2012 will be different

2012 will be different. It will be structured, consistent, and stronger.  Winter will will give me more miles, up and down long, steep hills. Power will be built; power begets speed and endurance; endurance begets finishes; speed begets podiums, etc.

I'm not going to reveal my 2012 program yet - a couple of folks have it (you know who you are). But it looks a little like this. A couple hard runs per week, one speed, one trail, one long. Hills incorporated into easy runs. Each run will be longer, perhaps 60 minutes or more. I most likely won't do doubles. Long runs will be long. I really benefited last year from the 20+ mile long runs and the 38 mile trail run in the upshot to Superior/Sawtooth 100. The idea for this training structure came from this Running Times article. Basic premise: longer single sessions build more strength, endurance, speed, etc. than two shorter (if staggered) sessions which equal the same time. Throw in some trail-specific work, something to teach speed, and viola! I'll be in better shape as this year rolls through.

My 2012 race schedule is at right. I'm going to hit it right away with Zumbro - a four 25-mile loop course which is sure to produce a faster time than my Superior finish. Sub-30 hours is the tentative (and arbitrary) goal, but I'm going to hold off on that until I see the revamped course and elevation profile.

From there, a couple shorter races thrown in - a seven mile trail race at an appropriately named local park, Afton 50K. I'd like to get a 50 miler in at the end/beginning of July like I did this year, and Sawtooth will be my peak race again. I'll plug a time goal in there as it approaches, but I'll take a finish and a smarter run. So long as I don't nose-dive overnight, I think both of those will be accomplished.

Finally,  note on mileage. It looks like I'm going to end up somewhere around the 1700 mark for the year. It's not the ~2K+ goal I set for myself, but it was sufficiently more than my other years (max ~1,100) that I am a much stronger runner for it. Next year's goal is similar, and I'll work harder to achieve that by the date planned (Sawtooth).

Three days of running? Eh.

Lack of discipline this week. Pure and simple.

Monday: nothing.

Tuesday: 10.5
AM run over crusty snow. Flat, cold, etc.


Wednesday - Friday: nothing
Again x3.

Saturday: 7.6
Established new route up and down two of the biggest pavement hills in N. Mankato.

Sunday: 13.1
With the group. Thought run was at 7:30 AM, really was 6:30 AM, left house at 6:17 to blitz 2.2 miles uphill to meeting location. Clicked off ~10.5 /w group at good pace. Did the downhill on CR 90. Thought about a PM run, but hamstrings a little destroyed from Saturday/Sunday pushes.

Mileage: 31.2
Time: 4:11:14
YTD: 1628.5; 261:06:14

Up next: another 30-40 mile week, hopefully with more consistency.

Week of the treadmill: 11.21-11.27.11

Due to traveling for work and holidays, along with the deer hunting season going on in Wisconsin, I drove ~1,350 miles this week and ran inside twice.

11.21.11: Off
Travel day one, 5.5 hour drive.

11.22.11: 7.3 miles
Treadmill no. 1, progressive run. Travel day two, 5.5 hour drive

11.23.11: 7.6 miles
Hills in the early AM. Travel day three, 5.5 hour drive (not including stops).

11.24.11: 11.3 miles
Two wrong turns - one my fault, the other Google Maps's - turned my 8 mile run into this mess.

11.25.11: 10 miles
Treadmill no. 2, hill run.

11.26.11: Zilch
Travel day three, five hour drive.

11.27.11: 5.5 miles
Travel day four, two hour drive. Trail run ftw.

Miles, week: 41.65
Time, week: 5:46:16
Miles, YTD: 1,564.6
Time, YTD: 252:12:20

Up next is another ~40 mile week, and a lot less driving.

Running again, post-Sawtooth

I'm running again, finally - two months post-Sawtooth, and way too many stir-crazy days later.

11.14.11: 3.8 miles
The first of several 15-minute out-and-back runs this week. The -back is always faster.

11.15.11: 3.8 miles

11.16.11: zip.

11.17.11: 3.8 miles

11.18.11: 4.1 miles
Up the steepest, gnarliest hill in town. It and I will be good friends by next season.

11.19.11: 13.2
12.4 mile progressive run with the group.

11.20.11: 5.4 trail run
First run in New Balance MT10s - maybe the best shoes ever.

Distance: 34.09
Times: 4:36:20
YTD miles: 1522.9
YTD time: 246:26:04

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This was my first real running week since Sawtooth. The week after the race, I twinged something in my right hip walking around a festival. It became tight and stiff, and it felt like I was dragging a peg leg. The stiffness transferred down into my right quad, and I functionally took two months off. About ever three weeks or so, I would test it and the tightness would return.

Hence the two months off. During the middle of last week, I stubbornly started running again. Through the stiffness and soreness, and it dissipated. And then it went away. Something happened - it was like my right hip had been weakened or otherwise damaged, and a little bit of running was all that was needed to tweak it back into shape. Counterintuitive? Yes. Effective? I'll take it.

2011 UTMB, in all its glory

I'm a little late on getting to this, but I finally was able to watch the video footage from the 2011 UTMB. (It's really only 25 minutes long, not the 55+ it says it is.)


UTMB 2011 by Eurosport - in English by UltraTrailMontBlanc

A couple of observations:

Watching Kilian and his two countrymen run top three for the majority of the race reminded me of high school cross country and the pack mentality that we are taught to race with. Those three stuck together until the end and just dominated the field. Who says this can't be a team sport? (That said, my crew and pacers are my team, and there are no pacers allowed in European races.) Kilian may also be the best male ultra runner in the world this year, winning Western States and UTMB this year is an impressive double.

The UTMB racecourse is breathtaking in its beauty and corresponding difficulty. Ultra running is not a spectator sport and is not spectator friendly, but the folks who put this race together had excellent coverage at the aid stations and remote areas, by helicopter no less.

Just one year I'd like to see the race have decent weather throughout, with no route changes or late starts. With the unpredictable nature of mountain running - where no person's finish is guaranteed - that may never happen.

Finally, the joy on all runner's faces - especially the amateurs - as they come into the finish chute and cross the line may be the best explanation as to why we do this - it is that single moment of euphoria and the accompanying cascade of emotions. Although limited in time, that moment stays with us forever. I have anticipated it in all of my ultras, and I finally felt it when I finished the Superior 100. It calls us back, and makes us beg for more.