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April 20, 2007
Everyone And Their Mother
Or should I say, everyone and their dog was out on the Eagle Creek forest service road today. In addition to my dog and I, there were 4 more people and 3 more dogs. This collection of creatures far exceeds any amount of foot traffic I've previously encountered on this road. And, I can see why. It was a warmer (perhaps 45 degrees), partly sunny day, and yesterday's snow had officially melted. The Eagle Creek Road is still closed to vehicle travel (Though there is very little traffic on this remote, dirt, forest service road in the first place.). It was a Friday afternoon.
I was dragging behind to get out there today. Such a tired, tired girl! I suffer a bit when I get less than 8 hours of sleep per night, and I never get even close to that much when I'm working a string of 12-hour shifts. Plus, I did a couple new leg strengthening exercises yesterday, and different muscles were beginning to get sore. However, once I was running and my muscles were warmed up, I was good-to-go.
Today was my first "workout" of this training block. Please don't chuckle too much when you read the "workout;" that's why it's in quotations. The "workout" was 10 x 1 minute hill climbs on a moderate grade, with a downhill recovery the same distance that I climbed. We all have to start small, don't we? I'm soft and unnaccustomed to workouts, currently. So, this seemed to be a good place to start. Normally, such a short hill climb interval would be a nearly all-out effort, but I'm not ready for that right now (I'm not fit for it, and it's unnecessary in this portion of my training.). I climbed with a hard, even effort each time. By the end of 10 intervals, I was beginning to feel fatigue, but I could have sustained the effort for a while longer. Another day, when I'm not so soft.
I was pretty excited to run a "workout" of sorts, as it represents the beginning of the next running chapter in my life. It's clear that I haven't been running much in the last 2+ months (My weekly logs attest to a decent running hiatus.). However, as miraculous as it sounds, I still feel like a I have a good aerobic base resulting from a combination of some running and a fair bit of cross training. I do know I've lost a bit of endurance, a lot of leg strength, and any and all leg speed.
First, I'm going to focus on increasing my endurance just a bit. I'm planning to run mostly shorter ultras this summer, so I only need to raise and maintain the endurance bar a bit. Simultaneously, I'm going to work on developing leg strength through hill (mostly uphill but some downhill) workouts and other leg strengthening exercises. I've chosen to focus on races with a lot of elevation change this year, so I need a lot of leg strength! Later on, in a few months, we'll get to the leg speed part.
How does that sound?
Posted by Meghan at April 20, 2007 8:38 PM
Comments
You are right - not quite everyone, because I wasn't out there, and neither was my mother!
You're plan sounds good, although, with lots of elevation change, I would think about doing just as many downhills as up - you know those downhills in an ultra can end up making your quads quiver. I'd try to build strength on both.
Posted by: backofpack at April 21, 2007 12:18 PM
Sounds like a smart one. I started on the hills this year with 7x2min, so it's about the same.
Tomorrow is 2x50min:) Real booger this workout. Start small, get strong...yep, downhills are indeed a needed thing for trail races. Enjoy the new cycle!
Posted by: olga at April 21, 2007 1:27 PM
If you can crank out a speedy pace it will be there for you once you get the Endurance training completed. Endurance is what takes the most work. Many programs start you on speed after the endurance portion has been accomplished. Typically 2-3 weeks to train speed just before your event. Always a nice time to blow a hammie!
Loved the following comment in your post:
"I'm planning to run mostly shorter ultras this summer, so I only need to raise and maintain the endurance bar a bit."
Anyone tell you that a short ultra is around 30 miles? Should short and ultra be used in the same sentence? Something's just not right about that.
Cheers!
Posted by: Eric at April 21, 2007 9:08 PM
i like "short ultras"... and I like even better "short-ER" as Meghan wrote.. it has that imminent disastER ring to it... physical evolution may indeed be fastER than linguistic evolution... so I would say the use of "short" to describe a lowER-end race is acceptable, even cutER...
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at April 22, 2007 5:51 AM
Meghan Said:It was a warmer (perhaps 45 degrees)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AHHHHHH two different worlds, IF this place ever got to 45 degrees you wouldn't see anyone outside, Including my candy ass... I am such a wimp when it gets cold...it get's down to 60 and I have sweats & slippers on my feet--LOLOL I am turning into an OLD FL fart--haha
Good workout & I am trying to log more miles and build up my endurance, I am liking the tire because it does push me harder even though slower... a little speedwork throughout the week though Meghan would be good to for ya :-)
You will get ur endurance back quick & sounds like a good plan.
CYA!!
Posted by: Bob G at April 22, 2007 7:22 PM
Well, the butte would give you plenty of opportunity for up- and downhill training, in short bursts! :)
I just e-mailed you the info on the butte trails, let me know if it didn't come through...
your plan sounds great! Will be a fantastic summer. :)
Posted by: anne at April 23, 2007 10:45 PM