What end of the California are you at? I'm way up north, about 1.5 hours from the CA/OR state line. Most of the events I've participated in are Pacific Coast Trail Runs. If you have other suggestions for California trail running events, I'd love to hear about them. Trails2Run is from the Auburn area, I believe. We're the only Californians here.

Hi Everyone! I won't keep you on the edge of your seats any longer-the parent/teacher conferences went fine. The music teacher was there and after some discussion my youngest is going to start playing base again and my oldest is sticking with his decision to not play and go to music composition instead. There! That's taken care of! What's the next bomb they're going to lay on me? So I got a 12 miler in today-all on roads (paved and dirt) just under 2 hrs. My longest run now to date. My IT was fine until the last 1/2 mile but it wasn't that bad so I'm not too worried about it. I'm going to NH tomorrow for a strength & conditioning clinic (continueing ed credits for me) all day so I won't get any miles tomorrow (almost like a rest day) but we'll be doing some hands-on learning with kettle bells, medicine balls and other training toys so that will be fun. I saw one of my new training clients this morning and she's all sore and happy from yesterday's workout -that means I did a good job. She worked with a trainer a few years ago that I know so my challenge was to kick her butt like he used to-talk about pressure! So far so good. I've got the house to myself-the kids are already gone with their Dad so I should be working on anatomy. I'll actually be on my own for most of the weekend. I go to NH tomorrow for the day and Jack is leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to Boston and race in the New England XC Championships for our club on Sunday. There weren't enough interested women to field a womens team plus I have no speed so that's why I'm not going (race against college chicks in bikini bottoms-yeah right-been there, done that-finish nearly last!) Have a fabulous weekend!

Good luck Kitrin! I hope the sweats and the chest tightness isn't an anxiety response to your race! Chill woman and have fun! At my recent ski instructor training clinic I went to, an instructor friend of mine told this great story on how he gets beginner skiers to calm down. He knows they're nervous and afraid and its fear that holds a lot of adults back from learning how to ski. So he tells them they have two buckets to pick from to put the fear-one is fear so that they stay all tense and nervous and the other is exhilaration so they can let go of the fear and just be in the moment of skiing down the hill. So which bucket? Have a great time and enjoy the moment! Kelly

(race against college chicks in bikini bottoms-yeah right-been there, done that . . .

Uh, no thank you! Nice run, Kelly. Glad your IT band is behaving itself. Good luck the Jack! Kitrin - Congrats on your run! Now that you have the first one out of the way . . . what's next?? And yes, you need to get to a doctor and get things figured out before you put yourself outta commission. Today's run was tough, tough, tough. It was so humid here, and I think that contributed to my demise. I was only about 5 min into my run when I had to stop and take a bunch of deep breaths. I had that feeling like you can't take a deep enough breath? It didn't happen again after that, but I felt zapped the entire run. I was about 3 miles from finishing when I started getting really nauseated. I thought I had been taking in enough fuel, but obviously not. I finally had to turn around and head out. I was fine if I was running downhill or a flat, but any size of an incline, the nausea would get bad again. I am assuming the humidity took more out of me than I'm used to. I was literally dripping sweat after only 30 min and spent almost all of the balance of the run with no shirt on. It was just too uncomfortable. My hydration pack it so wet, you'd think it rained on me the entire time. I took in: 32 oz of fluids (GU2O/malto mix), 1 1/3 Clif bars, 4 shot blocks, and 2 S-caps. Plus I had a bagel w/cc about an hour before I ran (bagel - 50g carbs). When I got done, I went to my friend's house to shower, drink about 20 oz of milk w/Ovaltine, she fed me an apple and 2 pieces of toast, and about 1.5 hrs after the run, I had a veggie burrito. It's now about 5 hours since I finished and 3 hours since I ate the burrito, and I'm still hungry. Hope the rest of your weekend goes good -

Bummer about your run Leslie...how long were you out there for? Did you take it easy at the start and warm-up? Were you trying to keep your HR in a particular zone?

I was out there for 2:35:25 and did 14 miles. I took it easy for the first 5 min or so for a warm up. After that, I was trying to keep my HR between 150-160. I have it set to go off at 170 for when I'm climbing hills, and that lets me know to back off some.

So even though I don't have all the details...sounds like you're a big sweater (sweat a lot-not the big pink fuzzy kind LOL at my own joke ) You said you took 2 S-caps-you probably needed more. The directions on the bottle recommend 1 every 30 min in humid conditions. Also, you could have been pushing it too hard for the conditions especially if you're not used to them. And unless your veggie burrito had some beans in it I think you should have had a burger to eat-more protein to help fill you up.

I do sweat when out there, but not as much as I was after the first 30 min, it was excessive for me. I wondered about taking more S-caps, but didn't follow through. I was pushing it like I've been suppose to be doing on these runs, even though I knew the humidity would be a problem factor - and it was. The veggie burrito had beans, rice, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, sour cream, and guac.

I know you didn't ask for any advice but and you certainly don't have to listen but you have to have this stuff under control before your next race.....I just want to see you succeed

I'm up for any advise. I'm also wondering how much my stomach problems added to this run. I wasn't able to eat well Wednesday and was fairly careful Thurs and Fri. I think I need to start keeping a food log to ensure I'm eating enough for the mileage I'm putting in each week. I truly do appreciate any advise from Ms. 100-miler!!

