Summer of Potential - and pain??

Announcing the

Who - Nathan Sanel.  Ultra-Marathon runner, Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker.

What - One run or race of 100 miles or greater per month for five months in a row. 

When  and Where - The runs include:
1. June 25-26    Western States 100
2. July 16-17     Vermont 100
3. Aug20-21      Leadville 100
4. Sept23-24     Bear 100
5. Oct 15-16     Run Across New Hampshire (124 miles)

Why - To illustrate that people have much greater potential than they realize and motivate others to go after Big Hairy Audacious Goals (B.H.A.G.'s) within their lifetime. 

Bow NH - January 2011 After receiving a coveted spot in the Western States 100 Ultra marathon Nathan Sanel decided to use the event as a catalyst for an even greater challenge. The "Grand Slam" of Ultra marathons includes attempting to complete 4 difficult 100 mile running races in the United States in 4 months. Denied entry to the Wasatch 100, Nathan couldn't allow that to stop his dream of tackling such a daunting endeavor. The Bear 100, an equally challenging race in Utah would provide an excellent substitute. To add an even tougher twist, he has decided to run the 124 miles across NH at its widest point. A feat that he has tried twice and failed to complete.

Typically most Ultra runners train for months to compete in one or two 100 mile races per year. Recovery time for a marathon (26.2 miles) is commonly
acknowledged as being one day per mile ran. That would mean a typical recovery of about three months.

"Most people have big dreams. Many don't realize their full potential in pursuing them. With dedication, a burning desire and a plan they can achieve those goals. I am an ordinary person taking on a big challenge that I'm not sure I can complete. I'm blogging about the process to show how I'm going after my dream. My hope is that it may inspire others to do the same."

You can follow Nathan's training and race progress at http://www.bikernate.blogspot.com/

Weekly Training Recap - 4/18 - 4/24

A little bit later tonight I will be posting about my 5 100 mile runs in 5 months.  Since I've been working on that most of the night, I'm only going to post a short recap of my weekly training.

This week was the first time this year that I did back to back runs of 20 milers or more. Saturday I ran 20 miles and today I ran 22 miles. Saturdays run was interesting because it was cold, raining and snowing!  Sometimes it's pretty hard to get out the door at 5:30 in the morning in that weather when you know you are going to be out there for three hours.

My body is still holding up and I'm feeling pretty good. I got my new Altra Shoes on Wednesday and I've run every day in them since then. If you want to read about them, check out my product review here. 

Monday 4/18
6 Miles (51:13) Easy - roads
Shoes - Hoka One Ones
I'm looking forward to this soreness in my legs going away!

Tuesday 4/19
8 Miles (1:01:05) Easy - roads
Shoes - Hoka One Ones
Quads still hurt on the downhills, but I'm starting to feel better.

Wednesday 4/20
14 Miles (1:59:52) Hill Workout - Powerlines trails
Shoes - Altra Instincts
Great run!!! First run in the new Altras and I am in love. Did 3 .5 mile hill repeats (.5m up, immediate turn around then .5 back down) and my legs are finally starting to come back to life. The wettest, muddiest, rockiest run of the year so far.

Thursday 4/21
8 Miles (forgot to record time) Easy - roads/trails
Shoes - Altra Instincts
3 Miles of roads total, 5 miles of trails. Went on a more hilly route, will be doing so as much as possible from now on.

Friday 4/22
6 Miles (49:15) Hill Workout - Snowmobile Trails
Shoes - Altra Instincts
About 2 miles of warmup then 4 hill sprints. 60 seconds up, immediate sprint back down with about a minute rest in between. The rest of the run was done at a nice easy pace.

Saturday 4/23
20 Miles (2:58:33) Long run - Snowmobile Trails
Shoes - Altra Instincts
Great run this morning. It felt pretty easy to do 20 miles.  Trails are getting better, but still pretty sloppy. 

Sunday 4/24
22.15 Miles (3:24:55) Long run - Snowmobile Trails
Shoes - Altra Instincts
I ran the first 12 miles alone then met up with Ron for the last 10. Great run, still feel very good and strong.

