Packing my drop bags and stuff for the race Friday. I only ran 3.4 miles Tuesday night this week. I felt a cold coming on yesterday so I started taking zinc, today I am coughing and sneezing and have a sore throat. I've never attempted a 100 miler when I was sick, but it seems to only be in my head right now.
I smashed my pinky finger this morning, it is black and blue and swollen, it may be broken. It's not crooked so I'll tape it to the next finger maybe. Hopefully it also won't matter as far as putting my pack on and off etc. this weekend.
I'm ornery, my legs feel tired, and I feel fat and lazy. I have a few slight pains like the heel where I had PF all of last year, so my taper seems to be going perfectly.
Istria 110k 4-6-2024
WS100 6-29-2024
UTMB 171k 8-30-2024
MCM 10-27-2024
nOOky, lol at the perfect taper. The Bear, right? Hope all goes well.
Funky, thanks for sharing your race report. Sounds like maybe your heart was not in it 100% given the other things on your mind, with your family and your health? It seems like the kind of thing where the stars have to align. If you feel your stars aligning, then pick another one and go for it. But if not, it's not necessary to run 100. We still love you.
5/11/24 Grizzly Peak Marathon, Berkeley, CA
7/20/24 Tahoe Rim Trail 56 miler, NV
9/21/24 Mountain Lakes 100, OR
Slower but happier
Dhuff - no real XP here with timed events. It’s seams appealing as far as easy packing, BYO-aid station. I think the mental toughness to just keep going around a track would be hard. I might need an audiobook to listen to.
WC. Are you looking at doing any of the 6 days at the dome races next Aug, like one of the 24h? Filling up already. 6 Days Dome Redux
I think I might try a 24 but it’s not the same time as the 6 day so maybe even just go spectate at the end of the 6 day would be something.
I suppose they do the 24/48 h before the 6 day, so the track is not clogged, not sure? This also means some idiot is gonna run 8 days!
Nooky. I always feel fat and drag-a$$ during taper but at same time agitated/irritable. I heard for older folks, shorter tapers May work better so I’m running with that. Also, no more carb loading or tanking up w fluids has helped me w taper not feel like a blimp, glad those days are gone. Good luck on the Bear.
Drock that hat is something doing those races with HCM. Do you have an AICD?
2020 goal: couch to 5K, currently working on the couch block
thanks! it all points to the mental side of things. i know i was having problems but it was mental really. there is a weak, beaten up, whimpering little boy inside me that i have built a stone wall around. i forgot about him but the wall got broken down and now i know he will always be there. denial wont work for a 100M. i keep thinking about the last time i was like that and it was 2005 attempting to hike the JMT with my friend. i was pathetic, lost my friendship and i think part of what drives me in ultras is to try and quash that part of me. but he is still there. buried way down. man 100M sure strips off a lot of layers! ...
I have that same whimpering little boy inside as well. It took someone else to put him in his place. I debated posting this for a while, so I hope it is helpful, but I don't know. At any rate, I mean for it to be. If it isn't, well, I haven't run 100 miles, or 50 or even 30 yet...
When I was 19, I was new to the 75th Ranger Regt. It must have been sometime in the spring, we were doing a multi-day infiltration through the NM desert culminating in a raid on top of a mountain. We would walk all night carrying heavy rucks and "lay up" all day (basically try to sleep in the awful heat under a camo net).
On the 3rd night, we started up the small mountain. Freak storm hits, temps plummet to well below freezing and we are in summer uniforms and jungle boots. The weather was so bad they called off the training and we went into survival mode. (Training basically never gets called off in that unit). At some point I heard a blood curdling scream, I think some dude got frostbite. I am just miserable, cold, wet and hurting all over. Whimpering little boy comes out...and literally starts whimpering! I was moaning, totally gave in to self-pity.
Only thing that snapped me out of it was my team leader yelling at me to shut the f up and stop being a f-ing pu#@y! I was embarrassed and ashamed, I wasn't actually injured or anything. Looking back, that was the best thing that happened to me, and it happened in training where it is supposed to.
Anyway, I've done stuff about that hard since, but I never let myself go back to that place mentally, I just tell myself to shut the f-up and stop being such a...
I think the difference is "injury" vs. hurt, pain, and/or misery. If you are injured, seek medical attention. If the path you are on has a high likely hood of injury, stop. If it is just hurting and misery, cowboy up and drive on!
If that wasn't helpful, you can just tell me to shut the f up! ;-)
Are we there, yet?
WC. Are you looking at doing any of the 6 days at the dome races next Aug, like one of the 24h? Filling up already. 6 Days Dome Redux I think I might try a 24 but it’s not the same time as the 6 day so maybe even just go spectate at the end of the 6 day would be something. I suppose they do the 24/48 h before the 6 day, so the track is not clogged, not sure? This also means some idiot is gonna run 8 days!
I might crew a friend in the 48, then do some volunteer shifts for the 6 Day. In case you didn't read all the fine print, each entrant in the 6 Day has to provide a volunteer for a 3 hour shift or pay an extra $60 fee. If I go, I may offer to volunteer so runners don't have ask a crew member to do a volunteer shift as well. The 48 hour is Friday and Saturday. There is a 24 hour each of those days. When they are finished, the 6 Day starts on Sunday so they'll have the track to themselves.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K, 9:11:09 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
I registered for Piedmont 8-Hour on Oct 27th, a very low key race on a 2.85 miles trail in Powhattan State Park, VA. I ran it last year and enjoyed it. Besides where else can you find an ultra with a $45 entry fee. It will be a good challenge to see if I can get 11 laps in for 31.35 miles. I'm going to hold off on registering for ATY until at least after Piedmont to assess my rate of progress.
TMH - I don't have an ICD, I'm not sure how much HCM effects my running, since I've always had it. I know it really effects some people, and they have a hard time functioning. I would think faster running would be more risky, I do run 10ks once in a while, haven't had any problems
Club Fat Ass New Years Day 50k - Jan 1 - 6h13m
First Half HM (road) - Feb. 9
Chuckanut 50k - Mar. 21
Sun Run 10k - Apr. 19
BMO Vancouver Marathon - May 3
Vancouver 100k (Club Fat Ass) - 32h07m 2 runs, pacing 100 miler friends
Whistler Alpine Meadows 100 miler - September 25
king of the non-sequitur
Packing my drop bags and stuff for the race Friday. I only ran 3.4 miles Tuesday night this week. I felt a cold coming on yesterday so I started taking zinc, today I am coughing and sneezing and have a sore throat. I've never attempted a 100 miler when I was sick, but it seems to only be in my head right now. I smashed my pinky finger this morning, it is black and blue and swollen, it may be broken. It's not crooked so I'll tape it to the next finger maybe. Hopefully it also won't matter as far as putting my pack on and off etc. this weekend. I'm ornery, my legs feel tired, and I feel fat and lazy. I have a few slight pains like the heel where I had PF all of last year, so my taper seems to be going perfectly.
good luck! I bet the cold goes away and the finger will just make you forget about other stuff. in fact maybe you can squeeze the finger when your foot hurts? jk. gl!
Bridle Trails 50k 1-13-24 5:39
Cottontail 6 Hour 4-13-24
Cougar Long Series (May,June,July,Aug 2024)
Carkeek 6 Hour 10-19-24
I could have used some of that perhaps. the race people weren't happy but I pulled the age card and they couldn't argue with me then out of respect. lol. DW & I used to be in a totally kick your ass martial arts class. if you screwed up even one single pushup they would make the rest of the class do 20 more while you had to watch...but they had me doing stuff I didn't think I could do, like 5' high tiger rolls onto a hard concrete floor etc. that was a long time ago though
I was going to say that about the finger too, Lol.
Rick
Good luck to the racers this weekend.
Fnkyhd - I need to read your report but in the meantime get that DNF off of your avatar and put back one of your goofy pics. Then sign up for another 100, quick.
12-23 Last One Standing - Finished 102 miles
2- 24 Grandmaster 100 - 22:32, 1st place
4-24. Cappy's Backyard - 17 yards, 1st place
5-24 Bryce 100
Photo from Saturday, I told the photographer I wasn't going to run for the photo. He laughed and said most people didn't. It's a steeper hill than it looks in the photo. You get an idea of the conditions, could have been a lot worse, warmed up and the snow was melting.
https://brianmccurdyphotography.smugmug.com/WAM-2018/i-wjW6f3C/A
Nooky - good luck!
Was reading this morning that focusing on your environment, and not focusing internally is supposed to improve performance. Probably why the treadmill always seems like torture compared to running on a beautiful trail
Photo from Saturday, I told the photographer I wasn't going to run for the photo. He laughed and said most people didn't. It's a steeper hill than it looks in the photo. You get an idea of the conditions, could have been a lot worse, warmed up and the snow was melting. https://brianmccurdyphotography.smugmug.com/WAM-2018/i-wjW6f3C/A Nooky - good luck! Was reading this morning that focusing on your environment, and not focusing internally is supposed to improve performance. Probably why the treadmill always seems like torture compared to running on a beautiful trail
So ah, I will never do this race, as I do not need to see snow any earlier than I already will here in MN!
nOOky, lol at the perfect taper. The Bear, right? Hope all goes well. Funky, thanks for sharing your race report. Sounds like maybe your heart was not in it 100% given the other things on your mind, with your family and your health? It seems like the kind of thing where the stars have to align. If you feel your stars aligning, then pick another one and go for it. But if not, it's not necessary to run 100. We still love you.
aww, thanks!
I worry im under trained because im not hating running and beat up going into a taper like i usually am. (Tbh a little beat up but less than usual).
Drock. I can vouch for that external thing, when i watch Netflix treadmill goes by so much easier. The flipside is nothing builds your mental toughness like a bare bones treadmill LR.
But to scientifically test this idea we should put a treadmill in a pickup and run on it while it is driving through the countryside on a fine day.
WC. I think volunteering at the 6 day sounds like a better idea than running the 24 h before it. Though time of year your not gonna get better running weather anywhere else in the midwest- being that its inside.