There are so many different things to love about running. I love having a goal that I am training for, but it is also great to be done training for a specific goal or race. I try to incorporate as much fun into my training as possible but when you are training for a specific goal or event there are certain things you can and probably can’t do. You do certain things to optimize your training to increase the likelihood that you achieve your goal. Then you refrain from doing other things to minimize the chances of getting injured during a critical phase. That is part of the commitment to training.

But once that training period is over. Well, that is a different story. Once training for a specific goal or event is over then there is much more freedom. Run, where you want, when you want, how you want.

Freedom from training

As a runner and an outdoor adventurer I am easily persuaded. If my friends ask if I want to do something I am most likely going to say yes. And once I am done training I have much more freedom to say yes. Yes I can go do this thing that really would not fit into my training plan. Or yes I can go do this thing that might cause a setback in a training plan. But now that I am not training if I need some extra rest days its no big deal because I am not in training right now.

I love the sense of adventure that running can impart. I like to say yes to things that maybe other people would not be interested in. This is one of the best things about having experience as an ultra runner. It allows me to just say yes to more stuff. While I may not be fast, I have a base of endurance built up that will carry me far.

Shenanigans with friends

I have friends who are running the 100k at Worlds End Ultra Marathon. We connected to plan for a fun day out on the trails of Worlds End for a training run. I am supper excited about this. I have not been on the trails there for a run in a while. And we will run a section that I have not been on in several years. The plan is to run 19 miles on the first part of the Worlds End Ultra course.

Then after making plans to run 19 miles on one of the toughest courses I have been on another opportunity arises. Another friend that I run with regularly wants to plan a fun day of running. My friend runs regularly but hasn’t stretchered her distance running muscles in a while. She wanted to take a shot at a double digit run. Her first run of that distance in a while. She set a goal of 11 miles. And she wanted to know if I wanted to run with her. Normally I am an easy yes for that anyway, but this time there was a little bit of a catch. The day she was planning to do this 11 mile run was the day after I had planned to run 19 miles at Worlds End.

I was pretty sure that the run at Worlds End was going to take everything out of me that day. I wasn’t even 100% sure I could complete 19 miles at Worlds End. It is a tough course and I haven’t been doing that kind of running lately. So then I would be adding an additional day of double digit miles back to back.

Back to Back, Why not?

Back to back double digit mile long runs are not something I am unfamiliar with from past ultra marathon training, but it has not been part of my running lately. But I was pretty confident in my base level that as long as nothing went terribly wrong at Worlds End I could probably get through 11 miles the next day. If my friend was willing to push herself out of her comfort zone for a run I could do the same. Plus time running with friends is always time well spent. And back to back long runs with friends on both runs is rarely a thing for me so why not.

The plan for the 11 mile run was to run on the Catherine Valley Trail. Not quite a flat rail trail but essentially flat especially when compared to Worlds End. And I liked the idea of running on a soft trail rather than a road following the initial 19 mile day.

Worlds End

I love Worlds End and it was so nice to be back for a run with my friends. It was a rather warm day for the time of the year. And the sun was out bright and early. Blasting us with heat. It did not take long for me to be in a full on sweat even though we were taking it pretty easy.

In my mind I know there is a lot of climbing at Worlds End and I have run the course a couple of times, but it is hard to really remember until I am back there feeling it in my legs. Climbing has not been a huge feature in my training the last two years so maybe my legs just were not quite ready for that park. But I had some much fun especially in the beginning.

The trails were actually surprisingly dry. Especially considering how wet the early spring season had been so far in our neck of the woods. There were the usual swampy sections that I remember from running the 50k, but even those were not as bad as I remembered. My legs even felt good enough to run with some decent pace on a few downhill segments.

The first 10 miles went pretty smoothly. Somewhere after that I began to lose steam.

It got hard

At mile 13 we stopped to filter some water from a stream. My legs actually felt pretty good and I said so. I thought I felt pretty good at first, but then I realized I didn’t really feel that well. I went down to the stream and used my hat to pour some nice cool water over myself repeatedly. After we got the water we needed I was feeling a bit revitalized from the cold water and we headed back out.

But as soon as we came to the next relatively small climb I knew I was in for it. I just couldn’t climb. Every time I tried to push to ascend I felt like a huge drain of energy. Just a complete crash. My nutrition and hydration/electrolytes seemed to be fine. I was eating and drinking regularly along the run. I can’t really pinpoint what it was but I just couldn’t find the strength to climb.

Fortunately that small climb lead back to the road. I decided to part ways with my friends and head back to the cars on the road. There was no way to know if this low would pass, but my friends still had 6 miles to go and I did not want to slow them down as much as I would have with how I was feeling.

I ran/hiked/walked the road back to the Worlds End State Park parking lot. It was funny at first as the trail followed the road for a bit and I could see my friends for a bit and we could talk as our paths began to diverge. The park Road back to the car ended up being a little longer than we had anticipated. It was about 5 miles, which was fine. It actually gave a me a good opportunity to practice using my trekking poles. I actually ended up with almost the same amount of miles as we had planned. Just like 1,000 fewer feet of elevation and an hour less time than it took my friends to finish up.

Catherine Valley Trail

I felt surprisingly well as I arose to take on 11 miles on the Catherine Valley Trail the next day. Sine my friend and I were both stretching our limits a little with this run. My friend running her first double digit run in a while and me running my first back to back long runs in a while we started the run with a plan.

The plan was to run 1 mile. Then after each mile we finish walk for 1 minute. Just enough time to give our legs a rest. Making sure that we would have enough gas in the tanks by the end to finish our planned run.

I like the Catherine Valley Trail. I have run a lot of miles here over the years. There is a nice scenic trail. with woodlands surrounding you most of the way. You pop in and out of a few towns along the way, but mostly on a trail.

Nice easy trails

The trail is nice and wide. It is not technical, which is a nice change after being at Worlds End all day previously. The trail is not entirely flat. It has some elevation changes in places. Just enough to break the monotony a little, but nothing that is going to burn the quads or anything like that.

We started at the far end of the trail. Running 6.5 miles in one direction. Then turned around and ran 6.5 miles back the other way.

Near the end we deviated from the plan to do a little exploring but kept moving. It was a nice little change of pace.

We didn’t do the best job of sticking to the plan of 1 minute walking after every mile but we did walk periodically to give ourselves a break. I think we held up well during this challenge. We finished the run without too many complaints. No major issues. Probably could have kept going if for some reason we had wanted to.

Get Outside With Your Friends

I am so happy to be able to get outside and adventure with my friends. I am fortunate to be in a position where I can say yes to these kind of fun days. And I am so glad to have friends who also like to get out of their comfort zones. My friends pushing themselves inspires me to push myself. I had no reason to run back to back long runs. There would not have been a reason to run both of these runs back to back if this unique set of circumstances hadn’t presented themselves. I would not have chosen it on my own. But I am so glad I did. I am glad for the experience of pushing my body and I am glad for the experience of spending time with my friends

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