three runs 24 hours

A nice 15k today around 5:00 p.m.  making it 3 runs in 24 hours or 40km in 24 hours.  If I were to run tomorrow at 8 or 9 that would be 55 km in about 36 hours, in the evening another 10km that would be 65 k in 48 hours. 

Wow, nothing like getting way ahead of yourself.

Dead legs, but running easy and light and just moving along.  But certainly not quick that is for sure.We had a very hard rain here today, it turned that tree really green, I'll get a picture of it up tomorrow I hope.

I've cut out the massive daily infusion of coffee and only had 1/2 a cup today.  I've switched to green tea for the time being.  How could 2 billion Chinese people be wrong?

Today is done.  Return, try not to crave, stay in the moment?  Now is the best teacher?

A Strange Phenomena

You might recall my "imaginary life" posting.  After five days of loss of everything I got back at it today.  I ran twice!  15km in the morning and 10km in the evening after work.  I went easy light both times and it was just enjoyable as hell.  Just running, ran with the watch but never looked at it and didn't turn it off when i was stopped by traffic a couple of times.  Just running.

Interesting feeling about craving the easy light feeling.  I lost it and so want to recapture it that I believe that there is an ability to do it every day, just craving it unfortunately.  Days like today you think it returns if you can just do that same thinking day after day.  Those are just not realistic thoughts, but the mind is of course a strange little thing.

 Perhaps it is interesting that I've written on this several times now so clearly I have identified this phenomena.

This is hilarious below:  this is a picture of the self serve ticket purchase for our underground here in Kyiv in preparation of Euro 2012.  Apparently they decided that they didn't really need to pay for someone to take a look at the English.

A to a screeching halt goes that good feeling

All that arises ceases.  Haven't run since Tuesday.  Wednesday, work, Thursday, work, Friday, work, Saturday and Sunday conference related to work.  Don't get me wrong, there were opportunities to get in miles, there were opportunities to do the usual mileage, not just junk miles.  I just couldn't get it generated, the feeling that I discussed some 10 days ago that lasted about 11 days came a screeching halt.

Interestingly, it seems to be returning again, I really feel like getting a nice week of running just for me and not really sweating the work.  Post conference blues, I'm sure.  On a lighter note my Plenary Session on International House World Organization branding practices went quite well and was well received by some people whose opinions I respect, mainly my co workers. 

And, then there  is a weather update, below is a picture outside the window taken yesterday, and lets have a review shall we?

As we can see, our foreground tree has picked up some more green, the ash on the right and in the background is slow to get started.  The great news is the on the far left you will see white blossoms against the second floor of the building on the left.  This tree will be the first of the highly colorful spring we will be having.

Looking forward to Monday.

Witness my real life

I ran a nice 10km yesterday.  Today I worked 13 hours today, starting at about 7:00 a.m., getting home at about 8:15 p.m.  I was supposed to do intervals today.  I couldn't get near my shoes today.  My real life.

All I can do is try again tomorrow.  Remember, if easy is all you have, that isn't so bad.

My Imaginary Life

Today is a holiday in Ukraine, Orthodox Easter day off from yesterday.  So I thought I would dedicate today to my imaginary life.  And,...

Woke early, got in a quick 12km of relaxing miles.  Came back in and reloaded on nuts, fruits, cereal and protein.  Relaxed, did some writing, took a short nap.  About 13:00 went out for a tempo run at marathon pace for about 10km.  Very nice, with some excellent ascent and descent involved.  Heart rate and Blood sugar very good.  Came back in, relaxed, whole wheat bread, nuts, fruits (apples, pears, oranges) protein shake.  Napped for about two hours. 

Woke up, read some blogs, read the news on the internet, mainly comparisons of economic conditions in USA v. Europe and why each is better than the other.

Around 19:00 went for another 10km utilizing easy and light, probably around 9 min a mile.  Very easy, very light.  Nothing spectacular. 

Total of 32km for day various types, two good naps, good nutrition, plan to do 40 km tomorrow at about 9:00 a mile.

And now back to reality:  I ran 12k today, nice very relaxed after yesterday felt very good.  Of course I have to work tomorrow.  No sponsors, no shoe deal, no GU deal, I work, I run because I want to, I work because I have to.  I guess I don't have to, but I probably don't have the courage to live out of my car.

Still the run was nice today.  15km tomorrow.

First look at Kyiv Marathon course.

Interesting repetition of things that happen all the time (sorry Yogi Berra).  I scheduled myself to run one lap of the Kyiv Marathon route.  In fact I almost did, but I turned around in the wrong place and what would have been 20km ended up being 18km. 

The Blood Sugar was good.  I am also taking a new multi vitamin from Schiff.  I got them at a GNC that is sort of a kiosk in Dreamtown mall in Kyiv.  I real find actually.

I really enjoyed the run I have to say.  A nice misty rain coming down for the whole thing.  Though I didn't particularly enjoy some of the people along the way.  Unfortunately, this race will be partly on cobble stones, ugh and then there were cars out there today, even though it is Orthodox Easter here.

Three interesting things on the run though.  The first was outside the Volodyrmyrski Cathedral where there was a really long line of people waiting have their baskets of eggs and bread blessed with holy water.  It looked like little red riding hood out there.  Number two was something I've never had happen here.  I was running through Khryschatyk where you can walk on the street on the weekends and there was a very old man on a bicycle wearing among other things a hat that said "Canada" on it.  He spoke to me in Russian for about 5 minutes and I nodded and said one or two word responses back to him.  The gist of his talk was that nobody gets exercise in this country anymore and you only see runners rarely.

Number three is an all time great classic.  As I was running just before the old man started talking to me I saw one of those bands from old Soviet days, or it looked like from old Soviet days, uniforms like that, big hats like that and a lot of very old people standing around waiting for them to play.  Tow things came to mind, one, this must be a fight against Easter by the former communists, and two, they look just like the people who I saw on TV today for N. Korean celebration, same outfits, everything.

Well on the way back on the loop I saw the band, only this time they were playing the music in the street in formation and they were dancing like they were trying out for the Florida A&M Marching Rattlers, it was great, just great, and now it wasn't old people looking at them it was a huge crowd of young people.

Another interesting day in Kyiv.

Nice Week, Nice Weather

Spring has finally sprung here in Kyiv.  Today it is +20 C, and was +12 C as early as 8 a.m.  When I ran it was +18 C, limited wind.

The trees are starting to get some leaves.  There is a very nice willow tree across the street from my flat that I look forward to watching progress through the year.  I like watching trees progress here.  Maybe because it is a city and a big one at that, so you don't get to see it unless you look.  Across the street is an elementary/primary school with some trees so pictures.  I like to take pictures of the trees outside my flats as they progress out of winter into fall.  It is a long process, but part of the fun of city living I guess.  Here is the opening shot as of 14.04.12.

