10 weeks out and locked in...
The weeks between now and the last blog post have been filled with a lot of hard work and problem solving. The three things that come to mind are narrowing down nutrition to support my efforts, knocking out 52 miles with Levi Perez during his segment of MS Run the US, and getting back into weight lifting on a regular basis.
Nutrition
This has been an ongoing challenge filled with adjustments, learning curves, and mistakes... but now I think we have gotten over the hump. One of my main goals going into Leadville prep was to try and keep my results in the gym. While going to the gym alone can be a challenge (because you're tired all the time with heavy run volume), nutrition is the main ticket item that will hold you back from maintaining or progressing. For me, my main adjustments were eating more and eating more of the right thing. Eating more is much easier when you cosume crap food lacking in nutrtion. What I've done to avoid that is fill my meal gaps with fruits, nuts, homemade granola, protein shakes, and smoothies. I found myself bonking out a good bit on weeks with heavier run volume before I made this adjustment. These changes also work well for me because I am a personal trainer and much of my day is on the go or on my feet. I do not often have the opportunity to cook/make a small snack at home . All in all, I decided to to keep it simple and keep it healthy.
MS Run the US - Levi Perez, Segment 8
A few weeks back my friend Levi was able to knock out his big running challenge for the year. The MS Run the US Relay is an Ultra Relay that spans the width of the United States. Levi's segment was 171 miles, spanning from Steamboat, Colorado, to Denver, Colorado. I was lucky enough to join him on two of his days, knocking out 52 miles. This was an amazing experience for many reasons...
1. To see one of my friends accomplish such a task is a very cool thing to be a part of. It made me very proud of Levi. He had made a decision to accomplish something very hard, trained for it, and crushed it. It confirmed people like Levi are the type of people I want to surround myself with. His dedication to this event and its mission to raise money for Multiple sclerosis (MS) was incredible.
2. On a more personal note, it was a good challenge for me to see how my legs handled the load of 52 miles in 2 days. I had a problems with my left hamstring locking up and my right akle stabilizers feeling over worked. I'm glad this happened, because it told me what I needed to put some attention to moving forward. Better it happen there than at my race.
3. Lastly, it was just nice to run (and not be bad at running anymore) in the mountains with nothing but quietness and good conversation. I had great conversations with Levi and David about life that probably just would not have happened otherwise. It really gave us a chance to take a step back from the craziness of the day to day and allowed us to just enjoy those two days without interruption.
Weight Lifting
I haven't been completely off weight lifting, it just hasn't been consistent. Prep has me pretty worn out all the time, but I felt like I was letting go my main fitness foundation - lifting weights. When I started Leadville prep, my normal lifting routine was pairing with the run prep well. After run volume started to increase, I felt like I was getting minor injuries more often and my energy was drained all the time. After some planning and adjustments, we are back with a solid & intentional lifting routine. Not only have I adjusted my lifting routine to support my running goals, but I have also left in a day or two of normal upper body & "whatever I want" lifting to keep it fun.
That pretty much wraps up everything that has been going on in my Leadville100 prep recently.
Some things coming up that have been in the works:
Men's Strength & Conditioning Programs (16 weeks per phase, 3 phases)
Women's Strength & Conditioning Programs (16 weeks per phase, 3 phases)
Runner's Strength Programs (16 weeks per phase, 3 phases)
More info coming soon!
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Also, if you want to support my fundraiser for Leadville100 as well as Magan Hall's Cancer Treatment, check the link below!
- Andrew