The Managed Bonk

My last post was almost a year ago, because that was when my last race occurred.  Then COVID happened, giving me an entire year to think about the train wreck that was Brazos Bend 100!   Here’s a timeline of 2020 from this ultrarunner’s perspective. Jan/Feb 2020 Life is normal.  Joe makes two big running goals:  #1 - Win a golden ticket race for Big’s Backyard Ultra and run the championship in TN in October. #2 - Run a 24-hour race and qualify for the US National 24-hour team. Mar/Apr 2020 COVID becomes a thing.  Freedom is replaced by Fear, as unknowns swirl regarding the virus and pandemic.   Goal #1 is canceled.  Joe focuses training on Goal #2. May/Jun 2020 The world is having a meltdown.  Love is replaced by Hate.  Racial unrest everywhere. Joe keeps training. Jul/Aug 2020 Political tensions begin ramping up.  Social media fans the flames. Joe keeps running.  Joe and Julie escape with the family to the mountains - same as every...

I’m a month early in reviewing 2019’s training, but since I’m now starting a taper for my final race of the year, it’s time! I  ended 2018  having logged the fewest miles I’d ever run in a calendar year, since taking up this sport.  But I’d also just turned 40, and used the milestone birthday to turn the tide. As I prepare to run the Brazos Bend 100 on December 7th, here is my final moving average chart. 2019 The blue line looks back 13 weeks, and is a bit volatile - I think what it best reflects is that, week-to-week, it’s really hard to be consistent and motivated for an entire year!  I don’t think I missed a single run in the first 3 months of 2019, so that’s where it peaks (minus that one time I ran 200 miles in a weekend!).  I’m ending up at only 56.7 miles/week for the most recent 3 months; some of that low number is a slow recovery from Bigfoot, some is time off for a nagging Achilles, and some is just lack of motivation! The green line looks back 26 week...

Recently, for anyone that follows the market, you might’ve noticed the recent  Death Cross  in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It’s where the black line crosses the green line Basically, it means we should all panic and sell all our equities if the average closing value of the last ~3 months becomes worse than the average over the last ~12 months, because the market is about to tank. I like to look at my training the same way - my Death Cross was in November 2017, between the Cactus Rose 100 Miler (win) and Bandera 100k (7th in the national championship) where I ran a decent, but not great, race.  If you bought stock in Joe, November 2017 would’ve been the time to SELL! Death Cross preceding the Joe Bear Market But, much like the current market, I’m trying to correct.  I also have one thing going for me that the market does not.  I just turned 40. On my 40th (actually 3 days prior) a group of us got together and ran at Bandera, which was the beginning of the e...

On Saturday 6/2/18, I ran a trail half-marathon as past of the Tejas Trail Running Festival.  I had no business running any kind of race, but it was free since I’d won it the previous year, so, meh... I ran it.  Most of the fun in attending the festival is hanging out with the trail running community and swimming at Krause Springs anyway. Krause Springs Kids Run Our Favorite Hammock Julie participating in a panel of experts  As far as my Half, it took 2:00; it’s a tough course in the heat but my full marathon last year on the same course took about 3:50, so, notsogood this year..  I still have obviously not gotten back into real training since Boston.  Actually, this was my longest run since Boston. But this made me put an analytical eye on my training.  Part of what I get paid for in my day job is analytics, so I did some quick analysis on myself.  To me there are 5 major drivers of success in distance running: 1. Mileage 2. Mileage 3. Mileage 4. Spe...