Just a week and a half until Pick Your Poison 50km, looking forward to it! Training has been going well, I feel great. I still struggle to get enough runs in, but I've compensated by going hard and doing stupid things while training: Wearing a 20lb weighted vest around the house doing sporatic exercises (haven't run in it yet), carrying my dumbells on runs, doing crazy exercises in odd places (you'd be surprised what you can do at your desk).
This morning I did the stairs for 25min with my 2 ten pound dumbells, it's getting much easier than it used to be. I remember the first time a few months ago when I did this, I had problems just moving across the 500 metres to get to the stairs! It's not running with the weight, it's my arms trying to hold up the weight. I thought I might have to start putting them in a backpack to get there. This morning, it was no problem running to and from the stairs with the weights at all. After 25min on the stairs, I ran back to drop off the weights, then ran another 5km feeling light as a feather! Dropping 20lbs instantly does wonders for you!
Last Saturday was the real kicker. I headed out to Sulpher to get a few loops in, I figured 40km if I was feeling up to it. I was curious to see how I'd feel on a long run with my 4lb dumbells. I ran the first 20km loop with them in 2h 10min, decent time on a trail with hills carrying weights. I grabbed some food from the car and decided I felt ok, so I brought them out with me for loop 2. There's a few spots where you run past the same point, I figured if it was too much then I'd just drop them and pick them up later. After about 30km, my arms weren't doing too bad but my knees were getting sore and my legs were tired (I usually bring Powerbar Gels and Electrolite pills for long runs, I'm haven't organized my shit this year and couldn't find either of them!). It was getting tough to run, but I stuck with it. Finished 40km with the weights in 4h 45min, I was exhausted by the end... Glad I did it though. Previously, the longest I'd carried the weights was 13km, this day I did an additional 27km.
Carrying the weights plays with my mind a little. I do feel lighter now when I run without them, my body is getting used to running 8lbs heavier. I was worried that running with them too often might mess up my form, but my form sucked anyway so it might actually be helping. It keeps me running at a slightly slower pace, so it stops me from taking big strides and landing on my heel. Also does great for my posterior chain (aka my ass), my lower back and hammies have to work a little harder to compensate for the weight I'm holding in front of me. I could put 8lbs in a pack or use a vest instead, but I really prefer the challenge and extra work of using my arms, great workout.
So, things are going well. A week and half to 50km of the hills of PYP, then a week later the 50 miles of hills at Bear Mountain. I really should take it easy at PYP and save myself for Bear, but it's always hard to do the when the race starts! Maybe some fellow runners will knock some sense into me. Or I bring the weights! No, I think they'll sit this one out...
Take Care,
Morgan
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Back to Running
Finally ran last night after exactly 3 weeks with no running. I was free last Saturday to run, but antibiotics were just starting to kick in and I didn't feel up to it. I feel fine now, so last night I headed out for a very hilly run with my two 4lb dumbells to make it a little tougher. I felt great after 3 weeks off! Some sore muscles and arms weren't used to the weights anymore, but after a few days it should all be fine. Time to step it up, less than 4 weeks to Pick Your Poison 50k and 5 until Bear Mountain 50 mile.
Being off for 3 weeks does have it's positive takeaways (everything does actually). It reminded me not to take being healthy for granted and to stay off my ass. It gave me time to reflect on training and how I'm doing things:
Short Runs: I haven't been doing fast road runs, been focusing on hilly trail runs with weights, stairs, or both. Maybe too much? There will be long flat or long incline/decline sections at Leadville, but my runs have been focusing on gnarly, hilly trail and stairs. I've been carrying dumbells on the trials, which adds to the difficulty and is much more taxing, but it does make the runs much slower. These are great, but maybe I should add in some more road or flat faster runs also.
Long Runs: What long runs? It's hard for me to fit them in, but I'll need to get creative and make sure to get more in going forward.
Nutrition: This is back on track. During my break, I attended a conference which meant 3 buffet meals a day, plus a drinkfest each night, not good. That was temporary, but I was also letting my regular nutriton slide, but I put a stop to that a week ago. No extra pounds will be coming with me to Colorado! In fact no extra pounds will be coming with me anywhere soon....
Strength Training: This had been going great pre-break, during my 3 weeks of stupidity I did none. Back at it now, but I need to focus more on running. There have been times during lunch at work when I'd hit the gym instead of running, I'll be more concious to run instead and do strength training at home with kids when I can't run. I bought a 20lb weighted vest the other day, I've been wearing it around the house while doing my usual pushups and squats, my kids think I'm nuts. They're usually right. I told my daughter I'm going to pick her up from school wearing the vest to embarass her, I think I scared her!
