Week 5: January 23 – January 29, 2017
Week 5 of my 50k Ultra Training is complete, and below is my summary for the week.
Links: 50k Training Plan
- Monday:
- AM: Weights – Legs & Biceps
- PM: OFF
- Tuesday:
- AM: 1 hour run on treadmill (random setting, level 10/20)
- PM: Weights – Chest & Triceps
- Wednesday:
- AM: 30min run on treadmill & Weights – Deadlift & Core
- PM: OFF
- Thursday:
- AM: Weights – Back & Shoulders
- PM: OFF
- Friday:
- AM: 1 hour run on treadmill (random setting, level 10/20)
- PM: Weights – Legs and Upper
- Saturday:
- AM: OFF
- PM: OFF
- Sunday:
- AM: 20 mi run on the Besparmak Trail
- PM: Thai Massage
Total mileage: ~35mi
Summary
This was a great week of training! I wasn’t able to get out on the River Trail at all, but the treadmill workouts were pretty good. I cranked up the incline to get some extra hill work and it served me well over the weekend.
For the long run, I chose to start at Alevkaya, which is the end of my 50k race, and run backward towards the start line. Since I’m leaving this week for my round-the-world trip, I knew this would be my last opportunity to train on the actual course for quite some time. Unfortunately, I made another rookie mistake and paused my GPS to take some pictures, only to forget to re-start it until I had run almost 3 miles. Thus, my mileage looks a bit low:
However, I was able to pull the data from my vivofit2, which recorded a distance of 21.33mi. I find that the vivofit estimates are a bit high, so 20 miles is probably more accurate.
It was a great day of training out there! I saw snow for the first time since coming to Cyprus, and the trail was pretty slick at some points, but I mustered on and made it through.
Weightroom:
I had 5 good sessions in the weightroom this week, adding a couple pounds to my major lifts and thus having new “records”. Per usual I’m not concerned with increasing the weight each week, rather to stay consistent and make small improvements. As always, see my Training Plan for the exact exercises I perform at each workout.
Until next week (from a new location)!
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Brandon Chase is a writer, endurance athlete, and guide based in Maine. He is a former Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State and spent nearly a decade overseas serving at embassies in Egypt, Cyprus, and Pakistan.
Along with a 98-day thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, he has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, hiked the West Highland Way, fastpacked in the Himalayas, and trekked around New Zealand and South Africa. He also regularly competes in ultramarathons at the 50k, 50-mile, and 100-mile distances. He is a Lead Guide for Andrew Skurka Adventures and the New England Outdoor Center.