As I prepare for a rugged 50-mile trail race this weekend, my thoughts run amuk.
Whether you're gearing up for a 5k or 50 miler, there's always those inevitable days leading up to the race when all you do is think about it. Have you trained enough? Almost always 'no'. How will it feel? Usually painful. And the ultimate: How will you do? It depends.
I've been very happy with my training since January. I've run over 500 miles since then and until last weekend,
have shown a commitment to my training that I haven't seen for a decade. With competing interests for my time, like everyone, I juggle family, house, and job and each ruthlessly carve away time I should be devoting to my running. Or is it perhaps the other way around? Whatever the proper balance should be, there's never a perfect equation to manage all of them. Not in the way we live today anyway. And I'm including "we" as everyone who is trying to live the traditional American dream.
This week my running has dropped off. I haven't been focused on it, letting those other areas freely overtake my time. I've tried not stressing about it because there's no real point in training the week of a big race, other than to keep the system in check. I was doing a few miles each night but just to do that was causing me to stay up past 11 and I figured sleep was more important. So last night I didn't run at all. My only 0 mileage day in four months. I do feel more rested today and my legs are starting to get a little "jumpy", which is always a nice thing to feel before a competition.
The Zane Grey Highline 50 Mile Trail Race is really a beast of a different color. Each year I do it, and this will be my 4th, I look at my pace in training, project what I think I'm capable of, and then wonder why my finish time was double what I had projected. There are sections where you go uphill on a rutted, rocky trail for 4 miles. These long climbs are almost always after an aid station, situated in the notch of the mountains. So just after you tank up on gels, cookies, water, and bagels, you start climbing uphill.
The leaders are the only ones who can run up these inclines out of a field of 200. No one else even tries. Slowing down to a walk then drops your pace from 5 or 6 miles an hour to only 1 or 2. Do that for four hours and it's easy to see where the extra time comes from.
I'm ready for the miles. I've have at least four long runs of 35 miles and all of them were the day before or after another long run of 25 or more miles. Just for reference on how slow this course is, the pace of my training runs, which I've kept at a leisurely pace, would have me finishing this 50 miler in 9 hours. That would have won the '09 race by over 40 minutes. In comparison, my time last year with minimal training was 14:49. The naive pre-race voice in me says, "Of course, you'll smash that old time." But the sage old man deeper down remembers what lurks after those aid stations. It's fun thinking what will happen. But sooner, rather than later, it will be time to put actions to those thoughts.
Whether you're gearing up for a 5k or 50 miler, there's always those inevitable days leading up to the race when all you do is think about it. Have you trained enough? Almost always 'no'. How will it feel? Usually painful. And the ultimate: How will you do? It depends.
I've been very happy with my training since January. I've run over 500 miles since then and until last weekend,
have shown a commitment to my training that I haven't seen for a decade. With competing interests for my time, like everyone, I juggle family, house, and job and each ruthlessly carve away time I should be devoting to my running. Or is it perhaps the other way around? Whatever the proper balance should be, there's never a perfect equation to manage all of them. Not in the way we live today anyway. And I'm including "we" as everyone who is trying to live the traditional American dream.
This week my running has dropped off. I haven't been focused on it, letting those other areas freely overtake my time. I've tried not stressing about it because there's no real point in training the week of a big race, other than to keep the system in check. I was doing a few miles each night but just to do that was causing me to stay up past 11 and I figured sleep was more important. So last night I didn't run at all. My only 0 mileage day in four months. I do feel more rested today and my legs are starting to get a little "jumpy", which is always a nice thing to feel before a competition.
The Zane Grey Highline 50 Mile Trail Race is really a beast of a different color. Each year I do it, and this will be my 4th, I look at my pace in training, project what I think I'm capable of, and then wonder why my finish time was double what I had projected. There are sections where you go uphill on a rutted, rocky trail for 4 miles. These long climbs are almost always after an aid station, situated in the notch of the mountains. So just after you tank up on gels, cookies, water, and bagels, you start climbing uphill.
The leaders are the only ones who can run up these inclines out of a field of 200. No one else even tries. Slowing down to a walk then drops your pace from 5 or 6 miles an hour to only 1 or 2. Do that for four hours and it's easy to see where the extra time comes from.
I'm ready for the miles. I've have at least four long runs of 35 miles and all of them were the day before or after another long run of 25 or more miles. Just for reference on how slow this course is, the pace of my training runs, which I've kept at a leisurely pace, would have me finishing this 50 miler in 9 hours. That would have won the '09 race by over 40 minutes. In comparison, my time last year with minimal training was 14:49. The naive pre-race voice in me says, "Of course, you'll smash that old time." But the sage old man deeper down remembers what lurks after those aid stations. It's fun thinking what will happen. But sooner, rather than later, it will be time to put actions to those thoughts.
good job mr.stark on finishing the run all the way threw even though it was super hard. i hope that you beat your last times run by alot. i also hope you got a good placing. good job at finishing.
ReplyDeletesincerly,
ian long
Thanks Ian. It was a long day but I reached my goal and improved my time by over an hour! See you around!
ReplyDeleteMr. Stark