Snow/ice free trails cannot come soon enough. More than anything I look forward to not wearing or packing my Kahtoolas for every run in the mountains.
My feet have had enough. They would often ache for a few days after a long day wearing the Kahtoolas. Thankfully it was a relatively easy remedy – rolling over frozen water bottle.
This winter seemed to have dragged on forever. I am glad that the (hopefully) end is in site. Trails in West Bragg are generally in good shape so I can cautiously run Kahtoola-free. There are a few summits that I will have to wait just a little longer for the snow to melt.
Despite my whining about wearing Kahtoolas, my training has been going fairly well. I am building mileage quickly with no real issues. And when my right glute or hammie acts up I address it at once. Sometimes I feel like I do more pre-run prep and post-run damage control then I do running.
I’ve been a little short on weekday runs but I am overall happy with my progress. My solid strength and mobility sessions make up the difference. I joined the gym this month so I could use the bike too (and heavier weights) Hopefully I will be outside soon enough on my bike.
My vert tally to-date is solid as well. A few weeks ago, I was panicking about my mileage and vert. I compared last year’s log to this year. It turns out I am only slightly down in mileage and I am actually up in vert. It helps that I have been doing Sulphur and Prairie mountain repeats. Not my favourite thing to do but it beats doing stairs or Nose Hill repeats.
Eight weeks until Meet the Minotaur!
I feel like my base is coming along nicely. The vert or the distance for the skyrace doesn’t faze me too much. I am a little worried about making the cut offs (something I tend to ignore because I figure if you train properly for a race, you shouldn’t worry too much about cut offs). In these last eight weeks, I will have to work on my climbing pace and general running.
That said I am starting to get excited about this new challenge!
How is your training going? Did you wear Kahtoolas all winter? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.