Monday - rest

 Tuesday - easy bike, weights, core - 2 hours

 Wednesday - 2 runs, sprints AM, easy short PM - 10.7 miles

 Thursday - lunges, core, pushups, wrecked - 45 minutes

 Friday - leg blasters, easy trail - 9 miles

 Saturday - rest

 Sunday - 9 mile hike with 30lb pack - 3 hours

 Total - 29 miles, 9 hours training time
 
This sort of week is hard on me mentally.  I have a rough time looking at 29 miles and feeling good, but I did some out of the box training this week that I know will be helpful for the long haul. I still hit 9 hours or training time which is about what I averaged last year, it was just all running as opposed to running and wieghts, core, etc.

 Busy week ahead with work and some travel so I'm going to have to work on a strict schedule to get in what I need too.

 Monday - short easy run and core work - 4 miles
Tuesday - Speed work in the AM, shake out in the PM - 11.8 miles
Wednesday - leg workout and easy run with accelerations at the end - 7 miles
Thursday - Treadmill progression run. Warm up and 9m/m then increase speed/effort every 10 minutes until 6:24m/m for last 2 minutes - 9 miles
Friday - active recovery run - 5.2 miles
Saturday - Easy trail with hard 20 minutes at the end. - 21 miles 4k climbing
Sunday -  Fat burning run. Kept it easy - 12.75 miles

 I ended up with a total of 71 miles for the week and right at 12 hours of training.  This type of volume for me has tended to come near peak training time so to hit it this early and still feel strong is a great sign.  That Saturday run is on my staple trail, the Green Rock, and I think I may have ran the last 2.5 miles as fast as I ever have.  Sunday was also a good indicator as I ran comfortable with hardly any soreness or major fatigue.  It seems like I am starting to adjust to the strength and core training and it is not having as much of an "negative" effect on my pace and effort as several weeks ago.

 Lastly, I'll call out a sweet new piece of gear that I picked up, the  Patagonia Wind Shield Jacket http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/mens-wind-shield-jacket?p=24982-0-791 . I wore this all weekend.  Saturday was about 12 degrees at the start of the run and this jacket paired with a silk-weight base layer long sleeve was perfect.  Plus when it warmed up the full legnth zipper and vented pockets allowed heat to escape.  Sunday warmed up but was really windy. I wore a sleeveless shirt and the jacket and again that was all I needed for 40 degrees and 25mph cold winds blowing across the open fields here in IL. 

 Hope you had a great week!

Lower volume last week but 3 speed specific workouts but the hurt on me.

Monday - speed work and strength training - 5.5 miles

Tuesday - 1 hour easy bike and strength training

Wednesday - Tabata runs, these sucked! It's a 24 minute workout with 4 minutes of hell ~3 miles

Thursday - Easy trail run - 7.75 miles

Friday - strength training, leg specific

Saturday - off

Sunday - Anaerobic threshold for 2.5 hours on the Chubb Trail. Pretty solid outing with my buddy Tommy who kept me honest and pushing on some really tired legs from the day before. Hit the climbs hard -16.5 miles and around 2k of climb

Total - 33 miles ran, 1 hour bike and 3 leg/strenght workouts.

That Sunday run was a bear. My legs were trashed from the first step so to average a 9 minute pace on this trail with mutiple climbs between 200-400 feet is a good feeling. Sometimes its good to just see what you can grunt out.

Monday - core work

Tuesday - sprints and leg work

Wednesday - 40 minutes super easy running to shake things out.

Thursday - 13.5 miles on Silver Lake Trail

Friday - weights at the gym

Saturday - 25 miles on the Berryman Trail with friends (running and scouting for Mark Twain 100)

Sunday - rest

Total - 48.11 ran/10.5 hours of run+cross training

A little lighter miles this week but starting to feel the positive effects of the strength training.  We turned it up a bit in the last 5 miles of the 25 on Saturday.  Running in the high 7's on the flats and mid 9's on the climbs was pretty great, especially after a leg workout the day before.

