Week 10, Training for a 50K Trail Race

 This has been a recovery week, and I surely needed it. After finishing my 16 mile trail run, I spent the rest of my Sunday getting plenty of rest and recovery. Unfortunately I did not sleep well Sunday night through Wednesday night. Each night I felt like I was having hot flashes, and was nauseous. Looking at my sleep tracker I was very busy tossing and turning all those nights. Needless to say My week didn't start off well. 

Week 10 Training Plan: (6th - 18th October)

Monday: Rest and Recovery, Mobility 30+ minutes.

Tuesday: Glute & Core Strength 45 minutes, Mobility practice 30 minutes.

Wednesday: Glute & Core Strength 45 minute, Mobility Practice 30 min.

Thursday:  Easy run 3.1 miles on the flats keeping Zone 2, Strength 30 minutes.

Friday: Easy run 3.1 miles on the flats keeping Zone 2, Mobility 30 mins.

Saturday: Tour De Cure ride 4.5 hours with some significant climbing.

Sunday: Trail run 14 miles keeping Zone 2 as best I can with the hills.

Luckily Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were rest days from running and riding but I still needed to get in my strength workouts, and my mobility workouts. I was fine doing those, but mentally I was struggling. I also felt like I was coming down with a cold. My eyes were heavy and itchy, I had a slight sore throat and some post nasal drip, not to mention my energy level was a 2 out of 10. 

By Thursday I had enough of being tired. I called off my late morning and afternoon work commitments and tried to nap. This nap was semi-successful in that I did sleep, but not for as long as I was hoping for. Needless to say I was still able to get some sleep Thursday into Friday and even woke up feeling refreshed. 

Friday I had to take my car in for service in the morning, then was going to do my run when I got home. This was a great plan especially since it was going to get into the low 90's again. On my morning run the temp was already 75 degrees when I started, but the light felt like it was 5pm. It's definitely fall even if the temps are not fall like. 

Friday evening I prepared all my food and water for Saturdays long ride. This helps me rest better knowing I'm all ready for the morning. The good news about these rides is there are plenty of places along the way to stop and refill my water bottles. The ride was going to be around 6 hours in length so I packed enough food for 200 kcal an hour plus water with Clif Hydration at 20 ounces an hour. In all the ride  went really well, we all stayed together and enjoyed a nice lunch break in Pescadero. The air was so clear that when we go to Hwy1 you could clearly see the ocean. Also by this time the temperature had risen and we were all feeling quite warm. I was able to get a few bits a pieces of video from the ride, but unfortunately during the last descent my camera flipped down and I didn't know it. When I got to the bottom of the descent I saw my camera pointing at the ground and realized I may have missed the entire Kings Mountain descent. Oh well, I'll just have to ride that road again and make sure that darn camera stays facing forward.

**Here is the video from Saturday's Tour de Cure ride.**

Sunday's run ended up getting cancelled. Long story short, my long run from last week ended up causing a strain in my left calf. It was fine most of the week, however when I got off my bike after Saturdays ride, something went pop and it hurt the rest of the day. With my event coming up in only 6 weeks I need to stay healthy so the run had to be canceled. 

These things happen in training, and you just have to go with them. When we try to push through is when we create bigger problems. So instead of running, I will be focusing on recovery through rest, ice, compression and gentle mobility exercise to keep the knee and ankle moving while I'm not running. We shall see how next week goes. 

Week 9, Training For 50K Trail Race

Anniversary weekend is over and full recovery has occurred. Time to hit the pavement again. This week I'm going to be doing a bunch more Zone 2 training with some Zone 4/5 thrown in for extra adaptations. It also helps after doing a lot of the long slow Zone 2 training to break up the monotony with some higher effort Zone 4/5 training.

 Week 9 Training Plan: (5th - 11th October)

Monday: Rest and Recovery, Mobility 30+ minutes.

Tuesday: Run: Hill Repeats 4 x 1/2 mile, Strength 30 minutes.

Wednesday: 75 minute fun leisurely Bike ride, Core strength 30 min.

Thursday: Run 8.5 miles on the trails keeping Zone 2, Strength 30 minutes.

Friday: Trainer ride 1 hour working Neuromuscular Activation, Mobility 30 mins.

Saturday: Outdoor team ride 4 hours lots of climbing.

