200!
Thanks to a short notice for a PT Test with the Army I suddenly have to increase my skill at push ups… [more]
Brooks Ghost4 GTX
I’ve been looking for a pair of trail shoes specifically for the McNaughton 200 mile trail run in 2012.… [more]
Dirty Girls
Gaiters are a great way to keep debris out of your shoes during runs. The best gaiters I’ve… [more]
Badgerland 24 Hour Track Ultra – 2011
September 3rd 2011 was the 24 Hour Badgerland Track Ultra. This race takes place on a 400… [more]
Saucony Kinvara
I recently picked up the Saucony Kinvara and have got enough miles in them it’s time to write about… [more]
Blog Roll
Laura getting ready for McNaughton 200
Laura posts on her blog about getting ready for the 200 that starts in two days!
Adventure Foot – Ultra running style
Brenda’s I-Challenge Report
Another friend of mine Brenda also ran in the I-Challenge this weekend. Here is her report. She has an epiphany that I believe all athletes should realize for themselves. Good lesson there. I’ve had the pleasure of working out with Brenda before. She has the attitude needed to succeed. She pushes hard, craves going beyond her comfort zone and loves every second of it. Read her “A little about me” for her full story.
Laura’s I-Challenge Report
My friend and awesome blogger Laura did the I-Challenge for the Illinois Marathon this weekend. This is a 5k on a Friday night and the Half Marathon the following morning. The weather was crappy, she was getting sick but she still managed to get her run in and find the bright so to all of it. Great Job Laura!!!
Train Hard, Taper Hard
I haven’t posted anything in a bit. Frankly I’ve been really busy and it’s come down to a choice of post something or get laundry done, post or get groceries, post or train. I’m hoping soon enough my time frees back up and I can post stuff more regularly. I’ve got some gear reviews to write as soon as I can get to them. I’m only posting tonight cause I went to bed and couldn’t sleep. I know my writing is boring enough to put most to sleep, hopefully that works on me.
My training is done at this point. Now it’s time to taper and recover. Sleep, quality eating and active recovery are the keys. Normally I wouldn’t skip training cause of sleep, but I may tomorrow. If I can’t get to sleep tonight at an okay hour then I’m going to skip tomorrow’s easy swim for sleep. Train hard, taper hard is the motto. I’ve put in enough hard training over the last 5 months that I can skip an easy session for sleep and it’s all good. Sleep has always been the biggest hurdle to my training. Lack of sleep to be more accurate.
The following is my plan for the next couple weeks right up to race day.
Monday 30Apr
AM Easy Swim 1000m
PM Stretching/Yoga
Tuesday 01May
AM Track Session – Warm up, 3 x 200m repeats with full recovery, Cool Down 4-5miles
PM Track Session Coaching – Warm up and Cool down only with girls 2-3 miles
Wednesday 02May
AM Easy Swim 1000m with 3 x 50m repeats with full recovery
PM Track Session Coaching – Warm up and Cool down only with girls 2-3 miles
Thursday 03May
AM Easy Trail Run with 3 x 30 second strides 4-6 miles
PM Easy Trail Run 2 miles
Friday 04May
Rest/Stretching/Yoga
Saturday 05May
AM 15 Mile easy bike ride
PM Rest/Stretching/Yoga
Sunday 06May
AM Easy trail run 4-6 miles
PM Rest/Stretching
Monday 07May
PM Track Session Coaching – Warm up and Cool down only with girls 2-3 miles
Tuesday 08May
Rest/Stretching
Wednesday 09May
Travel
Thursday 10May
200 Mile starts
Currently I’m doing some back and forth with one of my coaches on nutrition for the race. The other one just finished up a six day ultra taking third. He is traveling home and unavailable at this exact moment. Despite the fact I’ve worked with a nutritionist, read a lot of nutrition books and read site after site about nutrition is turns out I don’t know anything about it. However that’s exactly part of why I’ve hired coaches. I’ve done okay for myself in ultra running so far, but I need someone else to take me to the next levels. Which my coaches at ultrafitnesstraining.com are doing exactly that. Another blog post I hope to get to is the training I’ve done with them and what I think about it (all positive by the way).
Back on point about nutrition. Pretty soon I think my nutrition plan will be set enough to send out to my crew so they know what to do. I also think it’s time I work with a nutritionist again. Once I figure the rest of the year out for running I might look more into that. I’ll have someone helping me figure out what/when to eat and some phenomenal coaches helping me become a better ultra runner.
