Recovery Week

It's Thanksgiving week and after 2 solid weekends of BIG EVENTS, I'm using this week as a recover/assess what I want to do next. I have ideas but I'm not quite sure I'm ready to commit to anything yet. Part of me wants to double down on Spartan-centered training, join a climbing gym, and get really good & strong at doing obstacles. Another part wants to use the mileage and speed I've built to go for a Boston qualifying time. I know either one will require even more focus and commitment. I'm giving myself time through the holidays to just feel things out and hopefully before the end of the year I'll make some kind of decision.

I did sign up for the 12 Days of Yeti (though I missed the first 200 spots where we would get a pom pom hat... so bummed!). This year they are sending out the full schedule at the beginning (vs. last year where each day's workout was a surprise given the night before). That starts December 14th. 

I'll also do my usual Run Streak from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.   Ooops I forgot to run on Friday after Thanksgiving.... so I guess the streak is out. 🙈😂🤦

Monday

Did: 60 min Power Vinyasa + 4 mi EZ run @ 9:20/mi

Dropped D off at school and got out for a few easy miles on the SRT - this has become one of my favorite routines to get in some extra mileage. I then signed up for a midday virtual yoga class that was quite good... man I am out of practice but it felt great to get back into it! I hope I can maintain this routine.

Tuesday

Did: 6.4 mi @ 8:05/mi

#10kTuesday in the early morning hours - decided to skip track workout for one more week since I feel like I'm still recovering, but the pace clearly shows that I'm allll good! I felt like I was struggling and thought "oh I guess my legs are still tired" but it appears that I was just moving faster than expected. I'll take it!

Wednesday

Did: 45 min strength + 1.8 mi walk + 4.05 mi bike ride

Actually did a solid 45 minute strength training session - man it's been a while! Got some kettlebells, some weights, some core work, jump rope, a little bit of everything. 

Took a nice walk in the afternoon once I'd wrapped up working for the day - very nice.

In the evening we met a friend and her daughter (close to D's age) for a short bike ride to TR for dinner at Sidewall Pizza. It was chilly but a fun little ride!

Thursday

Did: Turkey Day 8k - 4.96 mi @ 8:09/mi avg

Scott and I had a good run at the Turkey Day 8k! We offered to have D go with us in the stroller but he opted to hang out with Grannie & Peepa instead. We dropped him off then headed to the start area where we ran into several friends. As much as I dislike the crowdedness and chaos of large races, it is fun to see lots of people we know!

The race started just after 8am and we headed off on the route. It went pretty steadily up Main Street, down Broad Street, and into Falls Park near the zoo. The 8k and 5k courses split just before the zoo parking lot... the 5k turned across the bridge to the other side of the Reedy while the 8k continued down towards the zoo. The course took a little out-and-back near the tennis courts and it was fun to see all the fast folks ahead of us. 

We continued around the end of the park, then the trouble started when we merged back in with the 5k course. We'd been maintaining about an 8:15 pace for the whole race and now we were merging into a huge crowd of folks walking... what a ridiculous cluster!! Dodging around people walking or slowly jogging, and then coming to a complete stop when everyone bottlenecked to get over a teeny stone bridge (which on a good day two people can't comfortably pass one another). Insanity!

The crowds didn't really thin out as we went through a water stop and more narrow trail... finally exited the park and got back onto the road which made it a bit better, with about half a mile remaining. 

I'm definitely glad I decided not to "race" this one... would have been incredibly frustrating to try to make a specific time with all the "traffic"!

Friday

Did: 1.5 mi walk + 10.8 mi bike ride

Spent the middle part of the day at Lake Conestee Nature Park with the family, and between playground and playing soccer in the big field, I got out for a short solo walk on the trails. 

In the evening, we met up with a group of friends for a fun night ride to get tacos at a yummy taco truck. Started from home, rode down the Swamp Rabbit trail to Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery for a beer stop, then onto the taco truck near the Pupuseria La Estrella on 183. The tacos were yummy and we then headed to Southernside Brewing for the final stop of the night. I drove home in the car we'd left there earlier in the day while Scott rode home with friends. A fun night!

Night riiiiiide :)

So fun!

D had his pants on backwards the whole time

Saturday

Did: 9.77 mi @ 8:32/mi avg

Did the Batman route with the downtown group - nice brisk pace in the nice brisk morning chill! Nice to do some fast road running for a change. 😁

Sunday

Did: 2.6 mi hiking + 15 min core/bodyweight workout

Took D out for a hike at Bunched Arrowhead Preserve in the morning - we haven't gotten to hike lately but had a great time! Did almost 2 full loops (once clockwise, the other a reverse loop) which I was surprised D was pretty enthusiastic about. Beautiful place!

