I prepared to run on Wednesday, after another night of pouring rain, I knew that the trails were going to be a mess. I planned a route through the preserve that I thought/hoped would have the least amount of mud and water. There was still a lot of puddle jumping and yes, many of the trails were muddy. In spite of the conditions, I felt really strong on this run! I enjoyed seeing a lot of deer. There was a nature photographer with his ginormous lens (hey now!), dressed in camo. I said hi to him but he gestured for me to keep it quiet. When I finished this run, I realized that I finally felt ready for my 15 mile trail race. I'm not sure what happened, but this was the run that sealed the deal.


The rainy, windy, and cold weather continued into Friday. I was pretty achy when I woke up Friday morning and I debated this run. Reminding myself that I am still training for my upcoming races, I headed out into the wind. This run felt hard and it didn't help that the rain/snow mix picked up about a mile into it. At one point, I thought about turning around and heading home. Instead, I dug in and pushed myself to the turnaround, knowing that I'd have the wind at my back on the way home. In spite of this run feeling hard, I was pleased that I ran the whole thing and finished strong.

CrossFit

This week, I took a sneak peek at the WOD before I left the house for the 5 am class. I should have known better. It was a doozy, but I didn't stay home. A chipper-style workout, the coach thought we'd be done in 15 minutes. Um no. We started with a 1000m row, 21 box jumps (18"), 21 clean and jerks (55#), and 21 back squats; then a 800 m row and 15 reps of each move, ending with 600m row and 9 reps of each move. I finished in about 28 minutes and wasn't even DFL. Oh yeah, that's 45 clean and jerks and back squats. Ok then.


Sammy Jo is out this week with Covid, so I signed up for the WOD. Best backup plan ever! The strength portion was 4 rounds of sled pushes 100m alternating with 5 reps of strict presses (I built to 50#). The MetCon was 4 rounds for time: 40 double unders (I did 80 singles), 12 ball slams (30#), 10 dumbbell push press (20# DB), and 10 weighted situps using the slam ball. I could not do the sits-ups using the ball, so for rounds 2-4, I did them without. 

Off the road...

Last Sunday, my oldest son came over for dinner. I can never get enough of seeing my boys! I drove him back to the city after dinner and went up to his apartment with him so I could see his dog. I just love her! Sadly, he can't bring her to our house because Cocoa is not very good with other dogs. 


I finally got to have lunch with Marcia!!! Before the pandemic, we used to meet monthly for lunch at a Panera that was near where we both live. Now the Panera is gone and coordinating our time has been a challenge. We met at a First Watch that recently opened nearby. It was so great to catch up. I have really missed my friend. I think you will agree...running friends are the best friends.


How was your week? Have you ever run a muddy race before? Is anyone else dealing with never-ending rain and mud? Have you been getting together with friends you haven't seen for a while?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. 


32 comments :

  1. The Bumble Bimble which I did in June 2019 was so muddy and slidy and also full of stiles and gates and terrifying hills - it's the trail race I did to prep for my ultra and you know what, that 10 miler was harder than the 31 miler I eventually did! My friend Tara said it would prepare me as it would be worse (having done both races herself) and she was correct!

    I giggled at the wind being behind you on Friday: my Thursday run this week felt suspiciously easy on the way out then when I turned around, it was like I was a mime, just pretending to run as I was blown backwards! I'd have preferred it your way around! Good work this week.

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    1. Now I have this mental image of you being a mime during your run! Truthfully, I try to plan runs on windy days starting into the wind so I have a tailwind on the way back. This path makes it easy, since it is like a wind tunnel!

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  2. that moment where it finally dawns on you that you are ready for your race is everything! I am excited for you. We have had so much rain this week too looking forward to sunny skies this week. Great to see you and Marcia together! Hope we can all connect this summer at some point again

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    1. I would love to get together with everyone again. It has been way too long!

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  3. I've run in torrential thunderstorms and even a hurricane but never have I ever done a muddy race. Omg that pup is precious! What a sweet face. Yes we have to make our lunches a regular thing again. I enjoyed our First Watch! SO nice to have one local!

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    1. I've only been to First Watch down south, so it was such a treat to go up here. Now if only they would also come with the warmer weather...

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  4. I guess with enough practice you can get used to — and get good at — anything! Your son’s dog is so cute! Too bad Cocoa not a good host. We’re not sure Scooby would be either, although there’s one neighbor dog he’s had over to play with in our back yard. ;-)

    Your comment on peeking at the WOD fits in with my post today. I want to know a little bit about an upcoming workout, but not too much!

