Ahhh..back to it after some rest, with a great bit of news.

      After a rest week and the long NJ Trails weekend, I was feeling anxious to get back to the trails.  I was still mulling over taking on the challenge of running a fall 100 and couldn't get it out of my mind.  With the Oil Creek 100 filling quickly, I left the registration on my phone and checked it incessantly to see how it was going and if I still had the benefit of time to continue the internal debate. Either way I have a 50 to prepare for, and our West Rim Trail attempt even faster approaching.

      With all the dreams of trails and racing dancing in my head (quite a distraction, I admit), I decided to give myself a rest from job hunting and getting plans in order to maybe go back to school.  And as the saying goes, good things happen when we are least expecting.  I got a phone call I couldn't be more excited about. I will be studying and training to become a personal trainer. It is with an amazing gym with some ridiculous talent. I have been looking into this for so long and it finally lines up with my schedule being able to handle it!  Oh, and the brain goes even more crazy....not needing to work a full 40 hours and no longer having such a long commute to work frees up my schedule to get in a hell of a lot more miles.  Yeah, that seriously is where my head went.  I guess I really am a true ultrarunner.

     So with all the excitement of the week dancing through my brain, I went and did it...registration spot 123...I am officially entered for my first 100 mile race.  Oh, hell yes.

      With the race fresh in my mind, I was able to get out the door for a nice 8 miler on Tuesday to start  getting back into some higher mileage weeks again.  I added in some miles and put some speed on my legs to get used to being tired and moving throughout.
 
Tuesday 3/26            8.01       Trail    1:22:23

   I went out from the house and hit some single track, keeping up a decent pace.  My goal was to jump on Forbidden Drive and move fast back home.  I took some music (which I never do) and go figure, the damn ipod wouldn't work.  So after letting the bottom drop out on pace in the middle, I tucked it away and started kicking.

Wednesday  3/27     4.2         Road Hill Repeats    37:58

    I headed out the door in the dark for an easy 2 mile warm up and headed to the hill for some repeats.  I cruise up and slam down the hill.  Avg. 9:02 pace with 2,049 ft. of elevation.
                           
                               4.03        Trail with Drew       45:28

    A nice after-work introducing Drew to the Wiss.  It was getting dark quickly, so we ended on Forbidden Drive.

Thursday   3/28       Day Off.
 
     I had stupidly worn an old pair of shoes for both Wednesday runs and tweaked my knee a tiny bit, so I decided to do a morning weight workout.  I find it a benefit in maintaining strength and conditioning even in high mileage weeks. Carrying a hand held bottle weight on you and going up or down steps adds an additional strain on your legs, so keeping up with strength exercises helps.

Friday      3/29        8.02        Pre-Work Road Miles       1:11:14

   I felt pretty good this morning and just worked to keep my pace under 10 minute miles.  Enough to get the heart pumping, but not be tired or fatigued after the run.

Sunday   3/31         5.01         Easter Road       44:26

     We went away for Easter, so I was circling around in York, PA getting in some good hills.  Nothing crazy and steep, but enough hills and a quick enough pace to keep the legs burning!

Weekly Totals:  29.27

This was a great week: job-wise, running-wise.  I pushed my pace throughout and realized I had been running too slow for most of my non-long runs.  I am making a point of changing that this season.  I notice a huge difference already, especially on the flats.  My speed is faster, yet doesn't feel like a lot of extra effort.  Excellent.  Although I'd be lying if I said my mind doesn't wander to doing some 50ks to see how I would race with this newfound speed....I may have to throw at least one in this summer...there is time for that.

Enjoy each run, each step and every hill...go get some miles.