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Robie to the River & Back

May 18, 2013 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Leisurely morning; breakfast of eggZ and PB, as well as a Zyrtek dissolved in oil. Then we packed up and headed for Robie.

BIG opening run: 42 miles RT. It was gonna be warm, but not oppressive. Good conditions.

Left Robie just past 11AM and had a relaxing outbound. I didn't feel that great: overall "low"; the legs felt heavy (perhaps from the track session Thursday or the drive). Also, both heels were stiff and sore for a couple hours, 'til I realized that I was keeping my feet "protectively stiff": once I let them "flop", they felt better.

The "idea" for today was to be "conservative" with nutrition. Why? Good question!

Drank conservatively in mild conditions to 49, then got a full fill of my single bottle. TONS of poison oak above Quarry, ughz!

Pretty blase outbound to BB and ALT, just focusing on keeping efficient. Got to ALT just as it was warming up pretty good. I had maybe 4oz of water in my bottle; I guzzled half, then sprayed the other half on my head...only to find BOTH faucets OFF at ALT. Uh-oh. Not...great.

Kept on to Green Gate, contemplating how it would be possible to run from ALT to the River (7.2), then all the way back to 49 (+15.4 = 22.6 miles!) with NO water. I've done it before this spring, but not in any heat. Thankfully we ran into two horsewomen about 2mi out from GG who, thanks to Jake asking, gave us a half-L of water, each! This would loom even larger in a few hours...

ALT to GG was OK, but I was still in "outbound dread mode". The descent down to the river sucked; I dunno why, I just felt shitty and inefficient on the descent. Once at the river (~3:12 clock time, including bottle fills and stretching breaks), I reluctantly did a "full" (all but the back) douse in the river. We rested there maybe 10min; it was then that I FINALLY took my first calories of the day: 90kcal of CHAAAMPS. We then headed back up.

The ascent actually felt good! The sugars kicked in and the stride felt pretty good. I felt pretty strong, but BGD was lagging a bit, so I held up and let him lead to ALT. I foolishly thought I could wait 'til BB to take any more calories, but I downed a half sleeve of Clif Bloks at ALT with minimal water (which was now 2/3 gone) before we took off.

Sometime mid-run - maybe outbound, maybe on the descent? - my L knee began to hurt. Significantly. The medial side, under the knee cap. I wasn't sure what it was: tight quad? Patellofemoral irritation? Slow running did NOT feel good, so once we departed ALT, I got out front and ran my own pace, just trying to keep the knee bending. The faster running helped, and I rolled Jason Derulo-style toward BB.

Felt GOOD...then felt BAD. The increased HR took me into bonk-mode QUICKLY. Took another two bloks, felt good for about another 5-10 minutes, then was reduced to staggering again. More bloks, but with basically no water, the benefit was minimal...

I continued on, quickly, using the flats/light downs to keep up a good stride. It was really interesting: I KNEW I wasn't running hard, nor was my breathing/HR remotely hard, but my brain was saying, "STOP!". But I kept at it, knowing I could rest at BB, and knowing the faster pace would be better for my knee, which continued to ache.

Got to BB in just over 41 minutes (solid), but felt BAD. Laid down to stretch and waited for BGD (43?); we then sat for a few more minutes to contemplate our fate: we were both OUT of water and had a brutal 3mi (mostly up, for all intents) to the water at 49.

Downed a sleeve of CHAAMPS but it was useless with cotton mouth. Yet, I felt OK on the descent to Quarry. The heat was solid but not epic; yet, I kept wetting my shirt at each creek and wrapped it around my neck, which was awesome.

Once on Quarry, I did what I could to put together a real stride. Got about 3/4s the way to the trail before the bonk returned. BAM. Once again, I was reduced to supine posture at the trail, til BGD arrived.

There'd be NO WAY I'd run any of that climb; useless with no brain sugar! So I hiked. It. Sucked. But I recognized I wasn't in danger; I was just "low". Just had to get to some water.

We hiked slowly and, mercifully, made it to the faucet at 49. I was so damn thirsty I couldn't drink without half of it going down my windpipe. Drink-cough, drink-cough. Downed THREE x20 oz bottles then LAID OUT on the gravel. Just DONE.

Hitching a ride back to Auburn crossed my mind with the sound of each passing car, but I knew we needed "the experience". After a good 15 minutes (1:10 total from BB??), we staggered across the highway and up the 1% grade. BGD had running legs immediately and he got out front, shuffling up the rocks to the Meadow. I hiked. The water began to kick in, as did my last 100kcal of energy, but I was starting to cramp.

Finally, I got to the meadow and put together a good stride. THE THEME of camp - and WS '13 - is "honest flat/down running", so once I got on that flat, I was able to open it up with minimal effort. I rolled past BGD and pushed the downhill; the knee gradually improving as we descended. Held up for him at No Hands, then we ran along the rail grade. Felt good again at that point, so I pushed it just a bit on that flat grade preceding the trail climb.

I think that running "all" of the trail to Robie on race day is pretty much impossible. But, if you can grind the preceding flats, you might not need to. Ran maybe 75% of the trail (but not the last single track before the jeep road - always the worst), then ran all the jeep road to Robie for a merciful end to the run.

Split a 19:30 from No Hands to Robie; solid, and a terrific rebound after a brutal mid-section.

Overall, not a great way to open camp, but a good learning experience. It's one thing to be minimal, but not on a hot day, or when running 42 miles "hard"!!

Post-run: In N Out, groceries ($175 for just MINE!?!?!), then to MB! "I guess it's ON!"

Ran in the PI N-2's: most excellent shoe!