Weekly Mileage #163 and the Rollaway Nesting Box

it was a beautiful day on Sunday

Monday I finally got caught up on a month and a half worth of posts. I write down bits and pieces throughout each week, but fleshing that out to full sentences and uploading the pictures sometimes takes more time (and/or energy) than I have.

Tuesday was rainy, so I ran on the treadmill instead of the trails after music lessons. First time in awhile that I've been on the treadmill. I had a YW presidency meeting in the evening. I just got new counselors, so we're trying to get settled and see what works while social distancing.

Wednesday I rode my bike, then headed outside. I finished the coop floor, which first meant I had to remove a bit more damaged wood. Other than that hole, the rest of the last section of floor boards was just laid on top of the existing plywood. Less work, less time, good enough for me.

Once the floor was done, I put together a base for the nesting box Sunshine and I are working on. Then I started the frame for a new brooder and built a new roost between the brooder and nesting box base.

Thursday I went for a long trail run/hike. Then Sunshine and I finished the nesting box. That evening we had an online YM/YW activity (pictionary). By the end of the day I was tired, but not as sore and exhausted as I was afraid I'd be.

The new piece of fake grass mat arrived and we stapled it into the nesting box.

Ramps in place, egg collection door open.

Collection door shut.

How the ramps work.

Friday was a rest day, but I wasn't as sore and exhausted as I thought I'd be. I finished some notebooks and mailed them. Then I worked on clearing out my email boxes- they've gotten out of control over the last month or so.

Upper storage area above the nesting area.

The only thing we purchased for the nesting box was two fake grass mats, about $10 total. The wood, hinges, and even the screws were recycled from the original brooder I built for the chicken coop (that was way too big for a few laying hens).

Saturday I started making patterns for tote bags I'm going to offer in my shop. I have a couple patterns I bought that might work, but I'm going to tweak the sizes and the pockets/buckles. They're a bit fussier than I want to be doing right now. I need a simple pattern or two that I can easily produce over and over without it taking a lot of time.

Sunday I delivered prisms to the YW in my class (my counselors are doing the same with their classes). I got the idea from Young House Love, but it took forever for the prisms to arrive after I ordered them in March, so we're just barely getting them handed out.

~~~~~

So. The 50k I signed up for. Initially I did it with the thought that I'd do 3 days of ~10 miles each, or maybe even 2 days with ~15.5 miles each. But I think I can do it in one day. It will be a long, tiring day, but I think I can do it. I'm already planning on not doing anything the day afterward, and possibly the next day as well. I will definitely need some recovery time.

My long trail run/hike on Thursday was around all the perimeter trails of our local trails park, and I determined that one l loop is about 6.88 miles. That means I need 4.5 loops to hit 31 miles. For ease of measuring, that probably means I'll do loops 1 and 3 counter-clockwise, loops 2 and 4 clockwise, and that half loop will be on some of the interior, criss-crossing trails to keep me closer to the start/finish line.

In between each loop, I'll use my car as an aid station, with fluids, food, extra socks, moleskin, etc. I completed one loop in 2 hours, which means I'll need at least 9 hours to complete the race, though realistically, it'll be at least 10 since I don't see my pace staying the same the whole day. I also don't anticipate my speed increasing between now and my birthday (when I'm planning on doing the race, as long as it's not pouring rain).

My main training objective will be to increase my time on my feet, and thus my endurance. Less than two months is not optimal training, but I don't have enough time to train longer, I've historically under-trained for most (maybe all?) of my long races, and it's probably a better use of my limited energy reserves to keep things on the shorter side. We'll see how things play out.

Doing this on my own gives me the flexibility to try things out without being pressured by time cutoffs, early starts, and other restrictions. A 50k was actually on the list originally when I thought of my 40 by 40 goal, but as frequently happens with me, training time was an issue, and it didn't happen.

My lower energy levels over the last almost two years have been discouraging, even demoralizing, and while I'm still tired, being able to knock out nearly 7 miles on the trail on Thursday was encouraging. Especially since I wasn't as wiped out on Friday as I was afraid I'd be.

Weekly Mileage
Tuesday- 3.00 miles run and walked
Wednesday- 10.00 miles biked
Wednesday- 1.00 mile walked
Thursday- 6.88 miles run and hiked
total- 20.88 miles

2020 totals

17 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

88.06 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
11.00 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
130.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
229.06 miles total