Rocky Racoon 100 build up and a few thoughts

I haven't blogged since last April and over the last couple of years I haven't blogged much at all. I would say over the last 2 years I haven't run as much as I used to with the odd marathon and a couple of ultras - 45 miler and a 50 miler. It's been 2 and a half years since I completed a 100 mile race. I entered a 100 mile race - the Thames Path back in March 2013 and pulled out at 22 miles due to the cold,snowy weather and in all honesty my heart not being in it. Last year my main goal as a runner was to break 3 hours at Brighton Marathon, unfortunately this didn't work out the way I wanted it to with running with the 3 hour pacers until mile 21 and then completely losing it having to jog and walk the last 3 miles to come in with a time of 3.13 and collapsing on the finish line and needing a drip - scary but all good. Towards the end of last year I did the Great North run, Chelmsford Marathon, was running a bit more and I felt like I was ready to enter a big ultra again - I needed that challenge back in my life. James Elson my friend has run Rocky Racoon 100 in Texas (100 mile ultra marathon) 3-4 times over the last few years and he mentioned it to me and after a lot of thought I was like yes! - bring it on! So I entered the race on the 31st October. GIving me just under 3 months of training and time to ramp up. There were a few concerns - December being a boozy month in my job and socially with friends/family but managed to get through okay.

Training since w/c 27th Oct.

W/C 27th Oct - 44.5 Miles
W/C 3rd Nov - 33.5 Miles
W/C 10th Nov - 43 Miles
W/C 17th Nov - 30.5 Miles
W/C 24th Nov - 33 Miles
W/C 1st Dec - 24.6 Miles
W/C 8th Dec - 45.5 Miles
W/C 15th Dec - 58.8 Miles
W/C 22nd Dec - 68 Miles
W/C 29th Dec - 100.4 Miles
W/C 5th Jan - 50.1 Miles
W/C 12th Jan - 50.5 Miles
W/C 19th Jan - 18.8 Miles (So Far - likely to finish between 25 - 30)

Total - 601.2 Miles to date.

I feel really happy with where I am with my training and have put in some good weeks. From the 15th Dec I have run nearly every day with taking the odd day off here and there. I have also included some double run days, back to back long runs, a 30 miler and a marathon. If you would have asked me on the 31st Oct if I think I would have run this much I would probably have thought not. Amazing really with everything going on life you can make time to run whether it be before work, post work, running to pick things up instead of driving - it is possible people! I never believe in the excuse " I don't have time". So between now and the race I will run Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday then maybe a couple of miles on Friday the day before the race to assess the course. I fly out Thursday to Texas and the race is on Saturday then back by Monday lunchtime so it's all a bit of a whistle stop tour to maximise holiday days. I am really looking forward to it now, fingers crossed on the weather. Just looking at my weather app it looks like 13 degrees next Sat with light rain but I think it's a bit far out to be looking into the weather. The race starts at 6am US time so will be Midday in the UK and 5 x 20 mile laps with 5500 ft climbs so pretty flat. If you're interested in following the race you can by this link - http://edsresults.com/rr100/. So all in all I am feeling pretty good about this race, It's just making sure now that I get to the start line with no colds and injury free. Sam took this photo of me at a marathon in Folkestone a couple of weeks ago and overlaid this quote " A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of Glory". This is from a film which we watched a couple of weeks ago called Unbroken. I highly recommend it, it sums up everything in life and how lucky we really are - based on a true story.

 

 Happy Running!