Ann's Adventures

Mindset, Strength, Yoga, Hiking and low volume running.

In the words of Coach Michael, “you have the fitness” – and after I finished my ‘event’ I gave him permission to say ‘I told you so’. While, it’s taken close to two years working with Michael, I finally figured out the mind shift the week of the ‘event’.

I met my first, second and STRETCH (bonus) Goals! (TLTR) In case you don’t want to read more. First goal was – move for 12 hours, second go at least 37 miles for new PR and stretch was more laps after 15 laps.

FIRST – I focused on calling it an ‘event’ NOT a race. The EVENT was: Hamster Endurance Runs – 6/12/24/32-hour options to go around the 2.6 mile loop around Lake Padden in Bellingham WA as many or as few as you wish as it’s “choose your own adventure”.  I love loop events!

Screenshot

GOALS:

In Jan signed up for the 24 hour event then in July was worried about my run fitness and had a not-so-great race in mid-June so confidence wasn’t high.  I learned a ton in the June race but not feeling the ‘24’ hour so attempted to drop to the 12 hour.  Apparently, the universe had other plans for me – the Race Director didn’t move me out of the 24 hour.

Goal 1 – Move for 12 hours.

Goal 2 – PR my ultra distance. My PR 37 miles was achieved in April at the Twilight Race. This meant to PR I needed 15 loops at Hamster (38.6 miles). If I avg 48 min per lap I could make 15 laps in 12 hours.

Goal 3 – BONUS LAPs depending on how day is going.

SIGNS from Universe:

Sunday of race week had a talk with Deb H. about strategy and brainstorming about 12 and 24. She gave me some great advice, like getting gators, thinking about longer breaks and sleep options.  Basically, getting me thinking about how to get my mindset in the right place and goals. In final thoughts she mentioned banana bread which led me to ask Steve to make the yummiest of banana / apple bread that was freaking amazing. Spoiler alert – that bread is the most excellent thing to enjoy on a lap with a wonderful Americano!!

Angie F. has reminded me several times that it’s a timed event – not a mileage event.  In other words, you are never really ‘quitting’ you are just ending your event/day as you see fit.

Wednesday, before Coach call with Coach Michael, when I tell him, so ‘they didn’t drop me to 12 hours, what do you think about me doing 24.  Of course, in his usual way of always believing that I can do more than I think, he said you have the fitness.  My response was – but my run volume has been SO low.  Then he reminds me – that I haven’t STOPPED moving in 2 years.  Yoga, 3 times a week at least, STRENTH training 2-3 times a week, HIKING at least once a week.    He has prepared me to be able to have confidence in anything that comes my way. Thank you, Coach!

So grateful to Lisa G who continues to text me to join her on hikes. Our last one was Mt Rainier.  When she invites me, I don’t think about if I can or can’t do it, I just say – tell me when and where to be and I am THERE!  I don’t look at miles/elevation – I just trust that I can do it and I have immense trust in her guiding/hiking skills! I am forever in debt for her showing me some wonderful places – look forward to more expeditions.

PODCASTs:

One More Hour – The Mental Cost of Looking Too Far Ahead in Your Backyard Ultra there were some great suggestions. This show has many great episodes that apply to every event.  Many of the mindset suggestions landed with me – so much so I’ve listened to the podcast at least twice! ONE LOOP at a TIME> be present in the loop, do think about how far you have left…..reset.

Everyday Ultra – the host is so positive you can’t help but get excited for whatever you want to do/accomplish!

YOGA

ONE LOOP at a TIME> be present in the loop…. leads me to my YOGA journey.  I found a yoga home by chance last September – Yoga 6 in Sammamish and Redmond.  I have been diligently attending the phenomenal mobility classes and slowing expanding to other classes. 

Many instructors mention how we can bring what we find on our yoga mat to our lives outside of yoga and that is truly the case for me.

Yoga reminds me to quiet my mind, be present, and BREATHE.  Other reminders – ‘notice what you notice’ and ‘notice how your body feels, without judgment’. I practiced these many times on Saturday. I am so grateful to the Yoga Six community – I am stronger physically and mentally.  Can’t wait for our next chapter!

PRE EVENT PREPARATION

The week leading into Hamster, it was all about MENTAL Prep, not fitness.

I started packing/organizing on Wed, which anyone who knows me, most races I am packing night before or day of….unless it’s super important to me to get right….think Kona and other ‘firsts’.

