In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he lays out the theory that in order to become an expert in a field you need to devote 10,000 hours of practice. Some people may quibble that practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect. Regardless, I think everyone will acknowledge that the more you do something, the better…
2.5 Weeks Out. . .
I’m in the middle of my peak week in the lead up to Rabid Racoon and I’m just . . . cruising. Physically I feel good. My legs are much closer to the fresh end of the spectrum than my normal peak week mostly thrashed end. Mentally I’m in an even better place. Lots of…
Advanced Ultra Training (Don’t Try This At Home)
The best thing about the internet is all the information that’s out there. The worst thing about the internet is all the information that’s out there. So the purpose of this blog is twofold: 1) to entertain and 2) to educate. I’m not sure if its best classified as entercation or edutainment. Probably swings from…
Having The Courage To Experiment
I’m a creature of habit. I sit in the same chairs at home. Order the same meals when I go out to restaurants. Run the same routes every week. If I find something that works for me, I’ll keep at it. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it is my motto. And while it’s good…
2024: The Year Of Massive Mileage
I don’t usually do a Year In Review post as I prefer to look forward than dwell on the past. Instead, I’ll provide an overview of my overall running volume. The secret to my “success” in ultras is written in the chart above. Every month I’m logging decent mileage. Year after year after year. Summer,…
Oopsie (Or A Mild Injury Scare)
I should really figure out how to stop falling down when I run one of these days. I went out for an evening run last week and while I thought my headlamp was bright enough, I still managed to miss a rock, tripped, and fell down. Hard. I stand up and take a look at…
Taking a Break (aka Getting Fat and Happy)
I’ve been in a bit of a lull with my running since my last adventure. Most days have been the bare minimum to keep my run streak going (i.e. 1 mile). Physically, I felt halfway decent after a couple days. My legs came back quicker than my feet, which were sore for most of a…
Four Score And A Couple More Miles
This is the week it could all come crashing down. On 8/10, my beloved Eastern States was cancelled so I decided to take my current level of fitness and add in a block of training that goes to 11: For comparison, I’ve only had a streak of 4 weeks above 60 miles once before and…
Pivoting
With the cancellation of my beloved Eastern States, it’s time to pivot to the next thing. Most normal people would immediately look for a replacement race. Gotta get my race fix. Chatting with another runner at the non-start line, he mentioned The Ring over Labor Day weekend which has been on my bucket list for…
Training Update
I finished up my current training block last week. This week I’m cutting my volume back by a third and will drop down again next week leading up to Sri Chinmoy 24 Hour. Here’s how I executed against my original plan: Yeah, nailed it. There were a couple exceptions. In week three, I cut an…