I was supposed to be running a hundred miles today (Angela Ivory Memorial Runs), but mother nature had other plans. This is now the fifth race that I’ve had cancelled on me (Eastern States 2x, Vermont, Viaduct) and the third in three years. This works out to 5%+ of my ultras overall and 10%+ within the past couple years. Talk about bad luck. And before you bring up global warming increasing the incidents of extreme weather, it’s not occurring every 2 weeks which is how the math works out. Thankfully the race is only being postponed two weeks so I’ll still be able run it this year. Well, fingers crossed.
Even though I’ve had a race on the schedule, I’ve been treating the past month or so as my off season. My motivation to get out and log miles has been virtually nil. The brutally cold temps definitely hasn’t helped matters. Tough to get psyched up for a run when it takes you almost as much time to dress for it as it does to actually log the miles.
It’s really more of a mental thing than a physical one. Even though it was 10 degrees out this morning, I was more than comfortable while I was out running. A little chilled, but I’ve been colder in 30 degree temperatures than I was this morning. That doesn’t mean I didn’t lop 3 miles off my planned 8 miler. It was also touch and go whether I would make it past my mile turnaround. Just not feeling it.
And not feeling it is my definition of an Off Season. This probably sounds crazy considering I have a hundred mile race coming up, but I just haven’t been putting up much mileage. Thirty two miles this week. Forty miles the weeks before that. I managed a respectable 53 miles right around the New Year with all the days I had off work. I’ve been pretty consistent with my walking at +/- 25 miles a week, but my paces have been a bit slower for those than normal. Just a down training block.
I’ve got a big year ahead of me so if feels appropriate to kind of ease my way into things. Get warmed up so to speak. Plenty of time left to get after it. After all, this isn’t a sprint.