Game On, Sasquatch
Alrighty!! Today is the first day of Ultra Training, "officially" anyway. It's definitely a conservative plan with regards to mileage. But, I've approached each previous increase in race distance that way and have felt like it's worked for me. I plan the minimum mileage and often will do more if my body (and my calendar) will allow. My goal for this race is to finish it strong and enjoy the view. Without fully knowing the terrain, it's hard to estimate my overall finish time goal or pace. I may be able to develop a better target as training progresses.
I'm hoping to update you with my training week at the beginning and end of each week so you can see what I planned to do and what I actually accomplished.🏃♀️💪🏼
You may remember that my goal race is on January 4th in Charleston, West Virginia - The Frozen Sasquatch 50k. For my non-running friends, that's a smidge over 31 miles. It's also on the verge... well, let's be honest here, it's a bit nuts. 🤪 It will be on slightly hilly, state forest trail that may or may not be covered in snow. Suh-weet! ❄️
It will be a challenge, for sure. I've only covered marathon distance (26.2) three times before. But lately I have put more thought into why I like to run. Being fast, or trying to get faster hasn’t brought me the greatest satisfaction, even when I was able to chip away at my pace. I keep coming back to goals that push me to do more, go farther, or simply go places, so maybe it’s about time to let that sub-2:00 goal simmer for a bit.
Kanawha State Forest
I do have several trail races planned between now and then for practice with terrain. It won't be exactly like West Virginia, but we'll do the best we can with what we've got here in Florida.
Monday is alway a rest day, and Friday is an optional day if I miss mileage during the week, so I won't include them in the preview of each week. If I do any strength-training or vary my miles with speedwork, hills, etc. then I'll note it at the end of the week.
Here's this week:
Week of 9/23-9/29
Tuesday - 2 miles
Wednesday - 2 miles
Thursday - 2 miles
Saturday - 8 miles
Sunday 6 miles
I just came off a half marathon with hills on Sunday, so I originally made this week way lighter than it probably should be. I imagine that I'll do more than 2 each of those itty-bitty days. But again, these are my minimums. The plan is based on back to back runs both days of the weekend, increasing in mileage up to the longest single training run at marathon distance (26.2) in December. From there, I’ll taper my mileage and fatten myself up over the holidays for a long winter…run.
That’s the plan in a nutshell.
Hey Sasquatch. Challenge accepted.