Week 7: 1 Wall Down, 1 to Go

Pic to See (Creative right?)

Lacing up my shoes this morning before the sun reached out over the bay I really wasn't sure just what to expect.  For a few days my calves and knees had hurt, and I was finding myself with less and less motivation to push on.  Today I was approaching a wall (see pic).  Okay not exactly "the wall" at around 18-20 miles, not there yet, but a mental wall I had from 7 weeks ago when I was defeated and had to walk the remaining two miles home in total agony after attempting a 15 miler I was totally unprepared for.

The good part was I felt ready.  I'd iced what needed to be iced, rested what needed to rested, and petroleum jellied what needed to be jellied and after failing to find the GPS after the first go around my watch finally found it.  With a shot, (or more of a shuffle) I started out one foot at a time trying to ignore the looming wall in my mind ahead of (reference pic again if need be) and repeating my mantra over and over again in my head:  "I ain't everybody."

All in all the run was epic.  It definitely wasn't my fastest, something I think having to do with the massive camel bag full of water on my back (which I'll revisit later), but it felt great.  Not easy, but not hard either, and just around 2 hours and 45 minutes later I was done and felt truly accomplished. Even better in less than 30 minutes after having my remaining pop tart (new running fuel [more  to come on this also]) and my post run protein shake I felt completely recovered even enough to head down to the beach for a quick swim.

So what did I do differently?  For one thing the 7 extra weeks of ramped up mileage certainly helped.  Another thing was getting out before the sun got up for most of it.  While the temperature and humidity don't really change down here too much, being out of the sun for 90% of my run certainly seemed to make a big difference.  Lastly, I had some pretty intense motivation.  Last night I watched the Desert Runners.  An epic story of a group of amateur runners attempting to do the 4 big desert Ultra's all in one year.  For anyone dipping a little low in the motivation department I can't recommend this movie enough and if you don't shed a tear anywhere in it, then your heart must be made of stone as my eyes were barely dry at all during the whole thing.

The moral of today's story?  Confidence.  Confidence in knowing you've trained to do this, knowing you can really rock it, and the best part: knowing your not trying to complete 4 ultras over some of the hardest desert courses on the planet.  I truly believe confidence makes all the difference.  For me today I made the 15 miler mine, and I now own it.  It isn't a world record or anything anyone will ever make a movie about but its mine.  Now having that little gem swimming around in the back of my mind how hard can next Sunday's 16 really be?  Either way the first wall is down, and its time to go find the next.

Week 7 of 16:  COMPLETE.  

Week 9 Preview:  Got my eye on you!

Sub 4 hours or Bust! It could go either way!

With a little over 10 weeks to go no truer has the name of my latest training plan felt:  "BREAK 4:00 OR BUST!"  Up to this point after restarting my training 6 weeks ago after a couple of failed long runs I've felt strong,  confident (if not cocky!), and more importantly faster than ever at least for a guy that used to weigh 236 pounds.  But lately my mileage has really seemed to catch up to me.  For the past few days I've had a knot in my calf that I can't seem to lose though it doesn't seem to affect my running, in the first mile my one knee threatens to give out, and my easy miles doesn't exactly seem as easy as they used to be. 

Starting today though I'm turning a new leaf.  I've started watching inspirational running movies on Netflix, reading about slump busting training tips, and I'm trying to get that feeling back that I CAN DO IT!  If 6 months ago someone would have asked me if I'd have ever thought I'd be this close to running a sub 4 hour marathon I'd have told them NO WAY AIN'T NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.  But with my loss of 70 pounds and my new found stamina and speed its clear that I really can.  I've coasted through a 10 mile long run and a little more challenging 13 mile both on a treadmill, and ran the best 12 miles of my life with my dad in Texas conquering hill after hill with ease.  Now tomorrow its time to graduate to the big mileage: 15 miles the same distance that got me the 7 weeks ago.  Not this time though, this time its mine and by this time tomorrow yes I'll be hurting, but I'll be one more successful long run closer to breaking a goal I never imagined possible for myself; the Sub 4-hour marathon.  Sure it won't be easy, but if its was easy then everybody would do it and guess what sports fans?  "I AIN'T EVERYBODY!"


