Leap Day

I was sitting at the computer reviewing some past blogs and trying to decide if I should post again today. I glanced at my Timex Ironman watch to check the date...and low and behold, it said it was March 1st. Apparently, my watch doesn't recognize leap years. That means every four years I'll have to stop and change the date. What a hassle.

So, a great deal has happened in the past week. The Alexandria Town Talk ran a spectacular story on the race and my training. We've seen about a $200 dollar increase in our fundraising because of this story. I was contacted recently by one of our sponsors who notified me that our shirts are finally in! That's a small deal, really, but I'm very excited about it. Also, yesterday Pat Fellows introduced me to a wonderful lady, Lisa Evans. Lisa is a sales rep for Brooks who has offered to hook us up with everything from shoes to apparel...just about anything that we want. I'm so glad that she is on board with, and very enthusiastic, about what I'm doing. Shoes, gear, shirts, newspaper stories...these are all relatively small things to deal with. Making sure I'm properly trained is no big deal, but add in all the things that come along with being a race director, no matter how small, and it becomes overwhelming in a heartbeat.

Speaking of training, since the River City Classic in Natchez I've had a tough time with running. Mostly it can be chalked up to exhaustion, but shinsplints are bothering me too. Yesterday I logged just under four hours and today I am shooting for two hours and an intense weight workout. I've also scheduled another massage for later tonight.

Happy running!

Post 45

After our first trial on MLK day, I learned really quickly that I wasn't giving myself enough time to recoup. So, this whole week has been an application of what I endured after our first trial. I cut all activities out of my schedule until late Thursday. Monday evening I went for a long easy walk through campus to the library to push the lactic acid through my legs, but that's all.

Again, I was overwhelmed at how well my body bounced back. There was the expected soreness and inability to ascend stairs with any ease...but no bodily injuries of note. My shinsplints did reappear, but aren't nearly as intense as in the past. Maybe the most debilitating after effect has been pure exhaustion. For days you are beyond fatigued. I would get up and go to work, get home about four and then sleep till seven the next morning. I was like this for at least three days, and even now I can tell my body is still drained.

So this week I begin amping up the hours. My longest runs will be close to four hours, but most will be between two and three. Yesterday I ran in the the River City Classic 10k in Natchez, MS. This race has for years been a thorn in my side. I historically never do well here, but always love running it. I took the lead early in the race around the two-mile mark and led the entire race. That is until about 200 meters. Then, David Hefley, an old friend and running arch nemesis, took the lead from me and won by a little over ten seconds. My time was 37:52...not impressive, but again, all I've been doing is distance work.

Trial II: 45 Miles

If ever we were looking for good omens, February 17th was it. I ran 45 miles in 8 hours 45 minutes. Insane, right.

What you see above is a graph created from the GPS that I was wearing for a short period of the run. The blue line is my speed and the black line is the elevation change in feet. You'll notice that there are a few spots where the blue line spikes, but for the most part its just sitting on the 10:00 line. Where it spikes is where I stopped to stretch or get something to eat. This is really freaky to me because without even trying I have absolutely dialed in my pace. 10:00 mins/mile is 6 mph and, as you can see, I never came off that pace. Great news.

So the day began not so well. I went to bed around 8:30 the night before with an awsome headache, but couldn't really fall asleep until maybe 10:30 or 11. When I finally did get to sleep, I was out cold. Our plan was to roll out at 4:30, so I wanted to be up at three to get some coffee, stretch, and go through all my gear once more. I didn't. Whenever I get into a really deep and sound sleep I've noticed that my dreams will have a soundtrack. The reason that I suddenly jerked awake at 4:17 was because for some reason, in my dream, the Allman Brothers Band had stopped playing and I wanted to hit the replay button.

After we got on the road (we rocked to the Allman Brothers as we left) things ran very smoothly for the rest of the day. Here's how she went:

Poison of Choice:
Pediasure. Wow. We didn't use it at all the first trial, but yesterday I learned how important this sweet sweet elixir is going to be. It's only 250 calories, but when my stomach has put a halt on most solid foods, Pediasure went many an extra mile to boost my energy. This stuff is gold. GOLD.

The Toughest Hour:
Hour four, again, was the big one. We were coming up on the turn around point, mile 25, and my stomach was just refusing to cooperate. I was smart enough to bring along Dr. Pepper this time and after a few pulls from that I began to feel better. The real lesson here is that my stomach is clearly uber sensitive to sweets. I need to limit them from all pre-race meals, which I didn't for this run.

What Worked Great:
Taking more frequent and longer breaks was a great idea. On the first trial I was really worried about time lost in breaks, but this time I tried to ignore it. If I wanted to sit and talk for awhile, I did. I also made it a point to stretch and walk more. In short, I think I've realized that its more important to operate on how I feel rather than saying that at a certain time interval I have to do this and this or else I'm behind. I'll have 24 hours, I need to take it at my own pace.

Now, That's Team Work:
Brian and Dave were solid. We kept a chase car with us this time to work as our mobile base. Typically, the chase car would go ahead a few miles and wait for me and whoever was on the bike. There was really only one incident with this plan where Brian got too far ahead of me when I needed energy. Other than that, I couldn't ask for a better team. I'm a control-freak/worrier at nature. I want to be hands on and know everything that's going on at all times.Not only can I not physically do that for this, but at a certain point my brain stops functioning except for getting me through the next mile. It is remarkably reassuring to know that these two can and will take care of me and everything on race day.

