That was a hot one. Thank goodness for the breeze! With working this weekend, I shifted my runs around and drove out to the lake to do my long run on the trails this morning. They’re calling for a high of 29C, so my initial plan was to get up early, get ready and take my coffee and bagel to go for the 35 minute drive to the lake. But I woke up so tired I needed my coffee before I could think of doing anything, then wanted to make sure all my morning “business” was done. I still managed to get to the trailhead by 8:30 am but it was already 17C. Oops. There were a couple of other runners there who just finished their run. They were there by 6 am. Smart move on their part! But no need to dwell on it. I used the facilities in the equestrian campground, wet down my buff and hat, got my shoes and socks on, my hydration vest with 1 litre of ice water and 2 500 ml soft flasks with 300 calories of Tailwind between the both. My goal was to work on fuelling strategies and to keep the run slow and easy given the heat and my hubby still being in town if something were to happen to me on the trails. I also packed 4 little 2 bite brownies, a brownie cliff bar and a small bag of gummy candies, just in case my energy and sugars got too low. My plan was to sip the Tailwind on the run, trying to slowly consume most of it and reserve the water for washing down a couple 2 bite brownies at the 11k mark (where the Aid station is on race day), wetting down the buff and to drink after my run. I find I can sip well from the soft flasks, but tend to chug the water from my hydration bladder which doesn’t feel very good sloshing around in my belly mid run 🤢
I set off nice and slow, even walking some of the hills I tend to run, just trying to conserve energy. The breeze was lovely, the sun was shining, and a few birds were in the shrubs adjacent to the trail. It must have been a little too hot for the other wildlife because that was all I saw all run.
I took a sip of Tailwind about every km and it seemed to work alright except my tummy started to grumble saying it was hungry at the usual hour into my run. I held off eating until the 11k mark (which was about 2 hours in) but, in hindsight, should maybe take something in every hour. The 2 bite brownies were a little dry and crumbly and I had to drink quite a bit of water to wash the 2 of them down. Maybe the cliff bar will be better. I’ll try that next run. My legs were heavy and I was feeling quite hot for the last 5k so it was a painfully slow 5k. I enjoyed the one little spot of trees I got to run through, giving me a whole 15 seconds or so of shade 😊, but the swampy area was a little less enjoyable. There’s lots of shrubs but your head and upper body is still very exposed, there was no breeze and there were lots of bugs, as expected, as you slog through the mud and muck. There was no stopping there to take a pic (so I tried to take one before I got into it while I was coming down the hill). The final climb after the swamp was soooooo sloooooow (the temperature was in the mid 20’s by now and there was no breeze going up this final climb 🥵) but then it was through a meadow and down the hill along a busier trail where I met a few hikers. I got back to the trail head in just over 3 hours, ate 2 more 2 bite brownies, chugged some water, then walked the km or so back to my car parked at the equestrian campground. I took off my shoes and socks, marvelled at my dirty trail runner legs with the lovely sock line😂, drove to the houseboat to get everything turned on for my family when they get to come out for an overnight birthday party today for my son (am I happy or sad to miss this gaggle of tween boys? I’m not sure yet 🤔. I’m thinking it’ll be a fun boy’s night without Mom around and only Dad to help lead them astray.... oh wait, I mean keep them in line 😁). Lunch eaten, stretches done, time to head home for a shower and get ready for work. A great, albeit slow, way to start my weekend on call 😊
xxx
Report on Trailwind! 😝😖
I ran a real trail run!
10 Mile Run in the wind 💨 
