Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Uphill Both Ways in the Wind

Sunday I had the great idea of running up Horsetooth Reservoir in order to get used to running up Monster Mountain (a huge hill with 9% grade for the first 2.5 miles of the race). It all started out great until Davey and I got to Overland Trail; the second we turned the corner we were blasted by wind. This wind continued as we started heading up the hill. The worst part about it was that the wind was going straight at our faces at about 30-40mph. It was like running into a wall! As we were heading up, another runner coming down informed us that, "It's worse up there." To which I responded, "Good!" It was rough, I won't lie. On the way down it was hard to stand up since the wind was now pushing up down the hill. We finished our run by going around our normal park by Overland and back home. It was 2 hours in all and quite the work out since we weren't just doing hills, but we were also battling the wind.

We got a chance to try out a couple new things during this run. First, Davey got a running belt for his water bottle. He seemed to really enjoy not having to carry a water bottle. I'll have to try it out and see if I should get myself one. Second, we got some sports chews to help us refuel. These are basically hi-tech gummy snacks with more carbs and electrolytes than your normal gummy snacks. Davey really liked them and credited them for how well he felt after the run. I thought they were pretty good, but they made me really thirsty and with my Gatorade it was just too much "sweet" stuff for one run. We have a different brand to try out next week.

Today's run was great! The weather was at beautiful 70 degrees and sunny (and in the middle of January!). I did 45 minutes and I got further than I have yet. I'm glad I am increasing both my speed and distance.

I still need new shoes. Maybe before our 2.5 hour run Sunday.

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