Injuries / Cross Training

I've been nursing bursitis in my right heel for a while now. I'm not sure what caused it. Maybe wearing minimal shoes or barefoot. Maybe long slow runs on sidewalks. I don't know. I'm trying to work my way back into running now. I've cut most of the right heel out of a couple of pairs of shoes. The leather huaraches work too. No running on pavement right now. I'm just running on trails or on the track, mostly dirt tracks. The SoCal rain is cutting into the dirt track workouts now. I got a 11 mile trail run in this weekend and a solid 8 mile run on the track last weekend.

I went to my physical therapist about this and he gave me three (well maybe 4 now that I think of it) good pieces of advice:

• Rest between workouts.
  
• Intense workouts are what bring improvement.
  
• To paraphrase, "Dance with what brung you to the dance", i.e. check your workouts from when I was setting pr's and go back to those sort of workouts.
  

He also told me to get on the bike.

OK, so I got a stationary bike AND bought a ten speed at the swap meet for $32 and converted it to a fixed gear (fixie). This could turn into a whole other preoccupation. The bike affects my legs in a completely different way. My quads get exhausted and my knees get stressed somewhat from slowing down on the fixie (it's geared really high - 52x16). But I'm not beating up my (lower) legs the way I do when running on pavement. So it seems as though the two forms of exercise complement each other to some extent although running after a hard bike ride is a different sensation. So I'm rationalizing that riding the bike or the stationary bike is resting insofar as running is concerned.

I'm limiting my running workouts to hills OR fast paced track workouts. This addresses his second and third points. Specifically, running hills and running 2 hour track runs brought me improvement in the past so that's what I plan to work on for now. So I've cut back to 3 or 4 running workouts per week for a while. Stay tuned and see how it turns out. I'm anxious to find out.

Southern California Fires - Santiago Canyon

At this point, a lot of people know about the Southern California Fires. Since I live in Orange County, I'm going to comment on the one fire in Orange County, the Santiago Canyon fire and how it relates to ultra runners. This fire started October 21st, 2007 and is 90% contained as of October 31st, 2007.
The Orange County Fire Authority expects that it will be completely contained on November 4th.

Races

First off, the Saddleback Marathon and the first running of the Old Goat 50 miler are scheduled for November 10th. These are put on by Baz Hawley. I'm not sure of what the routes are but the race description says it "traverses the flanks of Silverado and Modjeska peaks, before returning to Blue Jay via the Main Divide road."
Since the fire map looks like the fire has burned within a mile of the Main Divide Truck Trail, it may be that the race course has not been burned but certainly will smell of smoke.

Jessica Deline's Twin Peaks Ultras which are already sold out will certainly be affected since both the 50k and 50 mile start and finish at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary which is now closed. The buildings at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary apparently were not damaged but the fire did make it onto the grounds, judging from the fire map and the pictures on the website. Also judging from the burn map, both sides of the first 7 or 8 miles of Harding Truck Trail are burned. Harding Truck Trail is used at both the start and finish of both races. If you check her photos of the course, you'll notice that this forest has/had trees, not just brush. Incidentally, judging from the fire map, I'm guessing that the fire burned up to the road that you see in this picture but maybe was stopped there by the firefighters.

Running

Harding Truck Trail is a favorite run of mine and of other ultra runners. I often see my neighbor Hwa Ja running up there and have seen a number of other ultra runners too. It is also a favorite of the more fit mountain bikers and hikers as well. I think that I'll stay off of it until a few rains have brought down the level of ash. I've also run in Silverado Canyon but HTT is just a little bit better because

• There is a lot of parking available at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary.
• There is water available at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary.
• There is less driving once you get off the main road (Santiago Canyon Road).
• HTT is all dirt and rocks whereas Silverado (Maple Springs Truck Trail) has some asphalt.
• HTT is steeper and longer.

However, I have seen a salamander crossing the road in Silverado.

Wildlife

I have seen a mountain lion (once) and deer on HTT, but you really don't see much wildlife because there was so much brush in which to hide. Previously when there were big fires around San Diego, Orange County may have seen an increase in wildlife (mountain lions) which were displaced northwards.This year's fires will also displace some animals. During the fire, a resident in Silverado Canyon remarked that a lot of mice had shown up because of the fires, followed by coyotes. He expected mountain lions next and felt that wildlife were attracted to Silverado Canyon because it hadn't burned for 100 years.

