Saturday, March 17, 2012

Let me sleep on it

Morris Stroud was a 6' 10" tight end for the Chiefs who was used on special teams to block field goals.  He stood under the field goal post and would jump up and block the lower ones.  The "Stroud Rule" came into being and it is now illegal.

Morris Stroud was big and you should be as well.

Running on the Drumlin several years ago a coyote was up ahead watching me approach.  I saw him from a half-mile away.  Not really wanting to see how close I could get, I raised my arms up in the air about a 100 yards out and he took off.

I got big and you should as well.

Getting big for ultras could be a number of things.  Everyone knows increasing the mileage or loading up on the long runs at the right time help you get big, but what else can I do?  I've tried a few things of my own and listen to others over the years.  Here are a few examples:

- Some people go for the one big week and usually it seems to be 100 miles.  This is not easy to do, but if you can pony up for a week it can offer a huge mental boost later.

- Pick a day in the middle of the week, get up at 2 am and go run four - five hours before work.  It can be a different experience and one does have many obstacles to face you do not typically run into on normal runs.  It makes you adjust and in my opinion toughens you up.

- Friday through Sunday pick a high mileage goal for yourself (40 - 50 - 60?) and go do it.  This may be the toughest of them all, but it makes you analyze yourself and learn to make adjustments.  You have to work outside your comfort zone.

If your looking for something different to try on yourself and see how you do, these are it.  Not necessary to do more than 1-2.  The fact is when you are running and ultra of say 50 miles you tend to remember these.  More than likely you are experiencing issues close to what you did then.  Sometimes it is nice to have the confidence to say to yourself, "I'm hurting, but this isn't any harder than my be big session."

What do you have to lose?

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