50K Training

So I think I mentioned on my 5K post (too lazy to actually look), that I am training for a 50K trail race! This is all some harebrained idea of my friend Steph, who has run 3 marathons (which are 42.2km, FYI) and decided she hadn't been punished enough. And I am very easily influenced so here I am! Or maybe it was my idea. Frankly, we are dangerous together.

My race is on May 13th, just one day after my 31st birthday and it is in Pickering, ON where I grew up so there is a warm bed, shower, and maybe some birthday cake not far from the finish! The race is called the Seaton Soaker and it takes place on the Seaton Trail and there are two river crossings during the race. Have I mentioned that I had never run on trails? Did I also mention I hate wet shoes?

I kept up my running somewhat all fall/winter of 2016, but training really started in January and has been going fairly well. I am following a plan that is a long run on Saturdays, followed by a short run on tired legs on Sunday, a mid-week run to work on either speed or hills, and then two more mid-week runs whose purpose is to make sure I don't attempt to have any sort of life during training. I can't run and do other things. I get Mondays and Friday's for life.

Anywho- part of trail running means getting new gear! Yay shopping! I bought a hydration pack, which is a little running backpack that holds snacks and water, and there is a tube to deliver the water directly into my mouth! The future is now! If only the snacks had a tube as well. I also bought trail shoes! Which are like regular running shoes, but waterproof and have different grip designed to grip the mud and roots better. But they don't grip ice better- I learned that on my first trail run and the bruise is still healing (I wish this was an exaggeration).

They are no longer this clean. Oh also, got them on sale for $50!

And I have run on a few trails now! One VERY COLD day, my friends Steph and Kevin met me in Pickering and we ran about 17km along the actual race route. It took us 3 hours due to ice and beavers, and I fell twice, but it was actually....fun? And then the other day I ran to High Park in Toronto and found a bunch of trails there and did 28km, and it was also pretty fun?? I think this experience has made me realize that trail running is the bees knees!!! I need to find more!

High park trail

Seaton Trail

Steph, Kevin, and I

log hazard

Beautiful views!

So I am up to 28km in my long runs, and this weekend I am running Around the Bay 30K in Hamilton! And the weather is calling for freezing rain! Why on earth do I do this to myself! But as Steph said, we need to run 30K this weekend anyway, so we might as well pay $90 to get a medal at the end and free water on route. After this our long runs will climb up to 38km...which is just 4K shy of a full marathon. IN TRAINING!

Honestly, our goal for our 50K race is really just to have fun and finish. We are planning to take our time. It is actually really well reviewed as a fun race and Steph has run the shorter distances of it in previous years so she knows what she is in for at least. I will hopefully be able to crawl out of the woods at the end.

But hey- at least now I have an excuse for all my snacks and naps??