My 100 mile week, well almost

 I just signed up for Cascade Crest 100 mile race that takes place in August.  Talk about a good motivator for being consistent in my training!  Early mornings, night running (headlamps!), two showers a day, receiving massage, Epsom salt baths, stretching, muddy shoes, and foam roller use have become an essential part of my 100-mile running weeks.  In actuality, I have only put one 100 mile week ever (last week), a 99 mile week to be exact.  Last year I had a 90 mile week that included two back to back 50k's, so it was no wonder that I got to 90 miles.  This kind of mileage is pretty new to me.

My mileage for running has, in the past, been a flexible goal.  Last year was my first year doing trail ultra marathons and I tried to get in as many days of running as I could with adequate rest time between runs.  I quickly discovered that my legs felt tired if I did multiple long runs in succession and so I just ran every other day and swam or did yoga (or both) on the off days.  And I really didn't get injured, except for a few aches here and there mostly caused by long races, once during and after Capitol Peak 50 miles (my posterior knee) and during and after White River 50 mile (sharp pain in my foot), and a hip injury from dancing (go figure).

Running White River 50 mile, photo courtesy Glenn Tachiyama

This year with my first 100 mile race as my focus, I figured it was time to start getting in some mileage.  My goal per week is 80 miles, but anything over 70 is okay.  Let the running begin!  Immediately after Orcas Island 50k (Feb. 5, 2011) I felt inspired to start doing multiple runs per day and getting up early, usually around 5 or 5:30AM to put in a 1 to 3 hour run.  In the evening I do a recovery 6-8 mile run, averaging 14 miles a day for 7 days. By the second week of these 80+ mile weeks, my legs were feeling pretty trashed, mostly due to a really tight hamstring attachment on my left leg (shuffle, shuffle) and in just the past three days, pain in my left hip.  So I didn't run today.  Hmmph.  Plus I seem to have the flu or something like that.  I know, poor excuse for not running!

Here is what my 100, I mean my 99 mile, week looked like last week:
total miles 
for day:             Day:      
12                      Sunday: AM 12 miles

21                      Monday: AM 15 miles, PM 6 miles

15                      Tuesday: AM 12 miles road and trail loop, PM 3 miles, 30
                          mins of core/yoga work

6                        Wednesday: Am 6 miles on trails and road, 60 minute
                          trampoline workout

16.5                   Thursday: AM: 8.5 mile tempo (2.1 mile loops X 4 times) with
                          James at Saratoga Woods,  PM 8 mile road loop

10                       Friday: Am 10 miles road and trails, 1 hour 15 minute Power 
                           Yoga class

18.5                    Saturday: Middle Chuckanut Mountain 50k course in
                           Bellingham (18.5 miles) with James

James and me running the Chuckanut middle 18.5 on Sunday

View from the ridge, middle 18.5 of Chuckanut