Today as I was heading home from a 4 1/2 mile easy run , I started recalling the miles I've run so far this week. I start my week on Sundays, like most calendars. Last Sunday I ran 16 miles at Hill Country State Natural area in Bandera TX. 16 Quality Miles, I thought. Tuesday I ran 5 and a quarter at hilly Freidrich park where I have been spending most Tuesdays with my friend Lalo as he pushes me to run hard up every hill. This has helped by the way. I ran up Ice Cream hill at Bandera last Sunday. Well, almost all the way up. I did power hike the last five yards. But I would not have attempted to attack this very steep, rocky, rugged, roughly 1/4 mile hill before the Friedrich park workouts. So, almost 26 miles for the week. Maybe 10 tomorrow and Saturday is up in the air but it won't be a long run. Then I thought, I really don't care how many miles a week I run. As Long as I'm getting in quality miles, I'll be OK at the Cactus Rose 50 miler Oct.27. The only thing I'm worried about right now is which shoes to wear. The Bandera rocks really beat up your feet if you don't choose the right shoes. People have said things like "Bandera is where rocks go to die" -Nick Clark. And, "It seems like every time we come to Bandera, there's more Rocks. I think they have babies" - Chris Russell
Recently I heard a podcast where a Tri-athlete who wins his age group at many half and full Ironmans talked about how he only works out about 10 hours a week. That's not much for an Ironman but it's obviously working for him. His theory is it must be quality over quantity. He scoffed at tearing up the body week in and week out leading up to an event and then hoping the body fully recovers in the last two weeks. This made me think of many runners I know who have been injured while training for a marathon or an ultra only to go into the run beat up, injured, or miss the event all together. And also about another who due to a new job only had time for one maybe two short weekday runs and one weekend day when he could run long. Chris went into his 100 miler after this training schedule and performed very well! I think he set a PR.
I've often said I need to preserve my aging body. So I'm going with the quality over quantity training plan. I'll tear up my body on race day. Now, I've got to tell my training buddy to ease up on me on those tuesday runs. Race day is just around the corner.
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