A Surprising New Years Resolution: Gordo’s Mini Run Camp

Okay, so this was more surprising to me then to anyone else as I didn’t share any resolutions with folks this year.

Anyways, it just so happens that Gordo Byrn¹ was running a mini run camp for the month of January and I decided to give it a go. It was open to the public and was sort of a mini competition in the same vain, I think, as his Epic camps (though far, far less Epic). You received a point for every run you did over 30 minutes. You could do a max of 2 runs per day. There were also bonus points for consecutive runs, and the only one I really cared about was the 30 bonus points for running 30 days straight.

Now, I normally do not like writing about my workouts. I once had a “blog about multisports” and never once wrote there about my training. This however, is a little different. The mini run camp was an intense experiment for me; I hadn’t run more then 5 days a month in the last 6 months prior to January.  I was lucky that in December I had run about 6 times and also had some great leg workouts in the gym and so this is for me, given my prep for it, was a mini Epic run camp. Blogging about it should be good fodder for comparison down the road if he does it again (please do!).

January 1-10th

So I got sick just at the end of 2009, for the first time in about a year and a half. A cold really put a damper on my energy levels but the good news is that my wife kicked me out of bed because my congested self began to snore and wake her and my son up (he tends to sleep with us). I actually slept better on our couch knowing that I was not going to wake them up so this seemed to help for recovery.

Things went well and I ran only once a day and just over the 30 minute limit. I saw little improvement in this time and gradually developed soreness in my quads.

January 11th-20th

During the beginning of this period I was really starting to get tired in my legs and running lethargically. Contrary to what my body was saying something else inside me really wanted to get in a double (two runs on the same day) so that I could pop a little distance in between myself and the others that were singling every day. So on the 12th and the 15th I managed to get in some doubles, bracketing a workout at the gym each time. I find that running on either side of a gym workout is the most efficient time solution as it reduces the shower cost of doubling as well as leverages the trip to the gym as a run.

Due to tiredness in my legs and some tinges of tendinitis in my left knee/quad, I did a few runs exclusively in the park next to our place, the dirt trails being more forgiving on the limbs then asphalt.

I developed a real thirst for fresh squeezed orange juice early in this phase and it continued right thru. Hydration is not an issue for me as I drink a good 4-5 liters of water a day, however my nutrition, or better, food intake may have been a bit low. I eat well – mostly raw and vegetarian – but likely needed to increase intake as I had a day, the 17th I believe, where I ran, ate lots of food, napped and then ate again.

Near the end of this phase, having taken a few midday naps to try and increase recovery and reduce fatigue, I noticed that I was running stronger ². I had also begun to stretch my hips a bit more and after a day or two the slightly increased fitness and looser hips seem to have a nice effect on lengthening my stride. I doubled on the 19th.

I also started to train with food in my stomach during this phase, varying from a half to a whole banana plus water.

January 21st- end of the month

This is where the wheels fell of the cart. Just at the end of the last bit (18th and 19th) I put in two doubles which allowed me to be sitting with a comfortable shot at finishing 3rd overall in points³.

On the evening of the 22nd it was getting late and I was feeling out of sorts, kinda tired. I decided to have a nap (at 10pm!) hoping that would give me the juice to head out and run for 30 minutes. When I woke up I knew I was sick. It turns out that I contracted a virus that had been going around. I skipped the run, had a violent sleep and did not manage to get a run in again until the 26th. This of course ruined any chance of the 30 day bonus and consigned me to finishing somewhere in the low 20’s.

Take stock and adjust

As with any endurance event you have to be able to take stock and adjust when things go south, and this is what I did. It was clear that I was slowly running the tank dry and so after the violent virus I took it easy and coasted in to the end of the month. I missed the goal of 30 consecutive days but happily managed to get in the most volume I have had running in a 30 day period for a very long time ⁴.

The road ahead will be interesting. For those who speak the lingo I’ll be spending much of the year in a prep period as I get myself back in shape to train. The trick now will be to increase my volume and keep an eye on fatigue as I look to be able to hold 20-25 hours of running per month. We’ll see how it goes.