So, in keeping with the theme of consistency this year and one of my concrete rules of not missing a race that I have signed up for, I find myself preparing to "run" a 100K outside of Austin this Sunday. To say I am undertrained is an understatement (pun intended). How did this happen? Well, one night after a little too much wine (yes, there is a theme developing here), I got online and thought, what the heck, I am sure I will need a long run that weekend. This seems like a great way to satisfy that requirement for the week. Fast forward 4 weeks and while I have been "consistent," I am in no way ready to take on a 62 mile race. I have done a few greenbelt runs of 16-17 miles and pretty much the only other distances since the Austin Marathon (uh, that was a loooonnnng time ago) have been 7-10 miles. I have focused on strength training and hill work, but let's face it, that stuff doesn't make or break you in a race in Texas. Plus, I had the brilliant idea of calendaring two of my strength training workouts back to back this Thursday and Friday....I am "sure" I will recover nicely by 5am Sunday. And Hell actually WILL freeze over......Not only am I extremely undertrained, but my "race" nutrition plan is a disaster....in that I: 1) have no plan and 2) have not been training with food at all this year. Add the fact that I actually don't even have a pair of trail shoes that would cut it in this race and the last time I used my headlamp was when I paced a friend at Leadville in 2012....this sounds like a horrible idea. So, I am undertrained, nutritionally challenged and have some equipment issues for lack of a better word. Nevertheless, I plan on waking up at 2am this Sunday - yes, 2 FLIPPING AM.....because the race starts at 5am and is about an hour from my house. I must say, I have not missed the ridiculousness of waking at such obscene hours to run. While I am up drinking coffee and stumbling in the dark around my house, my sweet husband and three kids will be sound asleep and for the first time in months, there is nothing on the family agenda this Sunday, so they will wake and leisurely enjoy their day....a rarity in our house. I will go out and run because I committed to myself to do it. It will most inevitably suck at some point - hopefully later rather than sooner in the day. However, the irony is, I actually do these races because of that point during the race when it does suck - when you are done - when you can't run or walk one more step -- and yet, you do. We all have busy lives - work, family, relationships, commitments - being on the trail is an opportunity to focus on one thing...putting one foot in front of the other. Having a good race means leaving everything out on the course....whether you are walking, running or crawling. There is something very cathardic about the entire process. At the end of a good race you may be beat up, but you feel renewed. So, I will line up on Sunday, and I can't say that I will finish all five loops, but I plan to do as much as I can and push forward to renewal. If nothing else it's just a damn good way to start a week.
No comments:
Post a Comment