Back at it...

I didn’t realize it had been 5 years since I posted.  Over 5, actually.   That is what happens when you try to keep racing, and have a real job and lots of kids!  Since then I’ve ran, wouldn’t necessarily say raced, five 50k’s, the Uwharrie 40 and a 50 miler.  Since it has been over 5 years since doing my first 100, it is time to try my go at running around in the woods for an extraordinarily long time.  Myself and two friends signed up for the Uwharrie 100 in October.  36 hour cutoff, with 17k of vert.  Having done the 50k in 2019, I know what kind of joy...and misery....I am in for.  I’m coming off the back end of a calf injury I picked up closing out the dumpster fire that was 2020, but have a good start to a training plan that is a mix of running and time on the Peloton.  Having found precisely zero folks out there talking about how to supplement ultra training with a Peloton, I decided to pick back up my writing.  

Training yesterday - 45 minute PowerZone Endurance Ride with @oamoto

Training today - easy 3 miles on the pavement

On the books for tomorrow - Peloton...like I said, calf injury...

Umstead 100 - race report

This was my first 100 miler and I hit my "B" goal, finish in under 28 hours.   In summary, it was an extremely cold year for the race (temps dipped into the single digits at night) and there was a lot of carnage as a result.  I had the help of my family in crewing me and my friends to pace me.  Without them, I don't think I would have been able to accomplish my goal.  Although folks can complete the distance without support, us mere mortals rely heavily on others to engage in this selfish sport.

I developed a little bit of an ITB issue in December, so I had fairly low volume training the entire time (at least from training plans I have seen and what I have read online).  I never ran more than 56 miles in a week.  For those of you looking for low volume training plans, that worked (sort of, see below) My training looked like this:

December 29	x	x	x	4	x	24	x	28
January 5	x	x	5	x	x	18	x	23
January 12	x	1	5	4	x	24	6	40
January 19	x	4	x	5	x	24	8	41
January 26	x	x	5	x	x	12	x	17
February 2	x	x	5	4	x	28	9	46
February 9	x	5	2	5	x	30	10	52
February 16	x	x	4.5	x	x	8.2	5.3	18
February 23	x	4	5	x	x	47	x	56
March 2	x	x	3.5	x	x	13	4.5	21
March 9	x	5	x	4	x	20	8	37
March 16	x	4	x	x	x	14	3	21
March 23	x	3	x	x	x	100	x	103

Although I finished, I essentially was forced to walking the last 25 miles.  I developed a calf strain around mile 70, which I would attribute to 3 things: 1) I had ran 70 miles already; 2) I didn't get enough vertical during training; and 3) my volume was so low that since I didn't get enough vertical my calf said enough was enough.  Without the calf strain, I likely would have came in sub-24.  Oh well, another year perhaps.

In concluding, the race is extremely well run and the volunteers are better than any race I have previously ran.  If you can manage to grab one of the coveted spots, I highly recommend it.  If you are running the race and want to talk about the course, etc. please reach out.  I used to live in Raleigh and the course was my old training grounds, so I had the added benefit of knowing every bump of the course before I even started.

Umstead 100

I'm in!  I am working on a training plan and am going to go after my first 100 miler this coming March!  

Eastern Divide 50k

5:30 and 15th place (unofficial results).  A race report (with official results) will follow soon and replace this post)!

Week of 6/09

This week was a mini-taper before my 50k this Sunday, the Eastern Divide Ultra.  I ended up running 3 days for a total of 25 miles.  I officially registered for my race, which is the first race I will be doing that is registered through Ultra Signup.  After creating an account, the website pulled my results for TNFEC50 and JFK50, to give me a total ranking (52.66%) and age group ranking (53.94%).  It also predicts that I will run this race in 7:32:05.  It will be interesting to see how accurate that is, as my goal is to go sub-6.  Of course, the data set that the website has to calculate from is small and the two results are substantially different.  A sub-6 race could throw things even further off!

I plan to head out for a run with the group today (6 miles) and maybe stretch the legs out on Thursday with a short 3 miler or so.  Check back next week for results and a race report.

Week of 6/02

Last week was the final week before my taper to make sure I am healed up in time for the kick in the stomach that is otherwise referred to as the Eastern Divide 50k.  It was a solid 32 mile week (I only had time to run 3 days) and my long run left me feeling about as ready as I can given my current time constraints and my rather last minute decision to run the race.  This will be my first ultra without my trusty crew chief there at every aid station, since she has to stay home with the kids.  It will definitely take more planning and better packing on my part but since the race is "only" a 50k (i.e., I shouldn't have to worry about a shoe change, head lamp, etc...), it shouldn't be that bad.

My week went like this:

The last 2 weeks...

My last two weeks have been a little off.  I tweaked my back, which sidelined me for a few days and I also had friend come visit both weekends.  All in all I put in 41 miles over the past two weeks, 18 of which yesterday.  The Eastern Divide 50k is going to be tough given my current lack of fitness and there is no way I will be racing it, just running it but it will be good exposure to some vertical to give me an idea how my training is going.

"The Switch Flipper"

A few weeks back, AJW wrote a column over on iRunFar about the "switch flipper," which he described as that breakthrough workout that re-confirms the training you have been doing is working and that your body is ready to handle an increased load.  For me, that workout was yesterday.

Week of 5/12

This week was awesome.  Like usual, Tuesday was a speed day with the added benefit of the mercury climbing over 90.  Thursday was a single track/bridle combo that involved torrential downpours with flash flood warnings and two water crossing (one barely a trickle and the other a little tricky).  Overall it was a 32 mile week.  The mileage is slowly starting to inch upwards in advance of the Eastern Divide 50k next month.  I certainly won't have the conditioning level to race it hard but it will be a great way to spend a day in the mountains power hiking the uphills.  The week went like this:

Week of 5/05

This was a scheduled rest week that turned out a little lighter than originally planned.  That is what happens when you have awesome newborn twins though.  I generally plan a down week every 2-3 weeks, depending on how I am feeling.  Although I take a lot of rest weeks, in comparison to others, it keeps me relatively injury free.  The week went a little something like this: