Country Mile Recovery & V2V Week

Catching up on this a couple weeks late because life got busy again... 

Oddly, my legs did not feel all that bad following the hundred at Country Mile!

Took walks each day and did 10k Tuesday on the XC trails, but no other exercises so that I could be as ready as possible for Ville to Ville on Saturday.

My Garmin approved of this training plan

Saturday was Ville-to-Ville Relay with Team Quest in Peace. I've run this race every year since its inception in 2018 except for 2023 (Boston year).

All previous race shirts

Our team decided to pay for our start time this year and we selected 6:30am. It was still early enough to feel like we weren't the last ones finished but not have to wake up with an alarm that started with a 2:xx

Start Line

I took legs 3 and 9 this year, and unintentionally ended up with the longest total distance of any runner. I'm not sure I was the strongest one for these, but I did what I could and our team isn't highly competitive anyway!

First Leg: #3 - 6.4 mi @ 8:23/mi

Started at a winery and it was still in the 40s - chilly, but great for running! I warmed up quickly and enjoyed the rolling hills with beautiful mountain views. 

Goats!

Felt good about my pace and was excited to head to the next exchange zone where I had my favorite thing of the day - breakfast burrito and coffee blonde ale!

There was almost tragedy when they ran out of wraps, but one of the workers hustled to the store and was able to get back and make more burritos before our team had to continue. Hooray! 

The sun came out and it got WARM over the next few hours.

Second Leg: #9 - 8.8 mi @ 9:44/mi avg

I knew this one would be slow, and I walked a lot of the hills, but also knew I didn't want to overexert myself and ruin the rest of the day! It got super warm but I put on sunscreen and carried water with me so I was able to stay steady.

Long hot road

Temps on the church sign

Was super happy to be done with this one, and on to Swamp Rabbit Brewery!

A few more runs and we made it to the finish with a time about 5 minutes faster than last year - go team!!

And yes, as always... we're already signed up for 2027. 😎

Unintended conclusion to the week

Got Country Mile 48-hr this weekend, and while I'm not planning on going for the hundo this year for Reasons, I still want to give myself a decent shot at doing my best so going to front load activities for the week and have a couple days' rest before the event!

Monday

1,200 yd swim

Found a pool that I can get to and from reasonably quickly during in-office days, and tried it out for the first time today. Went great, and it's just $3 per visit! Did 5x 200yd workout (plus warmup and cooldown) and kept each interval around 4:00-4:20. Tried to get the last one sub-4 and was right on it (not bad!).

3 mi @ 9:27/mi avg

Rare Monday office day meant I could make it to New Groove Run Club. Fun crew, got to catch up with some Blue Ridge teammates and some others I hadn't seen in a while!

Tuesday

6.26 mi @ 8:51/mi avg

Busy workday but managed to squeeze in 10k Tuesday at the Trailside Trotters run club before a baseball game. Goal to keep it easy, legs were pretty tired, but managed a decent pace. It was also pretty warm! Best part: new shoes day! 

New Shoes 🤩

Wednesday & Thursday

some walks

Nothing much, just a few miles walking each day. 

Friday-Sunday

"Girl, don't do it..."

"I'm not gonna do it, I'm just thinkin' about it."

"..."

"...I did it."

😂

Race Report: The Country Mile 48-hr

Race Report: The Country Mile 48-hr

I'm late writing this (almost 2 weeks post-race) but I absolutely wanted to get this recorded before I forget all the details!

I signed up for The Country Mile after a great success last year, earning my first (and only) 100-mile buckle. I didn't really think about going for another hundo this year due to several factors - lower overall training mileage, some recent health-related things, and just generally not feeling like I wanted to put that kind of stress or expectation on myself. I went into the event with the idea that I would follow a plan/schedule as if I were going to do a hundred and then stop whenever I felt like it wasn't fun anymore.

Spoiler alert: I did not stop even though at times it wasn't fun anymore. 😂

Day 1: Friday 4/4

The race started at noon on Friday. The Sparkle Crew met up at the local BK parking lot in the morning to gather and head over to the race venue to set up our camp in the same location as last year. The spot was about halfway through the 4-mile loop and last year was right next to the only on-loop port-a-potty. Unfortunately that amenity was not there this year, which made some mid-loop stops difficult and involved back-tracking, but I digress...