Life in the OC during the fire

Everywhere was smokey during the fires. I work in Irvine and on Monday the 22nd, the fire was burning about 3 miles from work. We have a good view from work of Saddleback (Modjeska and Santiago peaks) and even on Tuesday when the fire was 9 days old, Modjeska peak was obscured because of the smoke rising from the fire. I didn't run hardly at all last week because of the smoke but still got a sore throat and sinus infection from breathing smoke.
In our neighborhood, a large tree was blown down into the main street (Valley View). I had to trim back one of our trees which was hitting our roof because of the winds - which lasted several days. Four of our trees had green leaves ripped off them by the wind.

As bad as the Santiago Fire was/is (23,000 acres burned), San Diego county had it much worse. The Witch fire looks like it will be over 200,000 acres with many more houses burned. My daughter and 4 of her friends came from UCSD to our house last week to escape the smoke from the fires. Her house was not evacuated but people were being evacuated as close as one freeway exit away from her. Also, fire season is not over. We are supposed to have another dangerous Santa Ana condition this weekend where hot dry winds blow here from the desert.

AC - DNF

Well - it was inevitable. I woefully underestimated (forgot) the amount of physical and mental preparation necessary for Angeles Crest. Normally, I start hurting when driving past Rancho Cucamonga on the way to Wrightwood in anticipation of running the race or just simply going over Baden Powell and Mt. Williamson (and back). While I was walking from Eagles Roost to Cloudburst where I quit, I started making an inventory of the ways in which I should have been able to tell that I wasn't prepared to run AC. To make something positive of this, I've decided that in the future, I'll base my decision to race on objective criteria, specifically certain workout statistics over the last few months, as follows:

• How many 100 mile weeks? 110 mile? etc
  
• How many 10,000 ft (elevation gain) weeks
  
• How many weekday 3000 ft (elevation gain) workouts? How many 4000 ft workouts?
  
• How many 16 miles in 2 hour workouts
  
• How many miles at a given pace (7:00/7:30/8:00/8:30 per mile)
  
• How many Baldyx2 workouts? How about double double Baldy? (Mt Baldy is a 10,064 ft peak in So Cal. The typical run up is 4,000 ft gain in 8 miles.)
  
• Is my weight at 145? 143?
  
• Can I do 50 Pushups?
  
• How many black or missing toenails do I have?
  
• How many over and back over Baden Powell+
  
• How many mountain 50 milers (Bishop, Leona Divide) in this year.
  

To follow up on a previous post, the USA men captured third place in the 100 km World Cup thanks to another solid top 10 performance from Howard Nippert and PR's from Greg Crowther and Chad Ricklefs. The USA women missed Anne Lundblad and Nikki Kimball but still finished 4th in the team standings. Devon Crosby-Helms seems to have had somewhat of a breakout performance, finishing as 2nd USA woman behind Kami Semick with a fine 8:06.

I would have liked to see the finish. 1 second separated the 2nd man (Japan) and the 3rd man (Russia). I was impressed by the splits of 13th place Takehiro Matsushita. In a race where most slow in the second half, Matsushita San ran mostly descending splits of 43:09 42:55 42:33 42:20 42:04 41:38 40:56 41:05 40:31 41:48. In fact the rate at which he accelerated was very consistent, racking up improvements of 14, 22, 13, 16, 26, 42, -9, 34, and -1:17. My guess is that he "shut it down" the last lap after he knew that he'd break 7:00 and wasn't going to score for his team.

IAU 100 km World Cup - 2007

I'm anxious to see the results of the upcoming 100 km World Cup at Winschoten, Holland. The USA men's team though small has 3 guys (Howard Nippert, Greg Crowther, Bob Sweeney) with sub-7:00 credentials. Keep in mind that other teams like Japan and Russia have up to 6 guys with sub-7:00 PR's. But still, the US men in the past have run (apparently) a smart pace where others haven't had the same success. The other thing that's going on is the World Master's (WMA) 100 km champs. I had hoped to compete but an inability to finish a road 100 km has proven to have been a roadblock for me. The USA women's team has recently won the World Cup. We'll see how they do this year without Anne Lundblad and Nikki Kimball. Check back on Saturday for results.

BTW, Mexico looks like they are fielding a mother/daughter pairing in Silvia and Giselle Andonie.

AC - Oh no!

Some guys who were getting ready to run AC wanted to do an overnight run of the last 42 miles of the course and somehow I got roped into running with them. I hadn't planned to run AC this year because I just didn't think I was in shape, in particular for the altitude. However, the overnight run went well for me and I wasn't very sore or anything so I decided to enter the race. I'm planning to approach this as a) a practice run for a later race and b) as Tracy Bahr says "Playing outside all day long." I think things might go ok if I don't start out at a stupid pace and if I make it to Cloudburst. At least I haven't had any significant injuries this year. Perhaps another quote (from a neighbor girl when I lived in Spain as a kid) is appropriate: "Stupido! Tonto!"

Another step toward running barefoot

OK - first of all, I haven't been posting for a while. I intend to do a certain post then don't then put off other posts until I do the first post. Forget it!

A while back, I did a hard workout one day and then a recovery run the next. Some funny thing was going on with one leg which got more and more sore as the run progressed. At just about the midpoint of the run, I had to stop running. So I tried going barefoot and the pain went away immediately. I had another workout prior to this where I ran a 12 or 14 hour tempo run at 7:30 pace. When I got off the track, something started hurting right away. So I ran home barefoot on that occasion too.

There are several adaptations necessary for those going from shod to unshod running. The first thing is that your heel is going to drop farther and you'll give more work to your Achilles tendon. I think you should not try to run on the balls of your feet (i.e. your heels should come down and you should have a relatively relaxed calf when your foot is resting on the ground. The way to gradually get into this is by wearing flats or by running in grass. Another potential adaptation is to run with a more erect posture so your ankle doesn't need to flex as much.

Impact to your foot without that cushioned sole is also something to be managed. You can't land heel first on a hard surface and not hurt yourself. Landing heel first also seems to me to be a good way to sprain your ankle. So basically, I think you want your lower leg relaxed when it is off the ground, then land on the ball of your foot. This turns out to be close to flat-footed for me when I'm running on pavement. The other adaptation (which works well without the weight of the shoe) is to have faster turnover. This lessens the time that gravity has to accelerate your body toward the earth, thus lessening the impact when your foot does hit.

Finally - blisters. I can run 4 to 8 miles on concrete sidewalks without getting blisters but I will get a hot spot. Wearing moccasins is one good way I've found to avoid this.

I went to Western States (as crew and pacer) for the first time two weeks back. I was supposed to pace the last 20 for Hwa Ja Andrade, an outstanding senior runner from Orange County. Hwa Ja was the oldest woman in the race and was just ahead of the cutoffs all day long. Then at 70 miles, she did a hard face plant, coming away with a black eye and scraped up arms and shins and that was it.

Western States is pretty different from all other ultras I've seen. The level of organization is just unbelievable. For instance they have 1500 volunteers. When runners get into aid stations, they try to provide them with their own volunteer in a way which I thought was a good way to organize the volunteers - the volunteers are in a line waiting for runners, like taxis at a taxi stand. The incredible logistics and planning employed for the race overwhelms me but I think I will try to incorporate the taxi stand approach to organizing the volunteers.

Western States uses horses (with riders) for course sweeps after dark. The riders have radios in their helmets. I was talking to one rider and she said that the horses see about 20% better than humans in the dark. She said that one time she came to a pitch black section where she couldn't see and the horse just took over. So she trusted her horse. I think her horse had run the Tevis Cup which is the 100 mile trail race which inspired the Western States race. These horses are on the small side which makes sense for an endurance racer.

We were at one aid station (I can't remember the names) when darkness fell. The mosquitos came out and so did the bats. I love to watch bats fly around so that provided some amusement for a while.

This race attracts the cream of the crop of US ultra runners with a strong international contingent as well. There was a substantial group from Australia. I was hanging around the finish on the second day of the race and heard them announce Paul Everly finishing. Paul was one of the finishers of the Trans-Australia race a few years back. So I introduced myself and talked to him for a bit. We also got to meet outstanding South Korean trail runner Sim Jae Duk by virtue of being on the crew of a Korean-American runner. We introduced him to Southern California's top ultra runner Jorge Pacheco whose name Jae recognized immediately.

Titus Van Rijn and Speed

Andy Roth initiates a postal competition each year for a one hour run to be completed on a 440 yard or 400 meter track, more or less between Mother's Day and Father's Day each year. This competition is named after Rembrandt Van Rijn's son (who was often a subject of his father's paintings). I'm not sure why Andy names it this. Today (6/10/2007) was the last eligible day to complete the one hour run this year. So after the poor attempt at 100k, this was a good motivation to get me out to the track. It seems that I can't run intervals without straining my right hamstring so one hour to two hour runs have been my most effective speed workout. I got in 4 one hour workouts on the track this past week. On the first one, I struggled to break 8 miles (7:30 pace). I hauled on the second workout, running the last mile in 6:44, getting 8 1/4 miles plus about 50 yards. I backed off on the third workout, just getting 8 miles in 59:08. I wasn't quite sure what I'd get on my final attempt today. The first mile went in 6:43 but the effort turned out to be the reverse of the Tuesday workout, passing 8 1/4 in the same time of 59:49 and finishing with 52 meters in the last 11 seconds. So way off last year's total (9 1/8 miles) but it was nice to get back into the habit of running fast (at least fast for me).

I found an interesting interview on Cool Running. Don Allison interviewed Jim Garcia and Kevin McGovern prior to the 1997 World Challenge 100 km Championships in Winschoten, Holland. One interesting comment from Jim Garcia was that the critical miles for him in races are 30 to 35 miles. I find that interesting because all of my problem runs became a problem between about the marathon point and 50k. My thought (I wouldn't call it a conclusion) is that maybe if I can consistently get through this section and maybe a few more miles, that the rest of the race will follow suit.

Speaking of Jim Garcia, let me just apologize for not following his excellent advice to

• Work on your speed.
  
• Do back-to-back long runs on weekends.
  
• Never wear the same shoes more than two days in a row.
  
• Do sit-ups.
  

I'll try to make amends. But read the interview. His remarks are pretty funny.

Disappointment, Joy, and a Decent Workout

Disappointment:

The 100 km time trial (5/27/2007) didn't go so well. I noticed my right ankle flexor getting sore by 8 miles and my legs started getting sore in the 20's. Then the bugaboo which cropped last year at the Seattle Race and this year at Ruth Anderson (i.e. the two other times I've attempted 100 km), my hip flexors and groin got sore. At 50 km, I thought I'd keep going for another 25 km and then maybe another 25 km after that but my pace dropped to a ridiculous 12:00/mile and I quit at the end of the lap.

At first I was confused and frustrated as to why I'm so inconsistent from week to week. My pace on the 33 mile the previous weekend was very consistent and faster as was my pace on the 44 mile run. Eventually, I figured out from the sore spots that I put more tension than normal on the flexors by running with a more erect posture (heh heh, he said "erect"). But my posture was similar to the previous week as was everything else (except that I tapered - which I don't think is the problem). So I'm still a bit frustrated at my inconsistency.

As anyone who is a runner knows, you can always find any number of authorities and examples to tell you that what you are doing is wrong, i.e. you didn't taper enough, you've been running too many long runs, you should run long slow distance, you should work on your speed, you're running too many miles, you're not running enough miles. So I usually take advice with a grain of salt and rely more on an analysis of the problem. My frustration is that last year when I worked on my speed (9.12 miles in one hour, a number of runs of 18 miles where I was well under 7:30 pace) and this year when I've emphasized long runs (40, 44, 31, 33 miles), the result is the same for the same reason. So what to do?

I think my recent aim of trying to run 100k in 10 hours is too conservative. I should aim for more like 9 hours. But I still think that I need to work on longer runs. So I'm going to try going back to the 2+ hour fast track runs every other day and also try to get my 50k+ runs more consistent. I'm not sure if this means a long run every weekend or every other weekend but for now, working up to the 2 hour runs will take priority. My intermediate aim is to get my practice time for 50k close to 4 hours, on the track if necessary (I ran a practice 50k in about 4:11 last year). I also wonder if part of my problem running the 100 km is mental. In other words, why can I run 33, 44, 50 miles without a problem but when I attempt 100 km, the same old problem kicks in by 30 miles despite widely varying preparation?

Executive Summary: 100 km time trial BAD. Plan to run fast 2 hour track workouts a plenty with a few 50k plus workouts thrown in (and enjoy the trails or play piano on the off days).

Joy:

Kevin Gray (friend, local ultrarunner, ran the 50k of the 2006 edition of the Orange Curtain ultras, volunteered for the 2007 edition) broke his ankle while hiking Mt. Baldy, wasn't rescued for 4 days, and not only lived but appeared to be in pretty good shape (except for the ankle) and even cheerful when rescued.

Decent Workout:

Ran 8 miles on the Oxford track (6/2/2007), averaging about 7:29/mile. Not the 6:35/mile pace from last year but it is a decent first step. This is the time of year for the Titus Van Rijn One Hour competition. I have to put up some number in the next week for Andy Roth's annual postal competition for one hour on a track. I doubt that I'll get up to 9 miles this year but I'll see if I can liven up my legs and improve a bit on 8 miles over the next week.

100 mile week

It's been a while since I had a 100 mile week. It didn't hurt that I had vacation all of this week.
5/14 - 11 miles - S ridge/E ridge run in Whittier Hills - saw 3 deer
5/15 - 19 miles - New road loop I thought I'd try - won't try again since I picked up a lot of thorns running along an old railroad bed. I'll try the modified version next week.
5/16 - 8 miles - After staying up (working) the night before and then going into work in the morning, ran the 8 mile shortened Rowland Heights loop (mentioned before). Why shortened? I only had my Vibram Five Fingers and my heels have been sore (tendonitis-wise) so I cut out that one rocky hill.
5/17 - 18 miles - ran to the Seal Beach pier.
5/18 - 11 miles - full Rowland Heights loop - saw 1 deer. I think this took about 2 hours which isn't the usual leisurely pace (2:10).
5/19 - nothing - Niece's wedding.
5/20 - 33 miles - very evenly paced, 13 minutes faster than last week, no caffeine, only day old rice and some Clif Shots and water. With my heel soreness, I decided to stretch a little bit, just grabbing my feet with my hands (not using weight). Not much leg soreness, nothing was really hurting, not worn out, very pleased with the workout and pleased with the week.
I'll try my 100k time trial on one of the next two weekends. If the weather is supposed to heat up by 6/2, I'll try it on 5/26 or 5/27 instead.

That's better

5/9 - Ran to Seal Beach pier (18 miles - road) with good energy level.
5/10 - 8 mile version of Schabarum Park loop at an aggressive pace. One slightly macabre note: saw the bottom 12" of a deer leg on the trail. Also met a woman who said she had just seen a bobcat. I have never seen one in the Habitat Authority.
... relatives visiting ...
5/13 - 50k completed (let's not talk about the time). The pace dropped off at the end. My goal was to complete the workout without any caffeine.
5/14 - slow 11 mile hilly run. Saw three deer and several tarantula hawks. One slightly amusing thing: I startled a ground squirrel and it ran across the dirt road. I also startled a rabbit which went flying past the squirrel.

On seeing the first rattlesnake in spring

5/7/2007 - Forecast high for the day is 90.

Started on my 11 mile trail route on the south side of Schabarum Park in the Puente Hills Landfill Native Habitat Preservation Authority, wearing my old Montrail Masai's which I hadn't worn for at least a year. The sun was already out at 6:30 in the morning. The first little climb goes ok. I always have to warmup my lower legs in this area but today they're a little better than usual.

Next through the spot where there really isn't a trail - the wild mustard plants are just beaten down from a few folks passing through. I'm a little worried about stepping on a rattlesnake here when it gets warmer but usually rattlesnakes like to be exposed to the sun. This section drops down to the Skyline Trail, a.k.a.
Juan Bautista De Anza National Historic Trail. As I curve around the first little ridge, I realize it's covered with wild mustard and its yellow flowers. The next ridge is covered with plants with purple and white flowers. Coming around this ridge, I see a skunk walking toward me on the trail, so I stop and say "Good morning." No reaction so I say it again. This time, the skunk looks up and sees me. Then it decides to continue foraging off the side of the trail. That works for me so I proceed on my way.

As I pass behind Schabarum Park, I see the horses. Someone is out feeding them this morning. I see the usual assortment of morning hikers, some of them familiar faces. Then comes the long climb back up to the ridge. I always say something to people as I'm coming up on them so they won't be startled. Sometimes they're startled anyways.

