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Today’s goal: Let Go and Run Free

One of my techniques for thriving in even extremely stressful situations is to always start with the inside and to do so WELL before I’m between and rock and a hard place. What is at your core? Do you know what your breaking point is? For me, my idealistic code isn’t something I can or want to escape. That code is both my Achilles and my saving grace inside of endurance.

👣The mind is a powerful tool. By recognizing and honoring the importance of the code I live by, I don’t fear the times when I must confront myself.

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This is what 13 days worth of Hello fuel looks like. I’m pretty impressed I got it all into my bag so easily. It’s quite difficult to get this much fuel (Calories) plus gear into a normal fastpack without overloading the bag but I pulled it off 😅

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I don’t know exactly why but Cougar Bait and I took some personality tests this morning. We really didn’t need to do that. Turns out, my Assertive Mediator (INFP-A) and his Assertive Virtuoso (ISTP-A) personalities are quite apparent in everything we do. Why am I running with a rusted wheelbarrow bucket on my head you ask? Well, our easy recovery run turned into an off trail exploration which uncovered this rusted bucket that someone decided to throw out in the woods. Me being me, aside from going off trail to check something out, also decided to carry the bucket back to my car to recycle it properly. I absolutely can not stand trash on our mountains or overdevelopment in general. The three miles back to the car was a minor issue for me and seemed like a good training opportunity anyway. And of course, Cougar Bait delighted in the random adventure that is every time he goes anywhere with me.
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The Bread and Butter of Ultra. Today was a typical easy training set of hours up and down a few thousand feet. The bulk of most ultra athletes run training is done at a mild effort. This makes sense for a number of reasons. First off, it isn’t sustainable for most athletes to go above about 20% speed work in their total volume. Additionally, an ultra athlete like myself is training for extreme duration over weeks which will require upwards of 40 plus hour weeks toward the peak of my training volume. I won’t be busting out a ton of 6 minute miles or similar effort going up or down hill with that kind of volume! I need to get my body as efficient as possible at running moderate paces forever as well as creating very little need to recover. The solution? Train how I intend to “race”. This doesn’t mean I never run fast (I did some faster running today but Cougar Bait could not keep up with me 🙂. In the context of non-ultra athletes, take comfort knowing that your sustainable pace is a healthy one. —-The vast majority of athletes go TOO HARD on days they are suppose to be going easy and TOO EASY on intervals they need to hit hard. Using Morpheus, I see I stay within the high recovery to low conditioning personalized zones for Endurance Runs like this. This is the primary heart rate zone I use in 100+ mile events. #trainsmart #BuildingABetterMachine
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Intervals on the menu. Slippery outside. Training must go on. Commence Death by Mill. ***Also got to try out my new Hoka One One throwback Clifton 1’s in retro colors. These are great! Very similar to my Altra Duo except for a few things like a small heel to toe drop, slightly more narrow in the forefoot and no annoying clicking sound that has plagued me with my Duo’s. Intervals today were a simple 4 mins on, 2 mins easy with the On going up into my Overload zone on Morpheus. Today I stayed inside of 16-17 mins total time in overload and worked on the flat, something my slow UltraRunner legs need to relearn. Ultra athletes spend a stupid amount of time at low paces, especially those of us who run mountains for 100+ miles as our primary event. Running fast trains a lot of running specific strength and I’m happy to see that these intervals are getting easier and faster every time I do them.
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