One Month To Go

It doesn’t show in my log as I normally track Monday through Sunday but if I had tracked Saturday through Friday last week, I hit a 7 day total of just over 75 miles of running. How elite runners can mange 100 miles per week or more is beyond my understanding. This is the largest mileage I have ever managed without injuring myself. I only put 16 miles on the bike though which has me missing it quite a bit. I have also been walking on my lunch hours and got about 10 miles of that in this week as well.

Usually, far before this amount, I am struggling with joint aches and other problems that make it difficult to continue and I’m forced to rest. I am of course experiencing the normal muscle soreness of a regular workout routine but other than that, I am feeling stronger than ever. I am starving all the time! Even though I never pass an opportunity to eat and don’t deny myself any craving, I have managed to lose about 10 pounds since beginning the journey. The plan is to stay at this intensity for the next 2 weeks and then begin my 3 week taper until the 100 miler.

I would like to do at least one more long run on the trail after dark. I have gotten a couple of 3 and 4 hour runs in starting at 10:00 pm. It is a whole different experience to be alone in the woods and running at 1:00 in the morning. It takes a couple of hours for me not to jump every time something moves in the darkness off the trail. Your world is reduced to the cone of light produced by your headlamp. You can hear and occasionally catch movements in the peripheral but it is covered in a shroud of black. Once I thought I saw someone up ahead standing on the side of the trail!

Week of September 20 – Run 62, Bike 16