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| There is nothing better than these early morning runs. |
This has ended up being an interesting training journey. I began "training" in September - right after I signed up for the race. By "training", I mean that I made the mental commitment to do this race, and began the process of preparing my body for it. You would think training for your first 200 would bring with it a high level of stress and worry, but it has actually been the opposite.
This whole race experience will be an exercise in patience and planning. It's not going to be like a 100 miler where if you are somewhat trained, you can gut it out and finish. You can even get away with not adding strength training to your routine (I did it regularly). AND you can finish the entire race knowing that you can sleep after.
This is so different, and I am approaching the training totally differently. I am not worrying about pace as much as I used to, although I do have one speed workout a week - it just feels good to change it up and use different muscle groups. On regular runs, if I feel like I need to walk for a bit, I do - I won't actually be running the whole 200 miles, and one day a week is a speed walk session with a weighted vest. I know from coaching years ago that walking uses totally different muscles, and those need to be trained as well.
A big part of this training is going to be the mental aspect. Some of my longer runs will be purposefully monotonous to train my brain to just shut off and keep moving. My favorite new mantra being "robot, robot, robot" (thanks Courtney D!).
Anyway, that's the latest. Slight hamstring niggle right now from squats, but not too concerned about it. Other than that, I think the consistency I have had over the last few months and the varied training load is working to help keep me healthy. Fingers crossed it continues!
Happy Running!
Edie
