Weekly Mileage #165 and the Unintentional Half Marathon

Monday afternoon I went for my weekly long trail run. It was supposed to rain all week, but it wasn't supposed to rain Monday. It was sprinkling as I left, but I put too much faith in the no rain forecast. It ended up raining the entire four hours I was running. I've decided to add an hour to my long run each week to increase my time on my feet- that's the larger concern, rather than increasing my mileage, I think.

wild cherry blossoms, I think?

Despite the rain (and the wet shoes and socks I had for most of the run), it was a good run. I maintained my pace pretty well the entire time, despite spending a lot of time on the back half of the park's trails, which are the hilliest. Speaking of which, I'm thinking of just doing the back loop once on race day. It'll mean doing the less hilly (though there's definitely still hills) front loop 8 times instead of 5, but the steep hills of the back loop take a lot more energy. My energy levels are a concern, and fewer steep hills will also be easier on my leg muscles. I'm not looking forward to the repetition, but I think that's a minor concern in the grand scheme of things.

cool fungi

I do need to start taping to avoid chafing- those wet socks left me with a huge blister on the underside of one of my toes.

The first long run I did a couple weeks ago, I just ran the downhills and walked the uphills. This week and last I've kept fairly closely to a run half a mile, walk a tenth of a mile routine. Even on the uphills it's working pretty well, and I think it's why I've been able to keep my pace pretty consistent.

I ended up running 13.4 miles in my allotted 4 hours. An unintentional half marathon! Which I am totally counting as a half marathon, BTW.

The bling from the virtual 5k River and I ran also arrived that day. I've always felt kind of silly getting a large medal for a 5k (River doesn't mind though, and it's added incentive for him, so it's fine), so now it's my half marathon medal. I tried to go back in and change my time from a 5k to a half marathon (they're using the same tracker for all distances), but once you enter it, that's it.

Interestingly enough, I have done a trail half before, back in Nov 2015. I remember it being a difficult, slightly traumatic event. But when I looked up my finish time, it was about 25 minutes faster than Monday's half marathon. Now, I wasn't going for speed on Monday, but I don't know that the hills are any worse than that first trail half. Maybe I've just slowed down that much in the last 4.5 years (age, narcolepsy, etc). I don't know. I'm not really concerned about it, it's just something that's got me thinking.

Tuesday I was dragging a bit. I'm not sure if it was from all the energy I used on Monday, or the side effects of the Tylenol PM I took Monday night. I slept through the night all right, but I did not wake up feeling rested, which is probably due to how sleep aids like Tylenol PM work. It's actually the first time I tried it, and I wasn't sure how I would react. The tired was probably a combo of the TPM and the long run.

I finally put a cover on the chick's bin- do you see that chick up on the feeder?

they were starting to hop up to roost, which is just a step away from hopping out entirely

Tuesday and Wednesday it only sprinkled for a few minutes. It didn't rain in earnest till Thursday night. So much for the rainy forecast. It was cooler than normal all week till Saturday, then it went from 50s/60s up to the mid 80s. blech. Running in cooler temps is so much easier. I'm starting to worry about doing the 50k at the end of June in hot and humid temps. This coming week will be a good test to see how I handle it.

Friday I made gluten free sourdough bread for the first time. I really wasn't sure it would work out, but it did! It was pale on top (gluten free flours just don't brown up that well), but it tasted like sourdough bread. In fact, it reminded me of the sourdough loaves my mom used to buy, especially when toasted and dripping in butter- yum!

This week I worked on batching posts for my travel site so I can focus on my leatherwork for awhile. It took longer than I'd hoped, of course, but I just have to finish a couple things on the last couple posts and I'll be good through the end of July. That gives me two months to focus on making stuff for my Etsy shop. I've bought a variety of leathers and have been watching tutorials and I'm ready to try some different items. Think tote bags and notebook covers (for refillable notebooks) to start, and then I'll branch out from there.

the boys were helping daddy wash the cars, which meant they got to use the power washer, which they loved

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I've been thinking about energy levels and narcolepsy. The last year and a half my energy levels have been lower than they were before my narcolepsy got worse. Yet I'm actually doing pretty well with these weekly long runs. I think part of that is my "keep moving" coping mechanism/mentality that I developed years ago. Years ago I realized that if I kept moving, I could usually get what I needed done. But if I sat down, it was all over and I wasn't moving again. So I keep moving.

These days I can sit at the computer, but I have to be active- typing, etc. I can't sit and watch something without my hands staying busy. If I try to just watch something, I'll fall asleep. I do ok in theaters, but we don't go very often, and when we do I eat and drink while we're there (busy hands), and we watch action movies that require a lot of attention so details aren't missed.

Driving is ok if done for less than 2-3 hours, if I'm listening to something that keeps my brain engaged (podcasts or audiobooks) and I've got water, sugar free energy drinks, and low carb snacks to keep my hands busy. Standing around talking to people can actually be difficult- there have been many times when I've had a hard time staying focused and awake while talking to others. Church is difficult as well- it's hard to keep my hands and brain busy while listening (note taking doesn't do it for me), though trying to keeping Ocean quiet and reverent helps. Hmm, maybe that's why he's such an energetic child: to help me be more alert during sacrament meeting! 😂

That said, after I do the 50k, I think I'll keep my long runs to 5-6 miles unless I'm in a training cycle, though I don't really have time to do a full blown training cycle right now.

Weekly Mileage
Tuesday- 13.4 miles run and hiked
Saturday- 10.0 miles biked
total- 23.4 miles

2020 totals

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

112.61 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
11.00 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
140.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
263.61 miles total