| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | AA | AB | AC | AD | AE | AF | AG | ||
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1 |  |  | Run Time | Run Distance | Actual Vertical | 1-10 Scale | AVG Heartrate | Hours Sleep | Cross Training Time | Strength & Rehab Work | Column | Include? | Column | Include? | |||||||||||||||||||
2 | AVG HR | XT Time | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | Hrs Sleep | Strength | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4 | Date | Prescribed Run | Workout Specifics | Time | Finn's Training Journal | Ghelfi's Feedback | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Mon | 3 | 35-45 min shake out run | 40 | 43 | 5.75 | 98 | 4 | 151 | 7.75 | 0 | 0 | Road running! I promise, I will get way more specific as the big day draws closer. But nothing beats the convenience of just stepping out your door to slog the miles. New watch (Coros Vertix) so I'm relying on different data for wrist-based HR. Not sure how accurate it is, but that's what I'm using. I probably ran this faster than I should have. I consider the 7 min range to be a sort of "no man's land" pacing area for me. Doesn't really seem to serve the purpose of recovery or feel like a push. Just sort of in the awkward middle. Definitely some excitement about our training together giving me an extra step though. Slept well last night. Data there comes from the Oura Ring. Can see time in bed versus time asleep, which is cool. I'm logging the latter here. Had a small niggle in the sole of my right foot pre and post run that went away during the run. I need to get one of those lacrosse balls to do some rolling. I think it's an issue that can 100% be rolled out, just stating it for the record. No distractions on this run (music or podcasts), just my thoughts. Had a podcast to record after this, so I used the time to visualize the interview. Feeling basically 100%. | I like that double climb run from last weekend. More of that to come (and by Feb lots more) I have no problem (really ever) with any recovery run being done on the road. Certainly not all of the runs need to be specific, that would be too much vert and not enough regular running IMO. | |||||||||||||||||||
6 | Tue | 4 | 70 min easy paced run + 4x15 sec flat strides | I'll be adding more notes shortly. My ideas overall: Start with similar volume to what you've been at post Mcdowell. Build up smart. Get your aerobic system a bit of smooth consistent stimulus with some flat WOs to start, Good particularly while the mountains are more buried too. | 70 | 91 | 7.79 | 1463 | 2 | 133 | 6.25 | Full trail run this morning w/ one of my buddies. As indicated by the HR, it was an easy effort. Full, in-depth conversation type run. Enjoyable. Footing always a little slick (ice) or unstable (snow) throughout the run, so that also helped keep the effort low. I know we've talked about the difficulty in keeping trail runs, especially those w/ climbing and descending involved truly "easy", but this one actually felt close to it. Not a great sleep last night, but didn't feel tired on this run. Will get to bed early tonight and hydrate and roll out well later this evening. Ready to work tomorrow! | I agree this was for sure easy paced for you. Simply looking at the numbers I would say that. (unless you were running through 12" of snow. I have little doubt you'll be ready to roll tomorrow. Nothing like jumping into a new training block with this kind of excitement. One day and one session at a time. I expect tomorrows WO to be only a little bit taxing. If anything it'll be underwhelming, which is good right now. No problem going a bit over time here. the run was easy for sure. In general If you are within about 10% in terms of training volume over the whole week most weeks it should work out pretty well. | ||||||||||||||||||||
7 | Wed | 5 | 25 min w/u, drills, 3x15 sec strides, 3 sets of (1200m @ 6:00 pace, 2 min jog, 600m @ 5:40 pace, 2 min jog), 25 min c/d | This one could be liberty park. Could be elsewhere. I know snow is going to potentially play a role. If conditions are tough we can move WO a day later OR run it on the day and allow conditions to dictate a somewhat slower pace but similar effort to what these pace would take on dry ground. | 90 | 73 | 10.04 | 148 | 7 | 149 | 6.5 | 30 | Early AM workout - nothing in my stomach, so I felt good. I'll be curious to see how afternoon workouts (if and when I do them) go for me. That's when I have a lot in there and my stomach tends to turn south. Hydrated and fueled well (about 60 ounces of water and nuun as well as about 1800 calories) between 6pm and 9pm the night before. Joined by two of my local friends - both faster than me in all regards, and I think that amped me up a bit and I ran the workout harder than I should have - especially the 4 min reps. To be honest, I think I was working off some adrenaline and they all felt pretty smooth. Once the 3rd set ended I definitely felt like it caught up to me, but overall yeah smooth sailing. Historically, I think I 've found these relatively shorter rep workouts to be a type that comes naturally to me. As you've mentioned in the past, getting better at the longer rep workouts is going to be important in my growth. Didn't sleep particularly well the past two nights (sub 7 hours back to back nights), so I assume that will catch up to me tomorrow and I'll be tired on multiple fronts. May take advantage of the full off day on Friday as a result. One more thing I forgot to mention - I have my cousin coming into town for the next week or so. He's a fellow runner and may join on some of these easy day runs the rest of this week and early next. We may also mix in some very easy hiking days (want to show him Wire, Grandeur, Olympus, etc) and/or some skiing. | Well there is no doubt in my mind you are coming into this training block pretty damn fit. You can't run reps like these at those paces if you weren't Ya. we're gonna work towards longer and longer sustained sort of efforts, but this as a baseline is pretty stellar. 5:24-13 pace on all of the final 4 reps. Rest intervals not total shag jogs either. Ya, this was probably somewhat hard, but again, like we talked about, there is merit when you have a crew/group to workout out with to ride that wave a bit. Maybe if you did it every time out you might burn yourself up before Canyons, but I don't think that'll happen. You'll take your recovery days appropriately and that'll continue to aid in your ability to outperform in WOs. No problem with hikes w/ cousin next week. We are early in the block. At this volume I know you'll kind of get a bit bored anyhow ,ha. I don't think the hiking/skiing at super easy efforts will negatively impact anything. | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | Thu | 6 | 45 min recovery paced run | 45 | 55 | 5.9 | 72 | 2 | 130 | 7 | Perfect recovery run. Think I did exactly what I needed to do here. Everything intact from yesterday's workout. Just a little sore. Tacked on a 30 minute strength workout in the gym (squats, lunges, etc) about 12 hours after the run workout later that night yesterday. As well as a 20 minute sauna. WIll opt for the full day off tomorrow. | A good metric to track a little bit over time. Seeing what your HR does on flat ground when you are running truly slow/easy paces. I'll bold this here just so it's easier to find. 6 miles @ 9:18 pace w/ 130 HR average. Ideally in a month we'll no doubt have you doing anoother recovery run, and doing one in this 9 min pace range steady like this could be good to do simply to see what your HR looks like compared to today. Coming through the first tougher WO of the block intact and ready for more. What else can I ask for. | |||||||||||||||||||||
9 | Fri | 7 | Off/recovery OR short shake out run | 7.5 | 180 | Got a good bit of afternoon skiing in at Snowbird - maybe 13 runs over the course of 3 hours. First time on skis in 2 hours. Still got it. | Yes! You know how much of a fan of skiing I am. Even if perhaps it's not Canyons 100k specific training, it's a damn good time. Glad you got out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 | Sat | 8 | 70 min easy paced run | 70 | 186 | 11.44 | 3793 | 4 | 138 | 7.5 | Been really enjoying having my cousin in town. As we talked about offline, this week was modified a bit after the schedule was written to account for some hikes and ski days mixed in. Basically doubled this day and the following day (verty hike + run). Felt good on both runs today. Nothing much more to report. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
11 | Sun | 9 | 120 min easy paced long run w/ 40-60 min more runnable terrain to start, more hilly/steep in the second half | Canyons 100k is a race that sets up really well, and interesting too. Much of the first half is pretty cruiser, faster trail running and the second half gets very tough. I think we do want to try and practice this set up in a number of your long runs, doing more runnable less hilly trail and then moving onto tougher terrain in the back half of runs. Not every long run, but quite a few of them. Do you think you can find places where this will work and still be fun?? | 120 | 245 | 17.17 | 3914 | 4 | 136 | 8 | Same note as yesterday. Took a little bit off the long run (about 30 minutes) to make room for the drive to and from Antelope and because there was some plan to hike on some terrain that required more than normal effort (some scrambling, etc). For the run portion earlier in the morning - I was slowed a bit by the conditions - quite a bit of ice covered the trail, especially between grassy knoll and the dry creek entrance on the BST that slowed me to a more cautious than usual pace. Great day overall. Definitely tired by the end of it on account of back to back days with over 3 hours time on feet. But yeah. Spirits high. Totally intact. Return to normalcy next week. | Do you wear any sort of traction when there is ice on the trail like, this or do you just roll with it? Run looked good, it was pretty easy to see where the conditions were slowing you down. | ||||||||||||||||||||
12 | Jan 2022 | Total Week 1 | I think we should not worry too much about vert numbers for the first 4-6 weeks. After that we'll aim to try and get more and more specific to Canyons in terms of vert if possible conditions wise | 435 | 693 | 58.09 | 9488 | 139.5 | 7.214285714 | 180 | 1 week down. Feels good to be back. That Wednesday workout felt particularly good from a mental standpoint - really welcomed the chance to work hard. That's not always there, for sure. Feeling healthy. Etc. Nothing concerning to report. I like what I see on the schedule next week. I think what's on tap for Wednesday will be a good challenge - I feel confident I can hit those splits. | I think that having WO partners helps you (and most other people) SO much. simply from an excitment and motivation standpoint. I can almost assure you that had you done that WO solo you'd have run 20 sec a mile slower and it would have felt just as hard or harder. As long as we are smart about the overall training load and taking recovery days easy I think you can handle many tough WOs to your benefit. first week back on the training plan in the books. I am excited to see things going so well right out of the gate. | |||||||||||||||||||||
13 | Mon | 10 | 35-45 min shake out run | Plan is for 6 days per week running. Maybe 7 if you do go run on the opitonal Fri. With consistent recovery runs in the mix you should be able to adapt well. | 40 | 41 | 4.15 | 38 | 3 | 133 | 7.5 | 240 | Perfect run to start the week. Felt a little tired at the start, by the end the mind and legs were feeling refreshed. I know people read this log, so let me just say that I am a huge proponent for going even slower than you think you should go in recovery sessions to set up quality days. We will see how this pans out on workout day. Also, had a big ski day today at Snowbird, so the time on feet overall was considerable (cousin is still in town, wanted to show him the best of the best). Curious to see how that impacts things, but downhill skiing has always been a different kind of tired for me - not the kind that disrupts running ability for whatever reason. | Nice start to the week, easy does it. Thought it worth noting, it looked like the HR monitor was off base for much of this shake out. | |||||||||||||||||||
14 | Tue | 11 | 75 min easy paced run + 6X12 sec poweful uphill strides | 75 | 105 | 6.11 | 2713 | 2 | 112 | 7 | Another unusual day in a good way. Cousin's last day in town. We did a chill, but consistent climb up to Lake Blanche in mostly good conditions except for postholing in the last mile. I did not get the get the strides in like I should have. No exuses. Chalk it up to laziness, and I know how important they are in training. I'm a huge proponent. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