Sunday: Trail run 16 miles keeping Zone 2 as best I can with the hills.

First workout of the week happened at Rancho San Antonio preserve again. This time instead of parking at the elementary school outside the park, I drove into the park and got a front row space near the bathrooms. From here it was just a smidge over 2 miles to the start of the hill I decided to use for todays hill repeats. Normally I go up Rogue Valley trail  to the top, but it would have been a 2.6 mile warm up just to get to the base of the main climb. Instead I opted for a new to me trail, the Chemise trail just off lower Rogue Valley. Turns out this trail is quite steep in places and I definitely got the leg strength workout that was planned, which also gave me some great Zone 5 training as well. The best part about this trail is that no one else was on it. Maybe it was the time of day or maybe just because it's so exposed people don't want to use it. But I loved having the trail to myself to huff and puff and slog my way up and down it 4 times. Unfortunately I forgot my GoPro so I have no video or photo of the trail (from that day), but trust me from my other pics and video's there is no difference between this one and all the others in the park. It's wide, dusty, and steep. 

**This is the steep section on Chamise trail I took from my video's of Sunday's run.**

This week I got to ride outside for a fun filled leisurely 75 minute stroll which took place just before lunch on Wednesday. It was a perfect day to be outside, the sun was shining, the temps were a cool 65 and hardly a car on the road. Can't ask for much better than that. The nice easy bike spin was really goof for stretching out my legs from the hill repeats I did on Tuesday, and to prepare my legs for more hills on Thursday.

Thursday's run was just an easy Zone 2 trail run at Rancho again. I took my usual route up Rogue Valley to the top and today I just got to turn right around and head back down. The leaves were noticeably different than the last several runs here. You could tell fall is here, as there were many laves falling or already on the ground. The light coming in through the trees felt different, and the air again cooler.

**This was taken at mile 7 of Sunday's run. This is looking towards Cupertino/San Jose.**

Skipping Friday's trainer ride as it was not much to report, just an hour doing high cadence spinning while keeping my heart rate low. Only good thing about those sessions is that I usually get to watch some crazy YouTuber doing insane stunts and generally just get to zone out for a short bit. 

Saturday however was supposed to be 4 hours of climbing, which got changed to a 3 hour ride with some climbing. Once out on the route and about 45 minutes in my legs were starting to feel more tired than normal. At that point we were about to climb Page Mill road. That is not an easy road to climb, and I made a last minute decision to save my legs for the onslaught they were going to get Sunday for my run. So instead of heading up Page Mill from Altamont, I headed down the hill and stayed on the flats for the rest of my ride.

**On the Quarry Trail loop headed back down the hill toward PG&E trail.**

I made sure to get plenty of rest Saturday night, plus I wore my compression sleeves for several hours after my bike ride to make sure my legs got plenty of recovery. Then before I knew it, it was Sunday morning and time to run my longest run since 2014. For breakfast I had 2 slices of toast with butter, cinnamon and a sprinkle of brown coconut sugar plus a cup of coffee with oat milk. 

In my backpack today I planned for being out running for about 3 hours. So I brought 1.5 liters of fluids in my 4 bottles that fit nicely in this new pack. I filled 1 liter of that with the Clif Hydration mix I've been using, and the remaining 0.5 liter was plain water. I also brought food for 200 calories an hour plus extra in case I was out longer than expected. Also since this was a new trail for me and quite far from any homes or roads I also packed a small can of pepper spray as I was told the chance of seeing a mountain lion up there is petty good. I also brought a map of the park that I folded and put into a plastic baggie so I can read it without it getting soaking wet from sweat. In the baggie I tossed a couple band aids and some moleskin just in case I got blisters. Last but certainly not least I brought my GoPro. 

The run started off my usual from the car park to the Farm is 1.75 miles, then the course starts to increase in elevation just a slight bit, maybe a 1 or 2% grade. The Rogue trail is where I started, and at mile 2.5 in my run I turned off onto the Chemise trail. Initially it looks steep, but it didn't feel that bad. However at mile 3.5 till mile 5 that trail gets very steep. It was steep enough that I would alternate between fast walking and super short step running. This trail is also very open with no shade until the top, but great views of the Rogue Valley trail and out towards Los Altos and Cupertino.

