Sick

Being sick is never fun, especially when your ear is plugged up and hurting for days on end.  That is what I have been dealing with for the past couple days unfortunately and I have not been able to leave my house much.  I am beginning to feel better today, so I went for a casual 5 mile run on one of my favorite trails, but my body quickly reminded that I am still sick.  Cramps developed in my abdomen and the congestion in my nose made breathing quite a task.  Regardless, there is still a 33 K next weekend in Moab, so I am trying to get better quickly to make that race healthy. 

            Today was a beautiful February day in Boulder, 55° and sunny, so I headed to Doudy Draw Trailhead in Eldorado Canyon just South of Boulder.  I chose this trail because it is one of my favorite runs and it has an elevation profile very similar to the beginning of the 33 K coming up next weekend.  

           Like I mentioned before, catering your training to be race-specific will give you a great advantage without ever seeing the course.  The run today was a lollipop with steady uphill and steady downhill sections.  The slope ended up being about +600 ft of elevation over 2.5 miles, then -600 ft over the same distance.  Looking at the elevation profile for the race, it starts with +400 ft of elevation over 1.5 miles, followed by -400 ft over the next 1.5 miles.  Albeit not the same, these two courses have very similar slopes, so now I have a good idea for my pacing for this part of the race. 

You can see why this is one of my favorite runs

The trail is almost all single track with phenomenal views of the Flatirons the whole way

I’m hoping to get better and get some good training runs in the next few days, so until then it’s lots of sleep and Campbell’s soup.

-Justin