Wrapping up an A+ week

I feel great about how this week worked out. The week started slow with a couple of 11 and 12 miles days that were a little slow but felt good. I was being pretty cautious about hitting any kind of speed this week since sometimes you need a little more recovery after a hard 50k effort. It's the time of year when you see people bounce from race to race because they are so plentiful in April and May but you see a lot of DNF's as well cause they aren't allowing their body to recover. I'm happy I haven't had to learn this lesson this season.

On Wednesday this week I headed out with Charlie a Army 10 miler teammate. It was a great run just missed the rest of the team. We plugged out 9 miles at a 7:20 min/mile pace which felt good.

Thursday I had to run a 1 mile test for a friends health and physical education class. He had me run 1 mile as hard as I could (really hard on Cameron's 11 lap indoor track) and do 1 rep max on leg press, leg extension, leg curl, lat pull down, and bench press. I maxed out every event except the bench press and lat pull down. I still managed to max at 210lbs which isn't bad considering the last time I benched I was in Iraq. After that I headed out for some speed work at Lake Elmer Thomas Park. I ran a 1 miles warm up 2x2 miles with 1 mile easy in between. I ran the first in 12:02 and the second in 12:38. I wasn't happy with the positive split but I did get hit with a decent 20-25mph wind. Ran a 4 mile cool down for a total on the day of 12 miles.

I took Friday off entirely just trying to be smarter about this recovery thingy.

Saturday I headed out to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge for a 20 miler. The concept of this workout was to run a 9 mile warm up then progress from 8:50 to 7:00 min/mile. I ran down Burma road trail but was greeted by 2 different rattlesnakes moving off the trail in search of cooler rocks in the 90 degree heat. While I did listen to Liza Howard's talk of URP about what to do if you see a rattlesnake I did not feel like spending the next 2 hours freaking out so I hit the roads of the refuge. I ran to Meers and back. The faster paces were easy until 16 miles when I ran out of water. I had to stop by the visitors center to refil. I nice lady was kind enough to refil my bottle since I couldn't go in without a shirt. I finished up in 2:46. I also ran this run in my new pair of Skora's which I am about 60 miles into and quite impressed with!

Sunday was just supposed to be getting out and hitting 20 miles. I ran 15 miles with Charlie and we managed to knock out the miles at a quick 7:40-7:55 pace. We passed the miles talking about this years 10 miler team. It was a fun run Charlie used to be a cross country coach which is one of my top when I retire from the Army jobs so it was nice to pick his brain. I dropped Charlie off at 15 miles and headed back out after a water stop to finish up the 20. I finished in just under 2:36 for a quick 20 miler.

Weekly total came in at 86 miles.

My body feel great just gotta recover with a good cup a bourbon. I'll take tomorrow easy or off and look to some speed come Tuesday. I think a Mount Scott CR attempt is in my cards this week.

 

Back in action

This week is off to an awesome start. I have managed to knock out 23 miles with my legs well under me and nutrition going well. I'm still being patient this week since I know there is probably still some muscle recovery going on.

Monday I headed out to the trail to an old favorite the Mount Scott hiking and biking trail which I haven't been on since training with the Army 10 miler team last August. They regraded the trail to make it more friendly to pedestrians so it turned into a 10k trail superhighway. Thus I dismissed the trail as to easy and not technical enough. I forgot the beauty of the trail despite the easy footing. I was able to accelerate under an 8 min/mile on the rolling hills pretty easily but back off to a 8:30 when I wasn't spacing out. I ran 7.5 miles in a 59:47 and it did feel great.

That evening our local run club met up for a Boston remembrance run (2013). Most of our run club is in full taper for the Oklahoma City Marathon this weekend. It was a very pleasant 4 miles through the developing 2nd street area of Lawton. Afterwards managed to schedule a weekend run club BBQ for May 3rd which is always a great time!

I didn't sleep a lot between Sunday night and Monday night about 6 hours Sunday night and 5.5 hours Monday night due to early morning for the Army Physical Fitness Test. I kept this in mind in my expectation and plan to head to sleep as soon as I finish this blog!