Weekly total
84.2 Miles

Altra Instinct Zero Drop Shoes - Product Review

Altra Instincts

Anybody who runs with me knows that I am a complete shoe junky.  At first running was attractive to me because it was simple.  All you need is a pair of shoes and a pair of shorts. But when I started running longer distances I discovered that different types of shoes worked for different conditions.  At the very least I needed an off road shoe and a road shoe.  Looking at my equipment list on my running journal I can count 36 different pairs of shoes.  That's just in the last 3 years.  That means on average I buy a pair of shoes per month.  Recently I did a post called "Shoe Fetish" of the current shoes that I am using the most and I revealed that I regularly use 5 different pairs of shoes.

Preparing for my Potential Le'Painful Summer 500 (+)  (5 one hundred mile races in 5 months) has had me pondering what shoes I should use.  When running a 100 mile race I have a number of concerns when it comes to my feet.   I have never run a 100 without suffering from blisters.  Blisters slow me down and make me miserable.  They usually get bad around the 80 mile mark get worse from there, depending on the conditions.  I read about people bragging of doing a 100 without any blisters and I am green with envy.  They would be so much more enjoyable without them.  The other thing I'm looking for in a shoe is protection.  Your feet get sore running 100 miles!! 

As I have changed my running style and form I have found that I love the feel of minimal shoes.  I have three pairs of Five Fingers.  I have a pair of Inov-8 flite 230's that I love (except for the pointy toe box).  I have a pair of the new Merrell Trail Gloves which have zero drop and fit great.  I love to run in these shoes, but I would not even consider using any of them for a 100 mile race.  For the last 6 months I've been searching for a shoe that is flexible,  has less than a 4mm difference between the heel and forefoot, has a great toe-box that won't pinch my toes and has enough cushioning to let me run for 20 hours or so in all types of conditions.

I ran across a post on my friend Pete's blog, Runblogger, about Altra Shoes.  They appeared to be exactly what I've been looking for.  Unfortunately they weren't available yet.  I emailed one of the three owners, Brian Beckstead and asked if there was any way I could get my hands on a pair.  After a few emails back and forth explaining why I'm doing the 5 hundred milers he said that Altra would be interested in sponsoring me by providing the shoes. 

Brian and Jeremy

I was honored, but I was also hesitant.  I change my shoes like most people change their underwear.  If I accepted shoes and they didn't work I would feel obligated to use them.  The last thing I need is to wear shoes that are not correct.  I told Brian that if I got a pair, which I was willing to pay for, and I liked them then I would gladly wear Altras on my runs.  Brian told me that the Lone Peak wouldn't be available for a while, but he felt that I could easily run my first race, the Western States 100, in the road shoes (Instinct).

After meeting Brian at the Boston Marathon Expo I finally got my pair of Instincts.  Today I did my first run in them and I was not nice to them.  If I am going to run an off road race in road shoes I want to know that they can really take it.  I visited my old stomping grounds, the power lines up the street from me, for the first time this year.  I usually don't go up there this early, as it is brutally muddy, rocky and wet.  So much so it's hard to run there until it dries out.  Perfect test for the Altras!

The last time they will ever be clean

The first time I put on the shoes I couldn't help compare the fit to the Merrell Trail Gloves.  Until this point, the Merrells have been the best fitting shoes I've ever used so we were off to a great start.  Being sensitive to flexibility, I then tested to see if they were stiff.  I have read from some barefoot fanatics that they felt that the Instincts are stiff.  They are not.  No, they aren't like five fingers, but they easily move when you flex your foot.  They feel like normal running shoes as far as protection goes, but without the bulky heel.  The best part of the shoes is the toe-box.  Your toes have plenty of room to splay, but the rest of the shoe doesn't feel sloppy or loose.  They were instantly comfortable. 

Heading out to the trail I have about a mile of pavement.  I was able to run like I was barefoot, but had a nice level of cushioning underfoot.  As I turned onto the trail I almost hesitated to go further and ruin the shoes.  The trail was a mess!!

First mud!