Willow is in the foreground, I look forward to seeing what the ash on the right and the trees in the back ground are going to look like over time.  This willow just sprung to life only two days ago.

As to the run today, really enjoyable.  Good Blood Sugar and nice easy light approach.  Trying to focus on that.  The stone bruise is still there but I am really pleased with this last week.  I've run 8 days in a row and enjoyed every day of it.  That is so nice.

Nice week, nice weather.

Your mind is evil

I ran 15k on Thursday and 12k today.  The Thursday run was interesting for what it was.  It started out fairly dead just working on easy and light.  I had pretty much decided that it would just be a get around junk mile day because I really needed to find out how much damaged had been done from the intervals.

Based on the training I've been doing over the past three years I really felt that running that hard on Wednesday would surely lead to some type of pain that I wouldn't be able to tolerate and would need to take a day off.  Why you ask?  Because I've spend that last 5 years thinking I'm a diabetic and ex seriously injured person and I've had injury after injury after injury from various things.

And,.... nothing, I actually ran beautifully, easy  and light and pretty relaxed.  No pain, some dead legs to start but just an all in all very good run.  What's changed?  Well I think Conemarra has changed everything.  The training for that showed me that I was really giving it excuses that really weren't there.

But the speed work, shouldn't there have been pain the next day?  Why should there have been, because there was in the past, or because the pain you associate with the past should realize that day?  But hasn't my mind been telling me all this time, you can't do it, the diabetes gets in the way, you've got this horrible foot injury from 1994 you can't do it.

Obviously I can run 64 km without pain, recover from it nicely in 6 days and get right back at it. 

Secondly, speed work is good for you and it makes your body remember things that it could do in the past and all these excuses are just that, excuses.

Your mind is evil

By the way, todays morning run was wonderful.

Mind and Muscle Memory

One of the things I learned from Conemarra is that I need to do something about leg turnover and pacing.  Also, I think that I've been reading some good articles on iRunFar that shed some light on different ways to do things.  One thing is, every body seems to have an idea and the almost no one has it down.  What works for one may not work for another.

With that in mind, I woke up this morning really tired.  I didn't run, but since I got off earlier today, I decided to do run in the evening. I also decided I need some speed work.  I chose to run over to the track and do real live speed work. 

Now, I haven't done speed work for real since 1994.  So I had no idea, and of course my expectations were trying to be kept in check.  I chose to do 400's.  I ended up doing 8 x 400. 

Interestingly, I was also trying to do, easy light smooth.  It doesn't work in speed work.  The first 400 was 1:58.  1:58!  are you kidding me?  I've run a 14:49 5k in my life.  Oh by the way, my body had no clue what was going on, curves - straights?  what the hell is all of this.  Next one 1:55!  Uh, are you that old that you will never run fast again in your life?  Still nothing in response, but I was certainly lose.  I was taking 200m jogs between each.  1:50 for the third one, still nothing, and really my brain couldn't figure out the cadence, how to work the curves, nothing.

I decided to lose the easy light thing and just go for it.  Next one was 1:38 and wasn't as bad as I thought but clearly my muscles and mind had forgotten how to do this speed work.  I did it again, 1:40, started to remember how to work a curve and a last straight away.  Next one 1:39, at least consistent, beginning to feel better with each one.  Pushed some more, 1:37.  Start to breath heavy, this I remember, but also starting to see the track like your supposed to in speed work, where you want to be on the track at certain times, when you should push etc.

Ran the last one not all out but going hard.  1:32.  Now that is progress, muscles now remembering what speed feels like.  Remembering why speed work is good. 

Slow warm down and think about it. 

Watching, learning, reading, running

I ran 10k and 15k Monday and Tuesday.  Both runs were focused on easy and light.  Yesterday's weather was early morning crap and today was still a bit chilly.  +2 for both days.  Rain yesterday, wind today.  All in all, I really would like to get into some short sleeves and run a bit.  It will happen.  Patience.

The thing about easy, light, smooth, fast, is the light part.  Easy I can do, I, like just about everyone can be naturally relaxed under no pressure.  For me it is trying not to see past the next step.  Today and yesterday I got to points in the run where I began to think about how far I had to go.  This of course defeats the point of Light (run like you don't care how far it is or how high the hill is).

All in all, getting back at it is very enjoyable.  I'd like (grasping) to get in some nice 100km weeks or 100+ weeks over the next few weeks.  We will see how that goes.  I have a data set of four days and of course think it will last forever.  (all that arises ceases).

I read Anton Krupicka's blog today and his continuing struggles with his shin which I only know about from reading about it.  But he, like all of us I guess, has his own inner fight with not trying to over do it.  Even someone in that kind of fantastic shape has that problem, that was interesting to read about. 

I'm still pondering Conemarra on a regular basis.  I did my first set of core exercises yesterday in what seems like 9 or 10 months.  Trying to get back to that every other day if possible and eat right and stay hydrated. 

Watching, learning, reading, running.

A post script to Conemarra and Caballo Blanco

I am now one full week post the ultra.  I ran Saturday, 12km and today 15km with an eye toward what is in the last paragraph of my write up on Conemarra.  I still have some residual soreness in the left adductor but other than that everything seems very nice and I had two very nice easy runs yesterday and today.  Blood Sugar is good, feet are good, shoes are good.

If you don't know who Caballo Blanco is, adopted name of Micah True, he is a central character of a book called "Born to Run".  My sister-in-law gave me this book as a gift some two years ago.    I devoured the book, but re read the sections on Christopher McDougall's visits with True several times.  I have some favorite quotes which I have used here, such as:  "why take two steps when you can take three?"

Two days before Conemarra ultraRunningonline.com posted that True was missing after going for a run.  On the day of the race it was confirmed that he had been found dead.  At the time I was saddened by this news as I felt a connection with some of the words he has said but also that many of us probably would love to take the approach he has taken over time, however, can't/don't/won't for various reasons and that we admired greatly what he was doing.

I've had one week to reflect on Conemarra and during that time McDougall had a very nice article on BBC Online, my main source of news, which held yet another of the great True quotes.  I've had time to come to terms with my experience, what I would like to see happen from that experience, but at the same time not grasping for what I want to do as a result.  Simultaneously, my favorite quote has somehow centered me with not grasping and not over exceeding expectations.

From "Born to Run", by Christopher McDougall,

"Don't fight the trail. Take what it gives you," he began. "Lesson two - think easy, light, smooth and fast. You start with easy, because if that's all you get, that's not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don't [care] how high the hill is or how far you've got to go.