This morning I had my PT test at 5:30 so I had planned on the 2 mile run not going well. But I was pleasantly surprised with a 10:48 not bad considering I'm only 9 days off a 50k. I actually ran the 2 mile dead even splits which I was really pleased with. Both Suki and I managed 300 of 300 points on the test. It was 85 degrees this afternoon so I had to capitalize on the heat and headed out for a 7 miler in 54 minutes a 7:40-7:50 felt super comfortable. I also participated in a friends final project for his health performance course. They asked to do a skin pinch test, sit and reach and a treadmill test. I believe it was the Bruce protocol which had me set the treadmill at 3.5 mph and upped the incline from 0% to 15% over 18 minutes checking my heartrate every 3 minutes. I never for over 126 bpm unfortunately. Still put in 2 miles there with a warm up. Still interesting as they will be attempting to predict my VO2 max based on their data. 

Recovery week

It's a very difficult thing to do to recover from a race that you approached as a training run. The goal heading into Lake McMurty was to use it as a up tempo long run which I accomplished. The problem is I forgot my first rule!

The elites are superhuman and I am not one of them.

I read several blogs of elite runners and sometimes forget that I'm not at their level yet and tried to head out for a run Sunday after I flew into Virginia for a conference.  I went out for a slow 7 miler which was great the only problem was I ran 31 miles the day before and my legs were left drained.

Why was I in Virginia? I went out there for a conference at VMI's campus. It is a beautiful area of the country and much to my dismay I was 12 miles from the Appalachian Trail without a car... again I could have run there but sleep and recovery seemed more pertinent. The conference was wonderful, I had the opportunity to listen to the Army's senior leaders speak about the direction the Army is heading which was very exciting.  Also probably good for recovery, sitting on my butt for 3 days!

After my run Sunday I woke up early Monday to run again and was sore all over. I reminded myself that I am not Mike Morton and decided to blow of running until at least that evening. Well after a long 12 hour day of lectures and classes I was longing to head out for a run but didn't have it in my legs so I choose to head out to Ruby Tuesdays with the other Cadets attending the conference. That's right I substituted beer for running and it was fantastic.

It took until Thursday for my legs to really come back to fresh and I headed out for 5 miles around Lake Elmer Thomas Park. I kept the pace very slow 8:30 ish terrified of a repeat of Monday. The run felt good and it seemed all the gunk was worked out of my legs.

Friday afternoon I was able to knock out a quick 7 miler on Fort Sill reminiscing my days with the Army 10 miler team. The pace was smooth 7:45 ish which felt comfortable and easy. I don't think I ate enough through. The next day (Saturday) I felt super flat. Dinner consisted of 3 cups of steamed veggies and 6oz of chicken. I love the idea of not eating complex carbs and eating "raw" but every time I go down the road my workouts suffer.

Saturday I headed to Burma road trail for an easy run no mileage in mind just a fun run. I knocked out 6 miles but really was feeling flat until after 3 miles. I again blamed my nutrition the day before. It's so easy to make the same mistakes again and again. What stinks is you don't see it until you start troubleshooting 4 miles into a run and then it seems to clear. I was a beautiful day out I saw 4 people out on the trail including a couple who mistook the trail for a shorter on. They ran into me 2.5 miles out and asked exasperated how far the trail went, I informed them it went out 9 miles. I guess they thought it was a 1 mile trail and turned around after a hour of hiking giving up on the end. I saw them resting at the bottom of the giant hill on my way back in.

Today I'm going to knock out a couple of easy miles but nothing significant. Next week I have a PT test on Tuesday which I'll treat as my speed work for the week. Other than that no workouts this week except a long run next weekend. If I feel good Sunday I'll replicate my long tempo work from 3 weeks ago with 2x5 mile at marathon pace.  

Lake McMurty race report

Well today was a great day to run an ultra and none other than a low key Tatur 50k.  This was my first TATUR race and I had a blast.  I was expecting a mid sized ultra seeing as they had a 25 & 12k with the 50k.  However a total of 50 ish toed the starting line.  I love the feel of a small local ultra!

