I am starting my training a “little” late for Cruel jewel 50. The race starts May 15… Day 1 of real training is April 19. The plan is to run a minimum of 5mi a dat for the next 3 weeks totaling 35 miles per week, which would be my highest milage week when not running a race. I have cut a trail in the woods here at my house in North Ga that mimics the terrain and elevation profile (elevation per mile), so I plan to do most of my training on it. We will see how it goes…
Day 1: 5.04mi April 19
First day of the peak training block went well! However, the pollen is killing me. I felt like I needed a gallon of water for an easy 5 miler to wash the pollen down. It felt like running on a gravel road behind a car sucking in dust. I might have to take it inside for the next few days until it rains and knocks some it down.
Day 2: 5.02mi April 20
Dreadmill: Had to move inside due to the pollen, It has my allergies in overdrive! I’m taking 2 different allergy medications, and they are basically allowing me to breath inside. If I spend more than 20 min outside I pay for it the rest of the day. I hate running on the treadmill, it’s really hard to stay motivated to keep going. A cramp in the ball of my left foot crept in around mile 3 so I walked the next mile with a 20lb weight vest to keep up the workout without putting the additional pressure on the ball of my foot. It worked pretty well and I was able to begin running again at mile 4 and finish things out. Watched a soccer game while running, it worked great as a distraction! Didn’t even realize that I was closing in on my distance.
Day 3: 6.47 April 21
Cross Training day: Wednesday night I play indoor soccer. I welcome the change every week. It allows me to work on some speed and really open things up. They are all short sprints, but I give it all I have on every one. It ends up being a pretty good workout, I am almost always sore for the next 2 days. Soccer went better than expected! I usually get in 4.5-5 miles, never have I been able to get over 6. It was, as always, a great change of pace.
Day 4: 3.36 April 22
Dreadmill: Started off feeling a bit off. My legs weren’t quite ready to run again. The cramp in my foot came back (my wife thinks I need magnesium) at mile one and I couldn’t get it to go away. I think the combination of the pollen throughout the day, the cramp, and my un-recovered legs caused me to stop early. Its always hard to stop shy of your goal especially this early into it. There are times to push through, but I’ve always believed in listening to my body and it told me to stop for the day. My foot continued to cramp throughout the evening and night, hopefully it will feel better tomorrow.
Day 5: 0mi April 23
My allergies/sinuses got the best of me. Couldn’t stop coughing and just felt all around weak and useless… Rest day.
Day 6: 0mi April 24
My allergies/sinuses got the best of me. Couldn’t stop coughing and just felt all around weak and useless… Rest day. I actually felt bad enough to take a nap (I never nap because I usually wake up in a bad mood). Felt better afterwards though, but I didn’t want to push it.
Day 7: 0mi April 25
Felt about 80%. Had a family outing planned to go to Monster Jam! So I took the day off lol sometimes you need a “mental health” day to make all feel right. Back to training tomorrow.
Day 8: 5.17mi April 26
Feeling somewhere in the 90%, I’ll take what I can get. Started running mid day in the heat to start to aclimate. Cruel Jewel can be hot! The first 3mi or so was rough, just trying to get back in the swing of things. The last 2 miles were a breeze! Ran at hopeful race day pace @16imn miles on similar to race day terrain. Lucky for me I live in the area and its pretty easy to duplicate it. My “home course”has roughly the same elevation change per mile but smaller climbs (just more of them). The rains came on Saturday and cleared out a bunch of the tree pollen, now I don’t feel like I’m running in a dust storm. Can’t wait to get back after it tomorrow!
GA Runners 