RACE… RECEOVER… RACE… an experiment in ultra-stacking! Step 2 - Nutrition

Last week I covered how I approached my training for two ultras (here) I planned to race rather close together; (Mad City 50k & Ice Age 50 mile) there was three weeks between the races.  To be able to consistently train for the first race and fully recover for the second, I was going to need to dial in my daily, training, and race nutrition. 

I am not a nutrition expert, though I do have a science and medical background.  I have experimented enough with myself to know what works for me.  I sought extra advice from Peter Defty (VESPA) and Ben Greenfield (Ben GreenfieldFitness).  Both Peter and Ben advocate a high fat ketogenic or OFM (Optimized Fat Metabolism) diet.  I guess I’m a little more moderate, I like fruits, Vodka, hard cider, and dark chocolate too much to be in ketosis as deep as they are.   That said, I did refine my diet, which was already grain free/gluten free, to lower my carb count a little more and add in more variety when it came to protein sources.  I changed the timing of the intake of carbohydrates to coincide with post session insulin sensitivity.   I also started to do all of my training either completely fasted from the night before or with just some green tea and coconut oil. 

DAILY NUTRITION

I often get asked what my diet is.  I hate this question as I do not have a “DIET”, unless you consider eating real, whole, and unprocessed foods a diet.  The descriptive term which most matches my eating habits is probably no sugar/no grains.  Now as I said earlier I am not a monk and will eat things like dark chocolate or drink alcohol, yes these are sugars.  I also will eat quinoa on a rare occasion.  That being said my diet is pretty clean due to the fact that I mostly eat meat, veggies, fruits, cheese, and the occasional starch (rice/sweet potatoes).  I do not eat processed foods or grains therefore my diet is absent of fake sugars, chemicals, gluten, and GMO products.  A sample of how I eat during the day is listed below.  There are days that will differ from this but this is usually how I eat 6 days a week.

BREAKFAST (Post Exercise – usually running)

3 eggs – scrambled in olive oil
½ serving meat (usually leftover from previous night)
½ - 1 Cup shredded cheese
½ banana
1 Cup of blueberries or strawberries
Green Tea

LUNCH (post exercise – usually weights or stretch)

Smoothie (12oz Coconut Milk, ½ Cup of beets, 2 TBSP of Flax, 1 TSBP Cinnamon, & 1 scoop whey protein)
½ Avocado

SNACK

Beef Jerky or Cheese
Carrots

DINNER

1 Serving Meat (fish, lamb, game meat, chicken)
Salad (veggies, greens)
Cheese (sliced or shredded)
Olive Oil

BENEFITS

I feel this diet gives me the optimal balance of fats, protein, and carbohydrates.  Eating simply, as I call it, allows me to maintain a lean body mass, as well as enjoy the foods that I really like.  I choose to eat for long term health not just short term performance.  A major change that I made was when I consume simple carbohydrates (fruits).  After soliciting advice from Peter I switched to eating fruit only post exercise.  First, I did this because my muscles insulin receptors would be sensitized thereby allowing for quick absorption of the carbs into my muscles, versus their being stored as fat.  Second it would aid in muscle recovery.

RACING / TRAINING

I separate these two where most people treat them as the same.  The reason most treat them the same is the old adage of “Never try anything new on race day”, therefore they practice how they plan to race.  Thankfully genetics has blessed me with an iron stomach during extreme efforts.  What this means for me is that I can more specifically train my body and mind during training and not be overly concerned during the race.  During the race I usually keep nutrition as simple as possible.  Below I will describe how I plan and execute my nutrition strategy for training and racing.  I will also give the why behind it.

TRAINING NUTRITION

The way I fuel training sessions is listed below, after the description I will delve into the why behind each.

