The Plan For 2016

Here we are! A new year, new goals, and a new plan to achieve those goals. After last year’s training wrapped up I gave myself a month off which consisted of low volume, easy effort running. The first three weeks I ran 15-20 miles per week and on the fourth week 25 miles. 2015 was a great year for me. I ran 3 marathons and 3 ultras with big PR’s in both the marathon and 50k format. Also, I ran my first 50 miler at Burning River.

For 2016 I am determined to run further than I ever believed I could. On December 14th I began training building upon the work put in in 2015.

This year’s goals for the summer are straightforward:

1. Run the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail Ultra (LHHT). The race follows the trail end to end starting in Ohiopyle and ending near Johnstown. All told it is 70.5 miles through the beautiful mountains of western Pennsylvania.

2. Run the Burning River 100 miler. After running the BR 50 last year I was bit by the distance bug and the supportive ultrarunning community. I am fundraising for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park for this race. If you feel so inclined you can donate here: www.runsignup.com/runderful

The path to completing these goals revolves around putting in a lot of quality miles and crosstraining. My first phase of training is focusing on strength and base building culminating at the Pittsburgh Marathon. The day before the marathon I will be running a 26.2 mile training run on trail. The challenge very well could be completing the Pittsburgh Marathon within the time allotment.

After the marathon there will be a 3 week buildup period with more of a speed focus and then right into taper for the LHHT 70.5. From here I plan to take two light weeks to heal up, though it conceivably could be more depending how my body feels. Then another 3 week mileage buildup followed by tapering for the Burning River 100.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Marathon Training Kickoff

On Saturday I attended the marathon training kickoff run hosted by the Steel City Road Runners. Thankfully, the weather was more cooperative than last year. I arrived early to get some miles in before the group run. After a few miles I met up with Lisa and Seth. Together we ran 5 miles and were back with time to chat with friends and check out the vendors.

I ran 10 miles with the group starting with the 9:30 group. After 3 miles we ran into the 8:00 pace group. They had taken a wrong turn. I jumped on with them to see if I could hold that pace. We ran roughly 8:30s due to some icy spots. By the end of the run it was sunny and mild with temperatures in the 40’s. Perfect running weather! Afterwards I picked up a Milestone Pod they were giving away. The Milestone Pod is a device that laces onto your shoe. It tracks your mileage, cadence, and footstrike among other things and it does so without GPS. A very useful device. Plus, you can track your mileage on a leaderboard here and win prizes just for logging your training miles.

Trail Glory

On Sunday I went to Boyce Park for some trail love. One of the staples of ultramarathon training is the back to back long runs. Running 50, 60, 70 mile training runs to prepare for a 100 miler just poses to much risk for injury. The safer way is by ramping up mileage on back to backs similar to an increase in long runs for a marathon. Today I had 10 miles planned. Eventually, the back to backs will increase to a 30 miler Saturday followed by a 25 miler Sunday.

I decided to simply run where I felt when I felt. No planned route and it was absolutely liberating! Just running free without a care as to pace or direction. Upon starting winds were gusting at 20-30 mph and soon I found myself in a patch of forest where the trees bent and groaned heavily under the force of the wind. My senses were alive, ever keeping vigilant for trees that could fall. Many spots in the forest were already littered with branches and downed trees. Freezing rain came down and it was absolutely stunning to see the sunlight reflecting off of the ice like a shimmering curtain.

Soon, I passed out of this area into sturdier and familiar forest eventually making my way off of the Blue blazes onto the Orange trails leading up to the forest surrounding the Boyce Park Wave Pool. There was a whipping wind wherever the trail passed an open space. After this loop I made my way up the winding trails that lead to the top of the ski slopes.

I thought I knew wind. But this…this was much more. Coming out into the open fields topping the ski slopes I was confronted with a wind that literally took my breath away. I opted for some slight reprieve and to build up some body heat by running down the first ski slope and straight back up it. This side of the slope was sheltered from the winds and the climb up warmed me up fast. It was less than 1/2 a mile to the tree line and the reprieve of the forest, but it was a long 1/2 mile. I saw a park employee near the maintenance building. He mentioned that the winds there were steady at 20+ mph with gusts topping 50 mph! Soon I was frozen, but back in the trees. It didn’t take long to warm back up. I finished the run out on the Cherry Tree Trail.

This past week was a active recovery week. I will be taking one of these every 4 weeks. It is simply a week with lower mileage, easy effort runs with maximum long run distance of 10 miles. Then comes three more weeks of intense training.