Category: Leadville

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And the hits keep coming

Out for the count.

5 days of no running and laying on the sofa.

Flu symptoms, negative COVID  test

I’m never sick.

Keeping me company on the sofa.

All my cold medicine expired since I haven’t been sick in years. 

I have no energy; just enough to barely walk the dogs. 

I read an entire book yesterday. Running Home by Katie Arnold. It was so good. She writes about her family, being a mom, an ultrarunner and writer. 

One of my favorite lines from the book when she is just about to finish a race: “I was running from the inside, from the certainty that anything is possible if you just keep going.” (pg 222)

And what I remember, and what is clear from her book about running: is that you get in a flow with your running and the world falls away. That is what I want with my running but it doesn’t seem to happen. 

She went on to win Leadville 100 in 2019 – the year I dropped out. 

She wrote an article for the New York Times shortly after winning the race. 

What I remember most about that article. Her ending line:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/well/move/leadville-katie-arnold-ultramarathon-training-parenthood.html
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Training Update – It’s Cold

It was a good week.

The weather was cold, snowy and windy. But I did every training session:

All Green

All Green! Total Miles: 54

Next week is even harder. 61 miles. Monday and Tuesday back to back long runs and the weather looks terrible. 

The weather this week in Concord.

Despite this I feel positive: I’m healthy, not injured and I feel good. 

5 weeks to Antelope Canyon 50 Mile.

12 week to White Lake Ultra.

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Training Update – It’s Going to be a Big Week

This week is big miles. 

It’s starting out pretty decent:

Total miles this week: 54. 

Monday’s run was half trail and half pavement. It was pure joy running on packed snow in the woods and not seeing a soul. 

Somehow I managed to run 21 miles on Monday and wake up to run 15 miles today. This morning I wanted to go back to bed about an hour before needing to leave for the run. So I napped until just minutes before heading out the door. It seemed to work. I started out feeling pretty good. It was a mental training run the entire time.

I feel pretty good right now, on my sofa with my feet up. I’m looking forward to not running tomorrow. Plus it is going to be COLD tomorrow and there is a storm coming in a few days. I dread the treadmill so I’m hoping to get miles in when it warms up.

One thing that kept me running both days was remembering a motivational sign I saw at my gym. 

Rest don’t quit. Good advice.

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Leadville Training Update

I’m signed up for the Leadville series: marathon, 50M and 100M, and training is going pretty well: 

Red=Bad
Yellow = Not Bad/Not Good
Green=Good

Not 100% green but I will take it for a win.

It’s been cold and I had a few sessions on the treadmill. I just dread the treadmill. Coach says watch a movie or listen to a book. I’m not sure those options are possible but I do have to learn to make the best of it. Similar to the 24 hour race in April when I have to run 3 mile loops for 24 hours, mental prep is on the ticket this week, and probably for the next 6 weeks. I’m not looking forward to the treadmill or 3 mile loops. But then again, who actually looks forward to running 100 miles. Ha. 

I haven’t been hiking in the mountains yet this winter and I’m hopeful that I figure out a 4,000 footer next week. This week is a training rest week. The plan is to get every mile in and stay relaxed. Next week miles will go up and I’m excited. I can’t see the schedule yet on Training Peaks and that might be a good thing. 

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2022 Goals & Dreams

I had this image in my journal at the beginning of the year and for the most part I followed these principles.

Experiencing Joy. So much this year brought me joy: travel, adventure, triathlon, friends, work, dogs, hiking, running, skiing, biking.

I really like this quote for this coming year. It was shared by a Facebook friend:

I thought waking up at 5:30 was a win but most days I still don’t get everything done. When I wake up at 4:30 I get everything done.

I’ve never been someone who can follow a routine but I do like a schedule. I know that the by planning the night before what my day will be, with time constraints, worked. I’m going to do that again.  

This year I am going to continue to dream big, train hard and demand more of myself despite all the noise in the world.

2022 is going to be awesome, hard, fun, difficult.

I’m excited for the next eight months of Leadville training and racing. I’m excited to have a coach who will get me to the finish line. I’m excited about moving to the mountains.  I’m excited for all the unknown joy and happiness that will come this year.

Happy New Year, friends.