Poison Ivy and all systems GO

Finally got a taste of poison ivy. With all the trail running I do, I am fortunate to have bypassed its unpleasantness until this week. I obviously picked it up at the 50k last week. Lots of itching and ugly blisters on my ankles, calves, thighs, and arms. No complaints, though, as my face is clear of it (for now).

Another reason not to complain is I made a quick recovery from the race, and have 2 relatively healthy knees (for now). I am already putting in strong training for the upcoming Howl race. Friday I ran 8 x 400m hard repeats on the arboretum dirt roads under noon time heat. Yesterday I ran 15 hard hills at the arboretum - 100m at 5k pace, 100m up the hill, followed by an all out 200m downhill/flat sprint. A 300m jogging recovery leading to the next rep. This also was done in noon time heat, and I wanted to stop at 10 reps, found a way to get to 12, and somehow willed myself to 3 more. Tomorrow I will do 200m hard sprints. It is time to get my speed on equality with endurance. I plan to do a 3-5 hour slow run early next week, which will lead me into the August Howl.

GO!