Monthly Mileage, Bethel Hill Goals, and VACATION

Because I’ve never trained for/run an ultramarathon before, and because I shorted myself on some of the early mileage increases that would ready my body for bigger jumps in mileage than it’s used to, I’ve been reducing my overall weekly mileage requirements (either by skipping a shorter work out altogether, or by reducing a longer one slightly in length). Thus, my monthly mileage total for May stood at 199.3 miles, which is still over 40 miles more than my next highest total (but stands 40 miles less than what I had scheduled). And though hitting 200 miles would have been a nice, round number to have under my belt, I’m very pleased with how well my legs, mind, and stamina have been holding up (indeed, I had my best workout in recent weeks yesterday: a self-imposed nearly-4-mile speed work out). I.e. no regrets.

Only ten days out from the race itself (Saturday, June 12 at 6:00 PM EST), I’ve come up with a list of goals for myself—I’ve once again placed them in order of what I consider to be most easily achieved to most difficult:

1.) Walk occasionally—this will help to conserve energy for use later in the race. I’ve been practicing this in my weekly work outs.
2.) Fuel correctly—you’ve never run nearly this far, for nearly this long, so scheduling and getting enough fluids/foodstuffs into my maw is numero uno in importance.
3.) Listen to the aches and pains of my body—if I feel a hot spot forming somewhere, take the time to fix it ASAP. Doing so early on will end up saving me time in the long run.
4.) Finish in/under 7:00:00 (8:24 per-mile pace). This may not be realistic for a sea-level, first-timer on a rolling/hilly course, so I’ll be ok with anything under 7:30:00 (9:00 per-mile pace)…but I’d rather be “happy” than “ok” with my result. So 7:00:00 it is.
5.) The course record stands at 6:45:00 (8:06 per-mile pace). It’d sure be fun to challenge it.

Lastly, I’ll be cruising (literally, as in “on a large boat” and not “keeping a non-taxing, consistent pace”) the western Caribbean as a combination birthday/you-ran-50-miles-all-at-one-time present shortly after the completion of my race (departing out of Ft. Lauderdale on Monday, June 14, to return Saturday, June 19). A chart showing the appropriate dates is below, to ease in your understanding of my schedule.



This is all to say that I will give what will likely be an abbreviated race report on Sunday, June 13, with a lengthier one to follow after I return. But it was fun to rub-in my vacation, too.

Oh, and here’s the wolverine-inspired car I mentioned in my last post—I couldn’t pass up the chance to snap a camera-picture of it. Enjoy.