Fitter Running & Faster Cycling Upgrades

Wow, its been a while since I wrote a post. Why? Busy, just kept putting it off, nothing major (in terms of races) to report.

Whats happening lately

Its been a couple of months since I finished Boston (see finish pic below) in humbling fashion, and then went on to crush the extremely hilly Promise Land 50k. Oh yea, and then I paced a friend for 25 night time miles at the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100, maybe 3 of which we were actually running?  Since then I tried to give myself a bit of a break, following by a few more weeks of easy, low mileage running.

Finishing Boston 2014.  It was a warm day, but I'm still baffled at why this felt so hard.  I thought pacing a
friend for a 3:30 marathon would be a piece of cake, but I ended up cramping at the end.

The "taking it easy" phase (which by the way drives me nuts) has passed, summer has been heating up, and with it so has my Ultra Training.  Things have been both successful and frustrating at the same time.

The good?  Some crazy long runs and speed hikes in the mountains, getting back on the bike for multiple hours a week, and generally long-duration runs mid-week to keep my weekly mileage high.  Ultra training runs that last 6 or 7 hours.  10 mile tempos where I average sub-7 minute miles.  I feel really fit.  Like, ready to go destroy an Ultra-fit.  I've almost forgot what its like to do a long run shorter than 18 miles.  Only doing 13 feels like slacker-mode!

The bad?  Fatigue and borderline injury.  Lately I have just been feeling exhausted everyday I get home, and getting out the door for an evening run is a tall task.  Once I get going though I usually manage to wake up.  I haven't been going hungry and I always get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.  Then there is the injury thing.  Its probably been months since I have felt healthy, as in 100%-perfect/ ready-2-race/ can't wait for race reason healthy.  Now, I realize devoted runners rarely feel this way, but it gets frustrating after a while.  Something has been feeling funky in my lower right leg on and off these last few weeks, and I'm finally going to be mature about it and rest until its feeling better.  Sounds like the classic early stages of *gasp* shin splints (my arch nemesis).

You take the rest time.  Then you get back to training, and your body freaks out since it isn't used to the high-mileage.  If you don't take the rest time off, something eventually breaks.  The frustrating part is that while I feel I have been getting a decent amount of miles in (prob ~ 50 MPW), its not enough that would really constitute over-training.  I suppose the obvious solution is to just take a big break (talking multiple months), and then a few more months of low-mileage running ( 20-30 miles per week).  Yea - like thats really going to happen!

Headed home along the W&OD

Enter: Cycling

As I've mentioned before, I never in a million years thought I could get into cycling, but since getting on the bike I have discovered its both ridiculously fun and that I'm pretty damn good at it.  I usually try to get out for a big ride Sunday morning, or if I decide to sleep in I'll do some solo work in the evening.  I have some cycling groups I can go to on Saturdays with Tri-360, or Tuesdays and Wednesdays with Fresh-Bikes if I have the urge.  I have even been cycling to and from work some - got my ride down to 35 minutes!  Somehow, only a little longer than it takes to drive.

 While I love my bike (a late 90's Klein Quantum, Aluminum body with a carbon fork), it has badly needed some upgrades.  I finally got around to replacing the pedals and my biking shoes.  The old shoes were just cheapies, outfitted for the pedals which were mixed use mountain biking pedals.

I put on new Shimano Ultegra SPD-SL 6800 carbon pedals and picked up some top-of-the-line Louis Garneau shoes.  Also replaced my warn tires with some Nashbar Duro-pro's.  These are actually a little heavier duty to combat the choppy roads found around so much of Arlington and DC.  Next session will be installing a new SRAM chain, but that isn't urgent.

As I had hoped, the pedals and shoes made a huge difference.  I now have about 3 times the surface area of contact with the bike which makes for more efficient and more comfortable pedal strokes.  The shoes are lighter and more ventilated, with a ratcheting top strap for molding it to your foot (tight - but not too tight).

Ultegra pedals - Louis Garneau Shoes - and close up of the clamp on pedal cleat. 

So I am going to have to stay sane with my cycling and gym workouts at least in the meantime, while working the running back in when possible.  A sample non-running schedule, hard as it is to swallow, might go something like:

• Monday: Cross train at the gym with weights, elliptical, and walking uphill on a treadmill.
• Tuesday: 2 hour high intensity bike ride
• Wednesday: 1.5 hour high intensity bike ride
• Thursday: Easy ride and/or swim
• Friday: REST (always a rest day)
• Saturday: Long, tough ride with hills, 45-50 miles
• Sunday: Long steady bike ride in morning (60+ miles), or 40ish miles in evening

I really want to arrive healthy at my fall ultras, I just want to be as fit as possible too!

Beautiful mountain scenery near Lynchburg in central VA! This is the general area of my fall Ultra races.