Week 13/14 (of 20) -- HOT HOT HOT!!

(Aug 25th - Sept 7th, 2008)

This was hands down the worst run of the season! I was scheduled to run 18 miles in Woodside, but decided to stop at the 16 (which was actually over 17, according to my GPS). I ran this run with Kristin and Stacy, which was a whole lot more plesant than running it on my own.

The run started out fine enough, winding through a cute ranch neighborhood where everyone had horses and really long driveways. Then, then it joined up with the south end of the trail that we finished on for the Sheep Camp/Water Dog run (the portion that was completely exposed with very little trees or shade cover), and it was REALLY hot that day (I heard it hit 90 degrees by 9:30am). Kristin, Stacy and I kept trying to do our 3:1 run/walk interval, but every time we started to run, we just felt really exhausted and tired, and thirsty! I have a 6-bottle fuel belt and I emptied every one of the bottles between aid stations (approx every 4 miles). At one of the aid stations, a mentor warned us to take it easy and had said that several of our teammates had to be picked up and driven back to start line because they had suffered heat exhaustion.

Another very unpleasant run. But Coach Terry says that training is such difficult conditions prepares us that much more for race day... sure.