Weekend Warrior: Sunday

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In: Running
Since I am running another ultra in a short time span (about five weeks after Lost Soul), I have to be smart about my training. I’m trying to find the right balance of recovery, training and rest. 

I have been taking it relatively easy since Lost Soul. It’s only been two weeks so I didn’t want to get back into what I consider “serious” training for me. Saturday was a good re-entry into training. I really only have a couple weeks of any sort of targeted training before I have to “taper” again. 
I convinced Vegan Mark to come run with me today.(the other Mark is the one who ran the Lost Soul 100K. To make things easier I will now refer them as Mark & Vegan Mark.) I chose our destination – Moose Mountain.  You remember I ran the Moose Mountain 29K trail run a couple months ago. It was a sloppy day at the top. We didn’t get much of a view unless you count fog a view. 
Vegan Mark is a pretty speedy runner. He’s also in the final weeks before his first 100K ultra race. He had to run 14K as part of his training plan on Sunday so a very slow 30K would work out fine. I warned Mark a million times that I would definitely be slow-moving on the climbs. (It was our first time running together so I wanted to be clear, I am not a rockstar)
With that being said I am sure he will never run with me again. I found the climb a little (okay a lot) harder than the race. I don’t know if it was the cumulative fatigue effect or what. We made it too the top about 15-20 minutes slower than I originally guaged. VM said he was cool with everything. But I could tell he wanted to strangle me. (Don’t worry, others have wanted to do the same!)
 
With all my whining aside, this is a wonderful mountain for training purposes. (I guess any mountain would be.) There’s a lot of great switchbacks, single track and wonderful downhills. We didn’t see many people on the way up. I learned later that there’s more than one way to access the trail. I think we took the longest which was fine with us.  


Running/hiking/crawling up and down Moose Mountain confirmed my suspicions. I have had enough of the Salomon Speedcross Trail Shoes. I couldn’t wait to take the damn shoes off at the top. (I had to refrain from tossing them over the edge) I bought them on a whim a few months ago because my Saucony Peregrine 2 had seen better days. But I was in Red Deer and I wanted shoes that day. Call it an impluse purchase. I didn’t do any research (other than asking my Facebook friends to pick a colour). 


They are just too clunky. I’m sure they work for other people but just not for me. I felt like I was wearing snowshoes. Definitely not the lightweight that I crave. Actually I think they will make a great winter running shoe. So now I am on the lookout for new trail shoes and quick! Remember I am trying to soak up every ounce of good weather before the snow starts falling (again)! 


I loved walking barefoot (and in the snow). I made snow angels. (No joke) VM couldn’t handle the cold. It was super refreshing! All in all it was an action-packed fun weekend. 

I am glad I got some quality time on my feet. It’s always great to get out in nature. I can never really complain.

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