Week 7

I've really never had a training plan before. I guess I had one for the Cloudsplitter but I barely followed. My style is much more to just run and bike for fun and listen to my body and go from there. That lack of planning and discipline has worked for me so far, with some exceptions, of course, but running a hundred miles is a whole other beast than anything I have done before so I got a training plan and put it in a binder to make it all official:

Last week was week 11 and as I looked at the plan and the progress I had, or maybe had not, made with it, I realized it was not for me and scrapped the whole thing and decided on a completely different plan and suddenly went from week 11 to week 7. The new plan suits my style better and I might stand a chance of sticking to it. The old plan had me running ten plus miles after work several days a week and moderate long runs on the weekends. I tend to go long and hard on the weekend and then do shorter runs most other days of the week and the new plan reflects that and allows for more flexibility and improvisation.

Week 7 went like this:

Monday - dusted off the mountain bike for a 15 mile ride
Tuesday - four mile run with the dog
Wednesday - six mile run with the dog
Thursday - three mile dog run
Friday - three mile dog run
Saturday - 18 miles solo
Sunday - 10 dog miles

A total of 44 miles which is right in line with my new and improved plan. Sunday's run hurt, but I guess that is the point.

Yesterday was a rest day and today will be six miles and I am back on track.

I haven't posted much because there isn't much to post about. I haven't really felt like driving far and going on adventures. Back when most of the forest was shut down I spent a lot of time wearing holes on the Black Mtn. trail and now that the forest is crawling with people again I've been wearing holes on other favorite trails. Pink Beds and Fletcher Creek are getting lots of use as I try and climb less to prepare for rolling Pinhoti course. Saturday's run was an out and back to Slate Rock on the closed Yellow Gap Rd. - a lot of gravel but it was nice to have the rock all to myself in the middle of summer.

Everything is strange right now and I just don't feel like doing much. It is weird preparing for a race knowing there is a real chance it will not happen. But at least I know that is a possibility now which is much easier than all the people that had spring races and got the word they were cancelled or postponed just weeks before they were scheduled.

Anyway, here I am on Week 8, a third of the way there.

I haven't felt like taking many pictures but here are a few. Maybe I'll schedule an adventure soon.