Friday, February 3, 2012

Pre-Orcas Thoughts

This time tomorrow a gaggle of trail junkies will be 1 hour and 28 minutes into the beautiful Orcas Island 50k course. Smiles will still be abound as many climb Mount Pickett and head toward the first aid station at Camp Moran (10 miles). With loamy, wet trail under foot and pine forests backed with vistas of Mounts Baker and Rainier, why wouldn't this be an enjoyable day?

For me personally, I've worked hard at this one. At first my goal was to better my previous 5:18, but as I get closer to the race and have no clue of what I'm capable of, I'm just glad to feel so great. Thanks to Monika Marx I'm far more well rounded physically than I've ever been before. Fingers are crossed that the weight work pays off on the climbs and toward the end of the race, the spinning helps me buffer those lactic moments, and my long tempos pay off on anything flat, like that last hellish mile around Cascade Lake.

Out to enjoy and lay down no pressure on myself. I vow not to look at my HR monitor, but to only look at the data later. I really have to stay focused on Running Now as it will be easy to get wrapped up in my own expectations after all the work I've done. A little healthy motivation for me is my continued rivalry with the Lazy Trail Runner. Should be a fun day under meteoroligist's promised sunshine.

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