Week 12 = 29 miles

Yesterday I went out for another 15 miler on a trail that was part pavement and part dirt/gravel.  This trail is called the Cedar Valley Trail that starts at Boyson Road in Hiawatha and travels all the way up to Waterloo!  The first 3 miles of this trail is paved and then it turns to gravel.  I only made it about 14 miles yesterday as I was starting to become severely carb depleted and my feet, knees, and hips were all VERY sore and cramped up in the last 1.5 miles.  I dropped a water bottle about 2 miles into the run so I could pick it up on the way back.  This was not soon enough!  It was a beautiful day yesterday, perfect weather and very little breeze.  My mouth was extremely dry by mile 12 when I finally got to that water!  I wanted to run Sunday with Liz and Rachel, but I had offered about 4 weeks ago to sub a Step class Sunday morning at 10am and this is when the girls went; so again I was all my my lonesome out there on the trail.  I was really starting to doubt myself on this run.  What am I getting myself into!  And then I just thought how good it was going to feel when I was done with this run and about all the great support I am getting from my family and friends who will also be there on race day to help me along the journey to 26.2 miles! 

I have been researching these GU packs that are gel like substances you can take along with you on endurance runs/walks/biking when you are going for 2 hours or more.  My run yesterday took me about 2 hours and 20 mins and I was definitely feeling it.  I think I am going to start supplementing these GU pack on my runs to see if they help and go down smoothly.  Some people really have a hard time swallowing them because of their consistency, but they should help restore my carbs during the run quickly as they are made up of pure complex carbohydrates and real fruit.  Here is just one brand of them.  I am going to a local running store today to get some more info about them.

Knees and feet were again very sore and stiff this morning on my way in to teach BodyPump.  I rode the bike for 15 mins before class and that seemed help warm them up and I was fine to teach all the tracks including the Squats and Lunges that I was most worried about.  I have 4 miles tomorrow, 8 miles Thursday, and 5 miles on Friday.  I hope to get a 12 miler in this weekend while in Naperville visiting Kyle, Jamie, and little Lauren Paige :)  Have a great week and Happy Easter!!!!!!!