15 | Wed | 12 | 20 min wu, drills, 3x15 sec strides, 2 miles @ 5:55 pace, 3 min jog, 1.5 miles @ 5:40 pace, 3 min jog, 1 mile @ 5:20 pace, 3 min jog, 0.5 miles @ 5:00 pace, 20 min c/d | One more flat WO here. I may want to have another 1-2 in the mix through Jan/early Feb. This one will be a fun cutdown affair, reasonably short rest. I expect it to be a doable challenge for you. | 90 | 72 | 11.29 | 180 | 8 | 164 | 6.5 | 30 | Went into this feeling good. Definitely well-rested. Hit the first 2 mile rep too hard (for sure, about 10 seconds/mile faster than I should have), but got stubborn and decided to stick with it because something in my legs told me I was gonna be able to hold on. Did the same for the 1.5 mile rep and the mile rep, and out of nowhere the trusty bonk hit me about 20% of the way into the final 1/2 mile rep and I faded. So yeah, felt good for about 90% of this but I'm sure I would have felt good for 100% of it if I had followed the directions. I think the paces you gave me were spot on - definitely a reflection of where my fitness is at right now and I just got greedy trying to go under. Realized after the first rep that I was cutting it too close to a podcast interview and basically sprinted back to the house, so no recovery. Funny how you can think you have nothing left but then some you become aware of some pressing issue and all of the sudden you have legs again haha. I know that in previous times together I have struggled to put together week after week of consistent hard work. I feel a changing tide these days and I look forward to workouts. 2 in a row down. Here's to next week. | I think it's so huge to look forward to 80-90% of workouts. It won't really ever be 100%, but if it's the vast majority then we know that things are going pretty well training wise overall. If we are dreading WO days then the overall load might be too high, easy days might be too hard, long runs might be too taxing, or stress from other areas might be too much. I do think that "motivation to do harder WOs" is a very good baraometer to keep track of. I know what it's like to get greedy on WOs. I am that way too often too. It's a good lesson to learn here again early on in this block on pace based WOs. It's even harder to manage that kind of impulse on hill WOs later on. Great week going. Stoked! | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | Thu | 13 | 50 min recovery run | 50 | 52 | 4.24 | 741 | 3 | 125 | 7 | Good shakeout, time on feet. Feeling intact post-workout. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
17 | Fri | 14 | Off/recovery OR short shake out run | 35 | 41 | 4.66 | 171 | 3 | 130 | 8 | Just ran these miles to clear my head. Option was there to do a short shakeout, so I took it. I figure 40 minutes is short for an ultrarunner. | yes, that was my intention in writing that option. I don't think it's a bad thing at all to run 7 days a week some weeks as long as some of the runs are like this one short (I agree, 40 min is short) and flat like this. Perfect. | |||||||||||||||||||||
18 | Sat | 15 | 75 min easy paced run | 75 | 93 | 9.99 | 1102 | 4 | 140 | 7.5 | Felt good again today. These 3 consecutive days of easy running have me feeling ready to execute a strong long run tomorrow. | I agree that the last three days have all been truly easy effort/paced runs for you, and in general for most people who are human, this kind of reset between bigger/harder efforts is what is required to put in not only good WOs in this moment, but to put together a full traininb block which is sustainable and builds on itself all the way through. | |||||||||||||||||||||
19 | Sun | 16 | 135 min easy paced long run w/ 30 min pick up to "perceived 50k race pace" during the middle/late stages of the run | For some fo your long runs I would like to try and make a distinction in pace/effort between easy and some moderate/tempo level pacing. You are not a sranger to these kinds of sessions. Perceived 50k pace of course is not a truly hard effort, but should take some concentration. Try to do the 50k pick up on rolling/uphill terrain, not too much downhill. | 135 | 144 | 16.79 | 2379 | 6 | 140 | 7 | Succcessful long run, I would say. For the workout portion - I joined my two buddies (Jacob and Caleb), they are definitely stronger than me and we ran this at their perceived 50K pace, not mine. If I'm being honest, this probably felt like a pace I could hold for about 2 hours, not 3 or 4. But a part of me wonders (and maybe we can talk about this in our next episode) if just by virtue of hopping in efforts that are above my threshold, I do close some of the gap in my own fitness over time. Frankly, I'm not sure. There is no question (at least right now) that I am stronger (always have been) at the shorter faster twitch stuff than the longer slower twitch workouts. I'm really keen on getting to the best version of myself ever in this department over the next few months. Overall, felt great. Stomach good, legs good. 2nd half of the workout did have a fair bit of snow and ice, but for the most part we picked a solid route. Almost always a gradual uphill, a little flat at the beginning. Excited about where we are. | I do think this subject is absolutely worth talking about. It's a subject which I am not sure has a definitive answer, certainly for the population at large, but even on an individual level, it's not certain in my mind if going somewhat above your own paygrade is good or bad. I think "it depends" and I'd love to talk about that subject in depth. I think it's a good one that most people will find helpful to parse out. In this instance I think for you it's mostly a very good thing. If you were doing this sort of "above your pay grade" kind of effort most days I think it would grind you down and end up making you worse before we got to race day, but as it's been, you've been dilaed on the easy days, and you've been showing up for the harder days, and to me that is the biggest key. Being able to leverage your training partners abilities to up your own game is a major asset and one I think we are going to want to continue to utilize in the lead up to Canyons. Your avg grade adjusted pace for the pick up portion was approx. 6:27. You were able to do it without going to the well, without your gut going bad, etc. Really good stuff all around. | ||||||||||||||||||||
20 | Jan 2022 | Total Week 2 | 500 | 548 | 57.23 | 7324 | 134.8571429 | 7.214285714 | 240 | Felt like I had two really quality days this week (Wednesday and Sunday) and the rest were runs that set me up to feel really good for both of them. Another thing I'm wondering is for how much longer I should do just really really easy days in between versus starting to insert some more moderate and less than easy easy days in between. Granted, the first two days of the week I was mostly doing sight seeing type activities, so it was way below normal training paces. But yeah, still curious. Feeling a lot of momentum right now. Again, excited about where we are and what's on tap for next week. | At least right now I think (for sure next week) we should stick with having you run truly easy between the harder days. The way I see it, things are working very very well. You are doing well in the WOs and long runs and you are improving. We should never take improving for granted. We are still really far out from race day, so I think if we can see improvements like we are while being pretty patient, then we want to keep that trend line going. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
21 | Mon | 17 | 40-50 min shake out run | 45 | 53 | 5.37 | 876 | 3 | 136 | 8.5 | 45 | Slept, ate, and hydrated well last night, felt good this morning. No surprise w/ that combination. Also, went to the gym this afternoon for a strength session that I meant to do yesterday evening but got carried away w/ house work (squats, lunges, bench press, core, band work, etc). Foam rolled and used massage gun too. Feeling ready for tomorrow's longer run and mini-workout. I do think I can handle 2 hours of running on any given day during the work week and will show it this week. | Nice picutres from that run, no doubt made the whole enterprise quite worth it, ha. I kid, but ya, looked to be a truly easy run, perfect start to what I can feel is going to be a really strong building week of training | ||||||||||||||||||||
22 | Tue | 18 | 90 min meduim length run w/ 8X30 sec tempo effort pick ups taking 30 sec jog recovery | As volume increases I do think this set up is a lot better, with a medium long on Tues, WO on Thurs and long on Sun (with a couple of back to back longs later on). Do you feel good about this? can you handle up to 2 hours of running during the work week? | 90 | 74 | 10.25 | 443 | 6 | 152 | 7.5 | Felt great out there, though the air quality was terrible (150 AQI+). Did the pick ups starting about 20 minutes into the run. It was dark out so I couldn't see the watch face great and ended up running the rep times based on feel hence the longer and shorter reps in some instances. But basically in the ballpark of 30 seconds each. Probably ran the rest of the run faster than I should. If I'm being honest, paces in the 8-10 minute range are where I recover best. Had all the time in the world to get a full 90 minutes in, I just planned poorly. I will make up the missed minutes throughout the rest of the week. | I know how these good feeling flat runs can be. I think I personally have a tendency of running too fast on some easy/recovery type days when my body feels good and things are flowing. I still thinking running a bit quick (like low 7s high 6s in this case) on flat ground is better for you recovery wise than running too hard on a hilly/trail run 150 AQI, that is SLC in the winter somtimes isn't it. One of the only major knocks on the city that I can think of. | ||||||||||||||||||||
23 | Wed | 19 | 40-50 min recovery run | 45 | 82 | 7.5 | 1703 | 4 | 130 | 8 | Intended to be 50 min, but the fog/pollution was thick, I was up in Corner Canyon, and got quite discombobulated - not quite ever sure where I was. Yes, ended up being 80 minutes. But it was a truly easy 80 min save for some short areas of particulalry steep climbing. Feeling good. | Good stuff, a bit longer, but fully recovery pace. I have little doubt that you'll be ready to rock and roll for the first session with some hills in the mix today. | |||||||||||||||||||||
24 | Thu | 20 | 25 min w/u,drills, 3x15 sec strides, 3 sets of ( 5 min flatter tempo directly into 3 min somewhat higher intensity climbing, taking 4 min recovery between sets), 25 min c/d | Ok, this one can be all trail/off road if conditions allow. OR it can be done on a road if trails are too snowy. For the 5 min flatter piece we want to be going approx 6:00-10 pace, cruising, and then you hit the hill and aim to increase the intensity into the 5;30-40 grade adjusted pace range. Seem doable? | 100 | 81 | 10.04 | 1250 | 8 | 142 | 8 | Really benefitted from having a group for this one. There were 5 of us all somewhat spread out in terms of pacing, but always within sight of each other through each rep, so it was quite uplifting/motivating. Felt like being in a tribe, as I alluded to in my Strava title. I definitely ran the paces faster (again) than what was prescribed, and again I attribute it to the environment and being pushed by the group effect. Based on the numbers, it looked like I was able to hold a fairly consistent effort each rep. The last climb on the last rep hurt though for sure. I did find, interestingly, that I was able to pick up an extra burst of energy on the climbing sections of each rep, which highlighted where my strentghs seem to be (ascending) versus where I'm less impressive (sustained flat stuff). I just felt that way in each rep, at least. Like I had more to give. 3 weeks in a row showing up for a mid-week workout, I don't take it for granted especially given my past. Maybe I am finally at a point in my running career where I can put together consecutive "complete" weeks. It was always one thing or another that was falling off in training blocks past. One other note - I am going to Saint George Saturday morning basically with the same group I worked out with today to find nice air and warmer temps. Will do the Saturday and Sunday runs on desert trails, probably down in that Goosberry Mesa area in front of the south entrance to Zion. Stoked! | I think there is no doubt you are able to get more out of yourself when you train with a group like this. These are fast guys and you can run way faster at the same or lower effort level when trying to hang on some of their coattails. If you did this every single run (like including easy runs) you'd almost for sure start burning the candle too hot and have a hard time staying consistent/healthy, BUT I think that having this kind of energy/group is so beneficial for helping you find that next level yourself. Like i've said, I am all for you getting other guys out to push you on these. As some of the WOs get much longer in duartion (both total volume and rep lengths) it might be the case that you have to let yourself fall off of the back of some of these guys inentionally so that each WO doesn't turn into a full blown race level effort, which is something I do think we need to pay attention to as the WOs get much longer. Awesome WO though here, You ran very very well, hitting 5;0X GAP on the hills after already being fairly faigued from the honest paced flat segment of the rep | ||||||||||||||||||||
25 | Fri | 21 | Off/recovery OR short shake out run | 35 | Opted to take today off. Nothing wrong, just took that option. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
26 | Sat | 22 | 75 min easy paced run | 75 | 90 | 10.14 | 1368 | 5 | 136 | 6.5 | Went down to the Saint George area for the weekend. This run was less taxing than the Sunday one. Mostly good footing underneath us. I felt good throughout, added in some short strides at the very end assuming that the workout would happen the next day. Over 75 minutes today, yes. But this was a new route for most of us and we weren't sure how long it was going to take. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
