M - 5.1
T - 6.2
W - 6
T - 9
F - 5

Also swam 2600 yds.

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Saturday

no run today; walked 4 miles

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

M - 5.1
T - 6.2
W - 6
T - 9
F - 5
S - off
S - 6.2

Week total: 37.5 mi
Challenge total: 169 miles

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I had a big running week (for me). I also did a lot of biking and some swimming. I am tired!

This week: 29.05 miles (Tue 6.4, Thur 9, Fri 2, Sat 11.75)
Total so far: 86 miles

Decent week for me.

28 miles.

Tues - 4
Wed - 4
Thursday - 5
Friday - 2
Sunday - 13.1
Total for challenge: 114

I'm having a flare-up of plantar faciitis so I'm going to take the next week off by order of coach and work thru that. It usually clears up pretty quickly for me with treatment.

---

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Monday Nov. 29: 7.4 miles (workout)

3 w/u with 0.6 in pickups @ 7:14
3.1 (22:16)
1.3 c/d

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

M - 7.4
T - 7.4

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Horrible week for me. Well actually all went well until Saturday. I registered last minute on Wednesday for a 6 hour run. All day Friday I felt horrible. Just sluggish and off. I headed to the run on Saturday and didn't feel much better. I was hoping that once I started moving, it would get better. It didn't. I made it 13 miles and called it a day. It was horrible. My legs felt great but my body didn't. When I managed to run I was able to run 9-9:15 min miles but I was nauseous, dizzy, fluctuating between hot and cold. The deal closer was when I couldn't keep down any food and gagged on some fig newtons. I have never ever not finished a race before so this was hard to take. I still feel horrible about it. I feel like I just gave up. I wish I had some ailment to blame it on. Feeling crappy just doesn't seem like a good enough excuse. (yes i may be crazy).

My coach is trying to convince me that this is my body's way of telling me I need rest so we are resting this week. I am running the Tecumseh Trail Marathon on Saturday and she wants very little running between now and then. Walking is fine but she wants me to rest. She is worried that I may be reaching my "peak" to early and we need that to happen in Feb for Rocky and not in late November/early December. So my goal is a couple of 3 mile walks and to run a smart race. I have a 50K (well actually 35 miler for my birthday on Dec 18) so this won't be an all out effort. I am looking to finish somewhere near my time from last year and considering I am in way better run shape this year, that should be easy. We will see soon enough.

Here are my stats:
Total Miles last week: 35 (broken down as Tues-7, Wed-5, Thurs-10 (8K race in there), Sat-13)
Total Miles Total in Challenge: 188

Hope everyone is having a great week and sorry for the whiny post!

Do you think you have a flu or cold?


From the perspective of a non-ultra runner, I'd note that if you were also a non-ultra runner you'd be tapering this week anyway. Perhaps resting will be easier if you keep that in mind - for everyone but an ultra runner, resting this week would be pretty normal.

Have an awesome race on Saturday!

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Sorry to hear you're not feeling so well!! Yuck! Had my own run in with a stomach bug last week. Really bad for about 12 hours, but then felt better. Almost didn't make Thanksgiving.

Skipped some runs b/c of it and some taper anxiety - when I get nervous I get totally overwhelmed & skip workouts rather than doing the opposite & hitting the training hard. Yes, it's stupid & counterproductive *sigh* Trying to get over that this year & stay accountable, even if the numbers aren't anything I'm proud of :)

Miles for the week 11.2 as
T: 5
Th: 6.2

Total for challenge: 82.6

Looks like I'm going to be aiming for Silver, rather than Platinum like I'd hoped...Still glad we're doing the challenge!!

Elsa, "they" always say "better undertrained than overtrained" so maybe you're better off skipping workouts than you would be if you did the opposite and trained hard.

I ran 4 miles this morning and lifted.

M - 7.4
T - 7.4
W - 4

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

M - 7.4
T - 7.4
W - 4
T - 8.1

Also swam 1200 yds

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

M - 7.4
T - 7.4
W - 4
T - 8.1
F - 7.9

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

M - 7.4
T - 7.4
W - 4
T - 8.1
F - 7.9
S - 7.5

7.5 in ~56 min this morning. allegro

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

This week I ran 21.1 miles (Tues 6 miles at track, thursday 5 miles and Saturday 10.1 mile trail run)

Total so far: 107.1

M - 7.4
T - 7.4
W - 4
T - 8.1
F - 7.9
S - 7.5
S - off

Walked 3 miles and did 50 min of cycling this morning.

Week total: 42.3 mi
Challenge total: 211.3 mi

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

One week to go!!

