I had done as much as I could to prepare for a 100 mile run in 24 hours.
My 4th attempt.
And I failed.
That was mid-July.
I usually reduce my training in August to recover.
Until we took an Irene-shortened trip to the beach at the end of August, I ran only twice.
I ran 5 times at the beach.
We came back home. I stopped running again.
Labor Day weekend I participated in a race that I was completely unprepared for.
Not just undertrained.
I paid almost zero attention to mentally preparing.
I typed the race address into my Droid's GPS and let it guide me to the starting line on race morning.
That was the Labor Pain 12-hour Trail Race. or something like that.
I figured, despite the lack of training, that I still had endurance left over from Jan-July ultra training.
Use it or lose it.
I ran 45 miles on a 5-mile trail loop.
It was...
Words can't do it justice.
It was just what I needed.
Then I stopped running again.
Maybe a run here or there.
Annual local sprint triathlon, Marshman Triathlon, 2 weeks later on Sep 13th.
I had been swimming regularly at the gym, so I knew the Swim would be OK.
Severely neglected my bike. It just hasn't been convenient to get out.
And for a 2-mile run. I should have worked on speed. At least a little.
But the race went well.
Despite a link in my bike chain beginning to break 4 miles into the 12 mile course.
Then my chain broke on my way home. 4 miles from home.
My wife picked me up. Her truck broke down 2 miles from home.
$310 later the truck was repaired. $2 later my bike was ready to go.
Not sure how much biking I'll be doing this fall and winter.
Would love to get out on Saturday mornings.
Which brings me to now.
On Monday, I started running immediately after the kids' earlier-because-of-school bedtime.
The fall night-time weather is so inviting.
Ran 4 days this week and tomorrow I have a 50K trail race.
Blues Cruise 50K.
Like the 12-hour Labor Pain race, I go into it with minimal prep.
No goals.
No expectations.
No pressure.
No stress.
I'm once again counting on residual endurance.
Use it or lose it.
3 comments:
I am counting on every ounce of courage I have to get through my marathon. Every. Ounce.
Hope all is well Mike :)
How happy was I to see your comment today!
Are you me? I'm feeling prepared/not prepared for my marathon coming up in 5 weeks. I've been running/training all year, on hard courses, and raced a sprint tri. So my base is definitely there. But this muscle injury is scaring me. I felt great on my 18 miler saturday, but was really sore the next day. Yesterday in PT, they said that's if for long runs, and mostly cross train and do short runs until race day. So I think I'll be counting on residual endurance too.
And the bike chain, AND the truck breaking? bummer.
I hope the 50K went well, or as well as races that long can go ;)I'm just trying to get through 5Ks with my sanity intact, so good on you for what you are doing!
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