Back to the Cypress, for an intentionally slow, low heart-rate, run.  I am not the best at following my learned trainer’s instructions, but my building  anxiety over how to survive the 5-6 hour Bridger has me paying better attention to her instructions!   So, I slow may pace, keeping my pulse in Zone 2 or low Zone 3, the fat burning range that should be sustainable for longer periods of time, and without hitting the proverbial wall.

So, instead of running by Cypress out-and-back in 57 minutes, I clock in at about 1:05.   Felt good afterwards, ready for more.  Which is the whole idea.  Like the British boarding school pupil getting paddled for misbehaving and then saying, “thank you sir, may I have another?”  I need to take this “punishment” over and over.  As I finish, clicking my Garmin watch as I turn up the driveway, I have no doubt that I  could turn around and run the 5.5 mile Cypress again.  But could I do it again, again, again, and again, which is the running-time equivalent of the brutal 20 mile Bridger?   That’s the question for the day.