Pre-race loitering & breakfast

Camp set up, bibs obtained, and next thing you know it... off we went! It was sunny but not as hot as last year (thank goodness). I learned my lesson though and covered up in sunscreen AND my sun shirt. Getting burned the first day last year was awful and I took all the precautions I could.

Day 1 laps

I kept a pretty steady but very easy pace for the first half dozen laps or so. Each lap tried to eat a little something and made sure to drink water. Took a few salt pills throughout the afternoon to make sure I didn't get depleted. Around dinnertime I started looking for food at the start/finish but first time around I only had a credit card and they took cash or Venmo... by the time I made it back, they'd stopped serving. Ugh! Thankfully a friend offered a homemade bear burger (yep, that's right... I ate bear meat 🐻) which was just the protein I was looking for, and felt much better after! 

The plan was to make it halfway (50 miles) before I slept... I had hoped it would be closer to 1-2am, but ended up starting lap 13 at 2:21am and made it back to the tent, cleaned up my feet (gross), and finally got to sleep about 3am. Set the alarm for 6am to get up and out around sunrise. The multiple hours of sleep wasn't exactly deep sleep but it was so nice to get off the legs for a good long block of time. I was hopeful that the next morning I'd feel refreshed like I did at the Godzilla Thrilla back in January (which I did not document in the blog - dang!). 

Unfortunately the grand sunrise revival did not happen like I'd hoped, and it took several laps to get going on Saturday morning.

Day 2 laps

Saturday started off as a slog - slow laps, not much motivation or energy. Then the celebration of 100k milestone started with a beer lap, then another, I took a nap in a chair (like 1.5 hours maybe??) and woke up feeling ready to go! Some more friends had arrived, brought pizza and brownies, and walked some beer/dance party laps together. The afternoon flew by!

Pavel the photographer and selfie-taker extraordinaire documenting the fun

We might have all danced The Wobble mid-lap

Another nap was needed after the party laps, then darkness descended for night #2. The clouds rolled in (thankfully!) but also the threat of rain loomed. Around 10:30 pm we started seeing lightning in the distance and feeling sprinkles of rain, so I decided to take refuge in the car and nap for a bit while the storms passed. There was much checking of radars on the phone but every single app was inconsistent and after an hour napping without any rain falling, I decided it was go-time. I wasn't stopping until the thing was finished, and I had 3 laps left.

Final laps!!

The last few laps were painful on my feet (oh so many aches, but this year no blisters!!), but at least they were consistent. On the final lap, I stopped at camp and picked up a bag with a blanket and change of clothes so I wouldn't have to walk from the finish line back to camp. In the last half mile of the final lap, it started to rain pretty steadily. I did a shuffle-run to the finish to avoid getting my dry clothes wet, and at last - I was done!!

BUCKLE!

Hundo donezo

I finished, changed, and immediately fell asleep for an hour on the wooden produce stand at the start/finish. Glorious nap! 

I could not believe I'd done another hundred mile. Lots of lessons learned this year, and of course the laughs and miles with all the ultra friends made it worthwhile!

The week after vacation struggles + back pain

So the week after vacation is always a little ridiculous at work. Add that to the allergies I was hit with over the weekend and WHEW. But we're doing our best here.

First off, let me talk about my Garmin Training Status... (today is Wednesday when I'm starting this)

I have not been "productive" (green) since mid-January. I've been maintaining (yellow), recovery (blue), unproductive (orange), or strained (fuchsia). And yet in the last 2 days? That nice royal purple?

10/10 PEAK ATHLETE HERE.

Terrible sleep scores, resting heart rate all over the place, allergies hitting and can't breathe? Yep. Peak performance condition. 😂

Anyhooooo...

Monday

dog walks

Had really hoped to go swim at lunch, but meetings overtook the day. Then actually went to the pool at the end of the workday about 4pm only to find out the youth swim teams practice then and there's absolutely no lane availability. Oh well, lesson learned. Walked a bit before the baseball game in the evening.

