Training Crap

I realized this weekend that I had “completed” the first eight weeks of my 50k training and, well… It’s been pretty crappy. I haven’t been hitting my long runs, not even close. I was supposed to do a 22 miler this weekend and I struggled to make 15.

My training’s been pretty erratic, honestly. I was out of town on a work trip for a week and didn’t run at all. I spent a weekend in San Diego and didn’t run at all. One Saturday, it was raining so hard that the soul was sucked right out of me and I didn’t run at all. I know this is lame. No real athlete would make these excuses.

One thing that I have successfully done is go after some pretty monstrous elevation. I did some runs out in the Gorge that had me climbing 3000+ feet over about 10K. Hills like that are never gonna be easy, but I managed them fairly well, and they’re tougher than what I’ll face in my race – 4400 feet over 32 miles.

I also got some good – I mean RIDICULOUS - technical work in out there, so I’m feeling better about my ability to run on rocky, difficult terrain. I’m planning to continue doing at least one long run a month out there, although I’m probably going to scale back the ridiculous climbs a bit. No need to tear up my calves that much before the race.

I think my training mileage was simply too aggressive. If I were a more consistent runner, maybe it would work, but I’m not. I don’t want running to consume my entire life. I like to run, but I’m not THAT passionate about it. I’m not going to give up my lifting for it. I like doing both, even though they limit my ability to be top tier in either.

So… 12 weeks out from my race and I’m switching up my training plan. The long runs are shorter to start, and I’m only going to plan on one hilly run during the week. Three days a week I’ll run, two days a week I’ll cross train – weightlifting, some functional work and some metabolic conditioning – and I’ll have two days a week to recover and spend plenty of time on stretching, rolling and maintenance.

Wk	M	T	W	Th	F	S	Su
1 2/16	-	-	-	X-Train	Rest	LONG TRAIL RUN: 18 M	1-hour medium effort run
2 2/23	Rest	X-Train	Hill repeats: 7 x 600m	X-Train	Rest	LONG TRAIL RUN: 20 M	1-hour medium effort run
3 3/2	Rest	X-Train	60 min. hilly run	X-Train	Rest	LONG TRAIL RUN: 16 M	1-hour medium effort run
4 3/9	Rest	X-Train	Hill repeats: 8 x 600m	X-Train	Rest	SPRING FLING TRAIL : 13 M	1-hour medium effort run
5 3/16	Rest	X-Train	65 min. hilly run	X-Train	Rest	LONG TRAIL RUN: 22 M	1-hour medium effort run
6 3/23	Rest	X-Train	Hill repeats: 9 x 600m	X-Train	Rest	LONG TRAIL RUN: 24 M	1-hour medium effort run
7 3/30	Rest	X-Train	70 min. hilly run	X-Train	Rest	LONG TRAIL RUN: 16 M	1-hour medium effort run
8 4/6	Rest	X-Train	Hill repeats: 10 x 600m	X-Train	Rest	LONG TRAIL RUN: 26 M	1-hour medium effort run
9 4/13	Rest	X-Train	70 min. hilly run	X-Train	Rest	Trail Half Marathon	1-hour medium effort run
10 4/20	Rest	X-Train	Hill repeats: 8 x 600m	X-Train	Rest	30 minutes easy	Trail 10K
11 4/27	Rest	X-Train	Hill repeats: 5 x 600m	X-Train	Rest	Trail 5K	90-minute run
12 5/4	Rest	X-Train	1-hour easy	X-Train	Rest	50K RACE

The mileage in this plan isn’t monstrous, but I think that’s OK as long as I’m hitting my long runs and getting some good quality cross training in (I approached training for my two marathons last year like this, too). I seriously hope I can get this together. If I can at least be successful with my long runs for the next month, I’ll feel a lot better about this race. 

I Can Touch My Toes!

I turned 44 last month. It was no big deal. I’m used to being in my 40s. I like being in my 40s. I’m in better shape physically than I’ve ever been. It’s amazing what a motivator middle age has been for me to get off my ass and work on my fitness.

I’ve been working with a chiropractor for a couple months now and I’ve learned a lot about movement patterns. I’ve seen that I have muscle engagement issues. The first one the chiro helped me identify was my glutes. I wasn’t using them while running or walking. My legs were doing all the work. It seems we’re on our way to fixing that, though. I feel them when I’m running, now, and I think about them. It hasn’t become totally unconscious for me yet, but it gets closer every time.

Sort of related to that was that I always had issues touching my toes. I assumed this was due to inflexibility in the back of my legs. Actually, it just turned out that I wasn’t doing the movement correctly. I wasn’t swinging my hips and butt back, but was just reaching for my toes and stretching out my hammies. After some corrective exercises, I can now touch my toes easily. It was just a matter of learning to engage my hips and glutes in the movement.

Last night, we started looking at my balance problems. My chiro noticed that when I’m balancing on one leg, I don’t engage my big toes. The arches of my feet are doing a lot of work to compensate for this. He gave me an exercise to do, balancing on one leg while writing the alphabet with the other foot. The difference when I actually spread my toes and get that big toe engaged is phenomenal.  It’s amazing that such a simple adjustment could make such a huge difference.

I wish I had known some of this stuff years ago, at least before I started running. Better late than never, I guess. If it ends up keeping me more or less pain and injury free when I run long distances, I’ll be a happy camper.