April 25 - May 01

Weekly Totals:
Distance: 06.75 mi. (50.67 mi.) Time: 0:49:25 (03:27:00) Vertical: (1,827 ft.)
*(Includes bike ride on Saturday)

Ice Bath - Best enjoyed with coffee,
40 Degree water, and a beanie

I began the week with an easy goal of 12 to 15 miles total, and while I only ran 7 miles this week I did add in a good number of cross-training miles on the bike…probably too many miles. I can barely sit down today because of how sore my sit-between is from the 44 mile bike ride on Saturday. Honestly, what was I thinking? –Okay, I enjoyed the ride to the fullest because it’s my last week in Georgia for quite some time, and the ride gave me a chance to spend some time with some great people that I’m going to miss very much – From a pure training standpoint, however, the ride was way too long, way too soon. I haven’t ridden a bike on the road since July 18, 2010, with Josh, up Unicoi Gap and that was only a 20.5 mile ride. The longest that I’ve ridden, excluding Saturday, in two years is 34.60 miles, at an average of 18.4 mph (not too shabby), on July 21, 2009. Not to mention, the Sweetwater 50k was only two weeks ago. –Hence the focus on recovery, by the way- If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past six months, conservative (smart) training pays off. That’s not to say that there shouldn’t be risks in training, because let’s be honest running up the ‘mountains’ of North Georgia isn’t the most popular training options, nor the most highly recommended, and although it was risky, but I’d say it paid off. 

Mount Yonah, one of the many
mountains to run in North Georgia.

The training week was great, though, even if, hindsight (there’s a pun) being 20/20, I needed to cut the ride at 20 or 25 miles so I could run the next day. In short, it’s imperative to choose appropriate training types, distances, and intensities to help fu

rther your training goals. Riding a bike for 44 miles with such inexperience (relatively speaking) under my belt is not smart training, even if I did have a great time with great people. My focus for this upcoming week is going to be prioritizing my training for my next 50k.

On a side note, each week I’m going to focus on improving my running form. This week I focused on maintaining a higher running cadence. This means more steps per minute, a shorter stride length, and a stiffer running stride. To quote Matt Fitzgerald, “The type of stiffness I am referring to is the type that physicists talk about in relation to springs. The human body does in fact function as a sort of spring during running, and just as a spring with adequate stiffness will bounce more efficiently that a spring that’s too loose, a runner who exhibits sufficient muscular stiffness when his or her foot strikes the ground will run more efficiently than a runner whose muscles are too loose on impact.” A perfect place to practice form: a track.

Weekly Training Log:

Sunday:
Distance: 0.00 mi.
Time: 0:00:00
Vertical: 0 ft.

Rested all day. Took about 15 minutes to stretch after a warm-shower this morning.

I love rock-climbing.

Monday: Adrenaline Climbing
Distance: 0.00 mi.
Time: 0:00:00
Vertical: 0 ft.

A great day in the gym, tonight. I hit up some great boulder problems and did some fun 5.10s and 5.11s

Tuesday: Tuesday Night Run

Distance: 3.25 mi.
Time: 0:21:30
Vertical: 30 ft. (maybe)

Tonight was my final night working at the running shop and the final night of leading the Tuesday Night Run group. So, I ran from the back to the front (past 133 people, in total) and pushed the pace (06:30 min/mi) just for fun. My legs felt strong, but definitely still tired. I hope the fatigue will ease up next week. Here’s a great article written about my final night: End-of-an-Era Tribute, thanks Tim.

Wednesday: Adrenaline Climbing
Distance: 0.00 mi.
Time: 0:00:00
Vertical: 0 ft.

Wow, my legs are feeling the faster run last night. Even the climbing was limited tonight. My spirits are up for the upcoming training.

Thursday: Berkmar High School Track
Distance: 3.5 mi.
Time: 0:28:00
Vertical: 0 ft.

I love the track. –And I don’t mean that facetiously- The beauty and symmetry of running lap after lap after lap has an alluring appeal to me. I really can’t explain it. But on the track I lose reality with every bead of sweat. One thing that I do now, run have the distance of the workout, which today was just an easy run, in the opposite direction. This helps prevent too much stress on the inside leg. 

Friday:
Distance: 0.00 mi.
Time: 0:00:00
Vertical: 0 ft.

I really wanted to go running today, but I’m worried it may be too much because I’ve decided to add in some cycling tomorrow.

Saturday: Six Cap Bike Ride
Distance: 43.92 mi.
Time: 02:44:04
Vertical: 1,827 ft.

A spectacular ride, but much too far for my liking. However, I had such a good time riding with friends and drinking merrily afterwards. I need to start implementing more cycling in my training to help build some quad strength. I need to keep it consistent as well because my rear-end is not happy with sitting on a racing saddle for so long.

Six Cap Ride Route