Feeling Out Of Sorts

 Only two weeks before the Bradbury Bad Ass 50k, then two weeks later is the 50 miler at Stone Cat.......not feeling too ready and there is virtually no time left to do much of anything about it.

 Not that I haven't been training but more like not putting in enough miles. I had a good plan and it included some fairly long runs...but I couldn't seem to get in the quantity of miles I should...or at least what most running plans say you should.

What I have done, is put in mostly quality miles. Is that enough though? I actually thought it was until last Saturday which was my third Saturday in a row that I ran the BBU course entirely (15.5 miles ) then ran the hill again and tacked on a few additional miles.

I showed up at 4:30 am as usual, I felt good at the start and actually quite good though most of the first lap. The plan this time was to finish the first lap as normal (all running no walking) then hit the trail again for at least 8 -10 more miles.

 After the connector and while climbing Bradbury, the leg muscles were feeling real tight and I felt abnormally tired. Coming down Lunch breakhill the quads and calves were cramping up. I was glad to stop at the bottom and unlike last week where I felt great at the bottom and strong on the second trip up lunchbreak, this time I didn't want to continue at all.

 I took about 3 minutes to take a drink and convince myself to hit the hill again. The climb was tough, I wasn't feeling the love at all and at one point started walking which lasted for about 1 minute because it just didn't feel right. I started running again and though I was tired, it felt much better to be running.

 By the time I crested the hill, I had a little more energy but the muscles were still cramping. I ran a loop around the mountain and then decided to abort the original plan of 8 extra miles. I ran back down lunchbreak and was very glad to stop.

 I went home sore, tired and disappointed .....the one day I had time to run longer and my body just didn't want to do it. The hams,quads, calves and back muscles were lame all day Sunday and Monday.  I felt like I ran 30 miles rather than 18....

 All day Tuesday I thought about it and decided perhaps I was running too much on Bradbury terrain and decided to stop at Pineland for a run instead. It was my first run there since the 25K in May and it actually was quite nice not having to worry about foot placement, rocks and roots.

 I had a comfortable yet somewhat speedy run and even though I felt good and strong, it still did not curb the worry in the back of my mind about the BBU......if I struggled that much finishing one loop, how was I going to do on the second loop?

 Let's just say, all the confidence I had two weeks ago after running the first loop, hitting lunchbreak the second time with the Trail Monsters and feeling great the whole way ......has pretty much washed away with the tide.

 I have no doubt that I will finish the BBU, but my original thoughts of beating my PR and  only 50K time of 6:28 (at pineland) is surely a stretch on the Bradbury terrain. I suspect I will be lucky to finish in 7-7.5 hours.

 My real worry right now is the 50 miler two weeks later.......I am going to give it everything I have but am not sure I have enough to earn the coat. The one thing I have going for me psychologically is that I finished the marathon at Stone Cat last year after 2 months of virtually no running ...... I really had to use my will to finish that second lap because the body wasn't liking it.

Last weeks running (not including workouts and such)

22nd
BBU loop (couple wrong turns, 1.5 hrs in the dark)
16 miles  @3:33:51  (13:23 pace)
2.2 miles (up lunch break again)
@25:30  (11:36 pace)

25th
Bradbury mountain portion of the BBU loop (including lunch break hill)
5.1 miles @55:35  (10:54 pace)

27th
East side portion of the BBU loop
4.5 miles @41:34  (9:15 pace)

29th
BBU loop (1.5 hrs in the dark)
15.5 miles @3:21:54  (13:22 pace)
2.2 miles (up lunch break again)
@27:29  (12:30 pace)

Oct 2
Pineland (campus loop and east side loop)
7.3 miles  @1:05:47  (9:01 pace)