Team Breakdown:
Kaj: An Asheville runner turned Brooklyn-ite, and "whippet", this is his 3rd year on the team and is the team coordinator along with Joel. He thinks he'll be the slowest of the group, which has him working really hard. Currently a 40min 10K guy.
Joel: Another Mohawk in his 3rd year, I met Joel via the "Maggots" running group and through my friend Doug. Joel and I have trained together a lot over the last couple years. We're both around a 38min 10K.
Ning: Friend of Kaj, and another "whippet", we know very little about him other than he's short and fast. Runs ~37min 10K, although recent times state he could easily be closer to 36min.
Ryan: A friend of friends that I knew to be a natural freak runner. Routinely runs 37min 10K's with little formal running training. A bit of a wild card going into things, but recent runs with him have shown he's still the freak I remember.
Craig: Our workhorse. Runs a good bit of miles each week as well as rides and swims. Always one of the fastest at the track or our Wedge Runs. No idea what his 10K times are, but he's by far our fastest guy.
Ando-Mo-F'in-Nesia: Me. I ran some great races earlier in the year and was only running 3 times/wk or less. Wedding/honeymoon slowed my training in July but recently have been killing my track work and cross training. 10K time ~38min, always neck and neck with Joel during our workouts.
The Training:
Trying to get to a point where I can essentially run 6 10K's in 20 hours in a competitive fashion is not easy. Especially in ~5wks. I had a decent base until July, but formal workouts were few and far between while balancing a wedding/honeymoon/bachelor party schedule. It's a tough life :).
The last few weeks have looked like this:
Monday: Athletic conditioning @ Lunch, 6 moderate miles, or spin class after work
Tuesday: 5.5 easy miles @ lunch, 8-8.5 mile track workout with the Maggots after work
Wednesday: Basketball in the morning and/or a few easy miles + strength work at Lunch
Thursday: 5.5 easy miles @ lunch, 8.5 mile tempo run with "Wedge Run" group after work
Friday: Basketball in the morning
Saturday: Long run on the parkway, moderate pace, ramping up to 20mi the week before the race.
It's been tough, but the main thing is to push myself hard, while keeping injury free. An injury at this point not only hurts me, but hurts the entire team. It's a delicate balancing act, but I've been making sure to take time every day to stretch, use the hot tub, ice, etc. It seems to be working. Last week I had amazing track workouts, my fastest Wedge Run to date, and a strong 14 miler on Saturday. We'll see what this week brings. I've become pretty good at listening to my body and abiding by the idea that "the program must follow the athlete, not the athlete follow the program".
The Competition:
Unlike most races, where I'm racing only myself, trying for a PR, or some other self created goal, this one is all about winning. About BEATING the competition. What makes this race unique is that you know of your competition before the race. A race of this nature uses a staggered start, using estimated 10K times for each time to figure out when each team should start, so teams are all finishing around the same time. Faster teams start later in the day on Friday, slower teams start earlier. They publish the start times on the website along with each teams 10K time. We listed our time @ 6:15, which might be conservative. That being said, we're scheduled to start at 11:30am, along with 2 other Ultra teams; one from Charlotte, one from Arlington, VA. We're the first 3 Ultra teams to start, with the next ones ~30min later. It's looking like it will be a 3 team race for the win!!
It's been great training with this in mind. Our team has been emailing our training accomplishments and health status almost every other day, pumping each other up and offering advice. Each workout has a "work harder than THEM" feel to it. Anytime I'm not feeling particularly up to a workout I tell myself "do you think THEY are slacking off?" or "Do you want it more than THEM?" and that's all it takes to get me back on track. There's also a good deal of other Asheville runners running. There's a women's team, a masters team, and an open team; the Asheville Running Collective, which is made up of 12 beastly runners from the area. They set a BRR record in 2011 with an overall pace of 5:54! It's been great to share training runs with these teams, and I'm really looking forward to representing Asheville in such a bad ass race. So far this has been a great training experience, unlike anything I've done so far. Just hoping we're all gonna stay healthy and we can compete for running supremacy!
