McNaughton Park 2008

50 Mile version for me this year. A short report.

Training:

Bottom line is that I trained better by my humble standards, and that means that I built a good base of 3-4 hour runs through the fall then transitioned into 4-6 1/2 hour runs on the actual course building to the race. Long runs were every other week. I also increased my distance during the week to 5-8 miles per run for the most part.

The only thing I really skimped on was speedwork. In all honesty, this was a tough winter to train through and I just didn't feel like repeats or much up-tempo stuff, other than the occasional fartlek session during a mid-week run.

Weight is an issue. I kept my weight fairly low, again by my standards, but eating in a more balanced fashion. My tendency is to eat very little to no beef, mostly chicken for protein, but I did up protein intake a bit and mixed in lots of greens and fruits.

The Race. It rained most of the week. This was a cause of concern and nervousness. I felt tapered and focused going into Saturday, ready for whatever conditions. Conditions turned out to be muddy and mucky, but as always , we tend to worry ourselves over things that turn out to never be as bad we envision. Mud is not impassable.

The first 43 miles or so were run with Adam Zimmermann and Stan Zygmut, both of whom are tough hombres. Having these guys to jaw with made the time and miles tick by. Tapp joined us for the fifth loop and ended up pacing Adam in hard for the last few miles.

Me, I crossed in 13 hours 15 minutes. Time is just time, the significance for me is just completing the distance, and that is accomplished. Got that 50 mile buckle.

So, McN is a great race with tremendous organization, volunteers, and the one of the best courses in the Midwest. Another great day on the trails.

100 next year?