#1 (Easy & Tempo Runs)

Coconut Water

#2 (Long or Workout Runs)

Coconut Water
VESPA JR (long run only)
Green Tea w Coconut oil (bulletproof tea)
Electrolytes (Salt)

BENEFITS

First, by completing my sessions fasted (no additional carbs to spike insulin) I train my body to utilize fats during all levels of exercise intensity.  Second, because I would not be spiking my insulin levels during the session I will not cause as much oxidative stress and therefore, I will recover quicker allowing me to go harder sooner.  This is where VESPA really comes into play.  VESPA is an amino acid supplement which acts as a key.  This key unlocks fat metabolism earlier allowing you to burn fat more efficiently as your fuel source.  (For more information regarding the exact science behind VESPA please view these articles (1) (2).)  Third, I was training my mind to handle hard efforts with little external glycogen.  The benefit of this strategy was apparent during Mad City when I had to take in fewer calories to sustain a higher intensity. I only took in about 400 calories total, about 100g of carbs for 3.5 hours.  When you compare this to the 50K I did 6 months earlier where I consumed 1400 calories total, about 300g Carbs for 4.5 hours and you can see the benefit of the training nutrition plan.

RACING NUTRITION

As I stated my race and training nutrition strategies differ.  I do not restrict glycogen (carbs) during races.  Rather I fully embrace their use in moderation.  I follow what some would call a “sugar drip” strategy during racing.  The human digestive system can absorb about 20oz of liquid per hour.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t consume more than that, just that your body won’t absorb it.  (You spend a lot of time in the woods.)  Keeping this in mind any calories you consume need to be accompanied by liquid to be absorbed.  This is the reason I keep my nutrition plan simple.  First it allows my body to get exactly what it needs to perform, and second I can adjust it if things change.  Here is a look at my nutrition before and during races.

PRE-RACE 

(2-3 hours pre-race)

2-4 Packets of nut butter (Depends on Race Distance)
Coconut Water
VESPA Concentrate
Green Tea with coconut oil

(40 min pre-race)

VESPA JR
Coconut water / water w electrolytes

RACE

(roughly each hour)
1 20oz Bottle water
Flask w honey, maple syrup, gels, or glucose powder diluted w coconut water
(I sometimes skip the flask and place the mix in the bottle) - EASY
1 salt tab (I use Succeed tabs, or Salt Stick)

(every 1:40-2:00 ish)

VESPA JR

(Last 1/3 of the race)

I will switch over to coke in my 20oz bottle and just drink as needed.  I feel the caffeine helps me focus and maintain my effort towards the end of the race.

I will grab the odd potato chip or orange slice at an aid station just for a change of texture or flavor.

BENEFITS

As you can see I keep my race nutrition simple.  The main benefit of this is that I do not have to think about it during the race.  A perfect example was Ice Age this year.  I planned on running on gels and plain water in my bottle.  The aid stations however were light on gels.  This really threw a wrench into some nutrition plans.  I simply switched over to filling my bottle with ginger ale, till the final 13 miles when I switched to coke.  I stuck with my timely utilization of VESPA and salt and had zero energy or GI issues the entire race.  Going forward I plan to continue this strategy, and possibly simplify it further by switching to a glucose powder.  I can easily carry the powder and empty it into my bottles at aid stations, thereby relying only on myself during the race.

I hope you enjoyed this look at how I tailor my nutrition for optimal health, racing, recovery, and eating pleasure!  If you have any questions regarding my diet, specific meals, VESPA and my use of it, or meal planning please do hesitate to comment on this post or to contact me.  Stay tuned for next week’s post regarding the supplements and methods I utilized for recovery to handle this challenge.

 
As always enjoy finding your own trail!

RACE… RECEOVER… RACE… an experiment in ultra-stacking! Step 1 - Training

I have been meaning to write this article for some time, better now than never right?  Late in 2012 when I was planning out my race schedule for 2013 I needed a challenge.  Apparently ultras by themselves are not challenging enough right?  I wanted to push my limits, so I was either going to race my first 100 miler or two ultras within a few weekends.  My decision was made for me in the first week of December when I didn’t get into Western States via the lottery, so racing two shorter ultras in succession it was.  Now, Mike Wardian I am not, so the two that I chose (Mad City 50K) & (Ice Age 50 mile) were 3 weeks apart.  I am still relatively new to running long distances in training and racing so I wasn’t really sure how to go about training for two ultras so close together, or how I would recover in between. 

