Ultra Marathons....a whole new world

As I close in to firmly commit to my latest endeavor, the ultra marathon, I am coming to grips with a few things.  First of all, this is a whole new world entirely.  I have found over the past several years of running half-marathons and marathons, that runners are a odd, but likable bunch for the most part.  There is an understood camaraderie that comes with being a "runner".  You are accepted whether you are an elite or not.  Ryan Hall may be able to run circles around me in a marathon, but at the end of the day, we still cover the same 26.2 miles.  There is something to be said for that.  Additionally, there is an understood with the training, racing, pacing, etc.  Everyone sort of knows the routine.  With Ultra marathons I am entering uncharted territory.  Instead of one long run per week, you do two long runs on consecutive days.  There are new "rules" like....walk up every hill and run down every hill.....use a 20 minute run/5 minute walk or 5 minute run/1 minute walk routine.  Also, Ultras seem to be more about finishing and less about time (which is good for me).  Next there is the whole support crew aspect.  Apparently the crews are allowed to meet you on the course and bring you food, cloths etc.  There are also bag drops on course to allow you to resupply during the run.  Finally, you win a belt buckle?  This seems to be the award for all the Ultras....what is up with that?

I am about 2 weeks away from when my Ultra training plan would need to begin.  I need to search far and wide to make sure that I have this in me.  I would like to compete participate in the Ice Age Ultra Marathon in La Grange, WI on May 14.  The training plan is 24 weeks and you can take a look at it here.  The training peaks at 75 miles/week, which seems doable, but daunting.  I will use my marathons that I am training for as training runs, so the timing of those should work out wonderfully.  By my calculations, worse case scenario is that I average 14 minute miles.....that puts me at finishing still under the 12 hour mark.  If I set out on this endeavor, however, I do not want to fail.  50 miles.......wow that seems like a lot.  I would love to see if I have it in me though.  From a physical standpoint, I have no doubt.  God has made the human body to be incredibly resilient.  My concern is the mental aspect.  I will need to really up the cross training and especially stretching as I start inching towards 75 miles/week.  My body has never seen that kind of mileage and I imagine it will be hard on it.  I guess we will see......

Weekly mileage thus far = 8 miles

Running early: Avoiding the gravitational pull of the bed on early AM runs...

Running early can be tough...impossible even.  That being said, I have a couple of tips that have helped me get up and about for my sometimes insane running times.  We have to get up early here in Florida in order to beat the heat during the summer months.  If your long run is not complete before the sun comes up, you can risk issues with the heat.  I sometimes go for long runs as early as 3:00 AM in the summer.  Lucky for me, it is NOT the summer.  In a normal week I get up around 5:00-5:15 AM for my morning runs during the week and may get up a touch earlier for my long run.  That can still feel pretty early though, especially after racking up some mileage and working a normal job.  Add in any extra curricular events during the week, and it can be downright hard to get out from under the covers.

To me, the keys for getting awake enough to go an run are:

1. Light:  I need to be exposed to light in order to get my body reved up to run.  There is scientific evidence that supports this.  Light helps to cause your body to slow melatonin production and as a result you start to wake up.
2. Getting ready:  The act of putting on my running cloths kind of sets my mind up for the run.  Even when I am not feeling it, I say to myself "Just gut it out, Just gut it out".  Nine times out of ten if I can make it out the door, then I won't come back until my run is over.  Also, make sure you lay your gear out the night before.  It is too easy to make up an excuse if you cannot find something.
3. Walk-the-run:  I have about a 100 yard walk from my house to the front gate of my neighborhood.  I walk to the gate to get the juices flowing and then, once through the gate, I jog slowly at first.  After about .25 miles I am usually 100% feeling good.
4. Coffee:  Sometimes, although I have not been doing this lately, I will have a half-cup of coffee just to get some caffeine in my system.  This always helps too. I have been trying to avoid using caffeine too much lately.  Our bodies are highly efficient at providing biofeedback and if my body tells me I am sleepy, I want to know that so I get more sleep.

Some people aren't wired to run early.  I can tell you this....I have gone on some morning runs and not had fun and I have gone on others and felt on top of the world.  This much is for sure....I have NEVER gone on a run where at the end I felt, "Wow, I sure wish I had not done that".  I have really been pushing myself to get plenty of sleep though, and I think it is paying off.  I get anywhere from 7-7.5 hours of sleep each night.  During the weekends I try to take naps when I can.  Anyone that has run for a while knows how important the rest is.  That is when you recover and your body heals itself.  The most important advice that I follow is LISTEN TO YOUR BODY....if you are tired, rest PERIOD.

