June 7, 2010
Weekly Training Summary (70.25 miles / 10:23:55)
This week had me on the fence. I knew I needed to start backing off and had planned to bring the miles down from the prior week’s 120. Probably 90 I told myself. However, it didn’t quite work out that way. I listened to my body and this is what it delivered.
Mon - BolderBOULDER 10K
Tue - Off
Wed - 9M
Thu - 13.5M
Fri - 11M
Sat - Green Mountain x 2
Sun - 10M / 10M
I ran the 10K as a fitness test but mostly for fun. Just felt good to try and do some speedwork and be in a race environment. Got a PR out of it so I was happy there of course. As planned, I took the next day off. It was June 1st and after the big charge in May to 400 miles, I owed myself the day off. Didn’t feel like anything special that day. Kind of wanted to run but found myself sort of groggy but figured it would shake out for the next day. It didn’t. It got worse. Now, that I had let my body back off, it was taking full advantage of this. I must have had some super energy and motivation during the end of May to string together all those big runs and capture those goals (week, month, PR). Once those were out of sight, things just fell apart. I needed to recover. OK, fine. So I tried to get more sleep. Got a great massage. Stayed off the 2-fers. Just tried to be normal.
Saturday morning was the first time I felt back in the game. I was able to PR the backside of Green Mountain which is probably the most important non-race PR and fitness test to me. Its just where many of us play so I like to keep moving the times down there. I have worked for it on and off over the winter so I was happy to see some dry trails and a good effort produce a better time. Surely, more seconds can be knocked off.
Rounded out the week with a more recently usual 2-fer to rack up 20 miles on Sunday. The morning wasn’t so special but the evening run felt fantastic. The sun was going down and it was cooling off and I just felt good moving faster than usual. I finished the run up around 7:30 — probably the latest finish of the year — and then promptly went into town and got a burrito, chips, ice cream and some beer. I was starving! Had a mini-feast when I returned and enjoyed the refueling process as much as the run. During the run, I was lost in a Leadville state of mind. Wondering where I would be at that hour of the day on course. Wondering if the sun going down would feel so great that day too. All those things keep me busy these days.
This is the final week of training before Lake City. Will run an equivalent or better week and then stop running cold turkey next weekend. That will give me about 5-6 days off before Lake City. I am taking the same approach I have in the past with ultras. Running decent up until the prior weekend then staying off my feet for a full rest and build up. None of that marathon type taper stuff where you do small speedwork sessions to keep the fitness up. Going for full relax to get maximum recovery and building up of fuel stores and healing of any nagging stuff. That should provide for a great platform for long run in the mountains on race day where I return to the ultra scene. Hopefully, not just to finish but be competitive.