Our next trial is 9 March and I think it's scheduled to be 11-12 hours long. I say "I think" because we're still debating on how far is "far enough" to train before the actual run, but I'll let you know. Today has been OK. I'm obviously very sore, but no real pains anywhere in the body. I never felt my shinsplilnts yesterday and only slightly feel them today. I'm not sure how that happened (I mean, you figure you run 45 miles...your shinsplints are going to hurt), but I'll take it.

Keep an eye out for the Alexandria Town Talk tommorrow. They're suppose to be running our story!
Good running.

Single's Awareness Day

Many people have asked me how I will spend my Valentine's Day. Well, my sister and I spent a remarkably unromantic evening at Mr. Gatti's where she watched me chow down on pizza and watch the Sci Fi channel as I began carbo-loading for Sunday. I know, I know...I'm a freakin catch. Eat your heart out ladies.

I ran for a half hour this afternoon and am running each day up till the 17th. The runs won't be anything triumphant, just easy jaunts to keep the blood moving. Sitting still drives me insane and I can only stand so much "off time."

Last night I did an interview with the Alexandria newspaper, The Town Talk, that lasted nearly a half hour. The reporter, Jeff, was very nice and seemed genuinely curious about what I'm doing. I say he was genuinely curious...his jaw could have been on the floor in disbelief for all I know...but I regress. The story will run Tuesday and we'll be sure to have a link to it up on the site. Hopefully this will catch the public's eye and start a firestorm of interest. Until then, happy V-day...and for those of you without siginificant others, why not take your sister out for a pizza buffet. Huh?

Prelude To Trial II

Friday's massage session went very well. I was admitedly nervous since I've never had a massage before; however, the folks over at the Massage Emporium were more than professional and provided my legs with some much needed relief.

Last Friday was my last run before this morning. I was trying to give the shinsplints some time off. This morning's run with Andrew Bayer proved what I really already knew: giving you body time off to rest, always works. In essence I didn't actually take off this entire weekend. While I didn't run any, I was in the weight room for maybe 2-3 hours each day.

Sunday is our next trial run. Eight to nine hours and, hopefully, close to 50 miles. Right now the plan is to rest for the remainder of the week. I only have one run planned between now and Sunday, but will continue to lift weights and bike until Friday.

My sister and I went and saw a band called Bones on Saturday night. Their sound is like Kings of Leon and The Black Keys...only slightly more metal. Anywho, they rock and so do I (now that they're on my iPod).

Happy Lent!

Massage Therapy

This week has been a lesson in discipline and determination. I've been fighting shinsplints in my right leg that have been excruciating. I've woken up in the morning and cringed at the thought of just moving because I knew that that alone would be killer. I've been icing and massaging it daily as well as loading up on asprin, but have continued to struggle. Well, the splints seem to have finally passed. I can still feel it, but it isn't nearly the pain it was last week. It makes me glad that I continued to push through the pain and trained this whole week. I've had two 3-hour runs and plan on getting in another one tomorrow.

Also, and this may be a shock for those of you who know me well, but tomorrow afternoon I have an appointment to get a massage. Unless maybe it's a girl that I like, I don't really want anybody touching me. So getting a massage is going to be weird, but I hope it will rejuvenate my exhausted legs.

Training this week has been two 3-hour runs with one planned for tomorrow. There have also been two 2-hour runs, a handful of 1-hour runs (morning runs mostly), and 30 minutes of fartleks today coupled with a 1 1/2-hour run. Our next trial is looming right around the corner on February 17th and I'm planning on a significant rest period before that date. Note I said "rest period" and not "off period." I will be doing some kind of cross-training for about five days prior to that date. I'm admitedly nervous about this run. The last trial was six hours, but I felt going into it that even if I wasn't in shape that I would be able to gut it out. This upcoming trial, however, will not tolerate any amount of "gutting it out." This trial will find me out.

Been rocking to Jane's Addiction and also the drumline's from a few college bands. The drumline's are crazy motivating. Try it out.

Pain Game

Pain has proven to be a remarkable part of my training. Don't get me wrong, I knew there would be some kind of discomfort, but I wasn't ready for this. It's an almost euphoric feeling that comes and goes in waves. After a few hours it starts to come in cycles associated with a kind of drowsiness that I can only liken to how you feel when you're on pain killers...or maybe just a lot of nyquil.

Anywho, we're in Alexandria for the weekend. Training this week has consisted of two 3-hour runs and handful of 2-hour and morning runs. I started running with some people who wanted to volunteer to help, and oddly enough everybody is hanging tough and wants to come back for more. While that's encouraging, I think it's safe to say that I'm still the only one willing to run even .1 over 26.2 miles.

So what's on tap for this weekend? Rest. Training is exhausting and I may yet be feeling the side effects of the 33 miles on MLK day. I tend to be OK for a few hours and then I suddenly feel like I've been run over and need to sleep. This, like the pain I feel on runs, comes in cycles. So today, tomorrow and maybe Monday I plan to sleep, eat, and rest. Sunday is the Super Bowl (go Giants) and I plan to reap the benefits of doing nothing.

I'm pleased to announce that we are over $250 on our fundraising! However, our goal is $10,000. So maybe we won't celebrate just yet. Run hard, take it easy.