January Training
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| Wisconsin Winter Run Training! |
I got back into specific race training after taking much of October through December running when I felt like it, taking random classes at the YMCA, visiting my PT, and just having fun outside with my family. I also spent a lot of time working on stretching, functional strength, and overall power. I decided to experiment a little with this block of race training. After focusing mostly on long semi-fast runs last year I began to feel as though I had hit a mental and physical plateau. Last year the only real power/threshold work I did was on the hills, and even that was well below my max effort. Taking into account how I felt in my last race of 2012, like I had no speed or power left for the up hills at the end, I am focusing on an aggressive marathon type training plan.
What follows is the basic plan of a typical week.
Monday AM - Progressive Tempo Run (sub race pace)
PM – Swim/Bike (20 min) followed by strength training
Tuesday AM – Easy run
Wednesday AM – Hills/Interval sets (sub race pace)
PM – Swim/Bike (20 min) followed by strength training
Thursday AM – Easy run
Friday AM – Med Distance (Race Pace) Run
Saturday AM – Long (Easy) Run with last few miles at race pace
Sunday OFF
Every night I also have been diligent about foam rolling and active isolation stretching utilizing a strap to try to keep the inflammation in my legs in check.
The first few weeks were a little rough ramping back up to speed, but by the third week I noticed that I was sleeping deeper and was less sore following hard workouts, all signs that my body is adapting to the renewed training load and recovering more quickly. One of the things I have adapted to ultra running is the lengths of the back to back runs on Friday & Saturday. I feel these runs on fatigued legs as well as the speed work earlier in the week will attack both ends of the ultra equation. I plan on utilizing this basic strategy up until the Mad City
Post holiday I also slowly adjusted my diet back to being slightly more ketogenic (Fat burning). This coupled with the increased training load has helped convert some of the fat from the holidays back into lean muscle. As an example of being more fat adapted is that I can go for my Friday (medium distance race pace) and Saturday (easy long with final few at race pace) runs with a VESPA and a little water. As my Saturday long runs get longer I will begin to experiment with some different fuels to try to simplify my already easy race nutrition strategy.
To gauge my fitness I jumped into an indoor 5K, the Indoor Icebreaker (Race Report). The race was hard both mentally (11 Laps) and physically (1st race effort since September). That being said I was very pleased with my result; I came in 4th overall and 1st in my age group.
TOTALS
RUN 175.1 Miles 23:48:49
BIKE 15.5 Miles
SWIM 5 Miles
Race
Indoor Icebreaker 5K
19:06 4th Overall 1st Age Group
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