Final 7 Weeks of Training - Learning the Art of Running Long

Starting on May 31, I will be posting every bit of training in the final 7 weeks before Vermont. I will also be posting possible race strategies that will help get me through the 100 mile ultramarathon.

This is possibly the most aggressive peak cycle that I have ever designed for a big race, including all of the Ironman races that I did.

How it plays out I don't know, but I have basically shut down everything else in my life to train heavy these next 7 weeks. I will be very interested to see what the outcome of this training can do.

One last thing. All the long runs that I'll be doing is actually more a mental exercise than a physical exercise. My weakness is to train my mind to be patient on these long runs so that I can stay patient in Vermont. It is there that I believe is my greatest weakness and it is there I will need to train.

I hope you can follow me these last 7 weeks and see whether this results in a success or failure.

The week starting May 31 starts it off. A very long run is scheduled for Saturday on the D & R Canal Towpath...

Week of May 17 - May 23 - Taper Time

This is the 4th week of the mesocycle. As this is supposed to be a normal rest cycle, this will be modified to a taper week with a 100k (Mayapple Ultras) on Saturday. No Key Workouts are scheduled for this week. After the huge mileage of the spring, this is going to feel like a vacation.

The goals of the week are:

4000 meters of swimming
40 miles of cycling
100 miles of running (38 miles during the week plus 62 miles, or 100k of running on Saturday

I will try to note how I will prepare for this race this weekend, from looking at the course to checking the weather to trying to use my mobile phone to keep updated on the web during the race. Stay tuned.

Sun May 9 - 8 Mi Mother's Day Run - Extremely Tired

AM Workout: 8 Mile Run
Course: Victory Blvd East
Time: 1:09:56
Weather: 45F, Cloudy, Heavy Winds

An unusually cold day for May. I woke up extremely tired from the lack of sleep and the 14 hours at a North Face Endurance Challenge aid station yesterday. I somehow got into my shoes and ran at an easy pace for 8 miles. This run was tough for several reasons...lack of sleep and lack of a decent meal yesterday (pizza was served at the aid station, but it's not a good source of sustenance for performance).

On top of that today is Mother's Day (wishing all mother's a happy Mother's Day out there). Meaning my afternoon will be spent in a restaurant with the family celebrating my mother. Sooooo, the day is focused on planning for the next week and to get the sleep needed to get into balance again to be ready for that next week.
My bike ride and swim were cancelled today for that matter.

Oh well, I give the week a B overall. There were some really great workouts done this week, but I didn't quite make the mileage that I wanted to. I have my 100k Fat Ass run in 2 weeks and will decide how to tackle the next week. Should I taper a little or should I put in a longish (30 mile) run next weekend? I'll decide on that soon.

Sat May 8 - Volunteer Work and Impromptu 3 Mile Run

PM Workout: About a 3 Mile Run
Course: Fawn Trail near Bear Mountain
Time: N/A
Weather: 65F, P.Cloudy, Heavy Winds

Note: Full details of my volunteer work at the North Face Endurance Challenge at Bear Mountain will be published on my other blog here in a couple of days.

I was working the Anthony Wayne Aid Station at the North Face Endurance Challenge at Bear Mountain when this run happened.

This wasn't a planned run, but one that I will put in my log due to the difficult course I traversed. I had to check up on a couple of runners and the course markings on the way from the aid station that I worked on due to several concerns the runners had. So, from my place at the Anthony Wayne Aid Station I traversed the course markings and helped guide a runner to where the Appalachian Trail where the course turned. Fawn Trail is extremely technical with rocks strewn all over the place. On top of that, there are a couple of short, steep hills that are encountered from the aid station to the Appalachian Trail.

I seized the moment to run some of the course, I cannot lie to you. Working that aid station for 10 hours straight, I started to get a little stir crazy. When the opportunity presented itself, I went for it. The runners were thanking me for helping them out, but I explained to them my ulterior motive that I wanted to run a little. They chuckled at this, but still thanked me anyway. Coming back to the aid station was nice; with the legs already loose I glided over the rocks nicely. As soon as I saw the aid station in the distance I felt a little regret that it ended.

