Hiking in Colorado’s Indian Peaks headed for the old 4th of July Mine,
with Mount Neva in the distance
Training Days: 5 (To Date: 58)
Rest Days: 2 (To Date: 61)
Body Weight: 148 (Net Gain/Loss: -12)
Running Days: 3 (To Date: 44)
Running Miles Logged: 36.5 (To Date: 471)
Average Run: 12.2 (Short = 6, Long = 21)
Cross-Training: Surfing, Hiking
The weeks are drawing to a close, and race day is in sight! Week 17, like Week 16, proved atypical. For much of the week, I was in Santa Monica, CA on a media trip. Which was fun on a personal level, but challenging to fit training in. On media trips, the itinerary is often packed from when you wake to when you go to bed at night. As a result, one night I went out for my run from 10:45 pm until 12:15 am, running through the hills of Pacific Palisades. It took some dedication and some motivation. Which strangely enough, is a little hard to come by right about now.
Chatting with my friend, Tom – he’s also running the Virgil Crest Ultra, and is a former IronMan – he talked about how in the last month of his IronMan training, staying motivated was the biggest challenge. Perhaps it’s because you have to push hard for so long with training month after month. Or the looming date of the race causes you to slack a bit and scale back. But I know what he’s talking about. With a 50-mile trail run less than 3 weeks away, I’m not exactly excited to head out for a 35-mile run next weekend. Earlier in my training, fear was a good motivator. But now that my body has pushed to new limits and achieved new levels of endurance, it’s becoming easier to rationalize that what I’ve already done is enough to carry me through the race. We’ll see about that…
I’m also in the homestretch fundraising for the NFCA. This week, a huge thanks goes out to Brian S. for your generous donation. Thank you! Of course, I still have a long way to go to reach my fundraising goal. Like digging deep to find a second wind to carry me home in the race, I’m hoping you all can also dig deep and find it in your hearts and wallets to make a donation to the NFCA in these last weeks. Please check out my fundraising page and make a donation today. Any amount helps…really! I appreciate your support deeply.
– Pete