Now THAT is what I call a relaxing weekend!
No, my weekend didn't include much sitting around, it didn't include partying until the wee hours of the morning and it didn't include any television either. What this weekend did provide for me was yet another boost of confidence for my upcoming race as well as spending a weekend with an amazing trail running couple in St. Catharines.
My goals for this weekend were two-fold. First, I wanted to run for at least 5 hours on Saturday and do a recovery run on Sunday. Second I wanted to pick the brains of some experienced trail runners and go over my training program with them. I'm glad to say that I accomplished those goals and so much more.
As I drove to St. Catharines on Friday afternoon I kept thinking about the run I wanted to do on Saturday. Last weekend I ran for 4 hours and 15 minutes so adding another 45 minutes to that total was going to be a tough challenge. However, I knew that this was going to be the perfect opportunity to do this type of run.
When I got to my friend's house, we went over possible routes for the next morning. I brought along both my trail and road shoes as I wasn't sure what we were going to do. Because they live so close to the Bruce Trail, we decided to start out on the trails and see how far we could get. My friend is more adventurous and daring than I am but I knew that as long as stuck close by her I'd be alright.
We left just after 8 AM on Saturday morning and the weather was colder than expected. The plan was to run with her and her husband for the first hour and then her husband was going to turn around and head back home. He is an amazing trail runner but he's recovering from pneumonia and is just getting back into running shape. After the first 2.5 hours he was going to meet us with his car so we could re-fuel with electrolytes, gels and water. This was an amazing thing to see.
The Bruce Trail is a breathtakingly beautiful trail that stretches for over 700 K's but on this day it was mostly a sheet of ice. The conditions were so bad that there were times when we were running on nothing but ice. I must have fallen at least 6 times and I have the bruises to show for it. Running in these conditions was extremely difficult. We had to run on train tracks at times, just to avoid the ice. Eventually we made it to the half-way mark where we were able to re-fuel and strategize about the next 2.5 hours. We decided to run the rest of the way on roads and this was much more enjoyable. The only problem was that I was running in my trail shoes and I have never done that long a stretch on roads in these shoes. My road shoes have my orthotic supports in them so I was concerned about running for that long without the added support.
At about the 3 hour and 45 minute mark I got a great sense of energy. I felt like I could run forever. Fortunately I had brought along my music with me so I used it for the last part of my run and this really seemed to pick me up. During the last hour of the run we decided to run/walk onto a pier which was ice covered. One wrong slip and we could have easily fallen into the water. The view, though, was too breathtaking to pass up. It looked like a scene from the Arctic as there were parts of the water that had ice sticking out from it. It looked like miniature glaciers.
When we finished the run I was so proud of what I had just finished. One of the best moments was when we returned to my friend’s house. We both were tired but thrilled at what we had just done. I was able to talk about my training and what strategy I should employ for my race. The advice I got was something that I'll remember forever. It's nice knowing how helpful the trail running community is.
On Sunday we did another trail run, again in the Bruce Trail, but on a different section which wasn't as icy. My legs felt a little "heavy" but I managed to run for over an hour which was my goal. After a celebratory breakfast, I headed home and along the way I thought about how great that weekend was.
Thanks Diane and Henri!
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