It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to write about what I’ve been up to since the Oil Creek race. I took a couple of easy weeks following OC100 to let everything heal up and though I recovered very well, there was some lingering pain in my right shin and right knee that held on for almost a month. My motivation wasn’t the best either, so I ended up with minimal mileage and many rest days through the weeks before Thanksgiving. I usually take an “off-season” this time of year, and although I have not been diagnosed by any professional, I am quite sure I suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Late fall, when daylight savings time ends, is a difficult time for me emotionally, and combine that with the colder weather and I have a hard time finding any ambition at all, much less for running very early in the morning.
I registered for my next goal race (Beast of Burden-Winter, 2-12-11) on November 1st and tried to use that as a kick in the pants to get training again, but it wasn’t until the week of Thanksgiving that I felt the urge to train hard again. Since then I’ve had some very good runs and decent mileage. I’m trying to mimic my Oil Creek training of at least one to two long runs of 18+ miles per week and keep the bulk of my remaining runs in the 12-15 mile range. But as winter approaches the challenge remains to get up and go out in the sub twenty-degree weather each morning.
Running in the cold is my second least favorite weather extreme, with only cold rain ranking higher…so why did I choose Beast of Burden (BOB) as my next race?? My answer is for the challenge. Just like many ultrarunners can attest to, once you’ve tasted a little bit of the extreme, you want more. I conquered my sub 24 hour 100 mile goal, now I want to do more, and run the most challenging races I can. I can’t afford to go out west just yet and tackle those challenging races, so I’ll take on what I can get to here on the east coast and if the weather adds to it, well bring it on!!
BOB is advertised as a challenging winter event held northeast of Buffalo, NY and just southeast of Lake Erie in the heart of winter. I’ve run in some really cold weather before, even ran a 50k on rail-trail with significant snow, so I’m excited to attempt a 100 miler in upstate NY where it could combine snow and cold in abundance.
My goal for the remainder of this training regime is to continue to spend as much time running in the cold, dark mornings of northeast PA as I can and hope I can adjust to cold, harsh wind and running in snow and sleet. It’s hard to fool the brain into thinking that stinging fingers and exposed skin being on the verge of frost-bite is nothing to be afraid of…but tomorrow morning’s forecast is for 11 degrees with windchill of –5 and I’ve only got less than 59 days to prepare. So I remind my brain that on the inside everything’s warm and toasty and try to ignore the nerves that are telling me that it’s too cold to be outside, we’ve got a race to get ready for and it’s time to run. This is fun right??
Happy running, enjoy winter the best way we know how!
David Kennedy
Dave, have you ever heard of a light box? It's helped me tremendously with SAD. You can get a prescription from your doctor. Sit in front of the light while reading, watching tv, using the computer, etc. for 15-30 min per day and wahla! You've got spring in your step and your soul!
ReplyDeleteKatie, are these lights costly? How long have you been using one? Thanks for sharing.
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