Apex Training Week

I am glad to have last week in the bag. I ramped up my mileage with Saturday being 32.25 miles on the Montgomery Bell Overnight trail. I ran this with Jeff Walton, and Mash low, slow and in control. I finished the week with 71 miles and I am so happy to say injury free as a fair number of these miles were fast. Thursday's run was of some note as storms threatened. I started pre-dawn and did a warm up loop on the Percy Warner Road 5.75 then the second loop I dropped down to avg 7's with plenty of elevation to get me into the threshold zone. I finished the final 3 miles in a deluge but the air was warm and I felt alive splashing my way back to my Jeep.

So that's the meat of the training for the LBL 50 miler. I have started my taper. Now it is time to watch my weight, stay fit and keep my head down.

Godspeed.

Running on Infinit

Dan Powell, owner of Endurance Sports and Rec in Cool Springs has been explaining to me the science behind Infinit, a new sports powder that claims to be the all in one nutrition source for endurance athletes. To which I admit to glassing over. The long and short was that this had 4 different molecular compounds of carbohydrates, so the body would continue osmosis thus keeping the systems fed. I am so blessed to have incredibly smart people in my life who share a passion for endurance- Endurance Sports  being up there for sure. So the carbs along with a myriad of other necessary components made up this not so sweet formula. Testing the product this past weekend was a bit of a fool's parade for me, but when in doubt, jump in.

I had one 20oz bottle filled with "the protien mix". It foamed like cheep keg beer. I topped off my bottle after 7 miles and then headed out for 13 more - 4.5 of which were to be thresh hold (7's) and then the final 2 ended up being a pace push from some of Highland's best. I used one gel for the entire day, and finished feeling unusual... as in I usually finish longer days incredibly hungry and in some shape or form depleted.

post 20 miles of trails at Percy Warner

Although I am not ready to toss out my boxes of gels and powders and cubes and gues and on and on... I am impressed with its initial use. This looks like the next progression in the area of  ultra nutrition. This Saturday Mash and I have 33+ at LBL to do and I hope to dial this in for the race. Much Goodness- THANKS DAN!!! Now, how big is a scoop of this stuff?

The Science of Endurance

The physiology of ultra-running has been one area of the sport I have yet to fully explore.
I am excited to announce a new supporting sponsor: Fitness Wave owned by David Harris an expert in exercise physiology.

In the coming months we (Ashly Dewberry and I) are going to run some tests, shoot some video and learn from Fitness Wave. David does RMR (resting metabolic rate testing), hydrostatic body fat testing and Vo2 Max testing. All these tests will produce data to better dial in nutrition and training.

Fitness Wave is located in Endurance Sports in Cool Springs, Endurance S. is run by people who know the sport because they live endurance sports. They are on the front edge of new developments in gear, nutrition and training.  It will be a far cry from my minimalist approach to running long trails, but I am willing to work to integrate the "why" into the "how".

Anything but Ordinary

Friday Night was decidedly going to be a long evening. After a full day at work the plan was to meet at Percy Warner and run Red/White/Blue x2 for a distance somewhere between 22 and 24 miles. I managed to eat "light" all day and had nothing but a few sorry bites of apple in the parking lot before we took off. Ashly Dewberry, aka @Mash,  and I trudged into the failing light on hard packed snow. The temperature fell as did my countenance as my nutritional deficit began to take its toll. I shoved gel cubes into my mouth by the handfuls just wanting to get through the run in one piece. All in all we ran for well over 4 hours and gained 7k in elevation. I know this training counted because it hurt and when it hurts in a good way, one gets stronger later. 


Sunday I braved the trails again for 15m at 6am at Bowie Prk. This time it was a solo run. I ditched my ipod for most of it and listened to the sounds of the woods. One can truly tune in on such a minute level on long runs; the rustle of leaves, the flapping wings of a redheaded woodpecker, the call of a crow alerting others of your approach.   Prayer was my companion offering solace through grace. The picture above is what I saw upon exiting my Jeep at 6am. It was destined to be one of those alive and wide awake times when living feels anything but ordinary.