This is a re-launching or a rebranding of this blog. I have let it sit idle for the last eight months following Grindstone’s cancellation and really have just not written as much publicly or privately. In that time, I have run some awesome races and accomplished goals that I now regret not documenting. Going forward as I train for Grindstone 2014, this will be a regularly updated running journal of sorts.

My biggest accomplishment since my last post was completing the C&O Canal 100 back in April. I learned a lot from that race. Things such as living off almond butter for 30 hours isn’t realistic, if you think you are starting off to slow, your wrong, and its much easier running with a group of friends telling jokes than it is running alone. I also learned that a 100 mile race really needs to be you’re “A” race. I went out at Leatherwood Ultras and ran a difficult 50 mile race in horrible conditions a month before the C&O Canal 100. The drop rate at Leatherwood was about 40% and I managed to shave 25 minutes of my previous finish time the year before. I was on a huge running high following this effort. And that was a problem. It had filled that need I had for a spring adventure. C&O I just wasn’t as hyped as I should have been and I needed to be more into the race mentally. It was a good lesson to learn.

I took all of May off for the most part. My legs needed some major recovery from the C&O Canal. I ate more freely and tried to enjoy life. But, I came into June really ready to get back into the swing of things. And spent the last month testing my legs and getting back into a training rhythm. I am feeling great and geared up for a terrific summer on trail.

About 70 miles into the C&O I decided that I have not been running enough. In training the last few years I ran 5 days a week with 2 weeks of building mileage followed by one week of rest. On the weekends I would load up mileage with back to back long runs of 25-30 miles. Where I believe I am missing an opportunity is running based on time versus miles on the weekends. Running 25 around my flat boring neighborhood and running 25 on trail are drastically different experiences. Going forward I will be running based on times on the weekends, aiming for 4-5 hours for both Saturday and Sunday to start.

Grindstone comes with 23K of gain and loss and it will take me longer than the C&O Canal 100. In preparation for the event I know I need to work on my core and hill running. I have said 100 times before I would start working on my core. I would start P90X or some other routine and give up after a couple weeks. I have accepted that I spend too much time running to reasonably expect myself to stick to one of these routines. Instead I am going to keep it basic with crunches, planks, pushups, and pull ups. I also live where it is really flat. So I have built a tire-pull using the directions from UltrarunnerPodcast (http://ultrarunnerpodcast.com/tire-pullin/).  I will be inserting it into my training starting this week. I am sure there will be a post to follow on my lessons learned.

Going forward, this page should get an update every Sunday. That’s the goal I am giving myself. It will most likely always been boring ultrarunner stuff, but maybe it will be helpful to someone. I also invite you to follow me on Twitter @JaredUltraMiles and to find me on Starva.

Weekly Total: 25 Miles (rest week)

28 Day Strava Total: 198 Miles

Year to Date: 1,068 Miles