A week ago I ran my first ultra marathon of 50k (about 31 miles). I finished in a time of about 4 hours 27 minutes, which was surprising with the lack of mileage I have put in the past few weeks. The best part was 31 miles felt great. My mind was strong through the entire thing and I think I only told myself about once to stop at about mile 21. I persevered and kept running and finished 2nd overall.
Right now I have put in just over 150 miles in this month. I need to take a day or two off to let my legs recover. My knees are sore, and so are my shins. After putting in a 65 miles week where close to half of that was in a race, my legs are begging for some time off the roads. My training is going well as farther distances do not seem so far anymore. Last year 8 miles would have been long, but now running 8-12 miles is easy and short. After you run some 20 milers, and a 50k, it puts distance into a different perspective. This week my runs have been pretty slow. I ran a 9 miler on Wednesday at about 8:55 pace, a 10 miler on Saturday at 8:30 pace, and an 11 miler today at about 8:30 pace. It felt good to slow down and take things easy.
These next couple weeks I am going to slow it down for about a week, then pick it back up. I have another 50k on March 15th and hope to go sub 4 hours. I'm looking forward to what this year has to bring since my first race was successful. The rest of the year for me is as follows:
March 15th = 50k in Solon, IA
April 12th = 50 miler in Thielman, MN
May 31st = Dam to Dam (half marathon) in Des Moines, IA
June 21st = Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN
July 12th = 50k or 50 miler (haven't decided yet) in Baraboo, WI
October 19th = Des Moines Marathon
I might throw in a few smaller road races as well just for fun, but those are the big ones.
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