09-29 Mar

09 MAR -- 12:45 -- 1.00 mile -- 350 elevation gain
10 MAR -- 13:30 -- 1.00 miles -- 485 elevation gain
               -- 32:00 -- 2.50 miles -- 1150 elevation gain
               -- stationary bike 4 miles -- upper body weightlifting
11 MAR -- 9:30 -- 1.00 miles -- 245 elevation gain
12 MAR -- upper body weightlifting
13 MAR -- off -- rest
14 MAR -- 8:04:44 -- 42.93 miles -- 3038 elevation gain
15 MAR -- off

TOTAL -- 9:12:29 -- 48.43 miles -- 5268 elevation gain

Boring week leading up to the TJ 100k on Saturday.  Another DNF.  Weird foot pain started at mile 10 and lasted until I dropped at mile 43-ish.  The top of my foot was mushy and purplish/greenish the day after.  Strangely enough, the pain was intense during the race and the day after, enough to cause me to limp, but the pain was gone by Thursday the next week.  Figured out that I probably had my gaiters on way too tight because I went for a jog later the next week and both feet hurt in the same place - on top of my foot where the gaiter stretched over the shoe laces.  Lesson learned...just when I thought I had it all figured out...  Even though I might be considered somewhat of a "veteran" with nearly 30 ultras to my name, I'm still a juvenile in the sport and learn something knew with every run.




16 MAR -- off -- travelled to NC -- but we played racquetball when we got there!
17 MAR -- 11:15 -- 1.00 miles -- 0 elevation gain
18 MAR -- 18:40 -- 2.00 miles -- 105 elevation gain
19 MAR -- upper body weightlifting -- 100 push ups -- 50 pulls ups
               -- 45:00 -- 5.00 miles -- 485 elevation gain
20 MAR -- upper body weightlifting -- 100 squats -- 100 pull ups
21 MAR -- 1:30:00 -- 3.00 miles -- 205 elevation gain (walk with Kari and Eli)
22 MAR -- 44:47 -- 5.91 miles -- 240 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 3:29:42 -- 16.91 miles -- 1035 elevation gain

Slow week after the TJ almost 100k the weekend before.  My foot pain lasted until nearly the next weekend but finally subsided and the bruise went away.  I spent most of the week on a treadmill or on a track, trying to rehab.




23 MAR -- 25:03 -- 3.78 miles -- 128 elevation gain (after arriving in Georgia)
24 MAR -- stationary bike 4 miles -- 45 pull ups (morning)
               -- 26:07 -- 3.36 miles -- 187 elevation gain (also in the morning)
               -- 48:30 -- 6.35 miles -- 203 elevation gain (afternoon)
25 MAR -- upper body weightlifting -- 65 pull ups (morning)
               -- 40:52 -- 5.67 miles -- 180 elevation gain (afternoon)
26 MAR -- 30:45 -- 3.84 miles -- 220 elevation gain (morning)
               -- 23:25 -- 3.40 miles -- 108 elevation gain (afternoon, after arriving in FL)
27 MAR -- off -- travel day from FL back to VA
28 MAR -- off -- but I did an Insanity workout with my photographer -- and 100 pull ups
29 MAR -- 2:32:17 -- 17.44 miles -- 1233 elevation gain

TOTAL -- 5:46:59 -- 43.84 miles -- 2259 elevation gain

I finally got in a good run today (29 March), my first long run since the TJ almost 100k.  Bull Run 50 is 2 weeks away so I need to get in some good runs this upcoming week as well.  After Bull Run, I need to hit the hills hard for MMT 100 in May.  But, I've truly been considering running the 72 hour event at 3 Days at the Fair this year instead of MMT 100...I did MMT in 2013 and it was awesome!  My first 100.  But something about 3 Days at the Fair makes me want to go back.  The 1-mile loop was dreadfully boring after rounding it 120 times, 10 of which I was intoxicated.  I can't explain what makes me want to go back.  The food didn't compare to VHTRC events, especially MMT 100 where the food is restaurant quality.  The other runners, except for Bill Gentry, weren't all that friendly.  For example, Joe Fejes is amazing and I tried talking to him about 7 times but got shut down about, oh, 7 times.  I think I subconsciously enjoy a race with no finish line, one where you create your own finish at the point where you can no longer endure the pain or boredom.  And that point will be somewhere between mile 0 and mile 1, essentially, if you want to look at it that way.  We'll see...  I want to spend my final days in Virginia with the club at MMT 100, but I'm not sure I'll be satisfied with that decision knowing I could be so much more miserable for 72 hours in NJ that same weekend.......

On a side note, I've started a decent post about the 10,000 hours theory and I've done a decent amount of research for that post.  It seems the 10,000 hour rule has been written about and applied to many different trades, hobbies, sports, etc., but never to ultrarunning.  There also exists numerous counterarguments to this theory, which I have also been exploring to feed the beast.  It might take me another week or two before I have a finished product for you to read, but I hope that my time and effort spent on this "paper" will be worthwhile and contribute to the ultrarunning community.  And if not, oh well, I'm having fun writing it, if anything simply to increase my own awareness of the sport, Gladwell's 10,000 hour premise, and in general the limitations placed on the human body due to natural forces such as time, sleep, recovery, nutrition, yada yada...  It'll be interesting, anyway.  Maybe not studious or worthy of publication in a journal, but then again I don't have a sponsor to appease via blog posts either...