I sought out advice from some of the more experienced, and prolific front runners, in my trail group (The Lapham PeakTrail Runners).  Their first response went something like this; “So what!  You are racing a 50K before a 50 miler, I did that last weekend!”  Helpful right!  I kept at it though and eventually received the following advice.  “A 50k is not really any longer than a Marathon, and you have an ok base.  Do some advanced marathon training for the 50K, recover right, and the speed work from the marathon training will get you through the 50 miler.”  Now that made sense.  This recovery they spoke of, that was going to be my real issue.  I figured my ability to recover would be affected by 3 very distinct but related topics; specific and consistent training, nutrition (pre, during, & post race), and body damage mitigation.  In this three part series I will describe the training, nutrition, and recovery techniques I utilized to complete this task.

TRAINING

Specific and consistent training is the backbone of all endurance sports.  You may be able to complete an event but not compete during the event if your training is interrupted or not specific to the race course you are attacking.  This posed an issue for me as Mad City is a fast, flat, & looped 50K course, whereas Ice Age 50 is a hilly trail race.  I knew I would end up sacrificing something as I couldn’t train for all the variables in both races.  I learned this would be my ability to quickly ascend the hills at Ice Age.  The leg speed I gained from the fast training would help on any flat or downhill sections, but I was going to have to power hike most of the significant climbs at Ice Age.  I followed a pretty standard marathon training bloc; the only change I made was in regards to the long runs.  I doubled up on Friday and Saturday and they were also sub-race pace or fast finish (Progression) runs.  The schedule looked like this.

WHAT I DID

Mon – Tempo (8-10miles),

TUE & THUR (Easy 6-10 Miles),
Wed – Workout (Hills, Fartlek, Track)
Fri- Sub Race Pace Mid-Range Run (9-15 Miles)
Sat – Long Progression run, final ¼ of distance was at race pace (13-25 miles)
Sun - OFF

I steadily built my Friday sub-race pace run and Saturday long run distance.  As far as the individual training blocks I did break up 12 weeks into three distinct groups.  The first group consisted of my Wednesday workouts being hill intervals.  The Second group consisted of fartlek runs on Wednesday.  Finally the last group I completed before my taper was track intervals.  This plan completely prepared me for Mad City.  I was able to hold a sub 7 minute pace for 30 of the 31 miles. (Yes I had one bad mile, 29, where a cramped hamstring caused me to walk a bit.) 

For this challenge I needed a double taper. Tapering is a very individual aspect of training.  I do better with a 10 day taper.  This means that I shift my last long run to Wednesday the week before a key race.  For Mad City that meant the week before the race I completed a 12 mile tempo run on Wednesday and a 6 mile tempo on Saturday.  I did three shorter fartlek sessions during the taper week, to hold the speed in my legs but show up race day completely rested and hungry to race.  I finished the Mad City 50K in 3:50 which was good for 7th overall and 1st age group. 

Post Mad City, I took 1 week off of running.  I just biked and swam.  I then repeated my taper for Mad City.  The only difference was that all of my runs 2 weeks before Ice Age were completed on hilly trails.  My Wednesday (10 Days Before Race) run was a 21 mile hilly trail tempo run.  I also replicated the fartlek sessions the week of the race.  I raced Ice Age conservatively, starting off slow (11-12 min pace) but finished the race running the last 13 miles of 50 at 7:50 pace.  Finishing only 15 minutes slower than my fastest 50 miler.

WHAT WORKED AND WHAT I LEARNED

I peaked with my longest run being 26 miles in 3 hours, and my longest week near 80 miles.  I really feel this training got me ready for the 50K which allowed me to race without causing excessive damage to my body.  The largest component to mitigating this damage was my nutrition during training, racing, and recovery phases.  I will cover my nutrition in next week’s post. 

