Avast Ye Scurvy Dogs

OK, I couldn't think of a good title for this post, but I ran Pirates Cove this weekend so pirate speak it is. I was gonna call it "Six in one, Half Dozen the other" as I realized that this 50K was actually my 6th ultra. It's something I probably need to keep in mind as I have only been doing them since last May and that puts me on a pace of one every 1.5 months since I have 3 more planned including a repeat of Ohlone (my first). While there are some out there who do far, far more, I am probably someone who needs to keep myself in check as this is still my first year and I do have a propensity to obsess and overdo things. Which brings me to this past weekend and my other possible title for the post of "Did I over do it?". I am feeling fine now, but Sunday night was a different story as I sort of blew my plans out of the water.

PLAN:
Run the Pirates Cove 50K as a training race since I have AR50 in 3 weeks and then Miwok 3 weeks later. I was thinking of a pace somewhere upwards of 6+ hours given the 6000+ ft of climbing. I wanted to run it and finish feeling like I had more and then get in another 10+ mile run on Sunday to cap off my weekly mileage.

ACTUAL:
I ran most of the first part of the race with a guy named Patrick Morin from Roseville who kept saying "we're going way too fast" as we completed the 30K loop in a little over 3 hours. I knew this was way way too fast for me, but I felt good especially since the weather never warmed up (in fact, it got colder as the day went on). As I still felt good on the next 20K loop, I just kept going thinking that I would slow down or walk when my body told me I was pushing it. That time never really seemed to arrive. I mean, I pushed, but never so hard as to feel like I couldn't maintain. Also, I think I realized that a 5:30 finish was in the realm of possibility so I should just see. I could always cancel Sunday's run if I needed to. So, I kept it up. I realized near the end that 5:30 wasn't going to happen, so I just kept pace. When I hit the sand (who the hell puts sand in the last mile of a 31 mile race?!?) I realized I could make it under 5:35 so I pushed a bit more to the end. I sprinted it in for a 5:34:something finish. It was very satisfying and I should have left the weekend at that.

Sunday morning, my soccer team was in disparate need of players for a game that would decide the championship. I hadn't played in almost 2 months and knew I shouldn't push myself too hard, but I could try and take it easy and cancel my afternoon run. Well, since we had no subs at all, there wasn't much in the way of taking it too easy. I was happy to have been able to help the team win and to also survive with no injury or serious debilitating pain. There was plenty of tightness and soreness in my sprinting and kicking muscles which I don't use much on the trails and I should have left the weekend at that.

Sunday afternoon, my wife needed to go to the gym. I thought about just spinning easy on the bike, but then I thought, why not hit the treadmill. I could take it easy and stop whenever I felt the need. It's not committing like running outside and it should be easier on the legs. I haven't run on a treadmill in a while and its easy to forget how simple it is to just push it a little more...and then a little more still. I probably shouldn't have been running near my normal 8:30/mi pace given all I had done this weekend and there was really no reason to push myself to make 9 miles other than some silly number in an electronic file on my computer. But, I did finish and I felt OK thought I knew my legs would need some recovery time.

Cut to me in Walmart hanging on to the cart with a blank stare in my eyes. Cut to my wife handing me a bag of pistachios and telling me to go to the car and sit down. I mumbled some pitiful sort of objection, but then complied as I knew she was right. About two hours later after more orders by my wife and food handed to me, my dizziness and slight nausea subsided. Did I over do it? Did I just not rehydrate and refuel properly on Sunday? I feel OK now and tonight I really will just spin easily on the bike or simply go for a walk. I guess tomorrow will be the true tell as I am supposed to do my easy run and I'll see if it is really easy or not. Ah well, it's all good training and in the end, I feel the weekend was a good accomplishment regardless.