I'm still keeping up with my running, and my endurance is stellar, but running here is a whole other ball game because of the hills. So my focus right now is going to be on volume to build crazy endurance for Goofy, and on building the muscle adaption necessary to run on hills and on back to back days. That means slow runs with lots of walk breaks, to avoid injury and ensure that I recover quickly before the next run.
I've also fallen in love with trail running ever since I ran the Presidio Cross Country 5K on August 5th. It's very primal, the views are amazing, it keeps me occupied as I negotiate the next terrain or elevation change, and the lower impact of the soft ground is a great way to help me avoid injury from the pounding of the high milage. Since I'm using leg muscles I didn't before, to stabilize on the uneven surfaces of the trails or power through a hill, I'm also building leg strength. That should serve me well when I go run Goofy on the mostly flat course in Orlando.
This means that an ultramarathon is absolutely in the cards for me now. I was hesitant to do 30+ miles on a trail, but now I totally understand why most ultras take place there. No one wants the pounding from cement and asphalt for that long. Since I'll already be building milage for Goofy, I'll be primed for an ultra so my first official one will probably be in early 2013.
I plan to start running 4 days a week, basically taking 1-2 rest days every 2 days. Any mid-week back to back runs won't be very long runs, but they may be challenging -- hills or trails or both -- followed or preceded by a very easy recovery run on a flat route. Of course, I'll probably also be walking on rest days, because that's my main mode of transportation; that should also help with the hill adaption. Then every 2-3 weekends I'll do back to back long runs per the Goofy schedule. I may still go to the track or do some tempo runs on shorter runs, but I'm not going to worry too much about those. I want to get back to enjoying running without too much structure and doing races for fun instead of some do or die pace goal.
This is going to be fun! :)
