Last year, the cold and with quads hurting for miles I quit the Mountain Lakes 100. I had only gone 10% farther than my previous longest run (a 50 mile race). I still remember it clearly, my quads started bugging at mile 30ish and we're hurting by mid 40s. I slowed to a walk and not prepared for the drop in temperature of the night, got cold. The hard cutoff was at mile 70, I knew I wasn't going to make it and couldn't imagine going farther so I quit at the aid station at mile 55. I still have mixed feelings about it, I remember how horrible I felt but I also feel like quitting is against the idea I have of myself.
I sort of fell into a running slump after the race, I still ran races but wasn't doing well and just not motivated. I knew I had to try the 100 miler again but sometimes I would play with the idea of missing registration in my head. It wasn't till I was asked about it during a hike in January that I decided to definitely do it.
Also in January I happened to randomly pick two books to read where nutrition was played a big role. Finding Ultra and Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition which slowly convinced me to changed my diet (I had to go through a couple more books as I figured things out). That started me on a course to slowly lose 50 pounds and with faster recoveries, I went from 25 miles a week of running to 60 plus miles a week while still biking and swimming (a bit). I gained free speed and for the first time since my second year of running I was crushing my previous PRs in all distances.
I decided to run more ultras this year and made destinations a part of the fun. A 50k in the Santa Montica mountains by LA, a 50k in the desert by Las Cruces, a 100k by the beautiful gorges and waterfalls by Portland, 50K in the finger lakes forest near Ithaca and another 50K around the volcano St. Helen. Training runs were also in the beautiful close by Palisades and Harriman state park, extending to the White and Green Mountains of New England.
Another strong boost to my running was joining a running club or two. During a run in March I met a man who ran with me for a while. We talked about running quite a bit and he encourage me to join a running group. I applied for Queens Distance Runners that night. Shorty after I moved from eastern Queens to western Queens and I ended up close to a whole bunch of running groups. On my second day, with boxes still to be unpacked I found out that WoodsideSunnyside Runners were doing a long run starting a half mile from me so I joined them. They clubs have been a good motivation to go running but I also drew inspiration just from seeing people so devoted to running. I started doing speed workouts for the first time and even followed my first training plan ever.
For September I decided to complete in three different types of endurance events. A Half Ironman (triathlon with 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13 mile run), Spartan Beast (14ish mile obstacle course racing up and down a mountain) and this 100 mile trail race. I didn't make the swim cutoff for the Half Ironman which cut that race short (bummer but next time)! After a two day mental break I started running again, without biking or swimming I ended up running more than scheduled but recovery seems okay. I did well on the Spartan race but scraped my right knee. I haven't been running since then to allow myself to cautiously recover. Last shakeout run is tomorrow! Feeling excited!
I know I'm physically capable of running 100 miles, the struggle is going to happen between the ears.
Picture: Sunrise at Olallie Lake, the start/finish of Mountain Lakes 100
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