Solo 20km Training Run

It was a busy weekend as we hosted a February Frolic up at our property. Many of our Alaskan malamute-owner friends came up to enjoy some mushing and ski-jorring. We had a scheduled 18 km run for Sunday with our training group. I got in a 12km run with my dog, WiiGii on Friday. It was just an easy pace, no pressure, have fun, feel good run in the sunshine.

 

WiiGii and me on our 12km run and bumping into our friend, Kim.

On Sunday, I ran from home, instead of joining up with the group in town. I just had too many house guests and a big day of mushing ahead of us. I headed out at 7am on roads that were covered with about an inch of fresh snow. They were quite greasy underneath, so it made for a heavy run. I ate 3/4 of a Kashi bar right before I left and had Replenish electrolyte replacement drink on me as well as Sharkies. I am glad I had this opportunity to do a long run on my own, in my own head, and to test out the various fuels and liquids on my runs. I drank too much early on in my run and had a pretty full bladder the entire time. I pee'd under the overpass at Joe King's road (the 1/2 way mark) and a trucker saw me and honked his horn:) And I now know that Sharkie's aren't really the fuel for me -- not if I enjoy bloating, gas and cramping. Forget them. I am going to give raisins a try. The electrolyte replacement drink is ok, it doesn't bother me. I just need to monitor my intake better early on in a run. I forgot about the "only drink if you feel thirsty" rule.

I ran 20.5km. My time was not great, but I did stick within a 6:35-7:35/km pace range, on average, for the long slow distance run. I guess that isn't too bad, for me, as that is what the pace calculations for LSD training for my projected race goal are. It just felt sluggish because of the greasy, snow-covered roads and that I didn't have my training group along with me to push/pull me along. It was a great morning, though. I look forward to doing that route again.

At home, I enjoyed a hot bowl of oatmeal and then went out for a 2.5km ski-jor with WiiGii. That was a nice way to provide my body with some active recovery, as I have not been too sore in the two days post long run. We have a 21km run planned next weekend, followed taper week, and then the Chilly Half.