Getting ready for an Ultra

After I ran my first marathon in November 2006, I thought "I'll never do this again". I even told people I saw while running it "Don't ever do this!" Well I ended up running a total of three marathons within a year.

My friend Kenny has gone from overweight slug to ultra marathon runner (distances greater than 26.2 miles) in the space of a few years. Watching him evolve over the last few years, I realized that 26.2 miles is tough but there may be more out there than just a marathon. In the last year, I have fallen in love with trail running. Road running now seems to be something I only would want to do for shorter distances (13.1 or less). So I did it, I signed up for an ultra marathon. A 33.26 mile ultra marathon trail race. The Holiday Lake 50k++ near Appomattox Va. Am I ready for this? I think so. I had to break a running rule doing it though and hopefully got away with it.

http://extremeultrarunning.com/2009_holidaylake/2009_HL_application.pdf

The rule is the 10% rule. Never increase your weekly/monthly mileage by 10%. I had run a little over 100 miles in november and just a few more in December. January I cranked it up to 183 miles. I broke the rule. At one point I almost thought I had broke myself. I had little aches and pains all up and down the legs and I was worn out. I didn't want to run but I pushed on. Now that it is February I feel like I'm done. I'm resting and doing easy short runs. Nine days to go until the race. I'm still a little tired but I'm getting fresher by the day. The last long run I did was a 23 miler and near the end I was feeling great and ready for more. I'm ready and I can't wait.