Friday, October 26, 2012

Surf The Murph

I have gotten out of the habit of anticipating a race and doing things like worry about pre-race things, like the weather, pace, shoes, fueling, course, etc...

Surf the Murph
Surf the Murph has had a good run through the years when it comes to the weather so I looked at the long range forecast a couple weeks back and they said 63 and sunny, well so much for long range forecasting as we are now headed towards 43 and sunny. Just off by 20 degrees.

So with the weather looking like a non-factor, I thought about what pace should I run? So considering my training, weight, confidence, I am thinking that my race pace forecast is to finish in less than 10 hours. How did I get to 10 hours, well the last 2 years, I have run the 25k a bit injured and taken around 4 hours, this year I am closer to healthy than I can remember but I have struggled on my long runs with things like achilles pain, calf pain, bathroom issues, lack of fitness, etc.... So why 10, well it's real simple, outside of a bone protruding injury I intend to finish my first ultra in 2 years with no out for me based on self pity, injury, etc...

I will need to keep a good race day attitude and not worry about pace and time, here's why, let's say I want to finish in 7 to 7 1/2 hours (at least if it was a 50k vs 34 miles) and the first loop takes close to 4, mental fatigue then starts to enter the mind as I would be thinking there is no way I can do a negative split, so I lose it and quit at the 25k mark or I just tank and give up and become so self absorbed that I don't take 5 minutes and regroup and proceed to get it done.

Now by setting my goal to 10 hours, I will instead tell myself that you still have 6 hours so get out of your self pity remorse and finish it.  Now I do think I will beat 10 hours but then again, I have had a few things go wrong through the last 2 years. On that note, I should add one caveat, I am not sure that I will push through any pain, if my achilles/calf junction gets destroyed on the hills during the first loop, well that might do me in but I will give it my best.

So if you see me at STM, expect to see a smile and rest assured I am having a great time.

1 comment:

wildknits said...

Glad you will be back out there! Sorry to miss the event this year, but will be traveling a lot in the next few weeks so am staying home.

Have fun!!

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