As far as the McNaughton 200 goes here’s where I’m at. I have 5 crew joining me this year. 1 of them is acting as crew/pacer during the day. They will work in shifts (night/day) so that they can get rest during the race and support me better. Plus they will have a more enjoyable time overall. Last year at the 150 it was just my brother and I. He did a hell of a job crewing/pacing but it was too much to put on one person. My crew will get adequate sleep, showers and changes of clothes. I want to take care of those that are taking care of me.
Goals:
I’m going in with three goals: A)The stars have aligned and the gods are smiling on us, this is what we are aiming for B) realistic and I’d be happy with it C) minimum goal I want to accomplish if everything falls apart
A) 55 hrs
This means a 10 mile loop at 2h45m, or a 16:30 per mile pace. This sounds slow but this is average pace (change of clothes, eating, peeing all the time, this is in the mountains… all slow that down). This should be good enough to be a contender for a top 3 spot. I’ll develop my plan based around this time.
B) 60 hrs
This means a 10 mile loop at 3h, or a 18:00 per mile pace
C)Finish in under 72 hours (course cut off)
If it rains this is probably realistic. It will be a mother of a course if this happens.
I’ve learned the hard way to have multiple goals. If you focus on just one and it become out of reach you have nothing to fall back on or motivate you to keep going. I’m shooting for A, if it turns out that can’t happen then B will take over…
More on race day prep as it happens and I get time to post about it.
Training 02Apr-08Apr
Monday
Weight Session @ gym
Track Meet Mount Zion High School Girls
Tuesday
Track Session 7 miles
Weight Walking Hill session – 3 trail miles with lots of hills, 50lb weight vest
Wednesday
Weight Session @ gym
Coaching MTZ High School Girls 2 miles
Thursday
Hill Session – Tempo Trail Run attack downhills 6 miles
Friday
Step Session – 10min backwards 11 in step no weight, 20 min forward 14 in step 36lbs, 5 min forward 14 in step no weight
Tempo Run with Fartleks 5 miles
Saturday
Strength training bodyweight session
Sunday
7 mile hike
Busy week plus traveling so I was off my schedule as far as routine goes, but I got almost everything in. Missed swimming and cycling but nothing to do about that. This weekend I’m crewing/pacing in the 150 mile race for my good buddy and stud ultra runner Ryan Dexter.
Training 26Mar-12Apr
Monday
2000m swim
Body weight strength training session
Tuesday
Track session – 7 miles total
High School Girls Track Team – 4 miles
Step Training with 11 inch step – 10 min Backwards @ 50lbs, 20 min Forward @ 50lbs, 5 min Forward @ 96lbs
Wednesday
2500m swim
Weight training @ gym
Thursday
Hill session – 6 miles total
High School Girls Track Team – 4.5 miles
Weight Walking Hill session – 3.5 trail miles with lots of hills, 50lb weight best
Friday
Rest
Saturday
Clinton Lake Ultra 30 mile with 11lb vest
8 mile cool down run pacing friend to his finish
Sunday
10 mile road bike
Weight training @ gym
All in all a good week of training. Weighted hill walking was introduced, and hour of hiking all the hills I can on the trails while wearing a 50lb vest. Part of getting ready for all the massive hill climbs coming up in the 200. Also did the Clinton Lake Ultra. I didn’t taper at all for this race, it was treated as a regular long run. Show up, do a good solid run to improve and train. I wore my running weight vest with 11lbs in it and still came in 20 minutes faster then last year and took 10th overall. I chalk that up as a hell of a training run. Once done I changed, ate and went backwards on the course till I found a buddy who was doing his first ultra there. I ran with him to the finish to give me 38 miles that day. My training is tough and it’s definitely making me stronger and faster. Couldn’t have made it this far without my ultra coaches!
Training 19Mar – 25Mar
Monday
2500m swim
Body weight strength training session
Tuesday
Track session – 7 miles total
High School Girls Track Team – 6 miles
30 minute step training with 11in step – 10 mins @ 40bs, 10mins @ 43lbs, 10mins @50lbs additional weight
Wednesday
2500m swim
Weight training @ gym
Thursday
Hill session – 9 miles total
High School Girls Track Team – 6 miles
Friday
Rest
Saturday
Long run finished off with 5k race – 10lb XL 18.2miles total
Sunday
16 mile road bike
Weight training @ gym
Good week of training. Got back on the bike and actually made it outside for a change. I put up the indoor cyclo trainer, which is always a good feeling. Weight sessions are coming along nicely and I’m really starting to enjoy Deadlifts and Squats. Saturday I did a long run to the start of a local 5k, then ran the 5k. My time was slower then I normally do, but then I’ve never ran long to a race and had on a weight best, so it’s to be expected. This upcoming Saturday is the Clinton Lake Ultra 30 miler. Haven’t done an official ultra in a while, looking forward to getting another one under my belt.
