Trail Races, Keep your expectations in the car
Yesterday I did a looped course with @gottarunracing where I 100% was adamant that I was going to do 3 loops - total of 36k - in around 4 hrs. Boy was I slapped in the face with a reality check! Trails by far are no joke. I ended up calling it at 2 loops - 24k - when I reached the time I expected to do the 3 loops in 🙅♀️ best decision as that would have put me at >5 hrs which is not productive for marathon training (too long on my feet).
When I do long runs (road), I tend to zone out after about 2 hrs and my legs just know what to do. You cannot do that (imo) during a trail run cause all the tree routes, uneven pathways and animal holes. It was both a mental and physical battle to get to the 24k point and actually get to the finish. My brain and legs are equally as tired.
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Enough on why I wont be doing trail runs for this training block, but I must mention how great the race was and how well planned it was!
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The race was so well marked, if you went off course, you clearly weren’t paying attention! The course was a mixture of grass, gravel, pavement and wood chipped pathways (including one hill I now call “hell hill”. There was one aid station mid loop and one at the start/finish, which had
fruit, drinks and ice (which I utilized every time I passed!). The volunteers and other runners were awesome, making sure everyone finished and got through their laps. Given that the humidity was 100% and it was >30C, they were even more attentive than I expected. Definitely would recommend @gottarunracing if you are interested in a trail event.
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Now that its over, I will be sticking to the roads/paved flat pathways for the rest of this training block. 7 long runs to go before the big day!