Not the week I planned as my initial plans were to get some miles in running and riding but do so easily as had a race, well races, scheduled for Saturday. Well, some things changed and it ended up being a fairly tough week – not just due to miles but what was contained in those miles.
First, the week started of with not running Monday as I had a PT appointment to deal with my foot issues that are linked to a tight back and right leg. I have found, and highly recommend, dry needling as it really helps and is what I did that seems to have dealt with my Plantar Fasciitis. I started going to see Andy Gray at PTPros in Elizabethtown where I had my first treatment. The only issue was that it was such a long drive and sitting in the car coming back was counter-productive. So I have started going to see Josh Harris of Somerset Spine & Performance Physiotherapy which is much closer. This relates to training in that, not only does it help in dealing with injuries, but also if I cannot run early before a treatment I do not run after one till the next day just to let the benefits settle in.
Tuesday’s run, well runs, were easy but in the warm/hot/humid temperatures they were still tiring. I like to do two a days, as I have said before, because they are a good way to get in more miles while being less stressful on my body. This set up well for a ride Wednesday and for the most part it was an easy ride but I did ride harder, mostly tempo, on a few segments but all in all a good ride.
This is where the week got harder as on Thursday I ran a 9+ miler and while running relaxed and in everything from overcast to a down pour to sunny and very humid it was faster than I had planned. My foot felt pretty good and I just worked on a relaxed run that resulted in a little faster pace. I ran this run knowing what was coming up Friday as I had gotten a call to do a pre-ride of the Kentucky Gravel Championship course which is 61 tough miles. Probably could have done with less running Thursday but part of this training plan is to do things on tired legs as I am sure they will be tired for the R2R2R and the Dirty Kanza 200.So what about the ride. I had my suspicions based on the guys putting on the race that it would be a tough course and I was not wrong. The course was hilly and had plenty of water, mud, ruts, rocks, gullies, creek/river crossings and yes some gravel. Being that I have only ridden a MTB a few times a long time ago and this was pretty much my first ride on my gravel bike this was probably not the best place to start off but was more like jumping into the deep end of the pool when you cannot swim. We ended up ridding the first 42 miles of the course, the last 13 back tracked what would be a very slow section – for me anyway, then reset the route to take some main roads back to the start so rode 63 miles in 5:31 with around 5000FT of climbing. The ride entailed a lot of walking due to lots of mud in a number of places and grades in the neighborhood of 34% on rocks and gravel and my gearing, and skill, is not set up for that. All in all a tiring ride as the temperatures while not as hot as it could have been was still quite warm which added to the discomfort. Add to this a number of falls and a few cuts and bruises this was probably a good pre race plan if one wants to run a race on dead/sore legs but not if you want to run fast.
The race on Saturday was one where you run a 10k, on some easy trails, then 90 minutes later you run a 5k over the same trails. I got to the race a little later than planned and for sure feeling the previous days ride so did not get in much a warm up which I find is really needed to get the body going. Ran the 10K and went out a little faster than I should have and soon felt not being warmed up so slowed down just to run a maintainable pace. The 10K was about 6 minutes slower than last year but considering the previous days ride not all that bad (14th OA & 4th 50-59). Then after a 38 minute rest I ran the 5K and in truth felt better, not great but better, for the 5k as I was tired but at least warmed up. For the 5k I also tried to run a steady pace and while 3.5 minutes slower than last year (course was a little longer) it was a good workout on tired legs (14th OA & 2nd 50-59). I ended up 6th OA on the combined race and 2nd in the 50-59 AG. Bottom line not the best racing but a good workout on dead legs.
Diet Notes:
Not much to say on diet this week as I just worked to keep my carbs down and still work to be replenish what had been used. Below is my fueling for the long ride and two race day. While I did have some carb intake I kept it to a minimum for training purposes. When I race the Gravel Championships in August I will work to take in more carbs to keep the energy up as the nature of the course will require spurts of burning more carbs and will need to make sure they stay replenished.
I do know that I want to work on keeping the carb load down during the week to work at minimizing inflammation and thus hoping to help in recovery.
Relive 'First 42 of KGC Course and back via Mckee'
Long Ride Fueling
Pre-Long Ride:
- Modified Bullet Proof Coffee (MBPC) – Coffee, Butter, Coconut Oil, Collagen, Raw Egg, Heavy Cream and Chocolate Primal Fuel
- One 20oz bottle of water with 2 scoops SFuels, 3 Scoops UCAN and 1 Vespa Concentrate
- 2 – 27oz Bottles of water with 2 scoops each of SFuels
- 1.5 – 60oz Hydration Bladders of just water
- 1 – 27oz Bottles of just water
- 1/2 - Coffee UCAN
- 1 - F-Bomb Nutbutter
- 1- Maurten 100 Gel at about 30 miles
- Pre-race (Early Morning) - Modified Bullet Proof Coffee (MBPC) – Coffee, Butter, Coconut Oil, Collagen, Raw Egg, Heavy Cream and Chocolate Primal Fuel
- Between Races – 20z water and 1 Maurten 100 Gel
- Tuesday: Run #1 - 7.1 Miles
- Tuesday: Run #2 - 6.04 Miles
- Wednesday: Ride – 40.5 Miles
- Thursday: Run – 9.16 Miles
- Friday: Run – 63.5 Miles
- Saturday: Run #1 – 0.75 Miles
- Saturday: Run #2 – 6.37 Miles
- Saturday: Run #3 – 3.64 Miles
- Saturday: Run #4 – 4.8 Miles
- Running Miles – 37.8
- Riding Miles – 104
- Total Time – 13:9
What was intended to have been an easy week ended up to be a hard one and so I need to make sure the up coming week is kept easy. I will still work to be at 35-40 miles and get in a couple rides with possibly one bing a 100 miler. The way my schedule is this coming weekend is the last one I can get in a long one. The goal of the next month is to get in the work but work to keep the legs as fresh as possible – harder than it sounds – at least for me
As always if you have any questions let me know in the comments or via the email link in the side bar.
Last Week's Overview #4
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