Friday - 20 miles

On Thursday the family went to the park, kicked the soccer ball around and actually walked about 2 miles.

Friday a.m. - 12 miles, 1:40, 1800ft. climbing, avg. HR 154 (But I will break this down in next post)

Friday p.m. - 8 miles, easy, avg. HR 140

BIG DAY!

This morning I started this post before I ran. I wrote "20 miles." Have you ever written down a goal? There is research (legitimate at that) that suggests writing it promotes the achievement. All day, despite a number of distractions, I got it done. It was classic. And I felt absolutely (feel absolutely) great. Fatigue I guess is gone. I'm just trying to be responsible. My wife doesn't necessarily understand.

As a little follow-up to my trip: I was psyched to be scouting for the 50k late summer. I want to see how my body fares under such distress (training/racing). I'm not sure it's happening. At first it was my repugnance for the proximity of a nuclear plant and the obvious affect it has on the beauty, which I described earlier. Understandably, the "war on terror" may be a good enough excuse to make such "character" blunders as I witnessed on my run, but the gold definitely lost some of its glitter.

Howeheva, my thoughts on the physical demands of the 50k have become the real deciding factor. I felt super super strong after my 12 miler over gorgeous rolling hills. I didn't hit any of the big peaks, which I plan to hit in the next 60 days if I can manage it, but the run was solid. I feel very good about the way things have been going training-wise. Today's big day feels really good; sure I have little uncertainties, but I feel strong. Two things, which are totally related, need to happen before I launch Ultra Matt. First, I want to continue to get as fit as I can. I start a 6 week block of speed soon. I tasted some last Friday and that sh*t will be nice. After raising my top end, I'll start over and see where my ass is (MAF). I will run some shorter races during the speed work and Xterra Trail kicks-up again at the end of summer, so that's a given.

Secondly, I need to be throwing that kind of mileage around easily (50k type). I need a schedule in which I'm consistently knocking back 20-30 mile runs. Twice a week, etc. That's just not happening. But I'm getting there. The 21k trail runs are pretty sweet and certainly a challenge! I mean, what am I thinking? So, really really doubtful about the 50k this summer. But what it does mean is keep building through added speed and volume consistency.

Yet I did 20 today!

Where are my flip-flops?