Rainy Training

I'm on vacation. I keep telling myself that when I roll out of bed at 7:30 to start my day.  Especially on days like today when it's raining out and I'm going trail running on two less than 100% legs.

Since I have the time off though, how could I not take advantage of it?  Surely it would be a greater crime to have all this free time and not spend it training at least a little bit, right?

Right?

So off I drove, straight into a massive cloud bank at the Dirt Mulholland trail near the Nike Missile site.  You've seen the images in the past here in the blog so you have a vague idea of what the terrain looks like.  Today, you couldn't see anything up there!  If the zombie apocalypse were to begin in Encino Hills, I wouldn't have known it until it was far too late. I'm talking about 20 feet visibility tops.  Fortunately, I wore a poncho and two layers of technical shirts and fleecewear to keep me reasonably warm for my two-hour run.

I know that one year ago, there's no way I would have ran today. But poor weather is so rare here that I feel compelled to take advantage of an opportunity to harden me up.  I don't want to enter anymore races where I'm concerned about or even fearful of weather.  That's a promise I made to myself almost immediately after Ironman Arizona concluded.

My legs made it through most of the run pain-free.  But "pain" is a subjective term here.  Was in excruciating pain?  No, not at all.  Did I feel tightness in my right leg at the IT band juncture on my knee? Most definitely.  My left knee fared far better than it has in the weeks following IMAZ.  So that's progress.  Still, later today my right knee required an icing treatment to keep the inflammation down.

Following my run I was soaked to the bone, to the point where I could barely open the locks to my car door because my fingers were borderline numb.  Yet I drove home feeling good and satisfied I took a mental step forward in my training today.  I know it's a little crazy. A bit hardcore.  And I'm still thinking that maybe I'm training too much too soon following IMAZ.  But, I kept a promise with myself.  And for that, I'm proud.

186 days and counting.