Whiteface Uphill Race Total Mileage: 56.5mi
Elevation Gain: 7,900'
Cross-Training: None
Goal: Mileage and race well.
I needed some time to recover after running 147mi in the 10 days leading up to the beginning of this week. A 3mi recovery jog and a day off were not what a had in mind to start the week, but making sure I didn't get injured leading up to Vermont was the priority, so I listened to my body and cut the mileage way back. This was easier to take because I knew I'd be racing Whiteface on Saturday, and wanted to do well there.
By Wednesday I was feeling recovered, but didn't want to do too much before the race. Wednesday's tempo run morphed into a much lighter dose of tempo intervals due to the 90 degree temps and some surprise knee pain. Fortunately the pain was gone for Thursday's hill repeats, which I did to get the feel of race pace on a steep uphill and also to test out the Asics Piranha racing flats that I planned to use at Whiteface but had never worn before.
An easy uphill run on Friday sent me into the weekend with only 20 miles on the week, but at least I was feeling ready to race. Race day was great (report here) and I managed to get a bunch of miles in after the race as well. A long run Sunday brought the weekly total up to a respectable 56+ miles.
Monday: 3mi recovery at Marcy Field trail.
Tuesday: Off.
Wednesday: 9mi on Rt 9N, including 3x1mi tempo intervals.
Thursday: 5mi on Hurricane Rd, including 4x half-mile uphills at hard effort.
Friday: 3mi easy uphill on Hurricane Rd.
Saturday: 19.5mi (2.5mi warmup, 8mi uphill race, 9mi easy back down) at Whiteface.
Sunday: 17mi easy at the Flume mountain bike trails.
Overall this week didn't go as planned, but I'm happy with it because I turned what was probably a mistake (147mi in 10 days) into a successful piece of this training block with no setbacks aside from a couple missed training days.
Looking Ahead: Two weeks to go until Vermont 50. Not much I can do to get faster, but I'd like to put in some consistent mileage this week and only taper a bit in the final week so as not to let my legs get stale. I've already worked out my nutrition/drop bag plan for the race and booked a motel room, so I can try to relax these next two weeks and have fun with a reduced training load. I used to love tapering, but I'm a very different runner now. A three week taper in which you hardly run and eat way too much is not a recipe for success, and at this point it would feel very wrong to run as little as I did when tapering for ultras a few years ago.
Elevation Gain: 7,900'
Cross-Training: None
Goal: Mileage and race well.
I needed some time to recover after running 147mi in the 10 days leading up to the beginning of this week. A 3mi recovery jog and a day off were not what a had in mind to start the week, but making sure I didn't get injured leading up to Vermont was the priority, so I listened to my body and cut the mileage way back. This was easier to take because I knew I'd be racing Whiteface on Saturday, and wanted to do well there.
By Wednesday I was feeling recovered, but didn't want to do too much before the race. Wednesday's tempo run morphed into a much lighter dose of tempo intervals due to the 90 degree temps and some surprise knee pain. Fortunately the pain was gone for Thursday's hill repeats, which I did to get the feel of race pace on a steep uphill and also to test out the Asics Piranha racing flats that I planned to use at Whiteface but had never worn before.
An easy uphill run on Friday sent me into the weekend with only 20 miles on the week, but at least I was feeling ready to race. Race day was great (report here) and I managed to get a bunch of miles in after the race as well. A long run Sunday brought the weekly total up to a respectable 56+ miles.
Monday: 3mi recovery at Marcy Field trail.
Tuesday: Off.
Wednesday: 9mi on Rt 9N, including 3x1mi tempo intervals.
Thursday: 5mi on Hurricane Rd, including 4x half-mile uphills at hard effort.
Friday: 3mi easy uphill on Hurricane Rd.
Saturday: 19.5mi (2.5mi warmup, 8mi uphill race, 9mi easy back down) at Whiteface.
Sunday: 17mi easy at the Flume mountain bike trails.
Overall this week didn't go as planned, but I'm happy with it because I turned what was probably a mistake (147mi in 10 days) into a successful piece of this training block with no setbacks aside from a couple missed training days.
Looking Ahead: Two weeks to go until Vermont 50. Not much I can do to get faster, but I'd like to put in some consistent mileage this week and only taper a bit in the final week so as not to let my legs get stale. I've already worked out my nutrition/drop bag plan for the race and booked a motel room, so I can try to relax these next two weeks and have fun with a reduced training load. I used to love tapering, but I'm a very different runner now. A three week taper in which you hardly run and eat way too much is not a recipe for success, and at this point it would feel very wrong to run as little as I did when tapering for ultras a few years ago.
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