Rocky Raccoon 100 training week 3 + Gears for the Years ride report.
A solid week, and the end of my first 3 week block. I mentioned this training was different from training I'd done in the past..
Usually I build 3 or 4 weeks, then have a recovery week. This training, I build 3 weeks, then drop back a little on week 4, then build up from there two weeks, then drop back, etc. It's a little confusing to describe like that, but here's an example:
Weeks 1, 2, 3: 28, 31, 34 miles
Weeks 4, 5, 6: 31, 34, 37 miles
So then week 7 is 34, then 37, etc. Kinda stair stepping.
The big way this is different is that I never get a true Recovery week. Just build, build, build. There's no easy 3 milers in my future. That's not so scary now, but it gets a little intimidating down the road when I have 6 weeks in a row where my long run is 20+ miles (on top of 3 other longer weekly runs).
Several good things offset the scary, though:
One is that Russ is all about modifying according to how I feel. If I need a week with a 3 miler, I can do it. If it's too much, I can dial it back. The goal is to not overdo it. Better undertrained than over.
And in light of that, the other good thing is that there's nothing truly, truly scary in my future. No 50 milers. No back to back 40 milers. In fact, the mileage stays so low, I had to REQUEST some higher mileage stuff. Not really for my body. But for my brain. I received permission to do the Wild Hare 50k in November. Otherwise my training will top out with 24 miles being my longest run. That seems scary in light of asking my body to then run 100 contiguous miles. Maybe it's unnecessary, but it'll make me feel better emotionally.
So that's kinda the summary of my training plan. It's exciting and also scary.
Meanwhile I'm already modifying things! Since I have that half Ironman coming up in a month, I still have to get some good swim and bike training in. All of my bike training has been on the trainer, but I really needed to get out on the road at least once, and make sure I could still ride outside, so Karen, Cecilia and I did the Gears for the Years 60 mile ride on Sunday. Since that meant a shorter run on Sunday than was scheduled, I made my Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday runs a little longer.
Taking a photo at the portapotties to send to Trista to let her know we were thinking about/missing her on her birthday.
The ride was.. mostly good. It started out incredibly foggy, so much so that we couldn't see other bikes that we knew were just up the road. That was a little scary, but man we would have paid to get that fog back by mile 50, when the sun and heat were out in full force.
I did verify that I can still ride 60 miles (actually 58, I refused to ride around the parking lot for 2 miles to get to 60), so I know I can do the distance in NC. It definitely left me more tired than I'd prefer, and made my left glute sore (same thing that happened in Galveston earlier this year). Made my neck sore. Made my left foot feel a little crushed. And by the last 20 miles, I was THIRSTY. Like.. couldn't get unthirsty thirsty. Even drinking constantly. I guess that was running 14 miles in terribly humid and warm weather the morning before. I'm not gonna do that the day before IMNC, I think. Good plan.
When we were done with the ride, we headed out to run 4 miles off the bike. Did I mention the sun and heat? The car told me afterward it was only 92, but.. 92 is bad. Especially when you've been doing all your runs at 5am in the dark. Karen stuck with me, though, and I was super proud of myself that, given how many times I desperately wanted to stop and walk, or just stop, I kept going until I hit 4 miles. And even though I was convinced that I was running 10 minute miles, and that my last mile HAD to be an 11 or so (endless uphill, Karen pulled ahead of me and I couldn't stay with her), my splits were actually 9:32, 9:03, 9:00, 8:21. Oh, that's why that last mile sucked. But hey, I can still do an 8:21, evidently! In crappy weather, even!
New shoes for my run! I figured this would be the shortest run I'd be doing from here on out, so a great time to try new shoes. They felt just like my old ones, so perfect.
So week 3 was an exhausting week, but I got all my run miles in, I did some solid cross training, I know I can do the ride, I know I can still run off the bike, and now I get a week to dial back the mileage slightly and recover. And maaaaybe a little bit of a cold/rain front? Not holding my breath on that one.