Tuesday

6.25 mi @ 8:18/mi avg

Now there's a decent run, finally! Headed out at lunch for a loop through USC Upstate and the temps were perfect for pushing the pace a little. Still had way too much snot running out of my face, but kept it under control and had a really good 10k Tuesday.

Wednesday

1,200 yd swim

Determined to make up for Monday's failure, went to the pool at lunchtime and got in a nice solid swim! Instead of intervals did pretty much a straight 1,000 yd swim with one 60s break in the middle. Felt really good, kept it nice and steady but didn't go for speed. In and out in just about 40-45 mins total including changing clothes and showering. Good turnaround!

3 mi ruck 20#

What's this, a free weekday evening? We made it to ruck club for the first time in months (like, since Christmas??). D was tired because he'd done a Fun Run at school and ended up running 18 laps (4.5 miles) in his Crocs, so he was less energetic for the ruck. He did about 2 miles, but I got to catch up with Caurie and did the full 5k! 

Unfortunately after all this, I realized that my back that had been a little sore when I woke up (slept wrong in my 40s, oh no) was now fully cramping up with any twisting or bending motion. Ugh.

Thursday

1.6 mi walk

Brought clothes and was all ready for a nice XC run at lunch... but the back pain persists and was soooo much worse today, so I could barely hobble/walk around the XC perimeter loop. Scheduled an emergency chiropractor visit for the afternoon to try to help things. 😰

Friday

2 mi walk

Still in pain upon waking and through the morning but thankfully it's not to the degree that it prevents me from sleeping. Did stretches all throughout the day according to the chiropractor's advice and towards the evening I was feeling good enough for a longer walk. Feeling hopeful for the weekend activities!

Saturday

18.2 mi bike ride @ 12.1 mph avg

Decided a good test for the back would be a nice bike ride on the rail trail, so headed out to Easley to ride the Doodle Trail! Had no goal for specific distance or time but ended up riding the entire Doodle end to end and included Pickle Hill climb, basically the same ride I'd done with the Easley Women's Ride several months ago. It was such a beautiful day! Ended with food and beverage at the new Southern Weaving food hall which was awesome. 

Mid-ride side quest: Turtles on the Town in Pickens!

Sunday

10 mi @ 9:11/mi avg

Given the good test of the back Saturday, I decided to go for it with a long run on Sunday. The Long Run Adventures crew did a Lake Summit loop and it was quite cold to start! Kept myself thinking positive that it was likely the last use of my winter running gear that I would get until next season.

🥶

Somehow ended up with the lead pack of fast runners (had not planned on that!) but held onto a low-9 pace for the duration of the run. The hills were tough but overall it was a great run!

Golden sunrise

Through the flowering trees

Frozen LRA crew!

This week has taught me to be thankful for strength and the ability to move my body. Being in so much pain for a couple of days made me realize how fragile our health is and we have to take care of our bodies! They are resilient but do require maintenance!

Vacation Week

Was in Orlando all week for little dude's Spring Break. We went to Universal Studios and walked about 6 miles every day.

Ran 7 miles on Tuesday morning for the 10k Tuesday streak... other than that no formal exercise.

Came home and was immediately hit with awful allergies, so did nothing all weekend.

Building consistency

A little less flexibility with scheduling this week but still doing my best to stay consistent. Working also on getting better sleep to improve my recovery time. Going to record my nightly sleep score (per Garmin) to see how it correlates with my training feels.

Monday - 93 sleep score

40 min work gym

Mostly upper body and core with a good bit of leg stretching to help with the soreness from Conquer the Rock.

30 min run/walk

Went to the Eastside Run Club at the Beerded Cork (another new run club!) since I was in the office on a rare Monday, but ended up run/walking due to some extreme quad soreness. Movement helps but oof.

Tuesday - 82 sleep score

6.3 mi @ 9:35/mi XC loops

Crazy warm day on the XC course, but felt pretty good moving the legs and getting blood flowing through them. They felt less dead than Monday! Also got to run in my new trail shoes

Topo Ultraventure 4

Wednesday - 90 sleep score

19.1 mi @ 13.7 mph bike ride to lunch

Gorgeous weather and meeting a friend for lunch, so I biked from my apartment down to the Swamp Rabbit Cafe. About 9.5 miles each direction, the first part winding through the Paris Mountain foothills and finding my way to the Swamp Rabbit Trail. I had lots of options of how to get there, so I went different ways to and from. Was fun exploring roads nearby and I hope I can do more... also it's incredibly hilly!