I was thinking, I hope I got the right size because I'll never be able to exchange them after this!  And away I went.  What I wanted to test was their ability to drain, how the toe-box felt on descents (if my foot slipped to the front and hammered my toes) and the traction.  The traction was a concern because of the minimal tread pattern.  I was shocked to discover that they had more than enough traction.  Some of that is due to the short stride that I've developed, but on rocks and in the wet they were great.  Way better than I expected. 

I decided to throw caution to the wind and just barrel through everything in my way.  I was very curious to see how the shoes would handle rocks, as there is no rock plate in the soles.  That's one of the major differences between the Instincts and the Lone Peaks.  The shoes were great.  I could land right on the rocks and they had more than enough protection to keep me happy.



Steep with lots of baby heads

Next up, hill repeats.  There is a steep half mile hill that as you can see above is pretty rocky.  I sprinted up and immediately back down three times, with a short rest in between sets.  Running downhill was awesome.  I was able to keep a forefoot striking stride, but didn't have to pussy foot it like I normally do in minimal shoes.  The extra thickness of the soles of the Altras was perfect.  Even better, my foot stayed in place and my toes stayed nice and relaxed.  Most shoes have me curling my toes, or pulling them in away from the front of the shoe trying not get mashed.

After my repeats I just enjoyed the rest of the miles at a nice pace.  There was lots of mud!



MUD!!

What I did to these shoes on this first run was totally unfair.  These are their road shoes!!!  During the run I just kept thinking about how much I loved the shoes.  I ran 14 miles.  2 miles were pavement and the rest were off road.  I can't wait to put a ton more miles on them.  At this point I can honestly say that for the first time I have one pair of shoes that I can use for everything.  Obviously I need to put a lot more miles on them to get the complete story, but for now I'm smitten.  And I can't wait to put them on tomorrow and go for another run.  Thank you Altra!

As a side note, Altra has experienced an overwhelming response for their shoes.  The first batch of shoes that landed in the stores have been selling at a months worth of supply in a week.  You can buy the shoes directly online at www.altrarunning.com.  You can also check to see if your local running store carries them. Altra is looking for more distribution so if you know of a good running store who understands the benefit of running without a bulky raised heel send Altra an email or tell the store to give them a call.

Traprock 50k Race Report

Yesterday I tested my legs and lungs for the first race of the year, the Connecticut Traprock 50k.  This is only the second year for the race.  Last year it drew about 30 entrants, this year about 150.  I decided that rather than driving the three hours in the morning before the race I would stay at a hotel and enjoy the late race start of 8:30am.  To make the most of the weekend I left Friday afternoon to go to the Boston Marathon expo.  I have heard that it is the biggest and best running expo in the world.  I was hoping to pick up lots of schwag and talk running to like minded folks.

I picked up my friend Ron at his office in Manchester and we took the hour drive to the expo.  We fumbled our way in the city a bit and finally found a parking lot.  I promised Ron that there was no way in hell I was ever going to find my car again.  Luckily I wrote down the location of where I parked and we found our way into the expo hall.  We ate a great lunch at a place that served every variation of salads and wraps and headed into the expo right as it opened at 2. 

While Ron picked up his bib for Mondays marathon, I made my way over to the Altra booth to finally meet Brian, one of the owners. 

I was super excited to get my shoes, the Altra Instincts.  It turned out that one of the boxes hadn't been delivered to the expo.  Of course, it was the box with my sized shoes.  Luckily Ron is picking them up for me and bringing them over today.  I tried on a few pairs and had a great time chatting with Brian.  Its very cool to see the owner of a shoe company also be an Ultra runner.  We talked about The Bear 100 since he has run it before. He told me enough about the course to scare me. 

Altra Instincts - Zero Drop, Cushioned shoes.

Ron headed back to NH with another friend and I headed down to Ct to stay at the hotel.  I was psyched that I was staying at the Hyatt Summerfield Suites.  For $98 I got a huge room with a full kitchen and little living room.  I ate some brown rice with avocado sliced over it, had a banana and for desert had a piece of wholegrain bread with almond butter.  It was so nice being able to eat the way I like and not having to eat out where I can't find any food options.  I was in bed by 10 and slept great.

