Recovery Hike? Hmm...

Feel's like forever since I last blogged. I'm such a creature of habit, that even skipping one day feels like a complete break in routine...

For a quick catch-up:
Monday - CrossFit
Tuesday - CrossFit and no AB practice as Eric's suggestion knowing that it was going to be an Academy WOD
Wednesday - CrossFit that has my gluts still tender... 1&1/4 Front Squats, Low Bar Good mornings and 200 Russian KBS w/53#.  It was an AWESOME training session... full of excellent coaching, powerful new movements, skill work and an opportunity at the end to test my KBS limit.
Thursday - No CrossFit, chose to sleep in a little longer since I have a half marathon on Saturday.  Coach surprised me by telling me to make sure I showed up for practice.  Good thing he had too, as I'd planned to take the night off.  SO, GLAD I DIDN'T!

Bastards! Tonight's quick and dirty jaunt through the wilderness will begin at 6:30pm at Chantry Flats. Please bring your Adventure Passes, headlamps, and trail shoes. RSVP in comments...

As I was driving up Santa Anita I started receiving texts from Coach.  He was stuck at the Academy preparing for the Maltz Challenge first thing Friday morning...

"Hey... you're hiking a 25 min. Out/back Upper Winter Creek"

Sounded great to me!  I love hiking that section of the Hoegee's Loop.  It's not overly steep, allows lots of views into the valley and is easy to run back down... oh and no water crossings.

"Help Dave O administer a Hoegee's Loop for the rest of the crew.  They are headed "down" first."

Sounded like great fun, we'd all meet somewhere in the middle.

"You'll basically walk/jog until they run past you."

Dave and I decided to make a game of it... first runner to pass Roadkill wins but they all had to race it because Roadkill wasn't supposed to go more than 25 minutes up the mountain.  Ha!

Result?  I had the glorious pleasure of jogging/hiking my way up Upper Winter Creek Trail while the sun was setting.  I made it a lot farther than I expected. (maybe 2 miles in) I had finished the climb and was starting down to the fork before the first runners caught me... Tom & Monty of course!  Those two cruised by me like they had been jogging on flat land, not a heavy breath or drop of sweat between them.  I love our racers, they display what I aspire towards!

I slowly walked for a bit longer while the rest of the runners went by, and when I caught the headlamps of the last of my teammates, I turned around and started running home... hoping I'd be able to stay ahead of them.  Not a chance.  Kathy and Lynn passed me within half a mile of our descent, forcing me to pick up my pace or get left in the pitch dark on the mountain with all of the lions, tigers and bears.. Oh My!  

While I say that laughing, I really did pick up my pace to not let them get away from me.  First because I didn't want the team to have to wait for me and second because it was completely dark at that point and while I felt safe running alone, it's not smart in case of mishap.

OMG, it was so much fun trying to keep those girls from getting away!   Granted they weren't running super fast in the dark either, but it was great fun chasing them and winning because they never got away from me.

As for today... my gluts are thanking me for the hike, because it loosened them back up very nicely after Wednesday's glut intensive.  Granted it probably wouldn't be called a recovery hike, but it was still the perfect prep for tomorrow's Great Race of Agoura Half Marathon!

Time for bed.  G'night peeps!