I am.......
I was about at my freak out point last week. My VST's were blowing out, my Salomon's had caused toe damage, my Rucky Chuckys were causing issues and my old shoes were retired for a reason. So I did what I needed to do, ordered additional shoes and also got some new trail socks as part of one of those yearly things we all get to go through and I added in a couple of decent back to back long runs over the weekend, so freak out avoided at least for another week.
The things that kept going through my mind is 50 miles, are you kidding, serious, nuts, what was I thinking? I had a friend who informed me that 50 miles is like driving to Red Wing, next time I see him I will let him know that it's only about 40 miles to Red Wing. I am pretty sure he will look at me, shake his head and walk away.
So for the next 3 weeks, I plan to continue to run 2 to 3 times during the week usually between 4 and 8 miles followed by running longer on the weekends. Here are my weekend mileage plans:
Week - Long run - 2nd run
Sep 27 - 26-27 - 12-13
Oct 04 - 30-31 - 12-13
Oct 11 - 34-35 - 12-13
Oct 18 - 20-21 - 12-13
Oct 25 - 15-16 - 12-13
Oct 31 - 50 miles
For my 30+ weekend runs, I plan to do those in Murphy and will probably do a couple loops each time plus a bit more. So will it get me to the start healthy with a chance at finishing, I hope so, I think so, at least that's my plan. I will check out the shoes and socks over the next few weeks and hopefully I will have a couple of options lined up by race day.
On my longer weekend runs I am working on getting in the time and hoping it gets me the distance. Last weekend I ran 12 miles with Karyn at a 13 or so minute pace, we ran for 20 minutes, walked/fueled for 2 minutes then I ran 12 more miles (I think) in Lebanon Hills, I say I think as my Garmin was hopefully having issues, when I was in the open it seemed my pace showed at 12 minute when I went under the trees it showed 16-17, is it possible my pace changed that dramatically, yes, but my hope is that it was just having issues because of the trees. What I do know is that we ran 12 miles (Cedar to Sibley House and back) and it took us 2:41:55, Garmin said 11.95, and then I ran in Lebanon for 3:09:55, Garmin said 11.35, I said that can't be right and I added a .6 mile to make it another 11.95. Am I wrong to do so, I hope not as there is no way I could've slowed down that much, it ain't that hilly and I thought I was running most of the time. I know when I will get confirmation if I am wrong, I would say sometime after the first loop in Murphy. On a totally different yet random note about my runs on Saturday, I counted between 8 and 9 snakes that I got to see on the trail. I am so glad we don't have poisonous ones and all of the ones I saw were between 1 - 3 feet.
I ran for another 3 hours in Murphy on Sunday, the first 6 miles were out on the horse trails (southern section) and it took an hour and 25 minutes. I then crossed over into the northern section and ran for another hour and a half. My original plan for the weekend was to run 34-35 miles and I was at 35-36 so I was happy to call it a day. Today, my legs felt fine, a little tender but not bad.
So the plan to get me to the start of Surf the Murph is real simple, three more weeks of build up, taper down for 3 weeks then start, endure, finish.
4 comments:
I will argue the mind is the first thing to go and it sounds like you are having more doubt and mind issues than fitness is there... You have had some good runs and I think you will do well if you have a strong mental ability to finish the race. Hey, maybe I can do the last loop with you? Walking on the treadmill at 15% incline for 20 minues felt fine today!
Happy (belated) Birthday, Mike [first I thought you might be referring to some yearly medical checkup but socks didn't seem to fit :)] Sounds like you have a training plan - I might try that again sometime. My sister informed me 50 miles was less than from our hometown to Bismarck - I didn't find that info real useful. hehe
Maybe I'll try to join you out there one of these weekends. And with your snake count we probably won't have much luck getting Karen out there. :)
I'm a little nervous about taking a crack at the 50 mile at Murphy too (still haven't signed up). I was out there this past Saturday for a loop through the north & south parts of the park and ended up with an avg pace of about 14:45. I felt more tired than I would have liked considering I only went 14.5 miles and 6 were at the easy south end. Perhaps I'll see you out there in the next few weeks before the race!
PS> Didn't see a single snake out there this weekend, but I think that's a first ;)
Londell - doubts are good they lead to finishing the training that I have mapped out which I think should do me well.
Wayne and Kel - no worry about snakes at Murphy, all of the ones I saw were in the River Bottoms and Lebanon Hills, none in Murphy.
Kel - I agree with you concerning Murphy, it isn't going to be easy but Les is giving us 14 hours which I may well need but my plan is to be under 13 (15:35 pace).
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