Races:
I looked into switching dates around so that I could do a 50 mile race in Ontario in May (either Seaton on May 12 or Sulpher on May 26), but my ex wasn't able to switch weekends with me due to her work functions. This meant the only option for me to do a 50 mile race would be Bear Mountain on May 5th. The actual race at Bear Mountain would be my pick out of the 3, but the timing is bad (1 week after Pick your Poison) and location is in the Catskills in NY, an 8hr drive which means a hotel and a day off work. No choice, so Bear Mountain it is. I signed up for it the other day, should be a fun trip as a few of us are going now. JD, Carlos, Steve and I have signed up for the adventure, still waiting on Chris to decide and possibly Kendra. Should be fun!
Not sure what to do about Pick Your Poison on Apr 28th yet. It's a hilly course, which is great, but being 1 week before Bear means I'll need to decide what distance to do. A smart person would opt for the 25k, so I'll likely do 50k and not run it too hard. Last year I signed up 3 days in advance, so I'll worry about it later.
Current Plan:
So, current plan is basically train as hard as I can right up until about 2 days prior to PYP, then take it easy during the week between the races, then go hard at Bear Mountain. With Bear being right at the beginning of May and no other races fitting into my schedule, I'll have 6 weeks until Mohican 100 on June 16th. Plenty o' time to rest, go hard for a few weeks and rest again before 100. So I guess everything is on track for now...
Morgan
Being off for 3 weeks does have it's positive takeaways (everything does actually). It reminded me not to take being healthy for granted and to stay off my ass. It gave me time to reflect on training and how I'm doing things:
Short Runs: I haven't been doing fast road runs, been focusing on hilly trail runs with weights, stairs, or both. Maybe too much? There will be long flat or long incline/decline sections at Leadville, but my runs have been focusing on gnarly, hilly trail and stairs. I've been carrying dumbells on the trials, which adds to the difficulty and is much more taxing, but it does make the runs much slower. These are great, but maybe I should add in some more road or flat faster runs also.
Long Runs: What long runs? It's hard for me to fit them in, but I'll need to get creative and make sure to get more in going forward.
Nutrition: This is back on track. During my break, I attended a conference which meant 3 buffet meals a day, plus a drinkfest each night, not good. That was temporary, but I was also letting my regular nutriton slide, but I put a stop to that a week ago. No extra pounds will be coming with me to Colorado! In fact no extra pounds will be coming with me anywhere soon....
Strength Training: This had been going great pre-break, during my 3 weeks of stupidity I did none. Back at it now, but I need to focus more on running. There have been times during lunch at work when I'd hit the gym instead of running, I'll be more concious to run instead and do strength training at home with kids when I can't run. I bought a 20lb weighted vest the other day, I've been wearing it around the house while doing my usual pushups and squats, my kids think I'm nuts. They're usually right. I told my daughter I'm going to pick her up from school wearing the vest to embarass her, I think I scared her!
Races:
I looked into switching dates around so that I could do a 50 mile race in Ontario in May (either Seaton on May 12 or Sulpher on May 26), but my ex wasn't able to switch weekends with me due to her work functions. This meant the only option for me to do a 50 mile race would be Bear Mountain on May 5th. The actual race at Bear Mountain would be my pick out of the 3, but the timing is bad (1 week after Pick your Poison) and location is in the Catskills in NY, an 8hr drive which means a hotel and a day off work. No choice, so Bear Mountain it is. I signed up for it the other day, should be a fun trip as a few of us are going now. JD, Carlos, Steve and I have signed up for the adventure, still waiting on Chris to decide and possibly Kendra. Should be fun!
Not sure what to do about Pick Your Poison on Apr 28th yet. It's a hilly course, which is great, but being 1 week before Bear means I'll need to decide what distance to do. A smart person would opt for the 25k, so I'll likely do 50k and not run it too hard. Last year I signed up 3 days in advance, so I'll worry about it later.
Current Plan:
So, current plan is basically train as hard as I can right up until about 2 days prior to PYP, then take it easy during the week between the races, then go hard at Bear Mountain. With Bear being right at the beginning of May and no other races fitting into my schedule, I'll have 6 weeks until Mohican 100 on June 16th. Plenty o' time to rest, go hard for a few weeks and rest again before 100. So I guess everything is on track for now...
Morgan
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