Endurance Training Update – It’s Springtime in New England

It is 5:30am and it light outside. I love spring. I’m so excited to take the dogs on the trail and go for a run this morning; even after a few hard days of training I’m excited to run!

The last two days were amazing and hard – it’s back to endurance training. I guess I need to call it that because I’m simultaneously training for Ironman and a 50 Miler. I’ve never successfully done this so it’s going to be interesting

Swim: I still can’t get a “convenient” lane at the pool. I sign up, I’m waitlisted. When a session opens it’s usually 45 minutes before and I miss the email. Or I sign up and get a lane and I have a meeting or something that prevents me from getting there. Then I deregister. Come On! 

Bike: The weather is perfect for  biking now. I biked on Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s hard not being in bike shape. As I rode I thought about how much I truly love biking. I love it more than any other sport. I refuse to bike indoors during the cold months because I truly believe it will make me hate biking. Like all the years before, I suck at biking for the first week or so then get stronger and stronger. This spring I will be equally tri-biking and mountain biking. We will see if it makes a difference. 

Run: I didn’t run much these last two days because the bike kicked my arse. My legs were. fatigued and my back sore. I ran after the first  bike ride because I really needed to run. But alas, three miles doesn’t really cut it. It’s okay: I’m back on track and will run this morning. 

Weights/Core: Back to the gym for Week 2. I really like the circuit workout I do. All of a sudden I look up and an hour has gone by. I love sweating and just feeling strong. And wearing a mask while working out isn’t that big of a deal. 

Everything is Good. Hard. Fun. Difficult. Complicated. This outdoor life is good. The training life is good.

Training Update, 50 Miler and Ironman

Training has been lackluster these last two weeks. My last blog post about training was so hopeful and promising, Clean Slate. However, since that post everything got a bit crazy. I’m now two weeks behind and have lost quite a bit of fitness. 

Nevertheless, I will persist. 

This week is looking up:

And, I got into a swim lane for tonight. Things are looking up.

My race schedule up until June, as it stands right now looks like this:

Also on a positive note: out of the blue, my friend Vickie from the Leadville training group texted me. She is running the Vermont 100 this year (if it happens) and her training isn’t going as planned either. She gave me hope. We have been in this place before and have still accomplished our goals. 

I think we just know that regardless, we are lifers. Lifers in the sense that if we don’t finish a 100 miler, or 50 miler, we will next year. But we are going to try our damndest to fit everything into our lives. We do it because it just makes sense to us. We cannot not do it. So thanks for the text Vickie. 

Clean Slate Monday

Despite Monday and Tuesday being my weekend and when I complete my long runs, today’s Training Peak Calendar shows a clean slate: A full 7 days of running aheads and 11 hours of it.

Last week I missed one day but I’m happy with the training I did but alas, today is a new week, a blank slate to do everything I want to do. New this week will be swimming and signing up for lanes with the hope that being on the waitlist materializes. Also new, weight training. And possibly new is completed a second run on the days that are optional.

Training Stats for January:

I’m staying healthy and not getting injured so these are very good signs. I’m eating well and decided to cancel my Hello Fresh subscription. While I liked the different meals I don’t think they were necessarily super healthy options. I want to eat more local, fresh food instead of wherever the food came from with the subscription (I think California).

Let’s get to it.

How I fell back in love with skiing

Usually with most tasks (come on, let’s face it everything is a task) I want to get it done and move on to the next thing. Even with running and biking; I can’t wait to be done. 

I know people who tell me running is their release, their escape. Not me. I run to get in the zone, complete the training plan and get on with my day. 

Then there is skiing. 

When I ski, I can go and go and go – like the energizer bunny. 

There is that moment when you can call it a day or head back to the lift. I want to go back to the lift; every time. It’s easy to choose one more run. Not so with running one more mile, or biking one more mile. 

I forgot this when I moved from Colorado to Tucson. I moved to the desert southwest primarily to road bike year-round. I chose biking over skiing. Now, I’ve fallen back in love with skiing. 

There is so much joy in skiing. It is one of few sports that make you laugh out loud while living in the exact moment. As I fly down the  mountain I am thinking of nothing except what is in front of me. Mountain biking is like this, too. 

There is joy in exploring the mountains and playing in the snow, and the views – the views are pretty amazing.  

Right now I’m happy getting to know every trail at Gunstock. I will eventually go to other mountains and explore more but for now, I’m studying the terrain, watching the skiers in the terrain parks, naming the mountain peaks in the distance and using new muscles I don’t normally use. 

I’m going to try to ski a few runs every day. My goal is 60 ski days.

Training Update January 2020

Train, walk dogs, work, eat, sleep, repeat. This is my life.

Ultra running training is getting real. And I’m getting really tired. 

My stats for January:

This year, or at least these winter months, my big training days are Monday and Tuesday since these are my days off now. 

The last two weeks my long runs have been around 15 miles and they are tough. I remember two years ago at this time I was doing an occasional 30 mile run. I can’t imagine getting back there but I’m working towards it. 

I really like having a training plan on Training Peaks and it synchs to my watch. When I start my run it knows what to do. Last week, the plan called for a Fartlek Workout. So 12-15 times I ran 1 minute at a slightly harder pace. My watch would beep every minute with “Fun Faster” and then the next minute “rest”. It was fun. 

Other Training Peaks workouts are a count down by miles or time. It makes each run interesting which is what I need to keep going. 

Last Week’s Summary:

From Training Peaks

Next up: add biking and more swimming. This should be interesting.