"When you've practised that so long that you forget you're practising, you work on making it smooooooth. You won't have to worry about the last one - you get those three, and you'll be fast."  (Micah True, aka Caballo Blanco)

My last two runs endeavored to work on easy and light.  I think it will be some time before I get to smooth and fast.  I am really enjoying easy and light. 

Thank you Mr. True.

Conemmara Ultra Write Up - or; Great Expectations are merely expectations

October, 1992, I ran 2:45:05 at the Dublin Marathon, I finished 94^th out of 3000 + runners.  I crashed and burned because I did good training but didn’t respect pace or show patience.  After that I ran a very good marathon the next year by adding some training in places and respecting the early part of the race and the pace of the race.

Twenty years later 1 April 2012 and a great deal of water under the bridge.

0600, woke up easily.  Didn’t sleep very well, but I knew that would be the case.  I did sleep a lot on Saturday as I travelled for some 19 hours just to get to Clifden, IE from Kyiv, UA.  The race schedule called for a 7:20 bus to the briefing which would be 0815, then bus one mile up the road to the start.  I started the day with a hot shower, had two cups of coffee and then headed downstairs to wait for 7:20.  There were a lot of people doing the Ultra who were staying at the hotel so there were quite a few in the lobby.  The bus we took ended up full.  My number was 390174 (cute the 39 stood for the ultra as we were going 39.3 miles)  This entire race was in miles of course, not kilometers.  

I didn’t know the route really at all.  I had been down about 10 miles of it without knowing I had been when I took the trip from Galway to Clifden.  It was significant rolling hills and we drove back up that road to the briefing area which was Peackock’s Hotel at Maam Cross. It looked like there were about 225 of us in total at the briefing.  Turns out that is about right.  We heard from the director, got our directions, turn right, turn right, turn right turn right, run down hill and then met the current 100 km world champion from Italy, really nice guy and about to run really fast. 

I didn’t prepare any dropbags as I packed 12 GU’s, strawberry banana and tri berry, plus insulin, test strips, meter and the thing that pricks your finger that I can never remember the name of in a fanny pack.  Having already practiced with this in the 40kms and 50kms runs I was comfortable with the fanny pack.  I wore an Adidas Clima Cool shirt, number front and back, compression shorts and running shorts along with socks and Adidas CC Ride shoes that had about 60 kms on them at the start.  I didn’t wear the wrap on my leg as it felt very good.  In fact, it feels good as I write this, which is full evidence that I should never ever buy a pair of shoes that does not fit/is too big again in my life!

 Early days with the group referenced below

I took off my t shirt that I brought because it felt cold, put it in my end of race drop bag, along with an apple, my water bottle and put it where it was supposed to go. I kind of felt like I was in a fog, my focused kept wavering from what was happening to sort of following the line of people and what they were doing.  I occasionally would listen to conversations, but what I learned was we were all kind of doing the same thing, only close friends were really speaking, we seemed to be following each other like lemmings to the cliff.

 I kept my gloves on, race time temperature was about 6 C.  I wore the gloves for the first 6 miles probably.  We took the bus to the start at 0840 where we had the first hilarious moment of the day.  It looked like every man in the field decided to go from the bus to the nearest field and acid fertilize (urinate) the man’s property.  I’m glad I waited, as more than one person stepped immediately in to a peat bog and got to run 40 miles with one clean shoe and one mud covered shoe.  But eventually I did make my personal contribution to the property line.  We slowly got ready and they called two minutes, I was about 15 rows back I think.

I had a plan which I spoke about previously.  Start slow and work my way into things and run somewhere between 8:15 and 8:30 miles, which is to say that I had expectations of my fitness level and what I had done leading up to this run.  In the final analysis I learned you can have expectations but if you don’t respect the course your ass is grass, end of story.

The first mile was downhill and probably the mile marker was  in the wrong place as we went through in about 9:30.  Mile two, however, seemed a little more correct and that was 16:44 (8:22’s).  By this time we began to have a nice group of people, some people moving quickly up, others staying together, others showing restraint and falling back.  I perceived myself as someone showing restraint as there were people around me.  Next time I will know that that feeling isn’t restraint, it is the early part of the race when we are all still together for a bit.  I was around a pack of French people from a club in Toulouse and ran with them for about 1.5 miles.  At the front of this pack was a Belgian women who had a bike rider accompanying her.  I ran with her for about 2 miles.  I didn’t look at the watch again until about mile 5.  

The scenery was just gorgeous, the sun was shining brightly and at this point we had the wind at our back and the rolling hills were not really any sort of problem.  By far this was the most spectacular part of the run, the weather was beautiful, the wind at our back, I felt extremely good and the beginning os a series of rolling hills went barely unnoticed by me as I seemed to be maintaining my pace.  

My pace was very good and I seemed to be turning 8:25’s or there abouts.  Unfortunately, at 5 miles I realized I was all alone.  I would stay that way for about 5 hours with the occasional conversation with someone I passed or someone who passed me.  I in fact had failed to maintain concentration about the concept of the length of the race.  It felt great so I continued on, not knowing there would be so many hills (I knew, I chose to ignore them for concentrating on the final hill) and therefore I just ran and didn’t think to consider that maybe I should stay with the group for a long time.  Just didn’t think about it.  Can you tell I am now?

And then there was pissing boy.  In Brussels of course they have the statute called “The Pissing Boy”.  There was a guy who went by me at about mile 2 who built up quite a quick distance on me.  But at mile 3, 5, 7, 9 he stopped to urinate and each time he started up again about 20meters ahead of me and rebuilt the lead.   I really felt that this guy was strong and this was my first strange feeling at mile 9, as in, how does he keep doing that, is he running that much faster than me, is he in that much better shape than I am?

I went through 6 miles in about 50+ minutes and seemed very comfortable.  I didn’t see the watch again until 10 miles.  Miles 7-9 were a series of very rolling hills and I ran this with three guys between 100meters and 50 meters in front of me, I could hear the French behind me and could not believe that they were just jabbering away.  My mental conversation was completely incorrect.  I was thinking about how long I should take to overcome both of the two guys in front of me.  I was not thinking about the rolling hills that just kept coming.  I was very comfortable physically.  But I was not, thinking about it now, considering the down range problems that I just didn’t have the experience to think about before the race and have learned from this race.

The conversations I had so far were merely about the weather and how beautiful it was.  I still thought this place was gorgeous, and I was very comfortable.  At 10 miles I was about 84 minutes and we made a write turn toward the Kilgore Monastery.  