I have a tote that has two compartments. In one compartment I put Ziploc bags with labels so I could ‘easily’ find what I needed. I did a 12 hour clothes change and I realized I FOGOT to pack my Run Shorts – DOH!!! Thankfully I had my extra shorts that I was going to wear to drive home so changed into those.

I saved these bags for next ‘event’ and already created a label/bag for shorts!

The other section of the tote was for headlamp/lights, chargers, extra headphones, toilet paper, paper towels, massage gun and other misc. that I didn’t need on each lap.

MOTIVATION AND MINDSET REMINDERS

ONE BEAN AT A TIME – 15 Jelly Beans for my FLOOR Goal of a PR.

After each lap I would EAT one bean. once I accidently put two in my mouth and spit one BACK into the container. After that I pulled out my bag of beans and started eating handfuls….

My SIGN in case things got bad……Thankfully, again, I planned for the possible need and didn’t ‘need’ the sign but it was nice to see when I sat in my chair.

Mantra ‘tags’ to be ready. Turns out – didn’t need these so saving them for my ‘next event’

  • STAY LOOSE-RELAXED SHOULDERS
  • STEADY PACE STEADY BREATH
  • LEGS MIGHT BE TIRED I AM NOT
  • THIS LOOP ONLY
  • POSTURE POSTURE

OTHER DISTRACTIONS READY

  • Few Audio books ready to go.
  • Podcast’s queued up
  • Several of my favorite Apple Fitness treadmill workouts downloaded
  • Breathing app

Like the mantra’s I prepared I am thrilled I didn’t need to lean on the other distractions.

DATA TRACKING

Garmin Run Data Screens

Turned off the ‘mile’ alert – why? I did not need reminder for each mile time. The goal for day was ONE LOOP at a time. I would hit the lap button each time I finished a loop. For ‘guidance’ and for some gauge for the day I would write down each ‘loop’ time and when I saw the loop time, I pulled from my yoga practice – note the time for loop, but attached NO JUDGEMENT, just note it, record it and let it go.

I removed all data screens except for two –

  • time of day
  • lap time, heart rate, lap mileage

FOOD/HYDRATION

Let’s put it this way my cart looked like a teenager who had the munches! Spoiler alert – most everything CAME back home. Not eaten but sounded good to bring.

Savory: salt/vinegar chips, cashews, peanut butter pretzels, gardetto’s rye chips Sweets: Mint Oreos, Peanut Butter Oreos, different types of gels, chews, skittles

What I actually ate/drank:

  • Scratch Labs Strawberry Lemonade – every lap I did a packet in a handheld. Worked perfectly!!
  • Precision Hydration Gel – had 3-4
  • Precision Hydration electrolyte tab – one
  • Jelly Beans
  • Lemon Oreos
  • Apple/Banana Bread – was wonderful on one loop with an Americano that was delivered by Lisa and/or Tara can’t recall which one I ate the bread with…maybe both.
  • Arizona Ice Tea with ginseng – drank that at end of a couple of laps
  • Peanut Butter and Honey little Slider bun (one out of 8 brought)
  • BAG of Candy – Reese’s, Hershey bars, York PP, KitKat – I LOVED the York PP, Reese’s and a few Hershey bars. Kept them in my ‘food cooler’.
  • DINNER – FIVE GUYS little cheese burger and fries – thanks to Allison!

EVENT DAY

Got to the park about 6AM to set up! Got a close parking space then drug all my stuff and set up my ‘spot’.

The CALM before the start….

Head shot before start – KEY items….AMERICANO, fun hat and my ‘bean’ tracker!

Photo credit:  @takaos001/ Takao Suzuki. 

Also from  @takaos001…. I was the ‘last’ person to start the 24 hour….and I am off!

THE PLAN and EXECUTION of the PLAN

Start out ‘slow’ and relaxed – run easy for 5 min, walk 45 seconds. Walk the up the hills. I would do this combo for the first 10 laps.

My buddy Liz, was with me a few laps. She was impressed that I kept to my plan of run/walk time. Loved my time with Liz as we were at a good ‘slow’ pace. Often times, when I run with someone we will talk and I end up running too fast. We were at a perfect pace!

Photo credit:  @takaos001/ Takao Suzuki. 

Then changed it to 3 min run, 30 second walk. Walked 2 full laps near end and after eating the ‘bomb’ dinner.

The breakdown for first 14/15 laps.

