Daily Running = Sore!

Besides being tired all the time, I've been working hard on remaining consistent with my training and diet. By in large, I've been successful at both, with a few stagger steps along the way. To accomplish my running goals, I've been commuting to work on foot with Osprey Talon 22 backpack and water bladder. When stocked with my work clothes, water, hygiene kit, and food it weighs about 12-15 pounds. I often forget to update my weight on Daily Mile for these runs, which us used to calculate the calories expended during the workout. It's a good thing I'm not too worried about it!  I'm more worried about whether or not I'm consuming enough calories to offset those burned!

In general, I'm trying to run each day, though I haven't really gotten into a full seven day streak. In the very least, I run five days, with an occasional sixth thrown in for good measure. Where I've really fallen behind this season is in getting out of  Phase I, or mileage and base building. Like my friend Keath^[1], I've been using the Daniels Running Formula as the basis for my training. Unlike Keath, I haven't been able to make it very far in the plan! I do have excuses, and they're relatively good ones. The fact remains that I haven't really had time to put in some quality workouts, those not run at an Easy - slower than Marathon - pace.


I'm still not sure if anyone has really applied Daniels' approach to ulra-marathon training, but I'm not yet an ultra-marathon runner. with over 4,600 feet of elevation gain^[2], Moose Mountain Marathon doesn't really fall into the "marathon" or even "run" buckets.  Frankly, it's more of a hike separated by running and walking. To prepare, I need to strengthen my quads and hamstrings, but to benefit from this work, I need about three weeks of time from the effort. With less than four weeks to the race, this is the week for quality!

Sunday, I started it out with a hill repeat run. After a 3 mile warm-up run around Lake Joesphine, I ran repeats on Edgewater Avenue up to Lexington Parkway. The hill is about 100 yards long and 50 or so feet of elevation gain. I didn't sprint for the eight repetitions, but I'm sure I went far faster than an Interval effort, hence the designation of a Repeat. Hopefully it will pay off in September.

One thing is for certain, my legs have "felt it" ever since. A combination of my increased, yet still very modest, mileage and the hill workout has left my legs sore. Wednesday night, my quads started to cramp up while sitting in a recliner and my shins were starting to say, "Give us a break!" Although there are no real scheduled "rest days" in the Daniels' plan, I took Thursday off! I'm feeling better today and will get in a half hour to 45 minute Easy run in before mowing the lawn, packing, and heading off to camp!

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¹Keath recently completed the MOOnlight Half Marathon in Davis, California. Congratulations!
²Aid Stations, Map and Data