Tomorrow is the big day, the day I begin training for the Big Butts 50K:      http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=26752

This race will be held July 26, 2014 in Jackson/Clinton, Mississippi.  You heard that right.  A 50K~in July~in Mississippi.  It is supposed to be HOT!  It is also supposed to be flat!  That is a comforting thought.

After some consideration, I am going with Hal Higdon’s Advanced level I marathon training program and tweaking it a bit.  I am accelerating the three 20 mile runs into a 23, 26 and a 28 miler. The other long runs I bumped up by 2-3 miles.  The rest of the program can pretty much stay the same, I think.

I thought about back to back long runs, but I think that that is how I ended up with my stress fracture training for the 50 miler.  Seeing as I do not want a repeat stress fracture (that was not much fun) I am intentionally toning it down a little bit.  I have 14 hours to complete the 50K (31.68 miles) and I should be able to crawl that far in 14 hours!

The biggest problem will be the heat.

BUT~I trained for my marathon last summer in the 105 F. heat so I should be able to do it again.  Right!?

It usually takes me about two weeks to acclimate to the warmer temperatures.  By July, I should, SHOULD be all set for that.  Hopefully, it won’t be too humid of a day.  I have portable water bottles that I carry.  I do not like the back packs.  I chafe really easy and that does not sound like much fun.  I will gladly carry a water bottle over a back pack.

I am really excited to be in a training program again.  I have missed it.  It has been fun, though, to just go out and run for the love of it.  I prefer to have a set itinerary though.  I really do like to check the box off of the training schedule once I have completed the task of the day.  I gain great satisfaction from that.

MFH (My Favorite Husband) made a new chart for me today…modified the HH (Hal Higdon) program per my specifications and posted it on the refrigerator.  That is a good place for my training program.  That way, when I decide I want a snack and head to the fridge, I see the program and think, do I really want to drag that extra weight around with me on my run?  Usually, the answer is, “No.”

I will never be an uber svelte runner.  I am just not build that way.  I am short (4’11”) and stocky built.  But, I am like the energizer bunny, I just keep on going and going.  I am not fast by any stretch of the imagination and I have never placed in a race but I have successfully completed every race I have run and that is good enough for me.  There are not a great deal of short, pudgy 52 year old women I know out there running Ultra’s.  And with that I console myself.

All of this to say, again, tomorrow I begin the modified HH program.  Wish me luck?