Back to 40 miles per week

With the help of a well known ultra-runner, I'm back to about 40 miles per week. Rest, easing back into running, and lots of exercises to strengthen my IT band have been key to recovery. I've also learned to shorten my stride, increased my cadence, and have improved my posture - all this has served to reduced pressure on my knees (and on the IT band) while running. I also ordered and have been using a PT Band, which basically acts as an ace bandage wrapped about 3 inches above the knee. It stabilizes the IT Band by "attaching" the IT Band a little higher than the knee instead of right at the knee - this has been a savior for long runs.

My average training week now looks as follows:

Mon: Recovery run - 50 to 60 minutes
Tues: 15 min warm up, strides, 15-20 min cool down
Wed: Recovery run - 50 to 60 minutes
Thur: 15 min warm up, 25/30 min tempo, 15-20 min cool down
Fri: Recovery run - 50 to 60 minutes
Sat: Long run - 2 hours
Sun: Off

I use a four week training cycle: 3 weeks each increasing in intensity then one week at lower intensity and with more rest.

Here are a few other things I have learned along the way:

(1) Lactate threshold is usually the pace of a 10 mile or 15km race. This is the pace you should use for the Tempo Runs.

(2) The ideal carbo to water combination is 7 to 8%. To determine how much carbs you should take per hour during a long run (more than 90 minutes) multiply your body weight in kilos (pounds divided by 2.2) by 0.7 on the low end and 1.0 on the high end. Then make sure that this amount of carbs is consumed on a 7 to 8% carbs to milliliters ratio. As an example, 50 grams of carbs should be consumed with 666 milliliters of water (about 22.5 oz). Failure to do this will result in "stomach issues" much as I had during my JFK50. A good article on this subject can be found at: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0166.htm

(3) Exercises with weights that mimic running are ideal.

(4) The ideal cadence is about 180 strides per minute.

(5) Run tall and straight. No slouching!

(6) Recovery runs are meant to be just that - recovery runs. Never longer than 70 minutes nor faster than a 9 to 10 minute per mile pace.

I'll continue to post as my training schedule advances.

For those of you thinking of running WS100, I recommend the DVD "Running Madness". You can order it from Susan Cohn Schulz, Jalapeno Productions, 129 East 69th Street, 4C, NY, NY 10021. Her email is coulz@aol.com. It's a cool movie about the 2002 WS100.