Backloaded with My Team Triumph

Starting Line with My Team Triumph

This week was modest in terms of total mileage, but it culminated with a spectacular day of running to wrap up the week. A few weeks back I was contacted by Christian Jensen, president of My Team Triumph. They are an organization that gives individuals with disabilities an opportunity to participate in the community through endurance sports. This is something I feel strongly about and I am extremely happy to be developing what I hope to be a long term relationship with the organization. Anyway, Christian encouraged me to consider helping out with a number of events they have on the schedule, which includes a 135-mile trek across part of Wisconsin, which I will probably be doing half of, and the Seroogy's Valentine's Day 15k. I am pleased to have just experienced the latter of the two. It was a day filled with great experiences.

My Team Triumph

I woke up early Saturday morning at 3:30 am in hopes to log a few miles before the 8am start of the Seroogy's 15k. I wanted to get in a solid 30-mile effort because I had only run 50 miles in the six days leading up to Saturday. It was a down week, so a 30-miler would bring my weekly miles to a satisfactory spot. I ran about 6.5 miles before the race. When I met up with My Team Triumph I learned that I would be on a team with a group of guys who would alternate pushing Josh, our team captain, in his racing chair. I was extremely pleased to find out that Roy Pirrung, ultramarathon legend and huge role model of mine, would be part of the team I was on during the 15k! It was great to get to talk to him during and after the event. It was also a great experience to get to talk with Josh, our captain. He was quite the comedian along the way, and overall a very positive person. I really look forward to participating with the guys in my group during upcoming events.

When all was said and done with the 15k, I had approximately 16 miles under my belt for the day. I was able to give myself a tour of the city of De Pere for another 16 miles to cap the day at 32 miles. I intended to do 30 miles but got off track for a bit. No harm, no foul. I finished the down week with 82 miles. My body is feeling great, and the 32-miler was probably one of the smoothest I have felt on a training run of 30+ miles. I did not ever notice any big dips in energy levels or motivation. I love to see this because it tells me my body is responding well to training.

One of the reasons I set up my week of running like this is because I wanted to keep my miles down, as it was intended to be a recovery week, while still letting my body experience the rigors of some long bouts of running. I thought planning an ultra-style long run for the end of the week would do just the trick. See a summary of this week's running below.

Also, please check out more info on My Team Triumph and their cause.

Sunday	10 miles
Monday	Off
Tuesday	10 miles
Wednesday	AM: 10 miles PM: 5 miles
Thursday	AM: 10 miles PM: 5 miles
Friday	Off
Saturday	32 miles
Total	82 miles