I left Lawton at 4am to drive up to Stillwater and get ready for the race.  I made it to Lake McMurty at 6:30 just as the registration table was being setup.  I picked up my packet and nervously awaited the start of the race.  At 7:50 Ken Childress performed his general RD duties and gave a quick course brief.  I'm always surprised how many people recognize me from Prairie Spirit last year.  At the starting line I was introduced to a half dozen people and then the gun went off.  I was planning on heading out at a 8:30 pace but unfortunately that did not work.  I meet and became very knowledgeable about Justin Franklin over the next 2 and a half hours.  Justin went out at a 7:45-8:15 and I decided to head with him cause why not.  50k is a long time to run alone and worst case I just blow up.  Justin and I had a great time chatting away on the Lake McMurty single track.

We finished the first 7.5 miles in 58 minutes and I was lucky to sneak a few salt tabs off Justin.  It was already approaching 75 degrees.  As we came out of the aid station we were greeted by the start of the 12k race on the beginning of the our South loop.  This was just cruel because the legs were still fresh enough to pick it up and do some damage and here come these fresh fast 12k runners whizzing by.  Still I resisted the urge and Justin and I settled into a comfortable pace.  We finished the 2nd loop at 1:55 for a 53 minute lap and later found out a time good enough for the 25k win.  At the start/finish again Justin gave me some salt tabs as the heat approached 85 degrees.

We headed out on loop 2 and got into that weird part in a race when both of us start to suffer and conversation drifts to almost non existent.  Justin started to drop back about 4 miles into the loop I assume the heat started to get to him.  I turned on my IPOD in search of motivation to push harder.  I finished the loop right at 2:58 running it 5 minutes slower than my opening lap.  Still 4 hours seemed within reach since the 2nd lap is a bit faster.  I really started to feel the first 15 miles when I headed out for this loop.  It doesn't help that there are trail markers every 1/4 mile which remind you just how far you have to go.  At the turn around I kept ticking off the miles reduced to a 8:30-9:00 min/mile.  I finished up pretty strong over the last 4 miles rallying a bit to finish in 4:04 still a pretty slow last lap.

For my first 50k I'll take a win and almost breaking 4 hours.  I didn't use a powder drink in my bottle this time I ran just off gels.  I took in 9 salted caramel Gu's during the race which seemed sufficient.  The heat did start to get to me a little but I think it was more the speed and heat that got to me.

The TATUR's put on a great finish line festival!  I didn't make it more than 10ft from the finish line to sat down on the concrete.  My medal was brought to me and someone handed me a cold drink.  Eventually I made it up for a BBQ pork sandwich and beer.  Justin came in just a few minutes behind me and looked good, 3rd went to Aaron.

Ken hooked it up with a great overall award.

Pre race

I am a terrible race planner.  You know the guy that signs up for a race 2 weeks before it, buys nutrition the day before and quickly throws pre-race packing into the race eve jumble.  With that being said I signed up for the Lake McMurty 50k 2 weeks ago as a good distance race in prep for Badwater and also to get some confidence going my direction.  I had contemplated the Oklahoma City Marathon but I don't know if I trust myself in a road marathon.

So this week I attempted to taper.  I don't know if you want to taper if you're throwing races in just as training because it stinks to take the focus off speed and hills.  That being said for my taper I ran 8 miles on Monday in just over a hour, 6.5 miles on Wednesday and 3 miles Thursday and Friday.  My legs do feel well rested and ready for a race just an awkward distance to race.

I've never run a 50k before so picking a pace is difficult.  Not that I typically pick a pace but rather just a loose finishing goal time.  This race I'd really like to win just to put a win on the calender this year.  I haven't race since February 1st which wasn't exactly my best race ever.  There are plenty of talented runners up in the Tulsa area and the course record was set by a 2:28 marathoner at 3:48.  The course record is a little out of reach without injury.

So I'll wander around the house this evening trying to scrounge enough Gu's to water bottles to get me through 50k.  After that I'll eat a chicken soft taco and a refried bean taco and try to get some sleep around 9 for a 4am trip up to Stillwater.

