Weekly Training Wrap - 2/10 - 2/16

Lots to say this week... First of all, I said last week that I was likely to sign up for North Fork 50 this week and I did. My hope is to get fit enough to race that, with a goal somewhere around 9:15 or 9:30. We'll see how my body responds as time goes by.

This week was the first week that I really felt like I was "training" since I returned from surgery. While I have generally been following good principals for increasing mileage, structure, etc..., each week up until now has just been a course of methodically testing my limits and hoping for no setbacks. This week I was on a "plan" with some structure and goals. I managed to run nearly 50 miles in only 5 runs, which is a very good starting point. And I feel very fortunate to be in this position after a near year long struggle in 2013. That said, I feel that my fitness has somewhat stalled out. I haven't seen much progress in the past 4-6 weeks. When I looked back at where I was a year ago, it is mind boggling. I was running sub-8 paces on my hilly neighborhood routes in mostly MAF type efforts. Those same efforts today are more like 8:30 - 8:45 pace.

In an effort to get back on track, I went back and checked my training log to see what I was doing last Winter to prepare for Old Pueblo 50. Honestly, there are only a few things that stand out. The first is that I was returning from my LT100 injury, but I still had an incredible base of miles I was working from. I trained the summer of 2012 like no other time in my life. I averaged 270 miles per month and 37K of vertical in the three months prior to LT100. Wow, those numbers seem unrealistic to me right now. The second thing that stands out is the frequency and consistency of my longs. I was hitting long runs with significant vertical or pace (and some B2Bs) nearly every weekend last Winter. While I cannot change the 6 month layoff due to injury, I can start to increase my frequency and intensity of my long runs. Now that I am officially training, those things should start to just take care of themselves. It started this weekend with a mini-B2B that included a pretty strong effort in the mud and ice at Mt Falcon. My body is not specifically trained for that much vertical right now and I felt it. (Nor am I trained for that crappy footing that comes with mud and ice.)

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Off	Yoga
Tuesday	9	Hilly Run w/ 9 Fartleks Strength Training
Wednesday	6	Easy
Thursday	9	Easy/MAF Run Body Weight Strength Training
Friday	Off	Rest
Saturday	14	Mount Falcon
Sunday	10	Recovery/Easy Effort Yoga
Total	48	5900 feet vertical