It’s getting HOT out. I know the heat here is generally less intense than back east where the combination of heat and humidity is difficult to bear. I Lived in Maryland for 21 years and finished many a long run with my shoes making squishing sounds from all the sweat that had drained down my legs and soaked through my socks. It’s not like that out here, but we don’t have 100-foot-tall oaks everywhere, so we get baked under bright sun with precious little shade. It’s a different form of suffering.
The heat gets me up and out early. I often start runs when I’m not yet ready physically. I’m old, I don’t wake up quickly anymore. It’s a struggle to hit the road or trail by 7:30 or even 8:30 some days. Luckily, as I’ve said previously, I’ve gotten in the habit of starting all my runs in Zone 1. On most of my early starts, I couldn’t go much faster anyway. But then something magical starts to happen after a few miles. My body engages; I want to go faster and I don’t want the run to end. I always have a plan when I start the run; I’m going X miles and I’m maintaining these heartrate zones. Sticking to that plan once I fully engage has proven to be a challenge.
It's the endorphins. Once my runner’s high gets me off, I struggle to keep to my plan. What keeps me, more or less, from hitting the gas and running longer is the understanding that I will be too tired to run tomorrow if I go too long or too hard today. Having a plan beforehand, not just for today’s run, but for the week has proven to be a valuable tool; overdo it today, tomorrow’s plan may not happen.
The discipline to constrain myself is enforced by zone training which stresses continuity of effort. I run at least five days a week, and at this point I’m averaging about 10 miles per day. To run long distances that frequently I have to keep my runs in check, no matter how good I feel once the endorphins kick in.
As I push toward the end of my preparations for the Ridge Run, I find myself asking more and more often, am I doing too much, should I be doing more? I am pushing my distance to 50+ miles per week, and last week I did three trail runs and accumulated more than 10,000 vertical feet of climbing. My body seems to be handling this rather well. This week I am on track to match those numbers and except for some pain in my left knee that I am seeing a PT for, I’m still feeling great. I had hoped to give myself a break from running later this week and backpack Friday and Saturday, but with the heat, the bugs in the backcountry are currently voracious, so the plan has changed to another long trail run instead of a slower paced backpacking effort.
I have a few last big runs planned before I begin to taper at the end of July. The last of which is set for next Friday, July 28th. I plan to run 10,969-foot Electric Peak in northwestern Yellowstone. It’s a beautiful peak, the tallest in the Gallatin Range with about 4,000 vertical over a 19 mile out-and-back trek. I can’t wait, and I hope that’s not overdoing it; I have 2-weeks between that run and the Ridge Run, hopefully it’s enough time to fully recover so that I am in peak shape on race day.
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What’s next: I retired August 1st, 2022. I performed poorly in the Ridge Run 2 weeks later. This generated lots of soul searching and research which got me to try zone training. I started that on October 2nd. Ostensibly, the goal of my training since then has been improved Ridge Run performance. This blog has been in support of that goal.
Improved performance or not, this all comes to fruition on August 12th when I hopefully complete my 4th Ridge Run. Do I keep running? Do I keep writing a blog? Will I work towards a 5th Ridge Run?
I don’t have answers to any of these questions yet. My performance in the Ridge Run may be determinative; I may want to call it quits if I do poorly; a good performance may provide the motivation to start training again for Ridge Run number 5, or I may decide to quit on a high note.
One thing I do know though is that I’m going to give my body a break from running for at least a few months. Mountain biking and hiking are going to take precedence over running for awhile. Running can be an end in itself; high frequency and high mileage are forcing that to be the case right now as I don’t have enough energy left for other pursuits. I mostly like to think of running as a means to stay in shape so that I am able to perform well in other sports. Running will play a supporting roll after the Ridge Run for a few months, then we shall see. I’ll keep you posted.
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