Progressing Nicely.

Well its hard to believe it but the first month of the year has already come and gone. I hope this month goes as fast as the last. Then once Spring hits I hope it slows down. To get everyone caught up on the 411 about the sponsorship deal I mentioned a couple of posts back. Things still look good. Or atleast thats the word from a friend who is working his tail of to make it happen. Our proposal has made it past the desk of the V.P. of marketing and sponsorship and is now going to be sent back to the regional reps for final approval. According to the friend it appears that this is going to happen. In which we should have a team in place by the time we head down to 3 Days. I'm really excited to be part of a team. Though I feel I haven't done enough in my career to be fully deserving of this honor. I am very thankful that I was blessed enough to be able to have been at the right place at the right time. I honestly feel that for myself and a few other runners from this region who will be on the team.This is the kind of break and support that we need to take our running to the next level. My hopes for the team will be to finally have the chance to showcase some of the very talented runners that the lower Midwest has to offer. Ultimately showing the country that ultra running isn't just an east coast or west coast thing anymore. As far as I know the team will be made up of runners from the four state area of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Nebraska. Well thats enough of that for now. I don't want to get too carried away. Like I said before. The plug could be pulled on the deal at any moment. And I don't want to be left looking like an Ass. I won't be happy until I'm holding the gear in my hands.
As for training. The week went great. I was a little skeptical about the kind of mileage I was going to get considering that it started off slow and I was looking at having to pull out a couple of two a days to make up for it. I never did get that spin on the trainer in. Too many things happened that day and by the time I got to sit down it was too late and I was too tired. So two a days it was. Another thing I'm fortunate enough to have is a job that has a lot of downtime in between taking rounds. So I finally decided that instead of sitting around work trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to get more training in at home. I thought what the hell I have like four hours a night on average to get it in out here. I admit its not the greatest training. I have to wear jeans a hardhat and saftey glasses but it is extra training. Taking advantage of the quarter mile long mezzanine level where I'm able to jog in my jeans at about a nine minute mile pace without too much discomfort I've been doing 15 down and backs keeping the heart rate at a comfortable aerobic pace. After that I make good use of the 14 floors and 56 flights of stairs for some additional cardio and leg work. All said and done I was able to squeeze out another 21 or so miles I figure towards my training. So with a long run of 21 on Monday and 11 to 13 mile runs on the treadmill over the last four days I was able to get just over 86 miles in for the week.
Heres a breakdown of the week. This actually worked out so well for me that I think I'll stick with it and see how it plays out.

Saturday - 3 mile hill workout. :30 minutes

Sunday - Off Day

Monday - 21 miles out at the very muddy Governors mansion trails. 3:30

Tuesday - 11.70 mi on treadmill in 1:30 hr. Then 2.0 mi stairs at work. :30

Weds - 12.31 mi on treadmill in 1:30 hr. Then 2.0 mi stairs at work. :30

Thurs - 12.07 mi on treadmill in 1:30 hr. Then 6.0 mi at work. :55 min.

Friday - 10.50 mi on treadmill in 1:30 hr. Then 6.0 mi at work. :55 min.

Grand Total = 86.58 miles in 12 Hrs. and :50 minutes.

Not a bad week to finish up January with. I hope everyone is running well and staying warm. We'll talk to you all later.

Still Quite.

Again not much has been going on. Yesterday was the first day we've had nice weather for awhile. After almost two weeks of the wind chill being in the negatives to low 10's we had a 52 degree day. That's real good for the old immune system. The next two days are supposed to be more of the same warm weather. Though I doubt I'll venture out into the wilderness. I'll more then likely put in around 40 miles on the trainer today then try and get a long run of 4-5 hours in on dirt roads tomorrow.
Last week was a repeat of the one before. 71.50 miles for the week. I've been talking with a friend of mine from Vancouver. Ryne Melcher. He and I both agree that during days like this its hard to find the motivation to get out there and start building up that mileage. With everything going on and limited daylight. I think that for me 70 miles a week is just about the max right now. I figure once it starts to stay lighter out longer I'll stretch four of those one and a half hour runs out to two hours. That ought to get up to around 85 to 90 per week and that would be it for me. I'm supposed to hit 75 miles this week. But with the spin on the trainer today and only a 3 mile hill workout yesterday I would have to get at least two, two a days in there to get close. That ain't going to happen. More then likely I'll end up with around 69 miles and a 40 mile ride. Though if you convert the ride to what its running equivalent would be using the 2.5 x the total as the calculator that 40 mile ride would be like what? 15 - 16 miles. So it would really feel like I put in around 80 to 85 for the week. Without the added beating on the legs.
Just some random thoughts real quick. I've been watching a lot of the X Game competitions on the tube this weekend but I've really just been watching for the superstar Shaun White. You know the flying tomato. Anyway up until a couple of X Games ago he was pretty much the man. The Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong of his world. But here lately he hasn't been the same Shaun White that we've all come to know and love. With his ability to be able to just stomp down a switch backside 1080 off the lip of a super pipe ramp likes its no body's business but his own. Instead lately he's been dealing with a lot of self doubt and confidence issues and far as his boarding ability is concerned. Its interesting to sit watching the television because with his age you can really see himself really trying to figure out what the hell is going wrong. He knows what he's capable of and so does everybody else. Yet after he finishes a run that wasn't so hot or if he ends up with silver or bronze. He's on the back of a snowmobile headed back up to the top of the run to try again. Its at that moment that I finally realized that. Its not the gold medals that make this kid a winner. He'd be a winner at anything he tried to do. No, what it is. Is his relentless determination and dedication towards the sport he loves that makes him a winner. To have the ability to not quit even after he has been defeated.
To say the least I was more blown away by his performance when he was not in the middle of the run. Behind the scene. Wearing his emotions on his sleeve for the whole world to see. Trying to sift through whatever he thought the problem was. You know its easy for us to sit back and be an armchair coach. To see that all he needs to do is just relax, calm down and try to put that last run out of his mind but I don't think that unless you ever been in that position. You'll never really understand how hard that is to do. Perfection is perfection and when your as driven to a magnitude to which Shaun is. Its unacceptable to accept something as easy as just calming down and putting the past in the past. Beating himself up is what got him to that level and by god beating himself up is whats going to get him back there.
I guess all this rambling is because I want to say thank you to Shaun. Last season was really up and down for me. Bad races were followed by good races and good ones by bad. My consistency was nonexistent. Somewhere along the way last season I started to accept bad races as part of the game. That's true I guess bad races are a part of the game. That doesn't mean though that I have to accept them. Instead I should be getting back to the type of self abuse that got me to a level of consistency I'd grown accustomed to. I don't know what this season holds for me. I'm sure I'll have a bad race or two but after there over I'm not going to sit around the campfire and sing feel good songs with everyone. I'm going to get my ass back too the drawing board and try to figure out how to do it better the next time.