It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Taper Time!

Next Thursday I fly to Phoenix, Arizona and in 8 days I’m running the Black Canyon 100k ultra marathon.  This is my first 100k race and my first point-to-point event.  No loops, no crew, no pacer – just me and my Hokas in the desert for 14+ hours!  In order to flush over 1,000 miles of fatigue from my legs I’ve been in taper mode for the past week and it’s amazing.

Primarily I’ve found so much more time in my days since beginning to taper.  Instead of running for 5 hours in the mountains I have time to actually do some real work and also catch up on trail running videos on YouTube. 

The hard part of the taper is holding back, especially with the abundance of energy coursing through my veins.  I ran for an hour yesterday and repeatedly had to prevent myself from 1,000 foot ascents, traversing technical terrain (don’t want to sprain an ankle now), and screaming down single-track switch backs. 

I know Black Canyon is going to be a tough race and I expect many challenges – heat, hydration, nutrition, cramping and mental crappiness.  Looking back on my last ultra (Sulphur Springs 50 miler) I’m happy I suffered through the many lows and pushed out to the other side for a strong finish.  If I can do the same in 8 days at Black Canyon and finish in under 17 hours to gain entry to the Western States lottery then all the training, sacrifice, injuries and foam rolling will have all be well worth it!

Fitness vs Fatigue

After a full Ironman and my first ultra-marathon I didn’t understand what it meant to absorb fitness or how to strike optimal balance between fitness and fatigue.  It took moving to North Vancouver and shifting all my runs to the mountains to force this critical learning. 

Black Canyon 100km is in 29 days and my training has peaked at 112 km (70 miles) in 14 hours of mountain running per week.  I used to think runners got faster and stronger from running, now I understand that running exhausts the body and you get faster and stronger through recovery.

My legs don’t hurt but they are exhausted all the time.  After compression, foam rolling, and a good night sleep they’re ready for another run up and down the mountains.  I’ve learned to skip workouts if my legs are too tired, something unthinkable to Steve Day of 2014 training for the Ironman.  I now understand that extra rest and fresh legs will make me a stronger runner tomorrow.

After over 1,000 miles of running I’m getting physically and mentally prepared for Black Canyon.  Next week is my final big training week, then I enter my taper and cannot wait for the expected boundless energy and added spring in my step.  Until then I’ll continue to push the limits of physical and mental fatigue and employ liberal rest and IPAs to ensure I absorb maximal fitness. 

Back-To-Back for Black

While training for my first marathon in 2004 I learned that you never run a marathon while training for a marathon.  This is due to the increased risk of injury and diminishing returns from greater distance training.  Back then I never contemplated running a 100km ultra marathon.  The same training logic holds for an ultra, and you actually cap your longest run at a relatively short distance compared with the race.  My longest single run training for the 100km Black Canyon ultra will be 50km six weeks before the race.

I wondered how runners prepare their body and mind for the second 50km having never run this in training.  Then I discovered back-to-back long runs and their importance to ultra training.  The principle is simple, run really far one day then run far again the next day.  Instead of killing yourself with a single 70km run, split it up over 2 days with 40km then 30km. 

Sunrise in the Third Debris Chute

It took most of 2015 but I now fully understand the value from these back-to-back runs. 

1.       Great way to get in the distance, I’ve been logging 100+ km weeks for over a month.

2.       Fantastic mental training.  I love running, but lacing up for a 4 hour run the day after a 5 hour run is psychologically tormenting – good practice for the mental torture I’ll experience on race day. 

3.       The worst km is the first one on the second day.  Running on stiff tired legs hurts like hell, and getting used to this is making me stronger for my ultra.

I just finished week 14 of training for Black Canyon 100km, which included back-to-back 30km runs.  I used to dread these weekly runs and the accompanying physical and mental anguish.  Now I love them, and they are the highlights of my running week.  It doesn’t hurt that run 1 this week was in the Marin Headlands north of San Francisco and run 2 was through Stanford University in Palo Alto. 

After 14 weeks of back-to-back runs they no longer hurt and I’ve appeared to transcend from fear and loathing to pure delight.  Let’s hope this continues for the rest of my training and carries me through the second half of Black Canyon 100km.  

 

San Francisco, the windy city?