Thursday, May 23, 2013

Dirty German 50K: 3 Days out from my First ULTRA!

Officially 3 days away from ULTRA MARATHONER status.

This is getting real.
And in typical me fashion I keep calling it a baby Ultra since it is the minimum there is to dip into "ultra" status. But whatever. 50K. More than a marathon. This is the good stuff.

More importantly, I think this has FUN and no pressure written all over it.

I went into the marathons with secret and not so secret time and pacing goals. But folks, we aren't on the roads any more.

While yes, I do want to finish this in under 6:30 - in reality, I am really just looking forward to having FUN. And enjoying the experience.

I haven't been training in trails and I mean I have kind of had an epic season of racing that has been continuous since last September so what better way to finish it off than 31.068 (not precise or anything) sweaty miles through the woods?

I have also felt a bit off for a while now. I'm not quite "training" but more or less have been in taper mode since the weeks before the NJ Marathon. Then recovery. Then race. Then taper.

My legs have responded pretty well to all of this for the most part. But after this there will be lots of unstructured lets just run and do what we want time.

And some meetings with potential run coaches.

But that is for another day, another post.

And plenty of FUN. Summer is about to kick off and I am looking forward to lounge chairs, pools, beaches, bbq's and some adult beverages in my life. Not to mention a killer tan...and not one that involves horrendous tank top/short/sock tan lines!

So anyway. Back to this week.

Post half marathon life this week went a little something like this:

Sunday: 6.25 miles steady pace for 2.5 then 400's at 8:30 recover for 400 at 9:30
Monday: an hour on the elliptical and lift
Tuesday: an hour on the elliptical and lift
Wednesday: 45 mins elliptical and lift / 3 un garmin monitored miles
Thursday: 6 miles @ 9:39 - yeah I figured the treadmill would bore me by 3 not.so.much.

Apparently bore me on an elliptical a couple days in a row and I will even love the treadmill and not want to get off. Legs felt so refreshed though. Which was great since I had been having some soreness the beginning of the week (and scared me enough to not run Monday and Tuesday...I hear you running God's I know I know I need to learn to invest in rest days...).

Oops. My shoes made me do it.
Ideally:

Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 50K

But, I am sure that won't go as planned...since this morning was a total fail (3 planned). At least I did not push the pace at all! But lord I was ready to just run my heart out. Then when I hit 6 I remembered I need to do that times 5 on Sunday and that helped me slow my roll right on off and home.

So here we are just a few days out. And it is like waiting for Christmas to come. I am just as if not more excited than I was for Miami aka first marathon.

Potentially more so, because with Miami I was (perhaps not so) silently banking on pacing and time goals. I swear I really really am not with this one. Don't expect A/B/C goals from me!

I want do however want to PR in m&m and pb&j eating while running. I'm all for hitting those kinds of PR's.

Any ultra runners out there have any bits of advice for me? I'm ALL ears!


2 comments:

  1. Eeek! This is so awesome! I can't wait to read your recap. I really hope that everything goes smoothly and that the issues with your hip aren't a problem at all. Good luck!

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  2. GOOD LUCK!!! Have an amazing time. Cannot wait to hear how it goes!!!

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