{"id":3681,"date":"2016-02-02T17:47:55","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T23:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=3681"},"modified":"2016-02-02T17:47:55","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T23:47:55","slug":"the-home-stretch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=3681","title":{"rendered":"The Home Stretch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The MS50 Trail run is 31 days away. \u00a0One month. \u00a0We are in the home stretch of training.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Groundhogs Day, is a rest day. \u00a0It was just on yesterday&#8217;s run that the ol&#8217; legs started feeling &#8220;normal&#8221; again. \u00a0By &#8220;normal&#8221; I mean they didn&#8217;t feel like concrete blocks I was trying to drag around for 6 or 8 miles. \u00a0It was nice to feel light on my feet again.<\/p>\n<p>Last Wednesday&#8217;s 30 Miler was a great run but it was hard on this ol&#8217; gals body. \u00a0No way around that.<\/p>\n<p>See, the sweet part about running Ultra&#8217;s is that you run on Trails. \u00a0Nice dirt paths. \u00a0Maybe some gravel or a few rocks to climb over, a few water crossings to splash through, but not mile after mile of asphalt and concrete.<\/p>\n<p>Running 30 miles on asphalt? \u00a0You pay.<\/p>\n<p>I paid.<\/p>\n<p>Hahaha!!!<\/p>\n<p>We are feeling alive again and ready to tackle tomorrow&#8217;s long run. \u00a0It is only 13.1 miles. \u00a0The distance of a Half Marathon. \u00a0Sweet! \u00a0Should be able to pound that out in a few hours and call it a day.<\/p>\n<p>This entire week is a fall back week. \u00a0A week of recovery. \u00a0A week for my body to catch up with itself. \u00a0I&#8217;ve needed this week. \u00a0For the most part, I haven&#8217;t run a shorter distance that 20 miles for my long run since the end of December.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s been a challenge!<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s been tons of fun!<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m ready for this week of &#8220;rest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Next week is my last &#8220;hard&#8221; week of training. \u00a0My long run on Wednesday will be 24 miles. \u00a0In the grand scheme of what I&#8217;ve been running, that&#8217;s not all that bad. \u00a0Isn&#8217;t it crazy that when I look at a training run of 24 miles I don&#8217;t think a thing of it!?! \u00a0This is so messed up. \u00a0LOL!!!<\/p>\n<p>After Wednesday&#8217;s 24 miler, I officially begin my taper for the MS50. \u00a0My coach says that to be physically prepared to race a 50 Miler, you need a solid 3 week taper. \u00a0I&#8217;m all for that! \u00a0I think my average weekly total by the time race day rolls around will be in the 30-ish miles per week.<\/p>\n<p>Easy Peasy.<\/p>\n<p>HA!<\/p>\n<p>As I am in the final physical preparations for this race, it is time to be getting my head wrapped around just what I am asking my body to do on March 5, 2016. \u00a0My body is ready. \u00a0Is my mind?<\/p>\n<p>Your body is capable of some extraordinary stuff but it&#8217;s not going to do it if your mind isn&#8217;t in the game. \u00a0If at mile 13 I let myself think, &#8220;I&#8217;m tired,&#8221; my goose is cooked. \u00a0I have to keep my mind focused on what I&#8217;m doing.<\/p>\n<p>How&#8217;s my pace? \u00a0Am I drinking enough? \u00a0Fueling right? Keep my form upright. If I slouch, I&#8217;ll get tired faster~that, and I&#8217;ll look like a sack of potatoes in my race pics! \u00a0*vanity* \u00a0Find someone to chat with. \u00a0Nobody near by? \u00a0Talk to myself! \u00a0Look! \u00a0Is that a deer in the woods? \u00a0What a pretty bird! \u00a0How&#8217;s my pace? \u00a0Am I drinking enough? \u00a0Fueling right? \u00a0How&#8217;s my form&#8230;..<\/p>\n<p>I HAVE to keep my head in the game.<\/p>\n<p>FOCUS!!!<\/p>\n<p>Yup. \u00a0I still have quite a bit of work to do before the gun goes off at 6:00 am. \u00a012 hours, for somebody who runs my pace, isn&#8217;t a lot of time to cover 50 miles.<\/p>\n<p>How exciting!!!<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s do this!!!<\/p>\n<p>#IRun4Aiden<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?attachment_id=3682\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3682\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3682\" alt=\"12642502_917111638408973_4022173147167170301_n\" src=\"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/12642502_917111638408973_4022173147167170301_n.jpg\" width=\"960\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/12642502_917111638408973_4022173147167170301_n.jpg 960w, http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/12642502_917111638408973_4022173147167170301_n-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/12642502_917111638408973_4022173147167170301_n-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The MS50 Trail run is 31 days away. \u00a0One month. \u00a0We are in the home stretch of training. Today, Groundhogs Day, is a rest day. \u00a0It was just on yesterday&#8217;s run that the ol&#8217; legs started feeling &#8220;normal&#8221; again. \u00a0By &#8220;normal&#8221; I mean they didn&#8217;t feel like concrete blocks I was trying to drag around [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21,6,8,3,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3683,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681\/revisions\/3683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}