This is the countdown as of this morning. This is how long I have until I attempt my first 100 miler. To say that the fact that this is less than 6 months away has me not shitting myself, would be a lie of Maury Povich proportions.
https://giphy.com/embed/q16p1pmfu5aZW
After finishing 2016 with 7 ultras and a 68 mile 100k, I had the best intentions to do my first 100 miler attempt last year. The year started strong with Frozen Heart 50K and then a 40 mile training run and race sweeping the first 50K of a 100K and then the wheels started to fall off after July.
I had to drop my mileage WAY down in August 2017 and it was just flat out abysmal in the months after that. I decided to do my races and cross train as much as possible to keep my toe from getting worse. I dropped Stonemill 50 miler because we had just moved and my daughter had a birthday party with friends from our old town and we had just gotten back from vacation. Then, my first 50K of this year was cancelled after a wind storm. I haven’t raced since MCM in October of 2016 and I’m feeling like a bit of a Ultra Poser.
The plan was to use the 24 hour as a check to see how far my training needs to go and to see how far I can go in 24 hours. My “goal” is 100K with a reach goal of 75 and a “settle” goal of 50. Considering the last time I went over 30 miles was last May, I’m a little worried.
I’m trying to focus on what I DID accomplish last year:
Feb: Frozen Heart 50K
April: Ragnar Trail
April: 40 mile training run
April: Won my first ever 5K (which will never happen again)
May: 32+ miles race sweeping for UROC
July: Max Training Mileage in a month of 190
September (same week): Patapsco Trail 1/2 and Ragnar Road (with bonus miles)
October: Marine Corps Marathon
December: started to add mileage back in as my toe was starting to finally feel betterish
I started off the first part of this year, building my base up:
January 110.5
February 124.4
March 142.9
March has some very proud training runs to make up for the loss of the Senecca Creek 50K. I “ran” (stumbled, swore, climbed) the entire AT Roller Coaster with a friend for 22.51 miles and 6,447 of gain. I ran my longest road/trail combo since MCM for 20 miles and then followed that with 29 miles the next weekend. Yet, totally feel like a poser.
I won an entry to an awesome new event called The Vertical Playground next weekend. The goal is to add as much gain as possible. I’m running it with one of my partner’s in crime and our goal is to have fun exploring new trails and hope that our husband’s don’t have to hunt our lost asses down. The following weekend is the 24 Hour Adventure Trail Run and beyond that, the serious training starts. I’m still probably going to run to Trader Joe’s for wine though. I’m that kind of girl.
Coffee, Run, Repeat 