Last Sunday I managed to get in another 4 hour hike with my wretched tire. I felt pretty strong, averaging about 3.7MPH. It was a chilly day, but sunny. There were quite a few people out on the roads and paved trails to give me funny looks. Listening to my tunes and going through the race in my mind throughout the work out passes the time. I've tried to play through in my mind the race beginning, various stages, my equipment, clothing, etc. Having no experience per se at distances beyond 100 miles or longer than 2.5 days is going to make this race interesting as well as a learning a learning experience.
I got out to Denver this week on biz and did a nice night run up in the Rockies at White Ranch. It was great to be back out onto the trails, but reminded me just how tough it is to run at altitude. I managed to take a couple of days off from running and made it back to the gym this morning. Got in 10 miles on the treadmill and stair stepper. Afterwords I went into the basketball courts for a pick up game of hoops, against my better judgement. I proceeded to pull/tear my right hamstring not a major tear, but already black and blue....not too swift. So as you can imagine I am absolutely paranoid about getting recovered in the next few weeks. This will mean limited training, which may actually be just fine and allow me to heal everything up in advance of this damn race. Doing a 300 mile race after jacking up my hamstring is certainly not in the play book. Frustrated to say the least at my stupidity.
Switching topics...... I am going to have to focus on packing light with only the bare (not bear!) necessities. My plan is to keep only the mandatory gear on board my sled and have "back ups/extras/nicetohaves) in all 3 of my drop bags. The drop bags will be positioned at approximately mile 90, 180 and 250. I believe that being light will be the key to mitigating unnecessary fatigue when pulling the sled and core to my strategy. Psychologically it will be important for me to "feel" and "think" light.
I still have a few items left to purchase for the trek to the Arctic. Plan on doing this tomorrow at REI. I ordered my NEO Overboots yesterday and excited to be getting those this next week. I am going to have to start organizing all of my gear and assemble my race strategy. Survival is at the top of the list and finishing is somewhere in between. Right now I'd give my chances of finishing somewhere between "no way" and "no way in hell!".
It's time to go ice my hamstring....fun times!
Cheers!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Everyday I'm Shufflin...Shufflin
Last week was a decent training week. Logged a few miles with my tire and on the treadmill/stair climber. Admittedly dragging that damn tire takes a toll on the gluteus and hip flexors. My pack weighs about 10 lbs and the tire is 30 lbs. Pulling it across the dry pavement makes it feel a bit heavier that 30 lbs. My concern is that if pulling the sled is anything like that tire, I'm thinking that I'm going to have a pretty tough slog and finishing 300 miles will not happen.
The good news is that I will not be carrying a 10 lb pack and the sled being pulled across ice/snow should be appreciably easier than that damn tire. I've been mixing up my training between running and hiking. Today I'll most likely get in a 15 mile tire pull hike. I'd like to think that 15 miles of that tire is equivalent to 25+ miles with a sled. Race strategy has yet to be determined, but having 8 days to complete this race will play a major role in the development of it. This race is going to come down to one's ability to bounce back after each stop/rest period. Stretching, recovery, knowing when to push and when to pull back is going to be the determining factor.
Gear update....I'm waiting on 1 critical item and that is my Northern Outfitters Arctic Parka Liner, rated to -60F. I spoke to the customer service department this past week and the liner was backordered but expected to be delivered before January 30, 2013. Unfortunately most of the gear that I've purchased I will not be able to test before arriving in Whitehorse due to the warm climate here in middle TN. The most important piece of my gear is my Goretex trail running shoes by Brooks. I've logged well over 100 miles on them with 2 sets of wool socks, along with my under armor top and bottom. I've also logged miles with foot heat warmers as well to see how they handle in my sneakers, making certain that I do not develop blisters..which so far I have not. I really believe that as long as I manage my perspiration levels while on the course that my gear is going to do its job. A have a few pieces of gear yet to purchase which include my bivvy, sleeping pad, sitting pad, stove and cooking pot. I haven't decided if I'm going to purchase a GPS device yet. I've researched satellite phones and it looks like that I can rent a few of them in Whitehorse on Friday 2/1. Overall in pretty good shape.
At 4 weeks out from today, I've got 1 week left of any meaningful training and then going to go into the recovery mode and focus on core and light strength training. I need to go into this race extremely well rested as 300 miles is a long haul and will require fresh legs, core and mind.
Got a date with my tire.....cheers!
The good news is that I will not be carrying a 10 lb pack and the sled being pulled across ice/snow should be appreciably easier than that damn tire. I've been mixing up my training between running and hiking. Today I'll most likely get in a 15 mile tire pull hike. I'd like to think that 15 miles of that tire is equivalent to 25+ miles with a sled. Race strategy has yet to be determined, but having 8 days to complete this race will play a major role in the development of it. This race is going to come down to one's ability to bounce back after each stop/rest period. Stretching, recovery, knowing when to push and when to pull back is going to be the determining factor.
Gear update....I'm waiting on 1 critical item and that is my Northern Outfitters Arctic Parka Liner, rated to -60F. I spoke to the customer service department this past week and the liner was backordered but expected to be delivered before January 30, 2013. Unfortunately most of the gear that I've purchased I will not be able to test before arriving in Whitehorse due to the warm climate here in middle TN. The most important piece of my gear is my Goretex trail running shoes by Brooks. I've logged well over 100 miles on them with 2 sets of wool socks, along with my under armor top and bottom. I've also logged miles with foot heat warmers as well to see how they handle in my sneakers, making certain that I do not develop blisters..which so far I have not. I really believe that as long as I manage my perspiration levels while on the course that my gear is going to do its job. A have a few pieces of gear yet to purchase which include my bivvy, sleeping pad, sitting pad, stove and cooking pot. I haven't decided if I'm going to purchase a GPS device yet. I've researched satellite phones and it looks like that I can rent a few of them in Whitehorse on Friday 2/1. Overall in pretty good shape.
At 4 weeks out from today, I've got 1 week left of any meaningful training and then going to go into the recovery mode and focus on core and light strength training. I need to go into this race extremely well rested as 300 miles is a long haul and will require fresh legs, core and mind.
Got a date with my tire.....cheers!
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