Some Weekly Training Numbers

Definitely tired and sore today.  Thought I'd take a quick break from thinking all things ice, to post some quick numbers from last week.  I have officially hit a new high water mark for training.  Not only did I do over 12,000 feet of hill workouts, but I have now run my highest mileage training week ever:  73 Miles.

Of course my highest mileage weeks ever, were last summer when I had something like 123.5 miles the week that I ran Leadville, and of course my 222-mile week of hiking in July on the PCT back in 2010.  As far as pure training goes though, 73 is currently it.  And this is after a nearly 60-mile week the previous week.  To all the elite ultrarunners out there, a 73-mile week is probably considered a "light week" or a "taper week".  For me, I am pretty happy with how my training has picked up.  I am starting to notice my nagging turf-toe/sesamoiditis symptoms coming back though and it is really aggravating.  I have decided to make this current week a step-back week...and give the ol' toe a break.  I will continue to hit the hills, but with much lower intensity.  I need to give my foot a rest.  I've also finally scheduled a followup doc visit just to make sure there's not anything else going on down there other than irritation.  Lastly, I've got some pads and inserts that I am going to start wearing in my shoes that allow my big toe to float a bit more and relieve some pressure on it.  It's more-or-less the equivalent of a dancer's pad.  The woes of having high arches.  Of course with all this said, I will never, and I stress NEVER, wear minimalist shoes again.  

The Plan:

Step back to 40-50 miles this week and then pick it up again for the following two weeks.  I'm hoping to maybe break 80 miles.  Of course this will all depend on how my foot is doing.  I really need to keep up with the hill workouts this week even if it means hiking.  In two weeks I hope to start doing some off-trail hill workouts.  In other words, very steep, bushwacking type climbs.  Lastly, I need to start practicing and refreshing my orienteering skills.  I hope to get out next weekend for some compass work.

The run through:

Throughout the week I did about 13 miles of pure hills, with another 19-miler on Saturday through Rothrock doing a long/hill workout.  On Sunday, I again ran in Rothrock, but instead chose to stick to the fire roads.  The 18.8-miler still featured 2500 ft of gain, but was much more rolling.  by mile 16 I was so exhausted, that I found myself walking.  Definitely a long week.  Today, I am taking off.

Since starting my self-imposed Hill workouts, I've totaled over 22,000 ft of gain

Finally broke 70 miles in a week for training.

Sunday Fire-Road Run in Rothrock

Rolling Hills in Rothrock (Sunday)

Two quick side notes:

1.  Congratulations to my friend and 2011 Leadville Pacer Sophia for breaking 24 hours at the Rocky Raccoon 100-miler!  Huge accomplishment.  Wear that belt buckle with pride Sophia, and I will see you in Leadville.

2.  I finally got my copy of JourneyFilm's "Unbreakable"...the story of the 2010 Western States 100.  I won't go through a full review of it, but will say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was well done.  There were a few scenes that I thought it could have done without, but for the most part I thought the story was well told, and the camera work phenomenal.  It was also very cool to get the story of Gordy Ansleigh in there as well.  Overall, I'd give a 4/5 stars and say that it is worth the purchase for sure.