Excuse week on my training front. I could blabber on about not being able to run much this week because of the weather, work, fighting a cold blah, blah, blah...but in the end, they are excuses! I should toughen up already!
You may recall Andy the Adventure Racer from a previous blog post. After I wrote that post, I thought about how motivating (and stunning) his personal story was over the dinner we had. As a result, I ended up inviting him to tell his story at our corporate sales kick off. There were so many parallels to business in his adventures. I knew our team would be motivated hearing him speak.
For 90 minutes he told of being in the jungle running, paddling kayaks and scaling mountains on races that last 6-10 days. You could have heard a pin drop as he told of dropping off of cliffs, contracting malaria and ebola and getting bitten by poisonous spiders...and....continuing to run no matter his condition. His preparation and execution around setting a new endurance run record in South America was a highlight. He made a real impression on our team, I think everyone woke up the next morning and headed to the hotel gym!
Anyways, Andy and I put in 28-30 miles together yesterday. On a scale of 1-10, where 10 is a work out that ends with nausea and (cover your eyes..) throwing up, Andy put me at about an 11. We did about 26 miles in 3:10 and I still had to stumble home. Up hills, down hills....beautiful views, lots of hard effort.
I don't think he was all that broken down at the end...me? By the end, (once he was clearly out of sight) I was crunching in a ball on the sidewalk and crying for my mommie. (Okay, maybe a slight bit of exaggeration...but not by much!)
Today, I had a call with the young lady who's link is at the side of the page. Katie V. just finished running across the US in December after being on the road off and on for 9 months. I learned a ton from her in 20 minutes. What a bundle of energy she was on the phone. I was really appreciative of her experience.
For the month, I did about 215 miles...or 50 miles a week. I am planning on cranking it up a notch in February.
The loose "team" is coming together. I am running well and am increasingly confident that 18 months of training will be too long!
E
Hi Ed -
ReplyDeleteI found your blog from your linked in site. I briefly got to say hello to you at the Corporate Retreat. I like to read about training adventures. Running across the country is going to be amazing and quite the accomplishment.
My question for you is, how do you not get injured? I trained and ran a marathon last year, but around training mile 18, the ole plantar fasciitis kicked in. I've since been swimming, spinning and barely running to heal my foot. It has been a year since a long road race for me. I would love to run another marathon - but don't want to go through PF again.
Please do share some tips about running high mileage injury free. Thanks.
Keep on keepin' on.
Carolyn
Carolyn, it was great to meet you last week. Thanks for reading.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had some ninja like answer on the injury topic.
It boils down to three things for me...
1) Listen to what my body is telling me. Is it a normal training "ache" brought on by miles? Is old age making me feel sore? Or, is it a real injury. My reaction to the symptoms dictates. If it is normal aches and age...I usually run through it.
2) Do multi-sport training. If I am feeling a muscle problem that is not ache or age, I will usually hit the bike or pool harder to just keep the cardio going.
3) DMSO. I know it is a controversial substance. (Google it...you will see 1,000s of pro and con sites). For me, it helps with tendons, joints and muscle aches. Whethter it is in my head or really helps...it does not matter to me. It works!
Thanks for reading. I am having fun with the training and talking about it.
E