Grrrrr! 50 miler anyone?

Nope not a running pic... Deal!

The sun is beginning to set on my training schedule and the dark times have finally arrived.  That last awful stretch of harder work, a little more mileage topping weeks, and major aches and pains is here.  Sometimes completing a simple 5 miles is now tough, other days just putting one foot in front of the other to find the bathroom is worse.  I'm halfway through my hell weeks and to say I'm "not a happy camper" is an understatement.  At one point this week I wrote 4 students referrals for one period alone, but that was both a mix of my mood and the increased pressures of testing.

Today though I proved again to myself that I'm almost there.  I completed a major 18 miler to top off my maximum mileage week of 45 miles.  The worst was by far the last three days:  Friday 10, Saturday 5, and today 18.  The only thing that helped today was the knowledge that I had completed a fun but challenging 20 miler last Sunday, though my legs, joints, tendons, soft tissue, ligaments, toes, ankles and everything else used for moving forward failed to see the brighter side.

The funny thing about running when you hurt is that you never want to do it, but after you get out there you always feel better which just so happens to be a big sign of over training.  But for these last two weeks over training is the name of the game.  Break the legs, body, and spirit down to build it back up again stronger than ever with my last two weeks of taper.

This season one of the best things I've discovered is recovery runs.  Short"er" easy runs designed primarily to loosen you up and get the blood circulating.  Every time I tell someone in pain from a run to get back out there the day after they just look at me like an idiot, mutter something under the breath I'm certain is filled with a couple expletives and walk away.  But its true, recovery runs help.  And oddly enough though they hurt, my legs always seem a little quicker the day after, but I leave that reasoning up for people smarter then me.

So you may notice a lack of posts, cute pics, or funny stories these next few weeks and to that I say "Grrrrr!"  Back off and let me run!  I'm not above barking, and I'm pretty sure I got a little nasty with more then a few people on the road today but... Well no "buts" as I don't really care right now.  Until next time my next long run will be on my mind: a massive 22 miler.  I know I can do 20 with few issues, so whats an extra couple miles, but its just such a big number!  When I told someone at work what I've been doing for the past two Sunday mornings the replied with: well I guess I can't post what he actually said but it wasn't pretty or even legal in some places of the world.  Fingers crossed though, the end of the tunnel is in sight!  The only question now though is why do I keep googling Ultra Marathon Training plans, and 50 mile races??