This was a beautiful part of the run.  Lakes and bogs with sun shining surrounded by very large hills covered in rock and gorse.  We basically took a lake road for 3 miles until we reached the first ½ marathon point which is also where the companion marathon started.  Up to this point I had taken water at 5 and 10 miles.  I took GU 15 minutes before the race and took my second one at 5 miles as I ran and drank, this was pretty comfortable, it wouldn’t be later.  The water was in 250ml bottles. 

At the 10 mile turn we turned into a wind, which would accompany me for the next 25 miles.  Another factor that I had not considered, or factor into mental consideration for this amount of time on my feet.  This lack of experience is of course a recurring theme from this experience.  But that really is the point isn’t it?  Learn, use the information for next time, adapt, change, learn from the next one.  

At 10 we had what I considered our first serious ½ mile long hill and I found myself having to work very hard here and that I had caught the two guys in front of me and went by them; but another caught me and went by me like I was standing still and I never saw him again.

The 13 mile water stop was early and I took one bottle of water which I sipped on through the ½ marathon point, which was also the first time we went across a timing mat.  I went through here in just under 1:49, almost exactly what I thought I should be doing.  I also tested my blood sugar here and it was 206, so I took 2 units of humulog and on GU and off I went again.  Another interesting experience, I have been out of competitive running for so long that I didn’t know how timing mats felt I think I stumbled over this one in fact.

My first truly serious error occurred shortly thereafter.  I picked up the pace through a very hilly section of the course.  I worked this for about 5 miles.  I went through 15.1 miles at 2:06, write about 8:30’s, this should have been a hint that the hills required more respect.  My water stop at 16 miles was fine, just water, but then I started to really feel like crap around 18 miles, and there were hills coming and going and rolling along and feeling like there were good downhills with them.  There was going to be water at 19 miles, about half way.  I was surprised that I felt so bad, this area had a lot of hills in it and I was trying to pull experience from my training to work through it because I couldn’t figure it out. What seemed to be the problem.

A thought occurred to me, why not test your sugar! 

an attempt at pushing it with sets of hills in the background

I did, I’d had a bonk and the type 1 diabetes had made its entrance into the experience, blood sugar down to 60 from the 206 from those 2 units of humulog, I took two GU’s and two bottles of water at 19 miles.  I was at 2:43 here, which meant I’d gone about 4 miles in about 37 minutes (I didn’t figure this out then, this is analysis afterward) .  I immediately felt better, but then we took a right turn again and went straight uphill for a mile.  This really did a number on me, but I didn’t know it yet.  At this point I was still on a good pace for something about 5:35.  Or so I assumed that all we be the fine now that I had found and solved the problem.  Again, lack of experience.

On review, this part of the course was really very difficult, it was mostly uphill with the type of hills where you reach the pinnacle only to find you get 100meters of downhill and go straight up very quickly again.  Also, with the exception of passing two guys and being passed by one guy who really looked amazing, I was jealous of his relaxed demeanor; I was running alone for a very very long time.  I think this being alone is why I like running.  However, it is very unique to this type of racing as the distances are so long and at some point you spend a lot of time by yourself and again, experienced learned.

Once we had climbed these hills we were sent down hill for about a mile then uphill and I got water at 22 miles and I took two bottles, one I stopped a drank immediately the other I carried for about ½ a mile until I finished it.  I still thought I was okay here, we were coming toward the marathon and I was making the critical mistake of getting too far ahead in the race, I began to think about the last ½ marathon of the race instead of focusing on my body and doing an inventory of what was happening.

And slowly I began to unravel.  I started to feel my quads hurting at about 20 miles, now they hurt a great deal and suddenly I had stabbing pain in both quads, above the knee (vastus medialis).  I had to stop and kneed out the cramping.  It seemed very early to have cramping, potassium?  Carbs?  Water?  I had no idea but I knew I was in serious trouble if it was like this this early.  Water at 22 seemed to solve the problem.  From here on out the experience would be aid station, water, fine, one mile from next aid station, all hell breaking lose in my legs from cramping.  By now the temperature was 15 C about 72 F.  I had a fleeting thought of running a 50km training run in Kyiv when it was -20C.  Hmmm, some things you can’t control I guess.

Getting to the marathon point was a gentle downhill which brought me to a stop because of the quad problem.  I went through the marathon in 3:48.  It had taken me 2 hours to do the second ½ marathon.  I was doing quick calculations in my head and knew it would be tight if I hung on.  That actually was an absolutely ridiculous expectation.  We turned right and went straight uphill.  My first thought was the ½ marathon starts on an uphill?  My second thought was pure mental unhappiness, “this just isn’t fair, how can they make us go uphill again?”  Again, complaining about something that I chose to do and not respecting the type of terrain that an ultra marathon requires, it can’t be flat unless it is in another country, not this area of the country.  On introspection I even knew this would be a hard hill I had looked at the elevation map dozens of times.  I just didn’t respect what it meant.  Another great experience.

This was really a very down moment for me, this thing went a very long way uphill, at least a mile.  I spent all my pre race visualization on the last hill of the race that I clearly had not mentally prepared for the whole point of an Ultra, the long winding road that is doing this type of race, its not a road race that is flat and fast, or marathons that are flat and fast, it is a race of patience, and I seemed to have run out.  Fortunately for me I was starting to catch the back part of the Marathon group so at least there was human contact.

Uphill at this point was far easier than downhill.  A rea lesson here is doing more down hills in training.  By now my form is a mess, I’m half bent over just following my shadow around and time is just going quietly by.  At 28 miles I tested again, still I was at 72, I took two more GU’s and two bottles of water, but I was walking in order to get it all in.  Every time I walked it took a good amount of mental preparation to start to run again. Hips, quads, feet were all feeling it.  It took almost 21 minutes to run that two miles.  Things were not good.  Making it even better, at 28 miles a guy stopped in front of me, in the Ultra race and muttered, “I’m done”.    For a short time I wondered “am I?”  I’m also starting to get passed by more than a few ultra runners who have showed a bit more patience, training, knowledge, whatever and they looked very fresh.  Really tough on me again.

I genuinely considered stopping right here.  But it only lasted for about 30 seconds.  I passed a point here regarding expectations.  I came to a decision, and I have no idea how, probably mental protection regarding failure; but I did decide to just enjoy it and pick my head up and look around some more and see what was on the course.  This was very useful for about 2 miles until I started cramping again.  I was really looking forward to the 31 mile/50km stop in order to see my time as compared to my 50km training run.  I hobbled in to this stop in 4:40 (I ran 4:43 in the training run).  I had 8.3 miles to go, 10 minute miles would get it done. 

