The Road to 50...

   This was the week that I am really noticing the early mornings payoff.  Last Wednesday we ran the 10 miles route in 1:50:04, Thursday 1:47:38 and Friday 1:45:52.  This week we knocked all those times out and still maintained the mileage.  I'm glad to see the benefits of the miles paying off.

Tuesday 3/5     Trail with Matt

10 miles   1:39:44

avg. hr- 152

2 treadmill miles at book elevation  I couldn't tell you what the elevation is, but it gets me sweating.

The usual early morning route ramped up.  I really lucked out finding training partner well matched in pace, and goals.  We were feeding off each other this morning and just kept a comfortable pace and ended up with 10 min. avg. pace.

Wednesday 3/6      Trail with Matt

10.01 miles  1:36:49

avg. hr-152

I think we were still enjoying the speed from yesterday and came in with a 9:41 avg. pace...this early in training I'm pretty excited to see this progress.

Thursday  3/7   Trail with Matt

10.05 miles   1:42:07

avg. hr-133

We went to this run and the next days as an easy recovery day from pushing a bit the other days.  No snow today, even though the weather was predicting we could see between 4"-8".

Friday  3/8   Trail with Matt

10.08 miles 1:44:37

avg. hr- 156

So the snow showed up today instead!  By the end of the run my eye lashes were completely frozen and Matt's eyebrows were snow covered.  It was pretty cool to lay down the very last fresh tracks of the season.  It also made me realize I am ready for warmer weather.  By the end of the week I was ready for a Saturday rest day (work, not totally lazy.)

Last snowy tracks of the season.

Sunday 3/10   Wiss Run

21 miles 4:17:41

avg. hr-111

12:16 pace for today...I pushed a few  miles more than I probably should have, and came in tired, but it was a great day to be out.  The sun was shining, and t shirt was on.  The trails were pretty crowded though, so I will admit I would rather run early and not have to stop so often to let the mountain bikers pass.  I don't mind though, we all said hello as we passed and are out doing our thing.  I met a fellow ultra runner out doing the same loop.  He was training for an upcoming Massanutten Mountain 100, so best of luck for him!  I always like meeting people out there training and enjoying the trails.  It gives me motivation to keep moving when I get tired.  I tried to eat more today, and at mile 8 I ate a rice ball (Allen Lim Rice Cake) and then a Honey Stinger Fruit Smoothie gel at mile 15, and drank about 20oz. Heed.

Good to see sunny days rolling in.

Weekly Mileage: 63.14

It was another good, high mileage week for me.  It was fun to get one last day in the snow, and then just two days later be out in a t-shirt enjoying the sun and warmer weather.  I feel like I am on my way to 50 after the last two weeks of running.  I think pacing and eating are going to be my biggest challenges.  With pacing I feel like when I feel like speeding up I do; I've got to make sure to keep that in check so I don't burn myself out too early.  This holds true for the 50 miler, and the West Rim Trail FKT attempt the month prior.  Food is the other factor.  I find myself not eating, and in turn eating too late..one thing you can't make up for easily is not getting calories in early and maintaining.  I have my body pretty well trained to handle miles without eating without an issue...but this won't cut it in a race when the adrenaline is pumping and the pace is faster.  All the goodies I'm working on keeping in mind during the weekly runs.

Go get some miles.