If I had to replicate this training block for these two races again one major change I would make would be to combine the track and hill sessions in the final 8 weeks.  I chose to do the hill sessions first for 4 weeks, then the track work for the next 4.  The benefit of this was that I had awesome leg turnover for the fast 50K.  Unfortunately I had zero ability to climb fast in the hilly 50 miler.  Going forward I will be utilizing more of a hybrid workout where I will do fartleks or track work first followed by hill intervals.  I believe the benefit from this work will be a refinement of leg speed as well as allowing me to run fast uphill with extremely fatigued legs.

I hope you enjoyed this look at how I trained and tapered for two races so close together.  If you have any questions regarding the exact workouts I was doing please do not hesitate to comment on this post or to contact me.  Stay tuned for next week’s post regarding how I nutritionally handled this challenge.

As always enjoy finding your own trail in life!

Day of Challenge - 2013 Mad City 50K Race Recap

Mad City 50K & 100K

It is just running everyone can do it, some are fast and others slow.  But there are a select few that can really embrace the suffering required to run for a long time.  One of the reasons I love ultra-running is that it is a challenge.  Most often the challenge is 90% mental and 10% physical.  This mental challenge, the willingness to suffer to persevere, is one of the reasons I went from racing 5 miles to 50 miles.  The other reason was my love for and need to connect with nature.  Well with that in mind I decided to step, way, outside my comfort zone and attempt to race an early spring road ultra, the Mad City 50K.  For me this would mean running at an extremely uncomfortable pace, for a long time, in circles, on pavement, fully clothed, and in some really cold weather.

The Mad City course for both the 100K (USATF National Championships) and the 50K is the same.  A 10K loop around Lake Wingra in Madison, WI.  This is a faster course with the men’s 50K CR a stout 3:03 (Zach Bitter) and the 100K 6:56 (Michael Wardian).  Do not let the times or the fact that it is pavement fool you; each loop has an elevation gain close to 1200ft.  That is right around 6k of vertical gain for the 50K and 12K for the 100K, not too shabby for a fast “flat” WI course.  The RD Tim “Timo” Yanacheck creates an environment befitting a National Championship race.  There are two aid stations; one at the start/finish and another right before the 4 mile mark.  Timo’s dedication to the race and its participants allows the runners to focus solely on running.

The course on a warmer day!

Focus is indeed what I should have been doing right before the start of the 50K.  After jogging to warm up I ran into Eric Senseman, the eventual 50K winner, and we began to catch up.  Well the next thing I heard was someone stating that they called 30 seconds to the start of the race.  So as I ran to drop my sweatshirt the race started.  My first thought was, “What the hell, how do you miss the start of a race you showed up an hour early for!”  Followed closely by, “Oh well I have 31 miles to catch everyone.”  Well it is just another challenge, right?  The 10K loop rolls out pretty quickly around the lake to right around mile 2ish where the first bigger hill is.  This hill is runnable, as they all are, but taking them too fast early on will really fatigue your legs.   From there the path follows the lake past the University’s arboretum and up the other large hill near mile 4 right before the 2^nd aid station.  From this aid station you run downhill following the lake to zoo.  From there you have a quick flat shot to the start/finish to start your next loop.



Rokcing the VESPA & shades in the cold! (photo by Mary Gorski)



It is sometimes tough to remember that this is an ultra when you are running 10K loops, since you can so easily wrap your mind around that distance.   I was taught this lesson at mile 29 right as I passed the backside aid station for the last time, when my left hamstring seized due to fatigue, now that’s a challenge!  Up until that point all of my miles had been consistently in the 6:40-7:00 range.  Well not mile 29 that was near 17:00, but what can you do when you can’t really walk, but wait for the cramp to relax.  As soon as that happened I pushed back into the 7:00 range and finished the race for a total time of 3:51:38 and a 7^th overall.  “Timo” put on a fabulous race, and really made running on pavement in 28 degree, windy, weather enjoyable.  I would highly recommend the 50K as a spring tune up race to prepare for an Ultra summer. 

Speaking of making you feel awesome, my friends who run shorter distance races always ask me what kind of swag (gifts) you get for running “crazy” ultras.  Well Timo and his fabulous sponsors do not disappoint, the bag I received at check in was jam packed.  Plus there was a huge bonus!  I was a little fatigued after the race so I was not quite sure what the giant box I received along with my medal and plaque contained.  Well it was a giant box of dark and milk chocolate truffles, 60 of them, NOW that’s SWAG!  I love chocolate so I had my final challenge for the day, for this one I would need to enlist the help of my two little girls though!

