yup, it's been an hour off for six months. o.k., i graduated from high school, got even better grades in college and even got a bachelors degree. had to learn a little math and physics along the way and consider myself to have the ability to fix things now and then. but every year i can't seem to push in on the small button on my clock to change the time. i guess i just like daylight savings time too much, so there it stays.
training is going well. ramped it up a couple of weeks ago. right at 100 miles a week. i don't write about my training day to day for one reason.... it is pretty darn boring!!!!!!!!! run six miles at lunch, run 6-8 miles right after eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after work. monday through friday. Long run on Saturday, 6 hours, 30 miles or so, at least if it is not a race, longer of course if it is more than a 50k. run Sunday 2-4 hours. i do this every week, race or not. i don't take days off, run every day. i don't taper for any races except two a year. the ones i want to "race". o.k., it is "racing" to me anyway speedracers. So you will never see me say i did cross fit, yoga, lift weights, ride bike, swim, do intervals, etc. etc. i just am boring when it comes to training. Yes, all those other things are good and I should do something like that but I just don't. About the only thing that changes is having a hill repeat day or two. Those are big for me as they have 10,000 feet of gain or more, ughhhh. Just thinking about it makes me tired. So, there it is. I actually have a boring training program. But I am o.k. with that.
i have good runs and ones i slog through. actually i run sooooooo slooooooow all the time. see scott dunlaps great explaination on training slow and VO2 max and all that other scientific stuff that i don't understand. anyway it is o.k. to train slow, that's my story and i'm sticking to it.
the good thing now is i eat six times a day. yum. i am starting to loose a pound here and there. i still drink coffee and beer. i do stay away from fried food now, bummer. no Michigan Bluff burgers this year even.
i don't really do speed work. it scares me. i tore my vastus medialis last year getting ready for states and i don't want that to happen again. plus, me doing speed work is like telling a snail to hurry and cross the road. it just doesn't happen.
just grade 1 tear thank goodness. not like kami's, stacy's, or kyly's. (grade 2-3 for them, yuk)
so for now speedracers i will continue to practice my 14 minutes a mile. that's all i need i tell ya. i'm going to perfect that speed if it kills me. i'll take sub 24 any day.
the good news is my clock in the truck will be right now for the next six months or so.
19 comments:
Is Kami hurt right now? I know Anette kinda got hurt again, but may be on the mend.
Yeah Andy is a pretty tough hombre, as is Kim, she should do well at states this year having done the course last year.
I'd like to give Cool and Miwok a shot some day and run fast. Although a course like Waldo/Hellgate interest me much more. I know I would not be interested in doing AR50 as there is a lot of pavement I think. Not my cup o tea.
Sounds like the training is going well! you're getting some major miles in.
-WynnMan
You make me laugh! :) The clock in my kitchen is finally correct now too. Anyway, boring or not, you're running some serious miles! That's a good thing.
Hey Tom!
Say I was curious about Waldo in regard to altitude.. is that an issue? or is it more about ascent accumulation? like Quad Dipsea.
Can't wait to do this diddy!
`WynnMan
Tom...You are a machine! Have fun at Chuck. : )
There was a talk on the list and an article in M&B about this coach (shame, I am bad with names, German?) who prescribed a bunch of miles at slow speed, and that's it. Sometimes 100, 150, 200. Just go as you pleased. But lots of it. He made a few Olympians. Apparently, it worked for you last year fantastically. Stick with it.
Everybody's training is boring:) Really. It what you think about it is what important!
Good running to you. See you at Olga's PCT 50M.
Happy trails,
Bad Ben
basically at Waldo you are running at over 6000' for a lot of the day. well i guess you start at 5120' but head strait up the ski lift and then onto Mt. Fuji to 7144. then basically drop down onto the trail and head over to the twins in what i figure just above 6000'. The low point is Gold Lake after Fuji at 5000".
Good climbs but in between the climbs some really good running to be had.
Maiden Peak is relentless. Topping out at 7818'. But then what isn't at 50 miles into a race. Takes a little over an hour to climb after leaving the Maiden Peak aid station.
This race is like a mini WS really. Less hoopla of course.
Kind of a mixed bag of runners. Almost half do the early start every year. Usually get a couple of big guns in it. AJW likes it, Ann Trason has, Tom Neilson so far this year. My brother does well. Kelly Woodke ran well here a few years ago. Watch out for Ticer to battle with Nielson. Bev, Kami, Meghan had a good battle.
The only way to get a hat is to finish 9pm. (using either start)
Lots of schwag. Last year was the first year i didn't get a raffle prize.
So, no not like Quad Dipsea at all.
Just a really good mountain trail run.
I have stayed in Oakridge at a quaint hotel for around $50, 30 minutes away. I have slept in my pickup at the start also. Then there is stuff Odell even closer.
brother is running next year. this year he is at the twin aid station so i will see him twice.
