Surviving Ultra

Because DFL is still an accomplishment

Category: Uncategorized

  • Interesting Running Partner

    I always try to squeeze a walk, run or ruck in wherever I can and I especially try to make a point of it whenever I travel.  While a recent business trip to an Orlando suburb didn’t really leave me any time to explore, I did manage to get a couple of miles in going between the hotel and conference center.

    Over the years, I’ve encountered an array of animals on various trails such as snakes, deer and foxes.  I even saw a moose once hiking in Vermont and a black bear in the Catskills.  This was the first time, however, that I encountered a pair of Sandhill Cranes running down the street parallel to me. 

  • MTI Helen Final Thoughts

    This was a plan I really enjoyed.  It definitely made me a more durable mountain athlete and I do feel more powerful going uphill after 3 months of doing programs with weighted step ups. The specificity of the program was great and it made for a great off season block to get through what has been a very snowy winter so far. 

    In terms of the strength training, I’m not expecting to break any PRs after running the training block but I do feel like I am better able to repeatedly express the strength I have in a functional way.  What I mean by that is my 1RM max overhead press probably did not go up but getting an extra rep or two into each set at 80% was doable towards the end. 

    The most valuable part for me was the chassis integrity days.  I haven’t tested yet but I expect to find that this program nicely set the stage for some improvements in my squat and deadlift.  After all those sandbag get ups, power cleans, good mornings, and deadlifts I’ve seen improvements in bracing my core.  This was a great program and I look forward to others in the series. 

  • The Failed Walking Pad Experiment

    After reading Born to Walk I was excited to start incorporating more walking into my daily routine and had acquired a walking pad which I was trying to use for a cumulative 2 hours a day while at my desk.  It seemed like a great way to up my training volume a bit without impacting other aspects of my life. Incorporating more walking into my routine did have definite benefits and I am keen to keep walking more every day.  However, I learned that I am not keen to keep doing it via a walking pad. 

    I found that in order to maintain the appropriate proximity to my desk so I could type, I had to stand at a distance from my desk that did not allow me to use my normal stride.  This was forcing me to alter my gait in a way that was just not natural for me and was leading to some minor soreness in the knees.  The soreness went away when I stopped using the walking pad and started walking again outdoors instead (my other training was unchanged).  So basically, I love the Born to Walk philosophy and see the value of the approach.  But, for me at least, a walking pad at my desk just didn’t turn out to be a viable way to execute on it. 

    Note: the walking pad in the absence of the desk seems fine. Getting the two to work together is where I experienced the issue. 

  • MTI Helen Initial Thoughts

    I’m in week 3 of the 1st of the Greek Heroine series of plans from Mountain Tactical Institute and I think this is a great plan for anyone that likes to hike, backpack, or run in the mountains.  While the plan is not without running speed work and plenty of weighted step ups to keep a level of sport specificity in the mix, it also has a nice mixture of strength and work capacity efforts to build endurance and resiliency in other ways.  From my impressions at the half way mark, the plan may not have you setting any running PRs by the end of it, but it does one important thing really well and that is improve your durability.  For me the endurance of the spinal erectors in my lower back has seen a huge benefit which will be great at maintaining good posture when I’m deep into a race.  The “chassis integrity” work in the program goes far beyond the core exercises you see in most fitness programs and will really help keep energy leaks plugged as the miles tick onward. 

    The program does contain a high volume of deadlifts and power cleans.  In addition to addressing a potential weakness in the endurance of my spinal erectors they did also point out one other area for improvement in terms of tightness in my hip flexors.  It’s not programmed for in the plan directly, but I needed to ensure the couch stretch was integrated into my daily routine to counteract the tightness which this program intensified.  This is not an issue with the program.  It’s a stretch I should have been doing everyday anyway as the issue has appeared before, and unfortunately let slide.  I’m looking forward to being a more durable mountain athlete by the end of the program and seeing where the other plans in the packet can take me.

  • MTI Mountaineering and Hiking Prep Plan

    I really enjoyed this month-long training plan and it provided the perfect mix of training for the surprisingly snowy winter we have had so far.  I loved the simplicity of the plan – 2 days of ever-increasing step ups with a 30-pound pack, two bodyweight strength days, and one running day each week.  The plan was a great way to get aerobic base building in a sport specific way even when the weather didn’t support an outdoor run.  It was a straightforward and simple but highly effective plan that would serve anyone who is prepping for hiking season well. 

    I liked the specificity of the plan so much that it generated an interest in running more mountain plans from Mountain Tactical Institute and I have decided to spend the next few months going through their Greek Heroine packet of plans.  The plans are designed to achieve a strong base level of fitness for mountain athletes.  I have started Helen the first plan in the series and am looking forward to seeing where it takes me.

  • Born to Walk

    I recently completed the book Born to Walk by Mark Sisson and found the premise of the book that humans have evolved to walk extensively each day quite compelling and consistent with my personal (albeit anecdotal) experience with walking.  What I especially appreciated was the coverage of the book with regards to the importance of low intensity training and how even walking in zone 1 or more purposeful walking in zone 2 can still have huge aerobic base building benefits without being as physically taxing as running. 

