Anticipation

https://www.firstgiving.com/G-PACT/david-ploskonka-badwater

. . . Before the race has even started, I've met at least one goal; as of today, $2000 total raised for GPACT.  So of course I'm raising the bar - the new, lofty goal is $4000.  Because, hey, why not?  And, as I did last year, I'll write whatever you want, in whatever color marker you want, on some article of clothing that I wear during the race.  If you haven't told me what you want written yet, let me know soon.

In other news, I thought that there would be more levity here in this blog since the last post, but there hasn't been.  Not in a bad way, exactly.  It's just been work, work, work, and then work some more to put the finishing touches on the best possible training and preparation that I could muster for this race, considering the deeply compromised state that I was in back when this journey started in February. 

All things considered, it's been a solid effort.  I've averaged 82-ish miles per week for the past four months, and 93-ish miles per week for the past month.  Last week (30 June - 6 July), I ran my first honest-to-goodness 100-mile week (i.e. without a ridiculous race to prop up the mileage) since - get this - the last week of January 2012.  And that was a week that, like each of the preceding weeks, included a quality long-hill day.  (Most weeks included a hill day and a tempo day, but considering the magnitude of last week's hill workout, and its proximity in time to the race, I'm okay with just a hill day for last week). 

Typical minor dings, scrapes, and bruises aside, I feel no worse for wear.  Obviously, a one-week taper is a bit of a gamble, but considering the relatively short length of my mileage build (about half of how long I had to build last year), I'm guessing that I have a little less damage to repair.  In any event, random unfortunate events aside, I'll most likely be lining up on Monday much healthier than I was last year.

But that's all the numbers and technical stuff.  What has me the most excited about this race is the level of mental focus that I have going in, which has steadily increased since the TARC 100 fiasco.  My training in the weeks following TARC has been some of the most consistent, joyful running that I've done in a long time.  Especially in the past couple of weeks, there hasn't been a question in my mind about whether or not I was going to do the workout that day.  The workout was going to happen, and it was going to happen according to the plan, and physically, I was responding.  And there's a quiet joy in the rhythm of that kind of consistency in training - the joy that comes from the slow, steady progress towards a desired state of fitness.

And there's also the more visceral joy in the process.  The sweat pouring down as I clip along at a measured pace under a blazing-hot afternoon sun, in 100+ degree humid Baltimore City heat.  The smile that I can't suppress as I fly down a steep hill at breakneck pace, the scenery blurring in my peripheral vision.  And the sublime relief that comes at the end of a long, hot run from downing a huge glass of ice water and flopping on my back on the cold-floor, with the stereo blasting Kaskade.  The process feels good again, and has felt particularly good lately.  And that means something.

But make no mistake about it - by and large, Badwater this year is not about me.  While it's certainly encouraging and exciting to feel this level of joy in running again, I don't need to go all the way to Death Valley in the middle of July to feel it. 

But I do need to go all the way to Death Valley in the middle of July for a lot of other people - the folks at GPACT, my little sister, all the people who donated to support GPACT, all the people that I've trained with in preparation for this event, and all the people that have otherwise sponsored, supported, or encouraged me to get back out there, for whatever reason.  All of you are the reason why I need to go back to Death Valley, and all of you will be the reason why I will be able to endure the inevitable pain and suffering in the 135 miles between the Badwater Basin and Whitney Portal.

So that's all for this blog until after the race.  Stay tuned to the rest of the internet (Facebook, the Badwater webpage, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, whatever) for updates in the meantime.  And thanks to all of you for getting me to that starting line - you'll get nothing less than my best effort between there and the finish tape.

How I Roll (Lately)

It has come to my attention (in that it's been nagging in the back of my mind for a while now) that to some, my training methods may appear inscrutable, and my blog posts an impenetrable, irrelevant word fog. To kill two proverbial birds with one stone, this post will clear up why this is what it is.

First, my training methods: Going into 2011, I was suffering from a stress fracture in my left foot (second metatarsal, a pretty common injury). Being determined to come back strong from this injury, and to seek redemption for a number of my efforts that fell short in 2010, I started with a commitment of running at least 1 mile every day for 2011. As it turned out, this was just the commitment that I needed to gradually rebuild my strength. Now, three months later, I've methodicallyl built up to running 90-100 miles per week, with no sign of burnout or serious injury (knock on wood). I don't come into each week with a specific plan for each day, but I do have a general outline of what I want to accomplish, built primarily in anticipation of, and in response to, my longer/harder weekend efforts. I shoot for one fast speed/tempo session, one slower, more grueling speed/tempo/hill session, and one long run, and fill in the rest with "garbage miles." Except not really, because, especially lately, I've been running each "garbage mile" session with purpose. I focus on improving an aspect of my form, or my breathing, or I take my run through interesting/challenging sections of terrain. In that way, not only do I get the slow-and-steady accumulation of aerobic benefits, but also the more rapid, satisfying improvements that come from increased technical capability.

