Training Log - Friday, February 18, 2011

Finally, I hit the trails again, but it wasn't pretty. Two guys huffing and puffing like they're old men. Well, acccording to my son I am anyway, but I believe 40 is the new 20. So we really shouldn't sound or look like we did. I picked up Richard at his house at 5AM this morning for what was supposed to be a nice and easy 8-9 miler on part of the Mountain Mist 50k course. Instead, we cut it short and returned home after 6 miles. Our bones and muscles (Rocky Raccoon) and cardiovacluar systems (flu) just aren't fully recovered, yet.

Either way, it was great to be back on trails. The weather was perfect, even on the mountain, with temps already above 50 degrees. There was a slight mist and the valley was covered in fog, just perfect running weather. If only my lung and muscles were feeling as good as I was feeling mentally. I am still riding that 100 mile finisher's high, at least when I am thinking about running, which is almost all the time;-) The run reminded me that I am really due for my very first pedicure. After reading the most excellent book "Fixing Your Feet" by John Vonhof, a very experienced ultrarunner and foot expert, I am trying a whole bunch of new things before my next major ultra event (Desert R.A.T.S. multi day stage race in June) to try to prevent blisters. I will attempt to write my own review of this book very shortly, but suffice it to say that it is the first "How To" book I truly enjoyed reading. Hey, I finished it within three days which has got to be a record for me for finishing any book (and that includes Cat in the Hat;-)

Prior to June, I have scheduled a couple of other ultras that will hopefully allow me to put some of those "lessons learned" to the test to come up with what I hope is the things that works best for me. To reiterate the mantra "we are all an experiment of one" which I believe relates not only to our approach to ultra training but also to our foot care and blister prevention.