Pre-Zion 100 Thoughts and Training Reflections
Posting Date: 4/4/17
Current Weight: 175 lbs
Total Miles Last Week: 37
Long Run This Past Weekend: 10 mile gear test run
There have been a lot of events in my four years of running that I would have considered to be a climax at the time. Every new distance, every new type of course, every new personal best, there are so many ways that a race can become something special. Today, I am three days out from another climax, the Zion 100 Mile Ultramarathon.
I went into this year with a mission of having yet another "Best Year Ever." I have learned so much about my body, my mind, and how I can harness my strengths and improve my weaknesses in the last four years. There is no reason why this isn't my best year yet in running, and in life in general.
Training this year started in January. After committing to the Zion 100 in December, I polished off an "easy" month and headed into January at full steam ahead. I clocked three 100 mile weeks, with the remainder of the weeks being between 60-90 miles. While last year I very much focused solely on banking miles at low intensity (in line with the Maffetone method of training, used by many triathletes), this year I wanted to harness the great base that gave me, while keeping the speed I had worked hard for in the later part of 2016. In order to do this, I focused on alternating "high mileage weeks" and "high intensity weeks." The high mileage weeks were all above 80 miles, with the high intensity weeks ranging from 60-70 miles. I kept up this training up until the Marin Ultra Challenge in early March. Here's an example of what the typical week looked like:
High Mileage Week:
Current Weight: 175 lbs
Total Miles Last Week: 37
Long Run This Past Weekend: 10 mile gear test run
I went into this year with a mission of having yet another "Best Year Ever." I have learned so much about my body, my mind, and how I can harness my strengths and improve my weaknesses in the last four years. There is no reason why this isn't my best year yet in running, and in life in general.
Training this year started in January. After committing to the Zion 100 in December, I polished off an "easy" month and headed into January at full steam ahead. I clocked three 100 mile weeks, with the remainder of the weeks being between 60-90 miles. While last year I very much focused solely on banking miles at low intensity (in line with the Maffetone method of training, used by many triathletes), this year I wanted to harness the great base that gave me, while keeping the speed I had worked hard for in the later part of 2016. In order to do this, I focused on alternating "high mileage weeks" and "high intensity weeks." The high mileage weeks were all above 80 miles, with the high intensity weeks ranging from 60-70 miles. I kept up this training up until the Marin Ultra Challenge in early March. Here's an example of what the typical week looked like:
High Mileage Week:
- 80-100 miles
- Back to back long runs on the weekends (totaling 40+ miles)
- Strides worked into 1-2 runs during the week
High Intensity Week:
- 60-70 miles
- Back to back longish runs, with one being shorter and including some tempo/strides
- One tempo run between 4-6 miles
- One hill workout between 4-5 miles (long hill repeats .5mile+)
This program left me feeling good and ready going into March, and four weeks from Zion I did the Marin Ultra Challenge 50-mile as a final long training run. What Marin showed me, is that although I'm a strong climber, my downhill needs work. I can descend quickly, but my quads don't have the endurance to keep up steep downhills over a long day on the trails. Marin also showed me I was far from ready for the heat that Zion would surely feature, as I suffered pretty bad dehydration during the Marin 50-mile race. The best thing that Marin reminded me of, is that you can be in complete misery and pain and still finish a race strong.
My last three weeks of training since Marin have been focused on low mileage, race specific work. My top priorities were getting my quads ready for a beating at Zion (I hear the Mesa's are pretty steep, and the downhills do runners in), and preparing for the heat. I also committed to speed hiking a couple miles of two runs per week on hills at a good clip. For the quads, I started doing negative box jumps (stepping up, and jumping off the box, landing in a squat) 3x/week for three sets of 20 repetitions. I also made a point to speed up on every downhill I hit in my weekly training. Lastly, I started biking at least three times per week on my Fatbike. Nothing beats on the quads and gets them ready for constant work like rocking 16-20mph on a bike with 4" tires. For the heat, I started doing 2-3 treadmill workouts per week (usually for my tempo workouts). In the 70 degree gym with no air moving and more clothes on than I will be wearing on the course, you can get pretty darn hot. After a solid 16 week training block, and a low mileage last couple of weeks, I feel super ready for Zion. This week I'm taking it super easy, and plan on only running 1-2x (ran this morning for six with Jeremy Eckert), and keeping the miles low.
Here are my goals for Zion 100:
Time Goals:
A Goal: Sub 24-hour finish
B Goal: Finish Alive
Process Goals:
- Stay Cool - Take advantage of the morning and evening temperatures to run harder, run easy during the day to stay cool. I plan on mixing in more hiking during the heat of the day, and really working to stay hydrated. I need to be really proactive about this so I don't get caught off guard by dehydration and heat exhaustion like I did at Marin.
- Move with Purpose - It can be easy to slow down, take too much time at aid stations, etc when you're feeling low. Feeling low is a reality of ultras, but what separates the best, is that they continue moving with purpose even when they are low.
- Meet some Friends - I have no crew or pacers for this race, which makes me a little nervous, but I know I will meet some people on the course and hopefully be able to share the experience with others.
I'm more confident going into this race than any other ultra distance event I've prepared for to date. There is no reason I can't blow my goals out of the water on Friday. I'm excited to enjoy the beauty of the Utah desert, and have a great race!
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