March 24th- March 30th

"I think we all learn from the past.  I just feel we shouldn't live there.  We shouldn't live in the past.  I live for today, and to me, the most important moment is now." - Shirley Temple

Monday:   

Still down in Hatteras at the finish line today.  We stayed an extra night down here so that we could check out Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum which opened at 10am this morning before the 3 hour drive back to the north island where the house is.  Well worth it!  The history that surrounds the Outerbanks is fascinating.  Everything from the first settlers in America from England to pirates to German U-Boats in WW2.  There is just so much history here.  Of course I had to hit up a bakery on the way back to the house. 

  

Tuesday:  

8 AM:  35mins at the gym.  Super chill mobility session more than anything. Mostly light cardio machines to loosen up then lots of stretching and some body weight movements. Just need to start moving again this week.

2 PM: Walk 2.25 miles in 38mins.  Easy walk with Venus around town. Super chill and felt good to move some. Calves are still a couple of knots though, may take a bit for them to come around.

Wednesday:

1 PM:  Walk 2.7 miles in 41mins.  Another walk around town with Venus... few more days of walking before I try running again. Right calf is still sore

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  NOPE... next week when I am home again.

3 PM:  Walk 2.3 miles in 39mins. Easy walk around town with Paula and Venus. Super chill... will try jogging some tomorrow before we start the drive home mid-day. Not looking forward to 2-3 days of driving.

Went out to breakfast this morning to say hi to Henry who is one of the owners.  Meet him just before Blackbeard where he finished the 100K (62 miles) in 26 hours for his first race longer than a 5K... He walked a bunch of it barefoot too.  LOL... great dude and comped our breakfast.  This island is growing on us.  This might actually be an area that we will look at in about a decade to retire too.

Friday:

9 AM:  4 miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy jog from the house. First jog since the 100. Body was in shock the first 2 miles then it was like it remembered, ya this is what we do and was fine after that. Right calf is still gimpy, have a PT appointment on Monday to get it needled, that should help.

Taking off mid-day to start the drive home.  We are hoping to be home sometime late Saturday night but might be Sunday, such a long ass drive.  28 hours of just driving, that does not include the stops.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  Spent all day driving home to Colorado from the Outerbanks. Straight through, started yesterday at noon and got home at 7pm today.  Did stop and sleep about 2 hours east of St. Louis, otherwise it was straight thru.  The trip ended up with 4407 miles total on the van.  Longest trip I have ever driven.

Sunday:  

8 AM: 5.5 miles w/ 400ft of vert averaging 7:30pace.  Easy out and back from the Coalton Trailhead up the big hill straight west. Can really tell I have been at sea level for a month and have not been doing any hills. One more easy recovery week then it is on for Western States training.  Also back to heat training, 20mins in the hot tub as well.

Total Weekly Numbers

Wiped out as I am putting the finishing touches on this blog from last week and it is Tuesday.  Even took yesterday off work to help recover but still wiped today.  Been a busy few weeks for sure.  Plan this coming week is back to easy shorter runs before back to training for Western.  Hoping the body will bounce back quickly.

March 17th - March 23rd

"If you're having fun, that's when the best memories are built." -Simone Biles

"Fear of life closes off more opportunities for us than fear of death ever does." - Agnes Moorehead

Figured this was a 2 quote week this week with the race and all.

Monday:   

 8 AM:  Walk 3.6 miles on a treadmill at the gym.  Dumping rain outside all night and morning so did my taper walk on the treadmill this morning.  Not an easy walking pace, did walk with some intention. 

9 AM: 40mins lifting in the gym right after walking.  Super chill and light, more about the range of motion and just moving some.

DB Incline Press
3x10 @ 45

V-Bar Lat Pulldowns
3x10 @ 100

Hip Abductor machine
3x10 @ 190

Single Leg quad extends
3x10 @ 40 each leg

Double DB RDLs
3x10 @ 55 each hand

DB Shoulder Press
3x10 @ 35

DB Crossbody Hammer Curls
3x10 @ 20

Reverse Grip Ez-bar Tricep Pushdowns
3x10 @ 30

Straight Leg Raises
3x10

Tuesday:  

8 AM:  8.2 miles averaging 7:30pace.  Easy jog from the house. First 3.7 miles with Venus, then dropped her off and jogged out the remaining time. Legs are feeling pretty good overall.

