Ultra or Bust Week 11

Training is progressing, not always to plan but I am using it as a guide to make sure that I am getting at least close to the mileage/time I need each week. This past weekend was busy and I was not sure I was going to be able to get my long run in. My daughter however, asked if we could go to the gym so she could swim on Sunday. Perfect, except now I had to do my long run on a treadmill as opposed to outside.

The treadmill or as I and many other like to call it the dreadmill is not exactly a place that inspires the same level of excitement as heading out on the road or trail for a long run. My YMCA also limits your time to 60 minutes so my only hope was that it would not be that busy and I could manage to just keep resetting it after each set. Plan called for 4 hours but I thought if I could manage 3 I would feel pretty good about that.

As it turned out once I had conceded that I would be on this contraption for 3 hours it was not really that bad. I did not push any sort of difficult pace like I might normally do but instead just set it at a steady 6MPH and went. At the end of each 60 minute set I went and filled my water bottle and used the restroom then quickly returned to the machine and finished another.

I would not recommend this as something to do regularly but in a pinch it was not to bad and including my warmup/cooldown along with a few walk breaks to hydrate I managed to finish just shy of 17 miles.

Typically after my long runs I take a day off before and after but this week because of many scheduling conflicts I ran the night before and also opted on a recovery run the next day. Surprised that neither one seemed to affect my long run and my recovery run seemed to loosen up my tight calves from the long run the day before. I will probably continue to at least do a short 3-5 mile recovery run the day after each long run from now on.

The thermostat has taken a quick plunge to the south. Last night I got home and debated on running outside or not. It was dark and the temp was 17 degrees with a steady wind. I picked up a pair of Saucony tights in the fall this year but I don’t really have anything for the torso to protect against these temps. In the past when I have run in the cold the sun was typically out so it never really got to be miserable. However, running in the dark cold is an entirely different experience. I am going to have to do a little research on proper gear for running in these temps. Chest, arms and hands were OK but the tissue around my stomach and back was frozen.

Have a good week.