Time to Shift Gears

I had to shift this training program into a higher gear last week. Learned the JFK 50 Mile Ultra has entry qualifications. I was not aware of this until they posted registration on their website. I can do it, but it’s going to be tough. The cleanest way is to run a sub 3:45 marathon before the first tier registration period ends on May 10^th. The cheesiest is to get a charity entry. There are options in between.

I hurled off this bridge in the '04 NYC Marathon

The training has been progressing well, but I haven’t been focused at all on speed -- just getting in the miles. My personal record for 26.2 is 3:42, but that happened in 2002. Yikes, ten years ago. Last time I ran that distance was 2004 and my time was 4:01 – but I got sick and hurled off the Willis Avenue Bridge going into The Bronx and that slowed me down.

All along, I've been pointed towards the New Jersey Marathon in Long Branch on May 6^th, which means the schedule needn’t change. I’ll just have to run at close to a personal record time. I'm pretty confident I can do this, but it ain't going to be easy. My charity, The Semper Fi Fund is not one of the “official” charities of the JFK, so in order to get a charity entry, I’ll have to do some weaseling around, and that doesn't thrill me.

Saturday I ran 18 miles and Kim and I had another Village Café lunch. The big accomplishment was hitting a wall at about mile 16 and defeating it. The course ended a few blocks past the hill on Monument Avenue in front of Bon Secours Hospital. I hit the wall before the hospital, and busted through it as I came up on the hill. The last mile was like a dance. Duane Allman’s guitar on Soul Serenade was the soundtrack.  

Today I flipped the training schedule from afternoon/evening to morning. I went out the front door somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30. It was still dark. Saw zero cars on Manakin Road until the subdivisions starting disgorging the first leavers just before 6.

Running before dawn is like running in the night, and you know how I like running in the night. But running before dawn is safer because there’s fewer cars. When you run before dawn, you feel like you really own the road. You can run right down the middle. Right on that yellow line. It feels odd running in the center of the road in the daylight. Even if there’s no traffic. But in the dark it feels close and intimate. Perfectly natural.

Switched the diet as well as the schedule. I’ve been reading that fat burns more efficiently than carbohydrates. Supposedly, if you can train the body to burn more fat it can lead to higher endurance because the body has a far larger supply of fat than could possibly be burned in a 50 mile run. So we’re trying to reduce the carbo intake and increase proteins and fats. We’re a house full of carb junkies here, so it’s not the easiest thing in the world, but lots of beans, eggs, dairy and chicken lead the way.

I also discovered a supplement called Vespa – which means wasp, not motor scooter. This is supposedly a synthesized amino acid substance derived from the Asian Mandarin Wasp which has the highest endurance of any living thing on earth. I don’t know if it really works, but I seem to perform better and recover faster and easier from long runs when I’ve taken it than when I haven’t. I’ll report back after I’ve used it longer.

Saturday is the Irish Sprint 10K in Quantico. It’s about half and half roads and trails. Finishing will get me a guaranteed entry to the Marine Corps Marathon in October. Since I haven’t timed any of my training, I have no idea what finishing time to expect. Stay tuned for results. Sunday. I’m going to go twenty miles from home down to Shockoe Bottom – the old historic district in Richmond.

While I’m doing all this running, your job is to make a donation to the Semper-Fi Fund for Injured Marines. These injured heroes deserve your support. You can make a small donation, a large donation or a regular donation – seriously, you can set it up to hit your debit card for ten bucks (or more) each month. You won’t even notice it. Thanks a lot. See you next week.