Week 19, 2013: Discovering CrossFit

I kick off this week with a fast run on Tuesday and it's a total disaster, confirmed by my result. I don't even want to talk about it. However, I still manage to follow up with a night run on that day. That's quite an achievement as this week I'm also doing the prep course of CrossFit and that's quite a workout.

I'm planning to do the same thing on Thursday and to run twice on top of the CrossFit workout. I'm tired and oversleep in the morning so instead of the hill run I go for an easy run, planning to do the latter in the evening. But after 4th in a row day with a CrossFit training I'm totally tired and don't have any energy left to do any running in the evening so I call it off.

I'm still hoping to salvage the weekly mileage on Friday and on the weekend, but it turns out that I'm totally sore on Friday and can hardly walk. I don't remember having so much muscle pain. Ever. Yes, you betcha, I start to love CrossFit! :D.

On Saturday the plan is that I join my family somewhere around Napa. But gladly it's only around 1pm so I decide to get up in the morning and do some running on the way. I'm still totally sore.

It's very hot and I go pretty slow. At some point I hit a deadend. I look at the map on my phone (to my complete surprise I happen to have connectivity out there) and see that I'm very close to another trail if I could make a cut and otherwise I'd have to go around for quite a bit. I decide to give it a try. Big mistake. Soon enough I learn that there is a very good reason why there's no trail there. It's super steep and the bushes are quite thick at places.

Eventually I make it through but this episode makes me realize that numbers, those same numbers that I love and cherish so much, can be misleading. There's this famous saying that there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. I wouldn't go that far but it is true that the super short line on the map or the recorded 15 minutes of running time, do not even begin to give an account of what I've been through there. I come out completely sweaty and on the brink of collapse.

To make matters worse some plant figured out that the best way to spread its seeds is by sticking to whatever passes nearby. Millions of years of evolution, probably helped by the realization that it won't get many chances in a place like this, made this plant super efficient at what it does. And so I came out completely covered in some prickly stuff. Gladly soon afterwards I got a call from my family and it was time to head back to the car.

I ended up with a shorter run than what I planned and moreover I did not manage to do any running on Sunday, so this weekly mileage is not too impressive. Oh well.

I'm not sure whether I already mentioned it on the blog but recently I realized that the Rio Del Lago ultra, which I'm planning to run, and which was supposed to be in October, was just moved to the 9th of November. For various reasons that sucks, as I'm not sure I'll be able to make it. So I started looking hard for alternatives. I did not find anything earlier, but I did find a Chimera 100 on 16th of November, which seems like an interesting alternative to Rio Del Lago. It's to the south of Los Angeles which makes it more difficult to get to, but it's a single 100-mile loop and in general the course should be more interesting. Something to consider.

And on upcoming Sunday I'm finally back to racing and will go for a 50K in the Horseshoe Lake trail run. Yuppie :). Goals? Well, my last start in the Montara Mountain race was very successful and I finished in 5:20:21. Obviously I'd love to top it now, especially that it should be an easier race (4,560ft elevation gain versus 6,700ft in Montara). But I know better than to make such plans so I guess I'll just see how I feel on Sunday and will try to run it by the ear. We'll see.