Business as usual

Sunday night I wrote how proud I was of myself for not running for 4 days and well shortly after writing my blog it caught up with me and I headed out for an easy 6.  The good news...  I felt fresh during the run.  Today was new shoe day in the Purdeu household which is always a very exciting day.  I got a pair of Inov-8 Road Extreme 208's.  I was pretty excited to try their road shoe at a 6mm drop I was pleasantly surprised with the flexibility and comfort of the shoe.  I'll put a few more miles in them before I write a full review.  But they were on clearance at RunningWarehouse for $44.99 ($38 is you use coupon code FB15D).

Today I headed out for a 8 mile run at an easy pace entering my full taper this week.  I ran easy at a 7:10-7:20 pace which I right where I like to be during my taper.  My legs felt super fresh and springy.  It helps that it was a perfect day to run 60 degrees and sunny.  I'm taking tomorrow off and running Wednesday and gonna keep this taper moving along.  I'm getting pretty excited to race my first 50k!

Control Alt Delete/Umstead

Sometimes you hit a wall in training and your body stops telling you things and starts screaming them at you.  That is how this week went.  Last week I wasn't getting quality workouts and was complaining that my 90 mile week was miserable but I was determined to push through it this week and get a stubborn 60-70 miles 2 weeks out from Lake McCurty.  Obviously that did not work.  I ran 25 miles this week and I'm proud of myself.

Tuesday I hit Mount Scott and ran well but Wednesday morning I woke up sore all over.  I didn't have a strong desire to run (which means I'm well overtrained).  So I did what ever block headed young runner does... ran 10 easy miles.  Wednesday night I spent the night on the foam roller determined I could roll out my soreness.  FAIL!  This weekend Suki and I had a field problem and I was supposed to be working Thursday and Friday with only a chance to run early Thursday morning and Suki was supposed to be out for the entire weekend.   My thoughts were to run 10 miles easy Thursday take Friday off and run a hard 20 on Saturday and 15 miles on Sunday.

Thursday I woke up at 5:30 for my run sore all over.  I decided to pull the plug entirely and took the rest of the week off.  Today (Sunday night) I feel much better.  I was able to pick up a new sofa for our living room, and meet some friends for the Badger game Saturday night.  There is so much time for extracurricular activities when you don't spend 2-3 hours a day running.  So today Suki came home and it was so nice to see her again.  Even though we saw each other during the weekend we're both working in different positions and we might as well be 1,000 miles apart.  She was pretty wooped when she made it home, had to take a nap with her boys!

This upcoming week I plan to run easy Monday, Wednesday, Friday and race 50k on Saturday.  The course seems pretty easy at Lake Mcmurty so I'm nervous about pushing to hard.  The plan is to go out at a 7:30 pace and just hold on as long as I can.

In more exciting news there was a huge race this weekend!  Umstead 100 was yesterday and I was suddenly very interested in the female race.  Liza Howard  ran in her debut 100 post baby.  She ran a 15:07 for a solid 2nd overall and a CR/PR!  She is a true inspiration to me, I was sad when I filled out my Badwater application and I couldn't list her as my favorite Badwater finisher after she couldn't race last year (due to pregnancy).  And Leigh Anne ran her debut 100 in a blazing 19:38 for 4th female overall.  Go figure she wasn't pleased with her time!  So excited to hear her race report after her boyfriend (Will) pampers her for the day.  I can't wait to see what she will do after she corrects a few nutrition issues.  She's gonna make a pretty big splash if she continues down the this road.

Lesson for the week... your body will talk to you just don't be a bonehead like me and keep running.

Mount Scott

I had to take a break after last week and reset the systems yesterday.  Took a complete rest and just enjoyed a normal day and tried desperately not to think about running.  A little hard with the Barkley Marathon coming to a close (congrats Jared Campbell).  But I did it I didn't run for a whole day!

This morning I awoke feeling well rested so I opted to hit my hill work today.  After class I headed up to Mount Scott but only chose to do 1 loop.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the extra miles were lower quality workouts and causing my slow recovery.  Hit a 1.4 mile warm up and headed up Mt Scott (after a slight detour for a couple of long horned steers).  The first mile was run a little to hard at a 7:40 pace and led to some really tight quads over the last mile.  On the way down held on to a 5:55 pace and really focused on turnover.  I ran the 1.4 mile cool down back to my car for a total of 8 miles in 1 hour and 34 seconds.  I missed my Strava course record by 9 seconds...  Stupid cows!