It was satisfying because my routine had only 56 miles scheduled. Didn’t seriously overdo it, but remain seriously concerned over building the necessary base for the rapidly approaching fifty mile test. I can tell you that once I’ve tackled the challenges I’ve set, my career as an ultra-marathoner will be short-lived à largely due to the time requirements. Thank heavens I am blessed with a forbearing wife and daughter…scrambled this weekend to catch up with everything omitted from being on the road all week and when you devote four hours to running Saturday and another two on Sunday it really compromises family time. L
Of course you have to add all the time for maintenance surrounding the long legs - before taking off there’s baby powder to apply to the feet and Vaseline to inner thighs and nipples. There’s filling and washing water bottles (and keeping stocked up with G2 for one of the water bottles), maintaining the hydro-pack (dis-assembling, washing and re-assembling that is a half hour venture), making sure I’ve got enough Clif Bars and Hammer gels to consume, etc., etc. A new time investment is refreshing music playlists for my iPod --- earlier on I simply hit ‘shuffle’ and was off, but now I’ve begun mixing in an audio French lesson after every seven songs, so I have to create a new custom list for each long run (since I was never able to find time to listen to these otherwise, I am quite pleased that I’ve discovered a way to begin learning some French, however!)
And let’s not forget that being diabetic, I need to ensure I’m wearing my ID bracelet, my cell phone is charged and other concerns. So at the moment this regimen requires 12 – 15 hours each week, and that’s a LOT of time. I do enjoy running, but can’t say I lust to get out on the road…it will be interesting to see where the running schedule falls back to after Reunion.
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