It’s funny that the winter that I decide to ramp up my running is the time that we have incredible snow. Just a week ago we received 16” of snow over a 48-hour period. I think that brings our total for the season up to 45”. It reminds me of when I was a kid, and we’d go to Michigan’s U.P. and snow would be piled over their mailboxes along the road. As Dave mentioned in a comment on my last post, lots of runners switch to skiing over the winter and get into great shape. I agree that it’s possible and I’ve done it myself. The hard part is, of course, you’re dependent on the snow. Now we have places that make snow, which is great. However, if you don’t receive any, or enough, natural snow, you’re stuck doing 2–3-mile loops over and over all winter long. That can get extremely monotonous. To have a really good ski season you have to start early – as soon as the first man-made loop is open, which is typically early December. Again, if you commit to that and don’t get natural snow, then you’re stuck with man-made loops. With all that in mind, this winter I’ve committed myself to focusing on running, while using the occasional ski (and bike) outing as cross training. The problem with that approach is skiing gets so much easier, and more fun, the more often you do it. Your form gets better, and you get stronger, making the whole process much easier.
I have 2 other “excuses” for not focusing on skiing this year;
1) I work from home 4 days per week now, so I no longer pass by ski trails on
my way to work. Plus, our new office doesn’t have a shower like our previous
location. That pretty much eliminates exercising before work on the one day that
I do go to the office. 2) I’ll admit it, I’m a fair-weather skier. I just don’t
enjoy skiing when it’s below about 10 degrees. And guess what, that happens a
lot in Minnesota during the winter – especially in the mornings.
I guess all of this is my way to justify focusing on running
when the footing has been terrible, but the ski trails are fabulous.
While my running motivation is high, I took the opportunity
to sign up for a bunch of races. Here’s what my 2023 race schedule is looking
like at the moment. The plan is to build fitness through increased mileage and
workouts through 1/29 and then have 2 weeks before I’d start an 18-week build
towards Grandma’s on 2/12.
1/14 Yukon 5-mile
1/29 Winter Carnival 15K or 20K
4/2 Goldy’s 10-mile
4/8 Zumbro 17-mile trail race
5/6 Human Powered Half Marathon
6/17 Grandma’s Marathon
This means I’m racing a 5 miler this Saturday. If you’ve been following closely, my last race was an 8k on Thanksgiving where I surprised myself by averaging 7:12 pace. I want to use this race to see where the last 7 weeks of hard training has taken me. But I also realize that the weather and road conditions will be vastly different than on November 24th.
One last topic before I recap the last couple of weeks of training. I like to read/listen to books and I’m already through 4 this year. I mentioned Matt Fitzgerald’s 80/20 Running previously. This covered a lot of the same themes from Run Like a Pro, which I read at the end of 2022. Next, I read the biography of Bill Squires, Born to Coach by Paul Clerici. I love the history of the sport and being the coach of Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, Greg Meyers – guys I looked up to as a kid – I really thought I’d like this book a lot. Unfortunately, it didn’t meet my expectations. I think the story could have been told in 100 fewer pages. There were lots of stats about runner’s results from each season – and many of these runners would only be known if you lived in the Boston area at the time.
The next 2 books I really liked, so I’m going to give them their own paragraphs.
I think most endurance athletes are familiar with David Goggins, the former Navy Seal that has done some mind-blowing endurance events that usually involve finishing after some setback that would cause most runners to DNF. He covered his back story a couple of years ago in his first book Can’t Hurt Me. Everything I read about his latest book, Never Finished, said it was even better, and I’d have to agree. While I think he can be a little much at times – pushing way passed bodily harm (or at least what I’d consider bodily harm) – he does have a way of motivated people and having them question their effort levels. It happens to be one of the reasons why I’ve been bumping my weekly mileage. I would recommend listening to the audio version of this book because after each chapter, he does a mini-podcast that provides additional insight.
I’m not sure if I’m mentioned it at all, but I took an assistant coaching job for cross country and track 3 years ago. I bring that up because it’s one of the reasons I read the next book, What Makes Maddy Run. It’s the story of an all-American girl that’s great at everything she does – until she gets to college. It’s about her struggles with mental illness – something no one saw coming, given how successful she was in high school. I would consider this a must-read for all parents, especially if their kids are in sports. As a coach it was very insightful, but it also scares the shit out of me. It’s much easier to come up with a weekly workout schedule than to monitor the mental health of my athletes and then try to have difficult conversation with them if I suspect anything. It’s even harder when that’s not the environment you grew up in and you’ve never had mental health issues yourself.
RECAP OF WEEK 12/25 – 12/31
Sunday
– Day off - Christmas
Monday
– Strength + 8 miles easy
Tuesday
– AM: 2-mile shuffle, NOON: 4.5 miles easy
Wednesday
– 6-mile progression run (steady-state pace to CV pace – 7:45 – 7:10)
Thursday
– AM: Strength + 3-miles, PM: 2 miles easy
Friday
– AM: 6-mile run, PM: 10K classic ski
Saturday – AM: 8 miles, PM 4 miles – poor footing led
to sore hips in the morning, so I cut my long run short and added a 2nd
run.
Summary: 43.5 miles of
running, 0 miles of biking, 10K of skiing and 2 strength training
RECAP OF WEEK 1/1 – 1/7
Sunday
– 9-mile fat bike ride – perfect conditions
Monday
– AM: 2 miles, PM: 8 mile including :40 at steady-state pace (7:45) + strength
Tuesday
– AM: 4+ miles easy, PM: 2+ miles easy
Wednesday
– 6-mile run – lots of shoveling
Thursday
– AM: 2.5 miles, PM: 5.5 miles – Fast Finish – last :10 at LT (7:25)
Friday
– AM: 5 miles, PM: 7K classic ski
Saturday – 14 miles solo (2:18)
Summary: 49.5 miles of
running, 9 miles of biking, 7K of skiing and 1 strength training
The last 3 weeks of 38, 43 and 49 miles of running have me
looking forward to a cutback week. That will be a nice mini-taper leading up to
Saturday’s race.
Quote of the day;
“You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.” – Sophia Bush
No comments:
Post a Comment