Also, I'm signed up for my "A" race for 2012.  Tahoe Rim 100, here I come!

Lastly.... I had a goal to hit 2400 miles for 2011 and I ended up with 2425 which is exactly a 20% gain in mileage over 2010 where I hit 2021.

Lots of articles, tweets, and blog posts have gone up in the last few weeks with a focus on individuals' 2012 goals as well as the state of competition in the ultra scene. Most of these items are written from elites or those covering elites. One tweet (then post) in particular from Dylan Bowman really got my wheels turning. He brings up the idea of ""just jogging" is no longer an option in competitive ultrarunning." So if the elites are going to take their training up a notch what does that mean for us non-elites? Upper 25%? Middle of the packers? Everyone else?

The way I look at tiers of ultrarunners is pretty simple. This graph represents the all up talent pool not specific runners. The point is not to nitpick on details of "runner X would fair better at course Y because he/she possesses Z trait," but to make a generalization in terms of ability. Think about a triangle graph split into 4 pieces horizontally. At the tippy-top, highest point is the elites. This is the 5%. Below that there is another tier of about 25%. Below that is 50% and at the very bottom is the remaining 20%. For the most part everyone fits into one of these sections. Occasionally someone can move up or down but in general, we all fall into this triangle somewhere. A 25% runner who takes 3rd at a 100 miler in Wisconsin is still a 25%er. Sure he or she did well at that event, but in comparison to the pool, that person still sits at 25%. Make sense?

The bottom 20% is not really affected by the competition. The assumption here is that these runners, are either slower and fighting cutoffs or just out enjoying the run with no regards toward finishing time. These types of runners are not in it to compete so higher competition means little to them to begin with. My gut tells me that their training will pretty much stay the same.

The middle 50% is a pretty large band. All type of folks exists here and of course make up the majority of finishers of any race distance. Where the "just jogging won't work" mentality starts to take hold is toward the top of the 50%. See someone that decides to take it up a notch can make that move into the 25% and that steady 25% guy or gals now finds themself fighting to not be middle of the pack.

The 25% again gets fun at the top. That top tier 25% individual can maybe move into that bottom 5% and again the bottom 5% person is fighting to not be 25%.

While most of this current talk is about the tops in the sport, the rest of the field won't just sit back and watch as the fast get faster. The majority of the spectrum will adjust their game to meet the new "expectation." Like to compete and are comfortable with your training? It might be time to start getting uncomfortable if you plan to hold on to your spot in the pack. Everyone's getting faster and the "just finish" mentaility is not what it's all about anymore, for better or for worse.

Monday - 7.2 miles with accelerations the last 10 minutes and core work

Tuesday - leg workout then 12 miles on the muddy wet trail (lots of fun)

Wednesday - 4 mile warm up and cool down with sprints. Run 2 was 5.1 miles on the treadmill at an easy pace

Thursday - Leg workout at the gym

Friday - rest

Saturday - 24 miles on the trail with my buddies to celebrate the 24th of December.  Great run and lots of laughing as we crusied in the bright sun and the cold air.

Sunday - Merry Christmas to you with Tabata Run for 2.77 miles.  Legs were not digging turnover after 5 hours on the trail Saturday,  I'll sneak in a core  workout at somepoint tonight.

Totals: 56 miles ran. 11:30 minutes of total training all with a cold. blah. My abs are super sore this week, but my wife said my stomach "looked more ab-by." I win.

I'm back on the training wagon and for the first time ever, with a real plan.  After some reflection on the past year, as we seem to do in December, I realized that I have more potential than I am using.  As stated in my last post all the things a runner would want to improve on (with the exception of in-race nutrition) have gone up at a steady pace the last few years.  I've done this by simply running more each year compared to the last.  I have always had a loose training plan.  Not completely from the hip as I like to hit certain metrics or items in a typical week.  For example a week might look like this: run 50+ total miles, run fast a time or two, run slow, rest, run a trail with climbs as much as possible, get in 20+ on tough terrain on the weekend.  That's about it.  Not totally lacking of a plan but a loose at best.

