In my mind, a critical success factor for the successful completion of a 50-Mile race such as Rock the Ridge is to run a lot. I define a lot as several consecutive 70-Mile weeks, beginning about.... wait for it... now! Am I making the grade, you ask?
For 70-Mile week numbero uno (which was actually last week), I did a 21+, an 8+, three consecutive days of my fairly hilly park 10-Milers, topped off by a 10 from home on Friday. Saturday would be off to spend time with the family as Valerie is visiting.
I started those 10 started fairly slowly, but then a funny thing happened: I got slower and slower so that by the end of the run, I was barely crawling. I figured that I had done something that I hadn't done in a while: I bonked. This was likely due to following my fast diet the two previous days and getting relatively few calories before heading out, not to mention still recovering from the change to daylight savings time. But I made it; I capped off a slow week with an even slower Friday run. Yes, 70-Mile week number one was in the books.
Today would be different. I needed a 20-mile long run. Didn't I? Aren't long runs part of the same critical success factor of running a lot? Yeah, I think so too.
This time it didn't happen. I crashed again, but worse this time. Why, you ask? Probably too much fun and merry-making with the family. Sort of the exact opposite of Friday's bonk. I'll call it an un-bonk.
So now with a 10 instead of a 20 today, I'll have to step things up for the rest of this week. Time to start the big push.
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