Five days away from my first ultra, in a year that will include at least five of them, the idea of tapering is on my mind. So I thought I would look back on some previous tapers (and training leading up to them).
Elk/Beaver 50 km in May 2010:
Week 8: ran 0 miles, biked 38 miles
Week 7: ran 7 miles, biked 70 miles
Week 6: raced a half marathon, biked 10 miles
Week 5: ran 7 miles
Week 4: biked 30 miles
Week 3: ran 4 miles, biked 40 miles
Week 2: ran 10 miles, biked 48 miles
Race week: biked 18 miles on monday tuesday. Then 50 km race on Saturday and road marathon on sunday.
Result: I feel like I had lots of energy leading up to the race. I was getting over a stress fracture in my anterior tibularis at the time. Pretty sure that was not the proper way to train for an ultra, or taper. Having said that, I was still exercising 4-6 times a week though.
Scorched Sole 50 mile, June 2010:
Week 8: 6 miles run, 51 miles biking
Week 7: 35 miles run, 44 miles bike
Week 6: 91 miles run, 6 miles bike
Week 5: 29 miles run, 37 miles bike
Week 4: 55 miles run, 6 miles bike
Week 3: 48 miles run, 59 miles bike
Week 2: 22 miles run
Race week: Monday 6 miles run, Wednesday 12 mile mountain run, Thursday 5 mile run, Saturday race
Result: I felt like I was very physically ready for this race. I was very focused, I had treated my body well leading up to the race, but looking back the 12 mile run the week of was probably the only really, really bad decision during the taper (but I was happy with that as I was scouting the race course). The race felt pretty good that day, and I might still consider this my most pleasing race day performance ever.
Death Race. August 2010: 5 weeks after scorched sole
Week 5: 40 miles running
Week 4: 36 miles run, 25 mile bike
Week 3: 33 miles run
Week 2: 17 miles run, 10 miles bike
Race week: sat, sun, mon, tues before the race my log indicates the type of activity I did at the time while hungover. So the week before the race I decided to be drunk.
Result: Training would seem to be negligent for volume for the race distance I was going into. Weeks 4,3 should have been way heavier with exercise. I tapered nicely I think, but clearly decided to sabotage my race week with horrible body treatment the week before the race. Resutling in a race where I feel like I made a fair amount of nutrition mistakes, and had some massive muscle cramping issues.
Scorched sole 50 mile: June 2011
Week 8: 45 miles run
Week 7: 23 miles run
Week 6: 45 miles run
Week 5: 12 miles bike
Week 4: 50 miles bike
Week 3: 52 miles run
Week 2: 13 miles run
Race week: 14 km run on wednesday; race on saturday
Results: Clearly I don't think I was running enough to have adequately prepared for this distance. If I recall during weeks 7 - 4 I was transitioning from starting work at 5 am, to starting work at 2 pm. So running got sacrificed. And then in week 5 I also stopped my attempt at sobriety and started drinking again. Surprise, not enough running to prepare. But the race went decent, kind of. I didn't cramp at all during the race which was much better than the SS 2010 or the DR 2010, my nutrition was good. My race plan was good (because I knew the course) and talking more now with people about the race I think I ended up finishing ahead of several runners that may have been better runners than me at the time, but weren't mentally prepared for the course based on things they didn't plan for (longer course, technical terrain, lack of water, heat) which I felt prepared for (I had run the course 3 weeks prior, knew what to expect for the terrain, knew the distances between water aid would be long so planned to take bottles to fill up at rivers as well as my water pack, and knew to expect the heat). So, even though I wasn't as physically prepared for the race, ad had started drinking again, I really think I had started to learn about race strategies and nutrition and that was what carried me to a relatively succesful race. But very poor training and taper, but training did not match my ambition at all.
Walk in the park 54 km: Sept 2011
Week 8: 8 miles run
Week 7: 22 miles run
Week 6: 27 miles run
Week 5: 44 miles run
Week 4: 3 miles run
Week 3: 34 miles run, 10 miles bike
Week 2: 19 miles run, 39 miles bike
Race week: Wednesday 40 mile bike ride, Thursday 21 mile run, Friday registered for race, friday night drunk - slept 3 hours, saturday - worked until 10 pm then drove 3 hours and slept in my car for 3 hours the night before the race
Result: Beat my time in the same race a year before by 20 minutes. I'm sure that was from nothing but just adding a year of running onto my legs. Shit training, shit nutrition, treated my body very horribly in the months leading up to the race, destroyed my body the week of the race. Again though, I think I managed my water, and nutrition well during the race which made up for some other bad stuff.
I do believe I could have done so much better in all these races with better training, taper and nutrition. In fact these ideas seem so poorly executed that I am kind of looking at the 2010 / 2011 as nothing more than base building and learning race strategies through trial and error.
Upcoming dirty 50 km race:
Week 11: 50 miles run (5 runs)
Week 10: 46 miles run (5 runs)
Week 9: 42 miles run (5 runs)
Week 8: 50 miles run (5 runs)
Week 7: 28 miles run (4 runs)
Week 6: 54 miles run (5 runs) (massage therapy appointment on tuesday)
Week 5: 63 miles run (5 runs, 1 hike)
Week 4: 26 miles run (4 runs)
Week 3: 69 miles run (5 runs, 1 hike) (massage therapy appointment on tuesday(
Week 2: 32 miles run (4 runs)
Race week: will do a 40 min run on tuesday followed by a leg massage on tuesday night, a 4 - 5 mile run on wednesday and then race on saturday. Also, I won't work at all the week leading up to the race so all I have to do this race week is school, 2 runs, and focus on getting good sleep and good nutrition. As well, it's monday of race day and I already have my plans outlined for drop bags, race day nutriton, clothing etc. But won't actually pack until the Thursday.
I think it goes without saying. This is the most well prepared for any race I have ever been. Even if I somehow do way worse than I hope on Saturday, I feel like I am already kicking ass compared to before, and know that I am well on the way to being very well prepared for my big summer races I have planned.
No comments:
Post a Comment