It’s time to figure out what to focus on training-wise. I’ve probably said it already but with Stratford Marathon on the list I need to start to make myself faster. I have a solid base and the distance isn’t a concern it’s the pace. The other day I easily ran 18 hilly miles at 7:12 pace, way ahead of schedule distance-wise.

Diglis footbridge over River Severn on a frosty morning

Key components of running are around 80% training easy, I mean REAL easy, and 20% moderate to hard. Easy is hard to do. As an estimate, “easy” is 70% of your max heart rate. Max heart rate is 220 - age. I’m 43 and my estimated max hr is 177, take 70% of that and I need to run UNDER 124 beats per minute! That’s slow! The tough part is fitting in easy miles because time is limited for me. Plus run commuting I need to be somewhere or I’m late to work or late to get the kids from school. I’ve got a lot of easy miles under my belt as it is so I really need to add in two moderate to hard workouts. That’s the simple plan for now. 

Builders working on a fish ladder, Worcester Cathedral in the trees 

Fortunately the marathon training lines up very nicely with the ultra I have planned. I just need to get a specific marathon plan implemented. I’m really excited for this however my focus shifts then more to running, then martial arts takes a back seat which bums me out. Everyone always talks about finding balance. There is no such thing. The tables always turn favoring one thing over another. It’s just prioritizing what’s most important at the time. 

Path flooded out. Again. River Severn at Diglis Hotel.

Tor des Geants lottery is in February. I’ll be in it but I’m hoping I don’t get in. It’s an extremely intimidating event and honestly I don’t know if I’m up for it yet. Besides I’ll be gone a week in Italy and that’s probably a 10 out of 10 on the selfish scale! However, after following the recent Spine Race, 270 some miles through northern England in winter (ie worst conditions ever), I’m still very much intrigued by the super long events. Here’s a link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spine_Race

Not too many photos lately. It’s been the usual gray. Wanted a close up of the welder but running took precedence. I envisioned that as a pretty cool close up. 

UTMB lotto loss

After nearly two weeks off running visiting home in Minnesota I’m back at it. A bit sore but doing ok. Routine in life is falling back in to place which I’m looking forward to. 

As the title of this post says:

I guess I’ll keep chasing it! No Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc for me. I wasn’t expecting it really anyway. So as it stands West Highland Way (WHW) is the “A” race. Just need to sort out that mandatory crew requirement now. 

I was fortunate enough that the wife bought me a pair of Nike Vaporfly Next% shoes. They weren’t a surprise, more of a “do you want those for your birthday” gift.  They’re a very expensive running shoe for marathon racing, $250! Normally shoes are around $120 - $150. It’s proven to increase your time by around 4 percent, really, no joke! Look at any elite race, those pink or green things, yep EVERYONE is racing them. And if their sponsor is different they’ll be spray painted! 

Now I feel obligated to race a marathon. Looking at the Shakespeare Marathon in Stratford-upon-Avon (people also call it the Stratford Marathon) on April 26. It’s close to home and supposedly flat and fairly fast. It also lines up well with the WHW.

I’ve never focused on a marathon PR. My best so far is 3:00:09 on a hilly course and I believe was a training run for Superior 100. The obvious goal is sub 3 hours, but I think I’m good for sub 2:50 if I train right. So I’m trying to sort out training. In all actuality it could be extremely beneficial for ultras as long as the speed work doesn’t injure me, something I’ll need to keep in check.

On we go.......