Wednesday:

Headed out at 7am down to the beach this morning to see if I could finally get a time-lapse video of the sunrise.  As I waiting for the time to start filming this wild horse came down the beach crossing about 20 yards in front of me.  They talk about all the wild horses around here but I was finally able to see one and in the perfect spot and conditions as well.  Super blessed to see this early this morning.

And of course I also got my time-lapse video of sunrise that I have been after since being here in the Outerbanks.  This beach is about 200m from the house or about 2-3min walk. 

9 AM:  7 miles averaging 7:40 pace.  Super chill jog from the house around town again. Ran over to the local farm with an egg stand to grab a dozen for $5, jogged them home then finished out the 7 miles. Legs felt like shit today but started to feel better the last 2 miles. Going to be honest, sort of dreading the race this weekend.

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Nope!  Will check back in on this in 2 weeks when I am at home.

Did walk down to the beach again to see if maybe I would get lucky to see another horse this morning at sunrise.  No such luck but it was still an awesome sunrise.  And yes the whole beach here is covered in shells like the photo below.

8 AM:  Walk 2.25 miles in 45 mins.  Easy walk around town with Venus. Walked down to return the empty egg carton to the egg stand, then over get a photo of the lighthouse and home on the beach making a large loop. Things of course are tight and feel like shit, welcome to the hardcore tapering part. 

Friday:

9 AM:  3.25 miles averaging 7:30pace.  Easy shakeout jog with Venus... last jog before tomorrow's early morning race. Go time!

Spent the rest of the day chilling out before leaving the house midday to head down to about halfway on the course for packet pickup.  Of course we did a little bit of exploring since we were on Roanoke Island and neither of us have been here before.  Lots of history here for sure.  One of the first English settlements ever in the US was located here back in the 1600s which of course we went to check out after getting brunch at Bob's Grill. Yes we stopped there due to the name.

Saturday: 

5:30 AM:  RACE DAY!!  100.3 miles in 16:55:19 for 1st overall.  So much I am still processing from this day.  I will do a quick summery along with a bunch of photos that I was able to pull together to make sort of a photo story.  

Race started at 5:30am on the dot and right from the gun 3 guys and 1 girl went out fast!  I went with them keeping them within sight the first 5-6 miles before losing about half of them and passing the other half.  Well about mile 8-9 before the first aid station I passing one of the dudes and he stuck with me so I started chatting him up.  Well I forgot there was a 100 mile relay going on at the same time, I went out with the relay folks, my mistake.  At mile 10 I was in 3rd including the relay teams and of course 1st overall for the solo 100.  So basically due to that move at the start I lead the race from the gun.  Felt great running overall all hitting a qualifying time for Boston at the marathon and even a PR at the 50 miler for me at around 7 hours.  About then the headwinds really started taking a toll on the legs and ended up switching to a run/walk strategy until the finish.  Of course once I was walk a bit more then I would have liked I thought for sure I would get passed but that never happened.  Crossed the line in first which shocked myself, this result never even crossed my mind pre-race, I was hoping for a top 3 but not a win.  Super neat course and love the idea of saying that you started at the north end of all the islands and finished at the south end.  Could not have done this without Paula crewing me the whole way.  No pacers, just me and her against everyone else and we had a blast.   She kept me focused and on track the whole time.  Also only 10 relay teams beat me, and I beat 16 relay teams.  I think I like that stat more than the win.  LOL... Here is photos from the day.  Some are from the race and some are from Paula, I tried to put them in order but may have messed up some of them.  Super grateful for this experience.

Sunday:  

Not a damn thing today but going to the finish line to cheer in the finishers the last 2 hours of the race and eat a shit ton of food.  The race director was shocked that Paula and I came back to cheer in runners.  The race director made the comment that he has not had the winner of his 100s do that before.  In my mind I think it should be expected as long as the winner is vertical.  Maybe that is a culture difference between West coast and East coast ultras?  

Total Weekly Numbers

My expectations for the race this week were blown away.  I was shooting for 18 hours as a stretch goal but blew that out of the water and it never crossed my mind I would be in it for the win but I will take it.  I worked my ass off the past few months even though it was a far cry from a perfect buildup.  Anyways enough blowing my own horn.  Time to move forward, recover for the next 2 weeks and get back to focusing on Western States 100 in June.  LFG!!!