(Week 1) "Learning to Ride a Bike"

Last week seemed so light for ultramarathon training, especially considering how soon race day will be creeping up on me.  I remember the first 100-miler I trained for, I made myself get out there and start jogging 20-milers right away, having never ran farther than a half-marathon. This time, however, is going to have to be completely different than any training I have ever done in order to keep my left leg and ankle strong but not overworked (If it is injured during training, I'm done). So cross-training is in order to supplement only two long jog/hike workouts and one short, faster jog each week.

Right now I'm not even jogging really. I'm trying to ease into it, so I have to keep myself from running too much too soon...which is actually pretty hard at this point as I am really excited to be training again and am already noticing increased energy levels.  But I keep remembering previous ultamarathons; there were some people who walked the whole thing and beat some of the runners who had to take longer rest breaks.  Even if I never train for the running part, I could possibly finish 100 miles in 25 hours.

But this training is going to be unique for me in that it will include a lot of cycling which I have never been fond of, and in many ways I am currently "learning to ride a bike."  I know very little about how to sit on the bike, how to adjust the bike, how to shift gears...I am just concerned with pumping my legs to get them into proper shape.

So here is a quick summary of last week (week 1): 



Monday:      2 hr. speed hike (about 15 min/mile pace)
Tuesday:     (am) light weight, high reps/whole body
                    (pm) light weight, high reps/legs and abs
Wednesday:  10 mile bike ride
Thursday:    2 hr. speed hike (about 15 min/mile pace)
Friday:         2 hr. stationary bike
Saturday:     (cancelled--didn't get up early enough and was too
                    busy working on Christmas program rest of day)
Sunday:        (off)

A little discouraged, but not hanging my head yet

This week has not been good for the hiking/jogging. I'm not sure I can blame the weather anymore; I just don't think my leg is quite there yet. There is just no "normal" about this kind of injury; some recover fine, and some don't. I was hoping for the former, but apparently I am not Superman. That is okay, I am determined to keep giving it a try. For now, I will have to cut my hikes back to an hour because, after that, I really start feeling it. But the trail is so relaxing and it really feels good to be out there. Perhaps I will give the biking a try for a while, I just haven't been too motivated for that. I would much rather hike (or, more preferably, RUN).