In the morning I made my way over to the parking lot of the Penwood State park and found the main parking lot already full.  I parked across the street and headed over with my drop bag full of race fuel and extra supplies.  They were serving Gatorade at the aid stations which are located approximately every 3 miles on the course so I was set with fluids.  While I was standing in the registration line I started to realize how cold it was.  I was shivering badly even though I had an extra sweatshirt on.  I chatted a bit with Brian Rusiecki, a perennial top runner and super nice guy.  The line moved pretty slowly but soon enough I was registered and ready to go.  My race number was 69....that means that they could read my number even if I was upside down on the course...After the race briefing from the RD, who told us "If you get lost on this course you should take up road running" we were off right on time.  The course is a rocky, hilly route that has about 2000ft of elevation gain/loss per loop.  Each loop is 10.5 - 11 miles (they never really say exactly how long it is) and the 50k racers do it three times. The race starts by going a couple hundred feet then immediately heads strait up a steep hill. 

First Hill, just moments after the start/finish line.

There is a lot of climbing early on in the race.  Just a few miles in you go up a section called the "Stairway to Heaven.  It's steep!!  Luckily it doesn't last to long.

Stairway to Heaven

When you get to the top of the Stairway it levels off for a few feet and then goes up again!

I had decided to wear my Inov-8 flite 230 shoes.  I was not sure if I was making the right choice since the course if pretty rocky and rooty and these shoes have no rock protection and not much traction.  They turned out to be excellent for everything except rocky descents where I had to be careful to not stub my toes.  For the first loop I ran with my friend Adam Wilcox.  Neither of us planned to run together, but we were just on the same pace.  It was great running with him and I was chatting away, doing my best to annoy him.  He was much stronger than me on the downhills and was running with reckless abandon while I was being much more careful.  At that point I was stronger than him on the uphills so he would take off on my on the downhills and I would catch him on the uphills.  On the flats we were running the same pace.  We finished the first loop in 1 hour 30 minutes and I was right on track for my race pace goal.  I was hoping to finish around 4:30 but never seeing the course before I wasn't sure if that was a reasonable goal.

At one point, I think it was the second loop, Adam took off flying on a downhill.  I was actually thinking "holy shit, that's ballsy in this section" since it was so rocky.  I lost sight of him and then a saw him off course clutching his shin.  He had wiped out and slammed his shin against a rock.  He was wincing in pain I was worried that he really hurt himself.  He said he was OK and I took off. 

It is tough being in these situations.  Adam is a friend and even though I was pumped up to race, it is more important to me to make sure he wasn't hurt.  The course has many points where you go past other racers since it is an out and back with a short lollipop loop in the middle.  I was happy so see Adam a little bit later and he said he was OK.  As the race progressed I realized that I was in the top ten.  I had really tried to not go out to hard but I was starting to feel it in my quads and I was concerned that I had done what I usually do.  I always seem to go to hard at the beginning of my races.  Its not that I'm going balls out, its just that when I feel good I run my normal pace forgetting that I need to save something for later.

I started really running low on energy near the end of the second loop.  I was eating very well, but I might not have been drinking enough.  Instead of using my handheld bottle I used my waist bottle pack.  Since the bottle wasn't in my hand I don't think I was as aware of my need to drink.  For the first loop I didn't even drink an entire 20 ounce bottle.  I started taking endurolite caps since my quads were already starting to feel achy.  I was hoping that it wouldn't lead to cramping.

One section of the loop is a 1.5 mile paved road and near the end of the road is a picnic bench.  Right before the bench I started feeling a pinch on the bottom of my left foot.  It felt like the beginning of a blister and I couldn't believe it.  It wasn't wet and there was no reason that I should have any blisters.  I realized that I had a rock in my shoe and I had a seat on the bench and emptied both my shoes.  Much better!

