I thought about what I wrote yesterday and I have decided the only logical thing to do is to push the training a bit more, there were three things I said I wanted to do: work on speed, core and strength. I say the time to begin is now, I just need to do it with intelligence. I have been fairly consistent since ramping up the mileage for Chippewa so I do have some sort of long slow distance base, now I want more. So the plan for this week is to get working on the core. My core has been weak for years, ever since I hurt a hip down in New Prague. I have muddled through 10 years of injuries many of which probably relate to a weakened core and a few to ramping my distance too quickly or just being stubborn about running. So the goal is to simply begin core exercises this week and to continue to run during the week and make sure the strength is back and then add in 1 run a week of hills and accelerations. If the knee rebels, then I will adjust on the hills or speed workouts, otherwise, maybe I will rediscover the speed I once had or at least a little bit of it. The only problem with the plan is that I am 3 weeks out from my next marathon so I won't be able to get a lot of speed or hill workouts in until after the upcoming marathons.
On a different but related subject, what fall races am I going to do? Am I physically strong enough to get to through a 50? I think mentally I can and if not for fear of cutoffs I wouldn't sweat the physical. My list of 50's is shorter for the fall as Heartland is full, so I will be scratching it off the 2008 considerations list. If I am going to do a 50 this fall then it will come down to Glacier or Superior.
One thought on Superior, if I do attempt it then it would mean that I would try my first 50 at age 50 which somehow does seem appropriate. So, I was plotting out the cutoffs for Superior and if I understood what the website said correctly (see my table below), I would have 11 hours to make it to the last aid station without a light and 13 hours if I have a light and my guesstimate was that the last aid station would be around mile 43 so that would be either a 15+ pace or an 18+ pace. So depending on how tough Superior is compared to Afton and how the training goes in August, the 15 pace is doable and the 18 should give me some buffer. So if I do go for it, I think bringing a light would be a good idea.
I wonder how long I can wait for the sign-up for Superior, common sense would say wait until after the next set of marathons and make sure that they go ok, but then again you do save $10 if you sign up before August 1st.
Guess I better check in with the family and decide what to do...................
3 comments:
Bring a light; you can't run Superior in the dark! Also, it's much tougher than Afton; longer hills, very rocky. And the weather there is not like the rest of Minnesota, so it's hard to gauge what to wear until the last minute.
If I go for it, a flashlight I will have. Still playing the mental game of do I or do I not.
Right now I am leaning to either Glacier or next year. I know mentally I can do it I just don't want to sweat getting swept off the course. So I am hoping to keep getting into better shape so that won't be an issue in the future. Somewhere I have some dormant speed waiting to get rediscovered.
Thanks for the advice.
When I did the 50, I needed the flashlight for the last 2 miles. They also had a rule you can not leave the last aid station without a light but I do not recall the time of day that it was required. The new 50 course will be a little more challenging, in my mind. The out and back has some hills, roots and rock I felt are comparable to Afton, but there are a few climbs near Crosby I will never forget!
Post a Comment