Ohio Cycling Disorder (OCD)

Or as my beautiful wife just informed me, " Talking to you during these times is like a Mental Mosh Pit " - Angie Coughing, sneezing, blowing my nose, body feeling beyond fatigued as in ZERO energy (lifting my arms was a chore), a general hot mess of a human being, yet I found myself in that all too common mental-ballet that endurance athletes find themselves in of deciding whether or not to attend a race that I worked so hard for and was slated for Sunday. This was my mental and physical state as of Friday, 2/14/2020 and after I already canceled the hotel room. Saturday morning I woke up, having fallen asleep after 1:30am, feeling so much better so what did I do? Naturally, I packed my race bag for the 50k that I was now going to race the next day.  #winning #notreally Leading up to this sad state of affairs was a high volume three week training block with more running than I had ever taken on. I am training for my first 100-mile trail running race set for the end...

I have the perfect recipe for Peanut Butter!!  Third run in my new Saucony Peregrine 10s. Ingredients Water - two days worth should suffice Binder - 12.4 miles of dirt, root, & rock style trails (preferably in an area that has clay soil) Blender - roughly 400 trail runners (amount may vary based on ingredient #1) Instructions : Add water to the binder ingredient before adding the final ingredient and let rest overnight. This gives the binder and water time to really set in for a more moist product. Then simply add the final ingredient over the span of 4.5 - 8 hours allowing the peanut butter mixture to really take shape, work out any chunks (we're looking for a smooth and not chunky consistency), and provide a well-mixed final product. I think they need to rename the race from Rocks & Roots Ultra 50k to Peanut Butter & Brownie Batter Ultra 50k, but I am getting ahead of myself. The course is at Alum Creek State Park near Columbu...

Near Hale Farm & Village around miles 17 & 60 The Ramp Up The ramp-up for this trail run would start the week following the Marji Gesick 100(ish) ... errr ... more like 108. #blametodd and #blamedanny  I did not have a ton of miles the first week but I only had 3-weeks to ramp-up as I had selected a weekend where my daughter and wife would not be around so that I did not completely toast a day that would take me away from them had they been home. The ramp-up went something like this and was right out of the playbook from what I did for the Burning River Back-50 Mile Race over the summer: Week One - (31.2 miles and 109 cycling miles) 9/26 - 1:10-hours just to see where the legs are (8 miles) 9/28 - 2+ hours with a Trail 1/2 marathon distance (13.1 miles) 9/29 - 1:22 hours with 5-minute hard hill repeats x4 (9 miles) Week Two - (56.1 miles and 127 cycling miles) 9/30 - 1:04-hours (7.5 miles) 10/1 - 2+ hours (12 miles) (this was four days of running in...