View Workout (Joe Uhan)
Waldo Prep NugZ
August 1, 2014 (Morning)
Exercise Type: Other
Comments:
Reflecting on the build-up for Waldo, here are the *quality* things I've done since Mid-June:
LONG RUNS:
- 27 miles - 3hr "hard" (Bristow 6hr)
- 22 miles - 5.5hrs "feet time" (WS)
- 24 miles - 6hrs "feet time" (Diamond Peak)
- 21 miles - 3.5hr "hard" (Hardesty+June)
- 29 miles - 5hrs "hard vert" (Waldo)
Road grinder tempos (5:45-6:30 pace):
- 13 miles - 1.5hr (5-6mi hard)
- 21 miles - 2.5hr (7-8mi hard)
- 18 miles - 2.25hr (6mi hard)
- 18 miles - 2.5hrs Omaha (high humidity tempo effort!)
Hikes
- 10 miles - 6 hrs (Waldo trail work - Charelton)
- 8 miles - 8 hrs (Waldo trail work - Fuji)
- light hikes (x3 Skinner or treadmill hikes)
Mid-week workouts
- x8-10 or so: treadmill, trail tempo, intervals
- Butte to Butte 10K
STRENGTH
- tons of glute and hip work, abs, arms!
The WORK is THERE. Now I just have rest up, and continue to work on:
- True rest: good sleep (8-9hr a night, not 6-7!)
- Good nutrition (vegetables, not overdoing beer)
- Flexibility: daily stretching and foam rolling
- STRENGTH: keep working strength hard for one more week, then taper off - keep up the neuro gains.
WALDO STRATEGY:
A quick run down of who will be there, and status:
1 - Laney. I'm not sure he's done anything since Western, which is good. But I know he struggled there. I also think he has bad memories from how fucking HARD he raced at Waldo last year. He won't run 9:0x again - definitely not this year. And if he goes out hard, he will not finish hard (or at all).
UPDATE: Laney's no longer on the start list!
3. BGD. A formidable runner who nailed the course in '12. But he just hasn't put in the work - or gotten in the headspace - to suffer than much. This will be a good training stepping stone for '15...or for our Squaw to MB run! :)
4. Gerad Dean. I hear is a gigantic pile of burnout: he dropped from some race recently, then really struggled at TRT just a few weeks ago! He'll be a non-factor.
5. Andrew Miller. Young guy with tons of strength and fitness. And he hasn't been racing much, though he did do a random 100K in early June (which he won in 10hr). He runs a TON. He ran about 38 the day I ran 30 last Friday...then went out and ran MORE before trail work. I could be wrong, but...I do NOT think he has the speed to hold me off at the end. If he's within ten minutes of me at the top of Maiden, I'll beat him.
6. OOJ.
7. Rod Bien. Solid, run who ran a solid Bighorn in mid-June. He's a versatile runner who's good on hills and flat (solid WTC this year). But will he have the speed and strength to close at the end?
8. Ryan Ghelfi. He's the guy to beat. He's had a SOLID past year+: good runs at UROC (5th), TNF (10th), Sonoma (6th). He did blow up at Grand Canary (DNF?), but has put it back together since. He ran a hard SOB just last weekend, which helps me. I also think he's a little arrogant at the 100K distance - and I think (and hope) he thinks he can come in a try to run "Laney Fast". If he does, he'll be way out front early.
MY STRATEGY:
I had a couple thoughts going in:
1. Run hard up front, and just HANG on Ghelfi.
This is an interesting idea: run BGD-style, of getting out hard and sticking it. And, for Ghelfi, to get inside his head and make him crumble. That's been a consistent pattern: guys going hard then saying "Fuck it" and dropping midway. And I think if I just ran on his ass for the first 30 miles, his confidence would really wear down and he'd back off or maybe even drop.
But that's a risky proposition: do I want to run that hard and hurt that much? Do I have the confidence to stick to that plan and endure, like BGD did??
2. Strategic hard finish.
This plan has me running "conservatively" through Twins 2: being somewhat HR disciplined early on the opening and Fuji climbs, then focusing on "fast but relaxed" to Charleton, and continuing that through 4290 and the base of Twins.
From that point, there are precisely THREE places to run VERY HARD, followed by substantial rest chunks:
1. Up Twins to Twins 2. You can push HARD here, then recover on the 2mi or so to Twins 2, and beyond, as it's downhill to the base of Maiden.
2. Up Maiden to the summit. After that brutal summit, you can again recovery 2mi to the Maiden Lake AS.
3. Maiden AS to the finish. It's literally about 50min of hard running. And, if I've run smart thus far (no lows, no cramps - good on cals and water), I can PUSH HARD without a huge HR spike (as I did in '13), and CLOSE OUT!
I think I can push "Timmy Hard" on those three areas without penalty, knowing that I can recover-on-the-run on the ensuing descents. And if I do that, I can make up HUGE time. This is something Monkey Boy and I talked about last weekend.
But the key is "not working hard" for about the first 36 miles, really. I *know* that I can run "all day" on <160HR and - at this point - that's pretty damn fast for me. It's just a matter of taking care of things, early.
So #2 is the plan right now. Unless that leads me to be close enough to Ghelfi where I can put pressure on him early with only a little extra effort.
NUTRITION:
- I plan on opening up with one handheld bottle to Fuji
- At Fuji #2 (downside): pick up the jet pack
- At Charleton: pick up new jet pack
- Fill jet pack at Twins 2
Ideally it would be nice to NOT have to fill the pack again after that: I won't at Maiden Peak AS, but might have to at Maiden Lake. I will pound a ton of soda there and maybe make it the last 7.5 without considerable water...? Depends on how hot it is.
Calories:
- Going to go water-only in the pack
- Soda at each aid station (clear early, then cola)
- Mint Chocolate GUs: 3 on me, then 3 in each pack. They're the least offensive GUs out there.
- Charlton: may pack a 10oz "high-cal drink": my mixture of Udo's oil, protein powder, half and half or heavy cream, and some sugar (sweetener or maple syrup). I think the fat cals and calorie punch - while nauseating at times - is super important mid-race. And Charlton is a good place to do it and "digest".
- S!caps PRN (will pack maybe 5 or so along)
Honestly...if ALL I took were those 9 gels...I bet I would have enough energy to power me the whole race. But this plan is a little more "safe".
A pretty solid plan, I think...