In the afternoon I did a short core workout just to add in a bit more strength for the week. 

25 miles for the week, felt good for recovery but ready for more miles next week hopefully!

Spartan Beast Week

Monday

Did: 20 min Yoga for Runners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mET3Zb0-h0 

Did this short yoga sequence to stretch out the legs. Not the most thrilling sequence but felt good to stretch out the legs. Still quite sore from the weekend! Also took a short walk at lunch to get the legs moving.

Trees at work are so pretty though!

Tuesday

Did: 6.26 mi @ 8:49/mi

Skipped the track workout today in favor of some easy steady miles. Definitely a good choice - quads were still yelling at me today! Great to get this done early in the morning.

Wednesday

Did: 1 mi walk

Didn't have time for much but got a mile walked in the neighborhood before heading to the office for a busy day in a training class.

Thursday

Did: 4.66 mi @ 8:20/mi

Hoorayyyy legs are feeling alive again! Got out for some early miles around Furman. Feeling good.

Friday

Did: 2 mi walk

Another walk at work after lunch, getting a little nervous for the Spartan Beast tomorrow! 😳

More pretty trees at work

Saturday

Did: Spartan Beast

Race Report 

Sunday

Did: 3.26 mi walk

Recovery walk around the neighborhood. Legs feel pretty good, but entire body from the waist up is sooooo sore. 

Race Report: Spartan Beast

I don't really have any pre-race thoughts because the whole week has basically been recovering from Sky to Summit 50k last weekend!

We drove up to the Tryon Equestrian Center on Saturday morning, got parked, and picked up packet in pretty short order. We had everything by 9:15 and our start time wasn't until 10:15. 

Course Map - Beast is the green line

It was pretty chilly to start off, sunny and clear, a little bit breezy. I didn't want to ditch my puffy jacket til the last minute, and thankfully John had room in his bag for me to stash it in the bag check area. 

I'd debated what to carry with me during the race as far as fuel & hydration, and finally decided to go minimal - no hydration pack, nothing but a few fun size candy bars from Halloween in my zipper pocket. I was worried about mud getting into a larger package of gummies or something, and the mini Snickers bars ended up being perfect. There were enough water stops along the course that I never felt like I needed to have more with me. 

2/3 of Team BRB Hold My Beer

We got lined up about 10 minutes before our start time and after the start line schpeal, we were off!

I don't remember every obstacle or all the miles in between, so I'll comment on some highlights as I think of them. 

Generally I felt awesome while running, trotted easily up and down the steep hills, walked some when I felt like it, but even at the very end I felt like I could run more miles. (Thank you, ultra training...) 

I stopped at a total of I think 3 port-a-potties during the race which is much more than I usually do, but I'll take that to mean I was well hydrated and feeling at ease. 

Obstacles I failed:

Olympus

There was just no way to attempt this. I lack the upper body strength to support my entire weight and traverse sideways with just my hands, barely anything to hold onto, and nothing to support my feet. Did the penalty loop for this.

Beater

I am so mad I failed this one... I was all the way across and slipped off on the VERY last bar. This one is where it's like monkey bars, except each rung is like an egg beater and it rotates. They're also at varying heights. I was SO CLOSE. Argh.

Tyrolean Traverse

Shimmying sloth-style across a very thin (probably 1" diameter at most) rope... I made it probably 1/3 of the way before I gave up. The rope cut into my hands and calves too much to hold on.

Stairway to Sparta

During the Super, this one I was able to do - it was a flat wall with a ladder-like structure on top. This time the flat wall included rock climbing holds that started about 7' off the ground (so, I would have to jump up and grab them with my hands) and then you have to muscle your way up with 100% upper body strength before you can get your feet onto anything. There was again, no way for this short person to accomplish that. 

Multi-Rig

Again, I've passed this obstacle in 2 previous events... the first had rings, the second had rings, a bar, and more rings... but this one had rings, a bar, and then 1' sections of rope hanging at about head height. aka just a section of rope with NO KNOTS as a hand hold. Nope. Didn't even try it.

Spear Throw

Yeah, this one just never happens. LOL

A few mid-course race photos:

"The Armer" - can't find info on how heavy it was.

Vertical Cargo Plus
(the "plus" is the 5' tall platform you have to get up on to reach the net)

Obstacles I almost failed/that were really hard:

Hurdles

This was a hard obstacle for me... the lack of anything to brace against plus it was on a pretty steep incline made it hard for my short self! John gave me a bit of a boost and I was able to get over.

Z-Wall

This one I'd succeeded in the sprint, failed in the super, and was able to get back on a winning side for the Beast. I think because it was one of the first half dozen obstacles and was not caked in mud, it really helped.

