2/11 Mon-AM: 16 miles (2:09) South out and back
Ran nice and easy with Kyle. He was a little tired from hammering with Matt yesterday and I was pretty tired from my biggest weekend in a while. Great day to get the shirts off and just chill out and get a tan.
PM: 6 miles (:51) North Monument
Easy cruiser in the FiveFingers. I felt really good for some reason.
2/12 Tue-AM: 24 miles (3:07) Buckhorn Mt.
Solid, semi-tempo effort up the 3.5 mile climb in 32:25 and then dropped a 5:35 mile on the way back through Bear Creek just to test out the legs. Hamstrings still tight, but a great day all around.
PM: 4.5 miles (:41)
Nice easy run w/ Jocelyn and Kyle after work.
2/13 Wed-AM: 24 miles (3:20) Buckhorn Mt.to 666 Loop
This was a great run on a shirtless-warm day w/ Kyle. We were actually able to complete this loop, but there were some significant drifts up on the ridge. Kinda tired by the end. Great morning in the mountains.
PM: 5.5 miles (:44) CRC Monument Loops
Ran easy w/ Kyle and Greg from New Balance in the FiveFingers. Felt good.
2/14 Thu-AM: 23 miles (3:03) Up High Drive and down Gold Camp
It was snowing this morning and that made the ice on High Drive super slick. I fell twice--once skinned up my hip and the other was while cranking down Gold Camp. I fell so hard it knocked the wind out of me. Tired by the end of this run, but I felt no need to taper for Moab on the weekend.
PM: 5 miles (:41)
Easy w/ Jocelyn in the FiveFingers.
2/15 Fri-AM: 11 miles (1:32) South out and back plus North Loop
Nice mellow run with Kyle and Jocelyn in some great fog. Legs felt good. Drove to Moab after the run and slept right on the starting line for the 50K.
2/16 Sat-AM: 35 miles--Red Hot Moab 50K+ (34 miles) in 4:03:02
Ran with Kyle. Did a mile easy cooldown w/ Jocelyn, Kyle, and Anna.
2/17 Sun-AM: 0 miles
Total: 154 miles (20:21)
This was a solid week. I had some big mileage until Sunday because I didn't do any speed. I held off the speed because I was feeling pretty stressed from last Thursday's workout plus the weekend distance. Plus, I still feel like I'm just trying to get into shape---I love consistent daily 3hr mountain runs for building basic fitness.
The weekend was pretty good--I was pretty heartened about my fitness considering the quick pace we took it out at and especially considering the way Kyle and I were able to respond with a huge surge when we needed to the last two miles. That showed me that we truly were running easy up until that point. Averaging 7:09 pace fairly casually on a technical course with ~4500' of vert makes me confident about my fitness as I begin my major build-up for American River. Right now, I think 7 minute pace should hopefully be doable there.
Finally, that last downhill surge in the race did tweak my shin again, though. That, combined with all of the downhill slickrock running that was in the race. The shin caused me to take Sunday (and the following Monday) off, but it really was just a slight setback and I'm just glad that I'm getting smart enough to listen to my body and not try to run through little twinges like that. It's all about remaining disciplined enough so that I can be consistent in the coming weeks.
6 comments:
Tony,
I'm glad you post this blog; its good reading and gives some insight into the high mileage approach.
Yet... living in the upper midwest; postings this week such as "its a shirtless day" when we're in our 7th day out of 10 when its been single digits or colder starts to make me wish you were back in Montana!
Tony, do you wear any kind of GPS to work out the milage you're doing or are the trails well marked and such?
I should think it's difficult to work out on Google Maps, especially just trying to remember what routes you took with milage so high.
Tony,
While you were resting Sunday, everyone else was out running their butts off! Seriously, it is good to take a day off every now and again, especially when you are twinging.
Or is that just being weak?
Good luck with the training, tanning, racing etc.
PS Would like to hear more about your shoe mods when you get the urge.
Whew - that's a big week Anton. See you and Kyle in about a weeks time in Copper Canyon!!
Cheers, Paul
I can't believe I am sitting here in Oregon training my ass off while you and Kyle find the time to "run easy," in a race none-the less.
I want you to know that on a recent group run I was spotted clocking 8:30 miles. Realizing this was WAY ahead of my Western States race pace, I have decided to back off my training. A good idea because I was already topping out at 80 miles a week. Now I can sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of my labor. It'll be hard to keep off these legs, however knowing that my recent pace will shoot me into Auburn in 16 hours or less makes all the difference.
Now that you've read this delirious post, I hope you can excuse the abstract point-of view, present tense/past tense banter and please allow me to congratulate you on a great run.
Here's to seeing you at AR. Or should I saw watching.
Hal
Shirtless already?
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