I arrived at 8:30am, the sky mostly blue, and it was cool at 58-60 degrees. I started my run at 8:45, and hit the Out and Back trail first, but changed it up a bit by turning right on the haul road instead of left at mile 2, which led me to the beginning of the mountain bike course. The bike trails are tougher than the running/hiking trails, more hills, narrow pathways, and lots of sharp twists and turns. I ran 5 miles of bike trails before coming out at the far end of the Out and Back, so I had 3 miles to get back to the car, making for a 10 mile loop. I ran this without food or water, so refueled at the car before heading out on the road loop, which covers the Mountain Goat course. I ran the 2 big hills, along with some rollers and longer, more gradual inclines/declines.
I ran these first 2 segments strong, cruising at a comfortable, yet speedy pace for a long run. I tried to keep it slow, but my cardio has improved over the last 2 months due to speed work, so running quicker does not take anything more out of me than running a slower pace.
I refueled at the car again after the Goat loop, and headed out on River View loop, which is 4-5 miles. I was still running strong, and when I returned to the car I had to decide whether to continue, and if so, which loop to run. My legs were starting feel fatigued, but everything else was good, so I decided to do the 10 mile Out and Back/bike loop again.
By the time I got to the bike path my legs felt like they usually do after 6 hours of running, weak and achey. The day was getting warmer, and halfway through the loop I was out of water. The discomfort in my legs was becoming intense due to the hills and tricky terrain. I was still running most sections, but I was now walking steep uphills. When I left the bike paths I was relieved, it seemed to take forever to get out of the dark forest. I still had 3 miles to go, and those miles were not easy. I decided to walk the last 1.5 miles as my cool down.
When I finished the run I checked the clock and saw that I had run for almost 7 hours. I was pleased with that, as I put my upper limit at 8 hours. While I normally would be pleased with such a training run, knowing that I have to run 3-4 times as long at the 100 miler has me questioning my sanity.
I can see from today's effort that a major obstacle to running 100 miles is leg strength. I doubt I have strong enough leg muscles to tolerate 100 miles. After only 7 hours my legs were already weak. While the soreness was not bad, I could sense that another 5 hours of running would have put my legs into a serious state of pain. After 12 hours of running my legs will be shot to hell, and I can't understand how I can run another 12-15 hours on legs that can barely move.
Thinking back to the 100 mile race reports I have read, most runners experience this leg pain, it is the main obstacle in completing the race. I know it will be for me. Due to this I am revising my finishing odds to 10/90. I don't know why I give myself a 10% chance to finish, maybe it should be 1%.