Angie and Lisa had me take a 10 min break after lap 10, but actually did about 12 min. Was on track to hit lap 15 before 12 hours, but took a longer break to have dinner and change clothes. Could have hit my PR before dinner, but didn’t want to be eating cold fries/burger. Took a bit too long of a break, will do better next time. The lap after dinner was a FULL walk LAP. Wanted food to settle and my heels took a long time to feel better.

After dinner/clothes change and this was AFTER the dinner walk lap, cause I am running here – and of course still smiling. Photo credit:  @takaos001/ Takao Suzuki. 

Once I hit my PR – got my 5 bonus bean jar out since it’s empty – that means I hit my PR of 20 laps/ 52 Miles! (no that is not powder on the top – it’s sticker remnants.)

So… I realized that since I had 5 beans in the bonus jar, that had me thinking that would be all I’d do…focus on those last 5 laps. You know that feeling when your training plan says 5 miles, you are in mid run thinking wow why is 5 miles so hard when last week I did 10 miles. Basically my brain was thinking holy cow let’s just make these last 5 laps…4…3…2. and thank goodness, the LAST LAP. Guess next event I need to put more bonus beans in the jar to see what happens! As it is I am THRILLED with how I finished. I finished HAPPY, HEALTHY and wanting to do it AGAIN.

The blue numbers are my ‘lap times’ – or close to them funny how hit lap button then promptly forgot the number – so those are ‘close’ enough. I really liked this method as it took a lot of the anxiety and pressure off! As normal I am VERY consistent.

RECOVERY

Holy cow I am so amazed and grateful for this 58 year old body! My feet/heels definitely hurt when I went to bed on Sat/Sun 1am of event day. Sun, first 10 min of walking feet were not happy, but then they were mostly fine. Since not a ton of climbing legs were pretty much FINE. My feet wow, just wow – they were pristine – no blisters, no toenail issues! I will ALWAYS use ‘Salty Britches’ (https://getsaltybritches.com/) before a run, hike or just a long walk. AMAZING stuff – plus woman owned business!

Well, I think I covered enough of the EVENT…. I forgot a ton I am sure, but got the key things.

Again, HUGE Shout outs to my ‘village’ for this event.

Steve – my biggest supporter, who texted me during the day cheering me on (as always). The banana bread of course and putting up with my quirkiness. He is just all around fantastic life partner! He also reminds me that when I set my mind on something – I can and will do it.

Michael – one of my best coaches! Always telling me I can do ‘hard’ things and trying to get me to believe that I have the fitness to do the things I want to do. Trust the process. I am beyond grateful to be prepared to do most anything I willing to try.

Angie – for being Angie, being my pandemic buddy where we both signed up to do The Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee 1000K ( 634.84), and I decided to do 1000 miles the summer of 2020. We also did my first ‘unofficial’ 50K (50K for Grey) Both started me on the path to this event and my other Ultra’s this year.  Feeding the ultra running bug with videos, race recons and dangling ideas out there for me. Loved sharing the course/day with Angie! Thank you for all the advice.

Lisa – fixing my tent(s) on race day so they didn’t blow away, placing the Americano orders, finding my headlamps…when I couldn’t see them, all the hikes we went on and listening to me yammer on about all things…..

Allison – positive attitude and coming up to support for a couple of hours – and getting FIVE GUYS for US!!!

Deb and Chris – ROCKSTARS for this race. They taught me how to ‘do it in style’ and do my own thing. I got to see it a couple of years ago, when I played Allison’s role and get them FIVE GUYS on Sat and then brought Coke/Coffee the next morning. When I left at midnight they were sleeping in their chairs getting some much needed rest before continuing on.

Haven’t signed up for another ultra – yet, but will do Loop out the year (did this last year) and I am on their main website page – https://www.trailtherapyrunning.com.

https://www.trailtherapyrunning.com/loopouttheyear -3/6/8 hour options!

2027 planning – Ancient Lakes (April 2027) and Hamster again as it was picked up by another Race Director, so while we thought this was last year, it’s NOT.

2026 has been so fun trying something new.

  • Run Forest Run 25K in Feb – so hard but so fun – made wonderful running friends.
  • Ancient Lakes 50K+ in April – already excited for next year – such a beautiful venue and love the 3 little loops X 2.
  • Twilight, my first night run – 37 miles – AMAZING experience – so thankful that Angie told me about this one.

  • Bristow Loop Run in June – another night race that I wasn’t happy with but still did 50K and LEARNED a lot which is why I did soooo much better mentally with Hamster! Best was solo camping in my 4 Runner.

Until next ‘event’ or adventure!