Trail Review: Seven lakes

Exodus 33:14 “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Eventually it all comes crashing down. I learned this week that you can't run over 70 miles, work, parent and wife and feel like a rockstar.
I stretch. I roll. I eat well. I hydrate.
BUT.
I sleep like CRAP. I am a little bit high energy so when my "Tank" is empty..it isn't pretty.
You know what happens...I CRASH. And like a bad accident, I got the crap beat out of me last week.
I actually scheduled a massage to try and off set the damage. It was lovely.

Sunday and Monday are my long runs. Back to back.
Monday night I am over tired. Sore. Cranky. Emotional. My legs twitch and convulse preventing me from sleeping.
Its awful.
Tuesday was just PLAIN UGLY. I listened to my body. I was beginning to get sick and rested. I am actually on vacation. This made it nice to rest and not be on my feet for 9 hours.

IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO REST. I love running. But you know what I HATE. Having multiple bad runs in a week because my body is begging for a recovery.
I was a MESS Tuesday. I wanted so bad to run..And I could have. It took more discipline to NOT run then to run.

I have had my share of injuries. Running with my Monday group has reminded me that most of the time we trip or fall is when we are tired.
Our body as a whole is the same way. I can feel myself getting sick. My knee is more weak. I was having a issue with my quad. I knew I needed to let my body recover and heal a little bit.

This week is on track for another 70+ mile week.
My milage gives me more confidence for Cloudsplitter in October. It is not going to help me with the elevation, this Ultra is still going to kick me in the teeth.

The hard part about training this kind of mileage is that I am training distance NOT SPEED.

SOO, You know the other thing that is going to KICK MY TEETH in..THE CRIM at the end of the month. I am going to be riding the struggle bus for 10 miles!

SEVEN LAKES TRAIL REVIEW:

MaryAnn took me out here this morning. We met at 7. The rain stopped for us to get started.
We started our run out with a mile on the pavement to get to the beginning of the trail. Within the first 20 minutes of our run we had seen multiple deer.
The beginning of the trail is more of a open field. With 7 lakes surrounding you, there is always a beautiful backdrop. The first lake we came to is Dickinson Lake.

It is one of the larger ones.
The trail then headed into the woods. But the woods are very open. The park burns the forest making visibility through the woods clear. It makes the trees look so big and strong.
Honestly, Maryann was so sweet as she tried to teach me the trail. I WAS SO CONFUSED.

It seemed like the trail would split into 3's.
We left one lake then headed to another lake.

Spring Lake. Apparently this is the "Hidden Gem." when it comes to fishing. You can only access it by foot, and it is quite a hike if you are dragging you kayak.

Seven Lakes many years ago was a gravel pit.

Our next section of the trail was through the gravel pit and around the camp ground. It is here that we ran around another lake. The gravel terrain made our footing stiff and firm, but we had some climbing to do.

The last section of the trail was dense and more woodsy. The bugs were thick. The trail was more rooty making you have to pay attention to where you were landing. This was fun, until you fall. MaryAnn took a terrible spill. By terrible, I mean the results left her scraped up and bleeding in multiple places. BUT, the tumble itself.. it was the most graceful fall I have ever witnessed. She fell as soft as a feather pillow.  MaryAnn even had a smile on her face. She looked bewildered. She didn't miss a beat. She gently got up, giggled, looked at the dirt all over her right side. It was from her shoulders to her ankles and she didn't even bother to wipe herself off.
I was taking notes. If she could teach others how to fall I would want to learn from her!

We had 2 miles left in our 8 mile run from that point. With another mile in the woods and a mile on the road we finished strong and sweaty.

Seven Lakes had a lot of good elevation. MaryAnn made me work the hills. She doesn't walk them all. They kicked my butt. She kicked my butt!

I will not be going out here alone, but I will be back, hopefully MaryAnn will be my tour guide..Like 20 more times till I get it down.
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Here is a great article from Runners World on Rest and Recovery; http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/rest-and-recovery-for-runners

I need these reminder when I am battling myself, my mind and my body.