27 | Sun | 23 | 150 min easy paced long run w/ first 90 min nice and easy, followed by 2X15 min "tempo" effort climbs taking 5-10 min recovery between, c/d to finish | Key here is to keep the first 1.5 hours truly easy. The time should go by fairly quickly mentally and you should not feel strained. I'd like to have you be able to hit these tempos with energy, and have them be kind of more open ended in terms of the target intensity. If you are feeling good let's get afer it on these. If you are feeling so so, make them happen regardless and see what your body can do when you ask it to give more. Fueling during the first 90 min I think will be important on this one. | 150 | 159 | 16.06 | 2093 | 5 | 134 | 8 | The intention going in was to incorporate the workout in the 2nd half. I was with the same group of 5 that I ran with the day before. We chose Gooseberry Mesa just outside of Zion because one of the folks was training for the 100K here in April. Absolutely beautiful location. Trails, however, were quite technical. Lots of twists and turns, pointless ups and downs too. We never ended up finding good spot to accomodate the workout that would have a long enough climb, except for the very first climb to get onto the mesa but by the time we returned there the sun had turned it into quite unstable mud. Honestly, while the run was very enjoyable it was quite taxing throughout. Just very tough terrain to run on. I vaguely remember running out here about 4 years ago, but sort of forgot. Anyways, given that I was in a big group and based on where we were at, I kind of gave up on it happening by the mid point. I probably should have gone out on my own today to ensure adherence to the plan. I know we talked about it over text - I would like to do this workout next weekend in the long run, if it fits. | Makes sense re: trail conditions/type and why the WO part was just not in the cards. I love wild/exploratory long runs as much as the next person and I know they are not always conduvice to doing faster paced stuff. We'll move these pace infusions into next week. Looked like a great trip down to the desert, pretty much perfect and nice to get into some warmer weather. Not that we can really "heat train" for Canyons as most runs will be done in cool/cold temps, BUT I do think the occasional trips south for somewhat warmer/sunnier weather is not a bad idea. Canyons can be a mixed bag, some years could be cool/rainy, some could be pretty hot. No way to predict it, but good to be a bit prepared for the heat. | ||||||||||||||||||||
28 | Jan 2022 | Total Week 3 | In week 4 we'll take one more up climbing the ladder | 540 | 539 | 59.36 | 7733 | 138.3333333 | 7.75 | 45 | All systems feeling good. Nothing much to report on other than everything feels manageable at this point and that I feel challenged in the workouts, but to a point where I still feel like I can be successful and complete them. 8-9 hour weeks is a little under what my default was during 2021 (roughly 10 hours/week), so yeah, I'm feeling comfortable with total time on feet too. I'll save the majority of my thoughts for our upcoming podcast recording. | I do think that this volume so far will end up being the right call when we arrive at race day. I think the length of time we have, and what we are trying to do in these WOs, it just means we have to be a bit more patient/reserved on the volume side. It's not lik you are doing nothing, 9 hours isn't that much different from 10, but it's allowing us to build the progression in what I think is a very good way and allowing you to do these early WOs coming from a position of strength. | |||||||||||||||||||||
29 | Mon | 24 | 50-60 min start of the week shake out jog | Lets keep pushing here for another week, not going too crazy on volume just yet, but getting you up over 10 hours before our first recovery week, As long as you keep these green recovery days super chill, and often flat, we should stay in a good spot | 55 | 71 | 7.94 | 1306 | 4 | 140 | 7.5 | Felt great. I find that running with friends is a great way to get on track to start the week. Just a tad bit faster (for me) than the run description here. But easy enough in that I ddin't feel taxed at the end besides the time on feet. A little longer than prescribed because I followed Anthony's run, | Running with AC .Pretty amazing how strong the SLC trail running crew is, both at the top and and in depth. Looked like a smooth, overall easy effort for you to start the week out right. Feeling pretty well rested and good to go? Even after the travel from last weekends trip South? | ||||||||||||||||||||
30 | Tue | 25 | 100 min easy medium length run + 5X300m @ 4:50 pace taking 2 min jog recovery between reps | Don't rip these 300s at 4:00 pace. I know you could, but that's now what I am looking for. I just want to touch on somewhat faster yet quite controlled running here, aiding in maintaining smooth effcient running mechanics as we rack up more vert and trail time. Hopefully you can find a good smooth flat spot for these 300s along or at the end of your route for the day | 100 | 28 | 3.29 | 20 | 2 | 137 | 7 | Well, I didn't do what I needed to do in the leadup to this run to be ready. Sat in a chair all day, nibbled on poor food choices all day and as a result was dealing w/stomach isues from the outset of the run. They did not improve within the first 15 minutes, so I turned around and headed home. Will be better. | There will be days like this, hard to avoid entirely over the course of a block. It'sa conundrum as an ultra runner. Of course when you are racing you are eating, so I think a lot of us have this notion that we just eat whatever, go out and run and it'll be fine. I know for me this kind of things can backfire for sure. I usually just get back heartburn if I run after eating normal food durig a day, but ya. small bummer, not the end of the world. The big days this week are still ahead of us. | ||||||||||||||||||||
31 | Wed | 26 | 45-55 min recovery paced run | 50 | 86 | 11.45 | 728 | 6 | 147 | 8.25 | Did (most) of what I was supposed to do yesterday today. Got all the 300 meter reps in (to make it easier for myself, I treated them like 60 second reps) and went out there for about 90 minutes total mid afternoon after a really solid, healthy breakfast. Felt good. Don't think it will leave me too taxed for tomorrow's big effort. I'm ready, | The 300s (ish) reps looked great today, Right in the target pace zone, running smooth. No, I don't think doing this run before the WO is likely to be an issue. Overall we are pretty well on track for the week. | |||||||||||||||||||||
32 | Thu | 27 | 20 min w/u, drills, 3 x15 sec strides, 3 sets of (10 min controlled uphill tempo, 2 min jog, 2 min hard effort uphill interval, 4 min recovery jog) 20+ min c/d | Our first real tough uphill tempo WO of the season. Here's the idea. I want the 10 min segments to be run with focus yet quite controlled. Think 5:50 pace flat ground kind of effort, not 5:20, we'll blow you up on this one ifr you are cranking at 5:20 effort. For the 2 min interval portions off of short rest you get to cfrank up the intensity, which will be hard with only 2 min jog, but think of those as more like 5:00-20 pace kind of effort. Choose a runnable hill without too much technicality to slow you down. | 100 | 104 | 14.05 | 1316 | 8 | 149 | 8.5 | This felt like a successful workout, surely helped along by the group environment (again). The fellow training partners were (thankfully) cool with doing whatever workout I had on the books lately, so that was awesome. It's so true - the accountability piece. I was wedged right in the middle of the pack on basically every rep so there was that added push to stay strong and finish the rep. We did this one in City Creek canyon, on the road to the Water Treatment plant. It's uphill almost the whole way with 1 or 2 random very short downhills. There were 5 of us running, spread out I would say by up to a 1/4 mile at times towards the ends of the 10 minute reps (there were some fast dudes leading). I may have gone out a smidge too hard on the first 10 minute rep, otherwise it looked like I settled into (roughly 5:30 GAP on the 10 minute reps and (roughly) 5:00 GAP on the follow up 2 minute reps. I definitely feel like I'm getting stronger and some sort of compounding from the last month of consistent workouts is starting to show up. I think this weekend coming up will be interesting, as I write this it's Friday morning, I slept well last night and the legs feel good. I will do a shakeout run today just to flush stuff out if anything creeps in during the day. Stoke is high. I think Saturday and Sunday will be good challenges with the intensity added in. I will have at least 2 partners for the LR on Sunday - looks like we will do it out on Antelope Island. | I agree that your having really consistent WO partners so far this block has made a really large impact, both on your consistency and in the level of output you have been able to achieve on each of these sessions. I really hope that you can continue to wrangle a crew (or even just one other person) for the majority of the remaining WOs leading up to Canyons. I think we do risk burning things too hot for too long, BUT I also think that you've been doing this long ehough, taking some risks with fairly large upside potential are worth it. We didn't originally have it planned this way, but this weekend will have you doing a bit of intensity back to back days, and really over the Thurs-Sun time frarme you'll be pushing pretty hard. I highly suggest sticking to that 6:10 pace pick up on Sat, not any faster. Antelope for Sun will be great. | ||||||||||||||||||||
33 | Fri | 28 | Off/recovery OR short shake out run | 35 | 59 | 6.02 | 1138 | 5 | 142 | 8 | Made up some minutes here from what I missed earlier in the week, also reunited with trails and vert. Did quote a long active warmup before this one, which made the legs feel pretty limber for 24 hours post workout. Everything went fine. | Run looked good today, should make up for a bit of lost time earlier in the week and get you over 10 hours total running time eh? | |||||||||||||||||||||
34 | Sat | 29 | 90 min easy paced medium long run w/ 3 miles flat ground pick up @ 6:10 pace done in the middle/end of the run | If you can combo a run on trails with some flatter terrain in the mix to get in the pick up great. I'd like the pick up to be runnable, but it doesn't have to be on roads, or even totally flat. I realize this might not be that easy to fine, but maybe an easier section of BST? You could do the whole run on rolling/runnable dirt roads as far as I am concerned. | 90 | 73 | 10.01 | 128 | 6.5 | 148 | 8.25 | Got the workout in, did not have time or a car to get to trails (ski w/GF in the afternoon), so I did everything at Liberty Park. And did go quite a bit under 90 minutes, unfortunately. At least the location made it easy to map perceived effort to actual pace. I didn't feel like I cooked it too hard even though the paces were 10-15 sec/mile faster than prescribed. But I also wasn't looking at my watch much because the monitoring of pace gets to me too much. I saw the early pace which was in the ballpark and tried to just tried to look forward and feel it out the rest of the way. Whether it was too hard, I will find out tomorrow. But I think I will be fine. Legs are feeling solid. | You were really close to pace on this one. Being right at or just under 6:00. It's in the ballpark. Good not to be a slave to your watch, being a bit fast here is a worthy trade off. | ||||||||||||||||||||
35 | Sun | 30 | 180 min easy paced long run w/ first 120 min nice and easy, followed by 2X15 min "tempo" effort climbs taking 5-10 min recovery between, c/d to finish | First planned 3 hour run of the block. I know that 3 hour runs might not seem that significantt, and ya we can and will run a lot longer in training, but three hour training runs ARE significant, it's good not to forget that. Make sure to relax and take the first half of this outing particularly easy. ; | 180 | 178 | 21.43 | 2428 | 7 | 140 | 8.5 | Going into this run, one of my training partners (well-experienced) mentioned off-hand that the fueling in those first two hours really tends to dictate how well the late stage workouts go like these. I took that to heart and fueled really well through 120 minutes. We basically did a 13-14 mile loop that brought us back to the car. I used that as an opportunity to use the bathroom, drop my pack, do some strides, some drills and then get after the workout part. It looks like I was basically able to even split it (unless I did the math wrong) in terms of grade adjusted pace. Overall, felt great. I can't remember ever in my running life hitting those GAPs this late in a long run workout before, but maybe. Either way, given that I did 20 minute at this effort yesterday and replicated again today, I'm starting to feel confident that I'm not necessarily biting off more than I can chew and perhaps we are enter into a new potential zone of fitness. I know we are a ways out, so I'm not getting too excited. And I'm also going to make sure to use that off day well tomorrow and not take for granted the bump in work this week. All focus in the next 48 hours is to ensuring I absorb what I just did. | You are right, I do not think I can recall a time either when you were capable of hitting these kinds of paces late in a run like this. I agree with your buddy, fueling early in the run was likely a big key to being able to roll 5:50 GAP on trails for 30 min late in this run. You basically gotta be able to run 2+ hours and have gycogen stores that are not near depleted becasue at those kinds of paces you do burn a way higher percentage of glycogen vs. fat stores. If you didn't have much glycogen on board you'd likely run slower or you'd start out fast and then blow up, neithe of which happened. BIG week we just put in, like you said, it's still a long ways out and so the recovery week coming up will do you a lot of good, even if it does not feel like you "need" it. | ||||||||||||||||||||
36 | Jan 2022 | Total Week 4 | Week 5 will be recovery volume | 610 | 599 | 74.19 | 7064 | 143.2857143 | 8 | 0 | Great week, I would say. Looking forward to publishing our next coaching call. I see next week is a bit of a down week. That sounds good. Do you still want me to go for those same paces as prescribed on the Thursday workout? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
