22 Miles Of Hill Repeats (kind of!)

Finally..... Great weather for a long run!!!!  We had temps in the low 30's which felt like a heat wave.  Considering we had a weather forecast of snow and rain, this sunny low 30's was fabulous running weather.  Despite a little wind on part of the run, the weather was pretty darn perfect.  The only thing better than Friday's weather would be slightly warmer to wear shorts and tanks, but no complaints here!

Angie and I met between her place and mine and then drove out to the Kettle Moraine Forest.  We parked at the Ice Age Visitor Center in hopes of an open bathroom.  We got ready and set out for a nice run.  We planned on going out 5.5 miles and turning around, then stopping at our car and the visitor center for a bathroom and fuel break and then doing the same in a different direction.  We did have to use mother nature for one bathroom break a few miles in but after our first half, the visitor center was opened and we had a nice little break.  That strategy worked wonders on the mental part of running 22 miles.  The "out" part of the second half seemed the longest, but I think breaking the run up the way we did was an amazing way to conquer the miles!

We stopped here to look for some knock-off purses, but the vendors were still sleeping. . . . .

If you know anything about the Kettles, you know it's pretty much hill after hill.  This was one of the hillier routes we've run, especially this round of training.  Since we have our 50k trail run coming up and we haven't been able to actually get out on the trails, we figured this was the next best thing for training.  22 miles of practically all hill repeats.  We ran ALL over the place.  At one point, I saw this sign and thought. . . if we are just getting into Sheboygan County (where we live!), where the hell were we?

Angie was pretty excited to be running through a few counties. . . she even mustered up the energy for this leg lift!

 

 

Not to be outdone, I did a leg lift too, and almost got a cramp in my hip. . . . this didn't last long!

Shortly after we left Fond Du Lac County, we were close to our "turn around" point, but we were at the top of a hill.  Angie suggested (as I was about to) to just turn around at the top of the hill and not go back down the other side of the hill.  As you know, what goes down, must go up.  So, we cheated the hill and turned around.  We planned it so that we had a little bit of walking recovery at the end before we got back to our car, so this seemed like the logical plan.  BUT . . . . . when we neared the end of the 22 miles, we were on the last 1/4 mile completely UP HILL.  And not just a teeny tiny incline. . . it was a HILL.  And to top that off, I looked at my Garmin as we were almost complete and realized we were within about 45 seconds of finishing under 4 hours.  So, we sprinted the last 20-30 seconds, which doesn't sound long, but the last part of 22 miles is tough to sprint.  We finished with about 10 seconds to spare!  WHEW!

As you can see, it was fairly windy, luckily we had tree cover for much of the run.

Cheers!  Us crazy Mother Runners celebrated with a clank of our chocolate Milk Jugs after a 22 miler!

 

 

I brought along my "stick" to get as much muscle recovery as possible since we had about a 30 minute drive home so we each got a little recovery in and headed home.  Thank goodness for a great runners high, or I would have fallen asleep driving home.  22 miles of hills is exhausting, but that runners high just kept me going!  So exciting!  I even did some Target shopping Friday afternoon.  No wonder I crashed at 8:45 and didn't wake one time until the morning.  What a great workout!

Compression socks are a MUST for me after a long run! 

 

 

Friday's run was a challenge.  I actually felt really good yesterday.  My legs were slightly fatigued, but nothing compared to what I was expecting after a hilly long run.  I was hungry like I normally am post long run, but not terrible.  I can't say I'm ready for another super long run right now, but after a few weeks of recovery and shorter runs, I'll be ready for our next challenge.

Angie and I agreed this was a great way to change up our routes.  We have been running together for over 2 years now so we have done quite a few course repeats.  It's exciting to have some new routes to keep us occupied.  Although, this route takes up much of our day due to driving further, it was worth it on a Friday!

What do you do after a long run to ensure better recovery?  It's foam rolling & compression socks for me! (and usually a good snack!)

Hopefully everybody is getting a lot more "enjoyable" running in now that the weather is getting better!

Happy Running!

~Brooke~