January

Well... things are settling in nicely. Came over the new year still a little sick and had to walk the first few days. But, I was there every day... 6 miles a day. The plan is simple... 6 miles a day for the first 5 weeks. Yes I think in terms of months, but 4 months of any year have to have 5 weeks. In 2013, January is a 5 week month. As the month progressed the running increased and got quicker... the walking decreased. But, seeing as how I never stretch, I end every run with at least 1 mile of warmdown walking. Seems to be working so far. If I'm tired I can walk more than 1 mile. It's OK... ultramarathons include walking, it's part of the sport. I have run 35 consecutive days, 6 miles a day (one day I added 2 extra miles). My total mileage this year stands at 212. I only lost 3lbs this month, but that's OK too. If I continue to lose 3lbs/month I will hit my target weight of 195 by June. February brings a slight increase in distance... 8 miles a day 3 times a week, the other 4... 6 miles. The plan is to slowly ramp up the miles, continue to run everyday and not get injured. If all goes well, I will be running 75-80 miles a week by late summer... still running everyday. Like I said before, this is an encouraging start, I'm optimistic... but, I have many miles to run before I compete! Until next time...

December

Well... this month turned out a tad funny. Got off to a flying start, ran 42 and 48 miles the first two weeks. But, I had some fairly serious oral surgery early in the month that was kind of rough... slowed me down some and the led me to getting quite sick the second half of the month. I rarely get sick and this has been dragging on for almost two weeks. I haven't run ten days. I'll be fine, but I am having a hard time getting this nasty congestion out of my chest. Oh, well. With that said I managed 117 miles in two and a half weeks before I got sick. Tomorrow marks the first week of the New Year... I will be out there. My New Year's day 10K is probably not going to happen the way I'm feeling. On a bright note, between being sick, surgery and some real discipline I have lost 19lbs in the home stretch. I'm good with that. Upward and onward!

November

OK... one month down, I'm only going to blog once a month for now unless something significant happens. This is the first four weeks of my build-up to next October. In four weeks I have run/walked 141 miles, just over 35 miles per week. Good start! Some days I run, some days I walk and some I do a little of both. In fairness, I have walked more than I have run... but I am getting out most days including the last 13 in a row. This is about consistency... day after day. However, I did sign up for a New Year's day 10K. I am going to have to work on some short runs over next four weeks to get ready. That's all I've got for now... see you in a month.

Dave's the Dog

Sounds like the new Road Dog philosophy is winner...and highly appropriate.  Count on support from this side.  Badaxe.

Moving Forward

Having completed my first off road ultramarathon, I now see things with much greater clarity. I paid very close attention to the other competitors on October 27th. The out and back nature of the Ghost Train is very conducive to that. I saw how they ran, how they ate and how they paced themselves. This is a sport for dogs. In the wild... wolves, coyotes, dingos, African Spotted dogs, etc. don't run the fastest... much of their prey can out sprint them, but the dogs can run longer. Wild dogs run their prey into the ground. They can run at a moderate pace for hours. That's what ultramarathoning is all about. You trot... mile after mile after mile. Sometimes you pause... to pee, to eat or to drink. And then... you trot again. It's pretty simple... not easy, but simple. So... you train to trot. Hour after hour, day after day. It's beauty is in it's simplicity. This may strike some of you as fairly obvious... but it wasn't to me, this is a near epiphany. For the next eleven months, I need to hone a slow energy efficient jog. This is the opposite of everything I have worked on for years. Fast turnovers, long strides, high heel flicks and uphill accelerations, the building blocks of road racing, are to be avoided. A steady shuffling keep your feet close to the ground gait and walk up the steeps are the order of the day. It's all about energy conservation. It is both incredibly simple and at the same time an enormous commitment. Perfect!.. I get it... off I go.

The Ghost Train

Well... despite the fact that I called this thing off in mid-September, I couldn't bear to stay away. Right around the beginning of October I spoke with Chris and said I still wanted to do it, training or no training... he said he was in as well. In the three weeks leading up the race, I did three long outings between 16 and 20 miles each, they didn't go very well... but I'm glad I did them. Basically I was desperately cramming for the race. We agreed to do the minimum... 30 miles (you can do up to 100) . And so we did... very slowly and carefully, there were only four people behind us when we finished. But, we did it. I take some pride in having done this at all. I have averaged a pitiful 13.76 miles per week this year... hardly the stuff of marathons, never mind ultramarathons. I felt far better than I would have ever imagined, I was tired and sore but finished strong... I still had fuel in the tank. I also have huge water and blood blisters on both feet... ugly and painful, but rarely fatal. Nasty... but this too will pass. The training for next year starts now. There will be a long run every week. The mileage will increase. I will lift weights even though I hate lifting weights . I will get back to a better running weight. Next time I will be prepared, I will go longer... I will go faster... I will kick ass. Enough said.

End of the Line... for now.

Thanks to everybody who has been looking in on this blog... obviously things are not going as planned. I don't think Chris has run in two months, but then again he never blogs so who knows... his upcoming wedding next month has taken care of that. For me the big bad kitchen renovation that took twice as long as planned has kicked my butt. Yes, I have run some but no where near consistently enough to take on this race. So sorry for the false alarm. However, hope springs eternal! I turn sixty about a week before next year's race... hmmmm. Sixty at sixty? Kinda catchy isn't it. I have started running regularly again this week, plan to ramp it up ever so slowly over the winter into the spring and then, with no major house renovation looming... kick it into high gear next summer. That's the fantasy anyway. I'm not going to blog until New Years... if things are going well I will be running five days a week and will have lost some weight. We'll see... you never know. See you then and thanks for your support and well wishes.