A blog about ultrarunning, Ironman and hiking 4,000 footers
Okay, so I’m in a training rut. This week was high volume and I failed miserably.
The Good: I continued to weight train and ran low mile days. I dropped off my new Cervelo Tri bike to get put together. I hiked with Winnie. Work was good all week.
The Bad: Not being able to wake up at 5am every morning and get shit done. Low energy at night. Not doing the training on Wednesday and Thursday. Low motivation. Running all miles on a treadmill.
But today I’m turning it around.
On Friday night I decided to find out if rock climbing is good cross training for ultra running. I have been lifting weights and doing pull ups for three months so I thought I would be strong. It was hard but fun!
I went to Vertical Dreams in Manchester for my first ever indoor rock climbing. It was so fun! I learned how to tie a rope and belay. Then started climbing with Tom.
Two days later, my forearms are a bit sore. Three months of weight training and pull ups helped, a little.
I think indoor rock climbing could make me stronger, and I could incorporate it into a regular plan, maybe. LOL
This week was a recovery week and after my dark day on Saturday, yes that is a thing, I’m full steam ahead to Ironman, 100 Miles and Ragged Mountain Stage Race.
I swam today. After running 10 indoor miles I swam. I’m so ready for Ironman Training.
Life is hard, fun, brutal, sad, laughable, challenging. I want things to be easy and they never are. I’m up for the challenge. I want it all. I am Wonder Woman.
This week is a recovery week – thank goodness!
There are 10 weeks left of this training plan and then I run Umstead 100. This means that this week is a recovery week with 36 total miles. Last week was a disappointing training week; I didn’t do everything I was supposed to do.
I found my Leadville Training log from last year and compared where I am today.
Last year: Planned was 65 miles. Actual was 23.6 miles.
This year: Planned was 65 miles. Actual was 40.5 miles.
This year I’m doing much better but I really need to do the miles the training plan states.
Other things different this year: weights and core are making me more tired and grumpy every day. I also recorded hiking miles as total miles last year which I’m not doing this year.
Since I write these posts mainly for myself, because just writing and posting to the world is cathartic, I know what I need to do to be successful at a 100 mile race. I know I need to do the work every day. But here’s the thing: I don’t really enjoy race day all that much.
I love the process.
I love the daily goal attainment.
I love the planning.
I love the travel to places I’ve never been.
I love the people I meet along the way.
These are the things I love about being an endurance athlete.
The races and adventures I sign up for keep me motivated to have an amazing life, every day. While today is a super low, unmotivated, feeling sorry for myself kind of day, I know that a few words I read or listen to will turn it around in a heartbeat. I look at my new tri bike still in pieces in the other room and I know as soon as it’s put together, and we have a warm day, I am going to be so happy to be riding it. I look at my race calendar of seemingly impossible races, all too close together, and I still know that I can do it all. I was told last week that I’m absurdly confident. Yep. That’s me.
Here’s my next four weeks. Just writing this post and reading it often will make me do it all. I’ll report back at the end of it.
This week marks 11 weeks until race day.
This week I am planning to run 65 miles. I didn’t run Tuesday and Thursday so I’m a bit behind. However, today, I will run 12. Saturday 28. Sunday 15. It’s not ideal but it’s what happened.
As the miles start to add up I know that I have to work harder on the mental aspect of training. I also know that I need to do more cross training. I know that biking helped me feel strong finishing the Leadville Marathon last year and not biking prior to the Leadville 100 was a factor in the DNF. I will not make that mistake again.
I’m adding two cycling sessions and at least one swim each week; starting next week.
Everything is falling into place for increasing training volume and being injury free. I’m spending three days a week in the weight room, doing core work, foam rolling and massage. I just need to stay consistent, do the work and recover.
I love this quote from Beatrix Potter because I feel that way about most of my writing and especially writing this blog. Sometimes I write a few sentences in a doc and then paste it to WordPress and just see where it goes.
Today I read a blog post from Heather, Relentless Forward Commotion. The first line of her post, Look Up, is this:
“Once, I gave up drinking alcohol for forty days.“
Talk about first words of a story and wondering where they will take you. I love reading her truth and so much of her post I can relate to.
And this hits home too:
“We often hear the term “step out of your comfort zone’. But what happens when the uncomfortable becomes your comfort zone? When suddenly the mundane, “normal’ stuff is what makes you uncomfortable?“
It’s 9:04 a.m. and I’m procrastinating. I have to run 28 miles today. I’m doing laundry, cleaning the house, writing this blog post and charging my watch – all while knowing I have to put on the running shoes and head out soon, very soon. I think it will take me about 5-6 hours. My adductor injury is acting up and I know this run is going to be painful and not fun.
But the interesting thing is I’m still excited to run. I’m not exactly sure what route I will take although I know I will do an out and back, come back to the house, get more supplies and head out again in a different direction, all to get in 28 miles.
I’m excited to run because I can’t wait to see Marathon #2 on my Strava in my attempt to run 52 marathons this year. Meaning that I just need to run, all at one time, 26.2 miles, 52 times in 2020.
I’m excited to run because I have some new songs on my playlist that I like to listen to. Some favorites include: Obstacle 1, Fix You, My Body, some Alanis Morissette and, don’t laugh, Dido.
I’m excited to run because Heather’s blog post is giving me something to think about for a few hours and she reminds me that change is good.