Spent the week in Santa Fe NM for a conference Bacillus ACT (look it up if you really want to know). According to Wiki, Santa Fe is located at 7,000 feet (2134 m) above sea level, making it the highest state capital in the United States. That's cool - I'm up for a little legal EPO doping. Yeah, that is until I tried to run in this elevation. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Seriously. I know the body adjusts, but HOLY HELL PEOPLE. How does my dad do it?? I've since decided it isn't fair that he trains at this altitude all the time - it's akin to cheating me thinks.
Regardless, I am still proud of myself for sticking to the training and running 2x while I was out there. Add in a couple of decent hikes and I'll call it a good week. Here's how it went:
Monday: ok, let's RUN. 7000ft above sea level can't be THAT bad...can it? Oh yes, yes it can. within 5 min I was huffing and puffing like an out of shape slug. 10 min in and I was sucking wind and ready to collapse. I lasted 25 min, feeling like I was dying the whole damn time. sweating like it was raining. I have no idea on the distance, as I kept looping around and around all the little streets by our B&B. I'm going to guess 2.5 mi (but I have a feeling I am being generous).
Tuesday: blew off the meeting and spent the day in Taos. Went on a sweet hike overlooking the Rio Grande River - 2.5 mi. over the course of an hour. Call it my crosstraining day.
Tuesday: blew off the meeting and spent the day in Taos. Went on a sweet hike overlooking the Rio Grande River - 2.5 mi. over the course of an hour. Call it my crosstraining day.
Wednesday: Bandelier National Monument outside of Santa Fe. I love this place - visited it about 6 yrs ago when Bill and I went out for a visit with Dad and Eunice. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend checking it out:
Went hiking around for about an hour and covered 2 mi. Nothing too difficult except for climbing 140 ft to see the Alcove house (this consisted of climbing 4 wooden ladders to get up there). The climb was a bit dicey and tiring, but man, the view was so worth it. Chalk it up to another crosstrain.
Thursday: ok, let's try that whole running thing again. This time? My body must have adjusted some to the elevation because this run felt WAY better! did a little over 30 min and could have kept going, but I didn't want to push it, and I had a meeting to go to after all (although after reading about all the road trips you wouldn't believe it!). The first 5 min were rough and I started thinking to myself, "self, this is gonna SUCK!!!" But it got better, my breathing stabilized and the run felt good. Sweet. I again have no idea how far I went but I'll go out on a limb and guess 3.5 mi
Friday: Travel day - i.e. NO RUNNING (off)
Saturday: was planning on doing my long run today, but decided to do it on Sunday and just take today chilling with the family and letting myself recover from an exhausting travel day.
Sunday: long run day. did 7 mi in the a.m. at a slow-ish clip (10:15min/mi or so). felt good. except for the blister/callus that has formed on the side of my right heel. OUCH. Where did I put my lube...
Totals: 2.5 + 3.5 + 7 mi running and 2.5 + 2 mi hiking = 17.5 mi total.
next week is another abbreviated week interrupted by life (as in, traveling to Florida for a family function). My 9 mi long run on Sat should be fun in the Floriday heat and humidity!
An I said to myself, "self..." I'm glad to see that a little piece of me got stuck on your subconscious.
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