Weekly Training Wrap - 2/20 - 2/26

This was a tough week for me. I finally made the choice to accept the reality that my ankle is hurting and I needed to do something about it. (Maybe the choice was made for me as the pain has been increasing since I jumped up in mileage.) Each day I am inching toward the reality that I may have to see a specialist and/or shut it down. Running short distances on a TM doesn't give me too much trouble, but doing that everyday isn't going to get me where I want to go. The aggressive treatments of ice (3 x 20 mins each day) and Ibuprofen (3 x 800mg each day) are helping a little as well. Nonetheless, that is the reason for the HUGE drop in mileage this week. Better days will be here soon...

The one positive is that I got some motivation in the mail yesterday.  I ordered a copy of "Unbreakable: The Western States 100" and it came.  My wife even thought it was really good.  Here is a little preview:

Before I leave, a quick update on my wife's training progress. Between the acquisition of our treadmill and her partner being in town, she has managed to hit all of her miles (plus a few) the last couple of weeks. After an 11 miler (with almost 900 feet of vertical) on Sunday, she talked optimistically about signing up for the Steamboat Marathon. I think she'll make the official go/no-go decision in the next few weeks. If she does sign up, there is a pretty good chance I'll be doing it again as well.

So I lied, one more thing I want to plug before I've bored you too death. My improved diet plan is continuing to progress well. I don't think I am quite hitting 60% of my diet in carbs, but it is getting better. And, I have been doing a better job of reading labels and controlling my calories. I am already down 3 or 4 pounds. As a baseline, I measured my body fat at 14.4% this week. That is in the top 20% of all males, but barely makes the grade for competitive endurance athletes. My goal is to get it down to between 10 and 12% body fat. That is tougher than it sounds because starving yourself won't do the trick. If you starve it, your body will cannibalize muscle before it burns fat, increasing body fat percentage. To truly lower your body fat, it takes a commitment to eating and training right over a period of time.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	7	5 Mile @ MP (7:14)
Wednesday	5	Recovery
Thursday	8	Ladder Intervals
Friday	Rest
Saturday	7	Hill workout, inclines from 6 - 13%
Sunday	7	Easy on the TM
Total	34	About 4100 vertical feet