The Serious Training Begins! (Training for AR50)

Today, it is 3 months till that big race that I have to do again, because I failed to complete it last year. Yes, it is the American River 50 mile run.  To other ultra runners, this is probably just another race for them.  To me, this IS the race of the year.   (Okay, to normal people, I am probably crazy!).

I started 2013 with one mellow 10k on January 1st.  I didn’t push too hard, but raced it and finished 4th in my age group (if I ran my 10k PR pace at that time, then I would’ve finished 3rd).  Statistics time:  My 10k PR is 51:41 in 2011, and at this race I clocked in at 54:14.  To end this first (not so complete) week of January, I ran a total of 24 miles.  I need to start scheduling out my training program, not that I will stick to it, but I will at least have something I can follow.  I am not an experienced trainer, but I just put something together based on reading articles and inquiries of my other ultra friends.  This time, I will definitely incorporate some strength training and maybe some spinning and swimming.  And I will just have fun doing it, not stressing out too much anymore!