Tag: sleep

Day405

I’m still savoring the run at the Rocky Raccoon. I was disoriented during the race and immediately afterward of putting together much coherent thoughts. Time flies.

My sleep pattern is out of wack too. I did not get much sleep beforehand. There was no sleep during the race. And I slept a lot afterward when I finished (in the afternoon time). So after I got back to the east coast, for the past few days, I have been going to bed around 8 ish, and woke up a little past midnight. Usually I only need 4-5 hours of sleep. Then stayed awake for the rest of the night. It is out of wack.

How is my body recovering? It has been better than if from a marathon. I felt slight sore but nothing major. I haven’t run for the past few days not because I couldn’t but because just trying to catch back up with life.

Also going to bed early was in conflict with my normal night time running.

Healthwise, I have been taking it easy. I know my body immune system is weaken after a long run so I let it recover on its own. I did not feel in top shape. At night after dark for the past few days, I just couldn’t stand the cold. Going to bed early help.

There is the concern of catching Covid. I plan to get tested either at the end of this week or early next week. When you are on higher alert every little thing changed to your body spooks you. I don’t feel strong. My muscle aches; I felt cold; my throat kind of hurt; I had slight dizziness. Did I imagine it? Were these the effects from the run or am I getting sick?

I have been staying low. No running for three days. Trying to find the new normal.

One thing I found very perculiar during the run is my back hurt. Duh. No I mean my upper back – more like the shoulderblade areas, especially my right side. At first I thought because I run with the pack. Then I don’t have the pack on. I think my muscle there is weak. You can see some runners with their backs hunch over. I felt like that. It takes a lot of strength to keep the body upright. I definitely have to do something about that before the next race.

What after this? I have to start training for the Laurel Highlands. I think it is harder than Rocky Raccoon because of the elevation. Rocky Raccoon has only 1000-2000 ft gain. Laurel Highlands, I am guessing 10000-20000 ft. Also the trail is not as forgiving as the Rocky Raccoon. I hiked on there and I know.

oh, counting battle scars, I think from Rocky Raccoon, I had couple minor blisters, not worth mentioning. The strategy of switching shoes every 20 miles worked. My biggest “battle scar” I think is I might lose a toe nail. I kicked a rock or branch early in the race because a pair of shoes has very thin layer up front for toe protection. I think it is a gym/walking shoes. See, I am happy after this long race, I am still relatively well all around. I am more than pleased.

2021-02-11
Day356 signup

I went ahead this morning and entered my name into the lottery for Umstead 100.

Even it was just a lottery, I felt the apprehension – like can I really do this?

I have tried two attempts over the summer to do a 100 mile run but both ended unsucessfully. I know I could do the miles but the time limit worries me.

30 hours. My both attempted were targeting 34 hours. First attempt I was a bit cocky, since I could do a 50 miler under 12 hours, and 50 miles more shouldn’t take that much longer and I thought 30 hours are plenty of time.

My second attempt was targeted for 34 hours and it was a bit stress to keep on pace. Actually the first attempt was stressful, the second attempt I believe I was on pace.

So I went ahead and signed up. It is a lottery. The drawings will be done on Friday 6pm eastern. There will be 25 spots and 25 additional spots to be placed on the wait list. Based on the past, these 25 spots are likely to be included. I am so wanting an entry.

I started to look into hotels and airport and stuffs. This race is perfect for logistics. The race is about a few miles from the hotel and not far from the airport. I’m also thinking to drive to race…Looked it up and it was within my driving range – 6 hours. I have driven that far before for a race (Old Glory).

That’s all for now.

Out take. Last night I came home (I started working again), I changed into my running clothes about to go out for my evening run but then collapsed on my bed…The next thing I know it was 2 am. I slept like 6 hours straight. So I went back to bed for good and didn’t wake up until 8 am the next day. No running at all yesterday except in my dream!

2020-09-16
Day310 when you are in a knot

Morning:

I feel the noose tightening so I couldn’t fall asleep last night, thinking about the run coming up in a few days.

A little background. I signed up for this 100 mile ultra (Great southern endurance run, GA,US) I don’t know, maybe at the beginning of summer. It is a virtual run, meaning, I will be running alone, but the course is real (meaning on location). We have 34 hours to finish, which is plenty of time. The good runners could finish under 24 hours, me, maybe looking at 30 hours. 5-6 people already did it. They have been reporting between 29-31 hours. That will be my goal too. I could do a 100k in 13-14 hours, so 26-27-ish hour is a reasonable target.

So with my cellphone I had the turn sheet open and a map spread out on the bed, I traced the route until mile 80. There are twenty more miles to go. And the turn direction gets shorter. There are about 10 more turns left to go. One of the direction was to run 8 miles straight. Sweet. That is probably the longest distance without a turn for this whole route. In comparison, the first 80 miles have about 5 pages of notes. Grr, there are so much information, a turn at every quarter mile.

I need a second study session to get the last 20 miles.

Evening:

I spent the evening looking over the last twenty miles. Apparently there are only two streets I need to know. Stone Mountain Trail and Peach St. Most of the rest of directions is to continue running down the same road.

Afterward, I went out for a 10K. I didn’t have a number in mind, but as I ran, 10K seems good. It was actually quite short. I finished it and felt I have’t really got any work out.

It was so good to have two weeks off running. All my muscles were fresh. Most of my aches were gone. I could run fast again. The feeling of being able to run fast without feeling my heart exploding or head getting dizzy, or just the legs wouldn’t move. They were all gone. I only was running at maybe 65-70% my max, but it felt so good.

I checked the weather down at Atlanta. And it is not looking good for me. 60% of rain on Friday and 30% of rain on Saturday. The plan was to start early on Friday and finish early on Saturday. I could delay the run to Saturday morning, but I got to finish by 10 on Sunday to make it to the airport and fly home on Sunday evening. So I really would not want to delay the run to Saturday, because it is just too much pressure to make the flight. Praying the weather will change.

I feel alive again.

2020-06-30
Reload

Last night was much warmer than I anticipated. Maybe I was overdressed again. I had expected howling wind and subarctic temperature, but instead it was balmy and calm fall weather. I still layered up like on Monday night. I didn’t need my jacket. This time I had my micro spikes on and I felt so good of crushing those ice and snows beneath my feet. I still waked though because icy snow piles were uneven to run on. Th temperature was warmer than Monday. I think it was +4C instead of -4. Might have been even warmer than that. (more…)

2019-01-17