Last year I made one post. That’s not enough. No one asked but I maybe will try to make one post a month this year. Seems doable but here I am on the last day, of the first month.
We just got back from Daytona for the Rolex 24. This was our third consecutive year. (The cars turn right in this race if you’re unfamiliar.) The beach and beachfront structures, mostly hotels, are still being repaired from damage caused by the hurricane 1-2 combo in 2022, which affected the 100 I did. Like I said, one post last year so it’s not a very lengthy scroll down if you wanna read about that. While we were there this past weekend I ran twice on A1A, and was reminded of how annoying and potentially painful that can be, on that stretch anyway. There are long, extremely long curb inlets that are slanted at what is about forty-five degrees. Sucks for the legs, but I did 5 mile out and back, both runs. Crazy how much running early in the day improves my ability to sit still. Our first stint at the race on Saturday was about five and a half hours.
More about running. I don’t know if I said it last time, and if I did, maybe I’ll say it better this time. Since the 100, I haven’t trained for anything. I’m running how much and how fast/medium/slow I want to. Like whatever feels right on that day. Maybe not running at all. But probably running. And I find that following that path leaves me feeling the way I want to feel, physically. I’ve been running 30-40 miles a week consistently, for about 6 months if not longer. If I think about where this leaves me fitness-wise, it’s hard to know for sure, but I feel stronger than I ever did in that long training cycle leading up to the 100. I know that the deep fatigue I experienced then was necessary for me to adapt but damn. It’s got me thinking about changing up my training next go around. Maybe not doing so many super long runs. I feel like the return on investment from a 24 mile run is low, especially when it’s followed by a 14 mile run. Just an example but again, damn, that’s a lot of wear and tear. I do enough walking at work. I feel like when I run I should only run. Stringbean says just get into the best shape you can, regardless of pace or whatever. Obviously I’m paraphrasing. I’m also kind of losing focus with this subject right now. Next time I train for something I will try something new. There is my vague declaration.
I ran 11 miles this morning on the trail. Nice weather here still. It will get hot soon, though. I bought some GU liquid energy recently. They are fine. I used one before and one during. Again fine. Today I was just running and thinking. Listening to music, but not thinking about the music, more thinking about life stuff. And those are always the best runs for me. Because I’m not thinking about running and that makes running automatic, easy, in the background. A nice morning.
runjournal 