On my way out for the third and final loop I really started to feel bad.  I was passed by two people and that messed with my mind.  My quads were now feeling thrashed and I was eating more salt tabs then I ever have trying to prevent them from cramping.   I also really focused on my drinking to help.  At one point the strangest thing happened.  I was all alone on the course, feeling low on my energy, and I felt like crying.  I wasn't upset about anything, I wasn't going to stop or give up, but I was just a ball of emotion.  I have never, ever felt like this in a race before.  It is very hard to explain.  I think it was purely physical. 

Luckily it didn't last long and I really focused on just keeping moving.  I started counting the people in front of me and realized that I was in 10th place.  It was very helpful.  How could I be upset when I was in the top 10?  My mission then became to not lose any spots.  I wanted badly to finish in the top ten, regardless of what my time was.  On the lollipop loop I was able to see how far behind me 11th place was.  he was about 1/2 a mile back and he looked really strong.  It provided great incentive to keep moving.  My quads were cramping on every uphill but I felt good on the flats.  I stubbed my right bid toe three or four times on that last loop as I wasn't picking up my feet as well as I should have been.

With less than a mile to go I put my nose to the grindstone.  I had no idea if the guy behind me was catching me but I knew I was going to give it my all.  On the last climb I spotted somebody in front of me and I decided to do everything to catch him.  At the top of the hill I blew by him and now I only had the last downhill to go.  I ran as fast as I could hoping not to wipe out.  I forgot to look at the clock as I finished but stopped my watch a few seconds later and it said 4:50.  I confirmed that I finished in 9th place with some friends but I still have not seen the official results.  Adam ended up catching our friend Ryan really close to the end and finished in 5th place!  He's having an incredible year and I'm happy for him.

Its strange, but I feel sort of disappointed with my finish.  I shouldn't be, but I thought that my endurance was better.  I really thought that I should have been able to keep up my early pace for the entire race.  Coach Jack doesn't seem to believe in tapers, he calls them "mini tapers".  I ended up running 86 miles last week and perhaps that had some impact.  Regardless, I have to put it in perspective.  This race was only supposed to be a fitness check.  It wasn't an "A Goal" race.  I am very happy to have finished in 9th.  My challenge this year is to finish a bunch of hundred mile races so I need to work on my endurance and strength, not as much my speed in shorter races.  For today, I'm happy to be healthy and to have finished well in my first race of the year.

This weeks mileage recap:

Monday 4/11
7 Miles (57:21)
Shoes - Hoka One One
Legs were tired from yesterdays long run

Tuesday 4/12
14 Miles (2:05:14) Fartlek run
Shoes - Merrell Trail Glove
First half of the run I felt like crap. Tired and the trails were very sloppy and hard to keep a smooth pace on. As soon as I started my fartleks I felt better. I ran the first 7 miles as a warmup. I ran 1 min bursts at a 6:45 - 7:15 pace then 4 minutes easy for the next 5 miles. Last two miles I ran easy.

Wednesday 4/13
7 Miles (54:07)
Shoes - Hoka One One
Ran easy today and felt good

Thursday 4/14
6 Miles (46:15) Tempo Run
Shoes - Hoka One One
Did 3 miles of warmup in 25:09 (8:22 pace), then 2 miles in 13:43 (6:53 pace) then 1 mile cool down in 7:19. Felt very easy this morning.

Friday 4/15
4 Miles (30:36)
Shoes - Hoka One One
Felt good, I'm ready to race!

Saturday 4/16
Traprock 50K (31 Miles - 4:50)
Shoes - Inov8 Flite 230
Good enough for 9th place. First loop 1:30, second 1:36, third 1:44. Fought quad cramping most of the last loop.

Sunday 4/17
3 Miles (24:19)
Shoes - Hoka One One
My quads hurt sooo bad when I started. I can't believe that this run ended up at a 8mm pace. I am really sore.

