54

23 Saturday Apr 2016

Tags

Keith pinged Steve and me last night to get together this morning for a hill run. Keith is training for a mountain trail run and so he is working the trails in the foothills above Boulder into his training regimen. We didn’t synch up because we all have different perspectives on time and what constitutes a morning run. For me, 10am would be the earliest, after I’ve read the paper and drank a pot of coffee. Good thing because Keith ran Betasso. That climb is clearly beyond my current capabilities. I have the cardio but my legs are much too weak. I don’t want to risk re-injury of my hamstrings. Lest you think I’m a wimp, the start to Betasso is an extremely steep mile rise. The Empire State building is a quarter mile high, so you just think about starting your run by climbing four Empire State buildings. At altitude. The free fall back down on the return is another adventure my legs don’t need.

Instead, I ran the East Boulder Trail. This trail is no picnic, but the hills are much more gentle than the start to Betasso Trail. The bridge over Boulder Creek is still out so I only got in five miles. Good run though, all the hills are contained in that stretch between Boulder Creek and the water tower. Even though I ran slow, I could tell my cardio was strong on the hills. Good to know.

I set goals for this year around increasing my speed at the 10K distance. So far, my injuries have set my training regimen. Every injury is a learning opportunity. This time around, I determined I need more strength in my hamstrings. I’ve been running more off muscle memory than muscle mass. After my runs, I dedicated time to leg weights. I have since turned that more into calisthenics. They feel more natural than weights. More recently, I am doing less calisthenics and instead am dedicating more post-run time to stretching. Sure, this pattern will soon have me on the couch drinking beer after my runs. I’m evolving.

I run the Colorado Marathon 10K next weekend. This will be my first race in five months. I initially planned it to be a warmup to the Bolder Boulder. Possibly a time trial to qualify me for a fast starting wave. Those plans have changed. I’ll probably only push myself the final 3 miles of the 10K, after a good 3 mile warmup. This will still be good to condition me for the Bolder Boulder, although I’ve given up on running any speedy times the first half of this year.

The photo of Ellie in her new dress signifies a big birthday weekend. I’ll complete my 54th trip around the sun tomorrow and Ellie turns 14 Tuesday. The story on the dress is she wanted to buy it a few weeks ago from a dress shop in the neighborhood. She went to coffee this morning with her friend Lindsey and walked by the shop to look at the dress. Ellie was utterly destroyed when she saw it was no longer for sale in the window. She coveted that dress. An hour later, our neighbors Wendy and Chase stopped by to present it to her as a birthday gift. I expect the smile currently beaming on Ellie’s face to be there all day.

Anniversary Workout

29 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Betasso Trail, massivemileage

You would think I might go the day without training to celebrate my 28th wedding anniversary with Karen. That’s not how a runner thinks. I managed as many miles during the week as possible, 72 miles, leaving only 8 more miles for Saturday. Then I ran earlier in the morning than typical with my running buddies while Karen was out teaching her aerobics class. My second 80 mile week is now complete. I then carried on with the day’s scheduled events. Lunch with Karen, a couple’s massage, and a movie – Mission Impossible. That massage complimented my training nicely. This photo captures Rychie and Steve as they descend the Betasso Link Trail. We ran both loops for a 9 miler. This was their first time running Betasso and they loved it.

Six weeks of my Boulder Marathon training plan are now behind me with 420 miles. My running buddies asked me how much weight I’ve lost since starting. Two pounds. That hardly seems right does it? Granted, I’m not trying to lose weight but I did expect it. I’ve more than doubled my weekly mileage. I can only assume I’m eating more calories. I’m guessing it’s all the smoothies and fruit popsicles. Real fruit contains real sugar and that’s been an addition to my diet since I started this plan.

Tomorrow begins my first 90 mile week. I’m still planning to only run 90 miles for one week and then jump to 100 miles the following week. Then start my taper two weeks early. This modification to my plan has two benefits. It reduces my chances of repetitive muscle injury or stress fracture. Some people can train hard for years on end. I know my body and I’m not one of those people. Quite frankly I’m surprised that I don’t feel any strains yet. Could be I’ve improved my running form well enough. Or could be because I started out in fairly good shape.

