April Training Wrap

The raw stats:

• Miles - 265 Miles (5th most all-time)
• Time - 45 Hours (tied for 2nd most all-time)
• Vertical - 37K (3rd most all-time)

It was a solid month, not quite as spectacular as March because it was slightly shorter and because I had two cutback weeks. The mileage is not quite up to par with the rest of the stats because I did two trips up to Mt Morrison where I did repeats. Each workout was nearly 4 hours in length, but only 10 miles. I did a solid amount of  workouts this month, mostly in the form of hills and hill repeats to strengthen my legs. But, I also did a quality tempo run and two progression runs. And, I bagged a quality, technical night run at Mt Falcon. So it wasn't all just easy miles.

The month of May is here and now I have to go pretty hard, as I noted last month, which likely means a slight decrease in miles. I'll take quality over quantity (to a certain degree) this month. This is the month to get fit and bring my endurance to a peak. I get a nice break from training in the form of a tune-up run at Dirty 30 at the end of the month. I am not sure yet how hard I'll race that and likely won't decide until that day. But, it will still be one heck of a quality training run.

In summary, I think I have basically built-up to exactly where I hoped to be at this stage. April was a nice transition to some trails and some vertical gain, even though I had to fight through a bit of rain and mud to get to it. In addition to hitting some quality trail runs, I need to start turning up the heat in May.

As has become my norm, here are a few updates from my goals:

• I really need to work some heat into my routine. I plan to do this primarily with lunch time runs, some runs in hotter and more exposed trails systems, and possibly a bit of sauna work as we the calendar gets towards June.
• I have already done my minimum 3 night runs, two of them on trails. I may try and get one more in before the race.
• Volume is way ahead of my intended targets. And I already have four 70+ mile weeks in the bag (an average of more than 12 hours each).
• As I mentioned above, I am getting more and more quality into my routines during the week, but I need to keep at this one.
• Hopefully the worst of Winter and Spring is gone so I can stop worrying about "fighting" the weather.  However, it is what is at this point.  I need to train and don't have the privilege of "tomorrow". If May brings more rain, I'll just have to push through and make up for it by hitting a sauna for some heat.
• My cross training definitely tapered down to about one day a week in April. Though I have been doing quite a bit of strength training in the form of hills. This is barely a passing grade, but it is a luxury during peak training. I have maintained a good routine of walking my dog nearly 10 miles per week that helps my "active recovery". And, I do quite a lot stretching for my hips, quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
• While I originally said I won't over do the trails and vertical gain, I am going to back off that requirement. I love running trails in April and May and I am still training for a "mountain race". Western States is known primarily for the smooth, fast final 30 miles, but it has 18K of vertical gain. Nonetheless, I did a great job of getting out and hitting the trails in April.