Letting GO of Control - One Week to Umstead 100

This time next week, I will hopefully be somewhere in my third 12.5 mile lap around Umstead State Park.  At this point, logging a long run would be foolish and trying to squeeze in a few last nervous runs seems pointless.  I simply intend to get in a few easy runs this week and then rest and relax.  The hard work has been done and I have to trust in that.  That's the problem though.  Trusting in myself and my training.  I suppose that I have an issue letting go of control and being okay with what is happening in the moment.  Next Saturday, I will have to adapt and recenter myself numerous times to tackle the moment, something I've been mentally preparing over the past few weeks.  WHO AM I KIDDING?  I'VE BEEN MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY PREPARING FOR THE LAST 4 MONTHS!  I'M GOING TO CRUSH IT!  Stopping is not an option.  Pain? BRING IT ON!

I've been back and forth for weeks about whether or not to have a pacer or ask a group of the Ultra VT gang come down and crew me.  I've been worried about the pressure of having others invested in my run and the "what if" factor.  What if?  WHO GIVES A CRAP ABOUT WHAT IF?  Ultimately, Jordy Chang is coming down sometime Saturday after he crushes the Mountain Lake Hell climb.  I'm privileged to have such a great friend.  Rudy, has also volunteered to come down and help me through  my first hundo.  Super pumped!  He also sent me the below quote, which I really like!

"I have found that if I can keep present, acknowledge my feelings and move forward from that point I can work through just about anything." -- Krissy Moehl 

I've also been reading through motivational phrases and generating a list of things to say to myself when things get "dark" next Saturday.

• Fake it till you make it.  
• Make it happen.
• More run, sooner done.
• Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
• You can have results or you can have your excuses.  You cannot have both.
• This too shall pass.
• Slow progress is better than no progress.
• Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?' The answer is usually YES. - Paul Tergat

On Sunday, I stumbled upon a #UltraChat on Twitter that was addressing this exact question.  Below are some of my favorites!

Questions:

• What's you go to power phrase?
• How do you dig out of "dark" places in a race or ultra?
• How do you handle letting go of control?

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A "training" Week + Holiday Lake50k 2/10/14-2/16/2014

Unfortunately, I missed my recap last week but there wasn't really all that much to talk about because...well...I didn't really run all that much.  This was partly due to the massive storm we had last week that dropped 22" of snow on the New River Valley!  However, the few days I did run were special because they were in the middle of a massive snowstorm.

Monday: 9.1, 450' 1.5hr
On Monday, we had our weekly VT Ultra group run.  I forgot that we had moved the run back from 7:00 to 7:15 and left my house as if we were running at 7:00.  Once I was out and about in the cold evening air, I realized that we were running later and managed to squeeze in a few extra miles on the way.  After the run, I made my usual stop at Moe's and then grabbed the bus home.  These Monday night group runs are really nice because after a long weekend of running it would be easy to not run but they get me out the door and even sometimes make me do more miles than I bargained for.

Tuesday: Rest

Yep.  After a long weekend of running and a few more miles than I had planned for on Monday, I gladly welcomed a "rest" day.  Although I didn't get out for a run I did make an awesome calzone for dinner that I whipped up from scratch.

Wednesday: 6, ~400' 1hr

On Wednesday, Michelle and I packed up our refrigerator, Gillie, and a few days of warm clothes and headed over to Michelle's parents to hunker down for the storm.  Last year, we had a lot of issues with losing power at our place and unfortunately lost a full refrigerator of food as a result of a power outage that lasted a few days.  Around two, the snow started falling heavy and continued to amass overnight and through half of Thursday.

Despite the heavy snow, I put on a few layers and headed out into the snowy evening.  The snow falling in combination with a strong wind was pretty brutal and I was wishing I had snow goggles but had to settle for sunglasses...which didn't really work because it got dark pretty early into my run, which meant that my tinted shades made it near impossible to run in.  I took the TS4 with me on the run and grabbed a few photos of me playing in the snow!

Pretty amazing to see how dark it got in the hour I was out running!

Thursday: 6, ~350' 1hr

I managed to get out on Thursday and get in another 6 miles despite the 20+ inches of snow on the ground.  My run was limited to the streets that were plowed but I was happy to get in 6 when most folks in Blacksburg were post holing to run two or three miles.

Before my run, Michelle and I went out to enjoy the snow and the day off from classes.  To put in perspective the rarity of Virginia Tech canceling classes, consider the following: In the 142 year history of Virginia Tech, Thursday and Friday were the 9th and 10th snow days.  Ever.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Race Holiday Lake 50k - 16th

If you missed my blog earlier in the week about the race, you can check it out HERE.  I read this earlier in the week and had to share as it describes the race better than I can.

"You could try to run in another runners tracks, but you quickly found out that the snow never really packed down because it was wet…it just kind of slid somewhere else. Fail. Or you could just make your own brand new tracks in the crust – predictable, but immediately tiring and wet below the crust. Fail. Or, you could simply run straight ahead, not thinking and just taking what came to you, which made for really unpredictable footing. Fail. So there you have it, that’s what the FIRST loop would be like – trying to get good footing and failing. Trying to get some semblance of a normal running stride and failing. Trying to get into any kind of zone and failing. You get the picture."  John Anderson

It was a crazy race and one for the memory books.
  

Totals for the week:

Distance: 53.4

Elevations: 3150'

Duration: 8.75hr

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