This Ultra thing really keeps me on my toes. I don’t just run out and do it; I feel it day after day. Aches and pains; worried about injuries, icing the legs, etc have me always focused and planning. A monthly status report is going to hopefully validate and record how all that effort is going.
There is no doubt that my shin and knee injuries from last year have been hanging around; but I have been able to subdue them to a point that only one week had reduced workouts. Max workout for the month was 4 hours and 15 minutes, including 1 hour 47 minutes of running over 18.5 miles. Frankly this came out of nowhere as I did it after having some keen shin and knee pain. Also in that workout was 1600 feet of elevation gain.
My usual comparison to 2010- my best workout January 2010 was a 45 minute walk at 20 minutes per mile with 800 feet of elevation gain. It’s clear I am way ahead of 2010 and I want to keep healthy enough to keep it up and keeping my workouts under control. With that I have decided for sure to do a 50k and not the 50 miler at the upcoming NJ Ultra Festival (March 19) . While I suppose I could push myself to cover 50 miles I don’t think my legs would recover well at this point and would cause longer term damage.
So now it’s February and I move on. Icing and resting and running and walking. The snow has kept me house bound, I don’t have snowshoes that are good for running and the trails are likely deep with snow. I know they are since we are getting 22 inches over the next two days. I have tried to get some road running in but it seems to be snowing every other say so I need to wait till the shoulders of the road are cleaned well……….
Rating- B+ - hard to say too much bad- I hit my long workouts, cycled and took days off and ran more than I even hoped. I destroyed 2010’s January workouts, my only year of comparison. Only thing that keeps from the A is the shin and knee aches. So far, so good in 2012 for race improvements…..
There is no doubt that my shin and knee injuries from last year have been hanging around; but I have been able to subdue them to a point that only one week had reduced workouts. Max workout for the month was 4 hours and 15 minutes, including 1 hour 47 minutes of running over 18.5 miles. Frankly this came out of nowhere as I did it after having some keen shin and knee pain. Also in that workout was 1600 feet of elevation gain.
My usual comparison to 2010- my best workout January 2010 was a 45 minute walk at 20 minutes per mile with 800 feet of elevation gain. It’s clear I am way ahead of 2010 and I want to keep healthy enough to keep it up and keeping my workouts under control. With that I have decided for sure to do a 50k and not the 50 miler at the upcoming NJ Ultra Festival (March 19) . While I suppose I could push myself to cover 50 miles I don’t think my legs would recover well at this point and would cause longer term damage.
So now it’s February and I move on. Icing and resting and running and walking. The snow has kept me house bound, I don’t have snowshoes that are good for running and the trails are likely deep with snow. I know they are since we are getting 22 inches over the next two days. I have tried to get some road running in but it seems to be snowing every other say so I need to wait till the shoulders of the road are cleaned well……….
Rating- B+ - hard to say too much bad- I hit my long workouts, cycled and took days off and ran more than I even hoped. I destroyed 2010’s January workouts, my only year of comparison. Only thing that keeps from the A is the shin and knee aches. So far, so good in 2012 for race improvements…..
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