Training continues.

My Vineman racing partners are in town (my brother and sister in law). Preparations are underway for Vineman in less than one month. The past few days have been great with them even though they blow me out of the water when they run and train with me. I usually catch them on the way back and even then it's for a minute or two. Yesterday I went out of my comfort zone and hit the dirt trails on the bike instead of the asphalt on the road. We all hopped on mountain bikes and took to climbing the hills above Prescott. We climbed up 1200' to an elevation of almost 7000'. It felt very different riding on a mountain bike versus my roadie. I couldn't quite get the shifting down and it caused some major frustration here and there. I am also really afraid of going over large rocks so that held me up a little but overall I had a really good time and would totally do it again. It is a great workout and was a nice change of pace to be out in the wilderness instead of the street. I enjoyed it so much that it even has me thinking about doing the Whiskey Offroad next year.

Today was a first for me...I hit double digits on my run this morning. Yes for the first time ever I ran a little over 10 miles 10.25 to to be exact. How did it feel? A little like throwing up at the end but overall really great. It was a major milestone for me and frankly was starting to piss me off. It was a mileage that I know I needed to get in and had been looming over my head for awhile. The longer I waited the more frustrated I became. So many times I would start out with the intention of doing 10 but only to crap out after 5 miles. So how did I do it today? I made a promise to myself last night that I would run until I hit 5 miles and then turn around and go back. It also meant a very early morning run for me when it was nice and cool and lots of extra hydration the night before. I took it slow today and drank plenty of small sips of water during the run. But I did it and that feels amazing. Am I ready for Vineman? No, not yet but getting closer and closer.