Run24Hours

I originally tried to perform an unprecedented “stay in shape after Across the Years” tactic this year. It worked for a couple of weeks, but my body needed rest. I am rebuilding. The good news is that I lost less than I expected… which I attribute to running hard through mid-January and a recent change to extremely healthy eating. I’m about 75% of where I was at the end of the year.

I’m not going to spend much time looking back at ATY 2008. 76 miles wasn’t what I wanted, but I have no regrets and enjoyed the race immensely. In short, I relaxed myself during the race to the point that I lost a level of intensity that I have brought before. The problem was fixed by sunrise, but it was too late to do anything dramatic. Like always, I’ve learned from it.

Current goal is to keep training daily. First triathlon (Olympic distance) in 2.5 months. It will be refreshing to train and compete with some intensity. Two workouts so far in March and spirits were good for both.

I’ve been continuing to accumulate good mileage. I’ve used the computrainer as a diversion on a couple of nights, and had a fantastic 10 mile run after a hilly 20 mile ride on the trainer. This is definitely do-it-or-don’t time, so I’ll be out for a 20 miler tonight, and need to get several 30 milers in by the end of the month. Saturday or Sunday morning is the target for the first one.

The bad news is that I spent a few days with some sort of flu/virus. I’ve had to stay in the past few nights. 300 mi this month is going to be an uphill climb.

The good news is that I’m nearly 100% back - it was one of these brutal sick for 24-48 hour deals, but then quick recovery.

I worked out tonight, but not running. A computrainer showed up at my house this week. Finally tonight I was feeling well enough to mount my road bike to it and go for some simulated rides.

Holy moly. You can ride any type of course anytime you want. It is a realistic and immersive experience. I made some test courses (many come preloaded with the software, as well), and then I raced a computer pacer on a 3 mile course, with some 6% grades. Wow. I should have gone slower and aerobic, but I couldn’t resist trying to pull away from the computer pacer… and then race against my own performance on the same course. After a half-dozen miles, I was drenched with sweat, and stumbled around the house a bit getting my bearings back. It’s a level of anaerobic training that I can’t get to in running, due to my need to keep my speed down so that I don’t get hurt. Also, I have no business training at those high heart rates right now. I will try tomorrow to go at a reasonable pace and assure a lower heart rate. Oh yeah, I’ll try to run, also.

In any event, it was a lot of fun. One ATY is over for the year, the computrainer will be a good way to keep my endurance up while preventing running burnout. It is a great, safe way to train on your own actual bike at night.

20 miles tonight. The beautiful part was starting at 4:30pm. I was finished by the time my usual start time rolled around. I now have more mileage in November than all of October. If tomorrow and Sunday go as planned, I’ll have over 100 miles in the first 1/3rd of the month. I may have procrastinated in getting to the higher mileage workouts this year, but so far, I’m ramping up in the clutch.

Now writing again. I took an unnecessarily easy month in October. Now down the stretch, I am highly motivated. I will run more miles in November than any previous month that I have. My previous high mileage month was September 2007 with 304. I will exceed that total this month, marking the first time that I will actually peak as ATY approaches. Last year my peak was early October.

In 6 days, I have nearly the mileage that I had throughout the month of October.

One week ago, I thought that catching up would be impossible, and that I’d basically have to play it extremely safe at ATY, knowing that I could not sustain any pace through the night. The last three nights worked together to let me know that was wrong. I am back to a long, slow, sustainable workout pace. I will be putting it to the test Friday night and again on Sunday morning, expecting each to be a run in excess of 20 miles. That will open the door for several marathon+ level workouts this month, with a few more in early December. Quite frankly, I do not know how to be better prepared than that. If I can keep running daily, I can keep writing daily. If I can keep writing daily, I can keep running daily.

I’ve been doing what is needed for my ultra training. I have not, however, taken it “over the top” as I had hoped. I will need to rely on October and November to do that. I had been backloading September with mileage with decent success, but a kaleidoscope of flu-like symptoms has gotten in the way. I believe I’ve turned the corner on that and will be back on the road today or tonight.

Last year I front-loaded my training and burned out in October. The good news is that there is no danger in a recurrence this year. It’s too late to frontload and I am not feeling any signs of burnout. My biggest struggle has been adding a mental intensity to my training. I ditched caffeine in any form about 3 weeks ago. This also means that I not longer chug Coca Cola in the middle of workouts. That may have to come back, as it was a staple of my second-thirteen on nights when I used to go 26+ miles.

October will tell me a lot. My priority for October is raw mileage, no matter the workout length or the frequency that I run. 300 miles, or close to it, will be needed. November will be about longer runs. I should also approach 300 miles in November, but it should be accomplished in fewer workouts than October.

Just another good run tonight after a few days of air travel and a 36 hour travel/work stretch with no sleep. Those are going to periodically happen, but the best thing I can do is bounce back ASAP afterwards. I should be solid for 150+ mi this month. For August that’s swell.

I was just shy of 10 miles tonight. It was a reach for some key leg muscles, but that’s the only way I’ll build them up. I wish they had felt more comfortable, but that is something I’d say no matter what.

Andy has been running consistently for months. I am very proud of him. His goal, if I recall correctly, is to finish a half marathon in January. I have to admit, many months ago when Andy first mentioned his desire to train, I did not take him seriously. The months have passed. He’s still doing it. I’m damn impressed. It is not an easy habit to start. Or to keep going.

An easy 6 tonight in moderate wind and light rain. It was a good departure from the hot, still air of the Arizona summer nights. I feel very healthy so far with the shorter, consistent runs. For me, a consistent mode of working out makes me sharper, happier… and I just feel good. A lot.

Geez - I just looked back at last September’s blog entries. I thought I had covered about 240 miles last September. It was over 300 and I took off at least part of the last week of the month. DAMN. It was a road map for burnout by mid to late October, which is exactly what happened. There is no denying how conditioned I was during that period, but sustainability has to be part of the equation. I can learn from that and craft this year’s training. I’d love to be able to do that and keep my head in the game through the ATY training season. We’ll see what I can figure out this year.

I am registered for Across the Years. The selection lottery will be held in about a week. I requested the following priority selections for the 24hr. 12/29, 12/30, 12/31. After a less-than-stellar performance last year, I hope that I do make the field and get to demonstrate or exceed my form from 2006.

While running tonight, I was contemplating my purpose for this race (or its purpose for me?). Looking at it from the outside, you just end up where you started. In 24 hours, you haven’t really gotten anywhere. From the inside, you have traveled an eternity… running throughout one complete spin of the earth. The run is its own creepy mountain. I was reading a lot about K-2 last night and how it is regarded as more difficult to climb than Everest. I read about the climbers… many died, surely knowing that a huge percentage that attempt K-2 never make it home alive. Still, they persist - perhaps NEEDING to be on the mountain… spending years in advance visualizing their ascent.

In more mundane news, I’m on a new pair of sneakers. I’ll do an ‘official’ weigh-in during the next few days. “Official” means that I bring a pen and paper with me to the scale. I’m up since my last weigh-in post, but with a lean body mass increase more than my overall weight increase. I’m running relatively short, but persistent workouts. 5 over the last 4 days. It’s early in the month, but I’m expecting 150 - 200 miles for this month. For August, that is fine. It will be spread over more workouts than the 4 months that will follow. Right now, the routine and enjoyment are the critical aspects. Ultimately, by November, the workouts will have lengthened to the point of potentially causing burnout. The longer I can enjoy things, the lower the chance that burnout can affect me. I hate even using the word, but if I do not face it head-on, it could destroy much hard work.