August 2011

One of these pairs have been used in a trail ultra. Can you guess which?

Pleased to report a solid solid month of August.

Training

• 131 total miles, my second-highest total of the year - and that is without any races!
• Sub-57 minute 10K split on a training run (PR)
• 3 interval workouts, all with 800-meter or longer intervals
• Four ascents of Bear Mountain

Weight Loss

August was a bit of a roller coaster. The net result, however, is positive - I was 288 on the first day of August, 281 today. The trend isn't quite as dramatic, but still positive - down about 2 lbs.

The red line is a 20-day weighted moving average

Notice that both of the roller coaster bumps on the right side of that graph occurred on the weekend. That is an issue - but the bigger issue is avoiding overeating at night, where I commonly have two or more full meals. I feel that avoiding that will cause weight to drop very, very dramatically. Another thing worth noting is that, in the month of August, I avoided pizza entirely. Pizza is kryptonite to me- one of those foods that I simply cannot stop eating after the first bite. So.. the last time I had a bite was July 24.

September

One effect of not racing in August is I don't have the long runs - I tend to use marathons and ultras as my long runs. Not only is this an expensive and time-consuming way to do things, but as I found in the spring, racing too much leads to burnout. So I need to add them back in - they were conspicuously absent in August (the longest run was just over ten miles.)  To that end:

• Do at least two 20-milers. 
• Continue running every day (streak is currently at 246 days and there's a good chance I'll pass 1000 miles in 2011 with today's run.)
• Go at least 150 miles, with at least 32 miles each week, and at least 40 miles on the weeks I do the 20s.
• Get the evening eating habits under control.

Outlook

Looking forward to the fall, I'm currently registered for only two races - the Marine Corps Marathon on October 30, and Across the Years 72-hour at the end of December. While it's likely that I'll add another race or two, I'll be reluctant to do so. I think I raced too much in the spring and was burned out by Memorial Day - causing the disaster DNF at Pineland Farms where I dropped at mile 20 simply because "it sucked."

So I've already decided that I'll say "no" to more races. Instead, I'd like to take the races I run more seriously. Perhaps as a result of racing too much, I've started taking a far-too-casual approach to the races I run. I don't like taking these things too seriously, but I also recognize that they deserve more respect than I've been giving them. Depending on how September goes, I'll likely give myself aggressive "a" goals for MCM and ATY. Possibilities are churning in my mind. I look forward to sharing them with you as they become more clear.