Jersey matches the lunch spot!

2.4 mi baseball walks with pup

Thursday - 86 sleep score

nada

Ridiculous rain, work schedule & meetings, cancelled baseball game... all added up to a rest day. I suppose those are needed once in a while

Friday - 93 sleep score

1,050 yd swim

Made it back to the pool on a WFH Friday! I've found right after lunch is a good quiet time at the pool. Plenty of open lanes and a good way to get into the weekend. I did 100 yd warmup, 6x 150yd/60s rest, 50yd cooldown. 

1 mi evening walk

Saturday - 87 sleeps core

13.14 mi @ 8:35/mi avg

"Kevin's Party Pace Half" was just that... 13 miles at someone else's party pace (definitely not mine!). I knew I would get dropped by this crew at some point, and I was proud that I held on for about 10 miles. The last mile dropped from an average 8:20-8:40 pace down to closer to 8:00 and I did one mile and said nope, not today. Dropped back from the group for the last 5k and was really happy to have finished. Enjoyed some leftover cinnamon rolls in my car afterwards. Super happy with this run overall, much faster than I thought I could do!

3 mi AVL H3 Red Dress Hash

Ummm ridiculous running around downtown Asheville in red dresses with a bunch of hooligans. That's about all!

Sunday

....vacation begins (next entry)

"Tri" it again

Been saying for about 10 years that "maybe this year I'll get back into triathlon"... well, I haven't signed up yet but I'm making more moves in that direction than I have in years!

This week is also leading up to Conquer the Rock 25k at Table Rock on Saturday morning, so the run mileage will be lower as a sort of "taper". 

Monday

1,000 yd swim

Yes, I got back in the pool for a swim workout for the first time in a decade! I went to the Greenville County Aquatic Complex and finally got myself a little 3-day pass to try out their lap lanes. I was not sure how it would go considering I have never been a great swimmer, but I actually felt pretty good and did a little workout of 8x 100 yd freestyle with 1 min rest in between. Now that I've gotten over the "this is new" anxiety, I'm excited to continue this progress!

I had to buy a pair of kids' goggles because I misplaced mine.
Still didn't let that stop me from showing up!

Tuesday

6.25 mi @ 8:54/mi

Got out early at Furman with Christy this morning. Chillier temps than expected but we did some fartlek-style speed intervals around the Mall. 

sub-7 average on most, not too bad!

4.05 mi @ 10:30/mi avg

Rockers Run Club and took it nice and easy since my Garmin watch has been yelling at me for the lack of "low aerobic activity". Guess it wasn't easy enough or there wasn't enough of it, but I'm still Unproductive.

Rude.

Wednesday

40 min strength training

Work gym at lunch, upper body and core work with some hip mobility added at the end.

15 mi @ 13.8 mph bike ride

Got an invite to join some Sparkle City friends at the Cowpens Battlefield for some sunset bike loops, and it was beautiful! Warmer weather and soon to be longer daylight hours will definitely have me returning here for some weeknight bike miles. The loop is ~3 miles around the battlefield and is closed to cars after 5pm - so nice and peaceful!

Thursday

3.23 mi @ 9:21/mi avg XC run

One loop on the work 5k course (backwards!) and it felt harder than it should. Tried to take it nice and easy but probably pushed the pace more than I should, especially considering it was over 70 degrees and I'm not used to running in any kind of heat! 

Friday

2.5 mi walks

Took 2 walks during the day, each a bit over a mile. Kept it nice and easy to prepare for a big day coming up Saturday!

Saturday

Conquer the Rock - Bear Crawl 25k - 16.1 mi in 4:26

Race Report 

Sunday

5.8 mi hike

Apparently I didn't get enough of Table Rock on Saturday, so decided on a recovery hike on Stool Mountain (the only trail the race didn't do). Thankfully the weather cooperated and we had a lovely hike! The clouds stayed away long enough to enjoy the views at the top, but they covered the sun so we didn't get baked.

Overall, an incredible week with a wide variety of activities! 🤩🤩