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This book is not directly related to Ultra running and one that I read more out of curiosity, but was a book that I found well worth the time and one that has actually benefited my training. The premise of the book is that extensive sitting causes all kinds of damage to the body and that sitting for hours on end is not healthy.  No real surprises there.  Where the value to the book comes in is with all the little prescriptions as to what to do to correct the damage caused by sitting as well as coverage of basics like how to stand properly and how to sit properly if you need to.  After many decades of life, which included a lot of standing, you would think I would be an expert by now.  Yet, I opted to give the bracing sequence in the book a try.  The bracing sequence is a series of steps to go through to ensure you are standing with proper spinal alignment and it turned out that there was one subtle way in which my posture was off.  If left unchecked, I had to tendency to stand with my right foot pointing a bit outwards which the book indicates can lead to stability issues and collapsed arches over time.  I started diligently trying to remember the bracing sequence and correcting this every time I was in a standing position.  My calf muscle was slightly sore for a couple of days and it took a few weeks for the corrected alignment to stick, but I’m glad I took the time to do so.  I used to get some minor soreness in my right knee after long runs, but the alignment correction seems to have helped correct that.  I’ve always been a fan of including corrective exercises into my routines, but the improvement I found here led to me making analyzing my running form a goal for this year.

After finishing Train Like Bane as a wrap up to 3 strength focused months, it’s time to start focusing on turning the new-found strength into an increased work capacity and to top up my aerobic engine.  While, I was intending to do this with a more run and ruck centric training block, a quick look at the weather forecast still shows a lot of snow storms in my future over the next couple of weeks. Given the winter weather, I therefore decided to give the 1-month AthleanX Torched bonus program a try.  It’s a collection of conditionings greatest hits with days ranging from Zone 2 workouts to more intense cardio like Tabata circuits and barbell complexes.  I’m particularly intrigued by the weekly workout dedicated to Peripheral Heart Action Training (PHAT) where a circuit of exercises keeps alternating between the upper and lower body to make the cardiovascular system work harder.  I’ve had some of my best past endurance gains while running a PHAT circuits in conjunction with running and am excited to see a program that includes them.  A few days in and I’m already enjoying the program. 

With my current training phase coming to an end and a new 50 mile goal, it’s a great time to do some self-evaluation as to where I stand and where I need to go from here.  I need to really focus on improving the speed at which I can cover the distances and I think the flaw in my training until this point has been that I’ve always run to prep for a race but, if I’m honest with myself, I’ve never run enough and never really followed a structured running program.  On the strength side, while I made progress doing my own thing in the gym, I made much better progress once I started following a more structured training program.  I’ve relied far too much on being an avid hiker and having a high level of general physical preparation (GPP) to get me through the 50K distance.  Doing my own thing I turned myself into someone who is fit enough to complete an ultra, but not someone who is a true ultrarunner.  I will need to change that to step up in distance. I need to start taking a structured approach to running.  I think I will need to take a step backwards to ensure I have a strong enough foundation to make the leap forward to 50 miles.  I will lay out my thoughts and the approaches I will be taking in more detail in upcoming posts, but at a high level I intend to:

1.  Find a structured running program that I can pair with the strength training that I am already doing.
2. Take a look at my running mechanics and mobility to ensure I am able to cover the higher mileage I will likely need while keeping my risk of injury low. 

This week I’m coming to the end of my latest mesocycle in which I am wrapping up the month-long Train Like Bane bonus program from AthleanX.  I have really enjoyed programs from AthleanX over the years due to the athletic nature of the programs and they have worked to make me a much more well-rounded athlete.  While I typically lean towards programs that have a conditioning focus built in, this month-long bonus has been on my “really want to do” list for a while now and it was a program that I thoroughly enjoyed. It consisted of 3 total body workouts (Mon, Wed, and Fri) broken up by workouts focused on grip strength and calves on Tuesday and Thursday. 

While not a typical ultrarunner type program, I am considering running another Spartan Ultra as a part of my journey towards 50 miles as I think I can benefit a lot from completing and improving my performance at a few more 50K events before attempting a step up in distance.  Repeating an event would also provide a way to gauge progress. I think the Bane program is great as a part of a Spartan Ultra preparation block in that the grip strength and pull strength focus could be beneficial in a lot of the obstacles. I was able to mix in zone 2 cardio on the grip strength and calf days as well to maintain my aerobic base while I ran the month-long program.  It was fun and rewarding program to run over the off season. Moreover, all of the grave diggers on each Wednesday’s workout helped me to break through a plateau in my overhead press.

While I was always athletic, running was something that I dreaded doing for the first 30+ years of my life.  I was an athlete that was described as strong, powerful, and other like terms but never one that was associated with any of the qualities that one typically attributes to a long-distance runner.  The idea of running a 5K, let alone an ultramarathon, seemed an unreachable goal.  Until one day when I decided to actually give running a try.  I was overzealous and my pace way too fast but I managed to push myself for a mile before succumbing to breathlessness.  The next day I set out to do the same thing again and I made it further.  This got my competitive side intrigued and made me start to wonder, how far could I go if I kept this up for a few weeks?  Of course, trying to set a PR every day is not long-term sustainable, but by the time I reached that point it had become a habit and I looked forward to going for a run. It had become a form of moving meditation for me that I could use to let the stress of the day fade away and find solutions to elusive problems. A habit I kept up and eventually ran a number of 5K, 10K, and half marathon length races.  Although anything longer than a half marathon still seemed like an impossibility. 

The sport of OCR than began to become more prominent and I, more importantly, formed a group with a few friends that would do the events (primarily Spartan races) together.  We started with the Sprint and moved up to Super, which got us curious – could we tackle a Beast?  As the distance got longer, the group grew smaller but pretty soon a few of us had conquered the Beast?  Could we do the Ultra? 

While the group was very small at this point, it turned out that a couple of us could.  At that point, it was by far the hardest thing I had done athletically and even though there were times during the event I swore I would never do such a crazy thing again, the reality was I became hooked.  I have since gone on to complete two more 50K Ultramarathons and am yearning for the bigger challenge of a 50 miler.  Just one problem – I’m a back of the back runner who will need to up his running game. This blog is my reflections on how I approach and overcome challenges as I progress towards 50 miles (while still trying to improve strength) in the hopes that it helps someone else.