March 1-7, 2015

I feel old. I turned 25 on Saturday. After reading many articles about "the aging athlete" and "speed training as you age" or... Okay, so maybe I'm not quite there yet, and I guess the only real difference now is that I am in the 25-29AG...and car insurance goes down. Wootwoo! I spent my birthday watching a weekend of ski joring. If you don't know what that is, look it up on YouTube.

I'm so mature ^

Anyway, I had somebody ask, "What did mono and the setback with injury teach you? Do you think you came out of both having learned something important?"

This is was a difficult question for me since I tend to be a pretty stubborn person. The biggest thing I learned from mono (and probably injury too) is that recovery is important. I knew recovering from mono would be a long process, but I'm not sure I actually understood how long.

The bone bruise (foot) came from a bad step, followed by 12 miles of pounding. I had already finished 13 miles, but still had 12 to go. Looking back on it, should I have been running 25 miles only 3 weeks after being cleared to run again? But, like I said a few weeks ago, I wanted to go down to FL on my 25th birthday and lay down a solid 50 miler. I do not regret that I didn't get to race, but I definitely think I next time I will make a better choice.

Also, living and training at altitude requires much more recovery. I have a feeling that by living a 10,200ft and still getting over mono, recovery is going to be a huge factor for me. If I want to have any chance at a successful late spring, summer, or fall, then I need to pay attention now.

The other takeaway is that good shoes are key. I realized that I had over 800 miles on my Brooks Ghosts when I injured myself. Normally I am ~400 miles per pair of shoes before I get new shoes. A weakened body + old shoes probably was not the best mix. Right now I am running in the Hoka Clifton and they have been wonderful in getting me back out there.

Training

Workout #1: 1x3, 1x2 @ MP

Warm up, 3 miles at marathon pace, 1 mile easy, 2 miles at marathon pace, cool down. I was going to try 2x3, but the wind and ice broke me down. I still had 5 miles of quality for the day, so it's not like I had a bad workout.

Workout #2 - 3x[2:1/1:2] Fartlek

The purpose of this workout was just to get the legs out and moving fast. The hard sections were hard and the easy was easy. We also filmed part of this workout. There is a short clip of it on IG, and a longer video will be coming later.

Total ~35 miles for the week.

Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have any questions. Happy training!

February 15-28, 2015

I had somebody ask me what race I think I have the best chance of running to my peak fitness in 2015. I think there are 2 sides to this question - road and trail. I wasn't exactly sure how to answer this since I will be doing more trail stuff early, and road stuff later. So, here are my two picks.

My road pick is the Indinapolis Monumental Marathon in November. I have only heard great things about this race, and there are always some fast times. Flat course, cool weather, and a good mix of competition should make for an exciting race. Also, with the race being in November, it gives me time to build upon spring/summer/fall fitness. The one downside to a November race is I will have been racing all spring, summer, and fall -- will that leave me flat in Novmeber, or ready to PR.

I had a hard time picking a trail race. So many things can come into play -- elevation gain, temperature, humidity, technicality of the course, etc. It will be my first 50 miler, but I think Silver Rush 50 is my best chance of racing at peak fitness. Why would I say a 50M at 10,200ft? I live at 10,200ft and can train on the course, so that is a plus. I will also be racing the trail marathon a month before, so there will hopefully be a fitness bump from that. I am really not sure how my body will react to racing that length, but I think that will be my best chance.

Training Update

Feb 15-21

I was finally able to start running again thanks to acupuncture, and the Hoka Clifton. I was shocked at how cushioned and light they are. Nothing too exciting, 20 miles of running and 9k of swimming.

Feb 22-28

I took a quick trip down to NM hoping to find warmer weather and less snow... Unfortunately I found snow and cold. Oh well.

The 2 main workouts of the week were:

A) 1x3mile at Marathon Effort

B) 10x:60/:60 fartlek

I'm not really sure how pace/effort for a marathon feel at 10,000ft compared to sea level, so this will be a leaving period. Either way, the workouts went well, and I was pleased with the week. ~30 miles.

Have a great week, y'all. Happy training!