In four months, on October 9, I’m going to become an ultrarunner when I attempt to run 50 miles.

Me on my 41st birthday last month, running a 40K through mountains above Tuscany.

There, I said it! I wasn’t going to. I wasn’t going to graduate to that distance, and I wasn’t going to turn this blog into a personal training log — the kind of painfully dull and obsessive narrative that chronicles miles run, blisters taped and gels digested. But now I’m doing it. Here’s why I’m going public with my plan and will track the progress here:

I’ve done 50 kilometers without much problem, but I’ve always considered myself a marathoner who does an occasional 50K to improve at shorter distances. I hang out with ultrarunners and follow their sport but that’s not me, I said to them more than once, I’m not going there.

I didn’t cross over to the ultra side because I feared the commitment. I feared the potential for injury, boredom and failure. I feared what it would do to our family’s weekends and to my marriage, with half of Saturday consumed by a run and the following 36 hours subdued with torpor, my limbs sore and libido flatlined. I even feared the leathery wrinkles that would deepen on my neck and around my eyes, no matter how much sunscreen I use.

But I also knew deep down that someday I’d step up to the challenge. The curiosity is too great — how would it feel? How would I do? Could I go the distance and cut the mustard? (I’m still recovering from traveling back from England, where about a week ago I ran a half marathon through a picturesque medieval village, so I’m waxing nostalgic for British things, including phrases like cut the mustard and blimey!)

Plus, I’m drawn to run a special 50-miler that’s near and dear to my heart and back yard. It’s the Dick Collins Firetrails 50, one that I covered two years ago for Trail Runner magazine (here’s the article), when I was still nursing my foot back from a fracture. I have run the marathon version of the course — the Golden Hills Marathon, held simultaneously with the 50-miler — and amazingly won it three years ago and hold the course record, which serves as a point of reference for how I’ve aged and slowed down since then.

Finishing the Golden Hills Marathon three years ago. That was then ...

Even as I took pride in winning that marathon, I was more impressed by the runners that day who did the 50-miler.

So I’ve got 18 weeks, a nice four-month stretch, to get ready — and that’s what this is really all about: the process of training, not the race itself. I welcome the structure and motivation and time for refection that the months of careful buildup will provide, particularly now, when our family and professional lives will undergo a major transition this summer as we settle back home following the 10-month round-the-world journey.

My main goal — my only goal at this point –  is to arrive at the starting line on October 9 in the best shape possible and injury free, and if I can do that, then I will feel a huge sense of accomplishment regardless of the outcome of the race. The event is the icing, and these four months of training are the cake.

I seriously considered hiring a coach, but then I realized I probably know enough about the sport to coach myself and can figure it out as I go; what I really want is someone who’ll keep me accountable and help me measure progress week to week. Someone to whom I have to report. Here’s where the blog comes in — where you come in, I hope.

Most every week, around Monday or Tuesday, I’ll write notes on how the previous week’s training went and then detail the total weekly mileage, number of days and time spent running, length of longest run, speed workout, cross training and “what I did to help prevent injury.” I hope this will force me to think, week after week, about how to train without suffering an injury-related setback.

I hope you’ll subscribe to these admittedly self-indulgent ramblings and offer feedback in the comments. Practical advice, encouragement and stupid jokes will be much appreciated. (Poetry and lyrics, not so much.) In return, I promise to do my best to keep this space interesting to fellow runners.

A note about my current fitness level before I recap the previous week’s training:

... and this is how I feel now, in someone else's larger, more awkward body! (This pic was taken at a race expo last November when Morgan and I ran a trail marathon in Patagonia.)

I no longer look like or run like the person in this blog’s banner pics, which were taken about four years ago. I’m older, thicker and softer. As we traveled the globe and feasted on Argentinian beef, New Zealand lamb, Australian savoury pies, Spanish tapas, Italian pasta, Swiss chocolate, British pub grub, and gelato and wine every day everywhere, these travel companions called rolls and saddlebags attached themselves to my middle and decided to come along for the ride. It’s time to shake them off.

I turned 41 in May and my weight is around 136, whereas before our long trip it stayed in the 130-132 range and I got under 130 when in peak shape. As of last Sunday, my yearly mileage to date was 809, which averages about 35 miles/week, short of my new year’s goal to maintain a base of at least 40 miles/week but not bad considering we’ve been traveling and it’s hard to get in long runs in unfamiliar places. I’ve been doing speed workouts only casually and infrequently, on the road rather than on the track. My cross training (mainly core and arm strengthening, balance work, and achilles/ankle conditioning) has been minimal. I’ve done only a few 20-milers this year and any run longer than 3 hours now seems really damn long. (Since the 50-miler will take at least 9 – 10 hours to complete, I’ve gotta work at stretching out those 3 hours significantly.)

Last week:

Mileage: 39.5

Number of days and time running: 6 days, 5 hrs 55 min.

Longest run: 10.5 mi (1 hr 30 min) pave/dirt combo around Ojai Valley, long flat stretches with a few significant hills

Speed workout? Yes, tempo pace for 30 min. during six-miler Wednesday

Cross training? Yes, arms and core work Tuesday, arms and balance work Thursday

What I did to help prevent injury: alternated hard/easy days, took a rest day Friday when I was exhausted from jet-lag-induced sleep deprivation; did balance and phys therapy drills for lower leg and core conditioning

So here goes something. If you’ve read this far, please accept my thanks or apologies, and have a great week.

Tags: 50K, dick collins firetrails 50, marathoning, Oakland, Running, trail running, Ultrarunning

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 8:16 am and is filed under Blog, Content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.