Monday, April 23, 2012

Bad Marsh 50K and Training update

I recently singed up for Bad Marsh 50K night ultra hosted by LowCountry Ultras. This will be a very interesting run. The race will begin at 6pm June 23rd and will run on a 4.5mi trail loop with a single aid station at the start/finish. My favorite part is going to be that the race is being run at night, so I will be able to use my Brooks Nightlife gear and running headlamp. This will be my first 50K and also a point to see how well my training has been going for the 50mile endurance challenge in Oct. I will be accompanied by some great runners that are in the Savannah Striders running club that I am a part of. Most of them have run previous ultra marathons, so it will be a great chance to train with these guys (and girls). My dad will be joining me on the run as well, making this his first 50K just like mine. I can't wait to start putting in more long runs and start hitting the trails more.

a little on my training update.....

I have definitely been seeing an improvement in my training after joining a running group (Savannah Striders) it has now been 3 months since joining. The Savannah Bridge run alone every Sunday has been not only strengthening my legs and run, but my heart rate and breathing are more in sync. When I first started running the bridge I was averaging a 8:55-9:30 pace ascending the bridge and my heart rate was averaged 180bpm for the run and maxed at 198bpm. I would finish the 7.6 mile run in 1hour and 20minutes. The past 3 bridge runs I ran were very strong runs, I was maintaining a great pace heart rate was steady and I finished all 3 in under 1hr. This past Sunday was my best to date, I ran the 7.6 mile at avg 7:42 pace ascending the bridge at 7:55-8:10 and heart rate averaged 173 and maxed at 191. There has been much improvement in just a short time while adding hill work as the Savannah Bridge to my training. Also every Saturday we (Savannah Striders) run at Lake Mayer and I usually get in 10-13 miles, This is our long run day and we are joined by 10-20 other runners every time to make it a nice group run. If I hadn't joined this or any running club at that, I don't think I would be as far in to my training as I should be. The motivation is one of the greatest parts and you couldn't find any better friends anywhere, Especially since they're all runners!

Hope you enjoyed the update and post. I will update soon on more training as I am getting further into it, and also on some new products I am trying out. ( CW-X Perform Compression calf sleeves and Brooks Cascadia 6 trail running shoe)
                 
                                            ~Stay Strong...Never Stop Moving Forward~
                               


Monday, April 9, 2012

50 Mile Training Plan (Base Building)

Training plan for my first 50 mile Trail race in Pine Moutain, Ga  at The North Face Endurance Challenge on October 13, 2012.

This is my base building phase for 16 weeks with a 4 week cycle.1st & 2nd weeks are building mileage, 3rd week is increased mileage, and 4th week is recovery week with decreased mileage.

Week 1-2       Mileage range 37-49 miles
Monday- Rest
Tuesday- Tempo Run 5-7 miles @10K pace
Wednesday- Long Easy Run 9-12 miles
Thursday- Trail Run 6-8 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- Long Run 9-12 miles
Sunday- Bridge Run/ Hill work 8-10 miles

Week 3 (Mileage increase)  Mileage range 45-59 miles
Monday- Rest
Tuesday- Tempo Run 5-7 miles
Wednesday- Long Easy Run 11-14 miles
Thursday- Trail Run 8-10 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- Long Run 11-15 miles
Sunday- Bridge Run/ Hill work 10-12 miles

Week 4 (Recovery Week)  Mileage range 32-43 miles
Monday- Rest
Tuesday- Tempo Run 3-5 miles
Wednesday- Long Easy Run 8-10 miles
Thursday- Trail Run 4-6 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- Long Run 9-12 miles
Sunday- Bridge Run/ Hill work 8-10 miles

I'm currently on week 9 and am more at the mid to higher range for mileage each week. If you want to use this plan as your schedule start with the lower range for 4-6 weeks building up to the higher range by week 9 and so on.

After this 16 week training plan I will start a 12 week Strength  building where I will be running hills twice a week and adding more miles on the longer runs. I will be ending this plan on June 10 and start the Strength June 12. I will add this schedule closer to the date. Thanks for reading!
                       