37 | Mon | 31 | Off/recovery day (no running) | first mandatory day off of this training cycle. Take it for what it's worth. Hopefully you don't feel like you need it. Always best to take a day totally off when you could have run had you wanted to. | Took the day off as ordered. Felt fine, but glad I did. Knew exactly what I was doing - giving myself the opportunity to absorb last week's work and not digging myself into a hole. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
38 | Tue | 1 | 75 min easy paced run + 6X12 sec uphill strides | Everything a bit shorter this week, a bit easier. | 75 | 77 | 9.22 | 121 | 3 | 136 | 7 | Legs felt good, etc. Strides felt good as well - did them in the 8th mile. Low drama last couple of days, no issues to report post-long runs and workouts. | in week 5 of this 16 week training block I am all about no drama. That is the best kind of training This run was really dang good. I mean it wasn't like it was a speical sort of run, loop in town, but seeing you with this level of patience, cruising 8:20 pace with a super steady low HR, it's a great way to keep yourself in check here at the start of this recovery week | ||||||||||||||||||||
39 | Wed | 2 | 45 min recovery paced run | 45 | 41 | 4.26 | 33 | 2 | 131 | 4.5 | Did not sleep well last night - had to get up very early (4:30 AM) for a work call based over in Portugal. The one benefit was I had an open block of time immediately after and used it to slog out the miles. Will being going to bed very early tonight to get at least 8 hours of sleep ahead of tomorrow's workout. I'll be ready for it. | I have no doubt you'll be ready for that WO tomorrow. 8km of cruise reps, simple and smooth. I'll text you about pacing thoughts. Looking foward to getting you back into a more challenged zone here after a bit of time "off" / | |||||||||||||||||||||
40 | Thu | 3 | 20 min wu, drills, 3X15 sec strides, 4X2k cruise intervals @ 5:40-45 pace taking 1.5 min jog recovery between reps, 20 min c/d | A WO for liberty park, or the track, or another flat place where you can lock it in and rip a bit. Ok, I don't mean rip in the sense that these are suppposed to be killer. I anticipate you should finish this WO wishing for a 5th 2k rep, that would be my hope. I want you to feel like you are working but to finish feeling like you could have done more.Keep it close to the pace, no need to go under. Recovery week here will be key to the next phase of the build | 90 | 82 | 11.29 | 125 | 8 | 147 | 7.5 | Well, I know I went way under the paces. But I tried to run intuitively again and the first rep felt like something I could manage for 4 reps on the dot, so I went for it. I need to turn off auto lap on this watch so I can not have it reset every mile, but it looks like I averaged just about 5:15/mile pace on the 2ks and even managed to get a little faster on the last 2 reps compared to the first. The group workout environment helped a ton. I ended up being (somewhat) close to the lead guy in the group and tried to use him as a rabbit for motivation. He stayed anywhere from 5-10 seconds/lap ahead of me but it was fun to try. Because at least some people read these notes, I want to say that I don't see any of these workouts as all or nothing zero sum competitions with my partners. Quite the opposite. I see it all as positive sum. Their hard work in the moments inspires me to give a little (or a lot) more than what I would on my own. There's not doubt I would have run these slower without them. So yeah, writing that because I think some people get discouraged in these environments and I would say if you can take the perspective of it being an opportunity to get more out of yourself than you normally would - it's sustainable. The workout partners are facilitators, not competitors. Back to the workout, why am I getting faster? I have some theories. The first - this is the first time in roughly 5 years that I have stability in life that allows me to devote more psychic and physical energy to running. Whether it was being a broke college student, or living bouncing from house to house, or a failed relationship, something was always eating into the focus here. For the first time, I can say that life is pretty stable and that has allowed to be the athlete I was even before I met you - like early 2010s for example when I was playing football. I would also say that I am leaning in to what I truly want - which is making as much of my life about trail running as possible and there is an extra jolt of ability you get from that alignment as opposed to waffling and kinda dipping one or two toes in just to take them out shortly thereafter. Then yeah, the group workout effect. I think we will keep doing these and I hope people in the trail world watch because what we all get out of ourselves from this stretch will definitely be reflected in Canyons and if or when we all perform, we can explain that its because we had a shared goal and worked together basically every week. And then finally the basics - eating well (if anything, overfueling - better to 10% overeat then 1% undereat I say), sleeping well (7-8 hours a night almost every night), and doing the little things - stretching, dynamic stuff, FINALLY actually doing drills before the reps. Stuff like that. So yeah, stoked. I realize I have earned myself some new paces as we were texting about last night. That's great. Excited to live up to them. Oh and then last thing - I ran really freaking slow, like between 8 and 10 min pace on the roads the last two days (relative to my abilities) and I think that had a huge impact on being able to run fast (relative to my abilities) in this workout. On the pod, we talked about the buig gap you want between those paces and I think that was exemplfiied here. | Thaks for the great write up Finn. I know we are having to expand these comment cells to accomdate, ha. For those unfamilar with Google docs, it's quite easy to see and expand cells if you are using a desktop, it's not quite as user friendly on the phone (I do 99+% of my coaching work on a computer, basically never using the phone app outside of rare occasions). Ok, onto the good stuff. Indeed Finn, you ran a WO here that I honestly don't think you ever could have in the past. From a pure flat ground road/track perspective this was pretty massive. I would suggest that with this rest interval we had here and how even paced your splits were overall you are likely capable of running a race distance of between 8-10m @ sub 5:20 pace. I am not saying you HAVE done that, but that is what this WO indicates to me. If you had taken 3-5 min rest and hit these paces that would be a different story, but with only 90 sec rest I think that is a fair statement. A race result like that would be a huge huge improvement for you, so I guess what I am getting at is that in lue of a race this kind of WO is a litmus and shows us more or less where your flat ground fitness is at. Is Canyons flat, of course not, but the kind of aerobic ability and running economy that you have been building with these WOs will 100% pay dividends. I am 100% for this group training dynamic you've got going here, and for you to do things like this where you tap into something we didn't know you had. It IS risky ins some ways, pushing things this hard in training, BUT like we've talked about it's a risk worth taking for you. It's not like you are an 18 year old HS kid. Carpe Diem as they say. | ||||||||||||||||||||
41 | Fri | 4 | 35 min recovery run | 35 | 62 | 6 | 1145 | 4 | 131 | 8 | As I write this on Friday morning, I am sore but intact. I slept well last night 8+ hours, so I think the recovery run will go fine. One thing I want to raise since it's a month out - I am signed up for two races in March (Red Mountain 55K and Behind the Rocks 50K) - neither are specific to the demands of Canyons 100K and I'm not even sure why I signed up for them, I think it was because I wasn't signed up for Canyons yet and had a different idea about how the year would go. All that is to say I am not emotionally tied to them and am happy to cancel them, if you think it is appropriate. I would much rather use 4-6 hour efforts for stuff that's as specific as possible. Plus, running on slick rock is taxing in an annoying way. | Let me think about these races. Frankly, with your trianing partners and set up right now I am inclinde to say we skip them both. I know you are the kind of person who is happy to put all your eggs in one basket, and I think it would be the right call. Sometimes people want races to test themselves, or to prove to themselves where they are at, but I think we will get PLENTY of that type of affirmation and stimulus in training, we don't really NEED to go travel to those races and run those risks. Being at home and training with your crew in a known environment is objectively better as we look to the goal of Canyons 100k. I think we can gain all the confidence you are going to need in training, and I think from a physical standpoint there isn't a great reason for you to race unless those races were ends in themselves which I don't think that they really are. | |||||||||||||||||||||
42 | Sat | 5 | 75 min easy paced run | 75 | 58 | 4.92 | 1299 | 3 | 136 | 6 | Was hanging out at the Running Up For Air series all day. Took some time off to do this lap of the Overlook with a couple of friends, yes it was a little under prescribed time but I was over time by quite a bit the day before so I figured that would even it out. Everything feeling fine, no issues/drama to report. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
43 | Sun | 6 | 120-150 min easy paced long run w/ 40 min hill climb @ perceived 50k race pace | You did a good job I thought on your last session where we had PE 50k pace on a long run. Ya, maybe a bit quick cause you were running with the guys. try to make this effort about like that one in terms of pace, maybe holding back a touch more, letting the guys go if you start to feel like it's verging closer to 2 hour race pace than 3.5-4. I'd suggest doing closer to 120 min today than 150. Def don't go over 150 | 135 | 152 | 15.61 | 3422 | 6 | 136 | 7.5 | Felt like I executed the first half of the run well - easy, well within my abilities, fueled well. Started the 40 minute hill climb about 75 minutes in with two of my buddies, one of them leading the way - I was either in the middle of the pack or slightly back. I thought our pace was solid and as I look at the data pretty on point for the first 20 ish minutes. But it's really hard to get a continuous 40 minute climb in the Wasatch this time of year that is totally dry and we hit a snow line about right there at the half way mark that involved quite a bit of post holing. With about 10 minutes left we hit a grade that we all agreed we would be hiking even in a 50k race like Speedgoat, so we switched to that. The effort in the 2nd 20 minutes felt basically the same as the effort in the first 20, despite the GAP differences. | Ya, GAP doesn't know about the ground conditions, ha. Or the altitude (though that conversion would be simple and seems like something strava would add someday). Ya, GAP is really telling on roads, or smooth trail, or on the same route in similar conditions, but when you are postholing GAP is out the window and perceived effort is our friend. Indeed that top part of the climb was hiking territory @ 50k race pace like 100% for sure. the final 0.35 miles (which was part of a split) climbed 584ft, So, do some quick math on that and you get like 1600+ft per mile gradient, Ya, that is for sure hiking at race pace, so good call there on making that switch. The GAP numbers for the pick up honestly look really good considering the terrain and the snow. This was a very good long run for our lower volume week. Still extremely productive, but not going to the well. Just what I was looking for. | ||||||||||||||||||||
44 | Feb 2022 | Total Week 5 | p | 455 | 472 | 51.3 | 6145 | 136.1666667 | 6.75 | 0 | Overall, happy with the week. Healthy and intact. Eager to do the time trial effort on Thursday as a sort of evaluation for all the work I've put in so far. It's interesting to see my sleep numbers in aggregate and averaged. I have some work to do there. I would like to see it closer to 8 hours or even beyond. | Next week will be fun, and the hill climb TT will be really fun (as much for me as for you I think;) You have put in a good body of work here and it'll be great to get a bit of a green light sort of effort with some grade to it to see where your mind, your aerobic system and your strength endurance are all at. | |||||||||||||||||||||
45 | Mon | 7 | 40-50 min start of the week shake out jog | one more week in the 10 hour range before we ideally push beyond We do want these 10 hour training weeks now to feel like they are holding you back a bit. | 45 | 51 | 5.15 | 920 | 3 | 121 | 7.5 | Nothing significant to report - feeling fine. The run functioned as designed, loosened stuff up and got me ready for the rest of the week. | Here's to a great week ahead Finn! Back to higher volume and with a heavy hitting WO on tap Thurs. I know you'll be excited to dig deep on that one. | ||||||||||||||||||||
46 | Tue | 8 | 90 min medium length run + 8X30 sec tempo effort pick ups taking 30 sec easy jog between | Nothing fancy or too hard with these short tempo pick ups. Done on flat or rolling very runnable ground. Not crazy fast, think like 5:30 pace, but don't worry about actually trying to run 5;30 pace, go by feel. Keep the overall effort of the run pretty low. I am looking for a pretty big effort on Thurs. | 90 | 74 | 9.51 | 246 | 5 | 141 | 7 | 40 | Went a little bit short on the run because I made last minute plans to do a short uphill lap at PCMR this evening. Got the 8x30 seconds in off feel in that sense that I wasn't looking too closely at the watch so the on and the off times might have been a little longer and shorter than designed. They felt a little clunky but the rest of the run I felt good. | Ya, you can see that after those 30 sec reps you did speed up a good amount, I am guessing very naturally so. It's cool how those short burts of higher output, higher muscle fiber recruitment can improve your economy and pace basically immediately. nice to see you getting up on the skin track too, even if it's not all the time, still worthwhile to get on skis! | |||||||||||||||||||
