Sunday, May 16, 2010

Bookkeeping and Catching Up

It's been a while since I've had an update on here, but that's mostly because I was consumed with finishing out the school year and also because Miwok caused my knee to suffer a bit of a relapse.  I was afraid of that going into the race, but I felt like I was in a bit of a Catch-22 situation--if I wanted to have an opportunity to race at Western States, I had to race Miwok, even though doing so might set me back physically.

With that in mind, I've taken the subsequent two weeks quite easy in terms of training load.  When I registered for Miwok last December I felt that it would be key to be sure to fully recover from Miwok before launching into any theoretical final preparations for Western States, and I feel like I've been successful (rare for me) in doing that.

After deciding that I do indeed want to race there (a more in-depth exploration of this topic here), I now feel ready to embark on another period of high-volume running before the taper for Western States, and, with the advent of the summer season, can't wait to start making regular forays into thinner air.  Now some snow just needs to melt!

Here are the past three weeks of "training", i.e. just lots of tapering and recovery with a single 62 mile effort interjected into the middle of it all:

04-26-2010
Mon-AM: 16 miles (2:21) Green Mt. up Back down Bear Canyon, 3000'

04-27-2010
Tue-AM: 8 miles (1:01) Creek Path+4mi barefoot at Kitt

04-28-2010
Wed-AM: 8 miles (1:03) Creek Path+1mi barefoot at Kitt

04-29-2010
Thu-AM: 8 miles (1:00) Creek Path in the rain

04-30-2010
Fri-AM: 8 miles (1:04) Creek Path+2mi barefoot at Kitt

05-01-2010
Sat-AM: 62 miles (8:02:51) Miwok 100K, 10,400' vertical

05-02-2010
Sun-PM: 1 mile (:10) Barefoot at Kitt with Jocelyn
Sore, but not too bad. Knee is definitely the worst thing.

Total
-Miles: 111
-Hours: 14h 42min
-Vertical: 13,400'
----------------------------------------------------------
05-03-2010
Mon-AM: 1.5 miles (:13) Barefoot at Scott Carpenter Park

05-04-2010
Tue-AM: 3.5 miles (:30) Creek Path with Jocelyn
Everything in my body feels recovered except for the knee.

05-05-2010
Wed-AM: 4 miles (:33) Barefoot at Kitt with Jocelyn

05-06-2010
Thu-AM: 7 miles (:54) Creek Path+2mi barefoot at Kitt

05-07-2010
Fri-AM: 6 miles (:48) Creek Path


05-08-2010
Sat-AM: 5 miles (:42) Creek Path with Jocelyn


05-09-2010
Sun-AM: 6 miles (:47) Creek Path to Chat and home


Total
-Miles: 33
-Hours: 4h 27min
-Vertical: nada
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
05-10-2010
Mon-AM: 9 miles (1:22) Green Mt. up Back down Front, 2800'
Knee was decidedly unhappy with this test.  Hitchhiked home.


05-11-2010
Tue-AM: 8 miles (1:02) Creek Path
Brutal acupuncture session with Allison afterwards.

05-12-2010
Wed-AM: 12 miles (1:30) Creek Path
Definite progress here.  Knee was 100% until the last 15min.

05-13-2010
Thu-AM: 13 miles (2:00) Green Mt. up and down Back, 2800'
Effortless 39:35 through 6-8" of new snow on Ranger.  Felt great to be back up on the mountain and knee was surprisingly tolerable on the downhill, especially considering how bad it was Monday.


05-14-2010
Fri-AM: 4 miles (:31) Campus

05-15-2010
Sat-AM: 13 miles (1:33) SoBo Creek out past Bobolink and back
Knee felt great and I got in some steady, easy flat running at sub-7s.


05-16-2010
Sun-AM: 14 miles (2:00) Green Mt. up and down Back, 2800'
Best run I've had since before Miwok.  34:41 up Gregory-Ranger despite not really feeling any exceptional energy in my legs--just felt like a normal day but with a bit higher exertion.  Really excited to get back into a solid daily training routine.

Total
-Miles: 73
-Hours: 9h 58min
-Vertical: 8400'

2010 Summits (Day 136)
-Green: 136 (I've now exhausted the +16 advantage I'd built up)
-Bear: 7
-SoBo: 2

18 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm no coach Tony, but my guess is that you did the smart thing by taking 2 solid weeks "EASY" and didn't go right back into hard training. 1) It gave you a chance to rest your mind/body. 2) It gave you time to make your mind up about WS. Glad you are going to do it.

João Gitahy said...

