Dave – 6 weeks of Ultra Training completed – 388 miles

Well my training for my first ultra’s continue to go well and my hip has been holding up to the 60 miles a week I’ve been putting in for the last 6 weeks. I have 4 more weeks to go to the first race which is a 6 hour race which I’m targeting to run 35 miles and then 3 weeks later I have a 46 mile race that I’m hoping to complete in about 8 ½ hours. The biggest challenge in both of these races, apart from running that far and long with a hip replacement, is going to be the heat and humidity. The temperatures at the start will be around 83 degrees and humidity often above 80 and the temperature will rise into the low 90’s with very little shade. I’ve been doing my long runs on Saturdays, followed by a sprint triathlon with our local run club on Sunday. On Monday’s I do an hour’s boot camp followed by an interval training run.

Tuesday is usually a 7+ mile run with the middle 2 or 3 at a faster pace, Wednesday is either a bridge run or some stretching and a swim. Thursday is a 10 – 13 mile run and Friday is a day off when I drive back from Miami to my home near Tampa. So as you can see it’s a fairly intense schedule but I ice my hip area each evening and morning and I’ve significantly changed my diet to help. I have dropped weight as I think that will help running those distances but I think cutting out processed food and reducing red meat has helped. I’ve also cut the majority of dairy out of my diet and eat a lot of fruit and vegetables each day which I think help with natural anti-inflammatory of my body. Here’s a log of some of my long runs and notes since I started training on June 6th after a week with no running.

June 6th : Ultra Training begins – 7.11 miles, 8:41 min/mi – Total 58.31 miles

Plan was to run 2 hours but after an hours boot camp, 8 days off and the heat I was beat. I forgot to take water to boot camp so was dehydrated and heart rate wasn’t in the zone I wanted to train in.

June 13th : Ultra Training Pinellas Trail Challenge – 20:31 miles, 9:31 min/mi – Total 60.38 miles

Ran the first 14 miles with Jen & Megan as the latter is preparing to run her first marathon in Alaska in August, slower pace around 10 miles to start with focused on cadence and heart rate zone 2 or 3. After that I put in an extra 6 at a faster pace but felt good.

June 20th : Ultra Training Long Run – 22:06 miles, 9:32 min/mi – Total 59.64 miles

Hot & Humid at 8am this morning when I started this but I needed to be out in it. Ran out of water about 3 miles before the turn and another 4 back which pretty much wiped me out. Only 1 gel with me so had to call on inner self to finish this one. Walked all the overpasses on the way up, had to run/walk last 3 miles.

June 27th : iRun Miami Long Run – Ultra Training – 20:04 miles, 8:22 min/mi – Total 74.81 miles

Stayed down in Miami this weekend and ran with the Monday night group I run with. They usually run 10 miles so I ran the first loop with them and then rehydrated and went out and ran it again. They pushed the pace the first 10, more so than I was intending to and the last 10 was hard as I started burning up and running out of water and fuel.

July 4th : Marathon – Ultra Training – 26:42 miles, 8:54 min/mi – Total 56.46 miles

Great way to start the 4th with a marathon in the heat, 8am – noon. Self-supported, water from fountains on Pinellas Trail, 2 Gatorades, half bag Jelly beans and thankfully 1 1/2 bagels from St. Pete Running Company, not sure I could have done it without them. Got very hot on the way back, very little shade, nothing to cool me down. Only stopped at drink/food stops, ran the rest.

July 11th : 15 miles bridges + 5 flat – 20:02 miles, 8:39 min/mi – Total 50.04 miles

Boy was it hot today, lost 5% body weight!!! The 620 is useless at tracking elevation, the tall bridge is 78′ climb and the small bridge is 15′-20′. Ran over bridges 14 times in total.

July 18th : Pinellas Trail – My hardest run ever – 20:50 miles, 8:27 min/mi

I felt okay for the first 14 miles but then crashed, not sure what was different than other weeks. The sun on my head made it feel like it was swelling, my neck was on fire, I was drained. I had no energy and still had 6 miles to go. It’s good to know I can push through but just hope it doesn’t happen this early on race day. I definitely need crew support to hydrate better. Just 1 gel and 1 Gatorade and water from fountains today. Since I came home my legs have been cramping, even my feet locked up with cramp, I’ve never had that before.

One of the best days during this training was my interval run on July 13^th. I had flown back that weekend and went to the airport Monday morning to fly back to Miami but my flight was cancelled so I ran the workout my Monday night group was doing. On my 10^th and last 300 yard run along the side of the road I was running with the traffic, I was pushing hard and there were a number of cars coming up behind me. The first passed and the second was a motor bike, he stayed behind me as I completed the last 100 yards of the 300 and as I pulled up, just before keeling over, he turned and said to me “about 13 mph, nice going”, it felt good.

IRB 10×300’s – 51,48,51,48,53,50,51,51,51,47 secs, avg 4:45 min/mile

I plan running another marathon distance training run this weekend and will then start to taper for my race. It’s going to be hard but I’m looking forward to the challenge to see what’s possible with my hip without destroying it. I’m not recommending this for all, or any, of you, but hopefully if you see this is possible it will encourage you to set new goals. Whatever you decide, listen to your body and rest when you need to.