Let The Marinating Begin!

May 9th, 2010 Posted in Training

Well it’s that time of year again.  My fancy new race countdown –> (thanks, Dan S.) says there are 47 days left ’til Western 2010.  So if I’m on track with my training, my quads should be nice and tenderized <— and the marinating begins for the final push.  With all the downhill running I’ve been logging lately, my quads feel like the slab of veal in the picture with Mother Nature hammering away on me every step of the way.  I’ve also noticed that the critters of the woods have been watching me with more closely lately, licking their chops, drool spilling down their chins.  Should I be concerned when a black bear seems more interested in me, than a Snickers Bar and he’s carrying in his paw a bottle of Stubby’s Bar-B-Q sauce?

My training plan for this year was to do the same mileage over the nine month approach to Western (1,900 miles) but pick up the miles per week much later in the training, building up more gradually, avert injury(like I had in April last year) and peak in June.   As of this weekend I’m within 37 miles, or 2% of my cumulative miles from last year - so right on track.  The more encouraging fact is the majority of my long runs over the last six weeks have been logged on the Western trails, almost exclusively in the canyons, across truly quad punishing terrain……thus, a big check on the quad tenderizing.  Western, after all, is “all downhill from Squaw”.

So now we marinate, asking tired legs to do more than they want and pushing through the weariness.  I run now in a constant state of blah, where the legs will go but there is no crispness, always aching but nonetheless not injured.  This is the “state of Western” that I want to re-create as many hours will be spend feeling just this way - too tired to go on but yet there is more reserves in the Diesel’s tank to tap.

And if the plan works, for these next few weeks its marinate, recover quickly, then more marinating, recover and repeat.  So 25 miles across 4 canyons yesterday was a slog, but the recovery was indeed very good today.  Onto Silver State 50 in Reno, NV this coming weekend at altitude, plenty of elevation and hopefully snow and heat.  That should be another 12-13 hours TOF (time on feet) in Western-like conditions plus we get to play the dollar blackjack table and nickle slots afterward as part of recovery