Training Plan and execution - the beginning

Plan

From the reading I've done about training for an ultra trail marathon, learning to run on tired legs is important.  Many of us are busy with life and cannot always spend an entire Saturday executing a long run. One way to gain the experience of running on tired legs is to run a medium to long run on Saturday, and then a shorter run on Sunday. As a more "mature" runner, this works well and gives me the rest days I need.

Execution

This was the first week of concentrated training on tired legs. Due to the weather (hello Polar Vortex), I've been running on the treadmill this week. Sticking to the plan, I ran on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, each a medium run (7-11 miles). Saturday was a little over 11 miles. It's hard to keep it going on the treadmill, but a few good movies help! As a side note, that's why Saturday's run was a little over 11 miles. I was engrossed in a movie and didn't keep track of my mileage.  Oops!

Today was a beautiful day in the Midwest. I headed out the door, eager for a nice outdoor run. I met up with a running friend, and the plan was to run 5 miles. I figured it would be an easy run - 5 miles isn't much for us long distance, crazy runners, right? I was wrong! First of all, it was rough getting started. I could definitely feel that my legs were not fresh. In fact, for the first mile I had doubts I could even do 3 miles, let alone 5. Luckily for me, as the run continued, my legs warmed up and I was able to enjoy the run. In fact, it felt so good to be out and about, I ended up going a bit extra, and my friend went even further.

Takeaway

I honestly thought that doing back to back runs on the weekends wouldn't be as difficult as it turned out to be. I'm used to doing two to three 20-mile runs when preparing for a marathon. So, I figured I would need to do two or three 35-mile runs in order to be prepared for the 50-mile run. After today's first experience, I think these back-to-back runs will accomplish the goal of conditioning my body to run on tired legs. 

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I hope to keep up this blog with (mostly) weekly updates. Even if it's not read by many people, it is a way of keeping myself accountable.This is going to be a fun journey, and I hope some readers come along for the ride!

No excuses/Gotta run