Training

I’ve spent the first 10 years of my ultra career mostly avoiding cross training. I’ve periodically dabbled in some body weight exercises (pull/push-ups and planks), but I always seem to drop the habit after a couple weeks or a month or so. The closest I’ve come is my evening walks and while I’m consistently getting…

Somehow I managed to schedule myself 3+ months in-between races. Do you know what that means? It’s the off season! Of course, my definition of off season is likely different than most. It’s not like I stop running and switch over to another sport/activity. I really don’t cut back my volume much either. Pretty much…

If I’m being honest, running ultras has become more of a lifestyle choice for me than a hobby. Consistently running. I managed to run 12 miles the week after Buckeye. I’ve logged 2,000-2,500 miles per year since 2018 and at least 1,700 miles since I started back in 2013. All of this without any injuries…

One of the challenges of ultras, especially as you progress past the 50K distance, is that you never practice your race pace. Sure you’re running slow on your long run, but I guarantee that at whatever pace you’re doing that is going to be too fast for a 50 miler and waaaaaay too fast for…

I have seven weeks between ES100 and Buckeye 200. It’s long enough to get some work done, but not really long enough for a full blown training block. I think of these periods more as maintaining rather than training. Not like I normally do a bunch of structured training even if I have 3 months…

There are many different ways to track training load. As the years progress and technology improves, there are more and more methods to quantify this. Most people look at overall mileage or time. I’m a mileage guy. Whether that’s 8 miles, 20, or my typical mid-week 7.5 miler, that’s how I think of my runs.…

I think I’m done with speedwork. I ended up doing three workouts last month, which is longer than I’ve managed to last in the past. This time I tweaked my hamstring on the 7th of what was supposed to be ten 800 meter reps. It wasn’t enough to keep me from running and was completely…

The title of this post should probably be “Speedwork?!?!” considering how much of it I incorporate into my training. Ever since I started running, I’ve shied away from running fast. Partly because I’m, well, not fast. Partly because I’ve always equated running fast with increased injury risk. And I also realized that I just don’t…