Anyway, I stole a run in today. Oh yeah.

May 7 - Easy 20 Mile Bike - Post Long Run

PM Workout: 20 Mile Bike
Course: Great Kills Park
Time: 1:05:20
Weather: 74F, Partly Cloudy, Moderate Winds

Not a bad ride, especially after the 16 mile run this morning. I was careful not to try to push it today, instead going for the nice and easy ride.

Tomorrow is the volunteer work at The North Face. It's unclear whether I get a small run in or not. It depends on how tired I am after a long 12 hour day.

May 7 - Sweet Sixteen! A Good Looking Run on the Boardwalk

I had a GREAT sleep last night, and woke up quite well for this.

KEY AM WORKOUT: 16.2 Mile Run, Ultra Style (8 minute run/2 min walk intervals).
Course: 4 laps of Fr. Capodanno Ave/Boardwalk.
Time: 2:28:35 with rest, 9:10 min/mile pace; 2:13:35 estimated with rest subtracted out, 8:15 min/mile pace.
Weather 62F, Clear, Light Winds.

I'm a Mack Truck! From the get go, the pace was pretty fast. The legs were totally loose, and felt great. The 10 minute intervals a couple of months ago usually covered about a mile of running, so I was expecting 16 intervals for this session. Instead I needed only 15 to complete the run; my pace was fast.

Except for a temporary tightening of the calves afterward, I am not sore at all from the long run, implying that the training I did this spring is working great!

Let's hope this Mack Truck is capable of going 100 miles in 24 hours.

(Key Workout 3 of 4 done this week)

May 6 - 15 Mile Bike - A Second Easy Day

I woke up a little more worn down than usual today, and with some heavy work today, I decided to keep it easy another day.

PM Workout: 15 Mile Bike (19.22MPH)
Course: Great Kills Park
Time: 46:49
Weather: 76F, Clear, Very Windy

The wind was a major factor today, but was bearable at an easy pace. I managed to get in a couple of good laps in before the winds really whipped it up.

This will be the only workout today, as tomorrow, I have a long run scheduled.

May 5 - Easy Paced 6 Mile Run - Capping an Easy Day

PM Workout: 6 Mile Run - Easy Pace
Course: Mall Run
Time: 55:34
Weather: 75F, Clear, Light Winds

Capping off an easy day with an easy run. And yes, a 2000 meter swim, a 25 mile bike, and a 6 mile run DOES constitute an easy day ONLY if they are taken REAL EASY. That means never pushing the pace. Even if you're only doing a marathon or Ironman, where speed is significant, the performance is gained the most on a significant base.

I didn't record it here, but I did a 3 Mile Fun Run this past Saturday by the Staten Island Athletic Club and finished the race at 20:59, breaking a 7 minute mile pace. I've never even approached training at this speed before. The speed comes from actually building a fantastic base this spring, a base built by easy paced runs such as this one.

A good base is extremely critical for optimal performance. That is the bottom line.

May 5 - 25 miles of cycling - A Nice Easy Alternative to a 25 Mile Run

Well, I did manage to travel over 20 miles today:

AM Workout#2 - 25 Mile Bike - Easy Pace
Course: Great Kills Park
Time: 1:16:50
Weather: 60F, Clear, Light Winds

Not bad. The day was a nice one, so there were at least 8 other cyclists out there in the park. I asked a group of cyclists if they wanted to do a small loop to Albany and back, but they wimped out. Oh well, I guess some people don't have a 400 mile bike ride in them. So I settled for a measly 25 miles.

(Seriously, this was an easy paced ride on an easy paced day. The bike itself needs more repairs, as the derailleur cable is splitting its housing, leaving me with only 4 speeds on the bike. I ordered some stuff from Performance, including a set of tires, that should address all the worn out parts on my bike).

May 5 - 2000 Meters of Swimming

Well, this is different! I woke up anticipating a 80 mile run today. Looked in my log and found that I had to do a 2000 meter swim. What a letdown!

