Motivation is the first theme of this blog. Mine goes up and down like a huge roller coaster. There are days when I simply don't want to run and there are days when I want to run farther than would be healthy in my current fitness. Today is one of those days where I am super motivated. It is a slow day at work and I've been bouncing around the internet. First, I was informed via e-mail that I was entered into the Twin Mountain Trudge in a few weeks. I gladly accepted only to look at my work schedule to find that wasn't going to work. Big dissapointment. Eventually, my chain of browsing led me to the blog of Nick Clark (Rocky Mountain Dirt Running). I had seen Nick's name show up in Laramie area road race results and I was always impressed so I decided to see what else I could find. This is a true mountain running man. Racing weekly or more and running lots up and down mountains.
Now on the the next theme of this post: Accountability. Nick's blog, while interesting, is quite simple. He details his training on a weekly basis, throws in a race report here and there, and adds various stats about his running and racing. I want to take it one step further and add a weekly plan at the beginning of my week. Then at the end of the week, I will detail my training and if it isn't similar to my weekly plan then I am going to be unhappy with myself. I really should think of some legitimate punishment for not meeting (or at least attempting to meet) my goals. Another way I am going to hold myself accountable is putting my money where my mouth is. I'm going to sign up for a few longer races down the road and not wanting to look like a fool, I am going to adequately train for those races. People don't run good marathons (or longer) without good preparation unless they're Eric Schmidt (3:27 on literally 3 days of training) or Alex Hall (Sub-3 while training to run a mile in high school).
Starting with my training recap from this past week (it won't be much, I promise) and beyond you can expect a weekly plan followed by a training recap every week as well as race reports when those come (not as often as Nick).
My goal is to emulate guys like Nick Clark and Max King. For those that haven't heard of Max, read Here. I'm pretty sure he was the only man in the Olympic Trials in the Steeplechase and Marathon while also winning a wide variety of trail races. The man is a beast. I want to run a wide variety of distances on a wide variety of surfaces and most importantly, have a ton of fun.
As my friends, blog followers, family, training partners, etc, I expect a decent amount of help from you. If I post a weak training week that didn't meet my goals without a valid reason then I expect you to ask me what's up. Tell me to get my butt out the door. I always like it when I do, it's just that initial bit of motivation that I need.