Just read your run info Leslie. My opinion is you may want to look at two things: hr, and hydration. You only took in 32 oz of fluid, on a day you are sweating like that, over 2 1/2 hours? The recommended amount of fluid intake under "normal" conditions is 20oz per hour. That means you should have had twice as much as you did,at least. The nausea, just to confuse you some more, may be due to too high of an intensity of effort, too little water, and too MUCH salt. Lack of water then adding salt is not a good combo. Check out this link www.sportsscientists.com/ and their posts on hydration and salt. These guys know what they are talking about. The only time I have taken salt on a run is during the 50 I ran, and it made me very nauseous. VERY. It was so unpleasant I never want to experience it again. I have been trying to figure this out for two years now. I haven't gotten nauseous since the 50 and I attribute it to slowing down, and not taking salt on my runs. You can trust your taste for salt. If you're curious as to whether you're getting enough, take a bite of a pretzel. It'll taste awesome if you need salt, not so great if you don't. If you're sweating a lot, you need more water than salt from what I've seen. You can take care of the salt need with very little. I used to get nauseous on my long runs before the 50 when they started hitting 3 hours. I slowed my pace to do low hr training, increased my runs up to 30 miles, and had no nausea. During the 50K I just did, lived on honey and water...no nausea. I got dehydrated for the last 10 miles though, and it made my run much harder. Punch all those variables into your computer and crunch em and let us know what you think. In nutrition, like the field of psychology, there is no metanarrative that rules the discussion. Or, as everybody likes to kick around now, we're all an experiment of one. I don't believe that, as I believe we're all the same for the most part biologically, but no one perspective on how to eat or train has won the day, currently. So you have to read, discuss, think, and apply and come to your own conclusions. To me, I'm enjoying the low hr training. I trained most of this year running in the hr's you're talking about, and it was tough. When my mileage got high, it hurt. When I slowed down to below 150 for all my runs, aches started to go away. It was still too high though as I was still experiencing tendonitis in my feet and my groin has a strain. I now keep my hr at 135-140, and I feel much better. I'm convinced this is the way to go, but that's just me. I know Kelly does low hr training too. I wonder if Jack does? I think I remember Kelly saying he does. It's much less stressful, but takes a long time to build aerobic fitness. I have a long ways to go, but I'm hoping for good things to come. I can run ~11:15/mile at hr of 135 for two hours currently. Now it's cooler again I'm expecting that to go even lower, or quicker. Give it some thought. Pick up Van Aaken's Method from Amazon for a buck, or Maffetone's Method. They're similar. Whatever, just my perspective. I ran for two hours, 9 miles, on the trails in the gorge. Very humid, near 100%. Felt great. Took in no calories, just water, all at hr=135-140. Beautiful. Stunning colors.

Part 2 The course winds in and out of wooded portions along the northern shore of Lake Grapevine near DFW airport. By the time we pulled out of the first batch of trees near the shoreline, the trail flattened out and I had plenty of room to set my own pace. The lake was reflecting a beautiful blue sky, the birds were out in force, and I could enjoy the run. It seems that the “bad night before makes for a good run” theory is kinda true. I stayed conservative, checking my posture and breathing now and then, but felt fine. I had the feeling that my right ankle would be sore after the race (I was right) because the trail persistently slanted down to my left, but I hoped the return portion would compensate. My husband met me at the turn-around with my homemade mocha and a tank top, so I could change out of my long sleeves. I was happy to have the coverage at the start, but I was ready to shed it now. He said, “You look good,” I said, “I feel good,” and I took off again. It was so nice to have him there. My watch said 1:02 and I was excited. Maybe I can finish this in under 2:00 I thought. This trail is mostly uphill on the out leg, so I was VERY happy to have downhill for the return. I was in the bottom third of my running group, which is consistent with my performance during my one year of jr. high cross-country in the past. I finally found my stride and chugged along, pushing myself pretty hard I thought, until I hit my training threshold at 1:45. I slowed a little and breathed a little harder, but I knew I was close to the end. I knew I could force myself to the finish no matter what, even if I had to walk, but I wanted to finish strong. Almost as if it knew, my right calf muscle started to convulse when I rounded the last quarter mile and saw the end. The race ended along the shore (through squishy pebbles that moved like sand) and then up a ridge and stairs into a pavilion. I thought, “These trail runners are evil!” as I felt my calf complain more and more frequently. I couldn’t run those stairs, but I jogged the last 5-10 steps after them, so I consider that a victory. I had finished the longest distance of my life and I was not puking. My husband met me with flowers (how did he find time to pick those up?) and a loud “I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!” My watch said 2:02 and I was happy with that. I walked off the calf trouble, wiped myself down with a wet washcloth, and we went to eat and buy me some ice cream. I earned it.

Hey Kitrin, that was awesome! Great report! Your hubby's are all good guys. I'm going to have to up my game if I don't want to look like a dolt. Your run sounds awesome. It seems like the distance was just right for the amount of distance you covered in training evidenced by the cramping at the end. That's where you want it to happen if it has to! What now girlfriend?! Leslie, you got a good plan going; change one variable, keep the others constant, note effects. Let us know how it goes. This whole piece of the puzzle seems to take the most experimentation to figure out it looks like from reading and my limited experience.