PEAKED!

Woooohooooo. Peak week is over and what a week it was and overall, amazingly, I feel pretty good. During the week I was suppose to run 20 miles over 4 days, but ended up running 17 miles over 3 days. I was just tired on Tuesday night and had to rest. Yesterday was my peak long run in which I knocked out 22.3 miles of all trails in Rock Creek Park. The best part about it, if my Garmin read it correctly, is between all the up and down hills, I climbed 9,300' total! That is great considering Hat Run is 9,800' over 31 miles.

For the most part, everything worked out well. I did about 7 on my own and then Mark joined for me for 12 and then I finished the last 3 on my own. Of course, the last 3, rather than take the flat road, I went right back onto the trails and continued the up and down hills. My nutrition worked out well in which I drank Infinite and hit my gu's every 45 minutes and one of the times woofed down pringles and PnJ sandwhich. Only thing I discovered is that my trail shoes are too small and I kept smashing my toes against the front. My big toe and 2nd toe are trashed on both feet and I'll be losing some nails pretty soon. I took a picture to post here but it was too disgusting so I deleted it. I'll be buying new shoes this week and will need to break them in.

Overall I felt good and solid during the run. We walked each of the hills and still averaged 12:20's overall. I guess to me that is pretty good considering the inclines. At the end I was getting tired, but never bonked and truthfully, if I had to, could have kept going.

Today, my legs were not sore, just my toes were busted up. I needed 10.6 to hit 50 miles for the week and finally felt like I was in a groove around mile 4. Than the miles just started to float by. As I got toward the end I just felt like I had to end today with even miles so I finished with 11 and averaged 9:43's (this time it was all paved path/roads, and ended the last 1.7 on a long up hill out of the park).

With all this running I was asking myself today, what is really holding me back from more miles, is it my body, or it is my mind. The bod felt strong, but the mind seems to hold me back from saying that's too many miles, or that's enough for the week. I feel like I'm getting too that point where it is time to just let go......I am close and it will come. soon...but for now - let's taper and be mentally and physically strong for my first 50K in less than 3 weeks!

Totals for the week: (never experienced these numbers before)
50.4 miles
9:14 hours

Hard to let go...

Thursday night I banged out another 6 with Mark on a night run through Glover Park trails to the C&O canal. What a night, temperature was around 65 degrees. Friday was brutal as I had to go to NY for the day - there and back a tiring 10 hours of driving.

Saturday's long run turned out pretty well although the wind was really blowing. I was suppose to run 8 on my own then hook up with Brian to do 12 more but after a night of no sleep because Thomas was up all night, I couldn't get started at 8am as planned so I met Brian at 9:30 and we ran 12 miles through lots of hills in DC and then I did 8 on my own on the Custis Trail. Overall I felt well, but was getting tired towards the end, gee go figure - 1o hours driving on Friday, no sleep Friday night, then run 20 miles...hmmmm.

Sunday, after a 2nd night of no sleep - turns out Thomas is sick, I couldn't get in my run at 8am, Carol was gone most of the day and as I type this I have officially bagged my 10 miles I was suppose to do today. Not sure how I feel about this but it is hard to let go sometimes to just relax when you have a goal to hit a certain amount of miles and you don't. It definitely plays with you mentally. Well, time to move on and look forward to one last long week of miles!!

Totals for the week:
36 miles
6:15 hours

Routine

So here was my typical schedule for the week

Tuesday
6:15am wakeup
7:30am arrive at work
6:00pm arrive home from work
60 minutes with Thomas
7:00pm put Thomas to bed, I fell asleep next to crib
7:20pm wake up
7:30pm treadmill for 50 minutes
8:45pm dinner, spend few minutes w/Carol
9:00pm shower
9:45pm asleep

Wednesday
6:00am wakeup to Thomas singing : )
7:30am arrive at work
6:15pm arrive home from work
45 minutes with Thomas
7:00pm put Thomas to bed, I fell asleep next to crib again
7:25pm wake up
7:40pm treadmill for 50 minutes
8:55pm dinner, spend few minutes with Carol
9:15pm shower
10:00pm asleep

Just trying to get it all in.

Today just felt right

I met Mark at Pierce Mill today to bang out the last 10 miles for the week. It was a failed attempted in some regards as we hit the trails which at first appeared to be clear of ice and snow and after a couple of miles they just became a sheet of ice so we divered back to the dreaded pavement. To make things even more interesting right before we started my Garmin locked up and then just over a mile in, Mark's Garmin went blank - so for the rest of the run, we had to guess on how far we were going. I definitely want to hit that 10 mile mark to put the icing on the cake for a very solid week.

