The Zen of Ultra Running

Last year Buckeye Woods 50K was my first ultra. The race is free to all Medina County Road Runners members and the annual membership fee is only 20 dollars. The club does a lot of great things including multiple free races throughout the year, group runs, banquet, etc. I found the race on Facebook and it claimed that the race was flat and fast, and good for your first 50K. So, I paid the membership fee and signed up for the race. This year I just ran the double marathon at Run with Scissors last month and am still recovering from the race. There is also a new ultramarathon race near my house, which will take place next weekend. I was considering running that race if I decided to do another 50K. Therefore, I took it easy at Buckeye woods 50K by signing up to do only the 25K (3 loops). Since it's only 25K, I did not really prepare for the race. I drank a couple of glasses of red wine the night before and did not do the usual pre-race carb-loading routine. I showed up 10 minutes b

After the double marathon at Run with Scissors, I spent most of my non-working moment thinking about the goals for 2018. What should I do? What should I focus on? It usually takes me a while to come up with a training routine. I like to plan my week ahead and know what I will be doing on each day for the rest of the week. Planning takes a good amount of time. As we are entering the end of the racing season, the focus should be on maintaining the level of fitness and working on the weaknesses. I have decided that I am not going to do any triathlon race longer than the Olympic distance in 2018 (half and full Ironman can wait). I figured that Olympic distance training for a triathlon gives me time to focus on ultra marathons. I am not built to be a competitive athlete. As much as I would like to be faster and run longer, my most important goal is to stay injury-free. Next year, my goal is to focus on a couple of ultramarathons. This week I signed up for Mohican 50 in June and a marathon

I usually write a blog right after my race. For this blog, I let all feelings and emotions sit for a couple of days before I started writing. First, I was overwhelmed and still could not believe that I just ran 53 miles...53 miles in the woods and cold rain. Second, I have been going through a typical emotion roller coaster known to multiple ultra runners after their big race -> post-race blues. I was lost and was not sure what to do with my life. It took me a couple of days to get myself back together and thought about "What's next?". Now I have a pretty solid plan in mind regarding the 2018 races and goals. However, until the plan is elaborately laid out in an Excel spreadsheet, I cannot stop thinking about it. My 2018 races and goals will be announced soon :D Alright, back to the pre-race, race day, and post-race recap. Pre-race: I knew I wanted to do the double marathon at Run with Scissors after my Mohican 50 miler had to be cancelled due to ankle injury. In