Good luck this weekend, PerfesserR!
Don't make excuses for why you can't get it done.
Focus on all the reasons why you must make it happen.
Imminent Catastrophe
"Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"
"To obtain the air that angels breathe you must come to Tahoe"--Mark Twain
"The most common question from potential entrants is 'I do not know if I can do this' to which I usually answer, 'that's the whole point'.--Paul Charteris, Tarawera Ultramarathon RD.
√ Javelina Jundred Jalloween 2015
Cruel Jewel 50 mile May 2016
Western States 100 June 2016
You say that every time . It'll be alright once you get into it. The only way out then is through, right? It seems like such a Big Adventure. You must learn a lot about yourself on these excursions. I'll be thinking of you on my own long run and sending you positive thoughts of perseverance and energy and hope for great conditions.
oops - totally distracted from thinking of you on my run today, PerfesserR as I was charged by a couple of vicious dogs early on. Used my pepper spray for the first time, which was quite effective; but I felt very unsettled for the remainder of the run. I'm thinking of you now though! Hope it's going smoothly without any mishaps.
Good luck with the 100 miler Russ. Looks like a nasty blip in elevation profile there :-(
This weekend I had a free entry to a local 1/2 so made use of it. It was a bunch of rolling hills, linked by flat bits. With head winds.
My Garmin crapped itself on the start line (I think it discovered about 40 million HRMs and got confused) so ran blind. It still recorded everything, but I had no idea on my pace during the run. So I started off way too fast and ended up paying for it in the end. Still managed to guts it out and take another 4 minutes off my PB. Obviously running Ultras is still great prep for 1/2s.
Sounds like a scary run Happy. Pepper spray is illegal in NZ (I think) but don't think I have ever been in a situation where I would need something like that. Suppose it is one way of getting the heart rate into the training zone
“Attitude is the Difference Between an Ordeal and an Adventure”
Goals 2016
Do stuff
Yeah, it was frightening. Even more frightening is the thought of what I'd look like if I hadn't had the pepper spray - mauled for sure. I continued running after the incident, all the while wondering if running would calm down my pounding heartrate or make it worse!
You did great on your half today, Puke! Congratulations on running so quickly and achieving a new PB!
At least Russ is having great weather at RDL It can get beastly hot in that locale. So the cool weather is one blessing. Now if the course is just well marked and easy to follow..... I'm dying of curiosity to know how it's going.
It was great when you two did Rotorua and so much info was online.
Happy - I'm glad you're OK. Who leaves wild unsupervised dogs off leash? Can you report the owners?
I ran a slow 5.35 miles late this morning, I'm finishing up a bit of a cold but I could not resist the perfect running weather (55*F sunny low humidity) Husband is making a big production out of charcoal smoking a turkey as its Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. I'm hiding upstairs with the computer.
Good luck Perfesser, cant wait for the report, A
Recalculating...
Wow PerfesserR! just WOW!
Well, I did it. 101 miles, 26:44. Harder and slower than I had anticipated, but the weather was perfect! And a pretty buckle.
In the category of things I can't even imagine.... That is an amazing accomplishment. On your feet for over a day, astonishing. Congratulations, Russ.
This weekend was when I was supposed to do my first ultra, but not being able to run for 4 weeks of peak training made it seem like a really bad idea so I pulled out. Very depressed yesterday seeing the reports from friends who were running it so I decided to run a half marathon this morning to make up for it. I guess I was inspired by NZ Brian as I too had a 4 minute PR. Like he said, apparently ultra training is good for 1/2 marathons; which makes sense because while my trail work was slower than road, the heart rate was much higher which served me well today. The bad news is the McMillan calculator now says I should be able to run a full in 3:49 (which is inconceivable).
New Orleans Marathon - 2/24/2013 4:16:32
Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon - 4/27/2013 4:09:56 PR!
Honolulu Marathon - 12/8/2013
Great way to turn a situation around, drphibes. Congratulations on your new PR!
I'm with ya on the McCalc news. Based on my recent HM, it said my EZ run could now be faster - which I implemented last Monday and it was quite fun at the time, but then my legs were tired all week and the rest of my runs were much slower than usual. End Result: I'm going back to my previous McCalc pace ranges which had been working out quite well for me.
Awesome run Russ. Don't know how you can go for 26 hours, had better be a damn fine belt buckle. :-)
Bummer on the 50k drphibes, but fantastic to get a 4 min PR in the 1/2. I think at times it takes more courage to pull out of an event than to actually enter and compete.
One of the things they drum into us with our rescue training, is that no matter how things turn out, the decisions you make are always the best ones at the time.
After you mentioned the McM calculator, I thought I would look at my marathon prediction using my last two 1/2s.
3:36 ha ha ha ha ha Feel like entering a marathon just to prove it wrong. Would be a huge improvement from my PR of 3:56. Maybe with a few more tempo runs I could drop it to sub-3:30 ROTFL
Yowza! Congratulations!
Thanks everyone, your encouragement really meant a lot late in that race. I actually was doing OK until about 92 when the wheels came off, suddenly my right leg just decided it was done and wasn't going to participate any more, so the last 8 miles were probably the worst, most painful ordeal I've ever voluntarily experienced. Still, when the Garmin clicked over to 100 miles it was pretty cool, and I could see the finish line from there.
You should frame that photo and put it on your wall!
How does your leg feel now?
I've got a massive sinus headache or I'd visit more...