8' Wall

me: *runs up to the wall, stops, and stares at it*

volunteer: "You got this... it's not THAT tall!"

me: "Yeah... neither am I."

But somehow I did make it over! Surprised myself on that one. 

Twister

This was kind of monkey bars, but it was handlebars that rotated around the bar... oh yeah that was tough. Somehow I held on though!

Dunk Wall

Oh myyyyyy yes submerging yourself completely in COLD muddy water was VERY unpleasant. Took my breath away and made the remaining few obstacles super challenging.

Yes, you go under it.

Rope Climb

I'm SO PROUD to say I am 3/3 on rope climbs!! This one was so hard because it was immediately following the dunk wall so both myself and the ropes were all completely soaked... somehow I made my way to the top though. What a rush!

Monkey Bars

Failed on this one at the Super due to my hands literally falling apart... they stayed intact this time and I was able to make my way across the monkey bars. They are SO FAR APART though omg. I had to swing like crazy to get from one to the next. 

Hercules Hoist

Man this was frustrating. Lifting the 70lb sandbag ~30ft up in the air on a pulley and I could BARELY get the thing to move even using every bit of my bodyweight against it. I haven't struggled so hard with this one in any of the other races, but I think the fact that they put it like... 100ft from the finish line... so it was something we had to do after running 14 miles? Yeah, that was tough. I honestly probably should count this as a 'fail' because John had to give me a hand to move it. 

Fire jump pics are always fun! 😁

BRB Hold My Beer!

We finished in about 4hrs 15mins, much faster than our estimation of ~5.5 hours. Pretty darn proud of this one! 

TRIFECTA!

50k Race Week / 2 weeks til Beast

Monday

Did: 4.04 mi @ 9:45/mi

EZ run after morning school drop-off, never get tired of running through Furman and seeing the beautiful belltower and Paris Mountain in the background!

Sun rising over Paris Mtn

Swan Lake

Morning sunlight through the colorful trees

Tuesday

Did: 6.45 mi @ 8:12/mi

Track Tuesday with the downtown crew, kept it fairly easy with a ~2 mile "tempo" at 7:23/mi and of course a final 400m (again, not full effort) in 86s. 

Wednesday

Did: 3.45 mi walk

Took a midday neighborhood walk... keeping running miles to a minimum this week but want to keep the legs moving!

Thursday

Did: 20 min run + 30 min walk

Taper taper taper... 2 more days!!

Friday

Did: 2.5 mi walk

Got out for a few miles before it was time to pack up and head into the mountains!

Saturday

Did: Sky to Summit 50k

Race Report

Sunday

Did: 2.8 mi walk

Recovery walk after getting home... oh mannnnn the legs are sore! But the neighborhood trees are just lovely. 

Race Report: Sky to Summit 50k

Pre-Race

On Friday, I left Greenville around 4pm to drive up to Clayton, NC for packet pick-up at the outdoor store in town. The drive was a lovely preview of the sights to come during the race.

Mountains in the distance at the start of sunset.

Got to packet pick up without any issues and enjoyed a beverage before heading out to find my accommodations for the weekend... a little mountain cabin all to myself! 😁 It was dark and at the end of a gravel road I found it, heated up the dinner I'd brought with myself, and got to an early bedtime to rest up for the day ahead! I'd luckily decided to look up the actual start time of the race and discovered it was a 6am start 😳 (MUCH earlier than I had in mind!)... so with the alarm set for 4am, I got to sleep. 

Race Day

Got up, had my breakfast, got layered up for the expected chilly weather, and headed towards the race site (about a 20-min drive away from my cabin). Had the heat cranked up to soak up as much warmth before exiting into the chill of the early morning darkness. A couple miles from the race site, it was obvious I was on the right road to the start as there was a steady line of cars snaking their way up the mountain in the early morning hours. Got parked and found the start area, luckily there was a fire pit going that offered a bit of warmth. It was luckily in the mid/upper-30s for start temps, which was slightly warmer than I expected and enabled me to not pack on too many layers that I wouldn't need for long. I found training buddy Matt at the start, and it wasn't long before the pre-race announcements were done and we were set off on our way up the mountain!

Lined up and ready to go!

Elevation Profile... blue dots are Aid Stations, red dot is peak of Rabun Bald

Hit the lap button at each of the dots on the course profile above... check that ascent & descent!

Start to AS1

The first part of the course climbs a looooong paved driveway, that then transitions to gravel, and eventually dead-ends onto the first trail climb before you are suddenly on a singletrack climb up the side of the mountain. It is STEEP, topping out above 20% grade. 

Trail of headlamps winding up the road

After climbing for about 40 minutes, the first glow of morning starts coming up over the ridge in the distance.