So last week was only a few short run/walks and the Tecumseh Trail Marathon on Saturday. The marathon went about as well as planned, I guess. The race is a point to point and we take buses to the start. We got about 4-6 inches of snow the night before and the bus drivers refused to drive. We ended up having to all drive ourselves to the finish, cram into parking spots (at a campsite covered in snow) and the course was changed to an out and back. Close to 600 people on a single track out and back is a tight fit. My plan was to aim for the same time as last year given this was a training run and not a race. I was about 15 minutes off of that (slow) but given the snow, the having to move off the trail to make room for the passing runners, the mud, stopping at every aid station, and a long bathroom break, I'll call it a wash. I will admit I never really felt good during the run. A ton of that was likely due to nutrition but some of it is that I lost my drive. While I am not fast, I am usually a bit competitive with myself and after about mile 15, refuse to let anyone pass me without an attempt to pass them back. But this year, I was like - bye, have fun, I'll see you when I finish. I think that I set a time goal in my head and when I realized I could likely stop and sit down for a while and still make it, I just gave up. I need to find my mental game or this is going to be a long build to February for me (1st 100 attempt at Rocky Raccoon).

Here are my stats:
Total Miles last week: 32 (broken down as Wed-3, Thurs-3, Sat-26.2)
Total Miles Total in Challenge: 220

Looks like I'll make gold but likely not platinum. I would need a 60 mile week to reach platinum and I don't foresee that happening.

Hope all is well with the rest of you all!! Elsa- How did NF go???
-dd

6 miles + yoga this morning.

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Although a bit late, better late than never here's my totals since 11/1/10:
11/2 5 mile run
11/5 8 mile run
11/7 4 mile run Total: 17 miles week 1

11/9 5 mile run
11/11 9 mile run
11/14 3.5 mile run Total 17.5 miles week 2, Total for challenge 34.5 miles

11/16 5 mile run
11/18 2.5 mile run
11/20 9 mile run Total 16.5 miles week 3, Total for challenge 55 miles

11/22 4 mile run
11/25 5 mile run
11/26 3 mile run
11/28 10 mile run Total 22 miles week 4, Total for challenge 77 miles

11/30 4 mile run
12/2 5 mile run
12/3 3 mile run
12/4 2 mile run
12/5 10 mile run Total 24 miles week 5, Total for challenge 101 miles

Ultimately to do a 1/2 marathon in Jan 2011 in Salem, OR and full Marathon in May 2011 in CDA, ID

Addendum: 12/7 Run 2 miles
12/8 Run 5 miles
12/9 Run 3 miles
12/11 Run 3 miles
12/12 Run 11 miles
12/14 Run 3 miles
12/15 Run 5 miles

Total for challenge was only 131 miles, no medal but still training hard when I can.

M - 6
T - 6.5

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

M - 6
T - 6.5
W - 7

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

M - 6
T - 6.5
W - 7
T - 3.2

+ 50 min kickboxing + 65 min yoga

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

M - 6
T - 6.5
W - 7
T - 3.2
F - 6
S - 8

Yesterday: 6 mi run (47:50), 1200 yd swim
Today: 8 mi run (60:58) + 1200 yd swim

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

We have 3 more days in the challenge for those final miles!!

I had another rest week from running. I did have a couple of runs but we focused on more rest and cross training. This weekend is my birthday run (35 miles for my 35th) and I am so lookling forward to it. I guess the rest has done me well since I am anxious to get running again!!

Total Miles last week: 18 (broken down as Tues-6, Thurs-6, Sat-6)
Total Miles Total in Challenge: 238

So looks like I will finish with gold as I need 41 miles in the next 3 days to make platinum and I don't think that will be smart with a 50K+ race on Saturday!!

How is everyone else doing?

I've got 2 weeks to report after being on the road all last week, but not that spectacular in terms of running...

Two weeks ago:
44.5 as T- 3, W -3, Sat - 38.5

Last week (recovery):
F - 2.5

Total miles in challenge - 129.6

Looks like I'm finishing in Bronze, since I'm not planning to run 60-some miles in the next 3 days...

My 'race report' (aka, why Saturday was only 38.5 miles) - Attempted the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler, but missed the second time cutoff. I felt great and was going strong, just a little too slow. And only a half marathon from the finish!! (it was actually 51.2 miles) I originally handed in my bib at the 37.3 mile aid station and continued on for about another 1/2 mile, but realized I had no way to contact my family, who would likely be told I had missed the cutoff & assumed shuttled to the finish. So I turned around and came back, for a grand total of 38.5 miles. It was a really tough course. I'm from Colorado and trained on mountain bike trails and the NF50 trails were definitely more challenging than I was expecting, but I felt trained and ready for the elevation gain/loss. Plus it rained on us & the trails were very muddy and slippery. Not trying to make excuses...really.

It was definitely heartbreaking to 'have' to stop. Like I mentioned, I felt strong and have no doubt I physically could have finished. Just need to work on the speed aspect. I'm pretty slow by Slowtwitch standards (4:30ish marathon). I really want to go back and finish, but it will have to wait until 2012 b/c my 2011 training/race travel budget is totally full with 2 ironman races on the schedule.