February and doses.

I'm four days early, but I don't want to study for my two tests tomorrow. February is over, thank God. The teases of spring make me pine for the sun against my skin. It'll be here soon enough. March sounds much better than February.

I'm proud to say my team, UltraVT, has been expanding and destroying everything--the local trails, the pavement, the track, and the early season races. We had a huge group at Holiday Lake 50k, just like the Hokie generation before me massed in Appomattox, VA. Alumni included, we took first, third, sixth, seventh, 11th, and 12th. In poor conditions, we toughed it out. This past Saturday Mike Jones took eighth at Mt. Mitchell 40mi. Darren and I took the first two spots on the podium at Mt. Cheaha 50k where we received some vitamin D running shirtless in Alabama. Henry Wakely took 13th. The girls are doing their thing too. We've had our first doses of long running for 2014 and we want more.

The places are almost top-notch, but they don't matter. Yeah, it's fun being up front where there's nobody at the finish line clapping for you besides a couple volunteers, but my thinking is changing from placing to pushing. Place goals are good to push yourself, sure. But I see so much talent in our team and in our bodies. I'm not talking world takeover (that'll follow); I'm talking refining our bodies to a level they've never been. I'm talking fast running, slow recovery running, team running. Pushing ourselves for wanting to be the best we can be and working together to achieve, because we don't have this chance to train together again. 

The initial taste of soreness after the first 50k of the year. Dose.
The initial mood swings of getting in shape. Dose.
The initial blur of bigger miles. Dose.
I want more.

You see, doctor, I have this foundation I've built
I'm still on the first floor, 
But I'm building a skyscraper.
Can you prescribe me something?
I want more. 
High mileage.

More of this.

More of this.

More of this.

The Horizon

I'm stoked. I'm looking towards the horizon. January is over, a good month in itself, but let's be real, I hate winter. February promises a few random warm days and more of the cold. I'll take it. February also promises me to switch mindsets in terms of training. After Hellgate in December and January I thoroughly enjoyed hopping in on whatever physical activities my friends were doing; no structured training. In the past, I've taken two weeks COMPLETELY off of physical activity whenever my race season is over. When those two weeks are up and I decide to get back to training, I feel fat and sluggish and not happy with myself. So I decided to change it up this year and to keep active. I made sure the intensity was low (minus some really great workouts for fun). The result? I feel recovered mentally and phsyically AND fit.

I've never felt both fit and recovered before a training block--hence why I'm stoked. The goal for the first half of 2014 is Bighorn 100. It's foolish for me to try and race my first hundo, but I believe that I can put in a good performance once June 20th comes. My butt would get kicked right now, but I have an ambitious schedule planned to get up to 120 mile weeks and believe in myself that I can execute if its meant to pan out.

What does getting into my training mindset mean? It means every workout has a purpose. In the past I've just run a lot; not this time. Recovery runs are deliberately SLOW and I will be off the back if it's a group run and its too fast. Workouts will be hard. Trying to minimize the moderate stuff in there besides a few overdistance runs. It also means lifestyle changes. I'm excited to check facebook only once a day. I instilled this plan during this past summer, just checking facebook at night. I'm a social media addict and don't like it--so less facebook! No over-drinking save for a few special occasions. No mindless snacking on junk food or take out pizza. More vegetables and fruits. More water. More popcorn and greek yogurt. Same large amounts of Franks Red Hot (dude, sponsor me please, you have no idea how much I eat of that stuff).

I don't think I've ever woken up on a Saturday morning, had a really great long run, and thought, "well that was OK but I wish I was hungover and mad that that didn't work out with that girl." I'm over college in the conventional social and academic sense. No more aimless messing around! I'm 22 and feel like an adult. I have better things to do, like work on the Virginia Big Tree Program, run well, be healthy, learn applicable things for my future job out in California, and savor the time I have with my good friends. I like being spontaneous and fun but I'm also a focused and determined person. I'm just excited for the horizon.

The Horizon. Photo: Wyatt Lowdermilk