No one can hand it to you, but no one can take it away, either."
- anonymous -
As always, I leave the best for last. I haven't talked about my goal, and there's not much time now, so here's a snapshot.
GOAL: top 50 (1100 runners) and 7min/k (11min/m) pace
Wow, one week to race begins. Anxious? You bet. Packing and putting the finishing touches on my gaiters. Sewing is way harder than I thought. We'll see how well my stitching does.
I'm running MDS to help house and feed orphans, and you can still support this great cause. Click HERE for more info.
PLEASE WRITE TO ME :) This will be a challenge like no other I've experienced, and I suspect every little boost will help. Runners can receive emails daily from Apr 6 to 12, so if you'd like to send some support, a funny story or just want to fill me in on the goings on outside the Sahara, here are the directions.
1) Go to the MDS website: http://www.darbaroud.com/en/
2) Click the link "write to a competitor"
3) Put my name and number in the subject: Carlos Medina, 1093
4) Write the message (no attachments please, if there's an attachment, the email will not be received)
5) Click send
Also, runners are allowed one email a day, so I'll send something to Natsuko and she'll try to update the blog. So stay tuned!
Thanks to everyone for following. This wouldn't be possible without your support.
(Deep voice booming to drum-roll) "Will runner 1093 of the 28th MDS please stand up."
That's right, lucky number 1093! Runners are able to receive emails in the desert, so you'll need my number to write an encouraging note, funny story or anything else. I'll post more later on how to stay in touch while I'm in the desert.
On training, this week my legs felt fresh, if a bit slow, over the 85k/ 53m of running. Not much else to add.
Health & Nutrition
All the issues from last week are gone but picked up an interesting new one. The lower front left part of my right shin was red and swollen. It looked like a bad bug bite, but it was coming from inside (a tendon?). I had shin splints a long time ago, this was similar but more painful and lower on the leg. Well, taking the advice of a 9-time MDS vet, "It's better to show up to the desert healthy and under-trained than injured," I took two days off in a row (can you believe it?!?) to let it rest. By Sat, it was back to 100%. Weird.
MDS Gear
Planning to make the final purchases Mon and Tue and be ready to go! Unofficial weigh-in is just under 8kg/ 17.6lb without water and some of the extras that the organizer provides (race book, emergency flare and salts). Happy with this weight.
MDS Food
Tested out the desert diet and it went down well. The first couple days left me a little cranky on lack of calories, about 2200 each day, so I've added some more to bring my daily average intake to just under 2600cal.
mmm...
Next week begins acclimitization. I wonder if there's a rule against squat thrusts in the sauna?
Thank you to those who have supported the children at Great Mercy Orphanage :) We're almost 25% to our £2,000 goal!
If you haven't had a chance, please checkout the FUNDRAISING PAGE.
As for training, it was an amazing week. In 5 days, I ran 150k/ 94m having cut the walk and bike. The amazing part was that on all but one of the runs, I wanted to keep going. It was a good feeling.
Mon - took a rest day in an effort to get rid of this lingering cold
Tue - 50k/ 31m, trying to make sure the cold is gone, I reduced the planned 5hr run to 3hrs and set off. The sun was shining, and I was feeling peppy, so pushed it to 4hrs. 'Maybe 5hrs? No way, don't want to push too much.' Got home after 4hrs, mentioned I was feeling great and didn't want to stop, so Natsuko said, "So, keep going." 'Okay, don't have to tell me twice!' With that, I took off for another hour.
Wed - 27k/ 17m, 6x5min sprints, wasn't easy to get going, but eventually got rolling and was feeling great, other than one speed bump. Mid-sprint 3, going uphill, my bag came open and my things flying out! I stood for a moment, stunned. Realizing what happened, I slowly gathered my stuff, secured the bag, let off a smile and a chuckle and continued on.
Thu - 40k/ 25m, felt good, didn't want to stop.
Fri and Sat were pretty standard and Sun was time for rest.
Health & Nutrition
Banged up after a long week, but nothing that won't recover over the taper
1) left leg, swollen behind the knee likely due to the nerve problem picked up during the Tango ultra
2) left ankle, rolled it halfway through Thu's run, but is almost back to 100%
3) right knee, front of the knee is swollen and tender, no idea why, hope it'll recover during the taper (just in time to push it further in the desert!)
Sleep is officially better! Getting at least 7, sometimes 8 and occasionally 9hrs of sleep. It's amazing how far that extra sleep goes.
Diet is still clean, though took a slight detour for chocolates I received from a student. The big news, I'm kicking coffee to the side. Really?!? Yeah. The first few days were headache city as I went through withdrawal and tried to hide my yawns throughout work. It's getting better.
