Surving Recovery (and Fall Racing)
For anyone that has ever run a marathon, they know how much it beats them up and how slow (and painful) recovery can be. For anyone that has ever run 100 miles, they know how difficult recovery really is.
For any race, your time to recover is directly proportional to how far you had to push past your training. Think of it this way. If you hit that proverbial wall at mile 20 of a marathon, you still have 6.2 miles to push through before finishing. The amount of damage you do to your body in that last 6.2 miles is exponentially more then the rest of the race.
In general, I have always recovered faster after races I have performed well in. This is probably because I didn't have to push as far past my training on those days.
In 100 mile races, there really is no way around this. Back in 2017 when I ran the Hennepin 100, I remember nagging pains and fatigue that lasted for over six weeks. Every time I thought I was ready to get back on the horse, something else hurt.
After running the Midstate 100 this year, I have been going through similar problems, only a bit worse. Luckily at this point in my ultra running career, I feel pretty trained through about 60 miles. This was shown during my race as I made it to about mile 63 or so before I really started to hurt. The majority of the last marathon was run on will power not training. When I was pushing through I knew I was giving my muscular skeletal system a run for its money.
So where did I end up? Splitting my time between races and injury for the past 9 weeks. I was pretty good at backing off for the first 3, but once my fatigue began to dissipate I tried to get back into it ... and definitely too fast. First up was some knee pain. A couple of easy days seemed to cure that so I began to ramp back up again.
I had three races, all short distances before the end of the year. I was eager to see how fast I could turn around some speed after many months of building base mileage.
Gobble Gobble Gobble
My first race was the Thanksgiving Day Gobble Gobble Gobble 5k in Davis Square. Two and a half weeks out I threw down 4 X 1/2 mile at below 5:40 pace on the roads and two days later I ran 8X800 all under 2:50 on the track. The result: Piriformis pain.
After a couple of easy days and another week+ without speed I was able to get over the pain, but not in time for the Gobble. At Nat's request, I pushed him in the stroller for the race and took a good deal of pleasure listening to him yell "Faster!" and "Pass him, pass her!" in the final mile. Result: 19:37 (6:19) - 75 / 2691.
Mill Cities
Going into Mill Cities my Piriformis was feeling better, but had not had time to dial in my speed. This year I ran the 2nd leg, 4.75 miles, which was the only leg of the
relay I had yet to run. The race went well or at least as good as I
could have hoped - 27:52 (5:54) - but I managed to get frost bite on my right ear (it was 15 degrees below the forecasted temperature). We also managed to take top honors in the coed sub masters division and 5th overall.
Yulefest
My final race of the set was Yulefest. A flat, fast 5k in and around Harvard Square. Sadly enough, the Thursday before the race I managed to aggravate my Achilles tendon. It still felt good enough to run, so I ran, whether that was a good idea or not. I started out well, but really suffered into the wind in that last mile. I managed to finish in 17:49 (5:45) good enough for 45 of 3228.
But now my Achilles hurts even more, so back into easy running for few days and no more "fast" running for a while. Hopefully I can break this cycle.
I know this all sounds like first world problems and those results really aren't bad at all. For someone that lives their life run to run, this has been a mental struggle and I'm looking forward to just getting back into a groove.
2020 will be all about distance. Stay tuned for an announcement on January 1st.
For any race, your time to recover is directly proportional to how far you had to push past your training. Think of it this way. If you hit that proverbial wall at mile 20 of a marathon, you still have 6.2 miles to push through before finishing. The amount of damage you do to your body in that last 6.2 miles is exponentially more then the rest of the race.
In general, I have always recovered faster after races I have performed well in. This is probably because I didn't have to push as far past my training on those days.
In 100 mile races, there really is no way around this. Back in 2017 when I ran the Hennepin 100, I remember nagging pains and fatigue that lasted for over six weeks. Every time I thought I was ready to get back on the horse, something else hurt.
After running the Midstate 100 this year, I have been going through similar problems, only a bit worse. Luckily at this point in my ultra running career, I feel pretty trained through about 60 miles. This was shown during my race as I made it to about mile 63 or so before I really started to hurt. The majority of the last marathon was run on will power not training. When I was pushing through I knew I was giving my muscular skeletal system a run for its money.
So where did I end up? Splitting my time between races and injury for the past 9 weeks. I was pretty good at backing off for the first 3, but once my fatigue began to dissipate I tried to get back into it ... and definitely too fast. First up was some knee pain. A couple of easy days seemed to cure that so I began to ramp back up again.
I had three races, all short distances before the end of the year. I was eager to see how fast I could turn around some speed after many months of building base mileage.
Gobble Gobble Gobble
After a couple of easy days and another week+ without speed I was able to get over the pain, but not in time for the Gobble. At Nat's request, I pushed him in the stroller for the race and took a good deal of pleasure listening to him yell "Faster!" and "Pass him, pass her!" in the final mile. Result: 19:37 (6:19) - 75 / 2691.
Mill Cities
Going into Mill Cities my Piriformis was feeling better, but had not had time to dial in my speed. This year I ran the 2nd leg, 4.75 miles, which was the only leg of the
relay I had yet to run. The race went well or at least as good as I
could have hoped - 27:52 (5:54) - but I managed to get frost bite on my right ear (it was 15 degrees below the forecasted temperature). We also managed to take top honors in the coed sub masters division and 5th overall. Yulefest
But now my Achilles hurts even more, so back into easy running for few days and no more "fast" running for a while. Hopefully I can break this cycle.
I know this all sounds like first world problems and those results really aren't bad at all. For someone that lives their life run to run, this has been a mental struggle and I'm looking forward to just getting back into a groove.
2020 will be all about distance. Stay tuned for an announcement on January 1st.
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