The Physical Challenge: Week 19

Training Days: 3 (To Date: 66)

Rest Days: 4 (To Date: 67)

Body Weight: 148 (Net Gain/Loss: -12)

Running Days: 3 (To Date: 52)

Running Miles Logged: 24.8 (To Date: 549.2)

Average: 8.3 (Short = 6, Long = 11.6)

Cross-Training: None

Well, after more than four months of training, the end is very near. Week 18 marked the last week of intense training. With Week 19 began two weeks of tapering in advance of the race, gradually scaling back my training so that my legs and my mind will be fresh for the big day. After an 11+ mile run early in the week, I did an easy 6 mile and an easy 7+ mile run. In between, I’m resting. (This final week – Week 20 – I plan on doing only one 4 mile training run, tomorrow, which will bring my total trail running in preparation for the race over the 550 mile threshold. To put that number into perspective, that’s the equivalent of running from Boston, Massachusetts to Richmond, Virginia along I-95, or just shy of running from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco, California.)

I recently learned that race organizers have changed the course…for the second time. If you remember from the first time around, the race went from 50.1 miles with 9,000 vertical feet of cumulative elevation gain, to 50.1 miles with 10,000 feet of gain. Now, the race has retained its 10,000 feet of vertical, but they’ve added mileage, so that the 50-mile race is now officially 51.4 miles. Lovely.

On the fundraising front, I’m happy to report more progress. I’ve now raised $2,200 for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, bringing me to 44% of my goal. Huge thanks this week go out to Ruth F., Elsa C., Kellie M., and Greg & Leah R. Thank you! For the rest of you, this is the last time you’ll see me appeal for your donations for this race. Please visit my fundraising page and make a donation today! I would love to at least cross the 50% mark in my fundraising.

Finally, for those of you interested in following my race, I’ll of course be posting a post-race report with photos next week, after the big event. But for those of you who want to follow the race in real-time, you have two neat options. For both, visit the Race Center page of the Virgil Crest Ultra website, and on the left-hand side of the page, click on the icon for the “VCU 50 Mile” race. Then, you can find my name (Peter Bronski) and 1) click on the brown icon to see an elevation profile of the course along with mileage and aid station checkpoints, plus my current location on the race course and my split times, and/or 2) click on the blue cell phone icon to receive text message updates each time I pass through an aid station checkpoint. Cool stuff.

In these final days before the race, I’ve been hanging out on Long Island visiting family, squeezing in a bit of surfing in the residual swell from Hurricane Igor, and doing some work. With the race just a few days away now, I’m trying to clear my schedule, rest my body, and relax my mind. Soon, it’ll be time to really go to work. Wish me luck!

– Pete