No chance.  And uphill we went again.  Every uphill reduced me to a 12 minute pace at least, each downhill brought on the stabbing pain in my groin and my quads and my feet.  I began to break down the run into 1 mile sections.  Not looking at the watch, and was analyzing how the pain was coming.  My running form had turned in to something that felt like I was duck walking, I kept looking at my feet and I wasn’t doing that but my mind kept thinking I was running with my feet splayed out like I was doing cross country skiing uphill.  About mile 33 I gave up on sub 6.  I just tried to learn from everything happening around me.  My mind was everywhere, first focused on running, then focused on trying not to feel disappointed then trying to put one foot after the other.  At this point I was channeling Bryan Powell and “Relentless Forward Progress.”

A very funny moment was soon to come.  We made a right turn and came into about 35 + miles and crossed over a bridge and were about to do the “Hell of the West” the two miles uphill I have written about and mentally done in my head many times.  I come up on this water stop and here is a man with a box screaming “Fig Bars, Fig Bars”, I take two waters, drink one immediately, and turn to him and say rather loudly “I don’t have any money.”  He politely tells me, “well done, they’re free for everyone lad.”  I look at him a little wild eyed and say “Free?”  I take six and cram them in my mouth and then have some water.  Instant cookie dough in my mouth, not the smartest thing but it sure was something to pull out of my teeth for the next four miles eat.

 do i look like a duck to you?

At this point the hill is there and I am walking and have been walking for 1 minute, I don’t know what the time is and I don’t want to know, I begin to talk to myself and slowly start to run, I begin to pick up what I would call pace, maybe 10 minutes a mile and run this hill for all my life.  This thing just keeps going and going and going, I pass about 10 people, none of them ultra runners, and finally reach the top to be met by an ambulance that is stationed there permanently after the death of a runner who ascended and had a heart attack in 2007.  This is 37.1 miles, I refuse the water and start downhill.

What a nightmare, you can see the finish building for 2.2 miles and it never gets closer and it wasn’t all down hill it still had one more little rolling hill in it.  I’m going down hill and my quads are just death warmed over, I seem to be leaning predominantly to one side and I still feel like I am duck walking but I’m not.  To add insult to injury we get over that rolling hill go down a bit then go up about two meters and then start toward the finish shoot and I finally get it done in 6:17:34.  Good for 94 I find out later, barely in the top half of the race.

Done!

Physically I felt destroyed, I had no elation at all at finishing.  And I had to get on a bus to go back to the hotel.  I could barely put one foot in front of the other.  I couldn’t lift my legs for the next four hours.  I got home, showered, took a nap for two hours and woke up in excruciating pain.  I slowly tried to ambulate and was able to move forward a bit but my feet were just killing me.  I put them in ice cold water and then went and had dinner.  

After dinner I got back to the hotel room and started to begin to try and stretch.  This process went on through the night as I woke up every two hours to go to the bathroom.  As early morning came on I started to feel a bit better.  

Now on Wednesday pain is gone in all areas and I will try to run a leisurely bit tomorrow.  Don’t even know how far.

As you can see from the write up, I learned a great deal in this my first true competitive ultra.

My training was clearly not appropriate, too much taper, not enough long runs, not enough prep time.  I spent 12 weeks on this but didn’t get enough in the bank clearly and took too many days off.  Some people do this with several days off but all of their runs are longer runs.  My diet is probably wrong as well.

Finally, it is time to decrease expectations.  Enjoy these runs, and the workouts and the ability to just put one foot after another because you can.  Stop trying to beat the clock and work on different expectations that involve the experience itself, because in an ultra each course is different, each distance is different it is so different from racing shorter distances and the mind work is different and the joys are different.  But if you show some patience and relaxation you can accomplish some realistic goals instead of unrealistic goals.

Finally, it is enjoyable, really. 

We’ll see where it goes from here.

Really amazing

Did not reach my goal, but I did finish in the top half.  I'll write more tomorrow, but I ran 6:17:34.  1:49 first half, 2:00 second half, 2:25 last half, a real crash and burn.  Learned a great deal.  A beautiful course, just beautiful..

More to follow.

Arrived! But not suited and booted...

Got up at 2:45 GMT +2.  Got in the taxi at 3:20.  Flew to Frankfurt at 5:25.  Arrived in Dublin at 11:05.  Got on the train to Galway and arrived at 17:05.  Arrived in Clifden, my base, aroun 18:30.  Bought groceries, looked around.

It is very mountainous here, not America or Alps mountains, but clearly there are drastic elevation changes as well as rolling hills all over.  Looks very interesting.  We pick up numbers, chips, etc. tomorrow.  Get on the bus on Sunday at 7:15 a.m. GMT +0.

Lets see what happens huh.

Time to go

Over the past few days I have taken a series of light walks every day, never more than 4k just to keep the legs moving.  I have finished work, and I leave at 3:20 a.m. from my flat and take a taxi to Boryspil Airport.  I take a 5:35 a.m. Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt and then on to Dublin.  I take a train from Dublin to Galway and then a bus from Galway to Clifden Station House Hotel in Clifton.  I should be there by Friday evening around 9 p.m. Kyiv time.

My race number is 39174.  Its time to go.!

Back down to earth

Got cold again.  Ran at night, the weather was about 2+C along with about 30km / hr wind.  All feels fine and it seems pretty relaxed with good posture and steps.  Happy with all of that. 

Nice work with GU also.  Took it 15m before run with water, seemed to be very useful for the exact time frame as advertised. 

We'll see if I run tomorrow.  I feel I'm about ready for just maybe two more days and then total rest and preparation.  This was a good run to get some sense back into it all.

Over confidence here we come

Nice smooth easy 10k today.  Still holding it back and at the same time enjoying this type of running to the point of thinking I can run this pace all day long; which of course is not true, but it is fun to think about as long as I don't get to the point of thinking it will never hurt at all.

Blood sugar good start and finish.  Shoes (Adidas Clima Cool Ride) is going to be the shoe for this run, its all pavement.  Change in socks is good for now, will bring two pair of each type in to Ireland. 

Rest of the week is planned already, sometimes that is good sometimes not so good.  One moment at a time now.  All the arises, ceases. Anything else is definitely bringing the over confidence machine right to the frontal lobe.

But, the last two runs have been really really nice.  "The flow".  See, over confidence See!

Where is that Barn?

Well, well.  Getting there I think.  10k today.  Good blood sugar, start and finish, nothing added before the run.  My GU arrived from abroad and now I have all I need for that.

The run was really really informative.  Smooth, really good footwork, nice quick steps very quiet moving along, great posture and easy to do the miles.  Just floating along.  Caught myself making sure I wasn't going to quick and over running the whole thing.

