Training Recap: Dec. 11-17

I am very happy with this week of training. Last week I started introducing some workouts and focused mostly on hill work. This week I tried to incorporate a little more turnover early in the week. This may sound odd to some, as I am focusing primarily on the ultramarathon. I am finding time for turnover for two reasons. First, I find that doing too much hill work tends to tighten up my stride, and doing workouts that include tempo running and pickups help keep that spring in my step. Second, I hope to run at least one marathon in 2012, and want to keep myself physically in position to be able to feel comfortable with the 5:30–5:40 pace.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to increase the intensity of hill work in this training cycle, so I did not neglect to take some solid bouts with City Park (one of the only places within 20 miles of Marinette, WI, where you can find any type of substantial climbing). City Park takes a lot of focus to do long hill workouts because of its layout. There's a loop of about 600 meters that includes some rolling hills, and then there's one spot in the middle that is steep (close to 45 degrees), but only about 20 feet in height. This is why when I do a decent hill workout at City Park I usually churn out between 50 and 100 trips up that short steep hill. Please take a peek at the bottom of the page to see the specifics in my running this week.

In addition to the technical side of my training, this week included a gift from the folks at Drymax. As a guy who has dipped below the six toenail mark on a number of occasions, I thought this could be a great way to treat my toes. The reason I turned to socks was because the majority of my toenail traumas are a result of moisture causing blisters to form under my toenails (too much info???). Anyway, if Drymax can keep this from happening, my toenails may make a strong comeback this winter! I tried out the max protection running and max protection trail running socks this week and I love them. My feet were dry as a bone after all my workouts. Big props to the Drymax engineers!

Sunday	AM: 20 mile long run PM: 4 mile shake-out
Monday	AM: 10 mile pick-ups, 16x 35–45 second pick-ups PM: 10 mile easy run
Tuesday	AM: 15 mile easy run PM: 10 mile easy run
Wednesday	AM: 10 mile hybrid run (2x15 min tempo at 5:50 pace, then 4x45 second pick-ups) PM: 10 mile easy run
Thursday	AM: 10 mile easy run PM: 10 mile easy run
Friday	AM: 15 mile easy run PM: 7 mile easy run
Saturday	20 mile hill workout: - 3x City Park loop - 25x hill - 3x City Park loop - 25x hill - 3x City Park loop - 15x hill - 1x City Park loop - 10x hill - 3x City Park loop - 50 minute cooldown
Weekly Total	151 miles