47 | Wed | 9 | 40-50 min recovery run | 45 | 52 | 6.42 | 82 | 4 | 137 | 7 | Left big toe bothering me a little bit, but I do find that happens to me when I do a lot of road running. I was also wearing a pretty minimalist pair of Sauconys. Otherwise, everything else feeling great. Kept it flat, just ran from the house. Have my route ppicked up for the time trial tomorrow - it will be the 5 mile Millcreek Canyon road up the summer gate. You pick up about 300 feet/mile on this one and it's pavement, which I think is necessary to go all out. The trails are either too muddy or uncertain on snow and I don't want to be surprised. | As long as your toe is not giving you problems on the warm up tomorrow I am all for that climb. It's going to be a good one. I agree, as much as having to fight through the elements on the trail is a good thing, right now we are all about tapping into this high end of the aerobic system, not thinking about anything else. Looking foward to seeing that one come through tomorrow | |||||||||||||||||||||
48 | Thu | 10 | 20-25 min w/u, drills, 3x15 sec strides, Hard Effort HIll Climb, 30-50 min c/d | For this weeks main WO I'd like to give you a bit more discretion on the route. I do want you to prep for it as a very hard effort. Let's have a little fun and see what the work you've put in thus far as churned out in terms of uphill fitness. Steep/hiking grades are fine, but something you can maintain a running gait for most/all of is probably better. | 100 | 101 | 13.52 | 1139 | 8 | 8 | 45 | I'll get right to the workout because everything felt great going in and I did everything sleep and nutrition and pace wise yesterday to be at my best coming in. I do feel like the effort was consistent throughout and I started at a pace I could maintain from start to finish (roughly 5:30-5:35 GAP). What ultimately slowed me down pace/GAP wise in the last two miles especially was the increasing amount of ice on the road. I believe if that were out of the experience, my splits would have been even. In my opinion, Millcreek Rd was the best place to go today to do a time trial fitness test. The trails are either snowy or muddy right now and I wanted something relatively stable and consistent under foot. Did not have a group around me today, which was a bummer but the motivation to show up was still there. Note - I am going to do a PCMR lap tonight w/GF but it will be low intensity and I will add it to the tracker once completed. Will sleep and eat well today, go easy tomorrow, and then be ready for another big weekend. Couple more thoughts actually. Practiced some visualization pre-run. Specifically, visualized how I was going to respond on the particularly punchy climb sections of this segment where your pace gets knocked way out of wack and you have to have the self-belief to keep going and know that it makes sense and the effort is still there. Ran into that scenario 3 times on this run and met each of the punchy sections with acceptance that I was going to temporarily slow down but then gain it right back on the less steep parts. Sounds silly, but I have definitely lost my mind in previous workouts thinking I was just hitting a fitness wall or not ready on the day simply because of a slight change in the elevation profile or surface. | If only your watch had a GAP function on it all these years, you'd have known that those punchy sections weren't you hitting a fitness wall, it was simply gravity doing it's thing, ha. But seriously, I like the way you appraoched this effort mentally. It paid dividends in the sense that you stayed locked in from start to finish. That is what a good effort on this was gong to take, keeping your mind right. Your fitness IS there right now, that's apparent, you can't fake the WOs you've been able to produce this winter so far. We'll just need to translate this higher end aerobic fitness towards your ability to run 100k pace consistently and with resiliance in tough terrain. I am confident we can do that. Fitness is a hard element to substitute for when you want to place highly at a big race like Canyons, so we are getting the key building block in place right now. Re: Skiing, no problem, it's like a fun hike with ripping downhill on a groomer. | ||||||||||||||||||||
49 | Fri | 11 | Off/recovery OR short shake out run | 35 | 55 | Did not run today, but I did ski - 2 uphill laps at PCMR. Felt good. I love skiing. | Ya, I LOVE skiing too. I mean no surprise there. Remind me, what kind of set up are you on? (boots, bindings, skis). I have no real opposition with subbing a run a week with uphill skiing, even in the heart of Canyons training. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
50 | Sat | 12 | 90 min medium length run w/ 2X2 miles picked up to approx 5:50 pace taking 1/2 mile easy jog between, done in the later part of the run | You might still be tired from that hill climb WO. Make sure to use the first half or more of this run as a recovery paced effort. If you get into the run and feel pretty tired at least try the pick up portion, do the first two miles, and if 5:50 pace feels like it's super laborioius then I think we should bag the second 2 mile rep. | 90 | 93 | 13.12 | 184 | 7 | 153 | 9 | See comments on Strava. I definitely didn't run this correctly and got greedy and didn't really hold pace in the 2nd miles of either rep and also needed extra rest. But I was feeling so dang good heading into the run, slept well the night before and thought I could get away with pushing the envelope again. I didn't feel a crazy amount of fatigue after Thursday, and I think the keys were two really good nighs of sleep, a lot of eating, and a lot of dynamic stretching. Also, skiing instead of jogging yesterday. I will certainly be fatigued for the long run tomorrow, but I'm excited for it and I'll focus on recovering well today and sleeping well tonight. | GAPs on this one were 5:18-5:26. Defnitely hot, and I get the enthusiasm. I imagine had you done these pick ups later in the run it would have felt a bit different and been easier to go a bit slower, but hey you are without a doubt on a next level roll right now. I am not trying to get in the way of that, I merely need to be here in order to help you not fly too close to the sun on this odessey. I did like that after the 2x2 mile you get your HR back down to approx 150 and kept it there with pace in the mid/high 7s, pretty good considering the fatigue the workout should have induced. | ||||||||||||||||||||
51 | Sun | 13 | 180 min easy paced long run | No pace work this week in the long run. This whole thing should be done at an effort you could maintain all day and be happy to do it. Let's get a good amount of climbing in, 4,000-5,000+ ft. Let's make sure to eat a lot consistently throughout the run. | 180 | 180 | 16 | 4157 | 5 | 127 | 7 | The run started off hot for me - in the sense that the pace was definitely not in the "easy" zone for me, probably closer to moderate. And after not following the protocol yesterday, I was extra sensitive to holding to it today. After the first couple of miles, I dedcided to fall back and strongly encouraged the group to keep going at their current pace. They were cool with where I wanted to be and we proceeded. I felt like the rest was an effort I could have sustained for 100k - 100 miles. That's what I'm calling "easy" these days. I'm just at the point in my running career where I don't have the energy to pretend otherwise. Other than that, we were on interesting terrain all day. If it wasn't steep and unstable, it was postholey snow or rutted out trail. I've been on roads a lot recently and definitely feel extremely strong aerobically, but I'm missing some of the strength I feelt from being in the foothills/mountains often. I will start transitioning this coming week. | This looked like a freaking sweet run. Had you never done this route before? And if not, why? I mean I can see that the trails getting into and out of City Creek were steep as hell but still, such a cool looking loop, 4,100ft gain in 16m. Definitely very strong canyons training from a vert perspective. Pace was on point as well for an easy paced long run effort. I think this timing is not bad at all. We have lots of weeks ahead to accumulate more vertical and specific time in tougher terrain. Your mechanical and strength components of your fitness will catch up to the aerobic fitness you've been able to build thus far. Honestly that point where you tell the group you are going to drop back and they slow down to hang with you, probably benefits most if not everyone in the group, unless perhaps they were planning to use this session as one of their harder WO efforts. | ||||||||||||||||||||
52 | Feb 2022 | Total Week 6 | 585 | 551 | 63.72 | 6728 | 135.8 | 7.583333333 | 140 | Feeling great! 2 workouts in the books + a relatively verty long run. Energy and legs good. If you count the days on my skis, I went over 10K climbing as well. As I mentioned on the Sunday log, I am looking forward to get onto trails more often this coming week, especially for the workout. | Yup, kind of like we talked about at the start of this training block, the idea was that we'd start out less specific, running mostly faster road based WOs, running less vert overall and less significant long runs, and we'll move towards some more specific work as we get into the meat of the training block.I think it'll work quite well. 10k vert at this juncture is great in my book. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
53 | Mon | 14 | 45-55 min shake out jog | 50 | 40 | 5.03 | 62 | 3 | 141 | 7 | 30 | Nice day, cut run just a little bit short because I knew I would be getting some additional time on feet via skiing. All systems feeling fine. | Good start to the week, easy 8 min pace road run and a bit of climbing on the skis. Hard to beat that kind of Monday. Here's to a great BIG week ahead. | ||||||||||||||||||||
54 | Tue | 15 | 100 min easy paced medium length run (can be a double) + 8X12 sec strong, controlled uphill strides w/ 1 min recovery | This week we up the ante in terms of volume and in the vertical gain realm with hillier long run and WO. For these medium length runs you can double if that works for your schedule. I do think this day in particular a double could be warranted rather than a stright 100 min run. | 100 | 117 | 13.57 | 1234 | 5 | 137 | 6.5 | Recouped a little of what I didn't run yesterday. Did not intentionally go this far past the allotted time, I just didn't realize the route would take this long to complete. Did the strides at perceived strong + controlled effort, felt good. Yeah, again nothing much to report just all things feeling good. I do have to watch sleep these next couple of days, the last couple have not been optimal. | The run might have been a bit on the long side, but not crazily so. And the effort/pace was just right. I am sure this run will do you no harm in terms of your runs/efforts later in the week. | ||||||||||||||||||||
55 | Wed | 16 | 45 min recovery run | 45 | 47 | 5.02 | 587 | 4 | 129 | 5 | Not good sleep last night due to an extremely early wake up (drop off at airport) and I knew I would be progressively fatigued and sleepy as the day moved on, so I got this done in the morning. I will sleep well tonight and be ready for the workout tomorrow. Nice to see this classic T&T downhill into uphill workouts back on the menu. I will be suffering nicely for sure | Ya, low sleep accumulated over a number of days is something that can get you run down, something that can lead to sickness, run/workout results being less than what You expected, OR it could be totally fine. A few low sleep days isn't terrible either. It really seems to depend so much on the individual. I'll be looking forward to seeing how your first down/up of the season comes out. | |||||||||||||||||||||
56 | Thu | 17 | 25 min w/u, drills,3x15 sec strides, 4 sets of ( 4 min downhill tempo direclty into 6 min uphill tempo taking 3 min recovery jog between sets) 20+ min c/d | I don't load people up with these down/up tempos every week, usually just a coiuple times within a block when training for a long/hilly race Being able to produce power after demanding descents is one of the toughest part of most long ultras. I contend that with these focused interval efforts we can make headway in this department for mile 45 of a 100k race. You want to run these on trail with gradient in the 400--600ft per mile range. Not crazy steep. Run the downs at strong but controlled effort, and then climb pushing fairly hard, knowing that you might feel like crap, and that is a big part of the point. | 100 | 96 | 11.89 | 1791 | 7 | 144 | 7 | This was the best I have felt in a workout to date. I know the data shows me getting a little slower on the last two reps, but a couple factors were impeding. We started at dusk, and those last 2 reps were in the pitch dark and we were running over post-holy snow so each step became more of a guess at which spot was the most efficient to strike and move forward. Similarly, the downhills became more cautious to avoid falls. I missed about 2.5 minutes of the 3rd downhill rep because I was in the bathroom (timed a late lunch poorly) and honestly was working double duty in those last 2 uphill and downhill reps to prevent myself from shitting myself. All those excuses are meant to convey that my legs and lungs felt extremely good and benefitting from the previous month's work and I don't think they were fully exhbited due to those factors. Nice to finally be back on trails too. We have some more winter coming, but I'm gonna try to be more surface-specific from here on out. | Dude, this went extremely well. I am not even going to give it any downgraded marks at all. These kinds of down/up WOs are pretty much always run with a bit slower GAP on the later climbs. Its' kind of the nature of the beast. Even if there were not extra factors like the dark and snow this would still have been a really freaking good WO. Your GAP was very similar through all reps on climbs 5:39-49. Very strong in those conditions even if we hadn't done any fast downhill reps beforehand. But of course we did. I'd like to do 2 more WOs of this variety before Canyons. | ||||||||||||||||||||
