Hoka Cielo x1 3.0: A shoe that makes me want to run a Marathon (fast)
Attempting to Juggle Training for Multiple Specific Ultras
There's a certain nerve that comes with the week post ultra marathon. After black canyon was no different. I have a proven track record of developing a debilitating injury the week after a big race; this year, it had to be different. I didn’t have the time to overcome some new injury; I had to continue the build.
Black Canyons Recovery
Logically, my build towards Canyons started slowly. The week after BC consisted of two runs. Three miles total. I figured at that point, there is no overdoing recovery. This was the hardest I had pushed myself from a physical perspective. My body had never pushed at that level for that amount of time, and we entered unknown territory. Would my IT band flare up? Would I get tendinitis? I was nervous but excited to move past this and into the wild.
Somehow, I came out above water. The next week, I felt incredible. A slight ache in the side of my knee persisted, but I felt ready to hit it again. With a yearning to push myself, I threw myself back into a tune-up workout and started thinking about running big again.
Overconfident
That first workout consisted of 2 sets of 4 1-minute hills with 1-minute rest into 8 minutes of tempo on the trail. The goal of this was to just settle into pushing again with a friend. I found my push during the uphill sprints was fairly non-existent, while my rolling tempo felt just as strong as ever. I was able to finish pain-free, and hungry to keep trying.
The success of this workout made me turn my sights towards another 50k. Despite the recency of BC, my friend was hosting an inaugural race on private land, and I just could not miss out. So that Saturday, I went and “raced” Tejon Ranch 50k, finishing 4th. I would like to say I kept it chill the whole time during this race, but honestly got a bit of the competitive bug during the last 5 miles, trying to reel in the podium position. Unfortunately, this ultra came back to bite me in a worrisome way.
Big Problem #1
Around this time, I found out I had been selected to race The Speed Project on a team representing Hoka. This threw a wrench in my plans. My now dialed plan leading into Canyons has a big ultra race just 3 weeks prior. Not only that, but this race is opposite of Canyons, a flat road course focusing on speed for miles, requires its own specific training, specific training that did not match well with the training required for vert and downhill heavy Canyons. However, representing Hoka and competing in such a unique race, I could not say no. So I readjusted my training and readjusted my expectations for Canyons and decided to try and make it work.
Big Problem #2
The week following, I had consistent pain in what felt like the meniscus of my knee. This started a two-week panic recovery block: worrying about tearing my meniscus or MCL, I didn’t know quite what was wrong with me, but it was painful, consistent, and deep in the knee. I was worried it was all unraveling. Through these two weeks, I kept effort low and mileage down around 45 miles, down from my desired 60. I reintroduced speed with one flat tempo effort of 12 miles at the end of the second week. Through some rehab and this lower impact, the pain slowly went away, and my confidence came back in the third week to bring the mileage and intensity back
The goal for the next two weeks was fairly simple. I wanted to get vert heavy Saturdays with uphill threshold, paired with a flat tempo day Sunday to simulate race pace for TSP and similar fatigue that would occur for that long race. Since TSP was not the goal race, I wanted to try and train through it as much as possible with a short 2-week taper and hopefully continue workouts the next week due to its proximity to Canyons race day.
Specific Training for TSP
These two weeks were executed very well. With threshold trail days feeling strong on Saturday and extremely strong Sunday tempos, I was feeling confident regarding my pacing for TSP. Over the three weeks of long 12-mile Sunday Tempos, my pace increased from a 6:30 average down to a 6:15, staying at around the same average heart rate (163bpm), which is my aerobic threshold. With these workouts behind me, I was feeling very excited to execute for TSP and hopeful that what seemed to be my best fitness would translate well to Canyons a few weeks later.
The speed project came up fast, and next week was a short taper, then it was go time. See my race review for more insight into how that race went, but the brief stats were 70 miles over 43 hours in an average pace of 6:27. I exceeded how I thought I would do, and my body held up well. Now it was time to see if I could vert max and get myself ready for Canyons in the 2 weeks left.
Specific Training for Canyons
These next weeks were about recovering when I could and getting the vert in when possible. The next week, I ran 55 miles with 13000 feet of climbing, mostly occurring during 3 large vert runs. I felt good; maybe too good, like this should have been Canyons race week. During my long run, I incorporated two 15-minute threshold uphills where I was flying, dropping my friends who usually can easily stay on my heels even during easy efforts. I started to grow a sudden confidence that I could still break my 10-hour barrier at Canyons, something I did not think would be possible after.
The next week was the beginning of my two-week taper. Running 40 miles and 8000 feet of climbing. My body felt good until Sunday, when I started to feel an achy IT band on the downhills of my run. I finished that run praying it was a fluke and would go away.
Race Week!
This leads me to now. A week till race day with just a taper left, a funky IT band, and putting it all on red to try and make this 10-hour dream a reality. Last night I had to use Biofreeze to fall asleep due to the aching IT band pain, but hopefully with a week's heavy taper I’ll be ready and durable Sunday to do my best.
