Training Recap Jan-Feb-Mar 2015

Running a workout on my tempo loop. Our neighborhood has some nice views!

A quarter of the year is already behind us. Usually the first 3 months of the year are "winter" but we didn't really have winter this year... it was more of a perpetual spring with a couple winter days and a couple borderline summer days sprinkled in. 

This is meant to be a somewhat thorough recap of my training so far this year, as I've recently gone through a bit of a setback that has put me in limbo (about where to go from here). I wanted to get all my thoughts down for reference... then forget about it and move forward!

To start, here's my daily log links for the past 4 months: December - January - February - March

As I have mentioned in almost every training/running recap since the race, Chicago took a lot out of me. A lot more than I would have imagined it would. When I started doing workouts again in December, I was slow. So I had to be really patient as I tried to build my fitness back towards a respectable level.

December Training

AT / Marathon Pace runs are my "go-to" workout. I try to do these by feel without a specific pace goal. When I started in December I was only running 5:45 pace for 4 miles. Over the course of the next 10 weeks, I got these runs up to 10 miles and down to something in the ballpark of marathon goal pace.

Steady State runs provide a nice stimulus for marathon training, and they aren't quite as demanding. I built these runs up from 11.5 to 16 miles, around 20 seconds slower than goal MP.

And I mixed in a few cut-down workouts and two races during this time span as well...

I thought I ran well at USA XC... and not so great at the Phoenix 1/2 ... but I wasn't panicking because I hadn't really done the workouts for a good half-marathon.

Here's a more comprehensive look at January and February:

My mileage was quite a bit lower than what I've run in the past, but you'll notice a lot of blue highlights in the calendar. That's all human-powered uphill skiing. During these months I was (on average) climbing 9,000-10,000 feet per week on skis, which is a big aerobic stimulus. I don't like the play the "convert other activities to running equivalents" game, but at the very minimum, it was like adding another 25-30 miles per week of running... maybe even more. So the total volume was similar to past marathon buildups.

We went to Mexico during the second week of March. I felt like I was in a decent position going into the trip. I had just done a solid 16 mile steady state workout before the trip, and I thought that after a somewhat relaxed week of training in Mexico (I didn't do any workouts, but did get in a hot/humid 22 mile long run down there) I'd be able to come home and hit the training hard for 5 weeks... and be on a major upswing by the time London rolled around.

Running in Mexico

On the last day of the trip in Mexico, I started to feel a little sick. I had no idea what my body was about to get hit by...

My weight chart for 2015. Not the way to drop down to a good race weight!

I got really sick once we got home. After 7 days I finally got on antibiotics, which allowed me to start running again, but in a very depleted state. Running is a generous term to use. My body was wrecked and as the March calendar (below) shows, I was basically doing something of a turtle shuffle (with far too frequent walking breaks!) for a week.

So now it's April 4th, I haven't done a workout in a month, and I can still barely break 8:30/mile pace on my runs. I just constantly feel like I got hit by a car, and my hamstring health (which had been improving) seems to have backslid as well (ugh). My good (left) hamstring is now worse than my bad (right) one.

I don't know where I go from here (although I'm obviously not racing a marathon in 3 weeks!). At this point I'm primarily concerned with trying to just feel good again.

While I made some progress before this illness/setback, I still wasn't anywhere near my form of 2011-2014. As I said above, I haven't really been the same runner since Chicago. I need to evaluate some things and if I want to get back to running like my "old self"... I need to fully commit to fixing my hamstring issues... not just haphazardly pay attention to the problem when I feel like it.

Chicago Training #4 - Biggest Week, One Month Out

I posted this on Twitter earlier in the week. Can I make the jump over the next month?

