In the Pursuit of 24: Week 24 : Insane Running

Carlos Candelaria, week 24 feature blog post picture

In the Pursuit of 24: Week 24

This following week is the City of Oak Marathon, so this week is a taper week. Although I am not pacing this time, and I am just participating, given that my left knee has but much of the leg strength and speed work training in the back seat, I am considering this a supported training run. Ultrarunning definitely takes a completely different training approach than shorter events, but tapering is very similar. Reduced mileage and, when running, a fair amount of easy running. Higher effort running is not out of the question, but be careful. This is not the time to PR on your training runs. Your focus is to recover, rest, and re-energize in preparation for your event.

This is part of a series of posts regarding how we prepare, plan, and train to complete the 100 miles Ultramarathon Umstead 100: In the Pursuit of 24. For all the ultrarunning series, here is In the Pursuit of 24, last week’s post, and for additional ideas, follow the link. Training for a 100 .

Assessment:

Take the opportunity to start looking for those things that are going well. The fall is the time of the year when temperature and humidity start feeling phenomenal. It’s a great opportunity to start paying attention to all the things you need to start taking notes.

For example, if your running shoes come untied during the training runs. You might not think much about it as you stop to retied your running shoes. But every 1 or 2 minutes, there are precious, something very preventable. Also, you might not stop right away to address the issue, changing the way your foot moves inside your shoe and creating perhaps the possibility of issues later on.

Planning:

In your running journal, look for those great and not-so-great training runs, especially those that seem to have similar feelings or similar situations. For those, consider the following questions and formulate a plan to reinforce the good and adjust the not-so-good. Be sure to be honest with yourself; this is not for me or others to reflect; this is for you to reflect and use to move you forward.

What do they have in common?

Are you testing a few new things? Clothing? Fuel? Shoes? Electronics?

How is your weekly mileage?

Are you recovering well?

Are there any pain or nagging issues that keep coming back?

How is the plan going:

This week was another solid week. The workweek mileage was decent, even though I had great back-to-back long runs. Here are some highlights,

Monday: Some easy stretches

Tuesday: 8 miles with some 1-mile repeats. I am very pleased with the outcome of the run.

Wednesday: Cisco easy InsaneRunning group run. Jay was able to join us today. It was great to see him back running, as he has been battling some foot issues.

Thursday: As you probably know, I am still battling some left knee issues. I took a rest day to see the doctor today to get an injection to help with the pain.

Friday: Longer stretch session

Saturday: I headed out to complete a 15 miler with the InsaneRunning group, but feeling great at the end of the loop, I reloaded my fueling at the parking lot and headed out to add another 6 miles for a total of 21.

Sunday: Great weather; I headed out a little bit later in the morning. I had the Covid shot yesterday and felt a lot of muscle soreness during the mid to later parts of the run. But it was a good run. Venu, Kaleel, and Raj traveled to Atlantic City to complete a morning marathon. All three did phenomenal.

This week’s actual numbers: