June 9, 2008 - Less than a week to Pittsfield

Pittsfield Peaks is just 5 days away. This is my first 50M race and it will be exciting to see what happens. The weather is supposed to be perfect (low 70s as highs for both Saturday and Sunday with the lows in the mid 50s). I am traveling up to Vermont on Friday morning with my wife and a friend of ours who will both hang out and act as my crew when they are not BBQing and hanging out around the aid station and finish area...it sounds like they are going to have a good time.

As far as preparation, I am definitely mentally prepared for this race and I am guessing that I am in good enough shape too. I dont have any experience to go on so we will just have to see how it goes. 1 foot in front of the other for 50 miles and I should manage to cross the finish line. There is an expected 50%+ drop out rate for this race and I am guessing it is mostly due to the 14,000 feet of total climb...there is no way that I am going to quit which should make for an interesting final couple of hours...

In terms of actual gear, I need to plan out my entire clothing, nutrition and lighting strategy. It shouldn't be too difficult with Lisa's help though.


Training update:

I did a crappy job training last week after my long run but I got back in the groove on Saturday (kind of). I went out for a quick 5 mile run Saturday evening before a graduation party. It was about 95 degrees out and I am guessing it was 110% humidity. It was a tough run and somehow I also managed to come away from it with some new foot pain in my right foot. This is a bit scary because I have my first 50 M race in less than a week. So I am not going to run for the next week and hope that it gets better by Saturday morning.

Sunday I went for a 10 mile bike ride in the same type of weather. I was supposed to run 24 miles but I bailed on that because of my foot.

This morning (Monday) I hit the gym before work to cross train. I did 30 minutes of stairs and then wall sits, circuit training and pushups. Wall sits are awesome and super painful. I highly recommend them.