Training for a 100 Mile Race - 5 weeks to go recap

The Wapack Trail

Another pic of Wapack Trail - MMT isn't the only place with rocks!!

After a month of putting in 90+ mile weeks, I still had enough energy to run my biggest single training week of my life. 


Monday - 6 miles on trails (50:04 - 8:22 pace).  Beautiful day marred by tragedy at Boston.  Shoes - La Sportiva Helios

Tuesday - AM: 15 miles on trails (2:04:42 - 8:19 pace).  Ran the trails hard. Attacked the hills but legs felt smoked at the top of each one.  Shoes - La Sportiva Helios
PM: 5.6 miles (49:38 - 8:52 pace) from house to Memorial Field.  Ran very easy pace and met 25 or so local runners to do a mile for Boston.  Shoes - Skechers Go Run 2

Wednesday - 10 miles of trails (1:25:04 - 8:31 pace).  First run of the year at the powerlines.  Super muddy, rocky and wet.  Shoes - Montrail Fluid Flex

Thursday - 15.5 miles of roads and trails (2:04:49 - 8:04 pace).  Ran the hilliest roads I can find in my area.  Incorporated the steep powerlines trail section then did 2 one mile hill intervals (up and down).  2400 ft elevation gain.  Legs were dead first couple miles then loosened up.  Shoes - Hoka Bondi Speed

Friday - 10 miles of trails (1:25:03 - 8:31 pace).  Ran very easy and felt great.  Busted out one of my all time favorite shoes and remembered how much I love how they feel.  Shoes - New Balance MT110

Saturday - 21.1 miles (4:55:41 -14:01 pace) Did the entire Wapack Trail with Adam, Ryan and Kristina.  Excellent training for Massanutten.  Nothing but rocks, mud and water.  Lots of steep climbs with almost 5000 ft elevation gain/loss.  Felt pretty good considering how many miles I have already this week. Shoes - La Sportiva Helios

Sunday - 30 miles (5:04:32 - 10:10 pace). Ran the Bow Snowmobile Trails.  Met Ron for the first half and ran a very conservative pace as he is still recovering from Boston.  The easy pace must have been just what I needed because the last 15 miles felt excellent at around a 8:30 pace.  Shoes - La Sportiva Helios

Summary - 113.2 miles in 18 hours 36 minutes

I was dreading this week but in the end it actually turned out pretty good.  Nothing hurts and I'm optimistic about getting one more big week in before I start the three week taper.  This week also marks 3 weeks since I have had any flour/wheat, sugar (except fruit) or alcohol.   For running fuel I have been using only dates and nuts.  Most of the time I just pack some Larabars (peanut butter cookie flavor) I'm surprised at how well it has been working. 

I spent a lot of time in the La Sportiva Helios as I'm leaning towards them as my shoe of choice for the big race.  They have performed very well and I should have a review up on www.runblogger.com sometime soon.

La Sportiva Helios

Training for a 100 miler training re-cap 6 Weeks to go.

Welcome to my favorite trails!

The beginning of this week marked 6 weeks to go until the Massanutten Mountian 100.  Here is a recap of what I did and how it went.

Monday - Rest Day

Tuesday - 15 miles on trails (1:59:21 - 7:58 pace).  Ran the trails hard. Attacked the hills and ran the last mile in 6:30.  Beautiful weather and ran with just shorts.  No shirt, no water, no food.  Just me and my feet moving quickly over the earth.  This is the type of run that makes me love running.  Shoes - Montrail Fluid Flex

Wednesday - 10 miles of trails and roads (1:19:08 - 7:51 pace).  Took it easy, really felt Tuesdays run in my legs.  Shoes - Montrail Fluid Flex

Thursday - Ran the same 15 mile trail route as Tuesday (2:08:59 - 8:36 pace).  Legs felt completely dead. Shoes - La Sportiva Helios

Friday - 10.1 miles of trails (1:26:01 - 8:31 pace).  Felt ok.  Not great, not terrible.  Shoes - La Sportiva Helios

Saturday - 15 miles (2:19:17 - 9:18 pace) on the West End Farm Trail .  The trails were tough.  Covered with a few inches of snow and slush, with lots of mud underneath.  Every step ended with a slipped toe.  Really hard work.  Even so, I felt strong.  Shoes - La Sportiva Helios

Sunday - 25 miles (3:43:47 - 8:58 pace). Ran the Bow Snowmobile Trails.  First two miles felt terrible.  Tripped somewhere around mile 16 and slammed my elbow into a rock or root.  Wanted to cry because I have bursitis in that elbow and it really hurt!  Decided that I needed to toughen up and suck it up.  I can tell my endurance is getting better as I only got to a certain level of fatigue and then never got worse.  I actually felt better the last 7 or 8 miles.  Surprised at the pace I was able to keep.  Shoes - Montrail Fluid Flex

Summary - 90.2 miles in 12 hours 56 minutes

This was somewhat of a tiny cutback week in terms of sheer mileage.  The next two weeks will be the hardest before I taper back for the race.  The weekend was tough because I went to my nephews wedding on Saturday night.  My brother and sister in law were kind enough to get me and Amy a vegetarian dinner, but it wasn't vegan and the only thing on the table I could eat was the green beans.  Luckily Amy packed me a cooler so I had plenty of food, but I felt like a dipshit sitting at the table with nothing on my plate.  That night people were partying until 2pm slamming doors and being super loud.  I got almost no sleep.  It made it tough to get out the door for today's long run after driving home.  As I sit here typing this, I'm wiped out.

So I made it another week being a Vegan who also doesn't have any alcohol, sugar or wheat.  As much as it is a pain, I am feeling great and starting to lean out.  If I can keep all this up I am confident that I'm going to have a great race at Massanutten! 

One of my favorite spots on the Bow Snowmobile Trails