Crank up the Suck

With a snowstorm Friday and another one last night I was left with little choice this morning other than to run my long run on the treadmill.  I'm OK running on the treadmill for a while, but 24 miles is a bit much.  Actually, it sucks.  A lot.  The only good thing about having to do a long run on the treadmill is that it is great mental training.  When running 100 mile races there are times when you feel completely spent and your mind starts focusing on how many miles you still have left to go.  In reality this is the very worst thing to do because it gets overwhelming.  If you just stay within the moment things almost always get better.  This happens when you go for a long time on the TM.  I decided to video tape myself during parts of the run to share my thoughts.  I hope you enjoy it.

I am really excited for this week.  Tomorrow I am the guest speaker at the Concord Kiwanis Club meeting.  I am giving a presentation on running the Leadville 100 last year.  It is the same talk I gave to the Concord Rotary club a month ago.  On Friday I am giving a new talk at an event in Hampton NH.  The event is called the March Fourth Motivation-a-thon.  Starting at 9am there will be 12 speakers giving motivational speeches.  Each speaker will talk for 45 minutes and the event will go for 12 hours.  I am the only non-professional speaker at the event.  I will be going on at 3pm.  It is being held at One Liberty Lane East in Hampton.  My speech is called "It only takes one person to change your life".  If your in the area I'd love to see some familiar faces!

Now for my weekly recap.

2-21-2011
Monday AM - 6.5 Miles (56:35).
Nice morning. Ran in a pair of pre-production Go lite Tara lite shoes that they gave me to test and review. Was hoping to find a zero drop shoe that has enough cushioning to run 100, but these are not for me.

2-22-2011
Tuesday AM - 7 Miles (1 hour).
Treadmill. Easy. Didn't do full strength training, just pushups and situps.

2-23-2011
Wednesday - 15 Miles (2:07:44)
Awesome run on the snowmobile trails.  Had a sharp pain on the top of my foot, then later realized it was from hooking my feet under the treadmill when I did my situps the day before.

2-24-2011
Thursday - 13 Miles (1:50:12)
Ran the snowmobile trails. Was warm enough to wear shorts! 

2-25-2011
Friday - 10 Miles (1:25:51)
Treadmill easy running at 8:30 pace. More watching "Weeds" on Netflix.

2-26-2011
Saturday - 7 Miles (1 hour)
Easy treadmill run.

2-27-2011
Sunday - 24 Miles (3:23:00)
Due to snow, ran my long run on the treadmill.  Crank up the Suck!!!  Watched many episodes of Weeds on Netflix.  The run sucked, but I got through it. 
Totals
81.5 Miles
11:45 Hours running
20 min strength training