Once I hit the top of Chamise at the start of the Black Mountain trail connection the trail "flattened" out a bit. But that flatter trail enjoyment didn't last long. It was about mile 5.8 when the trail kicked back up for the next 2.4 unrelenting miles. The steepness of the trail meant that there were many switchbacks, but also at times some pretty amazing views of the South Bay. All these amazing views I'm talking about can be seen in the video just below. 

 

Now the steepest part of the trail was yet to come. At mile 7.5 is when I hit the last section of trail that would lead me up to the top of Black Mountain. To get close to hear by car you would drive to the intersection of Page Mill road and Skyline Boulevard, just to give you an idea of where I was. At my highest point I was at 760 meters up or 2500 feet of elevation. The peak of Black Mountain trail tops out at 850 meters, so you can see I still wasn't even at the top, but for my legs today I was. 

This is where I stopped talked to the camera tying to get a good picture of the steepness of the last section of trail, and just to take in the amazing views from here. At this point I could truly say it was all downhill from there. One the way down I had to take the Quarry loop trail which hooked up with the top of PG& E trail. The Quarry loop trail was really interesting as I felt like I was in a maze. The trail itself was a single track trail, with the brush along the side being only 6feet in height and it just twisted and turned for the next 2 miles. The neat part about this trail is even tough it was narrow, steep and eerily like a corn maze, every now and then you would get a view of the Bay and this day did not disappoint. The sky was so clear and blue and fresh I couldn't help but to turn on the GoPro and try to catch as much as I could. 

**View from the top of my run at 8.1 miles and 2600 feet of elevation, and I'm still not at the top of this trail, it goes up another 200 feet.**

Once I got to the bottom of the trail and back to my car, I had my post workout protein shake ready to guzzle down. I also ended up guzzling down my last 500 mL of water I hadn't drank yet. Note to self need to drink more water during the run, drinking 1 liter for 2 hours and 40 minutes of running is not enough for me.    

For he rest of the day Sunday I keep pretty quiet. My compression sleeves were on for about 3 hours, and I sat with my legs elevated as much as I could. A good hearty meal was also in store for me about 2 hours post end of the run. This lunch consisted of a toasted turkey sandwich with mayo, and a side of romanesco broccoli and cauliflower, sauteed in a butter garlic cream sauce, plus more water.

This week ended my 4 week cycle of building up some decent long miles. Next week will be a rest week, but there will still be plenty of activities.

Week 8, Training for 50K Trail Race

This is the start of week 8, which leaves me with 10 week still me event. I feel confident that things are progressing as they should and that I will be ready for my event on December 5th. 

Week 8 Training Plan: (28th September - 4th October)

Monday: Rest and Recovery, Mobility 30+ minutes.

Tuesday: Bike trainer 30 min, Strength 1 hour, Glute Activation 10 min, Run 3 miles.

Wednesday: Run 8 miles with 1 mile at sub 5k pace, Core strength 30 min.

Thursday: Bike 1 hour focus on cadence and a couple max sprints, Strength 1 hour.

Friday: 5 miles zone 2, Mobility 30 mins.

Saturday: Outdoor team ride 3.5 hours.

Sunday: Trail run 14 miles keeping Zone 2 as best I can with the hills.

One thing I need to take care of this week is a new pair of running shoes. I've already replaced my old trail runners, but now my road shoes are in need of retirement. My current road shoes just topped over 700 miles on them. Most running shoes recommend you change your shoes every 300-600 miles. Since I'm a smaller person and I haven't put mine through too much rain or races they haven't really been overstressed so I kept them a bit longer.

Lucky me, when I find a pair shoe shoes that work for me I generally buy several pairs since I know they change so frequently I hate having to go through the search every 6 months. This means I still have one more pair of Brooks Launch 5's that I can pull out and start using, but that also means I have to start looking for something new. The reason I have to look for something new is that Brooks is currently on version 8 of their Launch shoes. I had bought a pair of their 6's but they turned out to have changed them so much I only used those ones for 200 miles before I gave up. They were too heavy, stiff and the upper was very stiff as well. I was lucky to find a couple more of the version 5's so I ordered all I could get. 

Back to the training for now. Tuesday was fun, it started out with my 30 minutes on the trainer, then I ran out of time and had to get back to work. I ended up doing my 10 minute core program and 3 mile run a bit later in the day, which worked out well since it never got that hot.