Mad City BLING!

RACE RESULTS

50K         3:51:38 (PR)          7^th Overall

Thank you to my sponsors

Performance Running Outfitters

VEPSA Power

Nutrition

(3 hours pre-race)

3 Packets Justin’s Chocolate Almond Butter

1 Green Tea with Coconut oil added

1 VESPA ultra-concentrate

Multi vitamin, fish oil, 4 Capra-Flex

(Race)

3 VESPA junior’s

1-20oz Chocolate Coconut Water with 3 TBSP of honey

2-20oz (Mexican) Coke-Cola

(Post)

Salmon, avocado, sweat potato, & kale salad

Multi vitamin, 4 Capra-Flex

1 AWESOME Hard Cider!

GEAR

Hoka One One Bondi B2 - iRunFar.com
Too Much warm gear to list - Performance Running Outfitters

Round and Round the Track I Go! - March Training & Nutrition

If my February training was all about climbing, March can be summed up with one word TRACK.  My training this month involved track sessions, fasted long runs, and a peak mileage week.  Now I have not done track work since I was in the Navy running for my command. My memory of those revolves around the word PAIN; those hurt, a lot.  I tried to block out these memories as I swapped my Monday hill repeats for track sessions.  To compound the agony, Mother Nature has been holding Wisconsin in her vise like grip of winter.  With the school tracks snowed in and my refusal to run track workouts on a treadmill, I bought a pass to the Petit Olympic Training Center; they have an indoor track that circles the ice. 

I showed up for my first session, a ladder starting with a 400, working up to a 1600, then back down to a 400.  I went out like I was running a 100 for the first 400 quickly realizing I had no idea how to pace myself through a track workout.  The backside of this ladder workout was painful.  It only made matters worse that I was running these solo so I was sans company to share my misery.  Listed below is a brief description of several of the track sessions I completed.

Ladder workouts:

(400-800-1200-1600-1200-800-400 with a 400 recovery)

(4x400, 2x1600, 4x200 with a 200 or 400 recovery)

Repeats:

(6x800 w 200 recovery) (12x400 w 200 rec) (6x1600 w 400 rec) (3x1000 w 400)

Another facet of racing that I am working on in training is my ability to utilize fat as a fuel longer.  To really prioritize this I completed all of my long runs backed up against race pace runs the previous day, fasted, and without consuming extra calories.  This means I would run hard on Friday, eat my normal meal, then run on Saturday without consuming any carbs both before and during my run.  I practiced this regardless of run distance.  I really feel that this training has allowed my body to adapt to solely burning fat, and allowed my mind to adapt to running through hypoglycemic states.  Below you will find how I prioritized my nutrition pre run, during the run, and for the rest of the day.

Pre Long Run

12oz warm water with apple cider vinegar

Green tea with coconut oil

1 VESPA JR

During Run (2.5+ Hours)

Coconut water

Post Run Meal

12oz Coconut Water

1C Full fat Greek yogurt with cinnamon, flax, 1/4C blueberries, 1/4C pineapple, ½ banana

½ Grapefruit

1 multi vitamin

1 fish oil

1 vit D3

Afternoon Snack

¼ C raw almonds

Some Raw Cheese (Maybe)

Dinner

Large kale salad with beets, asparagus, tomatoes, avocado, broccoli, shredded mozzarella cheese, & onions

6oz chicken

½ sweet potato

Red Wine or Hard Cider

Dark Chocolate (Maybe)

Foam Rolling, Active Isolated Stretching, & 1 Magnesium

I had my largest volume week, ever, at the end of this month; it is now time to taper for Mad City 50K on Apr 20^th.  Time for this Ultra Runner to see if focusing on speed instead of long and slow will pay off!  Wish me luck!

