sabby
GUTS Member
Posts: 17
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Post by sabby on Mar 11, 2011 11:48:21 GMT -5
I'm sorry to post again but after I posted this in my other thread I realized people might only think that thread applied to last weekend. Here's that thread: getguts.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=training&action=display&thread=1374I am going up to Dahlonega tonight to spend the weekend in a cabin with the family. Planning on getting 20 miles. If you would like to join, I'd love company and we can run on your favorite trail in the area. I do want to start early since I also want to spend the day with my husband and son.
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sabby
GUTS Member
Posts: 17
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Post by sabby on Mar 21, 2011 21:10:57 GMT -5
FYI - I ended up running The Meat Grinder, or most of it.
My son sort of freaked out about me running trails alone - he was worried I'd get attacked by a bear. This only happened because we drove to Springer Mountain and checked out the Appalachian Trail trailhead and there were signs all over warning about early spring active bears. Then my husband insisted I wait until 7am so that it wouldn't be so lonely on the trail and the staff at Amicalola would be around. He was worried about me being a lone female on the trail. Then he asked that I be back for noon so we could spend the day as a family because that's what we went out there for.
So, I hit the trail behind the Visitor's Center at 7:12am and told myself I had to turn around by 9:30am to make it back to my car. Our cabin was a 5 minute drive away so I could cut it pretty close to noon.
I've never run on the Meat Grinder before. But, as I've mentioned in the other post, I don't have much trail experience at all. So, I found this to be very hard. I had to walk a LOT of the climbs. The section from the Visitor's Center to the top of the falls, in my opinion, was the hardest. I know there's a much steeper climb about halfway up the mountain but to start out with this climb, which was all climb for 1.25 miles, was HARD.
Once I got up there I saw this guy hit the trail at the top of the falls in front of me. I noticed he ran at a really slow pace, like almost 12 min/mile, but he did that pace even for the climbs. Meanwhile, I would fastpack the climbs and sometimes even close the distance on him. However, I figured that I should try his strategy so I could get used to running up those kinds of climbs. So, I did a mix of fastpacking and slooooow running on the climbs, when I could. The guy, his name was Damon, stopped after about 3 miles. We chatted for a sec. He said he had to head back down because his family had plans...kind of like my situation. He was either from Australia or South Africa...I get those accents mixed up. I should have asked him.
Anyway, I continued on, ran across a lot of campers just getting up and a few hikers who had obviously started out earlier than me. So much for the fears of my husband and son!
At 9:30, I stopped, checked my Garmin. I'd gone 7.6 miles, so I was nearly a mile to the top. That was kind of disappointing. I took a breather and ate some granola bars because I was feeling pretty shaky. Then I headed back.
Within the first mile on the return I tripped and fell over tree roots on FLAT portions of the trail. The first time I yanked my left pinky finger back bad enough that the whole thing turned a nasty purple later on and was all swollen. Even today it's still pretty sore and has a loss of range of motion. But I guess that's trail running.
I did run more on the return because it's more downhill. I did better on the downhill than I did at the Horse Park. I guess I am getting some baby trail legs. It didn't take me as long to get back, which is a no-duh considering it's mostly downhill. So, I was back to my car by 11:45am.
I only got in 15 miles but I think it was good experience. However, 15 miles in 4.5 hours is slooooow going. After that I was thinking I probably shouldn't run the SweetH20 50K because I still have some work to do and experience to gain. However, this weekend changed my mind.
Yesterday I ran the Georgia Publix Marathon in 4:12. While I was up in Dahlonega I learned a lady from work, her husband broke his foot and wasn't going to be able to run the race and wanted to sell his number. So, I bought it.
Now, I went into the race yesterday with ZERO confidence that I'd be able to run the whole thing. My longest training run prior was 18 miles. And that was 3 weeks ago. Because the past 2 weekends I kept trying to get 20 on trails and only getting 12 and 15. So, I figured I'd run 18 and probably do some serious walking after that. But that's not what happened. I ran the whole thing, only walking through aid stations. I felt GREAT the whole 26.2. I never hit "the wall" and I never had to walk a hill. I actually got faster in the last 10 miles and even cut some sub-9 min miles in the last 5 miles. I had so, so, so, so much fun! I know if I'd gone into that race with the confidence I got out of it I'd run that thing in sub-4 hours.
So, now I am thinking the 50K is back on. No break in training. The marathon was a training run. This weekend I am going to try to 20 on trails (AGAIN!) and then the next weekend another 20 and then I'll try to get 26. I don't know where - maybe Kennesaw. But I think I will do it. I'll decide for sure after this coming weekend - see if I can manage to get a whole 20 a week after doing 26.2. Today I feel good. Not all that sore. I'll just see how things go.
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