What can I say? The most miserable, yet most rewarding race of my career.
Full report can be found on the Refuse2Quit blog HERE.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Wasatch, here I come!
Seriously Josh? Months and months of nothing to talk about? The truth is, I haven't had much to talk about because I've just been plugging along. I should have written up a race report for the Bryce 100 back at the end of May, but Craig did such a great write-up, I really didn't have much more to say than what he covered. You can read his report HERE if you want to hear about that adventure.
This training season has been quite a change from past years. Everyone needs a break, right? I've taken that to heart this year and gone with the "less is more" approach, meaning that I'm running less but feeling like I'm gaining more from it. We'll just say I'm really well rested. That's not to say that I haven't been running, but I've switched to fewer mid-week shorter runs and gone with more long runs on the weekends. My body likes it for sure, but in truth I've probably lost a little bit of speed because of it. I'm ok with that though. I've had the opportunity to get out on some great adventures with friends, such as running the entire Bryce 100 with three of my best friends, MVH's amazing Millwood 100 experience, the annual Quest For King's Marathon, introducing some trails virgins to their first run on the trails, and running Timp a couple times tonight with my friend Jennilyn. I've had some great runs by myself as well, but this year I've been trying to soak in more of the experience than just focusing on my own performances.
Craig has done a great series of write-ups over on trailandultrarunning.com that have really got me thinking as well. I've been known to make plenty of excuses in the past (and still make plenty in my own head), but I've really tried to limit them as much as possible this year. I've been going through lots of personal things in recent months, but instead of making excuses to other people, I've focused on internalizing them and grinding out runs when I wouldn't have in the past. It's been a game changer for sure. What's also made it easier is that I'm running fewer days and thus MUST make the days I do run count. No excuses. Refuse to quit.
With that said, I've got two weeks until Wasatch. I decided I want to run with pacers again this year (again, for the camaraderie), but I have no real time expectations this time around. I'll just go out and have some fun running with some friends all day long. Don't get wrong, this doesn't mean I won't push myself to have the best race possible, but I'm laying off the expectations I typically set and hopefully I come out with a good performance. Excited to soak it all in again! Best of luck to everyone running out there.
This training season has been quite a change from past years. Everyone needs a break, right? I've taken that to heart this year and gone with the "less is more" approach, meaning that I'm running less but feeling like I'm gaining more from it. We'll just say I'm really well rested. That's not to say that I haven't been running, but I've switched to fewer mid-week shorter runs and gone with more long runs on the weekends. My body likes it for sure, but in truth I've probably lost a little bit of speed because of it. I'm ok with that though. I've had the opportunity to get out on some great adventures with friends, such as running the entire Bryce 100 with three of my best friends, MVH's amazing Millwood 100 experience, the annual Quest For King's Marathon, introducing some trails virgins to their first run on the trails, and running Timp a couple times tonight with my friend Jennilyn. I've had some great runs by myself as well, but this year I've been trying to soak in more of the experience than just focusing on my own performances.
Craig has done a great series of write-ups over on trailandultrarunning.com that have really got me thinking as well. I've been known to make plenty of excuses in the past (and still make plenty in my own head), but I've really tried to limit them as much as possible this year. I've been going through lots of personal things in recent months, but instead of making excuses to other people, I've focused on internalizing them and grinding out runs when I wouldn't have in the past. It's been a game changer for sure. What's also made it easier is that I'm running fewer days and thus MUST make the days I do run count. No excuses. Refuse to quit.
With that said, I've got two weeks until Wasatch. I decided I want to run with pacers again this year (again, for the camaraderie), but I have no real time expectations this time around. I'll just go out and have some fun running with some friends all day long. Don't get wrong, this doesn't mean I won't push myself to have the best race possible, but I'm laying off the expectations I typically set and hopefully I come out with a good performance. Excited to soak it all in again! Best of luck to everyone running out there.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
A Quick Training Update
I feel like I finally turned a corner this past week. To be honest, for months I've been struggling with running. Between small nagging injuries, being sick (twice), and plenty of excuses, my training has not been where I would've liked throughout the winter. The good news is that I have several years of solid base behind me. I proved last year that I can come back pretty quickly after months of inconsistency. The bad news is that I've lost a good amount of speed... Something I can hopefully gain back in the next five weeks.
There have been a few things that really helped motivate me through my so-called "downtime".
The first was signing up for a race. For months I'd been planning on running the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 100 in late March. Once mid-January hit and I still wasn't running consistenly, I bagged the idea completely. Instead, I chose the Buffalo Run 50 miler; a race I've run twice before. I got into the race about 8 weeks out... Plenty of time for me to get ready. The bad news is I wasted the first couple weeks struggling with motivation, and once again lots of excuses. I still ran a bit, just not like I'd hoped. Then I finally hit my stride this past week running, that included a long run on Saturday which was the farthest I've run since October. Yikes!
The other thing that really helped was the Refuse2Quit.com crew. I haven't said anything to any of them about this, but seeing their pictures & videos and reading about their adventures the last few weeks has really boosted me! I was really bummed that I couldn't join them this past weekend in the San Rafael Swell (I actually couldn't have gone even if I was ready to run 30 miles), but watching this video got me excited about joining them for more adventures this year.
All five of us are running a version of the race out on the island March 23rd. I'm not expecting to beat my 7:39 from two years ago, but I would like to publicly state that I'm aiming for 8 hours. There! That should give me even more motivation to train hard over the next five weeks. It'll be tough, but what's the point in setting a low expectation? Shoot for the stars! I'm looking forward to the mayhem!
There have been a few things that really helped motivate me through my so-called "downtime".
The first was signing up for a race. For months I'd been planning on running the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 100 in late March. Once mid-January hit and I still wasn't running consistenly, I bagged the idea completely. Instead, I chose the Buffalo Run 50 miler; a race I've run twice before. I got into the race about 8 weeks out... Plenty of time for me to get ready. The bad news is I wasted the first couple weeks struggling with motivation, and once again lots of excuses. I still ran a bit, just not like I'd hoped. Then I finally hit my stride this past week running, that included a long run on Saturday which was the farthest I've run since October. Yikes!
The other thing that really helped was the Refuse2Quit.com crew. I haven't said anything to any of them about this, but seeing their pictures & videos and reading about their adventures the last few weeks has really boosted me! I was really bummed that I couldn't join them this past weekend in the San Rafael Swell (I actually couldn't have gone even if I was ready to run 30 miles), but watching this video got me excited about joining them for more adventures this year.
All five of us are running a version of the race out on the island March 23rd. I'm not expecting to beat my 7:39 from two years ago, but I would like to publicly state that I'm aiming for 8 hours. There! That should give me even more motivation to train hard over the next five weeks. It'll be tough, but what's the point in setting a low expectation? Shoot for the stars! I'm looking forward to the mayhem!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Learning By Mistake
I wrote my first article for Refuse2Quit: A reflection of my 2012 season and the plans I have to make 2013 a much better year. You can check it out here: http://www.refuse2quit.com/2013/01/learning-by-mistake.html
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