Weekly Training Wrap - 12/05 – 12/11

One week since the big marathon race attempt has come and gone. Racing a marathon is hard and I don't like the recovery time.  I am going as slow as I can, trying not to injure myself. But the patience required is more than I had expected. When I ran my ultra, it didn't hurt this much. I was completely wiped out of energy for about two weeks (though some of that may have been recovering from the virus I caught right before the race), but I never hurt like this. My previous marathon PR was the final run in a 70 mile week. And I was back to running big miles the next week, culminating in a 34 mile run just six days after a marathon PR (though clearly not a race effort).

My schedule for 2012 is starting to come together. I signed up for the Colorado Marathon in May. Why? Is it so I can have another crack at this marathon thing and erase the disappointment of Vegas? Is it because I have a FOMO (fear of missing out) and want to go hang with a bunch of friends in Fort Collins? Maybe it is because there just isn't a lot of trail running to be had before May?  I don't know the answer, but I'm in. The bigger question is: how will I train? I followed the Pfitz 18/55 plan pretty diligently for Vegas. While I feel that plan had me prepared, I am ultimately training for 100 miles this year. Nothing is set in stone, but I think I am going to follow a plan for a 50 mile ultra and mix in some work for lactate threshold paces and marathon paces. The primary difference between the Pfitz 18/70 plan and the plan I will use is that Pfitz has more days per week (6 on average) and the occasional double recovery. In the end, my plan will actually have fewer total miles than the Pfitz 18/70 plan. But when I run, it will usually be for big(ger) miles. This means lots of slow running on the weekends to work on glycogen-to-fat burning ratios and endurance. That plan should leave me with a solid base to spring board toward the final 14 weeks of training for LT100.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	Rest
Wednesday	5	GA pace
Thursday	4	Recovery pace
Friday	3	Recovery pace
Saturday	7	GA pace
Sunday	7	GA pace
Total	26	About 2000 vertical feet gained