Forecast calls for pain

I began my training for the Fall this week. I'm running in two races for the remainder of this year: 50k & 50 mile. This week has been rough, thus far. I have 8 weeks to prepare for a 50k with a Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim thrown in the middle, and every workout counts and requires total focused effort each time. The last two days have been brutal. Tempo and race pace on difficult terrain have left me tired. I'm not sore the following day, but I am tired. It's a good tired, though. I'm not hydrating adequately during these runs, due to the pace. Heck, I can only grunt during these runs. But, I still need to get better at hydrating to prevent my HR from elevating. The saving grace has been the weather: low humidity, mild temperatures, and lots of clouds. Things will get better as I adjust to the intensity. I was in the gym last night and back in the gym this morning in a grueling spin class doing intervals. I kept telling myself to push this morning and not let up until the instructor said we were done, even though my quads were burning and my mind was telling me to stop. There is great satisfaction and a feeling of accomplishment when pushing through the discomfort and finishing strong.

Next week will be interesting with the addition of two yoga classes. I've never experienced yoga and I'll be participating in an Astanga and a Bikram class with Olga. I am curious how many weak areas will be exposed during my first foray into yoga--too many to count, I'm certain. I'm going into it with an open mind and it will be comforting going with someone who has taught yoga. I may be running in a 10k road run next weekend, too. I have never run in a road 10k and have no idea what pace to run.