It looks like the taper is going fine.  It's really important not to get over excited by this run or any other between now and race day.  Mainly because they are short little spurts and nothing like the full patience that will be required over a little less than 6 hours of work.

I still don't have a plan for pace.  I think back and forth between 8:15 and 9:00 a mile.  Interesting.

One week to go, time change tomorrow, need to eat well and put the horse in the barn.

Information Booth

Ran at about time of the race.  9 ish.  checked blood sugar and did not medicine and then rechecked after the run.  During the run monitored everything, time, feelings, each area of the body, steps, form, shoes, how my body warmed up.  I felt like a computer at the Ford repair shop.

Took two days off as part of the taper.  Ran 8k today.  Information:  start slow, don't go straight into race pace, be patient, roll into it by monitoring early.  Even at the early easing pace it was not very slow.  So don't panic about the start, let it go, if it takes three miles to get going, it takes 3 miles, it takes 5 miles, so it goes.

Lots of information.

Worst Streets Ever

I steal the title today from the Simpsons when comic book guy ended an episode by saying "Worse Episode Ever."  Our streets are a complete disaster, really problematic.  Maybe I am making too much of it, but really it is getting difficult to find even pavement or concrete anywhere; there are pot holes, huge holes, moonscapes everywhere.  Very frustrating.

I tried out the new shoes today for 10km at mid morning.  An easy run at almost race pace, no hard work involved at all.  The feet still hurt from the bumps in the road but the shoes are nice.  The minimal drop does make you run more toward the forefoot.  The shoe is very responsive to movement and the fore foot padding seems adequate.  I would not say it is a trail shoe as my work in the sand/dirt of the gutters did not have much traction to it. 

In terms of how I am feeling, pretty good.  I feel the relaxation in my muscles as compared to exhaustion; could it be because I know I will only go 10km or is the taper doing what it is supposed to do?

Worst streets ever, worse than last year and it doesn't look good for the city fixing them.

The Prime Directive

Ran 10km this morning right at race time.  I had bad BS at 8:30 a.m., 304, took 4u, 92 at the end of the run.  This is telling for a couple of reasons, first if I take a 1/2 dose then I have about 10km before I need to dive in to some carbs of some sort during the race.  Based on yesterday and today, I can expect some sort of spike if I have good blood sugar to begin.  However, other data would indicate that if I begin well, I will need to take in carbs at least every 10km (see the 40k and 50k runs).

The run itself was uneventful:  BUT, my feet hurt on these crappy streets and I have nagging pain on my inner knee that is not a problem just there.  Also the right soleus continues to need the wrap.  I am this moment thinking it is because I bought shoes that were too big by a 1/2 size.  The last soleus problem Ihad was a result of that as well.  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

I went to the Adidas store and got shoes that fit.  Adidas Clima Cook Ride.  It has a limited drop of about 7mm and is quite light weight but has a lot of front foot padding.  I will run in these the rest of the week and see what happens.

It is entirely possible I am violating the prime directive.  Don't change for the race.  But I think there is time to make sure this is a good decision.  If it isn't I will run in the Nike's that have about 600 km on them that are the right size.  But I won't wear the others at all (maybe on the plane)

To taper is to relax.

Beginning of a nice easy taper I hope.  10k today, toward the end things really felt loosened up.  I felt uncomfortable tired and tight in the beginning.

The one repeating problem is my feet.  They constantly hurt at a pace that isn't quick.  A lot of this has to do with the bad paved surfaces I run on and the limited amount of trail/dirt available to run on in Kyiv.  This problem always goes away when I find trails to run on in other cities.

Blood sugar 99 to start, 65 to finish.  I ran in the afternoon, but followed the BS throughout the morning.  Good and steady from 7 a.m. through about 9:30 but then there was a big spike at about 11:00 a.m.  Haven't experienced that while running so wondering would it have occurred if I was running at that time.

Hope to do a bunch of 10km's all week to get nice a relaxed and all the dings and niggles cleared up before heading off in about 12 days time.

Tomorrow should feel even better, I have always like tapering, it is so relaxing :)

Back to work YOU!

After lazing around for two days and perseverating about my right knee until anyone would think I needed serious counseling I got back to work, oops, I mean running.

Good thing about today was it is +10 C.  I've been watching the weather in Connemara and of course have found something else to worry about, the difference in temperature between Kyiv and Connemara; so I was very glad to see it suddenly warm up to Ireland's level.

I put on a long sleeve shirt and a jacket, hat and gloves, at the end, it was all soaked through and through, good, heat acclimation I like to call it.

Uneventful run other than to say all felt very good, no knee pain, the current knee pain is merely light bruising from the fall on Wednesday.

Yet another thing to "worry" about is acclimation for the liver for the time of day of the run.  Now over the next two weeks my runs need to be in and around mid or early morning in order to make sure that my system is used to working at this high rate at that time.  In the past I've had the Sunday long run early in the day so that should be of some help.  For example, today, I was 192 to start, took 1 u of insulin about 1 hour before I ran and finished the run at 195.  This indicates that if I had not taken the unit my blood sugar would have been somewhat higher than i wanted going through 15k on race day.  Given that there will be three very, very light days 5k, 3k 1k before the three days before the race, it is important to track these levels and the time of the run.

Review of the week, which I initially feel was crappy, it turns out I went 25k at the pace I wanted with two major hills, I ran a major unknown hill for about 2km in the dark after the 25k and I got a nice smooth 15k in on Saturday.  Not as negative as I thought.

Let the taper begin and back to work YOU!

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch

Flew home from L'viv this evening and attempted to go out on a nice little run to get lose again.  I only intended to run for a bit, an hour maybe.

So, why not run down to the track and run in circles for a bit.  The rest of the city is pretty free of snow and ice and it was +4 and had been the whole time I was gone so I figured it would be fine. NOT.

Got there and the way to the track was covered in snow and ice, I picked my way through toward the usual entrance that I always use.  Well, it had a sheet of ice on it.  I scrambled down and step on the track and took one turn and face planted violently.  At first I was scared I was actually hurt.  After reflexively turning off the watch I conducted the usual post fall inventory of pain.

I got up looked around and couldn't see anything but black ice everywhere.  Just a miss and I was really annoyed.  I decided to walk a bit and then jog and then work my way home and just get in about 20 minutes of running.

The real issue right now is the right knee.  It seems pretty painful and it may need a bit of a rest.  I'll see again tomorrow.

Ouch that was painful.

Helpful hints when running abroad

I didn't run yesterday.  Rest day.  Pain report, both knees, some soreness in the right soleus but no other pain.  Took a flight late Sunday night to L'viv, Ukraine to inspect one of our schools.  Today worked 12 hours and looked at myself in the mirror and decided I had to get a run in.

