Wednesday, May 09, 2007

What's Next?

You know those days when you feel slow and your world is just a nice shade of gray. Maybe it's just from exhaustion, stress or lack of sleep,...maybe you just had a bad race with no silver lining. You look in the mirror and you look like you feel. You go for a run and you think, wow I feel like I already ran my workout. Well today is not one of those days. I feel great, I look awesome and you should have seen me cruisin along in my yellow Keen's. I got them free from Keen last year, was supposed to test them but hated the flashy yellow color. Couldn't get myself to throw them away though and tonight I was feeling spunky enough to wear them. Ran outside as the sun was setting, came in with the darkness - a simple 45 minute recovery run. Smiled at the ladies, chatted with a couple of friends. As I walked by the full length mirror of the elevator door downstairs, I even stopped, went back and winked at myself. It's simple really. If I curse myself for the days that I feel like crap then I will also celebrate when I'm feeling like...well I don't know what but something great. Yesterday I ran to track practice and I shot out of the house like the road runner. After just walking around for most of the day Sunday and full rest on Monday, I had energy to burn and rested muscles to wake up. I had some speed back and it felt easy. Very much looking forward to the Quicksilver 50-miler this Saturday. I don't intend it to be some spectacular PR run, just a simple 50-miler to get me back in the groove of ultra racing, fitness check and all that. Suppose to be hot and I hope it is. Pictures from previous race reports showed hills with no tree cover, nice.

Realistically my left IT is sore, so I will be stretching that baby till race day and I'm still waking up tired in the morning but that's also partly due to some late night work I've been doing. If I sleep well tonight and tomorrow night I should be golden. Out on the run tonight my mind was already picturing/imagining sections of the trail, going through checklists, wondering which friends I would see come Saturday and going through strategy and goals.

Not quite ready yet but I'm fast moving in that direction.

6 comments:

  1. It's great that you feel so good - and describe it so neat! Wear the yellow shoes and have fun at Silverstate!

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  2. I am ALIVE, ALERT & I Feel GREAT!!

    Thanks Rick for your post, It reminded me of those words I heard a long time ago & used to say it more often in the past & need to say more in the future...

    Have a great 50 miler this weekend Bro!!

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  3. Wow, those are cool looking shoes! :) I have a pair of Keen Humboldt's that I bought probably a year ago, but I found them too soft for trail running. How do you like the model that you have?

    Rick, it sounds like your season is off to a great start. I hope you have a fun race this weekend!

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  4. That's a great feeling! Did you really wink at yourself? ; ) : ) Hope a great time at your race! Sounds like you will.

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  5. Yes of course I winked at myself. You know I was an only child for awhile and for the last 6 years I've been working from home alone. I've just learned to keep myself entertained, part of that is interacting with myself.

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  6. Good luck at the 50 miler!

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