Fools 50k - Preparation Report

Fools 50k.

With five weeks and change to go, I'm starting to get excited for the Fools 50k on March 28, 2010. I believe I am doing everything I possibly can to prepare myself for a positive race day experience. This will be my first Ultra, so my goals are... well, for those of you who know me, I usually set goals that are on the fringe of possible. To most people they seem too high or downright foolish. However, since I know I tend to overreach, I set multiple secondary goals that I can downgrade to before or during the race. For example, I set a goal of sub 1:30 for the '09 Cleveland Half Marathon. Unfortunately, when I had a minor injury a few weeks before the race, I resorted to a secondary goal of 1:40. I met that goal with a 1:36:53.

Trust me, I've heard it a hundred times..."For your first Ultra, your goal should be just to finish." I understand the logic behind setting this goal, which is, barring a really unfortunate mishap (read injury - or I guess...getting lost) you will succeed. For some reason, I've never been satisfied with setting the bar low just to say I jumped over it. I certainly am not training for a "just finish" goal. So I feel comfortable in saying I will do much better than just finish.

My goals (subject to change) are the following:

1. Follow my race strategy - Start slow, consistent pace, be mindful of my HR, hydrate, eat, etc.
2. Stay mentally focused - Ignore the pain, stay alert.
3. Race Time - To keep you from laughing at me, I'll discuss whether or not I met this goal in my race report.

39 days and counting....

Enough about what I plan to do, all I can do is train my best everyday to ensure I have a positive experience. Speaking of training...

2/16/10:
AM Run: 1.5 miles, 13:40
AM Gym: Chest, Abs, Plyos
Lunch Run: 5.5 miles 45:05 (9x400s: 1:38, 1:37, 1:36, 1:35, 1:34, 1:33, 1:32, 1:31, and 1:30) (400RBI)

2/17/10:
Lunch Run: 6 miles, 52:55 (2 miles @ 3%, last 1.25 miles @ 7:13 pace)
PM Bike: 12 miles, 45:00