57 | Fri | 18 | 45 min recovery jog | 45 | 75 | 7.23 | 1161 | 4 | 155 | 5 | Went way over the prescribed time, but I was meeting for a group run, it was on soft surface, and we went slow and I walke away from the run feeling more recovered and loosened up than I was heading in. Ready to tackle the weekend. And again, ready to be more surface specific. HR high here for reasons I'm not sure. Maybe because I didn't sleep well last night? I didn't feel it on the run though. | HR numbers are in accurate on this run almost 100% fors sure. They go up when you are on the downhill and not running fast. You can see it's tracking incorrrectly the whole time. Not a big deal. Ya this run was a fine recovery effort for you, no matter the extra time. | |||||||||||||||||||||
58 | Sat | 19 | 120 min medium long run | 120 | 121 | 12.14 | 1949 | 4 | 140 | 10.5 | Big sleep last night. Felt good. Trails terrible, but it was a beautfiul day out and I was fine just trudging through. The pace/effort was low enough that I felt like I hadn't really just spent 2 hours time on feet. | Run went great today, I am thinking likely some snow along the route eh? Even if not, it was a very good easy effort. Biggest LR of the year tomorrow! | |||||||||||||||||||||
59 | Sun | 20 | 210 min easy paced long trail run w/ approx 5,000-6,000ft gain/loss and at least 2-3 distinct climbs | No pace work this week. it's our longest run of the block by time, and by a fair margin. Let's keep this all easy and sustainable. Focus on fueling and maintaining an even keeled mindet. Try to get in at least 3+ distinct climbs/descents. l know with snow on the trails it might be hard to rack up 5k+ vert in a nice fashion, so don't stress it too hard if the conditions just don't allow. The run duration and effort are more important than forcing specific terrain chioces if they just aren't there. | 210 | 214 | 22.02 | 4035 | 5 | 143 | 8 | Despite the low-snow year overall here in the Wasatch, it's been a pretty terrible trail condition winter. At least the worst I can remember in my time here. Today was not quite as bad as yesterday, but bad enough to make this run feel more taxing than the GAP would indicate. Other than that, I felt great. Aerobically, I felt like this was a 100K effort, maybe even a 100 mile effort, and I feel like each LR of the training time together so far, I have been honestly assessing where that is and what it feels like. We did not get to 5K of climbing, but we got one fairly big climb in there plus a bunch of 200-500 ft climbs. It was enough of a constant change in profile that we were never catching a rythm (in a good way) and getting used to pushing through the frequent climbs and descents. Stomach was a non-issue. Tested out fully liquid-based calories this run (2 320 calorie Maurten packs mixed with water). I felt satisified calorically but the mix was a little too syrupy and my thirst didn't feel quenched, which was interesting. Good nutrition learning experience. | Yup, if you can get out and finish a 3.5 hour long run feeling pretty damn good at the end, feeling like you could easily keep cruising for quite some time, it's a good sign this run was done in the right way. I know that in the Wasatch trail conditions in the winter are anything but good/;predictable. Mud, snow, ice. I think you've struck a good balance so far not always running through this kind of stuff, but not shying away from it either. Personally I relate to your not loving the liquid only calories. If I am going to have liquid cals on a run/race I also have water. I can't just do luquid. I mean I can, but like you said, it does not "quench". there is probably something to this, your sub concious mind is asking for regular water. | ||||||||||||||||||||
60 | Feb 2022 | Total Week 7 | 670 | 710 | 76.9 | 10819 | 141.2857143 | 7 | 30 | Biggest week of the training so far? For all the complaining I did about the trail conditions these past 3-4 days, on the positive side, they made things low impact and that's part of why I would say I'm feeling great right now. Will definitely be feeling it Monday and Tuesday in the stabilizer muscles, but 11-12 hours weekly time on feet feels good and manageable right now. I know we are still a relative ways out from Canyons, so we aren't trying to overdo anything right now, which I respect. Just saying it to acknowledge that I'm ready to absorb another big one next week. | Love to hear this Finn. Ya, I know you aren't being fully "taxed" with training. and that is a good thing. The purpose of training is to make you better. Not to see "how much you can handle" or to see "how tough you can be". I mean you will be challenged, and no doubt some of the WOs have challenged you thus far. But our goal is to have you as well trained as possible for canyons while at the same time being hungry AF and as fresh as possible, looking to strike that sweet spot. the first truly long run coming your way next weekend. Hope you can find some reasonably find conditions for it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
61 | Mon | 21 | 30 min recovery jog | 30 | 180 | Such a bummer. You know the details (text). Intercostal muscle injury suffered today on an otherwise leisurely resort ski session at Snow Basin. Basically, for the people that have been following this training log, I suffered blunt force trauma to the upper left ribs/intercostal muscles after clipping a gate, ejecting out of my skis, landing against the handle of my polls and a rock. Knocked the wind out of me and then after adrenaline subsided, the extent of the injury was realized. I cannot currently engage any of this area of my body without feeling a dull, heavy pain. X rays negative for broken ribs. Just need to wait this out with rest, it appears. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
62 | Tue | 22 | 90 min uphill ski @ easy effort (injured ribs) | Uphill skiing in place of easy runs Tues/Wed. aiming for same time @ easy aerobic intensity on climbs as if you were running. Taking the downhills pretty cautiously | 90 | Took today totally off (this was the day I got x rays). I felt better as the day went on and got optimistic that it would subside. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
63 | Wed | 23 | 60-75 min uphill ski @ easy effort | 60 | 3000 | 60 | Went uphill skiing at PCMR this evening. During the session, felt great. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
64 | Thu | 24 | 25 min w/u, drills, 3x15 sec strides, 4 mile flat (or flatish) tempo @ 5:40 pace, 3 min jog, followed by 4 sets of (3 min uphill/downhill intervals starting/ending in same spot, taking 2.5 min jog recovery between sets), 20+ min c/d | I know, this is a little complicated. We want to run a smooth 4 mile tempo @ approx marathon pace. I am going to call that 5:40 for now. You'll finish that, take a short rest and be in position at the base of a hill which you can do a 3 min hard climb on. You climb hard for 3 min and then descend back to the same start point continuing to push at a pretty fast pace, not all out sprints on the downhill, just honest focused effort. | 90 | 1500 | 30 | Woke up today feeling like I had regressed and assume it was due to the skiing motion the night prior, specifically my use of pole planting on the uphills. Still, was feeling antsy so I gave a lap a try. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
65 | Fri | 25 | 45 min recovery run | 45 | Woke up feeling the same as yesterday - not good. Girlfriend (and you) talked me out of further exercise | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
66 | Sat | 26 | 90 min all easy paced run | 90 | Still very upbeat and optimistic. I know this is a temporary thing. I will rest, I will get better and we will resume. Still plenty of time to do quality work in this training block. | I will text you to discuss next moves, etc. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
67 | Sun | 27 | 300 min easy paced long trail run w/ first 3.5 hours at very easy pace, final 1.5 hours @ percieved 100k race pace | I think this is going to be a tricky proposition. In an ideal world your avg pace for a trail 100k is faster than your pace on a normal easy run (on the same terrain). Often this is not what happens for people in reality, we end up running our regular runs as fast or faster than we do in a 100k race on avg, most often due to blowing up in the 100k. Anyhow, today the goal is to run the first 3.5 hours quite easily, think GAP of 8:30 pace on trails, very comfortable, fueling consistently, then for the 100k pace portion I think the ideal zone is approx 1 min per mile faster on a grade adjusted basis. It's not like getting shot out of a cannon. It's more like turning on the burner and slowly boiling the frog. This is not a run about seeing how hard you can push, but about how smooth and intentional you can be. | 300 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
68 | Feb 2022 | Total Week 8 | 705 | 0 | 0 | 4500 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | 270 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
69 | Mon | 28 | TBD for this coming week, depends on rib status | Ok, Right now we just have to be smart and do the things that it's gonna take to get you back running/training healthy. We don't know how long this will take, but I do believe it'll happen with time to spare. Keep the faith. I'll send you a text here to get on the same page going forward this week | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
70 | Tue | 1 | 45-55 minutes recovery paced jog | Doing our best to find that sweet spot where training is building positive adaptations, where you feel challenged, and where the risk factors are also in line with our goals of getting you to the start line healthy and ready for the best 100k race (or any race) of your life. | 50 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
71 | Wed | 2 | 60-75 minues eady paced run + 3x15 sec strides | After a 5 hour mountain run last Sunday I am going to do my best to make sure we don't begin this next block of training too fatigued for it to benefit you. Keeping things fairly short and very relaxed to star this week. . | 70 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
72 | Thu | 3 | 45-55 min recovery paced run | 50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
73 | Fri | 4 | 20 min w/u, drills, 3x15 sec strides, 8x1 mile flat reps @ 5:30 pace taking 1 min jog recovery between, 30 min long c/d | Ok, back to the good stuff. Let me get into this one. I know that you are most certainly capable of running these reps @ 5:20 pace or maybe faster, BUT, I don't want this to be an all out effort, or even that close to all out. I want it to be purely productive in terms of building your fitness at lactate threshold. It's possible you'll be able to crank down and work towards 5:20 pace on this, but I'd like to see you starting @ 5:30 pace for the first few reps at least. The 1 min rests will catch up to you fast if you go out too hard. You've been warned! | 105 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
74 | Sat | 5 | 60 min recovery paced run | Things will certainly be adjusted and changed compared to this original plan once we begin running again | 60 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
75 | Sun | 6 | 120 min easy paced long run w/ 2X10 min picked up to perceived 50k race pace taking 5+ min recovery between | A simple "short" long run this weekend. It's funny, if you weren't al ultra runner a 2 hour run would not be short. BUT, if you run an easy enough pace, keep fueled and execute the 50k pace pick ups well, it'll feel like a fairly restful weekend. The pick ups here can be done on rolling terrain. They don't have to be done all uphill. Keep it smooth and honest in terms of 50k pace. | 120 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
76 | Mar 2022 | Total Week 9 | 455 | 0 | 0 | 0 | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
77 | Mon | 7 | 35 min easy paced run + 1,500ft vert on skis in pm | Still corresponding. But I think that this would be about the right way to start for the first couple of days assuming you can skin uphill with no issues. I want running to be real gradaul the first 2-3 days so we can make sure that it's not going to be likely to cause you any sort of setback. | 35 | 37 | 4.53 | 52 | 4 | 140 | Got a couple of strides in too to see how faster paces felt - awkward, but no increase in pain. Great to be back. Thanks to you for the coaching call, my partner for the 5 straight days of massage therapy, and my PT for all the realignent etc | Well things are really starting to come back here. Seeing your first run was just a terrific sight. no pain, simple and smooth. Looking forward to getting you back to a 0/10 pain on this rib. But even if that doens't happen right away, it does indeed appear that you are back! | |||||||||||||||||||||