    While I don’t see myself giving up running any time soon, the book has made me make some adaptations to how I have been approaching my training.  I have been using a standing desk for a while now and rarely sit down during the day, but the arguments in the book pushed me to take it one step further and spring for a walking pad for under my desk. I’m still following the Mountaineering and Hiking Prep plan I’ve been running in an unmodified form, but have added a couple of hours of zone 1 walking to my daily routine.  I’ve had no issues with recovery with the added zone 1 work so far and intend to continue the practice going forward.  It seems an efficient way to add volume and time on feet in a non-taxing way and one I plan on continuing as long as recovery doesn’t present an issue. 

  • Fun in the Snow

    My aerobic base building block has been going well and I can feel my running-based conditioning coming back quickly, but winter snow has definitely hit earlier than expected this year with 3 snow storms hitting to date.  Part of me never grew up and still loves to play in the snow so it’s been great to get out, strap some crampons on, and hit the snow-covered trails, such as some recent exploration of Minnewaska Park’s Lower Awosting Trail and Blueberry Run Footpath. 

    While I don’t mind training outside in the winter, the recent storms have had me make some modifications to my current training block.  On the first of the stormy days where conditions meant it would have been unsafe to run, I replaced a run with some sport specific gym-based exercises in the form of high repetitions of step ups with a 30-pound rucking plate on my back. This workout came from Mountain Tactical Institute’s Mountaineering and Hiking Prep plan and additional snow storms led to my decision to stick with it.  The plan contains two days of step ups, two total body strength days, and one running day.  The step ups and circuit-based strength days still provide a great aerobic benefit and the running in the plan still allows me to continue to practice my form.  I have made the weekly run a bit longer than the plan calls for though and have taken advantage of the 5 day a week layout of the plan to sneak an extra day of hiking or trail running in if I’m feeling up to it. The plan is a recommended entry point for their more advanced mountain running and hiking plans and I see myself following this plan up with one of them. 

  • Coros Base Plan Week 1 Thoughts

    While taking some time out to run AthleanX’s Max Shred and Monster Maker plans with some maintenance running and hiking added in turned out to be a worthwhile detour, it was nice to get back to something more running focused.  After pursuing the 2 AthleanX plans while following a Macrofactor cut strategy, I’m down almost 20 pounds and have a much better strength to body weight ratio.  I’ve shifted back to maintenance calories in Macrofactor for this block.  I’m sticking to zone 2 for this aerobic base building block and the weight reduction has helped with my zone 2 pace on the distances I’ve run so far.  The runs definitely feel easier.  I’m also enjoying how Coros has the mileage divided up throughout the week.  The plan starts with the mileage spread out across 4 days a week and starting in week 3 becomes a 5 day a week plan with 4 running days and one aerobic cross training day.  In the final two weeks it replaces the cross training day with a 5th running session. I’ve been using the first two Coros scheduled rest days to incorporate strength sessions using the tactical barbell fighter template so far, but will need to adjust this strategy a bit once week 3 hits with its extra cross training workout. I’ve completed the first week with 18.5 miles run and 3822 feet of elevation gain.  Looking forward to the next 9 weeks. 

  • Coros Beginner Runner Base Plan

    If I consider where I stand now I have a high level of general physical preparation and very high work capacity, which is why I do well in steep Ultra’s, but I do need to really up my game with regards to my aerobic base as this is what holding me back on flatter courses and ultimately preventing me from unlocking even better performances on the steep ones. I intend to do an extensive aerobic base build over the next 6+ months or so. 

    To start off this base build, I’m going to start off with the Coros Beginner Runner Base Plan which is a 10 week plan designed to take a runner up from running 15 miles a week up to 30.  I will be pairing this plan with Tactical Barbell (TB) fighter strength template which I used when I performed a TB Base Build earlier in the year.

    For my Fighter exercise cluster, I intend to use Bench Press, Weighted Pull Ups, and a Trap Bar Deadlift as the exercises.  This will get to me running higher mileages than I have been while keeping some strength in the mix and will form a solid foundation for whatever more advanced aerobic base building plan I decide to continue with from there.

  • AthleanX Monster Maker Completed

    I really enjoyed this program and see myself completing it again at some point in the future.  If I didn’t have a 50 miler goal I wanted to start working towards, I could see myself having a productive year on the strength side by repeating this program 2 more times with the chest and leg focus after my current run with the back focus. The program definitely met my goal of further strengthening the muscles in my posterior chain and both my barbell row and weighted pull ups went up when I tested at the end of the program.  I also experienced no tiredness or soreness in any back muscles during some of the long rucks I did in recent weeks.  More importantly, however, I leaned out even more while managing to maintain strength in all my other big lifts. I credit some of this success to Macrofactor, which I have been using in conjunction with my training since July.  Despite being leaner, my recent trail marathon attempt still showed me to be slow at the longer distances, but I did recently set 5K records on two different trails I run with some regularity so leaning out a bit has had a positive impact.  My strength to bodyweight ratio has definitely improved over the course of this program. It’s now time, however, to take that improved ratio and put it to good use. I will be kicking off an extensive aerobic base building phase.