My wife’s first words when I told her I registered: “you’re gonna die!”.

It has been a great feeling cross training, and the benefits have been immediately apparent in my running. I’m getting outside more, stressing the knee less, and feeling my overall fitness increase markedly.

Inspired by a former classmate who just finished a full Iron Man, and trying to make good on a promise I made to myself years ago, I’ve finally set the date for my first Triathlon.

The biking and the running aren’t a concern – and I’m pretty sure I could tough out the combination with just a few months’ training. It’s the swimming I’m most concerned about. Hopefully, with the better part of a year to build up, I should be fine. Guess we’ll see!

I’ll likely try a sprint tri and an olympic distance earlier on next season, just to understand more how it operates. This will remain my training goal for the next year, though. Not sure how doing a specific 50k falls into the training, but I’m sure it’ll all fall into place eventually. The goal has been and will always be to spend as much time outside as possible and to enjoy every minute of it. Having plunked down a hefty $200 registration fee should really force me to get off my ass and make it happen.

I will say I feel entirely (maybe too) motivated after watching crewing and pacing for Dirt Dawg at the Burning River 100 earlier this month. I feel ambitious, to say the least.

Things that have helped:
1) Biking / cross training: Immediate and obvious benefits come on uphill work. Heritage Park offers some bite-sized yet steep inclines, and they’ve been easier and easier the more miles I log on the bike. Also, cycling has helped me maintain and increase fitness, let me get outside more often, without worrying too much about my knee. I also never realized before – I really enjoy it.

2) Cutting out dairy and fish: I’m in my 15th year as a vegetarian, but never considered Veganism until last week when reading up on athletes like Scott Jurek and Dave Scott (a champion ultra-runner and a champion iron man, respectively). The more I read, the more I believe a strict vegan diet is more appropriate for athletes. Ethical considerations aside (which are also important to me, but maybe not to Joe Reader), a plant-based diet has more nutrients per-pound than meat. Also, less fat, less heart-attack causing stuff, fewer chemicals like antibiotics and growth hormones, etc. Anyway, there’s science behind it. My point here is that I’ve seen a noticeable increase in energy and endurance within the first week of this experiment. If it continues to go this well, I’ll continue to keep at it.

I’m currently scouting out events for my first 50k, which I’m aiming to do next year. I was planning on the Dances With Dirt in Gnaw Bone, but alas my younger sister chose that specific day to get married. I’m currently looking around, but maybe thinking something like the Vermont 50m later next year would be just as good – just stick to self-supported marathons in the interim.

Been loving summer, but I’m looking forward to winter/snow runs.

Anyway, this post has quickly lost its form. Just wanted to update and keep this thing alive.

In every interview I hear with Scott Jurek – he’s introduced as “probably the best Ultramarathoner of our time.” With all due respect (which is tons), we just might be entering a new time.

Just before dawn on Saturday Kyle Skaggs did what few runners thought possible. He finished the grueling Hardrock 100 Endurance Run in under 24 hours, setting a new record with a time of 23 hours, 23 minutes, 30 seconds. See results and video of finish here. “This is the performance of the year in ultra-running. Someone’s going to have to walk on water to top this” said his friend and fellow runner Nate McDowell.

+ Kyle Skaggs breaks Hardrock 100 CR by 2 hours, 45 minutes.

The pain’s not a big deal if you view it as an indication of progress, though. So long as it’s not intolerable and I’m not having to mask it with Ibuprofen just to get a short run out the door, I’m assuming my body is OK with it.

I’ve cut cheese and dairy out of the diet to see if it makes any difference in healing times and energy levels. I’ve been experimenting with some interesting new vegan recipes (self-invented/improvised) such as Red Beans & Rice, which I haven’t had in the 14 years since I stopped eating meat.

Treadmill pace is whittling down into the low 8/high 7 minute mile range. Distances are getting back up there. It feels good to feel somewhat back in the game.

A nice long trail this weekend will be a good change of pace, and hopefully the last snowy run of the year. Sure I love them, but having to gear up like an Eskimo is getting tired.

