Monthly Archives: April 2016

No head. No heart. No feet.

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Ultrarunning is hard.

I was supposed to run 20 miles this morning for my log run leading up to the Marquette Trail 50 mile run in August.  Except I only ran 5.  Actually I covered 5 miles, but most of the fifth mile was spent walking, reflecting and watching satellites zoom overhead.

Yes, ultrarunning is hard.  And I’m likely dropping from the Marquette Trail 50 miler again this year.

After the 50k I ran on January 2nd, my running imploded.  I intentionally took a couple weeks of rest / relaxation after that race, and then some things happened at work over the course of a few weeks – some planned and some not – that impacted my ability to run what I wanted / needed to run.  After that much time of inconsistent running, my head was out of the game.

Within the last couple weeks I realized that if I’m still running the MT50, and I still planned too, I had to start training seriously.  Except – one can’t just jump right back into training for an ultra without really training to train for an ultra.  It was foolish think I can hop right back into running 35 mile weeks right out of the gate after not running that kind of mileage for a few months.  And so I sit here with a with pain in my knee and pain in my foot.

Just after starting my fifth mile this morning, I stopped to watch a satellite zoom across the sky.  Once I started hobbling forward again, it was only a couple minutes before I stopped again.  My heart wasn’t in it.

At that point I realized I had – No head.  No heart.  No feet.

It’s also at that point I realized ultrarunning is hard.  It’s not just training for the miles, but it’s training the mind.  It’s training yourself to get up at crazy hours.  It’s training yourself to run through shit weather.  It’s training yourself to push through pain.  It’s training yourself to sacrifice time with family.

What I learned this morning is – you can’t just jump back right to where you were.

So with that … I don’t know.

I don’t know what’s next.  Will it be an ultra?  Or a marathon?  Half marathon?  I’m not sure.  I need some time to heal my knee and my foot.  I need some time to rebuild my head and get my heart into training for something again.

 

Remember – it’s YOUR run

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Not gonna lie – it’s been a tough few months of running.  The year started with a bang when I ran really well in the Yankee Springs Winter Challenge 50k.

It’s since fizzled.  Life happens, it’s all good, you push through work, being ill, whatever, and get back to running as time permits.  As I’ve stated on the blog before, I love to run, but on the list of my priorities, it falls below family and work so sometimes I run into stretches where I don’t get out as much as I want.

In any case, I found myself a bit frustrated this morning.  It was a short run (4 miles), I was running slower than I’d like, my knee kinda hurt, and I was generally bummed that I wasn’t where I should be with my running – especially with my first 50 miler coming this summer.

I thought about how I’m not running as fast, or as far, or as often as many others who’re training for similar races.  I follow some pretty stout athletes on twitter / strava / wordpress (I’m likely looking at YOU!), in part to keep me motivated and in part to learn something.  The downside is – when they’re crushing it, and I’m not, it can be a bit of a downer.

Then I remembered … I’m not running their race.  I’m not running their training run.  I’m not running their pace.  I’m not running for them.  I’m running for me, and for my race.  That’s what’s important.  And as long as I’m doing the best I can at any given time, it’s all good.

If you find your self in a similar mindset, remember – it’s YOUR run!

So with that, here’s a picture from MY race, the Marquette Trail 50k, to remind me of what I’m headed back to this summer for 50 miles.

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beautiful lake superior

In other news, @henryhoward wrote a cool article on my WSER goal – check it out, he did a great job!

Running and a different kinda race …

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I love Nascar.  Are there other ultra runners out there who are Nascar fans?  I’m guessing a few but not many.  For whatever reason, they seem like different crowds.  Perhaps not though – both groups like to drink beer.

My brother’s getting married next month and I took him to Martinsville for his bachelor party.  The two of us, our dad, and nine other guys drove down to camp for the weekend and enjoy some racing – on the track.

 

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I’ve been to quite a few races, but this was the first time attending a race since I’ve started running seriously.  I thought it’d be a great opportunity to see the campground in the early morning hours vs. the typical late night.  I expected to see the aftermath of the previous night’s mayhem and have folks give me a hard time about running vs. drinking but neither happened.  Both of my runs were pretty quiet and uneventful.  One guy asked me how many laps I was planning on running, but other than that folks just watched me roll by.  Or run by.  Or slog by – whatever you wanna call it.

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#brothers

Note: a bit of advice – if you do go to a Nascar race, and you camp, and you can rent a private port-a-john, do it.  People are gross.  Anyway …

I enjoyed the peace and quiet for a bit both mornings.  Everything at a Nascar race is LOUD.  The race is obviously loud, but so is the camping – people blaring music and the generators running.  I am not a fan of the generators.  So taking time both mornings to run was awesome.

The whole weekend was a good one – we had fun, the race was great (although my driver didn’t end up doing so hot), we had some good food (my first Martinsville hotdog – I ate 7 over the weekend), played some yard games and enjoyed a few beers.

Now that I’m back from the race, it’s time to get back into the swing of things.  Training for the Marquette Trail 50 starts tomorrow.  Goodnight!

Do you like Nascar?

Ever been to a race?