Weekly total
72.1 Miles (10:27:52)

Fear is a life killer

Recently I picked back up a book that means a lot to me.  "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill was written over 70 years ago and has inspired countless scores of people.  As I was flipping through it I ended up at chapter 15.  It is titled "How to Outwit the 6 Ghosts of Fear".  It really is amazing how powerful the written word is.  I instantly received an attitude adjustment.  I realized that some of the things that I have been procrastinating on are due to fear.  I just didn't realize that it was fear that was holding me back.  It reminded me how Fear ruins lives.  I am as guilty as anybody of having that terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach of being afraid.  Reading this brought me back to focusing on what I want and believing that I can accomplish it.  Fear will not get the best of me.  Fear is my enemy.  Here is a link to the chapter. Hopefully it will inspire you as much as it did me.  If you have not read the book yet I highly recommend it. 

Here is this weeks training recap:
 
Monday 4/4
7 Miles (1:01:15)
Went super easy, making sure that I don't hurt my calf anymore. Wore my clown shoes (Hoka's) and everything went ok.
 
Tuesday 4/5
8 Miles (1:05:16)
Another easy run in my clown shoes.

Wednesday 4/6
14 Miles (2:04:48)
Awesome run.  Trails were soupy, muddy, wet and had patches of glare ice.  Calf didn't hurt.

Thursday 4/7
8.5 Miles (1:09:54)
Awesome run again.  Felt super good.  Pretty good pace for hilly, sloppy off road run.

Friday 4/8
8 Miles (58:26)
Felt good this morning so I picked up the pace.  Ran my road route in my Hokas.  The first 4 miles were at a tad under 8min pace, the last 4 were at 6:30 pace. 

Saturday 4/9
Morning - 9 Miles (1:11:15)
Ran to work.

Afternoon - 9.25 Miles (1:11:32)
Ran home from work. Beautiful day.

Sunday 4/3
22 Miles (3:05:18)
4 miles of pavement to get to the trail, so I ran 8 miles of pavement total out of the 22 since it is an out and back.  Tried the new Saucony Peregrines.  Great shoe, but toebox is to narrow.  The majority of the run was muddy, sloppy, wet snowmobile trails.  Pushed myself a bit on the second half of the run. Feeling the mileage of the week for sure.

Weekly totals
85.7 Miles (11:47:44)
No strength training.

Don't look Ethel!!!

Oh, yes, they call him the Streak

Boogity, Boogity

Fastest thing on two feet

Boogity, Boogity

He's just as proud as he can be

Of his anatomy

He goin' give us a peek.

Today marks 100 days in a row that I have gone for a run.  In the running world they call it a "Streak".  In that time period I have run 1057 miles, which averages out to 10.6 miles (duh..) per day.  In the last 100 days the shortest run I have done is 4.2 miles and the longest is 31 miles.

I'm not posting this to show off how much I am running.  I want to get back to my original reason for writing this blog.  My hope is to help regular people to realize that they can accomplish extraordinary things.  I have written a lot lately about my BHAG of running 5 100 mile runs in 5 months, but this running streak more truly represents how little things can turn into big things. Indeed, more often than not, little ideas grow into big accomplishments. 

100 days ago my streak started because coach Jack gave me a new training schedule.  He told me that if I am going to be running 80 to 100 mile weeks consistently that I needed to start running every day.  I had been running 5 to 6 days a week for the past two years and truly believed that the rest days were important to my recovery and building of endurance. 

"Sherpa" John streaking

Just a few days later, by pure coincidence, my friend Sherpa John Lacroix issued a challenge to a group of friends to participate in a contest to see who could run at least 2 miles a day for about two months.  The contest started on New Years day.  It was a fun contest and included bonus points for doing things like running nude a certain day (I didn't do it) and the highest overall mileage.  I ended up winning the challenge and since my running schedule still includes running every day my streak is still alive. 

I never planned on this becoming a "thing" but I have discovered that my body is responding very well to running every day.  Last week when I went to Florida I already had 84 miles for the week by Saturday.  We flew out on Sunday and after getting up super early and traveling the last thing I wanted to do is run.  But I couldn't let my streak die because around day 75 I committed to getting in at least 100 days.  That way I could write about it here!  It also has become a challenge to myself to see how long I can keep it going. 

