Don't tell the coach but I did an unscheduled run in the trails yesterday. The organisers of the Knee Knacker do training runs on the course for a couple months before the July 12 race so myself and Mike McGee, celebrating his 50th birthday in a few weeks, went to Grouse Mountain yesterday to run. The weather was typical of late - rain and more rain but mild temperature-wise. This was a day to test the shin to see what I'd be up against in two weeks in Wyoming although I'm pretty sure the trails of the Bighorn are not this gnarly thank goodness. I figured why go all the way to the Scorched Sole in Kelowna when I didn't know how I'd feel after a couple hours let alone 50km. Plus this was an amazingly busy weekend for kids' sports and the Fun Fair at their school so I'm glad to have been home and part of it. What I got out of this run was:

I'm happy with my cardio

I could feel the shin after an hour or so but wasn't painful

I practiced my rolling technique when falling (the legs have forgotten how to traverse quickly, and cautiously, the steep downhills)

used my new MEC water bottle holder and it worked fine

It worked out to four hours and a little over 16 miles with a few stops and generally running easy. At least I have a better idea of where that section of the course goes and what the terrain is like.
Six weeks ago I was in the best running shape probably of all time. I know that running fitness doesn't transfer over to the bike and vice versa so when I started biking a lot my cardio was great but the legs would tire quickly at high efforts. It was hard getting my heart rate up without the legs going anaerobic. Then after a few weeks of riding the legs caught up to the cardio in terms of fitness. Now with the run yesterday the cardio still felt okay and legs actually pretty good. Of course today I fell like I've run my fastest marathon - the quads are extremely sore and walking down stairs is a challenge. Six weeks ago I could run some nasty trails for four hours and would be a bit tired the next day but pretty much good to go running again. Just shows you how easy it is to lose it over time.

Hannah with the trophy for going undefeated in the weekend's tournament culminating in a thrilling double open-ended inning win: