To get ready for Western States, I am basically following a six-month training plan. The nuts and bolts of the plan are from Jason Koop’s book. Basically, it involves two months of lower volume/higher intensity; two months of tempo-type work; and two months of longer distances/back-to-back long runs (there’s more to it, but that roughly sums it up). I’ve mentioned Koop’s book elsewhere so I won’t go into it in detail here, but basically, you start with the least race-specific training (in this case, high intensity/low volume) and move to the most race-specific training (in this case, long runs and back-to-back long runs).

For the last several weeks, I’ve been doing two high-intensity workouts per week. This week, for example, I did 12 x 1:00 hard with a 30-second recovery. The workouts have been going really well. My speed is decent, and I’m in pretty good shape for this time of year. I’ve been managing 60-65 miles per week, and I think that is a really good place for me at this time of year. Later this week, I’m planning to do 6 x 2:00 hard with 1:00 recovery. The “hard” parts are generally about 5:20/mile pace, although it’s a little tricky this time of year with road conditions, etc.

My racing plans have changed slightly due to a conflict. As of right now, these are my races for the first half of the year:

Syracuse Half Marathon (3/26/17)

Traprock 50k (4/15/17)

Rock the Ridge (5/6/17)

Cayuga Trails Marathon (6/3/17)

Western States 100 (6/24/17)

I’ve been working on my nutrition as well. I’ve been vegan for more than two years now (yay!). Unfortunately, being vegan doesn’t automatically equal being healthy (although it’s a really good start). With that being said, I’ve been cutting back on bread, nuts (you cannot imagine how many I was eating in some way, shape or form), chips, processed food and a few other guilty pleasures. I’ve added in lots of fruits and vegetables.

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How has your training been going? When is your first race of the year?