PS:  I'm not yelling that's just my new running mantra...

Simply Perfect!

June 16, 2013

Wall, South Dakota

I'm pretty sure that I could just get away with posting my pics of the day here and still have one of the coolest posts ever, but today really meant so much more to me then just seeing the incredible sights. 

I woke up this morning at 6am to the sound of my motel under assault by ping-pong ball sized pieces of hail.  Now I don't know what me, my bike and summer trips have to do with hail, but so far we're two for two!  Running out to cover my bike, I came back in to discover my soaked sour mood and the forecast for today was more strong storms throughout the morning.  Remembering my decision to play things a little more safely I choose to stay in the comfort of the motel for one more day because I could still stay on budget by preparing all my food.  I'd check out Wall Drugs as planned, only I'd just take the Badlands loop and come back to my room after to rest my toe that was healing nicely and my soul which was taking a little bit longer in comfort.

Now at this point on the trip, my difficulties were really starting to get the better of me.  I was getting sick of the endless fields, dodging rainstorms every other day, loosing the battle of my budget, and a few other minor annoyances that had all come together to leave me feeling pretty down as I started the day grounded due to the weather.

So after a relaxing morning of trying to stay positive (all the whole thinking its only been a week!) I finally made my way into town to check out the famous drug store that had grown into a tourist monstrosity dating all the way back to 1936.

Finding my way into the camping section I really wanted to find something to help one of my biggest problems with my setup right now.  Packed to the brim I really only had space for two decent sized water bottles and I couldn't help but notice that if I was stuck for any amount of time (say a primitive camp sight in the Badlands?), I'd be out of water after the first cup of coffee.  After searching around for a while I finally found it.  Shown in the pic I mounted a bicycle pack with two water bottles to the front of my trunk.  For only $16 I managed to double my water carrying capacity, create a little space to carry the bulky bike cover (which has proved its weight in gold this trip so far!), gave me an extra pocket to carry my bad weather clothes in, and a handy little front pocket easily accessible for small tools and whatnot.  Needless to say I was pretty happy with the outcome, and could really feel the day starting to pick my spirits up.

Then a couple hours later I made my way sans gear to the Badlands National park highway loop.  After paying $10 to get in I could feel my mood fading, but that's when they jumped up.  The hills of the Badlands stretching on for endless miles mixing desolation with pure beauty and I was immediately speechless.  As you'll see from my pics the views were out of this world showing a world full of nothing and everything all at the same time.  I now see why some people hate them, but I loved every minute. 

Parking the bike at almost every scenic view along the loop I took pic after pic in pure joy.  I saw Bison, Prairie Dogs, hawks, and goats!   The smile plastered on my face was truly glued to my face, and I remembered then why I was doing all of this.

For anyone who read my blog last summer you might remember the same thing happening to me when I hit mexico.  I lost my motivation and started questioning myself, because after all adventure traveling isn't always a picnic.  But as soon as I did I miraculously hit one of the coolest places of my trip.  Well the same thing has happened again and boy am I thankful.  Being on the road everyday isn't easy but its days like today that really remind me it's worth it.  The funny thing I keep thinking is that if the Badlands, a place I had really not even heard too much about before was this incredible, what about all the other sites?

Anyway I'll be back on the road tomorrow going back to the plan of camping out in the Badlands trying to imagine what life would have been like out there for settlers in a much more primitive age.  After a quick stop I'm re-energized and ready to rumble for a couple of easy days of travel and sight seeing.  The next few legs should be filled with some much needed excitement all relativity close together: The Badlands, Mount Rushmore, and then the great Yellowstone National park in only a few days.  Fingers crossed that everything just keeps getting better from here!