Soaking wet!

After Saturday's 10K Micheal and I headed for a 3.5 hour run in the gorge. Steve is injured so he started earlier and we were to catch him. I love the chase game. It's a real motivator for me to push hard and it's fun! It was pouring and I mean pouring. Fortunately it was a warm rain which means snow melt...yeah. Thank goodness it was around 47 degrees or we would have been frozen. I felt really strong and since real training has started again it's time to push the second half of the run. That means some threshold stuff on the hills, lots of 3B (breathing hard but sustainable) and pushing the downhills. We had picked a great route with 16 miles and just shy of 4500 feet of ascent. By the time we were ready to start pushing our clothes must have weighed 5 pounds with all the water they were holding. We weren't the only fools....oops I mean dedicated ultra runners in the gorge that day. We saw Liz busting up the hills as she continues her prep for WS100M. She looked strong and determined but very wet. :) You know your soaked when you spend zero energy crossing creeks when you know the water is going to spill into your shoes. The energy I had for the second half was noteworthy! Strong on the climbs running all of them and even my downhill running is setting on nicely. I haven't felt strong on the downhills since I injured my knee last year. I suspect most of the deficiency is mentally driven but it's real and I need to shake it. Sunday was the beginning of more good things to come. Even Micheal who busted out a double dog on Friday in 3 stinken hours said, "Nice downhill". Extremely wet but satisfied we literally rung out our clothes and basked in the glory of one fine training run. We never did catch Steve. That guy can simply walk fast! He said he only had to wait 5 minutes before we showed up.

There are 12 weeks of training left before Hardrock. With 6 weeks Peak Phase training (later) that means 6 weeks for the Specificity Phase. This phase brings some changes to my schedule. M-Pace and T-Pace runs will be limited. Hill repeats and track workouts (Wednesday's) get added. In addition a longish 3A/3B trail run (not a cruiser by any means) will be added during the weekdays (Thursday's). The threshold work will be done on hill repeat days and now I get to do some higher intensity Z5 work at the track. The Sunday runs now also include some threshold work but not a ton. I find the Sunday threshold stuff to be the most challenging but extremely rewarding and satisfying if I can actually make it happen. For weight training another leg day is added. My weight training for this phase goes like this:

Monday: Upper body

Tuesday: Lower body after run

Wednesday: Upper body

Thursday: Upper and Lower (more functional movement stuff for lower) after run

Friday, Saturday, Sunday are OFF

This is a funny play on words.....I do the Hammered stuff on Tuesday and Thursday nights if I can. This is an area I need to watch. I can really get carried away with the weight room. I really love the gym work and the results are quick and noticeable so it draws me in. I tend to not give weight training the same value as running meaning I think it doesn't count and doesn't stress my body. However I have justified the over indulgence it has it's consequences and they tend not work in my favor when I over do it. My body breaks down and my runs suffer. With my focus now needing to turn fully to quality runs and making the most of the trails I need a hall monitor for weight room. Mark at Sledge Athletic Solutions will be a key allie in my quest to be very strong, stay lean but keep my focus in the right direction. However I try to get side tracked he keeps reminding me where my head needs to be.