The Javelina 100 is coming up in less than a week now and I believe I'm ready to go! I wish the race was tomorrow to be honest. But let's wait till Saturday as it looks like the weather is getting cooler towards race weekend. It is snowing here right now, but that is OK as all the training is done.
The race field has improved dramatically over the last few weeks. I'm probably missing a name I should know (I'll leave it to Karl M to go over the odds) but it looks like Jorge Pacheco, David James, and Josh Brimhall will be the main contenders. I believe a 100 miles is too far to get into a racing mindset so will be just worrying about getting myself to the finish line as quick as possible.
As anybody who follows my running knows, I tend to be a low-mileage/quality mileage runner and the build-up for this race has been no different. I've been averaging right around 55 miles a week for the last 6 weeks, except for a bad week while getting over the Giardia I picked up while on the Colorado Trail. What I look for instead of a certain amount of mileage is how I feel at my goal race running pace. In this case, I'd like to be running at 8:00 pace, and with the walking breaks that I'll have to throw in hopefully I can keep the overall average pace around 8:30 - 8:40. I can't believe how good I feel at 8:00 pace right now and my HR is about as low as its ever been at that pace. I think the main reason is I'm finally not anemic which makes a huge difference. Back to the race - I'll shoot to do the first 3 loops around 2:05 - 2:10 each. I've done a few loops there in 1:36 so I'm hoping the 2:10 will feel super easy at least through 50 miles. Then it just becomes a matter of running as hard as you can for the rest of the day. So my time prediction is 14:30. That's the plan anyway!
I also like to be as strong and fit overall as possible. All other things being equal, it is always nice to feel light and strong going into a long race. My weight is about the same as its been for the last 10 years (140) but I'm a bit stronger than I've ever been before a 100 so I'm hoping that is a good sign. I'm bench pressing almost 250 pounds and am doing a ton of pull-ups, ab work, and core stuff. This really does matter when you are carring water bottles for 15 or so hours.
For anyone who wants to keep track of the race, Dave Combs will be providing race updates every 5 minutes on the race website.
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12 comments:
Best of luck Paul! Glad to hear that you're feeling well and are ready to go. The work is done, rest up, relax and enjoy the race.
Dave Putney
12 pack on me for breaking my record! Don't get caught up running too fast early with Jorge. He likes to slow down after 4 laps! 14:30 is ambitious, didn't you say something about "not being in race mode" :-)
Good luck! I'll have the odds up soon. -Karl
I have to be ambitious since I only run a 100 about every 2 years!
I like your thinking, to the washing machine you go!
Hi Paul. I noticed that you've done/won the Mount Mitchell Challenge; I'm doing it this year (2010) as my first ultra. I had a couple of questions about the course and was wondering if I could run those by you at some point.
Thanks!
Paul. Good luck this weekend. I'll be sure to check out the race website throughout the day. Have a great race Paul.
-J
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