Today - Light Activity Day; Tomorrow - 20+Trail Miles

After running 9 miles and cycling 20 miles yesterday, today is a rest day. Do I look rested?

Just 2000m easy swimming and some core this morning. That's it!

Tomorrow I head out to Sourland Mountain Preserve with a small group of dedicated trail runners to get in at least 18 miles of rugged running. This is definitely necessary to get in my trail legs for UTMB.

It's been quite the training so far. It's Ironman training, but with a lot of dirt. I have to excel at both triathlon and ultrarunning this year, so I have to keep the training on a knife-edge balance to make sure I get in both elements.

And light activity days like this one are absolutely necessary. It's not just physical recovery, but a mental one too. I can basically catch up on other stuff while I look at where I go with my training in the future. It's definitely a day to refocus and to plan for the future.

With 9 weeks left till the first big race, the NJ Marathon, every day is critical now, even if I'm not training hard for it.

The 3:25 Goal at NJ Marathon on April 28 Just Got More Realistic!

The best thing about running with a club like the Raritan Valley Road Runners is that anyone can be pushed into a faster pace than normal. 

Picture of the Raritan Valley Road Runners this morning before the run. A strong group today!

I was pushed through the two Dragon loops through Rutgers and I would up finishing 15 miles at a 8:08 pace, which is starting to turn very comfortable for me.

My goal time of 3:25 for the NJ Marathon (7:48 pace) and a sub 4 hour marathon leg at Ironman Ireland is starting to get very realistic.

With still more than 2 months of training to go before the NJ Marathon (April 28), I'm looking quite good here! With a bit more work, hopefully I can actually crush that time!

The next few weeks are going to be VERY exciting!

Make Yourself a Priority First - You'll Find You'll Help Others A Lot More

A lot of things in my life change from year to year, but the core essence of my being lies in my fitness. Training every day is the backbone to which other things in my life flow from; my relationships, my work, and my family. Without this backbone, a lot of who I am starts falling apart.

That's the reason why I put fitness and my well-being over even my family, relationships, and work.

Because those three will not happen if I didn't have that fitness.

It might sound selfish, but it really isn't. One has to take good care of him/herself before he or she can take care of other people he or she cares about.
Make sure you treat yourself right. This way you can keep taking care of the people you care about year after year.

The trails here are a mess. Perfect time for trail running!

We had a bit of a wintry storm last night on Staten Island. We got about 2 inches of snow with a bit of ice on top. Checking a little of the trails yesterday revealed that the trails are a sloppy, muddy mess. You know, the type that makes each step an adventure.
Why would you want to run in that?

It's the extra challenge of running in those bad conditions that will make you a better ultrarunner. If you can run in those imperfect conditions, you can run in anything. Plus, if you're blessed enough to have perfect weather for your trail race, it will make things feel a lot easier.

You can definitely make the footing easier with screw shoes or other accessories like Yak Trax, especially if hard ice is present.

Anyway, I'll be running 8 miles on the sloppy trails tomorrow. And I'm going to love every step of it! 😎

Slimming Down to Race Weight

It takes a bit of time and patience, but consistency in training helped me trim a little weight. I'm in a good place with my training right now, especially when it's only February.

#triathlon #ultrarunning #Ironman #IronmanIreland #UTMB

Bridget Hudrick - Sub 20 minute 5K!!!

Congratulations to Go Farther Sports athlete Bridget Hudrick for running under 20 min at Run to the Plunge 5k at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. First time under 20 min for this distance. She ran 19:22, smashing the barrier by 38 seconds! Congrats Bridget!!! #running #dedication