TOTALS

RUN               303 Miles  39:59:40

SWIM            4     Miles

BIKE              0     Miles

2013 Janurary Training Recap

January Training



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 50K in April.

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 (1^st race effort since September).  That being said I was very pleased with my result; I came in 4^th overall and 1^st 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 4^th Overall 1^st Age Group

2012 In the Rearview, “Fast” Forward To 2013

It is that time of year when everyone begins to review the past year.  We spend this time embracing the bright spots and attempting to learn from the mistakes.  First I need to thank my family for being apart of this journey, you are my inspiration. Second I want to thank my two sponsors Performance Running Outfitters and VESPA for all of the support and advice you gave me, it is because of you that 2012 was so successful.  For me this past year can be summed up with two words “training consistency”.  My goal coming into 2012 was to add to my trail ultra distance experience, and do it in an injury free manner.  I guessed the best way to accomplish this was to run slower in the beginning and then gradually increase my total running mileage.  Now this may seem very elementary but seeing that in 2011 I went directly from 5 mile races to a 50 mile trail race, I figured basic volume training was in order.  This past winter was pretty mild so my longer tempo and long runs were all done outside on the trails.  This had a 2 fold benefit; first as I was running on trails and not roads I went slower, and second there are always hills on trails.  Because I was running slower and up hill, I was staying injury free while adding leg strength.  I was able to race almost the entire season without injury. 

During 2012 I made a dramatic shift in my diet and race day nutrition strategy.  I began to realize the diet I relied on for racing 5k’s and short events was a hindrance in longer events and was not as healthy as I would have liked.  With a lot of research as well as trial and error I slowly began to add in more healthy fats to my diet and lower my protein and carb intake.  I took this one step further by eliminating gluten from my diet as well.  During this process I had the privilege of speaking with Peter Defty of VESPA, and the pleasure of becoming one of their sponsored athletes.  VESPA coupled with my changed diet of 60%+ fats, 25% lean protein, and 15% carbs, allowed me to not only race faster with more sustained energy, but also quickened the recovery time I needed after races and hard workouts.

All in all I consider 2012 to be a huge success in terms of racing results, I had 2 top 5 finishes and an age group win in my two 5k’s, an age group win in a trail ½ marathon, a top 15 finish and PR in my first trail 50K, and a 2 hour PR in my second trail 50 miler.  Along the way I met many fantastic people who also happen to be great runners.  I learned so much from all of them and I eagerly look forward to applying it to my training for 2013!

Speaking of 2013, just like everyone I have begun to review my race schedule for the 1^st 6 months.  I am going to take a different approach to training this year.  In 2012 I was concerned with volume and consistency; I would like to make 2013 the year of speed.  I plan on structuring my weekly routine to include many of the following workouts; intervals done on the track or as fartleks (5:00-6:00 depend on distance or time) on the road, race paced runs (6:45-6:50ish), sub race pace tempo runs (6:30-6:45ish), active stretching, and functional strength/plyometric training.  The increase in the amount of time I will be running fast will require me to truly take my easy runs easy.  Although a new approach for me, this is not revolutionary in terms of training methodology.  Two great runners I have had the pleasure of running with or meeting after races have written articles recently regarding their similar approaches to training for 2013 (Zach Bitter & Eric Senseman) while another prolific racer adopts this as his normal training cycle (Ian Sharman). 

My current plan is to race a 5k in early spring then a ½ marathon as a longer training run all in preparation for the Mad City 50K.  Both of the runners I mentioned earlier Zach & Eric, plan on being there as well.  Zach is going to take a crack at the 100K championship race, while I am going to do my best to keep Eric in my sights in the 50K.  My plan is to then recover by hiking a lot of hills for 3 weeks and take the speed from the 50K into the Ice Age 50 Mile.  I am excited to give this new routine a crack.

As always in my monthly training recaps I will detail several of the key speedier workouts I am completing as well as if they are helping or not.  Also going forward I plan on compiling several detailed posts related to my diet both during the week and pre-race.  I look forward to seeing you all outside!

2012 Racing Totals
100+ miles raced in a little over 15 hours with a total elevation gain of 10,000+ ft.