Hi Anton. Im from Brasil. Post more photos...Thanks and congratuleishon.

Anonymous said...

Tony,

Happy to see your post today. Your training is the best coach and inspiration I could have ever found! My mind and body are easily tolerating 80+ mile weeks.
Thanks!
Sarah

Stuart Swineford said...

Ha! The one week in my entire running career where I might have had an opportunity to log more miles than you, and I was sick. So you still crushed me. So awesome.

~stubert.

Charlie said...

Geoff, Hal, Killian, Tony, Jez, Tsuyoshi - a race made in heaven! 3 guys undefeated over 100 miles, 1 defending champion, 2 up and comers - you cant miss this one Tony!

Dare someone mention race record?

Unknown said...

Keep up the good work and say hello to Chautauqua and Green for me, and yes more pictures would be great. :)

Unknown said...

Tony - I was beginning to wonder where you had been hiding! :) Good to see you back on your feet and hitting the training runs nicely.

All the best for your WS run. Is your knee thing an old injury or did something else happen during Miwok?

Anonymous said...

Have you ever run in the Inov8 f-lite 230's? I was thiking about trying a pair.

Thanks,

Henry

Brandon said...

First let me say I am not exerting myself as an expert, much less a novice...and at the risk of being the guy that says "you should"...I would suggest a couple of things for your knee assuming you are open. Consider learning your own trigger points as it sounds a lot like that is what you are experiencing your pain from, especially in light of the fact that your Miwok race report made specific mention of your hips being somewhat uncomfortable from time to time...knee pain can often originate at the hips. One can see great benefit from spending some time laying on a tennis ball and moving it around the upper leg (incl. hips) to address tension in the quads and the general "stickion" that can develop as a result of extreme use.

Next time you're at the library see: Travell and Simon's 'Trigger Point Manual'

also consider the information at this page:
http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/trigger-points-treatment.html

...again, I am just making some suggestions for you to better manage your body under the extreme physical demands you subject it to...and you are a very talented runner and I would enjoy seeing you at your competitive best for the challenges ahead of you.

Anton said...

Mahesh-
Same old injury--been going on (off and on) for a full year now.

Brandon-
My acupuncturist's specialty is triggerpoints and she has given me a lot of self-applied acupressure techniques. My sports med doc gave me hip-strengthening exercises basically from day one over a year ago...which I've started doing again over the last couple weeks with this latest recurrence. Really, I've been trying to tackle this thing from every angle possible (including lots of time off last spring and last fall), short of surgery. Thanks for the tips, though.

Zazzle said...

tone-can you elaborate on the "hip exercises"? with my nagging knee i've been trying to focus on the hips too. would love your input on top of numerous so-so suggestions.

Unknown said...

Tony - Just a thought, its time you updated the side bar on your blog with the latest win at Miwok man. It still shows last year's Leadville DNF as the most recent race.

I couldnt follow it live but read on Karl's blog that Jurek smashed the 24hr US record in France. Felt great to see him back to his winning ways.

GZ said...

It probably me because I tend to look at start lists and think - "wow, that might be the best (or top 2 or 3) start list for that race ever." But Geoff is captain CR creator, you have not lost a hundred you did not DNF, Hal is 2x champ, and Kilian is from Spain. Or France. Or both. Sumthin' like that.

It IS going to be HOT in those canyons.

David Hill said...

The words you wrote..."One of my problems with running in general is that it is so inherently selfish. I spend a whole lot of time every day doing something that benefits only me." I think come from too narrow a view. As apparent in frequent comments here, you benefit many with your posts. You inspire others to push their perceived limits and re-think what's possible for themselves. That kinda makes you a bodhisattva in your own way. Thanks.

David
Chicago Dog Runner

Rod Bien said...

Nice. I get two weeks this week where I kick your ass in mileage this year.
Browning and I are going to be on the WS course June 2-4 and camping up there if you have any desire. That way we will miss the zillion people up there during Memorial Day Weekend. Let me know if you make it over....

Anonymous said...

Anton,

I am a huge fan of yours!!

I was wondering if it is possible to get a couple of autographs of you for my sons.

If you have time - let me know at

cschell@wausau.k12.wi.us

Thanks,
Chris

Scott McMurtrey said...

Happy recover -- and happier training!

Anonymous said...

Hi Tony,

Sorry about the anonymous, I don't have a google account, but what I wanted to ask you is if you have a coach? I was thinking about your knee injury (from racing?), so I had a quick look at your training, and, I'm sure it's me, but I can't figure out the rhythm of it (in either distance, time, verticle or some combination)?

Simon