During the run, I felt pretty good, considering I did 18 yesterday. There were times I felt tired, but my legs felt pretty good overall. It was a nice feeling especially after the 16 mile run I did 3 weeks ago in which I suffered miserably on the day after run due to being sick. Today was a different story and toward the end I felt Mark needed a little pick me up so I picked up the pace the last .5 just for kicks. Such a nice run that just felt right.

So - did I get the 10 in?? I just plotted the route on Gmap-Pedometer and wouldn't you know - 10.1! Fantastic!!

Totals for the week:
42.1 miles
6:52 hours

2-more weeks to go before taper...

Don't minimize the upcoming race...

People ask sometimes what I think about on the run and sometimes I think about nothing at all and then there are other times my mind just wanders from thought to thought. During the run today I kept thinking about the race and thinking it's only 30+ miles. WHAT?!?!?! am I serious?!?!?!? I have never gone this distance before. Sure it's only 4 miles more then a marathon but I have never done a marathon on trails, nor as hilly as this race is going to be. 9800 feet of elevation gain! 9800 feet! That is serious!

Part of my thoughts minimize the distance because of all the stuff I've been reading - between Bart Yasso's book and Dean Karnazes Ultramarathon Man book, the Ultrarunning Magazines, etc... and how 50, even 100 mile runs are the real ultras and the 50k is really the lowest of the ultra's. Just like comparing a 5k run to a marathon or a sprint tri to an Ironman, 50k is the lowest to lets say a 100-miler. However, these are baby steps and the 50k is a big step into this new adventure I'm exploring!

Had a moment on the run....

SOLID! That's how I can describe today's run. 18 SOLID miles. I started at Roosevelt Island and did 8 miles, 4 there and back, on the Custis Trail and then met Brian and did another 10 on Custis Trail - all hills and felt good the entire time. But, I had a moment on the run. Around mile 16, running on this small bridge, I backed off on the pace and let Brian get a little bit ahead of me. During this time, I felt myself drift away a little, became totally relaxed, then looked within myself and then came back. It was an interesting moment and it didn't mean much to me until after the run, and even now, when I look back, that moment propelled through the last 2 miles and I felt could have gone further. It was a mental lift that I'm learning to tap into.

Total run time was 2:52 for 18 miles (9:30 pace). Quite pleased.

Ut oh! My first Race nightmare...

That's right. Last night I tossed and turn thinking about the 50k race which is only 5 weeks away! I kept having these dreams of running a loop of the course and taking a break to go back to my car to put on a different pair of shoes. The only problem was I couldn't find my car in this huge parking garage and once I got to the car I remembered I left my key at the aid station. As a result, I lost over 2 hours before I could start up again. Keep in mind the first loop was only 4 miles and I had 27 more to go........

Needless to say, it was a restless night and I was pretty beat today at work...

Tough weekend ahead, time to crank some miles.

Social time or workouts???

I should know better by now. This week I went to the hockey game Tuesday night and a work event on Wednesday night. Although I enjoyed both, it forced me to cram my workouts in. On Monday, which should have been a rest day after running all weekend, I was on the treadmill to crank out some miles. There was no time to run on Tuesday and Wednesday nights with my social activities so I had to double it up on Thursday and ran 4+ miles before work and 5+ miles after work. However, I didn't get to spend anytime with Thomas or for that matter spend much time with Carol for a couple of days. It's interesting now with Thomas in the picture, how I value his time more and more and when I do other activities that takes me away from our time together, it really weighs in on me. Typically during the week, I'll come home from work, spend time with him until he goes to bed and then jump on the treadmill for my workout.

As the training becomes more time consuming, the balance becomes more difficult and the need to spend time with family it very important. During these times, there just isn't much time for social activities.

Nice week back in the saddle...

Considering over my half my miles were on the treadmill this week, this was still a very strong week for me. Especially after my outstanding performance of ZERO miles the prior week! So between Tuesday and Thursday, I got in 9.5 miles. Yesterday, it was cold and raining outside so I bagged running outside to avoid a repeat of getting sick and ran 7.5 on the treadmill. In order to get some hills in, every 8 minutes I cranked the incline up to 12% and fast walked uphill for 2-3 minutes. At one point I whacked my head on the basement ceiling - that didn't feel to good but good thing I was holding on when it happened otherwise I would have been laid out flat on the floor. : )

Today was great, sunny, 42 degrees, and got to run in shorts. Somehow I convinced Mark to do 13 miles today on a very hilly course. Man, he hung in there and I'm sure he will feel it tomorrow, but thankful for the company. Overall, I felt strong and steady the entire time and was pleased with this week's solid effort.

Totals for the week:
Miles: 30
Time: 5:07