Which leads me into my next thought, which is why my blog is what it is, and is written the way it is. As part of my 2011 resolution to run at least a mile every day, I also resolved (less specifically) to write more about my running. In the past, I kept wide-ruled marble notebooks, with 3 or 4 lines dutifully devoted each day to a brief description of my running (or lack thereof) for the day. I covered the traditional time/distance/weather/mood stuff that they tell you to cover, and all in all, this method wasn't bad. It gave me a benchmark for my next training cycle, and reminded me of particularly fun or amusing things that happened during my runs. However, I eventually grew apart from this practice, and, looking back, I believe that it was subconsciously because although the logs were fully satisfying the latter intent, they had hit a wall with respect to the former. That is, I could see how well (or poorly) I did on a recent workout by comparing to results from similar workouts in the past, but I couldn't see WHY I was doing well or poorly.

With that in mind, this blog contains significantly more detail about WHY (at least, in my estimation) my performances turned out the way they did, because, along the lines of high mileage, for me, explicit, extensive repetition is the way that I learn best. Some people are much better at absorbing and internalizing through thoughts and feelings, which need not be stated. Not me. I need specific, detailed analysis of what works and what doesn't. In other words, some people need only to feel the wall to push through it; I need to know what color the bricks are, what kind of mortar was used, how long the mortar has been allowed to set . . .

I suspect that there may be others like me out there, and if so, I hope that things I've written here are instructive to you. If you're not one of those people, I hope all of this doesn't bore you terribly . . . but then again, nobody's forcing you to read it . . .

A Long Short November (for Training)

Among the goals that I didn't accomplish in November 2010 was posting more frequently about my training. I failed to meet this goal in part due to time constraints, and in part because I didn't have as much training to report on as I would have liked. So, in the interest of a better start to December, here's my November recap:

I "came back" from my self-imposed hiatus on 16 November 2010, with my only concrete goal for 2011 being to run a 5K PR. Since then, here's what's happened:

16 November: 10 minute warmup, 4x(400m speed, 60 sec rest), 10 minute warmdown; 400s @ 75, 77, 78, 79
17 November: ~6 miles easy (~40 minutes), 5x100m barefoot strides
18 November: nothing
19 November: nothing
20 November: 10 minute warmup, 3 minutes tempo, 1 minute rest, 7 minutes tempo, 1 minute rest, 10 minute warmdown
21 November: nothing

Miles for the week: ~15
Time for the week: ~1 hour, 40 minutes

22 November: nothing
23 November: ~6 miles easy (~40 minutes)
24 November: nothing
25 November: 10 minute warmup, 2x(3 minutes tempo, 1 minute rest, 7 minutes tempo), 10 minute warmdown
26 November: 2 miles in 13:07, 20 minutes total run time
27 November: nothing
28 November: ~20 miles @ sub-7:00/mile pace (2 hours, 19 minutes total time)

Miles for the week: ~35
Time for the week: ~4 hours

And, in the interest of completeness, the past couple of days:

29 November: nothing
30 November: 11 minutes warmup, 5x(400 fast, 60 sec rest), 13 minutes warmdown; 400s @ 75, 78, 81, 83, 85

So all in all, some success, some failure . . .

Success: Getting back into (a semblance of) a routine; as in, posting more than 0 miles per week. For the most part, workouts have been solid and, given the circumstances, relatively speedy. First long run in a while was not a crash-and-burn disaster. Not feeling sick, injured, or burned out anymore.

Failure: Not enough volume, not enough consistency with workouts. Not enough strides. Last speed workout of the month was beyond crummy, and fell short of desired number of reps. Some annoying blisters on my feet from taking an unfamiliar pair of shoes on a long run.

Given the above, I think the next steps are fairly obvious: continue to increase volume, run more strides, and run less crappy workouts. The last one merits dissection, as I'm still not entirely sure what caused my last workout to go south so quickly. Tentatively, I am primarily attributing it to my attempt to reach an optimal racing weight, which has me on a diet high in protein and fiber, and low in simple carbs and total calories. My guess is that this is not such a bad diet for longer, low-intensity running (where fat is a more significant energy source), but may impact shorter, higher-intensity efforts, as a result of the likely persistent glycogen shortage caused by this diet. I am basing this guess on the fact that while I felt fine running a slower pace during the warmup/warmdown, my legs went totally dead during the intervals, which didn't happen the last time I tried this workout. Or, I could be just making things up. In any case, I'm gambling that I can't reach my 5K goal at 135 pounds (the weight my body seems to naturally want to be), and that my natural build will not preclude the loss of at least 10-15 pounds. Time, and additional training volume, will tell if this is a mistake. But in any case, it's worth a shot, since I haven't tried it before, and the best that similar plans have yielded in the past is an 18:20 5K, which general theory suggests that I am better than.

Parting words: A week from today, barring catastrophe, I will finally be finished with my MBA, so I can go back to being a normal person who has most weekends free, and who can reasonably expect to spend 12 hours, maximum, at work on weekdays. I am hoping that this more regular schedule and additional free time will improve my ability to train at a high level. Then again, maybe it won't. In any case, I am excited to be moving on . . . if only I knew exactly where . . .