Previous training posts from this cycle:

Chicago Training #1 (July 27)

Chicago Training #2 (August 20)

Chicago Training #3 (September 7)

Running at the Classic 10K last weekend

The Chicago Marathon is now exactly 4 weeks away, and I'm starting to really feel like my training and fitness are clicking. Today I capped off my biggest week of the buildup (160 miles, after back to back 145 mile weeks) with my staple 26.2K tempo run. Essentially this is the Hanson's "simulator" - but I make a few adjustments: 1) I don't run it at marathon goal pace... I aim for 10-15 seconds slower per mile. 2) I don't take any fuel or fluids. Today I averaged 5:31/mile, which is actually a touch faster than I ran this workout before CIM last year, and today was a very controlled effort. I made an effort to dial back the pace and make sure I wasn't dipping under 5:30 pace. I've found that if I run this workout closer to goal MP it takes a little too much out of you - especially mentally, when you are running it alone. You only have so much mental focus to use, and I think it's better to save the bulk of it for marathon day.

The rest of the week was standard - 14/8 doubles (with as much grass / dirt running as possible), 17 miles with a 10 mile progression on Thursday, and 10 x 30 second hill efforts (I can't call them sprints) on Saturday.

Workouts for the week of September 8th

I'm not as fast as I've been in the past (in terms of shorter workouts and 10K/HM races), but my aerobic strength is as good as it's ever been. I think that bodes well for the marathon. I've had an excellent stretch of long runs this summer (graphic below)... most of them at higher altitude and with a decent amount of hills. Today's run was almost completely flat, by design.

Over the next couple weeks I'll start to reign in my total volume, focus on a few quality longer efforts without trying to squeeze in too much now that I'm starting to feel "in shape." I'll save the magic for the streets of Chicago in four weeks. Ice bucket, protein bars, and massage will also be key elements of the next month!

First 8 long runs of the cycle

Fresh pair of Fastwitch for the next stretch of workouts

Spring Training #5 - An attempt to regroup - then the turtle icon appears!

Three straight turtle icons is bad news. Unless they are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Below are my key runs/workouts for the block of time between the Indy 500 half-marathon and the (early) termination of the Spring racing season. As I said here, it became obvious that the best-case scenario for Duluth was probably ~1:07 again, and I just didn't want to race there when I know I'm not anywhere near my best.

Week of May 5: 8K AT Tempo; 20 mile long run at Jeremy Ranch.

Week of May 12: AM 6 mile AT Tempo + PM 8 x 300m (1500); 10 x 600m (5K); 20 mile long run at Jeremy Ranch.

Week of May 19: LT Reps: 2 x 2.5 miles + 2 x 1 mile; 6 x 1000m + 6 mile AT Tempo.

Week of May 26: 20 mile LR at Jeremy Ranch; 12 x 400m; Bombed 3 x 2 mile (3 x 1); 20 mile LR at Jeremy Ranch.

Week of June 2: Bombed 15 x 1 minute fartlek; The End.

After running 1:07:00 at Indianapolis, I panicked - jacked up my mileage for no reason, lost confidence in myself, and generally fell apart. What started off as a mental hiccup turned into a physical one - my workouts got progressively slower throughout the month of May (hence the appearance of the turtle icon!). The fartlek on June 2nd was the (poison) icing on the cake - I jogged home from that one finally realizing I need to shut down my training for the spring. Compared to the rest of the training I did during the first four months of the year (post: #1 - #2 - #3 - #4) this was a very poor block of training, both in planning (ie. stupidly deviating from the plan) and execution. I got bloodwork done the day after my last bombed workout, and my Hematocrit and Ferritin were at all-time low levels.

So, a disappointing end to the spring... but I'll get back up from this. I'm going to take some downtime to re-charge mentally, then keep things very light/easy throughout June. When I feel ready to get back after it, I'll start building in July towards a fall marathon... hopefully Chicago if I can get my act back together... and run some of the local races in Utah during the summer.

Pre-TOU Marathon Thoughts

Tomorrow is the Top of Utah Marathon. I like to put down some thoughts the day before big race while things are still objective in my head. This is essentially the same thing I posted on my training log this morning.

