Training Week: March 24-30th, 2013 – prep for Lake Sonoma 50
My quads got beat-up from the Tarawera 100km. Despite taking 5 days totally off from running after the race (on March 16, 2013) I can still feel a dull ache in them. That is to be expected though. I’ve dealt with lots of post-marathon fatigue and I’ve overtrained to the point of compromising my health and fitness (thinking back to training for the Boston Marathon in 2010 as a Hansons-Brooks athlete were I put in 7 weeks averaging 130 miles a week at a fairly quick pace on mostly pavement). I try to be smarter now (but sometimes I am not). It is a fine line between reaching a point where your body adapts, supercompensates for the stress, and becomes stronger…OR you overtrain, regress and/or get injured.
I’ve got a lot on my plate. I look at my racing schedule for events I want to compete at this year and it suddenly looks totally ridiculous. Honestly, there is a chance I could crash and burn. It’s going to be a matter of trying to train smart, stay healthy and recover quickly. I’m not sure I can compete at the level I dream of running at in all these races…I’m just going to take it one step at a time and play things by ear.
Anyway, here’s a week look into my training:
3-24-13: “Adventure Run” started off at 9,000 feet in a couple inches of snow…ran uphill and then went off the road trying to find a short-cut back (involved hiking/slogging through the woods in a foot of snow!!). Ended up being 16 miles (And almost 3 hours)…got pretty cold, tired and hungry. You can see some footage of the early parts of the run with my girlfriend here:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx0SjKlaUyo[/youtube]
3-25-13: Easy 12 miles in the snow in Buena Vista (about 1hr 40min)
3-26-13: Ran up Bear Peak from the house (3,000 of vertical gain). Slipping in the wet snow up there. Got heart rate up a bit and set an ascent record on Strava. Quads pounded on the downhills but that’s good practice! Tempo-like effort on the way up.
(103minutes, 10 miles)
I made a snow mountain lion (since I didn’t see one on the way up this time):
3-27-13: Easy 60min on S Boulder trails (flat)
(8 miles)
3-28-13: Long Run: 30 miles, around 7:30s average pace. Started off with a couple loops around the Boulder Res averaging sub 7’s. Then went up North Boulder trails and hit Mt. Sanitas around mile 20. Ascent up Sanitas was nasty (anytime I have to use my hands to get up the “trail” I consider it technical). On the edge of bonking a bit and overdressed (to train for the heat of Transvulcania). Wore my Ultimate Direction AK Racing Vest the whole time and downed 44 ounces of Gatorade. Quads still feeling the ache from Tarawera. You can view the run on Strava here.
3-29-13: Easy 3 miles in about 22 minutes. Felt like crap. Quads shot (but that was to be expected).
3-30-13: Longish Run: Ran for about 3.5 hours on the trails of Lyons, CO with my girlfriend Sandi. Fairly hilly, but great weather!
(18.5 miles)
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Week #10: 97.5 miles… second highest training week since last spring!
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Thanks for all the support and best of luck with your running!
See you on the trails,
Sage
@SageCanaday
www.YouTube.com/Vo2maxProductions
Category: blog
Man, your schedule is so sick. So much traveling and amazing races. You previously stated you do not enjoy downhill running, I hope that is changing. Transvulcania has that ridiculously long descent at the end, and I think that is where the race can be won. Also the descent on Mt. Kinabalu is the key to the race (ask marco who had a descent lead at the summit only to be caught by Kilian). Also if you were able to win sierra zienal you would be an instant legend. best of luck in training and racing, I enjoy following your videos and training so much. (sorry for the long post)
Hey Benj,
Thanks so much for your comment!! Yeah, i have too many races in my schedule so I probably can’t do them all…I also want to try to stay healthy. I’ve already been doing a lot of specific downhill training for Transvulcania (and heat training). It will be an experience for sure and I just hope I can be in contention (and my legs won’t fail me) on that downhill section. I think the course does finish with 5km on the road uphill though!! I probably won’t do Mt. Knabalu but Sierre-Zinal is on the must-do list! Thanks again for all the support and best of luck wiht your running as well!!
-Sage
Hey Sage!
What a kick ass training week. I have been working in more hills in my training, and after a 10 mile tempo last weekend, my quads are finally recovered from the downhill pounding. Know exactly how you feel. Good luck with your training and upcoming races! Following runners like you is always an inspiration.
gda
Hey thanks so much!
Sounds like you’ve been doing some awesome training. Thank you for the support – and for following my blog. Best of luck with your running and future races!