Olympic Mania!

Is anyone else feeling extra inspired and motivated now that the Olympics has started? Saturday morning had me glued to the Olympics until finally I hit the record button so I didn't miss a second and got my butt out the door! Saturday's jaunt up Sulphur mountain was just ok. I mean I had a blast, but it was only ok by my expectations I had for myself. The whole thing is super runnable, but half way up had me sucking wind and taking breaks. I decided to blame it mostly on two things (and not because i'm out of mountain running shape) 1. It was -23C, and my lungs hurt to breath. I wasn't cold as I had the perfect amount of layers on, but breathing so hard running up there did hurt my lungs. 2. I did a serious leg workout the day before so my legs were burning way earlier on this run than expected.

Top of Sulphur Mountain

However, I had a lot of fun. Especially when I turned around and started flying back down! The trail is still nicely packed but Kahtoolas were ideal so I wasn't sliding around at all. I finished up my 10+ km run with 2225 ft of climb in 1:20 and knew I should turn around and go back up. But I was hungry and talked myself out of it saying this is a good job for easing myself back into things. So I treated myself at starbucks and drove home.

Sunday I knew I had to get at least 25km of running in but the thought of doing it on a treadmill had left me with low motivation. It was -25C, but a sunny and beautiful day out there, so I added layers and layers and layers of clothes to the point where I was sweating before I left the house. I brought ski goggles along which were definitely helpful when I was running into the wind and I cranked out a painful slow 26km. It definitely wasn't pretty and I think it was more mental than anything to keep me going. But with thoughts of Miwok 100 in the back of my head, I pushed on. I have a lot of training ahead of me and realizing where I am right now, it's kind of scary. My long races don't generally come until mid to late summer. And i'm trying to train for a 100km right now. Shit, what was I thinking.

Let's not think about that and concentrate on having fun in the mountains instead :). Coming up is a long weekend for Alberta family day and I plan on making the most of it. I'm going to head back to Sulphur Mtn for another go and force myself to do a double go of it. I suspect the second trip up will be mostly powerhiking and I think i'll break out the poles for that to get up there as quick as I can. I'll probably try to get another longer road/Nose Hill run in, in the city. And then another trail run somewhere - likely Pneuma or Prairie. We shall see. The forecast is looking mighty fine and warm this weekend. We're finally breaking out of this cold snap. It seems like we've been in one since I got back from Mexico and i'm so tired of putting on so much clothes to go outside! I'm always happy once i'm out there but man, this is getting old!

It's only Tuesday but really looking forward to getting after it this weekend!!

Deb