Slowly but Surely

Ah Mondays, how sweet they are since they are my no guilt days off from running and any type of workouts and this Monday I'm celebrating a little. For a couple of years I was experimenting on the least amount of mileage I could run while still surviving these 100-milers. I had the whole swimming and biking thing from triathlon anyway. I think I got it down to 40-45 a week. Now last year there was a big discussion on the benefits of higher mileage on the ultralist forum and I decided it was time to experiment with more miles. After a short break late in the summer last year because of an injured knee I raised my weekly mileage to 60-65 for Fall training and racing. I think it truly helped. My weight stayed down and I had big personal bests in two races. Most of all I finished the season feeling strong and less beat up.

So this year I've decided to continue raising my weekly mileage. I'm aiming for 80-90 miles a week for the hard weeks. I don't know about 100, seems like it would take too much time. I'm reminded about something I read about endurance sports a few years ago; you know you're an endurance athlete when your workouts are not dictated by what you can handle but by how much time you have available.

Last week I hit 80-82 miles (128 -131k), up from the week before which was 76-78 miles. I've never hit that many training miles! Even on the weeks where I did a 50k or 50-mile race I've never gone past 70. We'll see, I either break or get stronger. I do miss the bike though and the cross training benefits it provides, I'll endeavour to put some of it back in the training. Slowly but surely I'm racking up more miles.

Jon was out since it was his back down week but I lucked out with Lynn. She is training for the Miwok 100k as well, ironic because it was in this race that I met her 3 years ago and that was the last time we both ran the race. Since then I've only seen her twice, an injury took her out for a year and a half. Like Jon she's been in the sport longer than I have and she regaled me with stories of her runs and her new and exciting relationship. I love how a good conversation can make the time go by faster, the hills smaller. Like in previous weeks we ran into other runners training for Miwok. Gals representing the East Bay were there; Flora, Suzanne, Leigh and Jo Ann. Also ran into Doug from San Francisco. Anyway this is us after the run, people watching at Rodeo Beach.