Ultra ambitions

[mlyday]

Well Fishing the fishing went great, we ended up with 22 salmon, big fat salmon. We ended up with two big coolers full of filets. The bad news is with only about 5 hours of sleep the night before and getting home at 8:30 pm last night, I didnt run.

To get myself back on track I am going to run 4 today,thurs, friday, take saturday off and try for 8 on sunday.

As soon as I get the picture of all the fish we caught, Ill post it here.

Man that is fun. If you ever get a chance to salmon fish do it. It was a blast. My arms are a little sore today, but it was worth it.

Mark

[mlyday]

It felt good to run last night. It got to be around 9:30 last night and I didnt really feel like running, but I forced myself to go. Once I started running I was feeling pretty good. I had be a little tired that day from my trip and the motivation was running a little low. I put my running gear on a then just sat there for a few minutes. At that point it would have been stupid if I didnt run. Sometimes I have to trick myself by taking baby steps.

Tonight is golf night and I usually dont run, but I didnt run sun,mon,or tuesday so I will be running after golf. Its not nearly as hot today as the last few, so it shouldnt be to bad. Im thinking Ill skip the beer and quesadilla afterword too (not a great prerun meal).

Im thinking my sunday run will be around 8 miles. The half marathon I have scheduled is sept 10, and I want to get a run of 13 in a couple of weeks before that and Im running out of time. 8 this sunday, 10 next sunday, and 12-13 the week after that.

Enough babbling for today.

Mark

[mlyday]

Not much time today. Did 3 last night after golf. We are going camping this weekend. I am bringing my shoes, but Im not sure if I will get todays run in, because we have a three hour drive ahead of us. I will however get sundays long run(8 miles) in after we get back.

[mlyday]

I guess I should update before a whole week passes. I was being so good about updating this, I dont know what happened.

Well we went camping this weekend. We drove up on friday and spent 2 nights with 5 of us in an 8x10 tent. Needless to say I didnt get much sleep.

We got back about 3 on sunday, and although I was extremely wiped out I decided to try my 8miler. Well I got 4 miles in an almost passed out.

I had to work untill 10pm on monday so no running. I did 4 last night at a pretty good clip, and felt really strong.

Back to work.

Mark

[mlyday]

Not much time today.

I did 4 last night on the treadmill because it was raining outside. We are heading up to the cabin tonight and it is suppose to rain so tonight is out for running. Tommor I will probably do 4 or 5 running on the road around the lake, and then 8 on sunday when we get back. Even if it kills me this time.

Mark

[mlyday]

Well I got a run in on saturday, Im not sure how far because we were at the cabin. Sunday I only had time for 6 miles, I wanted 8 but the schedule didnt allow for it. I think I am going to add some biking in on my days off running. I think it works different muscles, and I need all the help I can get.

I have been kind of putting off increasing my mileage until after my visit to the podiatrist for my achilies tendon problems. My speed has increased and my level of fitness seems to be getting better.

I took monday off to recover from my two longer days of running over the weekend, I did 4 last night and felt good.

Well off to work

Mark

[mlyday]

Man I just cant seem to keep up with doing this journal. I have the best intentions, but life seems to get in the way sometimes. I didn't run on wednesday. I had planned on running after golf on thursday, but I had a good chance at winning some skins money so I had to stick around until everyone was done. I ended winning all the skins ($48) woohoo. I also was playing my boss that night, I usually shoot around 47 to 48 and he usually shoots around 43. He shot a 40 that night, but I was playing out of my mind and shot a 39. He called that a CLM (Career Limiting Move). Im hoping he was kidding. So I didnt run thursday or friday either. I was feeling pretty guiltly about that so I ran 8 on saturday and felt great. Sunday the wife wanted to go on a bike ride with the kids, I asks if I could run with them instead. Im not sure on the distance, but it was around 6 miles. I can really feel it in my legs this morning.

Off to work.

Mark

[mlyday]

I took monday off from running, I was really feeling the longer weekend runs on my legs. They were tight and sore on monday. I allmost didnt run last night for that reason, but I decided to go anyways. I figured I would run a couple of miles really easy just to stretch my legs out. Well I ended up going 6 miles, and felt really good. Im going to try and kick my daily runs up to 6 miles and my weekend runs up to 10. That will get me up to about 30-35 a week with is about where I want right now. My 50 mile race is next september and my training schedule begins in may, at its peak I will be doing about 60-65 miles a week. The earlier I get my legs use to the pounding the better. Ill post the training schedule here tommorow.

Later

Mark

[mlyday]

Well I have been pretty bad at updating this lately. I had been waiting until after my podiatrist appt to really start upping my mileage.
I went to the podiatrist and he said my high arches and the lack of suppurt in my dress shoes I wear to work were causing strain on my achiles tendon. There is a little scar tissue, and he wanted me to go to physical therapy for it, and wear this boot at night to keep it streched out. My therapy doesnt start until the 15th, so I am just doing a few small runs each week. I may need to wait until my 4 weeks of physical therapy are over before I start running again.

I wonder if i can get a doctors note that says I can wear tennis shoes to work?

Mark

[mlyday]

Well Im sort of a holding patern here. Im doing therapy on my achillis tendon, and they dont want me running at all. Im going to ask if biking will be ok. I dont really want to lose the fitness I had worked up to. If all goes well Ill be back traing hard in about 4 weeks.

Mark

[mlyday]

I got the bike downstairs and hooked it up to the trainer and rode for about 40 minutes. I dont have a odometer on it so Im not sure how far I went. The Physical therapist doesnt want me running at all until we can get my achilles tendon problem worked out, but biking is ok, so Im switching over to that for the time being (next 3-4 weeks). Its actually a nice change, and it seems to be working some totally different muscle, as Im pretty sore this morning. I think once my achiles is better Im going to keep a couple of rides a week in the schedule.

Back to work.

Mark

[mlyday]

Just checking in.

Im not sure anyone even reads this but here it goes.

I have about 3 weeks left of Physical therapy on my achilles tendon, then back to training. It has been killing me not running, but in the long run Ill be better for it. I feel like ive lost a lot of endurance. I was running 4-6 miles 3 times a week and 8-10 on the weekends. I think Ill have a good month or so of running to get back to that point. but I still have almost a year until my 50 mile race, so plenty of time to get there. Im not going for any specific time I just want to finnish the first one. I have been biking on a trainer in the basement, Its suppose to be good for the achilles. I think the Physical therapy is starting to work, my ankle doesnt hurt all the time now, just when I sit for long periods.

Back to work.

Mark

[mlyday]

Well Im back.

After 2 months off for physical therapy on my achilles tendon. I still have a little pain in my left one, but I have decided to start running again. I ran twice this weekend, and realized that I have lost alot of endurance. My ankle is feeling really good today. I made sure I wore my brace at night, and that really seems to help.

Im planning on doing the bayshore marathon in may and maybe one in july in preparation for my run in sept of 2006. Either dances with dirt 50 miler or the north country trail run 50 miler.


Back to work

Mark

[mlyday]

Im trying to get back into this slowly so I dont reinjure the achiles and sideline myself for another 2 months. I ran on sunday, and then took halloween off, which was good because I had no time anyways we had a halloween party and then went trick or treating. I ran 3 miles last night. I have ben running at about a 10 minute\mile pace. Usually as I increase my mileage the pace comes down. I would like to be at about a 8-8:30 pace for my next marathon, so I will be training at a similar pace to that. For the 50 miler my goal is to be around 10 hours.

Mark

[mlyday]

Well, as planned I didnt run last night. I am trying to ease myself back into this. My mind said run, but my achilles was a little sore from tuesdays run and my legs were a little tired still. I have almost a year until the big race so Im not really worried about starting slow. Im going to try and do 3 miles again tonight. I will probably stay at 3 for a couple of weeks then kick it up every couple of weeks. Ill start on a 19-week training program for my may marathon some time in january. I should have a 6mile a day\3-4 times a week base by then.

One other thing I need to work on is streghtening my ankles. The 50 miler is a trail ultramarathon and the last thing I want to do is turn my ankle a mile or two into the race. Any suggestions on ankle strengthening exercises?

Im going to try to add some biking into my training as it seems to work differnent muscles in my legs. Or works the same muscles differently. But I cant hurt.

Well back to work,

Mark

[mlyday]

I got home yesterday and didnt really feel much like running. I had a long day and running was the last thing on my mind. I felt a little better after dinner, but my motivation was pretty low. After I got the kids in bed I put on my running stuff, but I didnt feel like running, I kept finding stuff to pickup, clean etc.

I finally did run and had to struggle though. I did 3 miles. The one nice thing is aftwerward I always feel great.

Back to work.

Mark

[mlyday]

Well I had a pretty good weekend. We went up north and helped the inlaws rake leaves. I love the smell of burning leaves. It was beautiful up there this weekend. I had a five miler planned this weekend, and after raking leaves all day saturday I was beat, so I put off running until sunday. I ran 5 on sunday on the treadmill, while watching the miserable Detroit lions. I felt pretty good during the run, and I felt great the rest of the day. I can feel it a little in my legs today, so I wont be running again until tuesday.

Back to work.

Mark

[mlyday]

Not much to say today. I came down with a cold this week. I had 3 miles scheduled for tuesday. I probably shouldnt have run, beacuse I was feeling pretty miserable, but I manage to do two miles. I have three for tonight and my cold is pretty much gone, so Im thinking I should be good for tonight. I think Im going to sign up and pay for all my planned races. Having money allready paid is a big motivation for me to keep up my trtaining.

Mark

[mlyday]

Well I got my 3 miles in last night, but I think the cold is still affecting me. Durring my run I felt like I was struggling a little. Usually I feel pretty good. I have been training at 10min miles. I think next week Im going to keep doing the 3 miles but kick them down to 8:30/mile. That was where I was at before my Physical therapy. I am going to kick my weekend run up to 6 this weekend, but at the slower pace. I working up to trying to run 6 miles a day M,T,TH,F and doing a 10-15 mile run on the weekend sometime. Im going to follow a schedule for the may marathon, which is something similar to that in miles, but with some longer runs thrown in closer to the marathon. For may to september I forsee some double long run thrown in say 16 on saturday, 10 on sunday. Ive read that in training for ultras you need to learn to run on tired legs.

Back to work.

Mark

[mlyday]

Well Im feeling pretty good. My endurance is starting to come back and the ankles are holding up pretty well. I got my six mile run in yesterday and felt pretty good doing it. I think the effects from the cold are pretty much gone now. When I run tommorow Im going to try to kick the speed up a little. Im also going to start trying some "sports" drinks during training and after to so what I can tollerate on my ultra. Im thinking about trying e-load, and endorox.

My wife gave me the go ahead to sign up for the may marathon, so now I need to talk the inlaws into watching the kids for the night and Im good to go.

Back to work.

Mark