What have I been up to?

It's been a few months since my last post and quite honestly, the only thing I have written about lately are my race reports. So, what have I been up to? It would be best to rewind to a year ago and get caught up!

In Feb of 2011, my wife and I opened a local running speciality shop in Bluffton and poured our heart and soul into getting it off the ground. Mean while, I was also starting another company (my real job) Revenue Strategy Solutions, a remote Revenue Management company for Hotels. Both companies took off extremely well in 2011 and could not have been happier! Fast forward to the end of 2011. Holly and I made a decision and choose to sell the Running store as we were spending way too much time away from the kids and my running had taken a serious back burner due to being in the shop every weekend!

Within a month of solid training, I had taken off another huge chunk of time out of my 50K personal best and was THRILLED with where my training was headed. Holly and I decided to take another huge step at the beginning of December and moved to Ridgeland, SC. We didn't "just move" we found our DREAM HOME! A log cabin that sits in the middle of 800 acres on a private lake with plenty of room to start our own VERY large garden, citrus tree etc. We moved in on Dec 31, 2011 and have never been happier!

We had to make a tough decision about what we were going to do with the kids school, now that we were 35 minutes away - one way. We opted to put them in a local private school beginning next year, Thomas Haywood Academy (Go Rebels!) Izzy tested into 5 year old Kindergarten (she just turned 4) and Jake will be in the second grade. Both kids love the school and we are looking forward to a summer full of "camps" at THA including Art, Science, Sports and Cheer leading. Izzy is wrapping up her last "season" of ballet and is looking forward to playing soccer in the Fall. Jake is kicking ass and taking names on the baseball field right now!

Life is pretty good on the Waz front!

Back to running... So, last summer I launched "Lowcountry Ultras" when we put on our Cremator Ultra 50 Miler and it has boomed in the last year. We, through out the next few paragraphs will refer to several GREAT friends, with out them I would not be able to do what I love on the running front! My "crew" with-in Lowcountry Ultras is made up of my wife Holly, my two best buds Paul and Gary, and two completely random but awesomely amazing 3rd party acquaintances turned into excellent friends, Kayla and Joe. Again, without these guys Lowcountry Ultras would not exist!.

Our second race, the Delirium Ultra 24 Hour Endurance race took place this February on what turned into the coldest night of the year. With temps dropping down well below 24 degrees with an 11 degree windchill factor! Holly, Paul, Gary and I ran this race while Kayla and Joe held the race together as "Race Director" and "Joe". Joe is the man to get anything, fix anything or get in touch with anyone! The race itself sold out in less than 30 days and was full of awesome race swag, beanies, hoodies, kickin' medals and a lot of great people!

The day we wrapped up the Delirium I went straight to work on the second annual Cremator. We moved the race to Beaufort this year after having issues with the course on Hilton Head and Bluffton. We now have a straight out and back 25 mile loop that the runners will do two times. Gary will be the head-dog in charge for this pony show, and Paul will act as my Crew Chief.

In addition to the Delirium, we are also picking up another local event, the Bad Marsh 50k Night Ultra. This was a part of East Coast Ultras races, but Becky decided not to have the event this year as she and her husband get ready for their first baby. We did not want to see the race die off, so we picked it up and added it into our series. It's on an awesome 4.5 mile looped course and is on the same course as my current 50K PR. I'll be the RD for this race!

Personally, I'm getting ready to run the Palmetto 200 this weekend from Columbia, SC to Charleston, SC. It's a 200 mile relay that is meant to be run my 12 people. I am doing it as any "Ultra" with only 3 other runners, Marie, David and Ed. We should have a pretty good chance of winner the "Ultra" division... IF... my knee holds up.

A few weeks ago I was out for a run and I felt something... pull or pop. I could barely put any pressure on it and walked back home. I took the next few days off, icing and just trying to stay off it as much as possible. A few days later the knee began to bruise. With the race coming up, I wanted to get training if possible so I would go out for shorter runs 2, 3 miles at a time. it wasn't until this past week that I was able to run 10 miles. It's still bothering me slightly, so I need to run very smart this weekend as I continue to train up for Cremator in July. We'll see how it holds up!

Other than that, the only other racing I'm planning for this year are:

Palmetto 200 April 13-14

Cremator 50 Miler July 21

Arkansas Traveller 100 October

Mad Marsh November

2013

Harbison 50k (we plan on running an extra loop for training)

Delirium 24 Hour

See you on the road!

@timwaz

Putting goals in writing...

So it's official, I put pen to paper and finally laid out my run plan for my up coming Mad Marsh Ultra 50K coming up on November 20, 2010. Signing up for a race is my first step towards motivation the second step is setting goals for that race. Normally my goals are something along the lines of: Beat last week's time or finish in the top 10 or win my age group, but going into this Ultra, I have mainly been thinking my goal would be... FINISH. But, over the last month of training, I have increased my overall weekly mileage, trained smart, switched up my running gear and have TOTALLY kick off some serious time on my long runs...all a while, stayed healthy, maintained a steady weight and met my training goals up to this point. So after all of that, I figured, finishing was not a goal worthy of the training I have put in so far.

My last 15 miler run I kept a sub 7:30 pace and felt like a million dollars. But I'm learning in Ultra running a fast 15 miler will only get you started and then you still have more than half of the race left to go. Slowing my pace down to 8:00-8:30 I easily cranked out a 20 and 24 miler in the mountains and still had plenty left in the tanks afterwards. Backing waaaaay down to 9:00 pace I feel that I can break my new GOAL of under 5:00.00 and leave plenty of room for error.

I've talked non-stop about this race over the last month with my "Team Captain/ Pacer" Giancarlo, and we both feel that this is right on track with my training for this race. This past week we laid out the course into 7 laps (4.5 miles each) and reviewed my nutrition plan, clothing, and hydration. We also have on "Team Ultra Waz" as my Chief Medical Officer Kayla, who already has Ultra support experience from this years Keys 50 mile Ultra. If the rain holds off, I should be good to go from a blister standpoint, but you never know. It'll be great to have Kayla's support, but I really hope she just sits there and gets bored. (sorry! If I need you, I'm hurting!!!!) G is planning on pacing me laps 3,4,6 and 7.

Personally, I am breaking the race down into a 3 lap race and a 4 lap race. The first 3 laps are "junk miles" I plan on sticking to my pace goals regardless of how I feel. Everything I have ever read about Ultras says that you can blow a race in the first 10 miles, so NO MATTER HOW I FEEL, I'm going to stick to the plan! After lap 3, I only have 4 laps left. Lap 3 is the Honesty Lap, really how do I feel at this point, where are the other runners, what do I need to do from here, and how can I get to where I need to be. Lap 4 and 5 are Power Laps, I should still have plenty of fuel in the tanks and I am making the progress I need to. Lap 6 is the Guts Lap, I know where I want to finish the race and I need to push harder and deeper to get through this lap. The last and final lap is the Heart Lap, here I've put in too many miles to give up even though my body is done. By this point my body is telling me to stop and the only thing I have left is my heart to get me across the finish line!!

Thinking it and doing it are two completely separate things, I know this. But putting my goals in writing makes them that much more solidified. I read today that the best advice one Ultra can give to another is "to run 26.2 miles as hard as you can, and then keep running!" I have bigger goals with my Ultra running for 2011 and I am very pleased with where I'm at 2 weeks out from this race. Next Saturday I will be pacing several members from the Palmetto Pacers Running Club to a sub 2:00.oo 1/2 marathon... perfect for more 9:00 pace training!!! Got a goal? Put it in writing, not only will it help you get there, but, others will know too and help push you to that point! Run hard, run smart and run with all your heart.