The first 1/2 mile getting to the main road is paved side streets and therefore slushy or slippery. Not bad for warm up, but not quite long enough to prepare me for the 6 miles of snow that ensued. It ranged from 3 inches to over a foot in some places, and despite the thrill it provided I clocked a dismal average of 13:30 miles.

The snow reflected the moonlight enough to make up for my lack of headlamp and reflector vest, and some sort of magical fairy dust must have prevented the snow from melting through my tights/Injinji/Salomon XA combo. Every mile or so I’d stop and brush the packed snow out from behind the tongue of my shoe, but the moisture never made it in, despite being in knee-high snow at some points, jumping in and out of plowed banks.

In all, a nice start to a new year. This was the best run since before the marathon, and I can feel the bug brewing again.

I’m submitting my entry form for the North Country Trail Run tomorrow, thus emotionally committing me to the rigid training schedule I’ve got planned. Running gear comes to work from now on, and two sessions per-day should become the norm.

My new year’s resolution, aside from the 50 miler (though logically intertwined) is to stop taking on freelance projects, despite the economic niceties they afford. A couple extra grand in your bank account at the end of the year isn’t worth missing out on time with loved ones (or stressing out when you’re with them), and missing out on life in general. I’m going to try a new concept called ‘40 hour work week’, and make efforts to put life before work and not vice versa. I’ve tried it one way, now let’s go for the other. If my suspicions are correct, both my outlook and therefore the quality of my work will improve.

And plus I’ll get to run more.

For an actual break, we headed out to New York City for a few days of shopping and enjoyment. I love the city as much as ever, but am now forming a clear distinction in my mind separating it from a place I once wanted to live to a place I should only visit once per year. In addition to virtually bleeding money every minute you’re there, it wears you down. At least this is the case the older I get. The city is beautiful but my mind is elsewhere. I don’t seek out the hustle and bustle like I used to, and would rather have trees, mountains, solitude and a few good miles of great trails.

To cap off 2007 we saw the legendary Les Paul perform at the Iridium Jazz club, just north of Times Square. At 92 years old, how many more opportunities will we have to see him (though he is a weekly act there)? The show was amazing, but the food and service a disaster on account of poor management. We felt bad for our waitress, having to spend her New Year’s Eve placating irate customers, and ended up tipping her an additional $50 in cash and a hug to hopefully be some glimmer of light in the midst of an awful evening. Further proving the notion of Karma, a few minutes later when we were exiting, we got to meet none other than Les Paul himself. I asked permission to shake his hand, and we talked for a few solid minutes about the Detroit Jazz scene, the clubs he once played and old contacts he had in the city. We hopped a $20 rickshaw ride the mile back to our hotel at 57th and Lexington, and got to soak up some final glimpses of New York City on New Year’s Eve. All-in-all great night, and a complete contrast to what we did last year. Something I’ll always be thankful I did, but probably something I only need to do once in this lifetime.

- – - – -

In terms of running it’s been a disappointing few months. The Marathon required a few weeks of recovery, but not as much as I took. A nagging knee pain (probably my perpetual IBS) was the continuing excuse, but work was the primary cause. It’s a cruel irony that when I need it most is when it’s hardest to fit it in. I guess that’s what separates the hardcore from the hardest-core; and I’m obviously not yet the latter.

As I look out my window though, the 11 inches of snow are stacking up against the early setting sun. It’s the first day of 2008, and the official 1 year anniversary since I began running seriously. This day last year I set out for a 5 mile run in the bone-chilling winter winds of Northern Michigan. I made it maybe 2 miles before I was attacked by dogs and had to return home, with my figurative tail between my legs, but the training went full force from that point on. Ten months later I ran the Detroit Marathon.

Tonight I’m inclined to set out for an ambitious and symbolic 10 mile snow run. I’ve got the gear and feel mentally prepared. The sidewalks aren’t shoveled so it might as well be trail running, except for the storefronts and streets on either side of me (and thus the perpetual risk of getting squished by a car). That said, it all seems a great start and a necessary step for the year I plan on finishing my first ultra: the North Country Trail Run 50 miler.

9 months and counting.