96 Mile Week and 110% Juggler Knicker Compression Tights

 Last week was another big one and I have several things of interest to report. I did run 96 miles in a single week although you can't see it on the graph. That is because I took the previous Monday off then started counting the 96 miles on Tuesday, March 12 and finished with a 32 mile run Monday the 18th. Following this, I have been taking a much needed rest week, running fewer miles allowing my legs to recover before the next build up. Last Friday I was excited to receive my new compression tights in the mail and so far I think they are absolutely awesome. Here I am in them before I start my first training run of the season up Griffith Peak Road.

110% Juggler-knickers

 The tights give a lot of compression around the knees, quads and hamstrings.  I had been running in a fair amount of constant soreness because of all the miles I was putting in, but when I put these on Friday night I was suddenly able to fly.  I ran 10 miles that night at a sub 8 min/mile pace with almost no soreness at all.  Without them was I barely able to average a 10 min. mile.  I was even getting worried and holding back, because I didn't want to injure myself running to fast. The compression seems to stabilize the leg muscles, especially the quads every time I land on them which minimizes any soreness due to inflammation.  The added bonus is that they came with ice packs and pockets to drop them in post run.  That way I can easily ice my legs after a run which further speeds recovery and reduces inflammation.  They were a little expensive, but so far I am absolutely loving these things and I doubt if I would have completed that 96 mile week without them.

Griffith Peak

I got within 3 miles of Griffith Peak last Saturday in my first long uphill of the season and in the process learned exactly what is aggravating by right hamstring injury.  This run up Griffith Peak Road was more of a constant uphill hike, and it is this type of activity that seems to be the problem.  I noticed that hamstring knot getting more imflamed as I hiked up, but I was able to run down just fine.  Ouch, because the Bishop 100K that I am shouting for is nothing but long uphill hikes followed by downhill running.  However, I have been noticing that all the big time ultrarunners heels barely touch the ground as the are running up this type of hill.  They are basically running up on their toes.  I am going to slowly work this into my training and see how that goes.  Maybe that is the way to finally put this hamstring thing behind me.  In the meantime, I will be heading for more deep tissue massage from Proactive Massage and more laser pain treatment

View back down towards the desert

 

Only a couple more hours of this.  Yipeeee!!!!

I just put in another week of increasing mileage and I don't have much to report which I guess is good but it makes for a rather boring blog. Again I reached my weekly goal which was 88 miles this week and today I put in a 35 mile ultra long run which is another record for this training cycle. This week as opposed to last week my pace did slow down towards the end of the week. The knot in my right hamstring flared up a bit again but I seem to have that under control. My 35 mile run today went well and my legs felt really strong until the last 3 miles when they turn to rubber. I am attributing that to the high mileages I am putting in right now. I am trying out a new carbohydrate supplement during the run called perpetuem solids. They are a solid chewable tablet that seems to be very easy to digest on the run. So far whenever I am feeling a little queasy on these long runs they seem to settle me done and keep me going so I anticipate using them along with GU gels on my Bishop run. I also came across a guy making his own GU gel on U-tube and I intend to try that out. I'll let you know how it goes and if it is worth it. For the coming week, I will up the mileage one more time before I taper for a week. Adding another 10% to this weeks total would bring me close to 100 miles for the week. I may back off though if my hamstring starts to flare up. I also need to head back to our local mountains and start putting in some long climbs and descents to simulate the course conditions I will encounter in Bishop. I'll take some pictures to add to the blog too. Going back to this race a second time really gives me an advantage on what to expect out there. I wonder how the snow pack has been this year? Last year we didn't have any snow on the course, but that was the first and only year that ever happened. On my 35 mile run today I found a route through the desert that connects me to the Clark County Shooting Range. That means that just one mile from my home I can run on trails to the range which is 10 miles away, refill with water and keep on heading up the sheep mountains till I run out of water again. You got to love backyard training options.

31 mile ultra long run and the beat goes on.

I am feeling really good this week with how my training went completing the goal of 80 miles I set for myself. Tonight I just completed the final 18 miles. running strong the whole distance and left with the feeling that I could have kept running. In fact, I ran it at an average pace of 8:55 min/mi which was faster than any other run I put in this week. I am especially pleased that I was able to put in a solid effort like this after yesterday's 31 mile, 5 1/2 hour ultra long run. It was the first ultra long run of this training cycle and the fact that I could run 18 more miles the next day is a very good sign. I am doing all my long runs in 8 min run/ 2 min walk style. I find that I am actually able to maintain a faster pace this way, I am a lot less sore at the end of each run and I am able to recover quicker too. I decided to increase my weekly mileage for another week. I will add another 10% so my goal for next week will be 88 miles.