I'm taking a break (of unknown duration) from 26.2 after the race tomorrow. This will be my 4th marathon in 15 months - not a crazy amount by any means (especially considering how quickly I can recover), but I don't need to run another one later this fall. If I run fast, I'll want to run another marathon to legitimize the performance on a flat course... and if I bomb again, I'll want to redeem myself. So no matter what I know there is a part of me that's going to want to jump right back into marathon training... I'm better off just saying I'm NOT running another marathon this year and then I'm publicly accountable :-)

Around the beginning of August I got on the CIM bandwagon and starting looking past TOU for a couple of reasons: 1) I didn't really know if I'd round into shape to run fast by mid-September and didn't want to force the issue, and 2) At the time it seemed like Andrea was back on track for a late fall marathon, and I thought it would be fun to train for the same thing as her (like we did last year). Well, she is obviously not running a marathon anytime soon, and my fitness (which was always there but just needed some fine-tuning) has transformed into solid racing form over the past 5-6 weeks. I feel confident about my ability to run a good marathon tomorrow, despite my somewhat unstructured approach to training this summer.

This was a different marathon buildup than the last couple - big(ger) mileage weeks, no shorter interval work (I haven't done a track workout in over 3 months), slower tempo runs... honestly it didn't feel like the "grind it out" hard work that marathon training can be (it was actually laid back and pretty fun, which is really what I was after)... but the results from the past couple races show that I'm not too far off my best performances in the 5K/Half-Marathon range than I am when doing the workouts that are specific to those races. I believe that training is largely cumulative - I've been very consistent for a long time now, and the work I put in leading up to Boston and Portland/Duluth had a long-term benefit that I can still tap into. Training cycles build on each other. I may not be as fast over one-mile as I was in June, but I don't think it will come down to that. Maybe I'm being overconfident, but I feel like I'm as ready to race the marathon as I ever have been in the past.

I'm excited to run tomorrow and see what I can do. The last two marathons I've run have ended somewhere between very bad (Boston) and very, very bad (Philly)... so I'm hoping I can prevent that from happening again and race all the way, like I did at UVM last June (back when I thought the marathon was easy).

Assuming I don't get trampled by a moose or elk, after this marathon I'll shift my focus back to the half for the rest of the year - Monterey Bay and RnR Vegas will be good opportunites to go after a 1/2 PR on fair courses. I want to wait and see what USATF announces as the new OTQ standards, qualifying window, and site of the 2013 USA Championships before I start thinking about when my next marathon will be. If I'm smart (and more importantly - we get lots of powder days this winter!!!) I won't even think about the marathon again until next fall. There are a lot of other races I want to run in the meantime.

Not that the numbers really mean anything (and they definitely are not a performance predictor), but I have a spreadsheet that makes cool graphs that are nice to look at, especially when looking back at this stuff down the road. These are some comparisons of the buildups towards all four marathons...

Total Miles (11 weeks leading up to marathon)

"Fast" miles (Marathon effort or faster)

Week by Week

I think the most interesting thing about this, looking back, is that I was really hammering out a ton of quality workouts leading up to Boston. This buildup has been more similar to UVM, where I just built a huge aerobic base and then sharpened up with some races over the last month.

In terms of objectives for tomorrow... my goal is to win the race. My "plan" is to run by feel (no real target splits I sort of know what range I should be in at the halfway point) and finish this one with authority.

I saw this quote earlier in the week and I think its fitting...

"If you live cautiously, friends will call you wise, you just won't move any mountains"

I like to make these "big picture" calendars to look at training cycles. This is what it looked like this summer...

July Training / Recap

Started off the month in California, wrapping up our epic vacation, then came home to Salt Lake and got back into the swing of training. July ended up being really busy... we put the finishing touches on our ski season, took a trip to Tennessee, and spent a weekend in Park City.

Quick training recap... you can click the links to our Fast Run Blog's to see the daily workouts...

Jake: Last 4 weeks were 106, 115, 107, and 110 miles. Ran 15:04 at the Draper Days 5K in mid July. Things are moving in the right direction. Had a little scare w/ a back spasm that put me down for 2 days, but that has resolved.

My day-by-day log for the entire month.