78 | Tue | 8 | 50-60 min easy paced run | 55 | 66 | 7.49 | 348 | 3 | 132 | Almost twice as long as yesterday, same pace. Same 2/10 pain as yesterday. I think it will hang around for at least a couple of days. Will be ready to roll regardless in tomorrow's workout. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
79 | Wed | 9 | 50-60 min easy paced run w/ 2X3 min pick ups to approx 5:45-6:00 pace taking 3 min easy between | Yup, that does say 2x3 minutes, not miles. Very short, testing what a bit of pace does to you without trying to do too much just yet. | 55 | 47 | 6.15 | 69 | 6 | 144 | Took a few minutes off this one cause I went longer than expected yesterday. Reps felt fine physically. Aerobically, some catch up to do. Thoroughly warmed up and did strides. Paused the watch to do drills and dynamic stretches beforehand too. Feeling ready to work hard these next few weeks. Ribs are about 1/10 right now. Barely notice it at this point. | I don't think we'll have much trouble bringing your aerobic system back up to speed here. the layoff from training really was not that long. With consistency, a few tougher WOs, and staying healthy it'll be no problem at all. the key is just remembering that we aren't trying to have you back where you were overnight. We gotta get there over the course of the next few weeks. We don't want to try and force is and have your body not be able to respond and adapt positively. I am SO pumped to see you back and able to train. | |||||||||||||||||||||
80 | Thu | 10 | 45 min recovery run OR Uphill Skiiing | I do want to give you the option to ski tour on a recovery day now and then. It's not mandatory, and if running is feeling good and you are locked in there it's not like you need to drive over there, but you totally can from my perspective. | 45 | 50 | 6.26 | 52 | 4 | 143 | Actually a little sore (legs, not ribs) after yesterday's faster paces. Ha! Also, time to get on trails. These road runs are not cutting it for my imagination or for the sake of specificity as we inch closer to race day. Saturday I see flat so maybe Millcreek pipeline there. Will make concerted effort for the next 3 days to be on trail. Oh and I am doing a community skimo lap on Friday, hope thats OK. Will be easy paced. | Skimo on Fri should be fine. And no problem on the trails. I do think the one pifall might be cranking up the vert totals too quickly, and then just having issues with being sore/beat up when we want to keep volume increasing. I guess that is the part about flat for Sat, trying to make sure we are somewhat gradually increasing the vertical gain numbers since we have had a few week lay off. | |||||||||||||||||||||
81 | Fri | 11 | 75-90 min easy paced trail run | I am anticipating this may be your first run back on trails/terrain. I am guessing it'll be just fine based on how things have gone so far, but let's just test it out and see. | 80 | 66 | 6.72 | 3042 | 4 | 132 | 60 | Just counting the uphill time on the cross training section and adding the vert from it to the actual vertical section as well. The trails are in not good shape right now, but I made the effort any way to get on them. Took just a little time off to account for planned skimo in the evening. Everything felt great, felt like I haven't lost much on all-day climbing pace. | All day climbing pace is an asset we want in particular in our canyons prep. I agree, it makes sense that you would not have lost too much on this front in the lay off you had to take. | ||||||||||||||||||||
82 | Sat | 12 | 45-60 min recovery paced run (flat ground preferably) | Like we talked about, I do want to push you as you come back, but not so much that we risk having "other" problems from running too much after a few week lay off. Patience this week will improve the odds that the next 4 big weeks to follow go well. | 50 | 65 | 5.92 | 2290 | 4 | 136 | 8.5 | 45 | Overlooked the flat ground preference by mistake and did this one on trails too. 50 degrees and warming at the start of the run and everything was melting out and getting muddy, so this inadvertently turned into a power-through strength run and I would say the effort was higher than the pace as a result. Capped off the day with another lap at PCMR. Everything feeling really good. Sleeping really well - we've made a household decision to try and sleep at least 8 hours a night and to start reading about 2 hours before to begin the comedown from the day. It's made a huge difference. Here's to the hard-to-excute but high-leverage simple things that go a long way. No phone has restored a significant amount of attention span as well, it seems. | You are making me want to get rid of the smart phone. Maybe I will. I know the typcical exuse is that "I need it for work" which does feel true at times, BUT I could change how I work and it would not be a bad thing I don't think. Definitely consdiering the move as I draw inspiration from you. I strongly believe these changes you are talking about here can make as big of a difference in your life and even in your running as all the training put together. It's like "sleep/rest doping". It's free and it's legal, and it works. Run looked great today, controlled effort in the slop bucket conditions. I have no problem with your current PCMR skinning program either. We'll see how things look on that front next week as the running volume goes up. | |||||||||||||||||||
83 | Sun | 13 | 120 min easy paced trail run w/ 20 min uphill "tempo" effort pick up mid run | A true long run here now, ya it's not "BIG" but I would never sneeze at a 2 hour run. Keep it smooth, rejoice in your ability to return to the trails, and then for the uphill tempo portion, don't try to do anything revolutionary. simple, strong and controlled, giving your aerobic system a late long run stimulus, but not like in a way that you are "making up for lost time". No home runs. Have fun, and if all goes accorind to plan next week will get more interesting. | 120 | 101 | 13.5 | 830 | 6 | 151 | 8 | 60 | I just made one mistake for this run and that was eating a fairly big breakfast too close to it - about 700 calories 90 minutes before and that created a jostling in my stomach that caused cramps, etc. I broke the 20 minute tempo into 5 minute reps because that's about what the stomach could tolerate. Each of them was on an incline and otherwise felt good - legs felt good. Cut it a bit short because I thought I was going to get a PCMR uphill lap in the evening. Did end up skiing for 90 minutes, but it was resort (Deer Valley). | Oh hell ya Finn! I see those 5 min tempo reps, guessing the snow was sitting down there pretty low, or you just called an audible based on how you were feeling, EITHER WAY this WO was SO good. Your climbing speed is basically back to where it was pre injury. Maybe still la half step off, but not far at all. Fitness coming back in earnest. I am stoked. | |||||||||||||||||||
84 | Mar 2022 | Total Week 10 | 440 | 432 | 50.57 | 6683 | 139.7142857 | 8.25 | 165 | Overall, happy with the week. Got some workout paces in, ran every day. Feel like I needed that and I'm ready to hit it hard. | yes, this week was indeed very good. I think the fact that we hit 7 hours (and not way more) was the right move. It would have been easy to try and dive right into the deep end, particularly since your injury was not a running injury. But this more gradual approach is going to lend itself to much higher odds for success in being able to build up and run higher volume from now until race day without let up | ||||||||||||||||||||||
85 | Mon | 14 | 55 min recovery paced run OR easy effort uphill skiing | 55 | 62 | 6.02 | 883 | 4 | 133 | 8 | On trails. Conditions not great, but they were fun and engaging. Everything feeling fine. I think this is going to be a good week. | Did Laz say he would do a podcast with you? I actually don't know that I've seen him on one before, but that doesn't mean they aren't out there. You should definitely do it if he'll come on. I think with the way you prepare for your shows it would end up being really good, | |||||||||||||||||||||
86 | Tue | 15 | 100 min easy paced run (or double) + 10X30 sec tempo effort pick ups taking only 30 sec rest between | Here we go. This week WILL feel like full scale training, and if all goes well we'll just keep pushing through to the taper, for the most part. Taht long of a push will take some concerted efforts to hold back on a regular basis. Basically every light green colored run should be exceedingly easy effort. Tempo pick ups akin to 5:20 pace, not 4:50 pace smashing. | 100 | 108 | 12.6 | 1457 | 5 | 142 | 8 | Another day making a concerted effort to get on trails (at least somewhat). The first 6 ish miles were almost entirely on the BST/associated trails. They are not in good condition, but it was great to get a good sustained climb in and to feel the stabilizer muscles working. Just after hopping off trail, I found a slight incline section of road and did the 30 second strides there. It wasn't quite 30/30, more like 30/45 because I was going back to the same starting point to not have to think about where I would end up. After that, it was a 5 mile jog back to the house. Overall, everything is feeling fantastic. I have been doing a lot more standing on a balance board at work during the day + doing about 10 minutes of dynamic warmup before each run and that makes me feel a lot less sore/stale heading into runs - the legs are pretty much ready to go, it's not a shock to the system as the only real movement of the day. Also, sleeping very well. I attribute this to reading at least 1 hour before bed, but sometimes longer. No screen stimulation. Overall, good solid daily best practices are in effect and it's making everything feel seamless. | I think these new habits, particularly the sleep/no screens before bed, are going to go a LONG way to helping you be able to handle the load and to get more out of it. The run today looked really good honestly, very smooth, 30 sec open it up a bit type intervals were very nice, all around 5:00 GAP. Smooth and a good omen for your running mechanics going foward. | ||||||||||||||||||||
87 | Wed | 16 | 65 min recovery effort run | 65 | 73 | 8.11 | 673 | 4 | 138 | 7.5 | First 3.5 miles on trail, rest on the road. I have actually been without a car the last 4 months (lifestyle choice), so my girlfriend often drops me off at TH's and I run home from there. I On a side note - it's kinda nice. Definitely couldn't pull it off if I didn't have the easy trail access that SLC offers. Run thoughts - actually felt a little sluggish today, but psychologically upbeat. I will be ready for the workout tomorrow after a good dinner, some good sleep, and dynamic warm ups throughout the day tomorrow. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
88 | Thu | 17 | 20 min w/u, drills, 3 x15 sec strides, 7X6 min uphill tempos taking 1.5 min downhill jog recovery between reps, 20+ min c/d | Uphill tempo work is truly commencing now. We'll do some flat running in WOs still, but not too much. Here today the focus needs to be to get callibrated and run the first rep well controlled. One goal I have for you here is that you NOT make your first rep your fastest. Any rep other than rep 1 is fine with me. The rest is short, which will be the toughest part of this session I think, it'll force the issue on not "racing" each rep. Think of the set as a whole and try to come out with the best cummulative performance. | 90 | 49 | 5.96 | 131 | 3 | 141 | 8 | Did a shakeout run instead of the workout because I just planned the day poorly from an eating standpoint, had a late lunch and by the time it was time to workout around 5pm, I was feeling pretty bloated, etc. Definitely felt it on the run, so just spinning the legs felt like a win. | |||||||||||||||||||||
89 | Fri | 18 | Off/recovery day | 84 | 12.33 | 1169 | 7 | 154 | 8 | Slept well last night, determined to wake up early this morning to make it my #1 thing. Got it done, but in a modified way. On the 6th rep, I hit a snow wall on the City Creek road about 3.5 miles up. It is a road, but there is so much tree cover I forgot that after a certain distance there isn't much sunlight and it can hang around. Plus, they stop plowing beyond that point. To illustrate, I would have had to hurdle up about 18 inches to get on the snowy surface from the road and push through it. I suppose I could have transitioned to effort based there but opted instead to flip it and do the rest downhill. In the moment, for each of the uphill reps, I felt like I was maintaining an even effort and doing the best I could to adapt to the mostly uphill but sometimes sort of flat and rolling terrain. Looking at the number, it does appear as though my GAP slipped by about 10 seconds. But I did feel as good as I possibly could have there, ready to tackle the remaining reps. On the downhill portion, I tried to run at a pace that mirrored (what I thought) was the GAP on the uphill reps. ( I assumed it was about 5:30 GAP in the moment. Overall, happy with the time put in. I wasn't ripping off 430s or anything and the downhill felt modest (tried to negative split each mile), so I think I will be able to bounce back not too slowly from the ground and pound and be ready for the Sunday LR. Sleeping very well lately. Also, looking at the work even just in the next 2 weeks, I am very confident we will be able to do everything we need to do to be in shape for race day. | Ya, I think you made the right call to flip it and not try for any sort of tempo running through deep snow. I mean you could go effort based, but you would have just been postholing and sliding around. Your GAP was dialed, in the kind of zone that I think truly provides you with the best cost/benefit on this WO right now, mostly in the 5:40 range. That "slip" on the GAP is not massive at all. And then ya, I know you love to rolling 5:00 pace on gradually downhill, very smooth. One thing worth noting, at least based on the numbers on Strava, your HR was a good amount higher on the downhill (170ish compared to more like low 160s for the 6 min climbs). I think we'll see your strength endurance improving over the coming weeks and you'll be able to tap into higher levels aerobically on climbs again. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
