Blog - Josh Spector

Relatively speaking…

Relatively speaking, I got good news from a doctor’s appointment yesterday. Under most circumstances, being told that you’re going to need to undergo six 6 weeks of radiation therapy to remove or stop the growth of a tumor in your spine would not be good news. The radiation therapy can have side effects like nausea and…

Monthly Summary – October 2014

October was… not really what I expected. I think it’s best to start with looking at my “Goals for October” as I set them in my September Monthly Summary blog post. The red is my evaluation of how I did: Eat better. I managed this pretty well. If I exclude the Halloween candy I ate…

Alternatives to running

My slow return to running was going well. And then it wasn’t. I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or if it’s just that my body isn’t ready to run again yet. I go back and forth all the time from frustration to acceptance. This morning, it’s acceptance. I was running every other day and starting…

This morning

(photo: Michael Chamoun) It’s the middle of October and – finally – all feels pretty much right in the fitness part of my world. Holy crap, it only took me twelve weeks since Badwater to be able to write that. And it was only two weeks ago that I started writing a blog post with the title…

Monthly Summary – September 2014

September was notable for a few things, some positive and some negative. Since I’m trying to have a glass half-full attitude, I’ll start with the positive: I swam a fair amount. Well, a fair amount for me (or a non-triathlete version of me). The 14,100 meters I swam this month was the most in any single month…

Monthly Summary – August 2014

This wasn’t the month of training I expected. Or the month I wanted. But it was the one I got and I made the best of it. I first noticed that my achilles was bothering me right around the first day of August and – of course – hoped it wasn’t anything to worry about….

Josh’s Badwater 135 FAQ

There are some questions that a lot of people have asked me since finishing Badwater 135 a few weeks ago, so I figured I’d put together Josh’s Badwater FAQ. I know you all are probably pretty over reading about my race, but please indulge this one final post! Which was harder, Brazil 135 or Badwater 135? This is…

What Worked for Me at Badwater 135

After some of my races, I like to do a summary post describing what worked for me (and what didn’t) during the race. After Bear 100, I did a separate blog post about it. After Run Rabbit Run, I included it in my race report. After Brazil 135, I formalized it in a separate post…

Monthly Summary – July 2014

Obviously, July was all about Badwater. July opened with the start of my taper, then I raced and have been recovering ever since. In other words, it was an incredible, kick-ass month. Tomorrow I’m headed out to Wrightwood to spend the weekend crewing and pacing Billy at AC100. It’s his first attempt at running 100 miles and…

2014 Badwater 135 Ultramarathon Race Report

Crossing the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon finish line was a goal five years in the making. When I ran, especially when I ran long, I often thought about someday crossing the finish line at Badwater. I first really learned about Badwater in 2007 from my friend Chris Bergland, when I got to know him and read his…