Andrea's last 4 weeks were 25, 42, 46, and 61 miles. She mixed in a lot of cross training while getting over her back injury, but now seems to be making some solid progress; getting the mileage back up and easing back into harder workouts.

Andrea's daily log for July.

THE PLAN FOR THE FALL

I'm laying my cards out and just saying that I'm going for an Olympic Trials Qualifier this fall at the Philadelphia Marathon. Running under 2:19:00 is going to require making another huge jump, but I'm confident in my abilities and think I have a good plan to get me that level. Andrea will be running the half-marathon in Philly. We have both received complimentary elite entires to the race.

Between now and then, we'll have several other races (including a 1/2 marathon in Long Beach CA, which will be a good opportunity to run fast at sea level) to keep us busy. My family is coming to visit in a few weeks, and Andrea's family is coming out in September, so we'll be making some trips to places like the Uinta Mountains and Moab.

SAUCONY SPONSORSHIP

More on this in a post to come, but if you noticed the Saucony banner on the blog, its there because Andrea and I are now both being sponsored by Saucony! They are an awesome company who I have a past relationship w/ through some research I did a few years ago, and we are both thrilled to have their support as we push forward towards achieving our running and racing goals.

RETURN OF LA NINA?

According to NOAA, there is a growing likelihood that 2011-2012 will be another La Nina season. Boy, wouldn't another 800" winter be nice?!?! Although I will say that I am hoping that I don't take my skis out until after January 14th, 2012... if you know what I mean :-)

June Training

Here is the somewhat overdue monthly training recap for June. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep doing this in a monthly format now that we are both using the Fast Run Blog (Andrea - Jake) to record our workouts.

The big race we were aiming to peak for (Utah Valley) was the highlight of this month, preceded by a taper, and followed by some rest and recovery. We were on vacation in California from June 25 - July 4th.

Running

Jake
May 30 - June 5: 76 miles (Fight for Air 5K, 14:47, 1st)
June 6 - June 12: 61 miles (Utah Valley Marathon, 2:21:47, 4th)
June 13 - June 19: 57 miles
June 20 - June 26: 77 miles
June 27 - July 3: 79 miles

Total Miles for June (30 days, 44 runs): 297 miles
Average Miles a Day: 9.9 miles
Total Pushups: 3000 (100/day)
Days I drove my car to work: 10 days

2:21:47 @ Utah Valley pretty much sums it up. Had the best race of my life, and now I really think I have a chance at hitting that Olympic Trials Qualifier this fall. I'll be giving it my best shot. Recovery from the marathon was super quick... I never felt sore, and was itching to get back into "real" training almost immediately. Still, I took it relatively easy and let the body fully recover. Our vacation in California was just what the doctor ordered... tons of activity and tons of fun!

Andrea
May 30 - June 5: 57 miles (Fight for Air 5K, 16:52, 1st)
June 6 - June 12: 48 miles (Utah Valley Half-Marathon, 1:17:54, 1st)
June 13 - June 19: 38 miles
June 20 - June 26: 19 miles
June 27 - July 3: 32 miles

Total Miles for June (30 days, 28 runs): 161 miles
Average Miles a Day: 5.4 miles
Hours of Cross Training: A LOT OF hours

My half marathon time for Utah Valley pretty much sums it up as well. I ran two minutes faster than my goal and won the race! Since then, my mileage has dropped off significantly. I have been dealing with back pain for the last few months (probably due to running hard and then sitting at a desk all day during the week), so my focus now is to be 100% pain free. I've been seeing a PT and incorporating a lot of stretches and exercises into my daily routine. I have definitely ramped up the cross training to maintain my fitness while the running mileage stays low. So no races for me for a while, but I think it'll be nice to watch a few races instead of run them!

Skiing
We skied for 8 straight days during our CA trip, highlighted by a classic line in Ellery Bowl off Tioga Pass. Toss in a few days of early June skiing at Alta, and we really took advantage of the big snowpack in terms of getting in some spring/summer skiing.

Next up...