Knowing it might get hot on Wednesday and I had an 8 mile run with one of those miles at 5k pace, I really wasn't looking forward to doing that in the heat. But, I got lucky as I ended up having time in the morning at 8:45 to start my run. Oh what a great time to have run as it was only 62 degrees when I started. Even when I finished it was still in the low 60's though you would never know it seeing as I was drenched in sweat. Ick!

The end of the week training got switched around due to my 5 year Wedding Anniversary on Saturday. I knew I wasn't going to be able to manage the 14 mile run on Sunday morning, so we switched the long run to Saturday morning, and the bike ride to Friday. Unfortunately the air quality was terrible on Friday so I ended up having to do a 2 hour indoor trainer session, but I got it in and felt great after. 

Saturday morning I got up late and didn't eat breakfast before my run. Instead I brought breakfast with me and started eating as soon as I started my run. This normally has been fine for my runs up to 12 miles. However, today was not so. At about mile 5 I was already feeling pretty tired compared to how I normally feel on the trails. I do however have to say this week I chose to go up PG&E trail which I haven't done in a way too long. I'd also forgotten how much steeper PG&E is compared to Rogue Valley which I normally ascend. By mile 5.75 it hit the junction between heading back down the Rogue Valley trail and finishing my miles on the flats, or to keep going up the steeper part of PG&E for the next mile and a quarter. Due to feeling tired and possibly under nourished I opted for descending and hitting the flats to finish. This turned out to be a wise choice as I was struggling just to finish my last 2 miles on the flats. In all this was still a great fun and I took some short video clips while out there that you can watch here. 

Sure enough Sunday came along and I was feeling a bit in need of recovery from the previous nights alcohol enjoyment. I planned on doing my final run n the afternoon, but all day I was feeling nauseous and decided to just not push it. Instead I did spend some time doing my mobility routine and that was all I could get in.

With all the mention of Zone 2 training these past few weeks I have decided to write a blog post about what that actually means. If you are interested in reading that, here is the link. 

 

Zone 2 Training For Endurance Sports

You have probably heard a lot lately about how Zone 2, or steady state training is bad for you. When I'm asked that question, I respond with "that depends". Ugh, I know terrible question, but it really does depend on what your goals are. If you are looking to improve your general health and fitness along with your strength and body composition, especially for women, then you bet Zone 2 is not going to be your main focus. However, anyone who has trained for a specific goal or event will have some form of structured training which is based on different training zones. Or more specifically heart rate training zones, and yes Zone 2 is the main one you'll be training in.

These Zones are numbered 1 through 5, and sometimes 5+. While training all the different zones is necessary for performance improvement, Zone 2 training is by far the most important part of the endurance training program. The purpose of each training zone is to elicit specific physiological and metabolic adaptations in order to improve performance, and it's important to know what physiological and metabolic adaptations occur while in each zone and how they can be improved in training. 

To understand this, first we need to have an understanding of basic physiology and muscle metabolism. Oh yeah I said it more Bio-Chem here. If you don't care to read about the wonderful world of bio-chem skip down to the section on How Do You Find Zone 2.

Energy Systems

Three energy systems contribute different amounts towards re-synthesizing the compound Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), the "energy currency" of our body. With the help of our mitochondria which processes ATP, this is how we get our muscles to make the contractions for movement. The main energy system we utilize depends on the intensity, type and duration of the exercise being performed, as well as the fuel sources available and the fitness levels of the individual. These systems are also dependent on whether we use oxygen (aerobic) or not (anaerobic). They are:

1. The ATP-CP System (Anaerobic): lasts up to about 10 seconds of very high intensity efforts. An example of this would be doing an explosive Olympic lift, or a 100 meter sprint. The ATP-CP system uses a stored molecule in the muscle called creatine phosphate (CP) to resynthesize ATP. It is the breakdown of this molecule that releases the energy needed to rejoin the ADP and free phosphate to form ATP. This system is anaerobic as it works without oxygen, and does not produce any waste products. This is Zone 5 & 5+

2. The Lactate System (Anaerobic): is the active system used from 30 seconds to 3 minutes of high intensity efforts. An example of this would be doing a set of HIITS, and anything up to about an 800 meter sprint. The Lactate system uses glucose to help create ATP. It breaks down the glucose molecule into pyruvic acid through anaerobic glycolysis (the splitting of sugars). Through this anaerobic glycolysis system chemical energy is released and used to synthesize two ATP molecules for every glucose molecule used.  This is Zone 4.