Training for today consisted of 4 mile easy run at 5:15 AM.  Looking forward to my 18 mile run in the AM tomorrow.

Podcasts to run by.....

I have been slacking on my blogging, admittedly.  I became sick yet again and spent the last couple of weeks battling through that.  After visiting several different doctors I have finally found (I think) what my issues have been with the constant upper respiratory issues.  They told me that I have asthma…..

I had asthma as a child and was actually hospitalized on a couple of occasions.  I had thought that I had outgrown it, but apparently not.  I have been taking Advair for the last couple of weeks and think that it is really helping me.  All of this aside, I did continue with my training as scheduled…..just not my blogging.

On this past Sunday I knocked out a 16 miler and tried my compression socks for the first time.  My initial reaction is that they do seem to help.  They did make my ankles feel more pain, but I think that was simply because my calves were compressed and not feeling as much as normally.  When I initially took the compression socks off of my legs at the end of my run my calves felt burning like they have never felt before.  I thought, “these things suck!”.  After about 10 minutes or so the paid subsided and I never developed any soreness at all.  Pretty remarkable since my calves usually always sore after a long run > 12-13 miles.  This all was a long way of saying that I will continue to use the compression sleeves and hope that they make my recovery that much quicker.

I normally don’t wear an iPod when running, but as my runs get longer and since I am only making it to run with my training group only about once per month, I am using the iPod some.  I still won’t likely use it for races (I haven’t in a long time).  I typically listen to podcasts and/or books to entertain myself during several hours out on the road if I do use an iPod.  My favorite podcasts include:

• The Dave Ramsey Show
• Wall Street Journal Small Business Report
• How Stuff Works
• Techstuff
• This American Life
• Freakonomics Podcast
• Anything by Andy Stanley

I also listen to books as well.  I get them from the library on CD for free and rip them onto iTunes and load them up for an entertaining run.

This Saturday I have an 18 miler on tap.  Runs are starting to get to the level where they are getting uncomfortable since I haven't run that kind of distance in many months.  I am at 18 miles on my long run already and my first marathon isn't until January 30 though so I should be okay.  Still need to drop some weight and I am sure that the pounding of the high mileage that I am about to get into will not be as bad.  Going into the holidays the weight loss thing is a little more difficult though.  We will see as I am still going to try to be 180 pounds by Jan 30.  I am using the Daily Plate website to help me track calories.  It is excellent and I highly recommend if you have never tried and are interested in that kind of thing.  It is affiliated with Lance Armstrong's foundation.

That is enough rambling for now.  Happy running!

Mileage this week = 10

Cross training for runners...

Cross training, to me, is an important component to my overall fitness and actually helps with my running even though I may not be working my "running muscles".  For cross training right now I am trying to mix in a little stretching, core/ab work, and strength training.  I am a big fan of the P90X program developed by fitness guru Tony Horton.  Surely you have seen the infomercials on late night TV.  Well, truth be told, the program kicks my butt.  In my opinion, the pure P90X approach is too much for someone seriously training for endurance races like marathons and ultra marathons.  It is 6 days of brutal exercise and 1 day of stretching.  I do however use the strength training, abs, and sometime yoga to compliment my running approximately 2 days per week.  So I run for 5 days, cross train on one of my running days and then have a day where all I do is cross train....finally, I take Sunday completely off from any exercise at all.  That is my recovery day.

Side note, as a follow up to my post yesterday about Food, Inc., I have ordered the book The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is by one of the developers of the documentary.  I am going to start incorporating some changes in my diet to hopefully eat better.

Mileage this week = 5 miles

Good food for running....

