1. INJURY UPDATE
First, an update on my IT band issue. This is not going away! Especially not as easily as it did last time. Often, it wont feel tight, my foam rolling barely hurts, but then after running a few miles, my knee is feeling a good bit of pain. It's very odd. I want to crack and see a physical therapist, but that just seems lame. I should be foam rolling more. And suddenly, it's Friday and I haven't gone to the gym all week! Oops?
2. I GOT INTO THE MMT LOTTERY!
I don't know why I'm planning on running MMT. Every time I've been out there, I've had an awful run. But, I guess that's why I want to do it. At the same time, after running the Ring, we were driving home on 81 and I used my map to figure out which mountain we were looking at, and it was incredible to see how far I ran and how beautiful the ridge is. When I started running with Happy Trails, I couldn't figure out why so many races were in those mountains and why everyone loved them so much.... but I think I'm catching on!
3. TRAIL FUN
Just because I'm injured doesn't mean I've abandoned the trails! My boyfriend and I did a fun hiking trip in VA a few weeks ago and did a hike to Bird Knob and Great North Mountain. It was cold, windy, quiet, and wonderful. We saw prints from a large cat (bobcat?) and I got to see even more of the Massanutten area.
Last weekend, Jon and I finally met up for a run. We're both fighting off injuries and are sort of new to ultrarunning. We walk/ran/skipped our way along the perimeter of Rock Creek Park (15ish miles) in the cold rain. We couldn't stop talking, jumped into puddles, and had a really good time. It felt great to get back out on the trail and get some running in.
I really love my house. On Wednesday night, I skipped my workout, and Brian comes home and nearly drove me crazy until I finally agreed to run with him. We ran to my boyfriend's apartment and then he ran back to our place. It's about 4 trail miles. We had deep discussions about the meaning of life... as per usual.
4. NEW TRAINING CALENDAR
I really wanted a new calendar that I could use for planning workouts and races. I made it with Keep and Share and finally started planning out the Spring... which is already full!
January 15-16: MLK Training weekend (I doubt I'll be ready for this) - 32.6 miles and 26.7
January 22: Eagle Run
February 5: Uwharrie run- 40 miles
February 19: MMT Training Academy #2 - 50k
March 12 - Elisabeth Furnace - 50k
March 26 - Terrapin Mountain - 50k
April 9 - Bull Run run - 50 miles
April 23 - Promise Land - 50k
April 23 - Chocolate Bunny - 32.3/40 miles
May 14 - MMT - 100 miles
That gives me an ultra almost every other weekend. Which is perfect for MMT training. And yes, I'm thinking of running two 50ks on April 23rd. I'm aware that I can't run yet, but that's a minor detail.
6. NEW SHOES
Even though I'm not running, I've gotten three new pairs of running shoes.
First, I got a pair of Gore-Tex Inov-8s for running in the snow. I haven't run in them yet because I think I need a bigger size, but they feel pretty good! A little heavier than what I'm used to, but I find the Inov-8 footbeds to fit really well.
Another pair of Inov-8s I got are the Roclite 305s, in the hope that they may keey my feet from catching fire during MMT. I was shopping for my old shoes, only to find that Inov-8 cut all but 3 women's styles, while there were 21 men's styles. I sent them a tweet, and they responded that most of their shoes are unisex. These are made for men, but they fit me really well. I've been running in them a handful of times, and I think they are a good balance. There is still a low heel, but a good bit of cushioning. I've found that, like my other Inov-8s, they don't have the traction for wet rocks. I almost fell several times in Rock Creek.
I updated my WT100s with the WT101s. They are the same light shoe, but I was disappointed that they didn't lessen that achilles support. It's led to some bad blisters int he past, and I remember reading that they were planning on doing that. The support structure makes it look a little flashy, and I find myself missing my WT100s when I wear them.
That said, I do love New Balance shoes, and I leave you with a pretty sweet video. It will make you want to disappear into the mountains asap. I also have a mild crush on Tony Krupicka.
Have a fabulous weekend!