When running abroad without Google Maps, or even with Google Maps, take the local tourist map with you.  Take your mobile with you.  Take a little food with you.  Rule number one:  never panic.  Rule number two:  what goes up, has to come back down, its just geography.

My intention, run the stiffness and lack of activity out of my legs, take it really nice and easy and just get a run in.  Issue:  dark, I mean dark, unfamiliar city, not a lot of street lights and my major nemesis, cobblestone. 

Started out nice and easy and immediately encountered cobblestone or stone sidewalk, pick 'em.  I chose sidewalk, but still I had to cross cobblestone streets several times.  When I don't google map a city I usually choose to run in a straight line and then see what happens.  So I ran in a straight line till the road ended and I decided to turn right.  I started up a hill, okay fine, but the street was sort of street and sort of a pot hole infested car crushing festival.  No cars though, strange.  I crested the hill and still no cars, but lots of Orthodox Cristian Icons on the side of the road, interesting, didn't stop to look but kept running and in about 500 meters I started going downhill and could see and actual street with lights on it.  Good, geography lesson learned.  Got to the bottom took a right.

And proceeded to go straight uphill for two kilometers, I thought this thing would never end.  At this point I am channeling Caballo Blanco from "Born to Run", "why take two steps when you can take three?"  This thing twisted and turned and twisted and turned and I knew I was in trouble when I kept hearing cars down shift to get up this hill.  It never ended, but of course it did and that is when the real fun began.  I ran out of sidewalk.  Choices, cobblestone road or dirt on the side of the road/curb.  I choose dirt.  Thus begins a journey in the dark with no streetlights, no headlamp trying to pick my way down a slight downhill that I think will eventually become a big downhill.  Oh no, I run into a park, I look left and see the most beautiful view of an ancient city L'viv.  (wasn't destroyed by the Nazi's, still has all its buildings, old buildings).  This requires a stop.

It also requires taking out the map and seeing how the hell do I get back down.  I take out the map and see that I have run to the top of Vysokyi Zamok.  Translated High Hill, duh!  Well looks like I have to go back the way I came to find a street to get down.  I pick my way back again, at least I had seen it once and took a better path this time.  Finally found a way down and worked my way back to the hotel.

I only ran 7km but it was a truly interested 40 minutes.  Rules 1 and 2 came into play, and the map saved me. 

I love running in strange cities without Google Earth!

Oh my!?

25k early in the morning and I'm flying to L'viv Ukraine this evening to do an inspection of a school there.  The goal was to go at race pace or something close to it and see what happens after three 15kms in a row.

A very interesting run.  Blood sugar again not great in a.m. 281, 3u, 98 at the finish.  I stopped at the halfway point for 500ml of water and a small Snickers bar. 

First things first, for some reason, probably because the plan was to go after it, I was very tight for the first two miles.  I did eventually relax, but more on that later.  Secondly, the weather was miserable, 25-30 km winds with rain/snow coming down constantly.  Sometimes wind at my back, sometimes from the side, sometimes in the front, I guess it all evens out in the end?

The final tally was 8:29 per mile.  The first 1/2 was quicker because the wind was at my back.  Also, the final 5k included two extremely difficult hills that I thought were going to stop me dead in my tracks.  By about mile 11 I would say it was taking a lot of work to stay in it and I had the mantra "give it a little more" going for the final 4.5 miles.  The first big hill was vicious and I thought I was losing time badly, I then thought about the fact this isn't the race, this is race knowledge we are working on.  Same for the second.

Race knowledge?  I believe that 8:30 is achievable, still don't know about 8's.  I also got a good feeling today for what tired legs feel like and areas that may suffer from the hills and how that pain will come up.  I also got some interesting knowledge about relaxing.  Oh my!  I was tight to start.

in, but not done

Did 15k mid afternoon today.  Starting to warm up.  It was 4 C today.  I intended to do 25k today and tomorrow but didn't, obviously.  Unfortunate, but its done so can't really take it back now can I.  Try again tomorrow. 

Blood sugar again about 265, 2u of humulog, 125 at the finish. 

The run itself was good, fairly smooth, good pace, no real issues to speak of regarding the legs.  The hills did start to get me in the last mile but I don't know if that was just getting it over with or actual tired.  Should find that out tomorrow when the long run is done.  However this long run is only 25k.

At this point I feel strong but am beginning to think about pace and strategy for Ireland.  The information I have is water every 5 miles until we get to 13.1 miles and then we joint the marathon group and at 26.2 we join the 1/2 marathon group.  Two things here.  One, there should be ample water, I'll bring my own GU and Snickers.  Two, alot of people to run through, around?  Is this a good thing or bad?  Interesting.

Initial strategy:  8:00 to 8:15 for as long as I can hold it.  If I did hold it that is between 5:15 and 5:24 total. 
Secondary:  to do that I must find a group of people doing that pace.  There should be around 150 people doing the Ultra, need to stick with them if I find them.

I intend to see what the legs have in them tomorrow and that will be the last thing over 15k that I do.

As they say, after that it will be "in the can"  but I won't be done.

Back in, and back on

Got back at it 20 hours after the last run.  Went 15k.  Time was pretty close to yesterday.  Pain was minimal and there is some niggles in the knees, but after easing into it things went nicely.

Blood sugar 263 to start, 3u Humulog, 126 at the end.

Read a great article by AJW on irunfar.com and tried to write back to him about my experience.  I think the article was timely for me.  I realized that I've come a long way with the previous injuries and overcoming the diabetes.   I also received some nice words from my father regarding the training and I think it is time to start thinking about a race plan now.  Just the beginnings. 

It is all a matter of how much you want to hurt in the end :)

Back into it, back on form, at least for today.

Holidays, observations and monitoring

It is International Womens' Day.  This is a national holiday in Ukraine.  No work for a majority of the city, inf act, most of the city also has Friday off.  Good days to get in mileage in Kyiv.  15km today at around noon.  Very little traffic, pretty good paths, weather about -3C not much wind, Blood Sugar 175 to start. 

In my mind, I've had this great plan all week that has crumbled nicely by not running Monday or Wednesday.  Today's run actually fit in the plan.  Goal has been to get at it at or below race pace.  Today that was done.  This is the monitoring part of this blog. The foot work, turnover and pace were consistent, during the workout there was only one quick period (last about two minutes) where I felt that I might be a bit tired in the legs which then led to panic that this was only a 15k run, blah, blah, blah. 

Really, just take each run as they arise and then cease.  Continue to try to remember that.

