200

Some thoughts on hitting a new milestone in my running life: 200+ miles in a single month. It was just this time last year that I was anxiously looking at my logs, wondering when I would hit the magical mark of 100 miles in a month - right before I crashed and burned. It would be six more months after running a peak of 92.7 miles last April before I finally cracked the three-digit barrier - in October, the month I ran my first ultra.

One for the Heart

A little color beside the trail

Woke up feeling kind of crappy today - like so much warmed-over yesterday. You know how sometimes when you take a day off the body can just sort of go all whiny on you?

"Hey, feel that twinge behind that knee?  That wasn't there yesterday. And that chronically achy spot in that left foot hasn't gone away yet either.  Maybe we better take another day off. It'll do us good, right?"

And then I noticed something else: I didn't want to go out and run. The day was gray to match my mood and the sky was threatening rain. I didn't really have a plan for where I was going to run, I didn't feel like getting wet, and I was sick of all of the places I've been running so much lately. Another trot down the Erie Canal trail? Meh. And the neighborhood loop? Yuck! I couldn't even work up any enthusiasm to go out to one of the local trails.

This was bad.

Training Talk, Part 2 - A More Excellent Way

Dark Shade Creek (near Windber, PA) - Thanksgiving morning, 2011

In Part 1 of this topic I shared something of my training history and results prior to my first ultra.  The conclusion of that story was that a change in my training was badly needed.

Training Talk, Part 1 - A Hacker's Approach

This blog is named "The Running Hacker" for a reason.

The reason is that unlike a lot of people trying to run ultras, I have no background in running.  No experience.  I came to this knowing pretty much nothing about training for endurance.  A lot of people figure they should run a marathon before even thinking about moving up to ultras.  Many in the sport are long-time marathoners or triathletes.  Many are former high-school and college track competitors who have been running all their lives.

Me?  I'm a life-long non-athlete.  In high school I was in the band.  My only history with running is that I ran everywhere when I was a kid (think short sprints, not long slow distance) and later in life I always gravitated to running during my brief periods of 'getting in shape.'  I never ran much in terms of weekly mileage, and I never kept it up for long.

Unveiling the Monster

All the way back in October in a post I called "That Sinking Soaring Feeling" I talked about the race that I was seriously considering making my goal race for 2012.  I called it a 'monster,' and the idea of entering it both thrilled and frightened me.

Well, I'm in - and here for the first time (for my massive reading audience) I am unveiling the monster!

Now I've done it.

I dropped it in the mail this morning - my registration for Mind The Ducks 12 Hour this May.

Mendon Ponds 50K

Going into Mendon Ponds 50K this Saturday I was skeptical of the published elevation numbers for the course.  I'd hiked the trail before and didn't have an impression of it as really hilly, so I just didn't see how it could actually have 1100' of climb per 10K loop.

On the way home I told Karen that I now believe every foot of it - individually.