February 24th - Ultra-ized

Oh my goodness. What am I doing. Last year, in pursuit of becoming an ultra-marathoner, I stopped running marathons and ran them as training runs... I became ultra-ized after running the Damn Wakely Damn trail race (33 miles; 7/06) and JFK 50 Miler (11/06).

In 2007, I plan to run a my first 50-miler hat trick: Finger Lakes 50 (6/07), Vermont 50 (9/07) and JFK 50 (11/07). Ultimately, if I don't crash and burn, I'll be prepared to run the Vermont 100-Miler in 7/08!

I'm training differently this year to build ultra-endurance. Last year's strategy was to run as many weekend long runs as I could, and use the week to recover - meaning, long runs were long, fast and numerous but, only averaging 20 miles during the week... or less! In 2007, I plan to keep my week day mileage around 40-50 miles, and run weekend, long runs at a slower 11-12 minute mile pace. I should be in much better shape to run the last 20 miles of a 50-miler! So far so good. I'm averaging 45-50 miles per week. To date, my long run is 15 miles, and I'm (mostly) following a 50-miler training schedule from Tim Noakes' book.

Besides the 50-milers noted above, I'm scheduled to run the Lake Placid Marathon (6/07; NY), the Wakely ultra on my birthday with Fast John and his brother, Faster Doc, and Reach the Beach 200 Mile Relay Race in 9/07 (NH).

April 27th - Pounding Out the Miles

I've been keeping my weekly mileage around 40-45 miles per week, and tacking on long-runs on on either Saturday or Sunday depending on Sarah's soccer schedule. I'm running my second 30 mile training run tomorrow - in the rain, again! Two weeks ago I ran the same course in 6:50 - pelting rain, hail, and then 2-3 inches of snow/slush.

I've developed some groin strain, so I've been running slower and with a shorter stride. I've shotened up week day runs, but run twice a day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All of these modifications seem to help.

The Finger Lakes 50 Miler (6/30/07) is coming up quickly. I'll be ready!

	A little ugly... but very cool! The G-WeB Technical Shop was commissioned by "g" to solve a water bottle and holster problem. Last year, when Fast John and "g' ran the Wakely (NY) as their first ultra, "g" purchased a water/purifier bottle for the 33 mile, no-support, trail race. Unfortunately, on race week he realized it wouldn't fit into any of his water bottle holsters, and reluctantly took his Atmos 25 fastpack (3.7 lbs) - ugs! So... the G-WeB Boys With Dangerous Tools solved the problem. They purchased a water bottle holster with a hard-core sleeve, cut it length wise, and using a pop-rivet gun riveted two wide bands of elastic to the holder to expand and hold tight the extra large water bottle/purifier. "g" took the contraption on it's maiden voyage on a 37 mi. training run in May. It was a huge success! (PS: to keep the rivets from pulling through the material, itty bitty washers were used at both ends of the rivet prior to popping them.)

June 18th - Comin' up next: Finger Lakes 50-Miler

It's been nearly 2 months since my last journal entry.

In preparation for the Finger Lakes 50-Miler on 6/30, four weeks ago I mapped out an out and back, 37-mile training course. I took Friday off from work because Sarah and I were traveling to PA for a another weekend soccer tournament.. This would be my longest, 2007, pre-50 mile race, long-run. At 5:40 AM I hit the pavement for what turned out to be the first day of extreme heat. Well sir... the heat did me in at about mile 32, and at 1PM, I called Team-C for an emergency rescue at a Stewarts convenient mart. I figured, smart was better then dead.

Two weeks ago I ran the Lake Placid (NY) marathon as a not-so-slow training run (4:26). I'm now in a two week training taper for the FL 50-Miler in Hector, NY (Finger Lakes National Forest).

I plan to run the Finger Lakes 50 in new trail running shoes - Minuzo Ascend 2s. So far... I love 'em!

Since Jan., I've done pretty well keeping my weekday miles totaling about 30-40 depending on my long-run distances on the weekend. Howver, about 1.5 months ago I became exhausted and burned out, and took a complete week off from running. It was perfect timing as midweek I drove to DC to bring Abbe home from college and then drove to PA with Sarah on the weekend for another soccer tournament. I've had my fair share of muscle aches, but.... I'm feeling AOK... I'm ready for the FF50!

Lake Placid Marathon (NY; 6/9/07)
Wanting to impress Team-C, "g" hit the marathon midpoint with a PB of 2:01. However, he paid the price for not training to run at a faster then usual pace and finished in 4:26 - 22-minutes slower then last year. It was a great run and an even better weekend. Above: "g" keeps a good pace as he winds up the very steep grade to the Lake Placid Olympic Speed Skating Oval and finish line. Hearing the hard patter of a racer trying to pass him at the Finish Line, "g" burned rubber as he sprinted the last 100 yards of the race! Cool. Very cool.