Laura Sievert Half Marathon Recap
Contributor and supporter of Run Happens Laura Sievert ran her first Half-Marathon. Click below for the link to her recap. She did a great job on training, dealing with life and injuries that popped up and still completed her first half. She has another one planned in April then in May she’s on my crew for the 200 miler! Great friend and it’s been amazing to see her transformation and she’s become an athlete.
Five-Hundred and Ten Point Nine
Training 12Mar-18Mar
Monday
2500m swim
Body weight strength training session
200 Push Ups – 4 x 50
Tuesday
Track session – 7 miles total
30 minute step training with 11in step – 10 mins @ 40bs, 10mins @ 43lbs, 10mins @50lbs additional weight
200 Push Ups – 4 x 50 with 10lb vest
High School Girls Track Team – 6 miles
Wednesday
2500m swim
Weight training @ gym
200 Push Ups – 4 x 50 with 10lb vest
Thursday
Hill session – 9 miles total
256 Push Ups 5 x Failure reps (52, 51, 51, 50, 53)
High School Girls Track Team – 5 miles
Friday
Rest/Travel Day Military
Saturday
Rest/Military
Sunday
PT Test Military
2 min Push Ups – 83
2 min Sit Ups – 73
2 mile run – 12:44
I’m happy with how the push ups turned out, I did the most I’ve ever done. However the run was slower then it should have been. No one to race against and a course where I don’t know any of the distance markers means it’s all by feel. I ran solid but didn’t race myself, which I should have done. It’s not a bad time, but it’s very slow compared to what I’m capable. Other then that not a bad training week.
200!
Thanks to a short notice for a PT Test with the Army I suddenly have to increase my skill at push ups instead of a slow gradual progression I was hoping for. 17 days notice instead of a few months before my next one. Granted I can ALWAYS pass a PT test, I wanted to destroy my next one. I worked out with my coaches (or they told me and I said sure) a crash training program. 14 days of 200 per day, each day getting harder and harder. Once this is over I’ll go on a more sensible training program – till then I’m rocking 200 per day!
Day 1
200 push-ups as 20 sets of 10 reps. You can split these any way you wish e.g. 20 x 10 with a short rest between sets, or 1 set an hour over 20 hours, or whatever – AT THIS POINT it doesn’t matter. The simple aim is to perform 200 good quality push-ups during one day.
Day 2
Add a weight vest. Don’t make the weight excessively heavy but use whatever you can manage without this interfering with your push-up form. Again aim to do 200 push-ups during the day, as 20 sets of 10, split any way you like.
Day 3
No vest 200 push-ups as 10 sets of 20 reps, once again split any way you like i.e. with as much or as little rest between sets as you want, just do 200 push-ups as 10 sets of 20 in one day.
Day 4
Add the vest and repeat as for Day 3, doing 10 sets of 20 reps but with the vest.
Day 5
No vest 8 sets of 25 reps, split any way you like.
Day 6
Add the vest 8 sets of 25 reps, split any way you want.
Day 7
8 sets of 25 reps but this time in one session with minimal rest between sets.
Day 8
Add vest 8 sets of 25 reps but this time in one session with minimal rest between sets.
Day 9
No vest 4 sets of 50 reps, any split you like, don’t worry how long it takes you to get to 50 reps or if you need to pause etc, just do it
Day 10
Add vest Try to get 4 sets of 50 reps, any split you like, don’t worry how long it takes. IF you can’t manage 50 at a time, complete the 200 any way you can.
Day 11
No vest 4 sets of 50 reps in one session, keep the rest between sets to a minimum. Best guide is to finish a set and wait until your heart and respiratory rate are back to around normal then do another set.
Day 12
Add vest 4 sets of push-ups to failure on each set. Rest between sets. If this is less than 4 x 50, do extra reps to reach 200.
Day 13
Repeat day 12
Day 14
5 sets of push-ups to failure on each set, aiming for 50+ per set.
Then take a break before the PT test 3 days later.
I finished Day 8 just before posting this. Days without the vest are much easier, it sucked till about Day 5 then my body got used to this many push ups. I’m pretty sure when I hit 50 per set (tomorrow) it’s gonna get really hard again. It’s all about pushing and telling your body what it’s going to do, not the other way around.
Follow Up
I took my PT test this weekend which consisted of 2 minutes of Push Ups. 4 months ago when I did this I did a pathetic 51 Push Ups barely passing Army standards, as a Drill SGT that’s disappointing. After crushing this program I did 83 Push Ups which destroyed my previous best and maxed my score by Army standards.
I don't look this pretty doing these
This and other motivational images can be found at Hardform Fitness