Races: A few 5Ks and other random races here and there this summer. Mainly using them as hard training efforts. The next important race is the Top of Utah half-marathon on August 27th, so that's the current focus.
Trips: Tennessee over Pioneer Day weekend
Skiing: Hung up the skis for the season... until November...

Mountain Biking: We're getting more profecient on the bikes and are looking forward to taking advantage of some of the great trails in SLC and Park City this summer.

May Training

Here's the monthly training recap for May. Quantity has gone down (slightly), quality has gone up (A LOT). We've had excellent workouts and races all month... its been fun!

Running

Jake

May 2 - May 8: 100 miles (Provo Half-Marathon, 1:10:52, PR, 2nd place)
May 9 - May 15: 135 miles
May 16 - May 22: 114 miles
May 23 - May 29: 95* miles (Memorial Day 10K, 31:55, 3rd place)
(*End of "The Streak")

Total Miles for May (31 days, 52 runs): 483 miles
Average Miles a Day: 15.6 miles
Total Perfect Pushups: 1800 (58/day)
Days I drove my car to work: 8 days

I feel like I'm not only back to a competitive level, but I jumped to a new level this month. The half-marathon and 10K races were solid efforts, but its really the day-to-day workload and consistency that has given me more confidence. I keep getting stronger and stronger in workouts. There were a few specific days that really told me I was now at a fitness level I have never been at before... the 13 mile tempo and the 2 x 5 miles workouts were put on the calendar at the beginning of the month to be indicators of what my goal pace should be in the marathon. I cruised through both of them, and now my expectations are pretty high for UVM. The big mileage all winter, and incorporation of more specific workouts over the past 8 weeks, has paid off nicely so far. With only a week to go, I can't wait to just get out there and race for 26.2!

Andrea

May 2 - May 8: 57 miles (Provo Half-Marathon, 1:21:43, PR, 1st Place)
May 9 - May 15: 69 miles
May 16 - May 22: 71 miles
May 23 - May 29: 49 miles (Memorial Day 10K, 37:10, PR, Course Record, 1st Place)

Total Miles for May (31 days, 43 runs): 272 miles
Average Miles a Day: 8.8 miles

I started off the month with a huge PR in the Provo Half Marathon, which gave me confidence that my training and workouts were right on target. This month was much more focused on the track and tempo workouts instead of miles. The 10k this past weekend was a great effort, but I could definitely tell that my training was geared towards the longer distance. I know that I'm in the best shape of my life and am excited to see what I can do at the Utah Valley Half Marathon.

Skiing

Its still has not stopped snowing (15" over Memorial Day weekend, season-to-date totals are pushing close to 800", and Snowbird is staying open through July 4th!). That being said, we haven't skied much in the past month. After kicking off the month with some chute skiing on May 1st, we've shifted our focus to running and recovery. We'll ski some more after UVM (as the snowpack is crazy deep and will last well into the summer), but its just not worth the risk of any freak injuries or whatnot at this point. Running fast is the #1 priority and the thing we are both most passionate about right now.

Next up...

Races: Fight for Air 5K (June 4), Utah Valley Half-Marathon / Marathon (June 11)
Trips: We're still not 100% decided on a summer vacation at the end of June... but right now we are leaning towards California... maybe Shasta/Lassen/Tahoe.


This was our workout calendar for the month of May. Days that don't have something specific were simply "run as much mileage as possible without breaking down and make sure you are fresh for workouts." I think this was a good scheme for the month, considering we both haven't done these types of workouts in several years. Its eased us back into a higher workout of quality running, and has gotten us prepared well for racing, but avoided the risk of injuries that comes with doing too much, too soon.


Jake's miles per week for the past 6 months... "Miles make champions"

April Training

Here's the monthly training recap for April. After recovering from Antelope Island, we started mixing in some shorter, faster workouts in preparation for the spring racing season. We capped off the month by running a 5K race that showed our fitness is at a good place right now.

Running

Jake
Mar 28 - Apr 3: 102 miles
Apr 4 - Apr 10: 130 miles
Apr 11 - Apr 17: 137 miles
Apr 18 - Apr 24: 113 miles
Apr 25 - May 1: 102 miles (SLC RunCo 5K, 15:45, 1st place)

Total Miles for April (30 days, 53 runs): 517 miles
Average Miles a Day: 17.2 miles (year to date is 17.7 miles/day)
Total Perfect Pushups: 1500 (50/day all 30 days)
Days I drove my car to work: 6 days (that's a record!)

The end of March feels like a long, long time ago. That week after the Antelope Island 50K was rough. I still managed to run over 100 miles, but most of those runs were terrible. Then, just like that, my legs were back and training started to click again. We got into a good groove of doing 2 workouts per week in April (usually a 20-30 minute tempo run, and then intervals on the track). I feel like my training is going well, and running 15:45 this past weekend w/out really having to push very hard is a good indicator that I should be able to pop a good half-marathon.

Andrea
Mar 28 - Apr 3: 58 miles
Apr 4 - Apr 10: 71 miles
Apr 11 - Apr 17: 71 miles
Apr 18 - Apr 24: 59 miles
Apr 25 - May 1: 51 miles (SLC RunCo 5K, 17:52, 1st place, PR!)

Total Miles for April (30 days, 43 runs): 264 miles
Average Miles a Day: 8.8 miles (year to date is 8.1 miles/day)
Hours of Cross Training (exercise bike, elliptical, and weights): 6 hours

This has been a hard training month! I have not done tempo runs and track workouts since high school, so April has been quite a transition. With that said, I definitely believe they have helped my speed tremendously. I still can't quite believe that I ran a sub-18 minute 5k - that distance is not my strong suit (or my favorite), which makes me anxious to see how I perform in the half marathons coming up. May will be another hard month of training towards the big race - Utah Valley. I am very excited about the spring temperatures FINALLY!

Skiing

Total Vertical Climbed: ~21,000 feet in 6 days of backcountry skiing. Highlight: Mt Superior
Inbounds ski days: 3

Next up...

Races: Provo City Half-Marathon (May 7), Memorial Day 5K/10K (May 28), Utah Valley Half-Marathon / Marathon (June 11)
Trips: Southern Utah (Zion, etc) in 3 weeks w/ the Krong parents!
Skiing: Alta closed down yesterday, finishing up the 2010-2011 season with a cumulative snowfall of 724 inches!!! Winter may have finally ended, and we might not have any more deep powder days, but there is so much snow in the mountains that we are going to be skiing AFTER July 4th this summer, and that makes me mighty happy! :-)

March Training

Here's the monthly training recap for March. We capped off the "winter" season on a high note at the Antelope Island races... now we're recovering and making the transition towards running some fast times in shorter races, and skiing some steep lines on a stable spring snowpack in the Wasatch!

Running

Jake
Feb 28 - Mar 6: 140 miles
Mar 7 - Mar 13: 139 miles
Mar 14 - Mar 20: 109 miles
Mar 21 - Mar 27: 102 miles (Antelope Island 50K, 3:38:02, 1st place, Course Record)

Total Miles for March (31 days, 57 runs): 516 miles
Average Miles a Day: 16.6 miles (last 2 months were ~18.5/day)
Total Perfect Pushups: 1450 (missed 3 days... otherwise did 50/day)
Days I drove my car to work: 11 days

March capped off the best winter training I have ever done... and running a course record at the Buffalo Run 50K was a somewhat unexpected (at least to get it by 10 minutes) but still very nice surprise. I was able to keep my mileage up at a relatively high level right up to the 50K, so that should bode well for the coming months in terms of maintaining strength. Right now the speed is lacking, but I think that will come along... I need to make sure I don't rush into it too quick and get hurt, though. The plan now is to run a half-marathon in early May and then a marathon on June 11th (Utah Valley), with a few 5K/10K rust-busters mixed in there to start getting the spring back in my legs.

