Wednesday, June 29, 2022

My Dramatic Leadup to the 2022 Wester States 100 Miler

You ever feel like your arch is going to rip apart during a run?  Well that's where I was at mile 18 of the 2022 Blue Ridge Marathon....   Not the Western States leadup I had planned.

We started ultra running in 2002 and the thought of doing a 100 was nowhere to be found.  Fast forward to 2015, a couple “life” variables come up, you’re turning 40, so what the heck, let’s do the Beast Series. 

After finishing the Grindstone 100 I decided to enter the Western States lottery for the first time and the attitude from that point on was to continue to qualify for both Western States and Hardrock until I was no longer interested. 

My Qualifiers for the 2022 Western States;

2016 - Grindstone 100 - 2015

2017 - Hellgate 100k - 2016

2018 - Bighorn 100 - 2017

2019 - Vermont 100 - 2018 

2020 - Covid Cancelled

2021 - Bighorn 100 - 2019

2022 - Laurel Highlands 70.5 - 2019

32 Tickets got me in to the race

The Drama
The Late Summer and Fall of 2021 saw 7 races (3-50ks, 1-marathon, 1-28k, and 2-VKs) and Covid in the span of 11 weeks.  You can see the details here - http://mountainjunkies.blogspot.com/2021/07/2021-year-of-bad-ideas-with-good-intent.html
That brings us up to date, to 2022 and focusing on putting those 7 years to good use.  I started the year’s activities, in early January, with the Choas 50k, finishing up my second year or a running streak and feeling fit and ready to build up towards June.  Somewhere, shortly after this, a long term mild issue of some heel pain started to flare up, I strained the opposite calf, ran the Terrapin Half with Gina, and continued to try to train for WS.

The Crossroads
The Blue Ridge Marathon fit in to my plan as I figured Mtn Road running with punishing descents would help prepare for the downhill nature of the WS and running the road would be less of an issue for my foot.  Let’s just say the BRM didn’t go as planned, my left quad was shot early due to the offloading of pressure of my right foot, my legs were cooked by Avenham, and right after the top of Peakwood, as you descend before the steep climb up West Ridge, my PF felt like it was going to tear in half (no exaggerating).  I got to the top of Peakwood, where Gina and Kathleen were waiting for me and decided that I was done, I’m pretty sure my words were, “I think I’m going to pull the plug.”

10 Week Countdown and plan to WS100 – Outlook bleak but possible
- No running until my heal doesn’t hurt
- Increase aerobic training volume each week
Training Log
     Week 1 – spin bike, road bike, mtn bike
     Week 2 – only slightly better, added in some weight bearing work, elliptical and stepmill
     Week 3 – spin bike, road bike, elliptical and stepmill
     Week 4 – felt comfortable enough to test things out and was able to get in a few runs without pain – 6.5 miles of running
     Week 5 – running, spin bike, road bike, elliptical and stepmill – 34 miles running
     Week 6 – running, spin bike – 53 miles running
     Week 7 – running, spin bike – 54 miles running
     Week 8 – running, spin bike – 68 miles running
     Week 9 – running, spin bike – 48 miles running
    Week 10 – running – 32 miles
My foot feels good and ready to go. 

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