How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

My body must be adapting to the strain of long distance racing, because after a couple of days of leg soreness, mostly in the calves, I felt better today, and decided to run a barefoot mile at the arboretum. But when I got home from work Rachel wanted to go to Kickapoo with Maggie the dog and hike, so I brought along my running spikes, just in case I could run a bit.

After hiking in the autumn woods for a half mile, I decided to try a slow jog, and was surprised to find that I had little leg soreness, and actually felt quite strong. I ended up running the out and back loop, along with the #6 mountain bike connector, and even ran a hard final mile. I am pleased that after running a 100% effort 32 mile race on Saturday, I am already back to running just a few days later.

I was thinking about how I am going to train for the April 100 mile race, and decided that maybe I should run a few ultramarathons during the winter. Since I am going to be doing long runs anyway, I may as well throw in a few races and have some fun. These long races definitely make me feel good, and they are my true race calling - I should run as many as I can!

Wow, running lately has been too good to be true - being in 21 year old shape at 43 makes me happy! Can't fathom having fully recovered from the 32 mile race already, but there I was, doing 6 x 1000m hard loops at Busey Woods. It was raining the whole time, which was great, 60 degrees, and the trees were at the height of autumn color, the dominant hue being fire yellow. Legs felt strong, ran fast and did not get tired. Wanted to do more loops, but 6 is enough for now.

I am feeling too good to switch to winter training mode, so I am looking for another ultra to run in the next month or two. Last year Greg wrote about his 100k adventure in Chatanooga, TN, I keep remembering his struggles climbing a mountain at midnight, took like an hour to go 1 mile. That's the kind of challenge I love, so maybe I will run that race, although it is 2 months away. Maybe I can find one in November to take advantage of how good I presently feel.

I keep upping the ante for my training sessions because I have been feeling stronger as each week goes by. Maybe it is because I am running every other day because my knee seems to like that better. I have tried the running everyday routine, and while there is something to be said for it, maybe my body is better suited to running with day long breaks. On the off day I walk 4-5 miles and do strength exercises, and I can feel my running energy building, and when the next day finally arrives my leg strength and passion for the run is higher than it would be had I run an easy 3 miles the day before. So the knee injury was good for something after all.

I ran my best speed training session of the year, I have been saying that a lot lately, but today at Busey Woods I ran 12 x 1000m hard loops with a 400m easy jog for the rest. Even on #'s 11-12 I was holding it together and ran just as hard as the middle reps.

Feeling so good I registered today for the 1st annual McNotAgain 30 miler on Oct. 31 (next Saturday). I plan on giving a hard effort, and I also get a chance to see what McNaughton Park is like. If all goes well in my winter training I will be there for my 1st 100 miler next April. It is a tough course with lots of mud and hills - I can't wait to run 3 x 10 mile loops next Saturday.