Back in the Shoes Again

After a physically challenging fall and winter, I'm back into the running scene. I broke my middle toe one night and while that did slow down my training, I was still able to participate in a 50 mile run.

Then a bizarre lower back problem surfaced which had me on the floor for days. Time, rest, stretching, and a chiropractor have appeared to clear that up.

And just when I was thinking about next summer's plans for another state, I got a call from a trail friend in Nevada. He's interested in helping me complete a speed attempt of the American Discovery Trail across his state this June. I've already run that state but last time I stuck to Highway 50, billed by Time Magazine as "The Lonliest Road in America." This time, I'll get to cross all 28 mountains while on trails. To set any kind of record that has a chance of sticking even a short while, it would have to be high miles. I'm considering an attempt at 50 miles per day over 10 days. I've never run those kinds of miles but I'm hopeful that smart training this fall can allow me to complete that.

To train, I want to increase my time and distance by no more than 10% each week and use my two weekend days to run double long runs, one on each day. By late May, I'll attempt a 4 day stint of 50 milers and if I can come off that still upright, then I think I'll have a chance at it in Nevada. Until then, I'll leave the long running for the weekends and use weekdays as recovery runs, slowly building up that mileage as well. If anyone has any thoughts on how to improve this schedule, please let me know as I'm just guessing what I'll be able to do and sustain.

	Minutes - Weekday Runs
Date	Week	Minutes/Day	(.10 time/week)	Hours
1/17/2011	1	30	3	0.55
1/24/2011	2	33	3.3	0.605
1/31/2011	3	36.3	3.63	0.6655
2/7/2011	4	39.93	3.993	0.73205
2/14/2011	5	43.923	4.3923	0.805255
2/28/2011	6	48.3153	4.83153	0.885781
3/7/2011	7	53.14683	5.314683	0.974359
3/14/2011	8	58.46151	5.8461513	1.071794
3/21/2011	9	64.30766	6.43076643	1.178974
3/28/2011	10	70.73843	7.073843073	1.296871
4/4/2011	11	77.81227	7.78122738	1.426558
4/11/2011	12	85.5935	8.559350118	1.569214
4/18/2011	13	94.15285	9.41528513	1.726136
4/25/2011	14	103.5681	10.35681364	1.898749
5/2/2011	15	113.925	11.39249501	2.088624
5/9/2011	16	125	12	2 h 5 m
5/16/2011	17	137	12	2 h 17 m
5/23/2011	18	150	12	2h 30 m
Scroll down for weekend distances.
	Miles - Weekend Runs
Date	Week	Start	Increment	End	min/mile	minutes	Hours
22-Jan	1	8	1.2	9.2	10	92	1.533333
1/29/2011	2	9.2	1.38	10.58	10	105.8	1.763333
2/5/2011	3	10.58	1.587	12.167	10	121.67	2.027833
2/12/2011	4	12.167	1.82505	13.99205	10	139.9205	2.332008
2/19/2011	5	13.99205	2.0988075	16.09086	10	160.9086	2.68181
2/26/2011	6	16.09086	2.413628625	18.50449	10	185.0449	3.084081
3/5/2011	7	18.50449	2.775672919	21.28016	10	212.8016	3.546693
3/12/2011	8	21.28016	2.553619085	23.83378	10	238.3378	3.972296
3/19/2011	9	23.83378	2.860053375	26.69383	10	266.9383	4.448972
3/26/2011	10	26.69383	3.203259781	29.89709	10	298.9709	4.982849
4/2/2011	11	29.89709	3.587650954	33.48474	10	334.8474	5.58079
4/9/2011	12	33.48474	4.018169069	37.50291	10	375.0291	6.250485
4/16/2011	13	37.50291	4.500349357	42.00326	10	420.0326	7.000543
4/23/2011	14	42.00326	5.04039128	47.04365	10	470.4365	7.840609
4/30/2011	15	47.04365	5.645238233	52.68889	10	526.8889	8.781482