90 | Sat | 19 | 60 min easy paced run + 4X12 sec uphill strides | 60 | Took today off because I ran Thursday and did the workout Friday. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
91 | Sun | 20 | 240 min easy paced long trail run w/ 45 min picked up to "perceived 100k race effort" during the final 75 min of the run | This run will be done roughly two weeks after your return to running from your skiing injury. AND it will be the longest of the training cycle still. MAKE SURE you keep the first 1.5-2 hours very well controlled. Hike or slow jog as needed. Let the other guys go if needed. No heros in the first two hours. What I would like to see is that you are able to put out 1+ min (GAP) faster running during the 45 min pace pick up compared to your easy paced running prior to it. Often 100k race pace can be akin to your normal "easy" day pace, BUT I do think in a pervect world your 100k pace should still be faster than your truly easy paced running | 240 | 234 | 24.01 | 4140 | 6 | 137 | 7 | Well, on paper these were what I think are my easy and 100k paces, but if I am being honest, today felt harder than it should have. Hamstrings and hips were already feeling tired 150 minutes in, despite the easy paces. I'm not exactly sure why, but maybe I'll chalk it up to the first long run in a while and yes definitely the longest one of this block so far. Each successive climb did get progressively faster. The first one I'm guessing around 8:40 GAP, the 2nd one around 8:15 GAP, and then the 3rd one around 7:45 GAP. I did intentionally pick that one up and felt aerobically great. I'm not sure if 7:45 GAP is my true 100k pace right now but it was about a minute faster than what I started out with. I hit the top of that 3rd climb about 30 minutes into the 45 minutes at 100K pace. By the time, the rain and snow were flying (bad weather day here in the Wasatch) and the trails were rough (first 2 hours were fine). It was a struggle for me to go much faster than I was and man, I was caking mud for the next 30 minutes until I got onto the road in the last 2 miles. Stomach held up for the duration - no issues there. I probably under-fueled a little bit. Took about 750 calories. Probably should have done about 1,000. Glad to have gotten through this - I feel mentally stronger for it. Despite what I said earlier about the legs not quite feeling strong enough for this amount of time on feet, everything feels fine and functional. Looking forward to a shakeout jog tomorrow. | It does sound to me like the conditions were giving you some grief for sure at the end of this run. that is the way it goes when you are training in the mountains though isn't it!? I thought this run was quite well executed. And I do think your assesment of your pacing is probably not far off. It's an intersting question of how to find your 100k trail race pace. When you look at GAP numbers from last years race I think it's helpful. for instance, max ran 9:24 and strava gave him an AVG GAP of 7:30. Cole ran 9:42 and he got an AVG GAP of 7:48. Of course there are lots of variables not factored into that, but I think considering the averages can be helpful. Of course when you look at guys races they are running GAPs in the mid 6s for much of the first 20+ miles and then later on they are only in the 8-9+ GAP range. Thiough when you look at Max's he was more even (and had a really good race). I think this run went well, indeed it was fhe first really long run in a while. You executed and came out the other side in one piece. Can't ask for more than that. | ||||||||||||||||||||
92 | Mar 2022 | Total Week 11 | 610 | 610 | 69.03 | 8453 | 140.8333333 | 7.75 | 0 | Alright, 2 weeks in a row of good consistency. I'm feeling up beat and highly motivated and driven to nail these next 2 weeks. Excited in particular to experiment with the double workout on Thursday and double long run on Sunday. | I am really excited too. You are healthy and ready to go. This week will be a fun one, different, Experimental. It'll take patiences, thoughness and resolve all in nice proportion | ||||||||||||||||||||||
93 | Mon | 21 | 35-45 min shake out jog | 40 | 39 | 4.16 | 43 | 2 | 128 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
94 | Tue | 22 | 90 min medium length run + 1.5 miles (flat ground) picked up to approx 5:45 pace (or similar effort if on singlet track) | This run should not feel like a full blown WO effort. It'll help you to open up and to run faster for approx 10 minutes, ideally making you feel better than you did before it. Since we are doing so much uphill work I want to have you run faster on flat ground in short suprts with some regularity. | 90 | 82 | 10.4 | 174 | 5 | 144 | 7 | Looked like you were able to get the pace down pretty quick here. Feeling "clunky" which is honestly something I do think happens when people get into more long run centric vert heavy training periods. Aerobically you are able to still run pretty well on flat ground, but it doesn't feel as smooth as when you are regularly busting out faster flat sessions. Still, this was plenty fast on this short pick up, GAP numbers averaged to 5:33 pace. | |||||||||||||||||||||
95 | Wed | 23 | 65 min recovery paced run | 65 | 56 | 6.11 | 49 | 2 | 127 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
96 | Thu | 24 | AM: 20 min wu, drills, 3x15 sec strides, 4X8 min uphill tempos taking 2.5 min downhill recovery jog between reps, 20+ min c/d PM: 15 min w/u, drills, 12X1 min @ 5:20 pace taking 30 sec jog recovery between reps, 15 min c/d | Today I am indeed bringing back this double day WO session. It's a big day, with over 2 hours of total running, and two faster sessions in the same day. the AM session is another uphill tempo, similar volume, and longer reps. I gave a bit more recovery on these just to try and hedge bets for a successful big day. Aim for approx 5:30-40 pace type effort on the uphill tempos. Well controlled, focused, but not racing. Then with at least 8 hours between sessions, we'll come back in the evening for a shorter interval WO. This again needs to be well controlled to be successful. Use (lap avg pace) on your watch to help with the interval pacing if needed. 5:20 pace should not feel terribly hard for 1 min reps, but it'll wear on you with only 30 sec rest at the end of a long day. Don't look at this and think "that should be easy". I think it'll get hard 40-50% of the way through. | 140 | 139 | 18.84 | 1092 | 7 | I realized after the morning workout that it was supposed to be 3x8 not 4x8 (you'll see in the workout I actually started a 4th rep but stopped because I was overthinking it). I then looked at the workout after the fact and just tacked that rep onto the second workout of the day. Yeah, everything felt pretty good. I did both of them on roads - probably not ideal, but we've had a weird late winter here and the trail surfaces just haven't been that great. I think one thing I will improve on next time is widening the time between the workouts/runs. Like at least 8 hours. I think the in between time here was more like 6 hours and same for the double I did on Sunday. | Approx 5:30 GAP avg on the hill tempos. Approx 5:25 avg pace during the afternoon session. I am so pumped on the efforts you were able to put out today. You basically aced this double WO day, getting in over 40 minutes of VERY high quality work. Ya, you maybe could have done it in a single session, but this gave us I think likely a bit more quality/higher intensity on the average and in the case of terrain it allowed you to do both an uphill session and a flat session in the same day. We can look at these sessions like they are one, and so overall you get a bit more total volume during the week at these intensities without having to take fewer recovery oriented days. I'll be really intersted to hear your take on this double day session, how it felt, how you feel the day after, etc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
97 | Fri | 25 | 35-55 min recovery run | 45 | 55 | 5.02 | 62 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
98 | Sat | 26 | 70 min easy paced run + 4x15 sec uphill strides | 70 | 57 | 6.26 | 1142 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
99 | Sun | 27 | AM: 150 min easy paced run trails PM: 90 min medium long run w/ 30 minutes picked up to approx 6:00 pace (perceived effort) done during the second half of the run, mostly not downhill | two days of very easy running/recovery effort between BIG days. That is a theme we'll continue on with in general. Today is 4 hours of total running, but with a break during the middle of the day we should be able to likely get a bit more quality running out of today compared to simply running 4 hours continuous. Still, avoid truly hard running during the 2.5 hour morning session. rack up some vert and you can run at a bit more moderate easy pace if you like. Try to take at least 5-6 hours rest between runs. Take in significant calories (though try to choose things your GI system is likely to handle well). Then in the evening get back on trails. Take the first 45 min very easy, relaxed, warming up, THEN you get to let loose, opening up for a harder effort push of 30 minutes after over 3 hours of running already being done during the day. You may be tired, BUT once you ask your body to put out the higher intensity I do expect you'll be able to repsond as long as you have been calculated with the preceding miles. | 240 | 234 | 27.5 | 2234 | First run felt great - like I had plenty to give for round 2. In between, I execute almost perfectly. Ate about 1 hour after the run - about 1,200 calories in total - and then proceeded to nap for 3 hours. Woke up an hour before and think I made a mistake - may not have hydrated quite enough but also ate some empty calories (processed sugary cereal) that really made my stomach feel like shit throughout the second run. I tried to get the workout portion in at various times - and the legs felt ready for it - but my stomach was sloshing and cramping and so I really struggled to get things going - maybe in total I did about 7 minutes of intensity instead of the prescribed. I do like the double long day format - overall, it forced me to think about all the right routines in between runs (stretching, resting, eating etc) and I do think the rest helped to make 4 total hours feel good. As I write this on Monday morning, I feel much less sore than I did after the 4 hours in one go last weekend. | Hard to ask for things to be going much better this week. So far what I see is both of your back to back run days went as good or better than expected. I guess I have not seen your second long run yet, but I have a feeling it's going to be pretty smooth. My how things have turned in our favor after your rib smash. I have to admit, on my run yesterday with Brett I tripped, flew and smashed the ground hard, hit my chest apparently, and now have some sort of bruised rib issue. Of course I immediately though of you. Hopefully I can run soon...... | |||||||||||||||||||||||
100 | Mar 2022 | Total Week 12 | Aim for 10-12k vert (gain and loss) in week 13 | 690 | 662 | 78.29 | 4796 | 133 | 7 | 0 | A little low on overall weekly volume. Everything is feeling good though. I am ready to nail this coming week - very focused on showing up and nailing the Thursday workout (big one) and long run (big one). One thing I have been concerned (nobody's fault but my own) is the lack of surface and terrain specificity. My other goal this week, besides those two key runs, is to get on trails as much as possible and to accumulate some more vert - ideally in that 12-13k range. I've just been lazy and love the convenience and lack of commute time running from the house. But with less than a month to go, I think it's time to get specific and some trail strength in the legs. Every time I have been on trails so far this block, because it's been so infrequent, its felt like a learning curve all over again for my legs. Quite the oppposite of the summer training for CCC when I was on them everyday. It's a weird tradeoff of course because I felt incredibly slow during that CCC block and much faster now - but how do you achieve that middle ground of strength/durability on trails and vert with foot speed. Hopefully I can do some of that in the next 2-3 weeks. Excited to see what's on the docket beyond next week. | Re: second LR yesterday: Getting the gut right for the second run of the day (basically any afternoon run) is always a challenge. Do you have take antacids like tums if you expect you'll have problems? That is what I end up doing for a lot of late day runs and that seems to make all the difference. But it is a super individual thing I realize. It looked like your energy was just fine. You were obviously physically capable of picking it up to 6:00 pace based on the pace increase you were able to do. The "balance you are talking about between being "fast/effcient" on flat ground and being prepared for the terrain/vertical gain/loss of Canyons is a very interesting question and one I don't think there is a definitive answer to. I believe that you don't want all of one type or running and none of the other. Really ever. I think in the next three weeks before the taper if you can be on trails for 60% of your running you should be just fine. Don't stress hitting an exact vert total. I would say if you can get over 10k gain/loss in each of the next two weeks it would be a good goal to have. Don't try to go for 15-20k. I think that much might be too much. | |||||||||||||||||||||