I realized, after checking comments, that I haven't updated my blog ever since before the ultra race.
I did the ultra race on October 23rd, which is almost 3 weeks ago. It was an awesome day. Windy, yeah. Pretty cold, yeah. But otherwise, a perfect day for a 50 km trail running. I took the lead with three other guys by the first 8 km. It was when I needed peeing. I stopped, looked for a good hiding place to do it. Then I went running and was just in my own world. It was relaxing. Of course, since I don't do a lot of running in trails (even though it is my favorite kind of running), I wasn't so used to run uphills and downhills. That went good though, by the first 30 km anyways. Then it went slower and slower. By 40 km, about 2 km before the marathon distance, I felt the legs weren't with me anymore. Yet, I didn't give up. I tried holding on. I started walking uphills and running downhills. By the last 2 km, suddenly my legs were with me even though all my energy was almost gone. I went running faster and faster and could run pretty fast the last few hundreds of metres to finish the race. Hell, it felt good to run an ultra. I'm definitely going to run many more ultras from now on.
However, the 2 weeks after the ultra, I noticed, even though I didn't feel injured or something, my body was unusually stiff and sore. Of course, my body was sore as well after my two marathon races. But this time, it felt different. I didn't feel like running as much the first days afterwards. When I finally got back to running a few days later, I just couldn't run as quickly. My legs just didn't have the energy, even though my body had. Now when I also got a lot to do at work, it is hard finding time to go running everyday. However, thanks to my boyfriend, who is a runner, or specifically an orienteer, himself, I get the motivation to go out running at days when I just feel like I can't do it. This weekend we will go to Denmark to run two different orienteering races. This Saturday, it is a 3.4 sprint orienteering. This Sunday, he is going to run 25 km orienteering and I'll run a 6 km orienteering. I know that I would be able to do the 25 km as well, but since I'm not a regular orienteer and just started orienteering seriously since August, I'm still learning. So 6 km is better for me. After this weekend, I'm planning to try to do a running schedule that will let me get back to running everyday or at least 5-6 times a week.
Keep on running, folks!