AM Workout: 2000 Meters of Swimming

5x100 Warmup
3x200 Individual Medleys on 4:15 (3:42, 3:45, 3:45)
3x150 freestyle drills with fins (one arm, bilateral, etc.)
3x150 freestyle drills with (one arm, bilateral, etc.)
-----------
2000 meters total

This workout only took about 40 minutes to do. Bummer man, I have 23 hours of free time left. I'll force myself not to try to swim to Martha's Vineyard from Staten Island today by doing some work, although it's going to be hard to resist.

The swim this morning utilizes drills for stroke symmetry as well as a concentration on specialty strokes like butterfly. Because who knows, maybe I might need to butterfly the whole Ironman swim one day.

May 4 - 2000 Meter Swim - Lemme Love Loose Legs

PM Workout: 2000 Meter Swim

5x100 Warmup
10x100 easy freestyle w/ paddles - alternate breathing left side, right side
5x100 easy freestyle w/ fins
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2000 meters total

The main goal here is not any swimming technique, but as a therapeutic session for my legs. It's just like an easy massage; easy swimming allows the legs to be kept loose and supple, hastening recovery. I felt good and ready to go after the workout, so I achieved my goal here.

May 4 - 20 Mile Trail Run - "That's What Soap & Water Is For"

AM Workout:
KEY WORKOUT: 20 Mile Trail Run
Time: 3 hours 31 minutes
Course: Greenbelt White Trail
Weather: 75F, Partly Cloudy

I went for 10 miles today, felt good, did 20.

This was also an eventful little run, as the White Trail on the Southern end of Staten Island was littered with deadfall, mud pits, hungry tigers, and poisonous snakes. Well, OK, there were no tigers and snakes, but the obstacles were aplenty.

After the first mile I dart onto the White Trail in Willowbrook Park, with nice white socks, nice red shorts, nice white singlet, and a smile on my face. By the time I emerged out onto Great Kills Park at the southern end (10 miles into the run), I had wet brown shoes, heavy brown socks, brown shorts, brown singlet, scratches all over my legs, and an even bigger smile on my face. What happened in between was a large section of continuous deadfall that I had to crawl under, jump over, and squeeze past in order to continue on the trail. The section actually reminded me of the Barkley Marathons, in which the course is so tough that there are normally no finishers of the 100 mile race. Of course, I could have ventured out onto the road and skip all that deadfall, but why would I want to do that? That would ruin the total trail running experience! Plus, it gives the trail some rugged character. I'm sure the trail's volunteers will eventually come in with chainsaws and clear it away, but in the meantime, it's time to have fun with it.

Some key instances on the way back to the finish. At the Crookes Point turnaround, a man with a dog noticed my muddy attire and asked, "been to the Greenbelt, have you?". I looked at the mud on my singlet, then looked at the guy and joked, "why yeah, how'd you notice?" He stated that he was there yesterday and noted the mud and deadfall that littered the path.

A second instance came at the Amudsen Circle (where the trail crosses Amboy Road at Clarke Ave). I was waiting for the light to change so that I crossed the street. A woman who was waiting for the bus looked at me and muttered, "ew". I turned to the woman, shrugged, and said, "That's what soap and water is for", smiled, then resumed my running. Apparently, the woman hasn't obviously gotten dirty before and liked it. Oh well, she doesn't know what she's missing.

I finished the run strong. My muscles still feel loose, and I feel like I'm ready to run again tomorrow. It's great being in this kind of shape; I feel I can do anything now, including finishing 100 miles in July.

(Key Workout 2 of 4 done this week)

May 3 - 4000 meter swim - Fantastic!

I actually just might sign on to the Nav-e-Sink or Swim event on May 30. My swimming was surprisingly strong today, after all the running I did the past 2 weeks. I was in "Seek and Destroy" mode, this morning, mowing down this normally difficult workout and coming back for seconds.

AM Workout:

KEY WORKOUT #1: 4000 total meters of swimming

4x200 Meters Warmup
4x500 Meters Freestyle with 1 minute rest (Times: 8:17, 8:20, 8:20, 8:19)
5x100 snorkel drills
5x100 Meters Individual Medleys on 2:00 (Times: 1:35, 1:36, 1:36, 1:37, 1:36)
2x100 Warmdown
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4000 meters total