Fun With Numbers - Analysis of my Average Weekly Mileage

I have been battling a calf injury for the past 2 months. This has left me with a little extra time to look at some mileage data. I started training for my first ultra in the fall of 2007. Since then I have kept track of my weekly mileage. I decided to produce some charts based on my 16 and 32 week averages. Below are those charts.

16 Week Average

32 Week Average

As one can quickly see my average mileage per week is at a low point right now. Part of this is due to some time off from injury, the rest is due to taking most of last summer and a few scattered weeks last fall off. On the contrary my race times are getting better. The last Ultra I ran was the Holiday Lake 50K and I cut off around 25 minutes from 2 years ago (also the catalyst of my injuries). Maybe if I can stay healthy and get my mileage back up I can make a run at a 100 this fall. Injury is going to dictate this. The first part of 2011 is lost, but God willing the rest of 2011 will be better.

If your interested - I produced these charts and keep my weekly mileage log in Google Documents. This "cloud based" service works well for non-technical spreadsheets and allows me access from any web-enabled computer or device. Drop me a comment if you want to know more about my setup.

2011 Holiday Lake 50K++

Three long years ago Holiday Lake was my first ultra. I remember that weekend vividly as I packed up my wife and 5 month old daughter for a weekend journey into the unknown. I had no idea the adventure, pain, struggle, will power, and pure joy that day would be the catalyst for. People often ask me why I want to run such long distances by myself in the woods. I honestly do not have an answer for them. I don't know if you are born with it, or if it is like a healthy virus that infects you when you are around other like minded runners. Once ultras get their hooks into there is no turning back.

Much has changed since that cool and sunny February day back in 2008. My little girl is now 3 and refuses to give me a hug when I come home from a run if I am sweaty (she asks if I was racing and says "Daddy, your all wet!"). My fitness level and race knowledge have also grown through training and race experience. So I decided to come back to Holiday Lake once again to try and quantify how much things have changed.  
    

2010 in Review

2010 was good to me. I only logged 1465 miles, down from 1856 in 2009. I did not put in a ton of miles, but my workouts were of a higher quality and my overall distance per run and pace per run were both significantly up from 2009.

I ran 4 ultras in 2010:

• Umstead 100
• Promise Land
• Laurel Highlands
• Mountain Masochist

Umstead was my second attempt at a 100 and my second dnf, so right now I am 0/2. More on rectifying that situation in a later post. I ran my best race at Umstead with a PR for 50 miles, but in the end did not have enough in the tank to start the last lap, so at 87.5 miles I called it a race. My feet were beat up bad and my body had shut down. I got the idea in my head of running under 24 hours and simply went to fast.

Promise Land is always a great race and this year was no different. I was not fully recovered from Umstead, especially my feet. I was still able to set a 18 minute PR.

Laurel Highlands was longer this year by 7 or 8 miles because of a detour around a removed foot bridge. I had a good start, but my feet really suffered (probably still not right from spring races) and I walked in the last 25 miles or so. A good experience, but not how I had planned it.

Mountain Masochist was, as always, a great event. I picked up some a new brand and style of shoe and took the chance of wearing them for the start of the race. My dad was crewing so I could change out if need be. It was a gamble but it paid off (I do not recommend new shoes and new socks on race day!). I changed socks once early on and had no hot spots or blisters the entire day. My feet felt great for having run 50+ miles. I set a course PR too.

Hopefully 2011 will be even better.

Brooks ASR7 Review

Brooks has recently released its newest version of the road/trail hybrid Adrenaline ASR line. The ASR7 remains in the mold of previous ASRs with a few upgrades. The shoe is still based on the Brooks Adrenaline road shoe. It still provides some stability and is a good fit for a current adrenaline wearer looking to hit the trail. The new version is styled more like a trail runner with its overall appearance and a more aggressive tread pattern.

Laurel Highlands 2010

On June 12th, 2010 I towed the line once again at Laurel Highlands. I ran this race in 2008 as only my third ultra and finished, but just barely. I was hoping for a much better day. The course was longer this year due to a detour around a bridge that had been removed. I knew I was up for it mentally and physically, the only question mark was my feet. They still were not fully recovered form Umstead and Promise Land.....

This report is taken from a writeup I did for my personal use. After each race I write up Race Knowledge for the race. Here is the narrative of my race from that document. It is broken up in from aid station to aid station.