The second benefit of ending my massive mileage plan in two weeks is I’ll have more weeks to work on my pace with the shorter runs. The fatigue from these long runs has dramatically slowed my pace. It takes me four to five miles to loosen up whereas I generally find my stride after two miles. I’m running so slow right now I risk toppling over in strong winds. I haven’t been timing myself but I can feel the pace. Once I return to 8 milers I intend to drop my pace back down to under 8 minute miles. I’m so close to completing this plan, I’m excited to see the results in September.

13 Weeks

27 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Betasso Trail, Bolder Boulder, electrolytes, Indiana Jones, massivemileage, Shoes and Brews, supplements, training plan

Beginning this past week, I have shifted gears from speed to distance. Speed being a relative term, my focus on interval training paid off in the 2015 Bolder Boulder as I ran a personal best. I even displayed a strong kick in Folsom Stadium, pictured here. I feel this was my best success at improving speed since I got back into road races six years ago. That said, I’ve dropped to 28th place on the Shoes & Brews 800 meter beer board. So it’s time to give up on speed and turn my focus to miles. This plan will prepare me for my next scheduled race – the Boulder Marathon in September.

I’ve established a 13 week mileage plan that begins with 60 miles per week and reaches 100 miles before tapering back down to 60. I hit my first 60 mile target today with a 12 mile run on Betasso Trail. This is a good plan considering that I am starting out already in really good shape. And because running extensive distance like this is a proven method to prepare for a marathon. Running 26.2 miles after training this arduously will be almost a non-event. There will be no nervousness at the starting line after completing this training plan.

If there’s any weakness to this plan, it’s that I’ve never run more than 70 miles in a single week – in my life. And I find that the wheels tend to start falling off if I run any further than 45 miles in a single week. Honestly, 35 miles is my sweet spot. The challenge then will be avoiding injury. I won’t hesitate to scale back the miles given sufficient pain. I’m no hero. And I’m not stupid. Can’t run if I can’t run. But I’m actually quite interested in my ability to manage these training challenges. I’ve learned tons in terms of stretching and exercises to mitigate muscle overuse injuries. Ironically, I learned much of this from my cancer physical therapy last year. My Physical Therapist, Jennifer Davia, taught me the importance of adductor and abductor exercises to keep the muscles in balance that connect the hip to the knee. The focus of that physical therapy was to be on pelvic floor recovery, but I leveraged Jennifer’s knowledge of running injuries and have performed these routines since last summer with good results.

My next concern is with recovery. Even if healthy, will I have the energy to run the next day? This week, the answer has been no. It’s possible I’m not acclimated to the heat. Colorado went from a cold spring of 70° days to 90° days literally overnight. I haven’t been timing myself but I’ve been dragging with these back-to-back, 8 mile runs. I expect to have trouble recovering after my longer weekend runs but am a bit surprised I can’t recover better after 8 milers. Hoping it’s the heat. I should probably start to consider supplements. I do take supplements that focus on electrolytes (sodium, potassium and magnesium) but have never experimented much with muscle-related supplements. Not sure I want to but might have to keep an open mind.

My final concern regards having the time for this. I don’t generally run every day because, between work and personal obligations, who has the time? I have to commute to the Denver Tech Center twice next week, so I’ll need to adapt for that. I’m disciplined enough to average 5 days per week, but there are even times I’m too busy to run on the weekend. I’ve always made concerted efforts to dedicate myself when training for marathons. Running 26 miles is just too painful unprepared. I do have some hiking and backpacking planned for this summer. I’ll count mountain hiking miles as running miles. I think that’s fair since I typically find myself pushing my aerobic threshold as hard hiking as I do running.

My training plan consists of two week segments. The first two weeks will target 60 miles per week. Then 70, then 80, 90 and finally 100. That will consume 10 full weeks. Then I taper down to 80, then 60, and then whatever I decide to run the week of the marathon for a total of 13 weeks since signing up last weekend. I’ll keep my daily runs at 8 miles for 4 weeks, and then only add 2 miles per week to 10, then 1 mile to 11 and another mile to 12. I add the bulk of the distance increases to my weekend runs. I won’t have time to run longer during the week. And I strongly believe in the need to work myself up to 20 mile runs to condition my body for 26 miles. This might also play into my ability to avoid injury by keeping my daily runs manageable. I believe I have the experience to pull this off. But “it’s not the years darling, it’s the miles.”