I watched an interesting documentary this week....Food, Inc.  If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend it.  It basically explores the food industry and uncovers how corporate america has changed (and not necessarily for the better) what we are eating and how it gets to our table.  First of all let me state that I am normally not one to get caught up in the "Corporate America is bad" debate.  I work in Corporate America and while I can admit it is not perfect, it is not a bad system.  I also have to say that I have been against the "Organic craze" since inception.  I mostly felt (notice past tense) it was a marketing ploy.  This movie did open my eyes though.....I have to admit.  I am not going to go into excruciating detail about it, but a few things stick out.  First of all the corporate farms are giving the chickens so many growth hormones that they grow to double the weight of a normal chicken in 1/3 of the amount of time.  They grow so big that they cannot even walk more than a couple of steps without falling down.  Tomatoes we can now get year 'round...this is because they are picked in Mexico or South America when green and ripened with a chemical.  This is not natural.  Oh, also, they fatten up cattle with corn (which are natural grass eaters) because it gets them bigger, but one of the side effects is it helps with the development of deadly ecoli.  You really should watch this movie.  I am not completely sold just yet, but plan to research this all a little more.

My wife and I do like to support local farmers and enjoy strolling through a farmer's market to purchase produce.  I am giving serious consideration to joining a CSA or trying a company Orlando Organics to get produce.  My brother-in-law and sister have been quite pleased with their CSA in Wisconsin.  It has forced them (willingly) to branch-out foodwise.  Not to mention the support of local farmers and having freshest food around.  Anyway now I will get off of my soapbox.

My long run on Saturday went off without a hitch.  Did 14 miles and averaged 10:15 pace according to my Garmin.  Actually a little faster than I should have gone for a long run (want to be 1:30-2:00 slower than marathon race pace), but wasn't too bad off.  I did not get to try my compression leggings due to me not realizing that when I ordered they were not sold in pairs, but as single items.  I ordered the matching one and should have them both to try for this week.

This week is a recovery week as I have been building mileage for 3 weeks.  I do a cycle, right now, where I build mileage for three weeks and then scale back to recover.  I will do this until I get into weeks where I have long runs over 20 miles.  Then I will do every other.

Today only a 2 mile easy run (recovery) and I will lift and do core work tonight.

Last week's mileage = 26 miles

Mileage today = 2 miles
Total mileage this week = 2 miles

So far so good as far as my running is concerned.....

Don't want to jinx the week, but thus far has been textbook.  Monday a 3 mile easy run (@10:00 pace), Tuesday tempo run (@marathon race pace), Wed lifted weights, Thursday speedwork (800 meter intervals), and this morning another easy run to prep for my long run (14 miles) tomorrow.  Next week is a recovery week so my legs will thank me.  Need to start stretching more.....my flexibility is horrible.  Oh well, off to work for now.

Running free.....in Nike Free's...

Got my Nike Free’s in the mail yesterday, compliments of Roadrunnersports.com.  First of all, they are pretty cool looking, if I do say so myself.  My initial impression after taking them out of the box was how light they are.  They feel like you are holding nothing.  They are also incredibly flexible.  You can rotate, twist, turn, torque in every direction.  I was looking forward to taking them out for a spin.  I put the shoes on and wore them for a bit last night and was impressed.  They really do feel somewhat like walking around barefoot, aside from the obvious fact that there is limited protection with the sole of the shoe.  However, it is easy to “feel” in these shoes unlike my traditional stability shoes.  They actually almost feel like putting on socks as they have no detached tongue and are very form fitting (not tight, but comfortably snug).  The laces are offset as well adding to the high level of comfort.  Now to run in them…..

Woke up this fine morning with Speedwork on my mind.  Plan for the day was to run a half mile warm up, 4 x 800 meter intervals at 3:45 (with 2:00 rest/walking in between) and a half mile cooldown jog.  Got ready and laced up my new Nike Frees and hit the ground running (literally).  I absolutely love the shoes….I have to say.  They feel like nothing is on your feet since they are so light.  I did notice that my stride and gait were different though.  I ran more on the forefoot, which is the purpose, I know, but I could feel my feet getting more fatigued by the end of the run.  Trust me, this is a good thing.  I think if I start incorporating the shoes in on my runs with increasing frequency that my feet and leg muscles will improve and hopefully I will one day not need the stability shoes.  My plan is to use them always for speed work and then gradually add them to other runs through the week.  Not going to use them on long runs just yet.  Not until I develop a tolerance for the workout it is putting on the new muscles.  Very impressed though overall with my first time out.  Only about 3 miles total, but very nice.

Today I am getting (also from Roadrunnersports.com) compression sleeves for my calves that I plan to try on this weekend’s long run (14 miles).  I have read so much hype and review over these products mostly pointing to the quick recovery and lack of soreness.  I will report back this weekend how they work.

Mileage today = 3 miles (.5 WU; 4 x 800; .5 CD)

Mileage this week = 9 miles