Endurance Training Log: Reflections on a Specificity Training Block
I tested writing a weekly training log a couple of months ago and found it to be a very productive mechanism for reflecting on my training. Consequently, I immediately stopped doing this.
Typical.
Anyway, I’m taking another stab at it now. This instance will be different, though. Whereas the prior post was about a single week (and if I keep this up, subsequent posts will mostly follow this format as well), this post will be about the last couple of months of training. My first race of the year is tomorrow (eek), so now seems like the perfect time to reflect on my process leading up to this point.
I left off when I was starting to shift my training to emphasize specificity. I introduced some Z4 intervals to improve hill climbing and VO2Max, incorporated some back-to-back long runs, etc. These workouts have generally gone quite well!
Perhaps the most important takeaway is that I’ve noticed material improvements in my running power for my Z3 and Z4 intervals compared to last year. It’s hard to make apples-to-apples comparisons because efficiency varies a bit based on the grade of the hill, but I’ve found running power relative to heart rate to be much more helpful than using pace on hill workouts. Even accounting for some measurement wonkiness, the consistency of improved power on these hill workout zones makes me feel confident in my legs.
This improved power at intensity is very much a byproduct of an extended focus on increasing volume at low (Z1 and Z2 — below aerobic threshold) intensity. It’s rewarding to see my investment in these lower intensity ranges pay off not only in my pace/power at those lower intensities but also at the higher intensity bands as well.
In addition to the critical intensity workouts over the last couple of months, I’ve been mostly maintaining overall volume (though it has been a touch lower than I’d like) and incorporating long-ish, easy trail runs once per week. These long, easy hill runs culminated in two key weeks over the last month.
On 4.13, Tony and I ran half the course for an extra long run. Doing this without a taper was a good way to get used to running long distances on tired legs. It provides a great stimulus without overdoing it (especially since we kept the intensity low throughout). It also was a good opportunity to test some gear and fueling strategies. The run went reasonably well. The 25 miles with 5500 feet of gain (and another 5500 feet of descent) took about 6:45 to complete, which is much slower than we’ll need on race day. That was a bit concerning, but we took our time at our makeshift aid stations, I didn’t fuel enough, and as mentioned above, I wasn’t tapered. I’ll have to run significantly faster on race day, but I’m confident I can.
The other critical week was supposed to entail some back-to-back long hill runs of 3-4 hours each. I had done shorter back-to-back hill runs of 2-3 hours, but I wanted to get used to running long distances on tired legs. This was supposed to happen on the weekend of 4.26-4.28, but unfortunately, I had my first real fall on the trails on that Friday’s run. It wasn’t too bad, but I scraped one of my knees pretty badly. The fall was simply a byproduct of running on tired legs and insufficient focus. While my training load hasn’t been higher than I could accommodate over the preceding weeks, my training load combined with my non-training stress was likely too high. My race, unfortunately, lines up with a key milestone at work, and stress levels have been higher than usual in the last couple of months. The fall was a good reminder to respect the impact of non-training stress and to take some extra time to rest. I didn’t end up doing my back-to-back long runs that weekend, but ultimately, I believe the extra rest was more valuable and set me up better for race day.
Everything since that weekend has gone quite well, and my legs feel the expected combination of freshness and laziness that comes during a taper. They don’t feel fully awake, but I know they’re very capable and will be forced to wake up tomorrow…
The final, and perhaps most important, piece of the puzzle is the mental one. It’s been an odd year mentally, to be honest. The anxiety of doing a distance for the first time isn’t there (yet — I’ll shift to prepping for the Never Summer 100K after tomorrow…and I’d expect that anxiety to return in full force). I’m performing better and feeling less stressed than last year, so I should feel more confident going into race day. I think that’s mostly the case, although I’m second-guessing the lack of nerves. Typical. I’m certainly not underestimating the difficulty of the course and the task ahead of me –especially considering the very aggressive cutoffs of this race — but I know I can do it.
I think that’s it for now. Time to get some rest and hit the trails hard tomorrow!
kyle wurtz 