I was going to write “update” in the title of this post, but I don’t think I ever posted what I was going to do (or have been doing) so there isn’t anything to update.
My training plans have morphed over the years from full blown day-by-day workouts to basically whatever I feel like doing. The only thing I really plan out ahead of time is my long runs. And even those I’ve cut back on a bit. Where I used to ramp up to 25 and 30 mile long runs, I’m now doing only 20 and 25 mile long runs. Part of it is that I’m not sure they’re worth the extra effort for me and part of it is I just don’t want to do them. At this point, I would rather go into races in less than peak conditioning than risk burning myself out in my training.
I’ve compensated over the past couple years though by increasing my mid-week run mileage. Where I used to do 5-5.5 mile runs, I’m now doing 7.5-8 mile runs depending on whether its my trail or road course. So overall my weekly mileage is up; I’m just not going as long as often during my weekend long runs.
So during the past two weeks, I’ve gotten in 54 miles by doing four 8 mile runs, two 1 milers, and a twenty mile long run. I typically get the intensity of all my runs as low as possible by walking all the hills. Well, up until the past 2 weeks. I started by running the entirety of one of my 8 milers the first week and then did that twice this past week. Yikes. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to accomplish it the first time (hills are hard!), however the next two runs were easier.
I probably should have gone back to running my runs sooner, however I’ve been in a good groove and didn’t want to mess with a good thing. And let’s be honest. The list of things I should be doing that I’m not is pretty long (strides, stretching, cross training, foam rolling, warm-ups). So what’s one more thing between friends if it keeps me motivated to keep getting out the door?
The other thing I’m doing is still cranking out the junkiest of junk miles (i.e. walking). I’m already up to 40 during November and will likely hit 70 for the month or about 15 per week. I really have no idea if this is good training or not, but it keeps me off the couch so it’s probably not a bod thing.
Going forward, I’ll add in a couple back-to-back 20 milers but will mostly keep doing what I’ve been doing. I’m not planning on getting my weekly mileage much above where it has been. Fifty to sixty miles is more than enough for me to run a good hundred. Just need to build a little more solid base and two months should be more than enough time to accomplish that.