For years and years, I viewed “cutting a long run short” as a failure. If I set out to do ‘X’ but couldn’t, then there was obviously something deficient in my training, whether I was inadequately recovering between efforts, underfueling, or just plain not-with-it. I never stopped to consider that there might be some wisdom in listening to my body and tailoring my effort to reflect where I was–or wasn’t–in training.
After finishing The Ring/Pine Creek double in September, I took a couple of weeks to build my mileage back up. I didn’t do my first 20-mile long run until October 3rd, almost three weeks post double. Since October 3rd, I’ve done three 20-mile long runs, which consisted of two trail efforts and one road effort. Today would’ve been my fourth consecutive week with a 20-mile long run (another road effort), but instead I called it a morning after the first 10-mile loop.
So, what gives?
As of today, I have the Stone Mill 50 miler (actually, 52ish miles) in two weeks. After Stone Mill, I have about a month until Devil Dog 100. You would think now, of all times, would be the time to lock in and double down, but….
But after the double in September, which saw my first successful completion of a 100-mile effort since 2024 (a week after a 71-mile effort, no less), I decided to implement a few changes in how I approached my training. One of the biggest changes was a newfound openness to the less-is-more approach. Now, I’m not advocating for doing the bare minimum when training for these big events–in fact, especially for newer runners, I think maintaining a strict training schedule is a good accountability and fitness-building mechanism–but when you’ve already got preexisting fitness, as I do, then dialing back the efforts is sometimes the sensible decision to take.
Am I going to make any fitness gains two weeks out from a 50-mile effort that will influence how the day plays out? Absolutely not. In fact, after Stone Mill, I don’t think I’ll do any run over 10 miles, even though I’ll still be a month out from Devil Dog 100. At that point, what difference will it make? I can go out and knock one or two 20-mile efforts out, but is the added fatigue from a higher trainer volume worth the fitness gains? After how my previous race played out, no.
Of course, I enjoy training, so I don’t mind the weekly 20-mile long runs, but with experience comes a willingness to trust what I’ve done. I’m looking forward to my fifth Stone Mill 50-mile in two weeks, and then the Devil Dog 100-mile in December.
Until next time.