15 Days to the Tough Mudder - Holy Running Shoes!

If we ain't ready by now, we ain't gonna be ready. With just two weeks to go, the training should be about done and in a week the "taper" (if you do one) will begin. I'm really excited to see how much fun Team Mind of Mudder really has. That's what this one is all about - fun and finish! Since they aren't timing us, it's all about the challenge to finish. It's about 6 weeks since I started focusing on running and training for the Mudder and today, I realized something magical is happening to my old bones and muscles. I had yet another incredible run like I had on Wednesday evening and I'm feeling strong and powerful (huh?!). Its very, very odd. Normally, I poke along and really feel pain when I push it. I almost always feel heavy and sluggish -- never light, nimble or jack be quick. It used to always seem like an effort to run, bike or go fast at anything. On Wednesday, I mentioned how by luck (I'm guessing), I had a great run and did my personal best for 36 minutes. Today was another record breaker. Not only did I go 7 trail miles (2 mile, 800 ft elevation climb up the side of a mountain on snowmobile trail carrying a 10 pound rock the last 5 minutes, 2.5 miles of very rocky trail, and 2.5 descend back down the same mountain I came up on a different snowmobile trail), but I did it in a 10:56 mile pace! I astounded myself. For the fun of it, when I came off the rocky trail and knew it was all downhill from there, I thought "let's see if we can hit the 12:00 minute mile average pace and get back in less than 23 minutes." When I stopped the clock, I came down the 2.4 mile trail in 15 minutes which left me at a 10:56 mile average pace. Holy shit -- I believe the old bod is finally saying, "ok, I'm happy now -- I'll reward you." Of course my analytical side can't help but try to figure out what the heck is going on. Could it be the soy protein I'm sucking down? Could it be I wasn't on a bike all week except for 1/2 hour on Tuesday? Could it be it was an early morning run (and that's when I'm freshest)? Whatever it is -- keep it coming! I love it. It made even think about running more and biking less. Hmmm.....