What i have noticed about running at altitude is your good if you stay within 3000' feet of what you live at. Then once you are 3000' about living environment you start to feel it. I live at a wopping 180'!!! So, on the first climb i notice that somebody injected lead in my calves. but later i get used to it and after coming off Fuji i'm ok with being up in the mountains.
tom
Wow! I've never actually talked with an ultra-runner before. I believe that 26.2 will be the longest I'll ever go. I don't think an ultra will ever be in me - but then, 2 years ago, I'd never have believed I would run a marathon.
I'm adding you to my motivation list. :)
Hi Tom,
Funny entry. I think they changed daylight savings time for you (and everyone else who doesn't fix their clocks), so you can have a couple more weeks a year at the right time. :)
Nice job getting in a 100 mile week. How many more will you do? I'm going to try to get 4 into my spring training, fingers crossed, starting soon! :)
Happy running!
Meghan
www.running-blogs.com/meghan
Meghan,
try to get in 12 in a row of 100 mile weeks before a 100. only had 10 last year but did have 12 total of 90+ mile weeks last year plus three 70+ mixed in there for easy weeks every third week. had two weeks of 50 because of tear. glad i started january 3rd getting an early start for the race in june.
Tom if my heart rate goes down to 125 my beeper screems at me that my heart rate is to low :) you're right though I think slow is better during training. Although most times I wish I was faster on my training runs. I believe when I first started racing. On my training runs I was racing also and that is what burned me out I was constantly racing. Now I'm lucky if and when I'm able to do 9 mins during training runs. Any looks like your training is going well. Great job.
Oh I love your "boring" life. Mine is getting more and more boring too...but that's how I like it and wouldn't want it any different - I am boring and I Love it!!!!!!!! I even love to talk about it - ewwwww!!!!!!!!!!!
Question for you, Tom: any problems with your joints? I'm asking because I'm wickedly yearning to do an ultra, but I'm facing retirement from marathoning after Boston in '08. I've been running for 25 years (I'm 38) and my hip joints are shot. I will need double hip replacements at some point and my doc is adamantly against my doing another marathon, but I ask you: who qualifies for Boston and doesn't do it at least once??
What has kept me out of the operating room so far is weightlifting. I swear by it. When I have to take time off, as I did recently, I feel it like you wouldn't believe.
Would love to know your thoughts about ultras and joints. Many thanks.
that is one of the reasons why i run ultra's. oh, don't get me wrong i loved running boston, so much so it is my pr.
truethfully, after a marathon it took me a week and a half to recover. now after a 50 mile race i am running the next day. all because my joints hurt so much after pounding the pavement that long.
maybe do a comparison. run 10 miles or whatever, semi longer on the road. then the next weekend find a nice single track trail and compare how you feel on the next day.
lifting weights is good. it stimulates bone growth. look at a foot that is in a cast for a long time... almost osteopenia looking. (brittle sort of i guess)
being female doesn't help, sorry. but female bone density is just naturally less than males. but you are young that is good. because you exercise, your bone density would at the higher end of the spectrum.
smoking and heavy, and i mean heavy, drinking are bad for hips. heavy drinking can case necrocis of the hip at any age. i've seen it in the early 30's. yup, they got a hip. smoking just dialates all the vessels and good nutrients don't feed our body parts, joints one of them.
did you ever get a diagnosis? it would be interesting what your doctor said.
let us know.
tom
Should we consider you "clock challenged" from now on?
Keep on trucking! I'm fighting the same boredom thing. My weekend runs with friends really help. I guess my cougar bait runs will keep me alert during my training runs this week.
Cheers!
You are a machine...I like that you run fourteen minute miles. You hundred mile racers are a different breed altogether.
Helluva job, keep up the good work!
Tom, I never thanked you sufficiently for all the suggestions and wisdom you shared with me at Hagg Lake. For an inexperienced runner like me, all those comments helped immensely.
Possibly the only way I can compete with you is in the unexceptional nature of my training. With the limitations of some injuries, about 90% of my mileage is on a treadmill - winter or summer.
Hey Tom!
Great post. You made me laugh too!
The clock at my desk hasn't changed yet. If I wait long enough I won't have to change it...right.
You are getting in some great running! Way to go on your training!
Thanks, Tom - took me a few days to get back and check your response. To answer your question, yep, I've had a diagnosis. I went in to check out a suspected stress fracture six years ago and it turned out to be a torn gluteus medius. While checking it out, the doctor informed me that I have a whopping dose of arthritis and that if I didn't feel it yet (and I didn't at the time), I would soon. I started going in for annual xrays to measure the degradation. After my third one, I started weightlifting. When I went in for #4, there was no change for the worse - in fact, the doctor thought I might have actually regained a little cartilege. He told me to keep doing heavy lifting and that I didn't need to come back until my mobility was affected.
Well, guess what - my mobility is now affected. That's why I have to resume benchmarking next year and retire from marathons after Boston '08. Blagh.
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