Andrea
Feb 28 - Mar 6: 61 miles
Mar 7 - Mar 13: 63 miles
Mar 14 - Mar 20: 51 miles
Mar 21 - Mar 27: 63 miles (Antelope Island 25K, 1:59:50, 2nd place, beat old course record)

Total Miles for March (31 days, 44 runs): 259 miles
Average Miles a Day: 8.4 miles (last month was 8.6 mi/day)
Hours of Cross Training (exercise bike, elliptical, and weights): 5 hours

Since November, I have been using cross training to get myself used to two-a-day workouts while not doing too much too soon with running. It has really worked out well. I'm at the point now where I can run twice a day and feel great. So this month I have cut back on cross training and been focusing on my runs (with a few strength training classes thrown in to mix it up). I had about a week early in the month when my shins were aching, but I think I prevented them from becoming a major problem by icing a lot and running on softer surfaces. The Buffalo Run 25k this past week was very tough and mentally challenging, but I'm hoping it makes the half marathon in 5 weeks seem easy! I'm excited for April's warmer temperatures and springtime conditions. It should make training much more enjoyable. Highlights of the month were getting to see my family (they came to SLC for a ski trip) and winning the triathlon at work - consisting of 2 miles on the treadmill, 1 mile on the elliptical, and 4 miles on the recumbent bike. Good times :o)

Skiing

Total Vertical Climbed: ~13K feet (Jake), ~10K feet (Andrea). We only skied 2 backcountry days this month!
Inbounds ski days: 6 (Lots of visitors!)

Next up...

Races: SLC Running Company 5K (April 30), Provo Half-Marathon (May 7)
Visitors: Jenna Krong in town April 7-10 for powder skiing and sunshine!
Skiing: There are more ski descents I want to do in that next month than I can list. Hopefully we pull off some big ones and some classics... the mountains are COATED with snow (566" to date) so we should have a great spring of corn harvesting and chute skiing!

Tapering for the Antelope Island 50K

Running Times published an article about Josh McDougal last month. In the piece, he repeats what he said to his coach moments before the start of his victirious NCAA XC Championship race:

"There's only one way this can end. You know I have to win this."

I ran against Josh a few times in high school, and have always admired his work ethic and running ability, so I liked this quote a lot. It also sums up exactly how I feel about the 50K race this weekend. Now, I'm by no means saying that the Antelope Island run is 1/1000th as important as NCAA XCs (it might not even be that close!). However, I've put in a lot of mileage this winter (with a few solid race performances to show I am on the right track), and this race will sort of "cap" the base-building training block. I think I can take down 5K/10K/Half PRs in 2011, and pop a good marathon as well. However, Antelope Island comes first. Its been on the calendar since October, and now its finally here (on Saturday). I have no idea how I'm going to fare over 31 miles of trails (the longest run I've ever done is 27 miles of pavement!), and I really don't care exactly how fast I run (Course Record is 3:48:11, although who knows what the weather and trail conditions will be like), but you can bet that I'm running to win this darn thing!

I've been sick for the past week, and "only" ran 109 miles. I've generally felt lethargic, but I guess that's been the sickness more than anything else. This week I'm taking it pretty easy and probably allowing my streak of 18 x 100+mile weeks to come to an end. I want to have some pop in my legs on Saturday, and not only be able to run fast, but hopefully recover quickly too.

If anyone is wondering about my plan in terms of eating and staying hydrated... well, I don't really have a good one. Starburst jelly beans are going to be the energy source of choice, and I don't think I'm carrying or stashing drink bottles anywhere. I'm just going to rely on getting some good old fashioned H2O at the aid stations.


I took this picture last June when Andrea & I went to Antelope Island. Hopefully there aren't too many of these guys out on the trails this weekend! :-)

February Training

Here's the monthly training recap for February. We are definitely in a high volume cycle right now! This post marks Andrea's debut in terms of writing for the blog, and not just skiing powder while I take pictures of her!