I've decided that its going to be a time to focus in and get more serious about things.  I'll still run for the fun of it as that's why I do this, but it sure feels good to nail a race and that item has been sporadic at best.  So what have I done to get focused? A few things, first and most important is changed my mindset.  It is really easy to say "this is it......this time I'm going to...." then as a little bit of time goes on, revert back to those comfortable training methods.  I'm not going to just get in miles in 2012, I'm going to get focused training in for 2012.  Second, I changed my diet.  I'm paleo focused.  I'm not crazy specific about the diet but I do my best to stick to it and when I can't I do my best to be gluten free and low carb.  Lastly, I hired a coach.  Matt Hart (blog)  @thematthart (twitter) took me on as a client and I'm really excited about it.  In my first week, I've already done more speed work than all of 2011 combined.  I look forward to another great year on the trail with friends and unlocking some of that potential that I've yet to do on my own.

Moday - 9.5 miles of running to the gym and back. Legs, lower back, core workout at the gym

Tuesday - 3 miles - Sprint work on the hotel treadmill

Wednesday - 7 miles run. Easy first 50 minutes. Acceleration the last 10 minutes. Core

Thursday - leg workout

Friday - Off

Saturday - 21 miles - Green Rock trail 4k of climb

Sunday - 4.8 miles - super easy and slow recovery run

A nice "back to training week."  The leg workouts were still with me on Saturday and made cornering switchbacks and downhill running a little tougher.  I could feel that deep soreness hanging around, but its new training and I used to lift weights a lot so not much of a suprise. 

A quick scan back over my ultra races this year points out one thing.  I throw up, a lot.  Pretty profound huh?  Everything this year has pointed toward growth as a runner.  Speed is up, endurance is improved, body is more durable.  In a nutshell, the physical aspect of my running has improved.  What has not improved is my ability to deal with the nutritional aspect of a race. 

I'm not sure if it is mental, a lack of something in terms of day-to-day diet, too much of something on race day, a combo of those, I have yet to pin it down.  The one thing I can say for certain is "I'm doing something wrong."  I've tried several things. 

• Electrolyte drink plus salt pills and a gels every half hour. 
• Just water, higher concentration salt pills, chews or beans on a steady basis
• Water, higher concentration salt pills more frequency, Amino Acid supplement to help feed off of fat to hopefully reduce calories

These are all failed attempts to keep food down.  In the beginning of the season I would have a race, mess up my stomach, throw up once then come back.  At Javelina last week, I continued to throw up from about miles 47 on every hour or so with a brief break where I stopped eating and went close to 3 hours before stepping off the trail to empty my stomach again.  My ribs hurt, my abs were sore, my throat raw, and I had simply had enough of this routine to do it for another 6 hours.

So here I am after a failed last race of the season.  I'm not going to try to convince myself that I am happy with my decision to drop.  In fact some part of me wishes I would have just kept walking and dealt with it.  Another part of me knows that even if I would have finished, I would not be happy with how it played out.  I did not go out to just finish the race.  I went out there to run a fast 100.  Not Hal or Evan fast, but Travis fast.  That goal kept slipping and slipping, along with the stomach problems and low energy for the calorie deficit made me throw my hands up and say "no more" at mile 80.

The bright side?  I feel good.  I could go run right now if I wanted to.  I am really excited about that. A few years back, 80 miles would have laid me out for a while.  I don't have the desire to run right now so I'll probably hold off a few more days or even a week, whatever feels right.  I also am already thinking of next year. 

See, that's the thing with a race this long.  Lots of things can go wrong, or right.  Finding that formula is what keeps me coming back for more.  My muscles are continuing to adapt to the needs of this sport, now I have to put in the work to get my stomach to follow along.  I grossly overlooked how serious I needed to take this subject and it came back to bite me.  Back to the drawing board... which is kinda fun.