In The Thick Of It

Mark and I are in the middle of the toughest part of our training at this point. All the miles we've put in over the last several months are really paying off now, so we can focus on the key workouts. I ran nearly 70 miles last week and this week looks to be a bit more. A typical week consists of one interval workout, usually with hills, and two or three days of long runs. In between those are easy miles, just to keep the legs going. Today Mike tortured us on the dreadmill with hill repeats at 13 and 15 percent grade. I hate the treadmill, but I think it allows for consistency in elevation gain and in pace, which offers a quick measure of where we're at physically.

Overall, things are going very well. I ran the Kona Marathon a couple of weeks ago as a training run and was able to keep extremely even splits over the 26 miles. It's a very hot and humid race and my goal was mainly to feel good at the end. I really hadn't trained to race it. I finished in 3:45 and was happy with my performance. Even better, I was able to start running two days later and even finished a 23 mile long run with significant elevation gain just a week after the race. It really has amazed me what I can get my body to do. I never thought I was capable of running this much over such challenging terrain, but I think the fact that I started months ago and just kept slowly increasing the effort has allowed me to get where I'm at.

Not surprisingly, my body has been more tired recently and I'm becoming more aware of the importance of rest and nutrition. I've been able to squeeze in a few naps occasionally, but I'm probably not getting enough sleep overall. I'm not a big eater either, but I'm burning a shitload of calories. So I have to also get better at refueling properly. Randi, my wife, has been so supportive through all of this, but this month the burden on her has really increased now that I'm on the trail many more hours or having to spend time resting. I couldn't do this without her.

jea