Let's Try this Again!

I'm currently in the process of refocusing and getting back to training...SERIOUSLY!  I know I haven't posted anything in months.  I could give many excuses for this, but I'm not going to make any. Simply, I just haven't.

I have been running, just not with the mileage that I need to run to be competitive at 50 miles.  I've had a couple 100 mile weeks and one week where I logged the most miles ever of 130.6.  But, the last few months I have hung out around the 60-70 mile range.  I even clocked 11 miles in 55 minutes a few weeks ago, but I want to get back to the long runs.  Granted, I have found great enjoyment in going out and doing hard-core short runs as fast as I possibly can, but still miss the torture of the LONG runs.

My long runs stopped when I was unable to clear my mind and just enjoy the fact that I was outside running.  I would get 5 or 6 miles into a run and then start thinking about my job.  I don't like my job, in fact, somedays it makes me out right miserable.  Granted, I am thankful that I do have a steady paycheck coming in...no matter how small it is. But my job often gets in the way of my running. When I shortened my runs and upped the intensity, I didn't have time to let my mind wander over to the rigors of work. I have been content with this for the last 3.5 months or so, but I recently looked at the race results from the Jemez 50 and realized that I would have placed pretty well if I would have continued my training.  I was shooting for 8:45:00 on that course. I was very confident that I would have succeeded in being in under that time.  I withdrew, as my training weeks started getting shorter and shorter and went to Cincinnati to work on my up coming wedding plans with Kerry instead.  A wise decision none-the-less! :)

The focus over the next few months in Hell will be to increase my mileage back up to the 85-100 mile range (and not melt), blog more, and simplify my life a little.  I'm trying to plan a couple trips to San Diego and one to NM to hopefully run with a soon-to-be-friend who ran the Jemez 50 this year. As for race plans...possibly the Speed Goat 50K in Snowbird Utah.

Let's hope I can get back on track to where I want to be.