3. The Aerobic System: this is the active system our body uses to sustain long duration low intensity efforts. Think 5k, 10k and up. This system needs oxygen to be present for the creation of ATP and will use one of three processes (Aerobic glycolysis, Krebs cycle or Electron transport chain feel free to look those up if you are curious) to create it. It's a slow process and thus is it used for lower intensity demands but can continue for long periods of time. This is Zone 1 & 2.

**Found this chart on a Google search, not my own. It gives a good visual of what I was talking about as far as how long each energy system lasts, and that there is some overlap between them.**

Physiological and Metabolic Adaptations of Zone 2 Training

Performing most of your training in Zone 2 will help you build endurance, durability and strength. In addition, these easy training sessions help you...

1. Increase the number and density of your mitochondria - as you know from reading earlier the mitochondria is where the muscle gets it's energy to cause muscle contractions.

2. Increased capillary pathways - means more oxygen carrying capacity, and more ability to keep going.

3. Increase Stroke volume - amount of blood pumped out per beat; more blood means more oxygen and longer duration exercise.

4. Increased Fat burning capability - your body can more easily access the fat and use it for energy.

5. Increased lactate clearance - the mitochondria had the ability to break down the lactate and reuse it.

6. Increased blood plasma - the liquid part of the blood that carries cells and proteins.

7. Allows you to increase your training volume without beating up your body.

How Do You Find You Zone 2

There are a couple ways to calculate your heart rate ranges. If you do not have a heart rate monitor or prefer not to use one, you will have to train by feel. Without the heart rate monitor, you should feel like you can breathe through your nose while you are exercising and you can carry on full sentences. However if you want to have a bit more data, you will need a heart rate monitor. 

One of the best ways to get started with heart rate training is to calculate your heart rate reserve (HRR). First start with gathering the following numbers:

1. Max Heart Rate: 220 - your age = MHR

2. Find your Resting Heart rate (RHR), this is taken immediately when you wake up, before sitting up.

3. Find your Hear Rate Reserve (HRR): Subtracting your Resting Heart Rate from your Max Heart Rate. 

4. Multiply HRR by the Zone percentage you want to calculate, Zone 2 = 65-75%

5. Add back in your RHR to each of the calculated numbers in #4 to get your range for Zone 2.

For the other zones, the ranges are: Zone 3 multiply by 75-85%; Zone 4 multiply by 85-95%; Zone 5 multiply by 95-100%; Zone 5+ anything higher than Zone 5.  

Here is an example: Let's say you are 43 years old, with a resting heart rate is 55 beats per minute.

MHR - RHR = HRR

(HRR x 65%) + RHR = Lower end Zone 2

(HRR x 75%) + RHR = Higher end Zone 2

220 - 43 = 177 MHR

177 - 55 = 122 HRR

122 x 65% = 79.3

122 x 75% = 91.5

79.3 + 55 = 134.3, Zone 2 low end

91.5 + 55 = 146.5, Zone 2 high end

According to this method this person's Zone 2 Heart Rate is 134 to 146 beats. This means in order for this person to train at a Zone 2 training threshold they would need to keep their heart rate in that range, preferably closer to the lower end. Now this isn't the most accurate way to get your zones, but it's the best way for someone new to heart rate training, or just new to training in general. If you are interested in the more advanced method of attaining your actual Zone 2 threshold please feel free to ask me for help.

What About Zone 3?

You may have noticed I did not mention Zone 3 in the energy systems above. The reason is that Zone 3 is this grey area in performance training. Your body uses a mix of Lactate and Aerobic systems, with no specific ratio of either. So when you hang out in the Zone 3 "Grey Zone" your body isn't getting the best adaptations it can due to the mixing of the systems. In this zone you aren't going fast enough to improve speed or power, and you aren't going slow enough to improve the cardiovascular benefits mentioned earlier, plus the recovery time from Zone 3 is much more than Zone 2. 

To wrap things up. Knowing what your heart rate training zones are will benefit you in many ways. It's not just for endurance athletes, but also those trying to keep a good health and fitness routine. So the next time you head out for your workout, make sure you know what the purpose of your training session is, and know what zone or zones you should be working out in. 

Give this a try and let's see how you feel doing your Zone 2 training with these new numbers.