Running

Jake
Jan 31 - Feb 6: 121 miles (XTerra 15 mile Trail Race, 1st place, 1:28:19)
Feb 7 - Feb 13: 118 miles
Feb 14 - Feb 20: 145 miles
Feb 21 - Feb 27: 123 miles (SLC 15K, 3rd place, 50:29 PR)

Total Miles for February (28 days, 48 runs): 516 miles
Average Miles a Day: 18.4 miles (last month was 18.7 mi/day)
Total Perfect Pushups: 1575 (hey, that's over 50/day! Pretty good for my scrawny arms!)
Days I drove my car to work: 8 days

Another solid month. I'm healthy, running big miles, and somehow I managed to run 2 pretty good races without tapering. My 15 week average is 128 miles/week. I've never come close to doing anything like this before. The foundation is getting really strong right now. I knocked off 26 and 27 mile long runs in February as well. Definitely looking forward to start doing more road racing after the Antelope Island 50K. At this rate, I think I'm going to be able to pop a good half & full marathon.

Andrea
Jan 31 - Feb 6: 61 miles (XTerra 15 mile Trail Race, 1st place, 1:43:44 PR)
Feb 7 - Feb 13: 44 miles
Feb 14 - Feb 20: 60 miles
Feb 21 - Feb 27: 61 miles (SLC 15K, 1st place, 58:25 PR)

Total Miles for February (28 days, 30 runs): 225 miles
Average Miles a Day: 7.5 miles (last month was 8.3 mi/day)
Hours of Cross Training (exercise bike, elliptical, and weights): 5.25 hours

I am beginning to realize the benefits of higher mileage and longer runs. I've been quite thrilled (and surprised!) with my performance in the two races I ran this past month. I am running so much faster than I ever have, and that makes me excited. I think it is possible for me to make the Utah Elite Team here in SLC with a few more good races, so that should keep me motivated at least until summertime!

Skiing

Total Vertical Climbed (5 backcountry ski days): 26,180 feet
Inbounds ski days: 1 (we deserve ONE day of riding the lifts, right?)

The vast majority of running miles, for both of us, are done on Monday through Friday. On weekends, backcountry skiing still holds dibs, and we are getting more than our fair share of hill work with all that climbing! We're both convinced, for several reasons which I'll explain in a future blog, that backcountry skiing has helped us become better runners.

Sleep

Average amount of sleep: 8-9 hours (with Andrea winning this competition over Jake!)
Typical bedtime: 9pm (with the occasional 7:45-8PM lights out... not joking)

Next up...

Antelope Island, March 26th. 50K for Jake, 25K for Andrea. Its gonna be HARD! In between, we have family and friends visiting, so its going to be another busy month!

January Training

January was a tiring month. Here's the quick rundown of the stats.

Running - Week of...

January 3: 105 miles
January 10: 129 miles
January 17: 133 miles
January 24: 154 miles

Total Miles for January (31 days, 59 runs): 581 miles
Total Vertical Climbed (8 ski days): 33,685 feet

In the 11 weeks since I decided that I was going to take a shot at the Antelope Island 50K this March, I've averaged 128 miles per week. Never before in my life have I been able to pull off this kind of volume with this kind of consistency. I have 8 more weeks (including this week) until the race. Up until now, the training has been 99% focused on building a strong aerobic base. Some occasional harder efforts, and lots of hill running, but no structured workouts. I'm going to start mixing in some more specific workouts in this next block of training. But first, a race to see where I'm at...


Doesn't that look fun? Well, Antelope Island is twice as long and has 4 times the elevation gain... so for me, this actually does look like it will be a relatively nice course!

This weekend Andrea and I are heading down to Arizona, and we're running an XTerra trail race at McDowell Mountain Park. Its a 15 miler, so it should be a good fitness test. I don't expect to have much leg speed, but I know my aerobic engine is really strong, so hopefully I can grind out a good effort.

If nothing else, its just going to be nice to get out of the cold weather for a few days! The below zero windchills this week have been quite the mental challenge, so a change of scenery should mix things up enough to prevent hitting that mental barrier that inevitably pops up when you're training for 20 weeks for a single event.