4/19/12 The Flight and Pre Race commentary

PRE RUN:

At least in the past some of my best writing has come out of my travel time, since you end up with a LOT of timing sitting on your ass thinking about various things while  you hardly secretly people watch all of the people are you.

So, today is Thursday 4/19 of the 25^th week of training. My last three weeks have been severely tapered with extensive recovery… or so I feel. Really I just followed the plan. The only time I didn’t follow the plan was about 4 weeks ago at my last 50K in my long stretch of heavy training weeks. I was so inspired by the 50miler-100K -100mile runners, especially after successfully running 8min pace consistently at Rock n Roll Marathon on March 17^th… I just sort of had the idea, that maybe, just maybe I could push it…ya know… see what I could handle.

Great Idea right?… and I found out I can hold 8min miles for 31 miles … even better. So why was this a poor decision??

Because I let my pride guide my race... My body had already given me the warning signs of persistent fatigue. In fact the night before the NJ ultrafest I was barely able to eat I was so exhausted I felt awful… I was in bed by 7:30….. and I snored (as per my roomie- Frank)… I only snore when something is physiologically off. I should have been more concerned, but my legs felt ok so onward I charged.

I only snore- for the record, when I’m sick… when I enter a coma like sleep for body’s immediate shut down and recharge…. I certainly don’t pretend to understand it but I do know this to be true, and in hind site, perhaps this is a good (and somewhat amusing) warning sign.

Injury rarely occurs from overtraining …. But rather from under-resting:

1)    Fatigue

2)    Aches that aren’t recovering

3)    When EVERYONE starts saying “You need to rest more”… even ppl you barely know and suddenly seems like the Universe has teamed up to TRY anything to get you to listen.

4)    Then the stuff that I don’t experience but you may: weight loss, change in appetite, insomnia, inability to stay asleep,

5)    Physiological signs like : elevated resting heart rate, or higher that usual heart rate at the same pace.

6)    Pain- DUH…. Stop now.. save yourself the trouble… ICE, NSAID, ELEVATE, Support.

So what about this REST : you can still train- cross train and even run… but that depends… are you fighting with warning signs or injury.

Warning Signs: back Down… a LOT… don’t worry so much about losing the work you’ve done… it’s still there, and unless you literally don’t move for weeks on end, you’ll probably feel better for it (I’ll give my opinion on this in a few days..s/p 50 miles!).

If your injured: TAKE the time to recover completely before you start to get back into it. Try to use other modes to keep your endurance up (swimming is great… I don’t enjoy it much, but I am very grateful for the extra 45 min a day I spend with my HR elevated as though Im running).

The flight to Vegas is amusing with everyone drinking and celebrating various engagements, anniversaries, birthdays, you name it… I’ve never truly enjoyed Vegas… but I think this time I will.

Most of my time will be spent outside the Strip @ Lovell Canyon. The first stop after my hotel room and a little time at the pool will be REI!! I’m so excited- I’m such a outdoors junky (I wont even buy anything- except a new handheld water source) but window-shopping there is fun….

I really hope I feel alright after the 50miles because I’ve changed my mind about going out in Vegas and I think I’d really like t be able to stick around the Canyon and hold out for the 100milers and just volunteer my time. But if Im wrecked- getting Home to Treasure Island for a shower and Beer (though I can buy that and bring it out with me…. Cooler needed…hmmmm…. So much to consider)…. And yes I could go back… but again everything depends… I may be close to dead energy wise….. but I hope to take this easy and enjoy my time with the other runners.

I have nothing to prove to anyone but myself. It is my 1^st50 mi and it isn’t a qualifying race for Western states so there is no real reason to push it. (I hope I listen to myself on Saturday morning!)

SO Excited!, So rested…. Tired of sitting on this plane…. Haha