Sooo... It has been a while since my last post. Since my Portland trip, I signed up for 2 key races with an ultimate end goal of running Mount Masochist Trail Run (MMTR), November 2nd. Two years ago I ran the last half of this race (whose course has since changed) as a pacer. This race is a grueling 53-54 miles that are quite unforgiving.
Everything I have read says "PICK a FLAT course" for your first 50 miler. Not me though...noooo... not this chic. That would be playing it safe and "HEY...WHAT runner plays it safe who runs ultra anyway??? I am under the impression we are all a little crazy!"
I ran the Hatfield and McCoy marathon - & finished 3rd in my age. I chose this one because it was 12 weeks out from when I decided to run Masochist and it's in my home state with a challenging hilly course for a road run! I had 12 weeks to train, time to recover, & then start training for Masochist. My marathon training once again started off really great and fell off somewhere along the way to race day just like my first marathon.
So... here I am committed to running a 50+ mile race which I fell in love with two years ago... BUT I know there is no falling off the training wagon here.. NOPE, NOT HAPPENING!!! AND, that is what brings me back to my blog. I will blog about my training all the way up to race day starting today in an effort to keep me true to training. Tomorrow, I finish up week 2 of my Masochist training - I haven't decided on whether I will run on the road or 3 or 4 hours on the trail. A skeleton of a training plan in hand with room for LOTS of flexibility my first two weeks of training look like this:
Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 1
Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 2
Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 3
Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 3 - Track work
Masochist Training.Week 1 Day 4
Masochist Week 1 Day 5
Masochist Week 2 Day 1
Masochist Week 2 Day 2
Masochist Week 2 Day 3
Masochist Week 2 Day 3, Track work interrupted - better luck next week!
Masochist Week 2 Day 4
I intend on including road runs, long and short intervals, and hill sprints while also training for the long runs. I have done a lot of research over the past year in preparation and will include early morning slow runs in an effort to shift my body to burn body fat for fuel. I am hoping for a finish at Masochist sub 10:30:00 - as of now... As my training progresses, I may have a new time goal.
