Big Week

As discussed in the previous post I have never been good at logging big mileage weeks. Big is also a loose term when it comes to training. For a first time marathon runner, the peak training weeks would probably involve running between 40 and 50 miles with a mixture of hills, long run and recovery work outs, no doubt some cross training thrown in somewhere. For a 50 mile race/ Comrades/ up to 100km, training normally involves running 60 miles per week and keeping it there during the peak of preparation. Once you get up to training for 100 mile races, ideal preparation in terms of mileage/ workouts becomes open to interpretation. Some people rely on logging regular weeks of 100 miles plus. Others state that doing anything more than about 70 miles a week is unnecessary. Anton Krupicka was at one time logging up to and over 200 miles per week through sheer love of running and his incredible race results reflected that.




But then again so did the number of injuries he sustained. I personally had ok100 mile races at Rocky Racoon and Old Dominion on about 50 miles per week for 4 weeks in the lead up to each.

At 135 miles, clearly Badwater is a step up again from 100 miles. In light of that as discussed previously I am attempting to put in way more mileage than Ive ever done before. A couple of bigger weeks led me into last weekend and for the first time ever I cleared 100 miles in a 7 day period without racing. In the build up to the MdS and even the Gobi March I used to consider it a 'long run' if I ran 10  miles or more or for over 75 minutes. That might have happened once a week. This week I did at least that every day. So the log reads:

Saturday: 20 miles. 2 hours 45.
Sunday: 11 miles. 1 hour 50.
Monday: 15 miles. 2 hours 11.
Tuesday: 13 miles. 1 hour 53.
Wednesday: 13 miles. 2 hours 10
Thursday: 15 miles. 2 hours 3.
Friday: 13 miles. 1 hour 55.

Total: 100 miles. 14 hours 56.

What this week taught me and this is a big lesson for me at this stage, is that raw mileage tells about 50% of the story and as such forms only 50% of what is necessary to get the most out of training. Psychologically Ive benefited from putting 100 miles out in a week, there's no doubt about that. I didn't find it especially difficult or tiring and I haven't suffered any kind of stiff/ sore legs. I have had some mild discomfort from shin splints in my right leg which tell me I need to back off but nothing that has caused me any significant long term pain. Nevertheless 100 miles took up almost all of my spare time before, during and after work and at the weekends. 15 hours of running doesn't fill a week on its own but when you're working from 8am to 6pm and you need significant sleep to recover properly after each training session there's not a lot of time left.

On Friday night before the start of the week and again on the Sunday afternoon our band the Goose were in the studio for 2 x 4 hour sessions (hence the reason for the lower Sunday mileage). 4 hours of drumming is hot hard work and I always come out feeling utterly drained afterwards, normally with blisters all over my hands. This week was no different and because of the running mileage it took me until Wednesday to feel like Id recovered. Does drumming count as training? Of course not but its  certainly a pretty good upper body work out. It also happens to be pretty good heat training....

Ive also started sitting in the sauna for the first time this week. On Friday I did 2 x 10 minute sessions in 85 and 92 degree C heat. Heat training for this event is one of the three pillars of the training recommended by most previous finishers. The other two are mileage and hill work. Ultimately of course the three major obstacles to success are the 135 mile distance, the intense heat of Death Valley and the fact that the race climbs up and over 3 seperate mountain ranges totalling 1000's of feet of cumulative gain.

So 100 miles in a week is a lot, sure, but Ive managed almost no hill work in that time, no walking sessions (of course I will have to walk some of the course given the heat and the distance) and almost no heat training. Whats next then?

Well firstly getting in the sauna every day and building the time spent doing that. And doing some hill work/ stair climbs in the gym/ walking on steep inclines. Whats going to suffer? Raw mileage. Im going to keep it up as much as I can whilst adding in the other components but if somethings got to give its going to be the number of miles. Personally I don't think I will have any greater difficulty getting to the end of the race by running 80 miles per week instead of 100 and if that 20 miles or 3 hours can be spent in the sauna or on the stair machine then here I come.

Im starting to realise it might also be an idea to start doing a little bit of swimming otherwise i might actually drown at the Ironman 3 weeks after Badwater!

Most listened too this week: