I Did It!

Here is me at the finish line of my first 50 Miler!  A race report is coming soon.

One Month Away...

One month from today I will be running my first 50 miler the Cloudland Canyon 50 in Rising Fawn, GA.  I signed up for this event 5 months ago, and I have put in a lot of miles to get ready.

Here are just a couple things running through my mind with only 1 month to go:

1. Have I put in enough training? 
2. What is the weather going to be like on race day in January?
3. Do I have my nutrition nailed down?
4. The farthest I've run is 31.5 miles.  How am I going to make it another 18.5 miles?
5. How long is this going to take me to run?
6. What if I have to DNF or worse DNS because of injury?
7. Am I mentally strong enough?
8. Can I really do this?

I am sure that I am not the first person to wonder all these things as they approached a new race distance, and thankfully I have some places I can find strength as I attempt this new distance.  I find strength in my faith, family, and friends.  All of these I will have with me when I take on this race!

What questions have you had as you approached a new race distance?  Where did you find strength?

10 Weeks Away

This week marks week 8 in my 18 week training plan for the Cloudland Canyon 50 miler in January.  Can't believe that it's only 10 weeks till I'll be standing at the starting line!  Things have been going really well, and I've been putting in a lot of miles the past few weeks.  Last week I hit the highest weekly mileage I've ever done putting in 56 miles!

I have been able to begin to split more of my time between the road and trail miles.  I usually try and get to the trails for my long runs, I run with a headlamp on some early road miles in the mornings, and try to get a few more trail miles in throughout the week.  I know that I am going to need to get some dark trail miles, and I plan on taking advantage of the time change over the next few weeks.

One thing that I think has helped to give me motivation is that I signed up for the Tortoise and the Hare 50k.  This is a unique race that I'm looking forward to writing about after the run.  I will be using this 50k as a part of my training plan.

3 Week Training Update

So I am three weeks into my training schedule for the Cloudland Canyon 50, and I feel like I am beginning to hit my stride.  The first 3 weeks were a little difficult for me because of some work, and family commitments that come first.

The first 3 weeks milage were:

• Week 1 = 15.5
• Week 2 = 19
• Week 3 = 25

These first three weeks were cycle down weeks too for me, so it was good to have some rest before some higher milage weeks coming up.  I'm scheduled to have 36 miles under my belt this training week.  

I have begun running to a lot of different podcasts and playlists lately.  This is something that I haven't done much of in the past, but has helped to give me company on my longer runs.  Especially since a lot of my runs lately have been on the roads.  

Do you run with music or listen to podcasts?  What is your favorite podcast or playlist?

Training for my First 50 Miler

Next week I start my training schedule for my first 50 miler, Cloudland Canyon 50, in January.  I am excited and nervous to start this journey as I will be running farther than I ever have before.  I have set some goals for myself, but they are not that important since this will be the first time I have run this distance.  I just want to finish!

Over the next 18 weeks I look forward to sharing my experiences in training for this race!