Monday, May 2, 2011

Race week is upon me

Well, hell. Somehow a 50 mile race snuck up on me and the reality that I'll be covering 50 miles in the mountains on foot this Saturday is starting to set in. May 7th seemed like a long ways away when I registered for this thing back in February (or whenever). Plenty of time to get ready, right? RIGHT?? I mean, it's not like I'm totally not ready, but I don't feel totally ready either. Then again, I don't think I've ever felt totally ready for a race 5 days out, so that's nothing new.

I guess I've kinda sort been tapering. After back to back 89 mile weeks (including two long runs of 29-30 miles), I've scaled it back the last couple weeks with about 68 miles the first and then 54 this past week. My legs certainly feel like I'm tapering, which basically means that they feel like crap. I've had various aches and twinges in my knees and achilles over the last couple of weeks and just a general feeling of sluggishness for the past week and a half. Yesterday's final long run before Collegiate Peaks was a good example. I headed out for a planned 17-20 miles and felt pretty crappy for the first 7 miles or so. No aches or pains, just no energy and felt like I was working way too hard for a relatively slow pace. Then, magically, my body decided to cooperate and the last 11 miles came fairly easily. This week, I plan on getting in a few short to medium runs, nothing spectacular, before a couple days of rest. The aches and pains seem to have gone away (knock on wood), now I'm just waiting for dead feeling to leave my legs.....so that I can pummel them and make them wish they were dead on Saturday.

Stay tuned for the gory details...

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