Up on the top of the ridge, I see a guy with a Boston Terrier and tell him about the skunk and let the dog sniff my hand. Then comes the long descent to the farthest point on the loop; the horse crossing by the Buddhist temple. The houses next to Hacienda Road have some dogs. I pass by the spaniel on the descent undetected but the German Shepherds notice me. After the turnaround, the German Shepherds are gone but the spaniel comes out and barks. If they weren't behind fences, they'd probably be a lot friendlier.

Now I'm on the last big climb. My legs have been dead recently and this is where I start to feel it. No wait, the previous climb was slow too.

Back on top of the ridge, I see a little 10 inch or so gopher snake. I check the tip of the tail first (no rattle) and then the head (not a triangle). It isn't interested in moving unlike the San Bernardino Ringneck snake I saw last week. I start counting curves on the trail so I can tell the guy with the terrier where the snake is. When I finally see them (4 left hand curves later - from their point of view), I tell him about the little snake but not the location.

Now I hit the turn where I take a different route back. There is a steep little climb and then the dirt road starts winding around before the long gentle descent starts. This is where I see the first rattlesnake this spring.
It's about the same size as the gopher snake and a similar color. I check the tip of the tail. It has a little amber rattle, about half the diameter of a pencil eraser. I check the head. It's a triangle. This snake doesn't want to move either. It's just trying to warm up in the morning. I see the tongue flicker out twice, then I continue on. I take it easy on the descent.

When I turn off the main road onto the last side road and start the last little climb, I enter my favorite part of the route. I'm not sure why this is my favorite but it's close to the end, it's shaded, and the surface and contours of the road are nice. I've run barefoot in this section before. When I get to the final downhill, I try to avoid stepping on the ants at an active anthole in the road. A couple of minutes later, I'm back at the car and find that I'm going to be late getting to work.

The nice thing about running trails is that even when the running isn't so good, the run itself can be rewarding.

I hate to be negative, but...

Had another disappointing workout today. Planned to run 35 and finished with a slow 16. I was just not up to it. The probable causes/excuses are hot weather and the last 2 weeks have been pretty poor. OK, but I still have 4 weeks left until my planned time trial. And I did the proper recovery after the run - eat/soak in a cold tub/nap. So I'll attempt to get back into it with the approach I used before Jed Smith when I ran an ok 50 mile race, specifically 2 to 3 20 mile runs per week plus a long run on the weekend and whatever on the other days. Wish me luck.
On the plus side, my daughter let me know that she has alternate plans if I don't run this 100k in Europe in September. She was planning on going along.

Starting a little past halfway

ok so I've been running for a while. I continue to figure out new things and sometimes I remember them.
Some things I've learned are...
- I can avoid chafing by wearing shorts with no liner and Vaseline or Desitin on what Johnny Knoxville calls "the gooch." This works well enough for a marathon and for practice runs of up to about 20 miles. For longer runs, either long tights and Desitin in the aforementioned locale and where the seams contact the skin or quarter tights worn wrong side out w/ Desitin.
- Relax Balance Turnover as keys.
- Pick up my heels.
- Don't overstride/Keep feet under me.

Things I'm learning include
- Stretching correlates positively with lower leg injuries (i.e. it causes them).
- It looks advisable to put in runs at 60% to 70% of the target distance.
- Preliminary results indicate that tea with sugar and rice result in a smooth energy curve and no abdominal distress. Just read that Kenyans get about 23% of calories from ugali (corn meal), 20% from sugar, 14% from rice, 13% from milk (in the tea).
- I like long runs, up tempo runs up to maybe 20 miles, and hills.
- Intervals just don't agree with my right hip/hamstring.

I've hit PR's as recently as last year (9.12 miles in an hour, 8 times a 1 km, 500 ft hill in 1:59:57, my one marathon so by definition a PR, the only 5k time I can remember, etc.) but this year I'm kind of flat in spite of having fewer injuries. I'm interested in RUNNING 100 km on the road but without results so far. I'm planning to try a 100 km time trial in a month. Ran a 44 mile run a week and a half back and spent a good week afterwards feeling worn out. Ran 40 miles a week prior to that and had no such problems so I'm still running into little mysteries. So I think for now I'll try to limit my long runs to 40 miles, every other week and try to get in some up tempo runs and hill runs in between. One other factor (here comes the excuse) is that my work schedule has been all over the place the past few weeks. It should return to normal next week which means that I can run in the morning before work.