GOAL CHECK!
It's roughtly one month into the new year. Both research and experience demonstrate that this is where the resolve and the resolutions themselves begin to disappear. My hope is that each of you reading this will be men and women of your word, stick to the goals you have set for yourselves and even go beyond. Keep kicking butt everybody.
Well, the practice of one of my resolutions has come early. I had made it a point to be an awesome dad once my daughter was born when I last gave an update. She was supposed to be due in April...but... she decided to come early, being the first in line in a family expecting 3 other babies this year. What can I say, I guess she just likes to be number one. Olive was born on January 5, 2014 at 1:23 A.M. Thus my adventures in Dadding began sooner and with much more intensity than expected. That being said, it's hard for me to write about what it has been like at this time, simply because the whole situation is so close and heavy. For me, with writing, generally I need some space in order to process and realy get a handle of what has happened and how to put it into words. My wife has been awesome at keeping everyone informed. If anyone reading this needs to get caught up and is curious about the details, be sure to catch Stefanie's updates. In short: Olive was born 3 months premature which has resulted in a variety of complications, all of which she has triumped over. We spend all of our free time at the hospital with her. And that's pretty much all I can say about it at the moment. We genuinely can't express how thankful we are for the thoughts, prayers and support.
As I said in my New Year's post, one of my resolutions was to begin training for an Ultramarathon. For those of you who don't know what an ultramarathon or 'Ultra' is, it's basically a really long distance race. Generally and distance 50kilometers (36 miles) or longer would be considered and 'Ultra', although some think that now with the sport's rise in popularity that the distance should be increased to 50 miles before it could be deemed an 'Ultra'. My crowning achievement will be the completion of the Leaville 100, a 100 mile trail run through the rocky mountains in Colorado.
My tentative goal was to complete this by the summer of 2015, but as I've been doing more research and getting further into my training, while a push like that is possible, the real pleasure of reaching that goal will be everything leading up to it. As I'm learning with all of this distance training fighting against the distance, in this case, trying to accelerate my training may not be the best idea, and quite frankly could be dangerous. While getting in the right physical condition to complete such a task is a key component, cultivating the mental fortitude to accomplish the goal is becoming much more important.
When I first decided I was going to do this thing, I was grossly underinformed. I thought if I just went out and ran a bunch that I would be fine. Well, if I've learned anything in life, it's that if you want to be great at something you need to obsess over it, observe people who are masters at what you want to do, then be willing to learn from them and change/adapt the things in your life that need to change in order to achieve whatever goal you have set for yourself. My first milestone in this regard with preparing for a 100 mile race has been altering my training regimen and coming to accept the idea that this may be something I can't just try to bang out in a little over a year. The latter has been the necessary change as a result of my learning. All learning necessitates change. If you can't accept or deal with the change, then really you are better off not having learning the information or skill at all. Once again the proof is in the pudding.
As far as my training is concerned, right now I'm doing a consistent 40 miles a week, which is enough weekly mileage for me to huff and puff through a marathon in 4ish hours. I did manage to put in a 70 mile week before I had to go back to work after the holiday, but then Olive was born and things got crazy. The nasty weather hasn't helped either. I don't mind the cold so much, but when all your trails get iced over, you need ice skates to get your run in. Right now, I'm sitting at about 8 miles for a normal running session. It takes me roughly an hour, which is a decent pace. I usually get about four of these a week in, then one longer run on the weekend (a 10-12 miler) or I'll do a double up and run 6 in the morning and do 8 again in the evening. I usually also try to mix in some resistance training at least one day a week.
I'm learning quickly about my threshold. The reality is that there is none and it's never consistent. Sometimes I'm hurting after the first mile and it never gets better. Then I get done and I've run at a much better pace than I expected. Other times it's easy. Yesterday for instance, I did 8.5 miles and barely felt like I ran at all. Then last week I made the brilliant choice of doing a 10 miler in brand new shoes on a day it was 80 degrees, after having been accustomed to running in 40 degree temperatures. 2 miles in and I was dead. Somehow I finished, but it served as a good sweat test. In those types of conditions, I need to bring hydration with me, for I had lost per body weight standards, double the amount of body weight that is safe for a single session exercise. So what did I learn? For my longer runs I need to have a means of hydrations and a few extra calories to carry with me. (Don't even get me started about the 11k I tried to run at a 6:00minute/mile pace. I stuck to it, but couldn't run for almost a week after the fact. Turns out there are better ways to do speed training.)
The latter (the calories and hydration) will be the next steps in the evolution. (Also time! Finding the time to go for extended runs right now is quite difficult). As I progress into doing 15+ milers a couple of times a week, I will need to adapt by learning how to eat and drink on the run. This is a new skill to learn and although it's a challenge, I'm kind of excited about it.
Well, I've ranted for enough today. I'll leave you with this: If you want something, do not be afraid to put yourself in the position you need to be in to obtain it. Accept the changes that come with learning about your goals and yourself in the process. It's all a part of the journey and it's great fun.
"Effort only fully releases itself after a person refuses to quit."-Napolean Hill
