Things learned training this year so far

Well I’m back to running somewhat consistently. The house remodel continues to go well, but things continue to come up that sabotage me running consistently. The most recent item was base boards. Years ago when I bought my house I replaced all the baseboards myself as my first big do-it-yourself project.

Well I failed and the piss poor job has forever haunted me. My contractor agreed to replace all my baseboards for half of what I had bids for. I just had to caulk and paint the suckers. If you want to try out a killer workout try this: go run a 10 miler in 100+ heat. Come home; get on your hands and knees and proceed to caulk and paint base boards for hours. Now repeat the following day, running optional. Trust me this workout will make you strong, or break you in half.

Training Stuff

I’ve been thinking A LOT about my training for WS100 and what new things I learned about my running this year.

1. Miles make champions. Now I didn’t coin this phrase, but it sums it up for me. I had a higher amount of sustained weekly mileage this year while training and it really improved my running.

2. Drymax socks rock!! I was turned on to these socks after reading about them on Kelly Ridgway’s blog. I run through creeks without care now due to these socks. Blisters, in these socks, never.

3. HEAT, it sucks and really screws up my running. Nothing new to me but for some reason it was worse for me this year, but not consistently. Long story short I determined I’m more sensitive than I used to be to the bad air in the Sacramento area. For next year I’ll have to go up the hill more to get better air if I’m going to run in the heat.

Also I was experimenting with the long sleeve UV clothing for WS. I obviously didn’t get to use it but I feel better training with it. The direct sun doesn’t bake me as much. I also found water I poured on me had a better, longer cooling effect with the long sleeved stuff. Again this is a personal observation; I can’t quantify it as fact. It’s still weird to wear the stuff in 100+ heat.

4. Sugar. In an effort to lean up for the race and improve my health I again went to work on my diet. I noticed the more I avoid gels and other sugary foods on and before long runs the better I digested food. I also had fewer ups and downs. Real food and a mix called Spitz is what I use more now. Gels still work great for me and have their place, I’m not anti-gel. But for 3+hrs runs/hikes I try to avoid too much sugar before and during.

**The above of course does not apply to my favorite post-race/long run ice cold Coke, I’ll never take that away.**

5. Music. I love music, my IPOD and 250gigs of music are very dear to me. In training and especially in races I found I run better if I’m not always distracted by music. I definitely eat and drink better without music.

I know I’ve learned more, but as I sit here at work wasting the County’s time I can’t think of more.

2010 Plans

I know it’s a LONG way out but I have a family I have to plan if I’m going to go big on something.

So far I plan to race shorter races, (50 mile and under) and race more often, no 100 milers. The event I’m really trying to make happen for 2010 is the Canadian Death Race. I want to put together a team for the race. Anyone interested?????

AB