Skip to main content

12 Weeks of Base Building for Ultramarathons

The Vermont 100 Mile Ultramarathon is over, I've had my necessary 2-3 months active rest, and now, starting today, October 25, I have started training for the 2011 season in earnest. Before even designing an training plan, an overall goal needs to be set.

Goal 1: To do 6-7 Ultramarathons ranging from 50k to 100 miles.

Goal 2: A double Ironman is in the works. That means lots of swimming and cycling are included.

First goal of ANY workout is to establish a strong base that will allow one to build miles and speed on top of it. Consider the base as a foundation for a house that you want to build. The larger the foundation, the more durable and strong the hourse wil be. My foundation that I want to achieve after 12 weeks is weekly mileage of 40 miles of runnining, 100 miles of cycling, and 10,000 meters of swimming.

As with base, almost all training is at an easy pace. The miles are important here, not the speed.

On to week 1...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Original Framework for 2011 Season

The 2011 season will have see 2 -3  100 mile ultramarathons. The one in May is the Massanutten 100, and hope to be in good base shape when I toe the line. I am not sure if I'm doing Vermont again, but I placed it into the framework just in case. My decision will depend on how the training works out.  The big "A" race has got to be the Leadville 100, The Race Across The Sky. This race absolutely scares the wits out of me because of the high altitude (10,000 ft+ in most places). I have got to be in pristine shape if I am to ever finish this race. Throw in a Double Ironman in October and a few other ultras and here is the overall framework for the season: (it's a bit hard to see from here, but click on the picture to see it more clearly) I have two sets of 4-week Base mesocycles in the beginning to adapt and set a good base, after which I start to build on that base for three mesocycles. This should put me on pretty good shape to tackle Massanutten. The longer Overdistan...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Psychology of the Media - It's Been Refined

When I have some free time, usually at the end of the day, I tend to look at what the outside world is up to, especially the mainstream media. And I'm fascinated how they can frame their stories to come up with a narrative to get a lot of people to behave a certain way and to act on it. Before starting to consume this media, you must keep in your head a couple of things:     1) Media can exaggerate, or even lie, about topics, and      2) Media is trying to get you to act a certain way. They mostly do this through emotions and feelings So one needs to take whatever the media says with a grain of salt. That is all media, by the way, even those articles from a favorable website you need a bit of caution on. What I usually do is, after reading the article, step back and ask the questions, "what is this article compelling people to do?", "how is it framed and what emotion does it elicit. Let me give you an example. This has been going on for weeks now, soon after the...
Post a Comment
Read more

RACE: WATCHUNG WINTER ULTRA

M Tu W Th F Sa Su Total Swim Off 2000m Off Off 2000m Off - 4000m Bike 15mi. Off 15mi 10mi 10mi Off Off 50mi Run 4mi. Off 5mi 4mi Off 21mi - 34mi RACE: WATCHUNG WINTER ULTRA Result: Did not finish (finished 2 of 3 laps for 21 miles) Conditions: Hazardous ice rutted trails covered with newer snow. Weather: Cloudy sunless day with temps ranging from 18 to 26 degrees. Little wind. Time: 5 hours 15 minutes. Pace was 15 min/mile. I had to make the decision to stop after 2 laps and is never easy to do so. These were easily the toughest conditions I've ever been on, although I have a feeling that this is the norm in the ultra world and that these conditions are tame considering where other ultras are held. That's OK though. Training in tough conditions will help me toughen up, right? Who knows, maybe I'll be out there one year at the Arrowhead 135 in northern Minnesota with temps as cold as 10 degrees below zero because of this race, right? Still, the positives I can take from thi...
2 comments
Read more