I don’t really recommend anyone train this way, but it has been unavoidable for me lately. On again off again is how things have been for the past few months. After the Portland Marathon I made plans to do a 50-miler in July and my coach got me started on a training program. Towards the end of the first 4-week block Sun announced layoffs of up to 20% of its workforce. They say that when your job is threatened this way you respond as if you have actually lost your job. That was certainly how I felt. The layoffs wouldn’t happen for months, but my wife and I decided that we needed to cut back on things, and save as much money as possible. Among the first things to go was the coaching. At first I thought I could handle it, but it quickly became apparent that losing my coach cold turkey wasn’t easy to recover from. After a week or two off I bounced back with a couple of good weeks, and then lost my motivation once again. At that point I figured I couldn’t register for the 50-miler I had planned anyway, so what was the point. I was having trouble figuring out how to train because I was no longer sure what I was training for.

Next we dealt with a winter storm in Portland like we hadn’t seen for 40 years. With close to two feet of snow on the ground for the better part of two weeks (at least it seemed that way) I did no training.

By the beginning of 2009 I decided that my most likely event for the year would be a long bike tour. I pretty much already have all the gear I would need to do one, so theoretically it wouldn’t be expensive. It would also be a great thing to do if I did happen to be unemployed by summer. After a couple of weeks of commuting to work, and joining my team for a ride I discussed the idea with my wife. She didn’t like it. She would much rather crew for me during a 50 mile run then spend a week or two apart, worrying about me riding my bike along some rural road somewhere. That settled it: I would do the 50-miler after all. I registered, and started training.

Still unsure exactly how to go about training for something like this, I spent a few weeks doing some basic strength training work along with a few runs – basically one interval run, one tempo run, and one long run each week. At the beginning of what would have been my 5th week of training, I injured my back. By Tuesday my back was completely locked up and spasming. By the end of the week my chiropractor pretty much had things worked out. By the following Tuesday I was pretty much back to normal, but since my wife and I had a weekend of snowshoeing planned, I figured I might as well continue to rest and make sure my back got better. That was another two week break.

One good thing that came about this was I realized how I should train. From what I understand one can pretty much train for a 50-miler by following a marathon training program, perhaps with a few longer runs. So I put together a training program following what my coach had me do while training for the Portland Marathon last year. That was about 12 weeks of training. To fill the other 8 or 10 weeks between now and the 50-miler I used the first 12-week training block I used last year. This may not be the best plan, but it is a plan, with logical progression, and I’m confident I’ll be able to finish the race with it. I probably won’t follow this exactly, since there is more cycling involved than I probably need, but it gives me a very good baseline and a plan to follow, which is really what is important.

Hopefully now that I am on again I can stay on, follow this plan, and have a successful first 50-miler.