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    1. I don't normally look ahead because I don't want to bail if it's something I don't want to do. Still, it is good to be mentally prepared. Such a dilemma, lol

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  5. No rain or mud here - we had record breaking heat for a few days. Over 95 Wednesday through Friday. In the 70s at 5:00 a.m. I am not ready for that! It felt like our late summer/early fall weather with nasty winds. Thankfully it broke and we're back in the 70s for highs again.

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    1. My sister bought a 2nd home in Palm Desert and she is enjoying her escape from our awful weather! It would be ideal to be able to go back and forth!

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  6. aww, what a sweet pup! I'm sorry Cocoa doesn't like him!

    If the WOD only takes 15 minutes, are you just done then? or do you do other strength the rest of the session? Sorry your coach has Covid.

    Best of luck at your race, you are definitely ready Wendy!

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    1. The actual WOD is short but we do a lot of warm up before we start. We do actually get in a lot more reps than what is listed. I should count the ones we do before, lol

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  7. It's been awhile since I've done much muddy running, but I well remember the challenges that come with it. There's a trail race I've done a few times, and the grassy trails were always wet from the morning dew (another kind of challenge). One time, we'd had overnight rain, so the "dirt" trails were a sloppy mess as well, so many people were slipping, sliding and falling. I had a really tough run yesterday, and it felt so empowering to finish (even though I opted to cut it a couple miles short).

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    1. I would have liked to cut today's run short as I wasn't feeling well, but with my race next week, I needed that 'mental victory' of finishing what I set out to do!

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  8. That's exciting that you feel so strong and ready for your race. I'm looking forward to hearing all about it! I was thinking of you this morning because I was listening to a podcast with Coree Woltering- he talked about his experiences on the Ice Age Trail. He set an FKT of 21 days for the whole thing. Anyway... I guess mud isn't really a Florida thing- which seems kind of weird, but it's not something I deal with too much. Sounds like you're embracing it and making the best of it!

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    1. There's not much else I can do, right? Yes, when Coree was attempting to break the FKT, I was following him. It was so exciting!

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  9. Your running is going so well right now, Wendy! You will rock those two races. Training in the mud has made you even stronger - best training conditions!
    That photo of you and Marcia is so nice! I bet you had a lot to catch up on.

    Sammy Jo came down with Covid! It's a miracle that she hasn't passed it on to you. So glad that you dodged that bullet.

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    1. I woke up with a cold this morning and you know what I was thinking! I did a home Covid test and it was negative. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

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  10. Mud & Chocolate Trail Half. Lived up to it's name. Also very hilly and that was the one where the sole of my shoe detached in the last mile. Hopefully you have a much better race! That particular Spring was actually relatively dry here, so I didn't get to practice much in the mud. You are way ahead of the game!

    Nice to meet up with Marcia again.

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    1. Seems like it--I cannot believe the conditions we have right now. Today i ran on the bike path, just to get a break from the mud. We're supposed to get more rain, so yep, more mud...this is insane.

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  11. It's so great that you are feeling ready for your trail race - all that mud-running is paying off! You've been running so strong - I hope this continues for you.

    Wonderful that you and Marcia were able to meet up!

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    1. I hope so too--I picked up something at work, so I'm hoping it passes quickly!

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  12. It's snowing here. I'm ready for summmer.

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  13. So glad that you were able to meet Marcia for lunch - you both look great!
    Your son's dog is so photogenic!

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  14. You and Marcia haven't aged a bit since our last meeting. We need another blogger race-cation.

    It is raining again.... please make it stop!

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  15. Oh, no, mud! So I once ran a half marathon and the finish line was through a muddy field. It was awful. And the mud pulled off my shoe. I did not enjoy that lol.

    Your son's pupper is so cute! It's hard when your dog doesn't like other dogs.

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    1. Her lack of socialization happened because the day we got her my youngest broke his leg--we didn't get her out to meet other people and dogs because we were so consumed with taking care of her 'brother'. Our bad...

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  16. You are so ready for your trail race! Good luck and have fun! We had torrential rain at Ragnar Appalachia in WV so our last two legs were in shoe sucking mud. It took me almost three hours to run a leg that should have taken me a little over an hour.

    Your son's dog is a cutie! He's got Pablo's thick chest! And yay for lunch with Marcia!

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