This is the week it could all come crashing down. On 8/10, my beloved Eastern States was cancelled so I decided to take my current level of fitness and add in a block of training that goes to 11: For comparison, I’ve only had a streak of 4 weeks above 60 miles once before and…
Pivoting
With the cancellation of my beloved Eastern States, it’s time to pivot to the next thing. Most normal people would immediately look for a replacement race. Gotta get my race fix. Chatting with another runner at the non-start line, he mentioned The Ring over Labor Day weekend which has been on my bucket list for…
Training Update
I finished up my current training block last week. This week I’m cutting my volume back by a third and will drop down again next week leading up to Sri Chinmoy 24 Hour. Here’s how I executed against my original plan: Yeah, nailed it. There were a couple exceptions. In week three, I cut an…
Behind The Curtain Of My Current Training Plan
I don’t often post the details of my training cycles. Pay no attention to the man behind the spreadsheet. My training plans always start with my Saturday long runs. During the past several years, I’ve scheduled my last 20 miler two weeks out from race day. I then work backward with available weeks to see…
A Framework for Building and Maintaining Motivation During a Training Block
My three loyal readers are probably laughing their asses off at that title. Like I’m qualified to be giving advise on this topic? While it’s true I’ve developed some callouses hitting my snooze button this winter, I do have some opinions. Now do as I say. . . Choose Your Goal Wisely What you decide…
Musing On The Value Of A Long Run
This isn’t about whether long runs are an important part of training for ultras. In my opinion, they should be a key component to your preparation. One of my core beliefs is that in order to get good at running long distances you need to . . . run long distances. Period. No, this is…
The Good Enough Ultrarunner
I feel like my motto these days should be “meh, good enough”, which would be one of the more ironic mottos in sports. People think of ultrarunners as elite athletes cranking out 100+ mile weeks in training or running for days on end. “Bigger, faster, longer” would be a great ultra motto. “Go big or…
Throwing In The Towel On A Training Block
OK, the title is a little dramatic, over the top, and maybe not 100% accurate, but that’s how I feel right now. Over the past 10 days I’ve managed to blow off two runs and cut another short. While not completely unprecedented for me, this is not the best way to train four weeks out…
Strength Training Makes Me. . . Faster?!?!
I started up a strength training program six weeks ago. The goal wasn’t necessarily to run faster though. My focus is to get stronger in general. Mostly for injury prevention. Even though I haven’t been injured in the past decade, I’m fully aware that doing the same thing over and over again won’t work forever.…
From Florida to 10 Degrees
I was down in Florida visiting my brother over the holiday weekend. I got in some very flat miles. The weather wasn’t great (60-70 degrees, cloudy, light rain several days), however infinitely better than what the Mid-Atlantic had to offer. Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock to the system when I…