Bumping Up A Level

This year I've been bumping along building my base fitness at a very modest level, hitting an average of maybe 18 miles per week. Nonetheless, I've been feeling fit as my weeks are comprised of four days of running as follows: Three five mile runs and a three mile run. Typically, all these runs feature a variation of a course that starts at about 5200 feet in altitude, features a 400 meter hill climb and a general roller coaster ride. As fitness grows, my pace gradually increases.

Still, I've nurtured a desire to take my game up a notch as I consider a return to racing. Truth is, I've raced for decades as a low mileage runner, covering more like 25 miles per week when I'm really going after it. Certainly I've included some ball-busting tempo runs and intervals, but the last time I consistently ran 50-60 mile weeks was as an undergraduate miler for UMass Amherst in the late 1970s, hitting a best of 4:01 over 1500 meters and 1:57 for the 800.

In my immediate post college years, I achieved modest yet satisfying off my limited miles, for example a 26:31 clocking over 5 miles. I did always wonder, what would happen if I really trained?

While I've ruminated over how to take it up a notch, fate stepped in and decided I'd be doing some longer runs. Via mutual ex-pat friends here in Oaxaca, I've fallen in with Steve and Richard, two guys more than a decade younger than I who are really fit, aiming for a marathon and a 50 mile ultra distance race respectively.

The last few weeks have seem my weekly miles go up to the mid 20s so far, but more importantly, I've been dragged further up the hills, cresting 6000 foot ridges and covering 7 - 10 miles at a time. Ouch! It's fun and challenging. I'm proceeding carefully, taking care to rest enough for these longer runs.

Best of all, I have a 5K trail run and a 10K flat race coming up in Oaxaca over the next ten days. It's going to be fun and interesting to check my fitness in a race setting. While I don't expect miracles, I'm confident I can run a decent rhythm and push myself to a good effort.

A postscript -- I ran the so-called 5K trail run. What a monster! We started out through the woods over rolling terrain for about a mile, then plunged straight down a hill the locals call "Carnivore" for another mile. With each stide down, I kept thinking, "you gotta climb back up every inch of this beast". And I was correct, up we went on a pitched incline that I can only call a mountain climb.

At the top, the return trail was a winding roller coaster for a good 2 kilos. I'd estimate the length of the race at about 4.24 - 4.5 miles. My pal Steve Bruner won in 32:10, and I was 6th in 39:12. There were a total of 29 runners in the "5K", as there was a simultaneous 16K run. Three days later I have not fully recovered, mostly because of my efforts on that hill.