Yesterday's 6 miler with the group went much better than yesterday. 4 miles out, 10 pushups, 2 miles back. Temps were the same, but there was more shade where we were at and a better breeze...plus I ran without my shirt on to try and lower my body's overheating core. 1:01:21 for the total time. Oh yeah, and my supposed super-slow 6 miler from Tuesday was WAY off. It was 6.8 miles from what everyone told me yesterday. Thank God. I knew I couldn't have been that slow.
I decided to take today as a rest day for now, both physical and mental.
One thing I want to touch on when it comes to races is Training versus Doing. Training for a Race versus Doing one. What's the difference? In my decision to train for the Cascade Crest 100, my wife got upset that I didn't discuss this with her. I had to make it clear that...
...Training for a Race is not the same as actually DOING IT...
People go to college to train and learn to be doctors and lawyers. However just because you're going to school to become one, doesn't mean you will be one. You could drop out. You could decide it's not for you and change your major. You could graduate and then decide to take your life in a different direction. Preparing for a race is exactly like that. I could work at doing all the necessary thing to get ready for a 100 mile trail race, but it doesn't mean that I HAVE TO run it...even if it means I paid for the entry. I could get injured along the way (but hopefully not). I could get burned out and decide that this year isn't the year to do it again. I could even decide at the last minute to just drop out, just because.
My desire to do a 100 miler is apart of a larger scheme. Through training for a 100, I hope to:
- Be fitter with greater endurance and strength in doing long distance runs
- Be faster and be able to have higher mileage
- Be slimmer and not carry nearly as much weight (goes back to being fitter and faster)
- Be more disciplined in my workouts
- Enjoy moving my feet more
This way, after the 100 is over, all those things will be apart of my being and it will be something you can't separate from who I am.
But doing the race itself, that's just a single point on this long string of life.
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My wife is the opposite. She doesn't mind me doing the long races as much as she minds me being gone on the endless long training runs. I think that first 100 miler is the toughest for the spouse to swallow. Try doing a 100k then a 24 hour run.
There's a 13 mile race on Cougar this Saturday, FYI.
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