When I look back at how National Powersports started I can see how it parallels this streak.  At first I didn't have a BHAG to be the biggest motorcycle wholesaler in the US.  All I wanted to do was make a little extra money on the side because my mutual funds were tanking.  I simply bought a motorcycle, fixed it up and sold it.  I could have easily just kept it as a little side project.  It turned into a BHAG not to much later when I recognized that what I was doing had HUGE potential and could be scaled and grown.  That's the difference between doing something BIG and staying small, recognizing the potential and not being afraid to go after it.

Sometimes when I come up with big ideas, I get paralyzed with the enormity of it all.  If that happens, chances are I end up doing nothing and getting frustrated.  I can tell you that the first run I took around my neighborhood of 2 miles left me so crippled for the next three days that there is no way at that point I could have imagined being able to run 100 miles at a time.  Over time, and with practice, that vision grew.  One step at a time.

I have to remind myself that I don't always have to know every detail of how I'm going to get to the finish line.  I just have to start moving towards it.  I have to have faith that whatever happens will be abundant and good, even if it takes me in a completely different direction than where I thought it would. 

Lighten up Francis



This week I took a week off from my training, diet and work (as much as I could) to take a vacation with the Sanel family. Me, Amy, Max, and Isabel left Sunday morning to stay at the Disney Saratoga Springs resort in Orlando Florida. 

Saratoga Springs Disney


Looking at my training schedule for the week I had a pretty good idea that I was not going to be able to get in the almost 90 miles coach Jack had planned for me. The only way I was going to be able to do it was to get up at 5am each morning and go while the family was sleeping. For once I gave myself a rare break and took a "take it as it goes" approach. I figured that it wouldn't hurt since I have been putting in consistent 80 plus mile weeks for the past 5 weeks and even ran 31 miles on Saturday before we left. A cutback week might actually be nice!  Over the course of the week I did things like have big lunches (more like having a dinner before dinner) and I drank way more than I usually do.  Its liberating letting go and having a good time.  I did still manage to get in 60 miles this week, so it's not like I didn't run at all.  I also finished up the month of March at 355.2 miles which is my biggest March ever.

Amy I planned from the start to let loose and have a good time on this vacation. Then when the week was over we would really get back on the ball with training and diet. I am going back to my strict low GI diet starting now. I've got 3 months to get in tip top shape before I toe the line for my first 100 miler of the year, the Western States 100.

The running in Disney is lame and boring.  Most mornings consisted of running between our resort and Old Key West, multiple times.  One very cool thing did happen though.  I was running on the golf cart path between the two resorts when I noticed what at first appeared to be a cat in the woods.  Then I realized that it's head was way to big to be a domestic cat.  As I got closer I could see that it was a bobcat!  I've never seen one in the wild and it was only about 50ft away. 
 
Here is this weeks training recap:
 
Monday 3/28
7.5 Miles (1 hour)
Easy run on the treadmill at the gym
 
Tuesday 3/29
7 Miles (56:30)
Another easy treadmill run.  Feeling tired from Saturdays 31 miler still.

Wednesday 3/30
9 Miles (1:15:02)
Hot and Humid.  Body still feeling tired and heat is not helping.

Thursday 3/31
7 Miles (54:54)
Tornado warnings outside with lots of lightning and pouring rain. Treadmill was best option.
Strength Training (45 minutes)
Wish I had this type of equipment at home.  Much better workout than normal and I can feel it.

Friday 4/1
10.25 Miles (1:23:13)
Much nicer morning. Great running weather. Saw a bobcat on my run.

Saturday 4/2
10 Miles (1:21:05)
I really hate running boring paths over and over. Disney is not a great place to run if you want to do any type of mileage. It was nice running in just shorts though. Right calf cramped 8 miles in. Weird. Ate a gel and it went away.

Sunday 4/3
10 Miles (1:27:28)
It is so good to be home and running the muddy, wet, snowy trails again. That feels like running to me, not running sidewalks in Florida.  A little concerned.  That calf cramp from yesterday returned.  Its not a cramp, but a pull.  Started to hurt about 5 miles in.  Going to do the usual rehab (ice, ibuprofen, massage).

Weekly totals
60.7 Miles
45 Minutes Strength training.