15 July 2008

Rested, Rejuvinated, & Ready

I had a great trip to Ireland, London, and Paris (photos to follow) that included a LOT of walking and the occasional sprint to a tube station, but no actual running. Now that I'm back, however, it's time to get busy!

My official plans and schedule for this year continue to change. I've given up on whatever I had posted in the right hand column outside of the events I'm already registered for: The Full Moon Half Marathon, the Milwaukee Marathon, and the Fall 50...as a solo runner.

That's right...a solo runner. Needless to say, my goals for the fall have changed a bit. My primary goal is no longer to break 3 hours in Milwaukee. That is now a secondary goal to surviving my 50 miler. So the training plan has been torn up and thrown away (moved to trash file on my laptop) and I'm working on a new training plan for the 50 miler. I've got some ideas but could use some help from out there in ultra world. My biggest question: What's better--two long runs on back to back days (like 18 on Saturday and 10 on Sunday) or one really long run (like 30 on Saturday)? Or some mixture? I've mentioned before I'm a big proponent of training specificity, so I think I'm leaning to a single long run. After all, the 50 miler is to be completed in a single day, right? I've found a couple training plans online and am working with them, but will willingly accept any other advice from some of the veterans out there!

As I mentioned, I'd still like to break 3 hours in Milwaukee, so I will still do speed training and try to mix in some marathon-pace longer runs in training also. I know that my body has handled 60 miles in a week pretty well so I'm also going to try and increase that number a bit.

Ellie is also signing up for another marathon: The Whistlestop Marathon in Ashland, Wisconsin. I'm thinking about running this event with her and turning it into one of my final training runs for the 50 by adding some miles on before the beginning of the run. The only problem: my schedule would then look like this:

  • Oct 5: Milwaukee Marathon
  • Oct 11: Whistlestop Marathon
  • Oct 25: Fall 50

With the proper preparation and training from here forward I really think that could work as a great adventure and buildup to the Fall 50. I mean, I know other runners that have a run a marathon a week for quite a few weeks consecutively!

5 comments:

Adam said...

Exciting news! The 50 will be awesome. The training run at Whistlestop won't hurt you two weeks out, but trying to race a marathon three weeks before your first 50 might cause some problems...be careful with Milwaukee.

My long run schedule is determined by what my schedule allows. Sometimes it's very long single efforts, other times it's semi long back-to-backs like a 20/20. I know you like to do your long runs fast, be careful doing the really long ones or b2b's fast. You'll get the same benefits running them more slowly and will exponentially reduce the risk of injury.

My personal program involves the long weekly run (or b2b), and a good midweek tempo of 40-60 minutes based on Daniels. The remainder of my weekly runs are just easy paced runs of whatever I can fit in that day.

You'll get a lot of ideas, just pick and choose what fits your schedule and philosophy best. You'll do great, look forward to hearing how the program is progressing!

Marcy said...

Uhhhhhhhh wha?! 50 miler?!? Dude you're freekin awesome and a tad crazy :P

Actually I did think of using a GB since I knew were on was. Tennis balls not so much :-/ But then I thought . . .ehhhh better dig for a tennis ball, a GB might get lost in all the padding HAHAHA

Marcy said...

*Urrgghh "where" not "were"

Aron said...

WOW that will be an INTENSE october... insane, but very awesome!

sounds like you had a great trip!

Nitmos said...

Sounds like you came back from overseas rested, rejuvenated, and a bit crazy. That's one, long October suicide. Try jumping off a building instead.

Seriously, good luck iwth all that. Should be exciting and grueling at the same time. But way to push yourself!