Hitin the Road

Off work at 4:30, loadin the coooler and I'm Georgetown bound. The Jeep is packed and ready to go. By 8 p.m. I'll be sittin' at my momma's and trying to get some rest. Then it's on to North Vernon, IN. Should be a good weekend. Looks like the trails could be a little muddy, but nothin' I haven't seen before. I'll have a report when I get back.

Getting Closer-6 Days!!

I'm already getting all worked up over the 360 minute race. All that's really left for me is some final packing plans and not screwing it up. I've kept my runs pretty short, but steady the last couple days. I'll probably run 3 more times before the race and nothing more than one hour, which will be tomorrow on trails. I'll really focus my week on nutrition, hydrating, resting and stretching daily. I had a GREAT shopping day on Friday and I have all the groceries I really need for some healthy fueling. All I still need to get is about 5 gal. of water and some Hammer Gel which will be in on Wednesday and I'm ready to roll!

I did a weight check this morning.........194!! I can't believe it. I was hoping to be at 200 for this race, but I oversot that. I hope I'm not down too much to be honest with you. But hey, I feel good and I'm confident in my preparation. All I can do now is be smart and do it. I'll keep my mind off things at work and try to stay busy to make the week go faster. Then Thursday night, I'm on the road.

Focus & Balance.................it's worked so far.

Week's Recap-Taper Mode On

Where to I begin with this past week. I pretty much sat idel until Wednesday. I decided to get a road ride in with Howie and knew going in that we would push it. The ride started great. I was riding as strong as I ever had. The problem with that was that I haven't logged a lot of bike miles this year. We The ride was shaping up to be a little over 50 miles. About 4 miles from the finish I felt a little twinge in my legs. No biggie, drop a gear and spin it out. In the next half mile I was off the bike in agony. My legs were LOCKED, and I was screamin'. No make a long story short, it took me 45 minutes to cover 3.5 miles and several bouts of what I mentioned above. At that point my long run on Saturday and me 6 hr. race were both in question.

I spent the next couple days stretching, hydrationg and eating smarter. I never lost sight of my run for Saturday. I went back and looked at my diet leading up to the ride, my intake during, everything. I didn't want to make that mistake again. I pre-loaded ecaps for my Saturday run. I ate smarter in terms of vegetables and fruits, Elete in all my water and Kashi. I also used Higgins' Stick and rolloed my legs 4 times/day.

It all worked because I went out yesterday in some heat and laid down a 4 hr+ run at Jubilee. I felt pretty good too. My hr average was even lower than normal. I'm stoked! Tried out some new bottles and belt too. More on that to come. For now, the taper is on and I'll be planning it out all day today. I need to be smart now more than ever and stay focussed.

Race Weekend in the Books

And it was a good one! We set a record for racers and everything went off great. We had 120+ at the races on Sunday and they were fast too. There was some very competitive folks out there. It was perhaps my favorite race weekend we've ever done. I expect more of the same the rest of the season. Since this is my last season as pres, I hope they can all go as well.

We were organized enough this weekend that I was able to get a nice run in Saturday morning on the big loop. I cut one small part out and kept my run to two hours. My legs felt great, no pain and I managed my hr very well. I think I'm setting myself up right for the 30th. My diet has been pretty strict lately and I've limited my cheat meals to a minimum. I need a nice solid week this week and cap it off with my last long run on Saturday which should be 4+ hrs. I've already made my camping reservations for the race and I'll actually camp at Jubilee this weekend for a "dress rehearsal". Then let the taper begin.

Farmdale Frenzy Weekend

So here I sit on Friday evening. It's been a bad training week, but I did get a lot of work done for the races this weekend so wasn't a complete slug. Today we started marking the course and getting the campground area set up. We ran out of stakes, so we'll finish marking tomorrow morning. The cross course is ready to roll right now so that's a good thing.

I'll be camping there tonight and since our schedule has been shortened up, I'll have time to get a nice 2-3 hour run in tomorrow morning before we get going. I should be done with my run at about 9 or so and still have plenty of time to finish set up. My bottles came in at Running Central today too, but I didn't have time to go pick them up. I guess I'll have to wait until next week and try them out next weekend on my last long run before I start my taper.