                                                ~Stay Strong...Never Stop Moving Forward~

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Brooks Glycerin 9- Personal Review

I went shoe shopping yesterday and I have been looking for a new shoe to do more of my distance running in. I have been using the Brooks Pure Cadence to get me used to running in a neutral shoe and fell in love with that shoe. Unfortunately I have already put 437mi on the Brooks and I was starting to have foot aches and ITB issues. I wasn't sure if it was the shoe or over training, but I looked back at my training schedule and I have been adding miles slowly so I knew it wasn't over training and it had to have been the shoes.  The average life in pair of training/racing shoes is about 350 miles, and I was definitely over that. I found a pair of Brooks Glycerin 9 that caught my eye with the stunning green/black color and intriguing, slick design. I read more about the shoe on Brooks website and it is a long distance running shoe for high mileage, I was sold. I tried a pair on and they felt amazing. I'm used to running in minimalist or almost minimal shoes so the cushioning was great. They use this material in the insole called DNA and this stuff is amazing. I could push the bottom of the shoe in with my thumb and it felt so soft, but if hit it with force it turns hard and doesn't go in. The DNA is suppose to change on different surfaces that you run on and provide different levels of cushioning and comfort. I swear by these shoes, It's absolutely true. We all know when you try a shoe on in the store it ALWAYS feels great, It's a new shoe, they're suppose to. I went for a run this morning with my running group Savannah Striders, I ran a 1.5 mile warm up before we started the training run and the shoes started to amaze from the first stride. It really felt like my foot was being projected forward, as soon as my foot landed it had a rebound to it, with an awesome cushion. I ran my warm up at a 7:52 pace. I knew this was going to be a good run. I started out in the front of the pack with the faster guys leading (and Sarah). We were maintaining a 7:35 pace for a good while and I was just following behind feeling great. Maybe it was mental, maybe the shoes really do make for a better run. I believe the shoes helped me perform a lot better by giving me the extra support and just being a damn good design. They have many features on them that supposedly make the running improve. I ended up stick with the lead pack all the way until mile 8, They were going into 6:30 pace and I wasn't going for that yet. I did end up maintaining 7:10-7:30 for the next 2 miles ending my run with 10 miles at 1:16:01 with an avg pace of 7:36. Today in training alone I made a PR on my 10K by 37secs and 10mile by 4mins. I love my new Brooks Glycerin and for anyone out there looking for a good shoe to train and do long distance to even shorter runs this shoe is Highly Recommended!
                                              ~Stay Strong...Never Stop Moving Forward!~
   

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Week 8 of Training, 50mi Training Plan Completed

     I'm in my 8th week of training for my first 50 mile Ultra Marathon. I have 8wks left on my base building phase. On June 10th I will be done with the base phase and will be moving up to the Strength building phase for 12 weeks, followed by a 6 week recovery period that will end 5 days before the big race. I finalized my training plan this afternoon, It took some time to get the details and mileage for each week. I really should've started developing the plan about 6 weeks ago, But it kind of helped having already put in 8 weeks of training runs and seeing how I felt, that way I know the plan will work. That is, In completing the 50 miles without falling out due to bonking or injury. I am doing the training plan with a 4-week cycle, meaning I will run 3 weeks with a gradual increase in mileage and on week 4 I will recover by dropping the mileage down by 10-15%. Then it will be a repetition process for 28 weeks, followed by the 6 weeks of recovery and tapering before the race. I've been doing a lot of research on ultra marathon training and have found that this schedule has kept many other runners injury free, due to over-training, and also many have suggested 6-8 months of proper training will give you a successful ultra marathon race by being able to at least finish.

       I was going to be running a 50 mile run to celebrate my 2 years of running on May 5th at the Relay for Life. I planned this 2-3 months ago with hope that I would be about ready to run 50 miles in 12 hours. I am not ready for this run, I will be running a marathon on that day at the event rather than 50 miles. I cannot risk putting myself at a point for injury by running 200 laps around a 400m track. As long as I am able to stick with my training plan and stay focused with every run and (fingers crossed) Stay injury free through all of this I have confidence in finishing the ultra. I do not have a time frame in which I'm trying to set a goal for, however I know I want to do it in under 10hrs, That's a 12min pace so that can include walking and running. I have 6 months left and so far I'm running 2 long runs a week that average a pace between 8:10-9:40, In 6 months of more runs and increasing my mileage, adding 2 hill workouts, and never giving in to defeat I will be ready!

Thanks for reading and I will try to keep posting atleast once a week to keep updates on my training.
                                               ~Stay Strong...Never Stop Moving Forward!~