50-miler planning: Headlands Hundred event on August 8.

There is still plenty of room in the signup for this event, so I can continue to dream and procrastinate. The way I compute this, to complete a 50 mile trail run will require about 1/4 to 1/3 actual running with the remainder being done as a power walk. The 14.5 hour time limit should be possible with no running at all, but that isn't much of a goal. The bigger challenge is to meet the 11 hour threshold that qualifies for many 100 mile events.

Unfortunately my weight, which had reached 220 pounds (100kg), is simply not at a level that makes sense for mountain trail running, never mind that I have been covering 20+ miles without too much trouble. Thankfully the flu is helping to correct this. For the first few days, my appetite was completely gone. I decided to keep this going by consuming no more than a few hundred calories per day (one small meal). Since the flu isn't completely gone yet, the exercise program is a few hours of fast walking to cover 10 or more miles per day. The result is that I am down 17 pounds in 7 days. The real challenge is to keep this going, since a weight of about 170 pounds would be ideal. We will see if the will-power is there to keep this going.

UPDATE: It looks like the course was changed to eliminate Mount Tamalpais State Park. Sigh. The original was an out-and-back 50, but now it is two 25-mile loops. It is always too easy to drop out when you are at the finish line at 25 miles.