Photo courtesy of Andrew King - D4 Productions

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Apr 14 - 20 2008

  • Mon - 14 myles
  • Tues - 11 myles
  • Wed - off
  • Thurs - 16 myles
  • Fri - 11 myles
  • Sat - 23 myles
  • Sun - off
  • Total - 75 myles

Pic of the week - Aric finishing his first ultra

This picture was taken two years ago this weekend when Aric was finishing his first ultra. It was the Greenland 50k here in Colorado, which was held yesterday. Prior to this event Aric had not even run a marathon, had only trained for 3 months and finished in fine fashion. I remember prior to the event Aric was a nervous wreck wondering if he could finish. Now two years later Aric is training for his first 100 mile race - The mighty Wasatch 100. Keep training Aric, only 4 months of good training left.

I had another solid week, posting two "urban" course records against myself. Ya, I hold all the records on "my" courses... probably because I'm the only keeping track of my own times. Needless to say, I feel fast right now and I hope it lasts throughout the year. Sure there will be bumps in the road but I'll figure them out as they come.

Last week I compiled my monthly and yearly mileage for the last 4 years to see if I could spot any trends. I spotted two trends: Injuries and time off. I noted my injuries from my logs and found that when I ran more 270 myles or more for more than one month in a row, the 3rd month brought on injury. My average monthly mileage was around 230, while my weekly mileage was around 60. It's hard to believe my weekly mileage is hovering around 70 so far this year and it's the best I've felt in a long time. Since I've been running ultras I have taken off two winters and trained right through two winters. The two winters I took off I had my best running the following years, to include this year.

I honestly believe it takes years to build a good base for an ultra runner. Although I've been running all my life, training for an ultra takes it's toll with injury. If you ramp up too fast, small twingy muscle injuries appear that compound into larger injuries such as stress fractures. Over the last 4 years I feel I have become a very efficient runner by minimizing my movement. If you've ever seen me run you'll notice I don't lift my knees very high, I limit my upper body movement, and my foot strike is center mid foot. Some people might say I run tired but I just say I'm efficient and reduce my chance of injury.

Now in my 5th year of running ultras, I feel my body has fully adapted to the mileage. I feel I can routinely carry an 80 to 90 mile week for a 5 week cycle. If I can stay away from injury and take care of myself then I think the higher mileage will be the difference to being a top contender consistently. Only time will tell.

Next week I hope to be in the mid 50's range with a couple of runs over at Mt. Falcon. Collegiate Peaks doesn't have a lot of hills but the goal race is Hard Rock, not CP 50.

Quote of the week: Once we accept our limits, we must go beyond them -Albert Einstein

1 comment:

Manners said...

What a memory. Besides the race, I remember words that were whispered, not being able to bend my knees for a few days and the copper hue of the Skinny Dip on tap. Happy I did it and still enjoying every step.
Thanks for the inspiration!