B2B Long Running

After reading dozens of ultrarunning forums and a couple books about how to train for 50 and/or 100 mile races, most people fall into one of two camps.

Camp A) Lowish mileage during the week and back to back long runs on the weekend.
Camp B) Consistently higher mileage during the week and one very long run on the weekend.

I'm tending right now toward Camp A and the B2B runs with a little more mileage than most people do during the week.  This is not only because I enjoy running long on the trails all weekend, but I'm finding that I can recover pretty well between the two big runs and hopefully avoid injury.  I think the single shot, super long runs take more out of me than I was previously willing to admit and it may have induced the recent peroneal and anterior tibialis ankle injuries.  Well, long running and severe ankle instability.

These last two weekends, I've gotten in some solid B2B runs.  On the first weekend of my first ever B2B weekend, I did 14 miles on Saturday + 22 on Sunday.  The following weekend, I went 19 on Saturday (2 runs that day) + 21 miles of trails on Sunday.  My legs were trashed after this training block, so although I knew I couldn't run an additional 30 miles at the end of Sunday's run (aka finish a 50 miler on that particular day), this kind of training feels like a good compromise between getting the mileage in and respecting that running this far is still very new to my legs.  I need to respect them and where my fitness is really at, rather than where I think it is.

Good Trail Time

These last few weeks I've been able to get back to some great trail running with no pain in the peroneal tendon or in the soleus.  I'm still going in for some PT in a week just to make sure nothing comes back, but so far all signs are positive that I can get back to running the way I want.

So what would be a good week now?  I feel like 80-90 miles over 6 days a week of running, with the majority of these miles on trails would be ideal for where I'm at right now.  Monday a rest day.  I should avoid speedwork for the time being because every time I throw in some tempo or intervals I seem to either irritate or bring up a new little pain somewhere south of the hips.

I did my first back to back (to back) long running block last weekend, with 13 hilly trail miles on Friday, 14.5 on Saturday, and a strong 22 miles on trails at ~8:20/mi on Sunday.  I even did 1:22 of mountain biking before the 22 miler because it was in the 60s and sunny as all get-out.  Legs felt solid afterward without any return pains, so that's a great sign for my first 50 miler at Winona Lake, Indiana in one month.  Took Monday off, which my sticks said was smart.  I liked the long running weekend block, though next time I'll do the longest run Sat and shorter Sun so that I don't invite injury.

Cody at the very hilly Stinchfield Woods

Running with the RUTters

I ran with the RUT group today at Maybury State Park, a new-to-me trail locale just 20 minutes away. RUT is an ultrarunner group based out of Running Fit, a local running store that has been expanding throughout Michigan. I've been following their facebook group for a month or so and decided to meet up. 

Just a dusting of snow, with the sun making an attempt to come out

There were almost a dozen runners when we started, and I ran with 5 super friendly and funny runners on some double track and some single track horse trails and MTB trails. Since I do almost all my running solo, I didn't realize how fun it is to run with other people that love doing what I love, which is running long on trails in the woods. 

I ran with two guys that have finished Leadville and a woman who is running this year. It quickly became apparent that this group is loaded with ultra vets who have done tons of races across the country and seen their share of great races and total crash and burns too. They made me feel welcome right away too, even though they all knew each other and I was obviously the new guy. 

Lots of jokes, making fun of ourselves and each other, telling stories, discussing random things like the difference between a latte and a cappuccino, the possibility of eating one's car with the help of a juicer, and the goofiness of the Hoka One One shoes. 

Great times, looking forward to running with this group again!