218 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...
Was hoping to do a little speedwork today but that isn't going to happen. My lower back tightened up in a big way around noon yesterday and I've been, for the most part, immobile for the past 20 hrs. I'm waiting for it to unlock - may need to get some Motrin - that usually works. Aleve and Ibuprofin aren't getting the job done. I don't think I have an injury - just a setback. Was thinking last night that if this happened during the race, I'm pretty sure I'd be finished. It's another reminder that a successful Leadville finish has three components:
1 - excellent physical preparation - train hard, train long, train up - well within my control
2 - mental toughness - it's all about attitude - being willing to push through when you are tired and when your body wants to give up - well within my control
3 - good luck - you need to have it on your side. many great runners, even those who have successfully finished Leadville in the past, sometimes don't finish Leadville due to a variety of reasons. The weather could be horrendous, one might sprain an ankle on the mountain, a severe muscle spasm might occur, and about 1001 other things I could mention.
This will stick with me forever and always humbles me when I think about Leadville.
Pam Reed is the amazing ultrarunner who was the first person to eclipse 300 consecutive miles. She has won numerous ultramarathons and just happened to be at Leadville in 2005. She did not finish the race that day. Does it mean I'm a better runner than her because I finished? No way! It means that she had a bad day - and that is always a very real possibility at Leadville that everyone going into needs to realize.
It is a great metaphor for life. Sometimes you can do everything you should do to prepare for something and it still doesn't work out. A football team calls the right play at the end of a game and a pass is perfectly delivered to a receiver who drops a ball he catches 99/100 times. No addtional preparation was required - the human element of being infallible just kicked in.
I will go into Leadville with confidence knowing that I've trained hard. I'll also be mentally strong, expecting the worst and expecting to overcome as many obstacles as the course will throw at me. But until I've crossed the finish line I know that something unexpected can crop up and I may not be able to overcome it. If that happens, life will continue and I'll move on to the next part of the journey.
Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!
Was hoping to do a little speedwork today but that isn't going to happen. My lower back tightened up in a big way around noon yesterday and I've been, for the most part, immobile for the past 20 hrs. I'm waiting for it to unlock - may need to get some Motrin - that usually works. Aleve and Ibuprofin aren't getting the job done. I don't think I have an injury - just a setback. Was thinking last night that if this happened during the race, I'm pretty sure I'd be finished. It's another reminder that a successful Leadville finish has three components:
1 - excellent physical preparation - train hard, train long, train up - well within my control
2 - mental toughness - it's all about attitude - being willing to push through when you are tired and when your body wants to give up - well within my control
3 - good luck - you need to have it on your side. many great runners, even those who have successfully finished Leadville in the past, sometimes don't finish Leadville due to a variety of reasons. The weather could be horrendous, one might sprain an ankle on the mountain, a severe muscle spasm might occur, and about 1001 other things I could mention.
This will stick with me forever and always humbles me when I think about Leadville.
It is a great metaphor for life. Sometimes you can do everything you should do to prepare for something and it still doesn't work out. A football team calls the right play at the end of a game and a pass is perfectly delivered to a receiver who drops a ball he catches 99/100 times. No addtional preparation was required - the human element of being infallible just kicked in.
I will go into Leadville with confidence knowing that I've trained hard. I'll also be mentally strong, expecting the worst and expecting to overcome as many obstacles as the course will throw at me. But until I've crossed the finish line I know that something unexpected can crop up and I may not be able to overcome it. If that happens, life will continue and I'll move on to the next part of the journey.
Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!
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