Sad moment for the day, I saw a dead dog in front of one of the police stations at about 8 miles in.  Since it was mid afternoon I kind of wondered why, since it was in front the police station, no one had gotten it off the street.  Of course that is how Kyiv works.  Dead people stay on the street for a day, why not a dog.  Not the best selling point for the city, our police department that is.

I work tomorrow, but others don't so maybe a morning run would be nice a quiet?  Monitor some more, observe some more.

Its both I think...

15km this a.m. before going in for a long day that finished at 10:00 p.m.  I really felt compelled to get out there and run regardless, again, I was hesitant and took a bit to get right.  Also a very weird blood sugar day for this run.

The run itself was uneventful except that we are back t running on snow pack and ice in a lot of places.  But, interestingly, this did not slow the time, which was exactly what it was last Sunday.  I am a great believer in breaking through plateaus and believe the 50k did just that in terms of the daily 15k.  Given that the weather was -6C for the run, and the ground conditions, I think there is some weight to that idea.  I am also sure I am not the first idea to say that.

Blood sugar was not good.  Woke at 7:00 a.m., BS was 115.  Woke at 8:30 and BS was 120.  I took no medicine and coffee with honey.  Finished the run and the machine wouldn't even register a number, it just say HI.  I've had this before and I was not surprised that it happened.  I get this about every 8-10 weeks where this is a one day occurrence with the liver, I think.  But it was definitely HI, I took 15 units, my ratio is usually 25 to 1 unit when coming down and 15 to 1 when carb counting.  That 15 units did not even feel like I needed to eat for 2 plus hours, that included a 2km walk to the office, plus a 1 km walk to the Apteka to buy test strips.  Anyway, the remainder of the day was uneventful with BS.

I got out, I got ride of the disappointment, and also listed to my body from yesterday, but my body fought back a bit with the diabetes.  It is always the winner.  So it goes.

Letting yourself down? Or listening to your body?

I did not run today.  I spent most of yesterday trying to figure out why I felt so horrible after what was basically 15k at a fairly simple pace.  My left outer thigh was really tight and continually cramping.  I took a nap in the afternoon, something I haven't done in ages.  I then wrote in the blog about thinking I had let it go too long.  What do I do next? 

Not run today.  I still have soreness in that right outer thigh, a place I never have soreness.  No cramping, I've had lots of water.  I came up with about 10 excuses, but really there are none.  My body had no desire I guess.  What does that mean? 

We've had more snow.  It has gotten cold again.  Tonight's low promises to be -11C.  I have hopes of running in the a.m. before the whole day of work begins.

Did I let myself down?  Or did I listen?  I think I let myself down.  Hope to find out tomorrow.

Paying a price

May have let it go a little long.  Today I ran faster than yesterday, which is not surprising given that the roads and paths are clear despite last nights 3 cm of snow.  It all melts away quickly now and because there is less of it, people seem more inclined to get rid of it also.

But, I got the 'ol upper inner right leg cramp that I get when I try to come back to the same spot after a lot of days off.  In addition post run I am really dehydrated, especially for just 15k, and I have muscle cramping.

This is not permanent damage but yet another lesson on this journey through training for this thing.  In the end I think it won't be too big a deal.  Same thing tomorrow.

It is devastating outside from an infrastructure standpoint however.  Now it is clear, you can see huge holes everywhere.  You can also see them trying to repair the huge holes on the really high traffic streets, unfortunately, they are doing it in the wet and 1/2 snow 1/2 rain and they don't block it off so the cars just tear it up again the next day.

Remember my cartoon caricature of the heat coming out of that man hole?  Well that area is cut away and filled in with broken up read brick!  It is also cordoned off so that cars can't drive on it, but they are and red brick is now going all over the road and chipping the paint on cars.  I'm not sure I understand the engineering behind the approach, but I guess you use what tools you have right?  If there is no tax system and people do not focus on the needs of the group as a whole, the whole system tends to pay a price in its infrastructure.

Much like I did today.

At some point you just have to take the first step

And out the door you go.  15k today, finally, on a Saturday.  First things first, the paths, roads are in pretty good shape.  I would say all but about 1% of the run was clear of snow and ice.  Very positive.  Secondly, once I got started it really felt very nice, there were two or three very mellow moments where I was just stepping along nicely and it really felt natural.

Hill work went well, the only odd thing is I began to get a little tired in the legs in the last two kilometers.  I hope that is not a precursor to having let it get out of control and gotten a little out of shape. I don't think so, I think it was just five days off.

Blood sugar is another issue.  High BS this a.m., took 7 u, woke late, High BS a mid day, took 1/2 the amount in order to go for the run, and still High BS when i finished the run.  Took another 7u and will test again.  This could be a variety of things.  One, the endocrine effects wore off and without running, the low intake of insulin does not satisfy the body need; two, eating crap (more likely), even when getting in a lot miles if you take all this refined sugar processing is really just not good, but if you stop running for a few days, more than two in my opinion, refined sugar begins to win the battle for BS supremacy. 

Tomorrow it is officially 4 weeks to Connemarra.  Just getting out and taking the first step after the 50 makes me happy.

Fascinating Five Days

Just fascinating.  The whole week has been fully of feedback, failure, and information.  I have not run since the 50k on Sunday.  I have analyzed the run repeatedly and come to the conclusion that it went really well.  It turns out I ran the first 25k quite well and the final 25k I lost some time, specifically 9 minutes off an even split, but there was being lost and other types of issues.

I didn't, don't, have the bilateral outer tendon pain I had for two days after the last 40k, all I have really had was some tightness for two days in my thighs.  But that isn't the most interesting thing.  I never intended to run on Monday or Tuesday, but I haven't run Wed or Thu and don't know if I'll run tomorrow.

I didn't nap on Sunday, but slept very well that night and found myself physically tired on Monday.  That eventually went away.  By Tuesday I didn't feel physically exhausted, but I began to feel what I would call mental exhaustion.  I could not get out the door, every excuse I could find, I have used.  Every twinge that is just a body twinge, nothing important, has been an excuse.  I believe that mental exhaustion is about finished but I'm not sure at all. 

My blood sugar has been fine, so that hasn't been to disturbing, though my diet has not been impressive.  We are 30 days out starting tomorrow.  Certain things will need to get focused.  I hope the goals I am setting here tonight will be helpful over the next four weeks. 

I intend to focus on race pace and below race pace on the 15k's over the next week and then make a decision about Saturday-Sunday next week 10 and 11 March before I head to Lviv Ukraine for an inspection of one of the schools.

This mental exhaustion is really interesting to work with.  I'm very proud to have run 50k with no support by myself and feel that running with people with support is going to be a very different experience.  The thing I am thinking about is preventing mental exhaustion from becoming fear.

All that arises, ceases....  A fascinating five days of thinking.