I've been trying to come to terms with the idea that I may not enjoy really long ultramarathons.
I think my sweet spot is around the marathon to 50k distance, and I prefer trails over roads.
Every time I try for the 50 mile distance, I struggle. I know it's probably an issue of problem solving, electrolytes, hydration, etc... but I am not convinced that it's a problem I want to solve, at least maybe not yet in my running career.
The idea of someday running 100 miles might have to go on the back burner for a while.
At the moment, I feel like I could do better by focusing more on fundamentals. Core strength and balance - two things that trail runners who lack them can really benefit from - are a current focus for me.
I am trying to make sure I have at least two solid sessions per week of overall strength and core work, with an emphasis on movements that might help with the dynamic motion of bounding downhill on trails.
Since I've been putting in the canicross training time with Mocha, my muscle memory for controlling forward-moving force from my waist is returning.
And Mocha is making leaps of improvement in her consistency and understanding of what is expected of her on the trails!
On hot days, we still go shorter, but fortunately the seasons are slowly turning towards cooler weather.
Here's a few photos from some of our adventures in this second half of August.
One day, we did a portion of Daniel's Pass trail again. The day got hot quickly.
A different morning, the sky began to cloud up as Mocha and I arrived to North Cheyenne Cañon. Morning thunderstorms aren't very common, as usually the afternoons are prime time for monsoon weather.
An angry, heavy rain swept in quickly. Mocha didn't enjoy running in the rain, so we ducked under a tree for five minutes or so. That's all it took, and the clouds began to disappate.
We explored more on Austin Bluffs in town.
And we did the loop around the Kineo Mountain base again, stopping for a rest in the middle.
This was actually our longest canicross to date, as we added a small out-and-back on Pipeline trail to bring our mileage for the day to 9.8.
It was such a nice cool day that Mocha was still pulling enthusiastically in the last mile.
I am very encouraged by her progress, but I don't want to do too much too quickly - for her, or me! As I'm still recovering from my brutal ultramarathon battle.
But as mornings become cooler and autumn peeks around the corner, I am really looking forward to some fall training adventures with my best new training teammate.