MDS Gear
Have done a couple sessions in the Cascadias and they run nicely. Honestly, it wasn't love at first step, but that's probably because I went a half size big. Due to the heat of the desert and pounding of the distance, many people's feet swell. Generally, they recommend going one US/ UK size bigger (2 sizes if you measure in mm), but your feet get wider, not longer, and with already slim feet, a half size should do me just fine. After the initial awkward phase, we're quickly becoming good friends.
Other than that, I picked up a solar powered charger to keep my Garmin (and possibly new iPod touch) powered through the race.
MDS Food
Almost finalized on the race diet. Looking at an average just under 2,500cal a day, which may be on the heavy side, but it's my first time in this kind of race, so I want to be sure. I'll test out the race diet for 6 days from Thu this week. We'll see how it goes.
Weird and busy week. Weird because I have a slight cold, and busy because I've got no time to post. (To be honest, I spent my posting time on the couch watching The Mentalist.)
Anyway, I don't get sick much, so this slight cold is definitely a sign, SLOW DOWN! I rearranged or skipped a lot of non-run sessions to increase sleep. Helped a little but not 100%, so the same will probably follow next week.
In other news, finally picked up my Brooks Cascadia's (YAY!) and some other gear. More to come next week.
So, I had a sleep and 45k on my feet, and I'm at peace. Yes, it was an overreaction, and I no longer feel cheated.
In all honesty, I'm going to push to places that I didn't know existed, and that's really what I'm after. 15k, in the grand scheme, won't make much of a difference. Also, the course is never the same, so I see this as part of the evolution of the race. They're trying something new and that's exciting.
Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer 7 days, but as with life, I believe "feeling cheated" and angry is just a waste of energy. Surely I need to save every ounce of energy for those SIX days.
The 2013, 28th running of the MDS will be 5 timed stages over 6 days compared to the previous 27 years which have been 6 timed stages over 7 days. The 6th, non-timed stage will likely be 15k less than previous years.
The race is still 7 days, but the 7th and final day is a 'fun run' (my name, not the organizers') for runners to enjoy a stage in the desert. I like the idea, but would prefer an EXTRA, 8th day to enjoy the desert rather than removal of a competitive day.
On first seeing the announcement in my inbox, I was speechless. Not sure what to think. Honestly, I feel cheated. Maybe it's a competitive thing and maybe it's unreasonable, but I feel cheated. "Oh, you ran the 28th MDS? Isn't that when they made it easier?" (Easier being a relative term!)
Now, even with 5 timed stages and one not-timed stage, I fully expect to be pushed to a mental and physical place that is beyond my current understanding, but I can't get over this feeling.
Anyway, maybe I'm overreacting. Let me sleep on it and run 5hrs tomorrow, and maybe I'll calm down :)
All in all, a good week. It started with a 50km Monday followed by some social life. Yeah, I said social life! We went to see Fun. in concert. In case you don't recognize the band name, I'm sure you've heard at least one song (video below). The venue was small and the set was awesome!
Anyway, total for the week was 169km/ 105mi (122k/ 76m run, 27k/ 17m walk, 20k/ 12m cycle) which by my calculation is the farthest I've ever run in a week. Woo hoo!
Following week 15, my left leg was stiff and a bit swollen. Take a rest you say? I've got a better idea, just run easy: dropped pack weight to 1-2kg, stuck to packed trails avoiding pavement where possible and reduced time on the sand. Generally, it worked. Leg was no worse at the end of nearly 100km over the first two days of the week. From there, I spent every extra second stretching, icing and compression gearing my legs.
Ready to go for week 17!
Health & Nutrition
Other than the left leg, everything is pretty under control. Even my feet which were hosting blisters inside of blisters inside of blisters (really?!? yeah!) have improved.
Pretty full on with the clean diet. Example: for lunch today, I picked up a fried pork, rice and salad lunch from the store shelf only to guilt myself out of it on the way to the register. I sheepishly put it back on the shelf and grabbed the salmon version. I feel much better for it.
MDS Gear
Through lots of research, I've narrowed my shoe search with first choice being Brooks Cascadia 7. Found a trail running shop in Osaka with a good selection, so heading there on Tue to pick them up (hopefully!). Other than that, hoping to finalize most of the shopping this week. Maybe I'll have time soon to go into more detail.
MDS Food
Fine tuning with possible changes below.
- breakfast: maybe alternate between Calorie Mate (popular meal replacement in Japan) and oats
- lunch (on the run): probably add raisins and other dried fruits
- recovery: maybe drop the extra aminos because I can't stomach them after really long runs
- dinner: various dried rice, veg and meat meals (same)
