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

2103 Indoor Ice Breaker 5K Race Report

Round and Round The Petit I Go!

A short race report for a short race.

Like last year I decided to jumpstart my 2013 training by entering the Icebreaker Indoor 5k.  I am lucky the venue where this race takes place is less than 2 minutes from my house, so it’s convenient.  That being said indoor track was never my forte.  So I planned to show up a little early, run a good warm up, and then get ready to hurt!  Well I showed up 10 minutes before the start (kiddo issues), so best laid plans and all that right.  I quickly warmed up by pinning on my bib and throwing on a stocking cap, well I felt warm!

I walked to the start line where I was promptly ridiculed for my mangy, duct taped trail shoes and dirty bandana.  Oh well, guess the start of an indoor 5k, with track people, is a little different than a trail ultra. The gun went off and so did I.  I ran comfortably in 6^th place for a few laps then decided to pick up the pace.  I moved up the field till there were 2 laps to go.  A good and bad thing happened here, they announce how many laps you have left.  A good thing for me I was starting to hurt so I only had 2 laps to suffer, bad because I now knew that 3^rd place was out of reach, but good because I learned that 5^th place was almost 45 seconds behind me.  So I let off the gas a bit in the final 2 laps.  I was able to finish in 4^th and win my age group. (I didn’t learn that till the next day!)

This is a fun race series, they do a 5K, ½ marathon, and full marathon (90+ laps).  Speaking of the marathon it was crushed by another runner from my trail running group, Zach Bitter, with a screaming 2:31 CR. (His race report).  If you are looking for a fun early season run (really early) you can’t get better than an environmentally controlled race.

RACE RESULTS

(Race photo 1 & 2)

Indoor Icebreaker 5K

19:06 4^th Overall 1^st Age Group