Thoughts On 100

Today begins my last week of tapering. I won't have any runs longer than two hours and will be shutting my body down around Saturday as I get ready for a whole week of rest. Again, this is one of the most difficult parts of my training...a sedentary life-style, even for the benefit of training, is not my style at all.

So here is how I've started preparing for my final week. Sports psychology is really interesting in that it looks deeply at how an athlete prepares mentaly for an upcoming contest. One way the mind copes is by playing the event out, over and over again, in your head. That way you're ready for any scenario and can pretty much act without thinking. Since the beginning of the month I have run the 100 miles probably at least once every day...in my head, of course. I dwell on it constantly. Trying to imagine what the pain will feel like. How tired I will feel. How much I will be tempted to quit. How emotional I will be at the finish line. And, also, how good that first beer is going to taste afterwards.

Everything leading to next week is a practice in mind control. Controling how I rest and train, but also controling how I think and feel as I get closer to arguably my most severe feat ever.

Happy running!