It was amazing how fast the transition from total darkness to "oh, I don't even need a headlamp anymore!" was once the sun started coming up. Just about the time we reached the first major overlook, the sun was casting the early light over the valley below.

More climbing and then finally rounding over the top of the first big climb of the day, we started a nice descent as the golden light continued to rise and illuminate the ridgelines and valleys around the course.

Matt running strong ahead of me

Sunrise through the trees

Probably my favorite pic of the views... still doesn't totally capture it though. 😍

We reached the first aid station, and I began what would become my routine of picking up a couple of quesadillas and a couple of pieces of dark chocolate & nut "tree bark" - this was just the right combo of salt, sweet, sugar, and carbs to keep me feeling energized. I ended up eating just a couple of my Stinger gummies over the entire day.

AS1 > AS2

After a little snack, the course took more and more of a descent to one of the lowest points on the entire route (location of Aid Station 2) which was next to a waterfall at the bottom of a forest service road. We had a few water crossings (one ankle deep, the other knee deep) and enjoyed a little part on the out-and-back section that enabled us to see lots of other runners. I was surprised to see just a handful of women ahead of me! More snacks at the aid station, then turning back the way we came.

AS2 > AS3

Aid station 3 is the same as aid station 1, so we completed the double-loop lollipop section which was shorter but included all the climbing we'd just descended. At least it was next to a lovely waterfall and river for a while!

AS3 > Rabun Bald Summit

This next bit was a whoooole lot of climbing, and the slowest segment on the entire course. So so steep going up the side of the mountain to the Rabun Bald summit (the "Summit" part of the race name) to around 4,700ft above sea level. Caught some really beautiful views off the side of the mountain (and the location of the race photographer).

Photograph of me photographing the view

Oh hey there Mr. Photographer

Finally finally we reached the summit, and climbed the stairs to the top of the observation tower. 360-degree views!! Absolutely amazing.

Photos REALLY don't do this view justice. 

Summit > AS4

The next section was my least favorite section. After you come down from the tower at the top of Rabun, you drop down some stuuuupid steep rocky and incredibly leafy trail. I feel like I could have sat down and slid more easily than the sketchy tired-legged descent that I stumbled through. Matt got way ahead of me at this point and I was afraid I'd lost him for the rest of the race (we'd agreed to start together but didn't have a plan after that). I mentally prepared to complete the remaining ~10 miles solo and picked my way carefully down the side of the mountain.

Thankfully, after the steepest part was done, I was able to catch back up to Matt and finish the descent to Aid Station #4, completing a loss of nearly 2,200 ft in less than 3 miles. YIKES.

AS4 > AS5

This last bit could really be split into a few sub-segments... there's a long bit of time climbing on the gravel forest road, sort of a side quest on singletrack down to a pretty waterfall crossing, then a stupid steep climb back UP next to the waterfall, back to the forest road, and finally back to singletrack on the trail to Bee Gum Gap. The forest roads were mostly alternating between running 100 paces then walking again. The waterfall was lovely but the steep ascent afterwards just felt mean. 

YAY WATERFALL (and slightly delirious at this point, perhaps)

About the time we hit the singletrack to Bee Gum, Matt realized he was on pace to come close to a course PR (this being his fourth S2S 50k)... and that was the motivation needed to keep the legs moving at a pretty good pace for the rest of the trail! We ran with a few others for a while and formed a "conga line" which prompted some singing of Gloria Estefan as we trotted along, then finally reached the final aid station and knew the finish line was nearly within sight.

AS5 > Finish

The final aid station is right at the top of a gravel road (sort of a driveway?) that begins the mostly downhill section, through a neighborhood, eventually onto paved roads, and into the finish line within the Sky Valley community. It's honestly kind of silly to have the aid station so close to the finish... we didn't even slow down for any food or water, just kept moving to get to the end. The downhill on the paved roads was tough on incredibly tired legs... really just trying not to let them buckle and fall on my face at this point. Finally heard the music and cheers of the finish line and rounded the final turns to the end!! 

Finish time - 7:23:24

Sat on the ground for a while after crossing the finish line, then noticed my name on the white board by the finish arch... turns out I had somehow managed to snag 5th place overall female runner!

😲

Woohoo! 🎉

Enjoyed finish line beer and chili, then finally waddled my way back to the car. I took the longest shower ever to warm up, then a good nap before heading back into town to meet Matt for an early dinner (he was heading back to Greenville that evening). Mexican food was just the ticket for post-race meal, a beer at Currahee Brewing, followed by approximately 9.5 hours of sleep lol. 😂

Morning views as I left the cabin - really loved this little retreat! Overall a picture-perfect weekend and an amazing race experience. I juuuuust might have to do this one again sometime. 😁