7+9+14+4=34
Onward to week 4!
Usually I build 3 or 4 weeks, then have a recovery week. This training, I build 3 weeks, then drop back a little on week 4, then build up from there two weeks, then drop back, etc. It's a little confusing to describe like that, but here's an example:
Weeks 1, 2, 3: 28, 31, 34 miles
Weeks 4, 5, 6: 31, 34, 37 miles
So then week 7 is 34, then 37, etc. Kinda stair stepping.
The big way this is different is that I never get a true Recovery week. Just build, build, build. There's no easy 3 milers in my future. That's not so scary now, but it gets a little intimidating down the road when I have 6 weeks in a row where my long run is 20+ miles (on top of 3 other longer weekly runs).
Several good things offset the scary, though:
One is that Russ is all about modifying according to how I feel. If I need a week with a 3 miler, I can do it. If it's too much, I can dial it back. The goal is to not overdo it. Better undertrained than over.
And in light of that, the other good thing is that there's nothing truly, truly scary in my future. No 50 milers. No back to back 40 milers. In fact, the mileage stays so low, I had to REQUEST some higher mileage stuff. Not really for my body. But for my brain. I received permission to do the Wild Hare 50k in November. Otherwise my training will top out with 24 miles being my longest run. That seems scary in light of asking my body to then run 100 contiguous miles. Maybe it's unnecessary, but it'll make me feel better emotionally.
So that's kinda the summary of my training plan. It's exciting and also scary.
Meanwhile I'm already modifying things! Since I have that half Ironman coming up in a month, I still have to get some good swim and bike training in. All of my bike training has been on the trainer, but I really needed to get out on the road at least once, and make sure I could still ride outside, so Karen, Cecilia and I did the Gears for the Years 60 mile ride on Sunday. Since that meant a shorter run on Sunday than was scheduled, I made my Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday runs a little longer.
Taking a photo at the portapotties to send to Trista to let her know we were thinking about/missing her on her birthday.
The ride was.. mostly good. It started out incredibly foggy, so much so that we couldn't see other bikes that we knew were just up the road. That was a little scary, but man we would have paid to get that fog back by mile 50, when the sun and heat were out in full force.
I did verify that I can still ride 60 miles (actually 58, I refused to ride around the parking lot for 2 miles to get to 60), so I know I can do the distance in NC. It definitely left me more tired than I'd prefer, and made my left glute sore (same thing that happened in Galveston earlier this year). Made my neck sore. Made my left foot feel a little crushed. And by the last 20 miles, I was THIRSTY. Like.. couldn't get unthirsty thirsty. Even drinking constantly. I guess that was running 14 miles in terribly humid and warm weather the morning before. I'm not gonna do that the day before IMNC, I think. Good plan.
When we were done with the ride, we headed out to run 4 miles off the bike. Did I mention the sun and heat? The car told me afterward it was only 92, but.. 92 is bad. Especially when you've been doing all your runs at 5am in the dark. Karen stuck with me, though, and I was super proud of myself that, given how many times I desperately wanted to stop and walk, or just stop, I kept going until I hit 4 miles. And even though I was convinced that I was running 10 minute miles, and that my last mile HAD to be an 11 or so (endless uphill, Karen pulled ahead of me and I couldn't stay with her), my splits were actually 9:32, 9:03, 9:00, 8:21. Oh, that's why that last mile sucked. But hey, I can still do an 8:21, evidently! In crappy weather, even!
New shoes for my run! I figured this would be the shortest run I'd be doing from here on out, so a great time to try new shoes. They felt just like my old ones, so perfect.
So week 3 was an exhausting week, but I got all my run miles in, I did some solid cross training, I know I can do the ride, I know I can still run off the bike, and now I get a week to dial back the mileage slightly and recover. And maaaaybe a little bit of a cold/rain front? Not holding my breath on that one.
7+9+14+4=34
Onward to week 4!