50k trail/ultra marathon debut, jk let's just do 4 weeks @ 100mpw

My summer training was supposed to be geared towards the McKenzie River 50k in early September. This race would be a training run before the New York City Marathon in November but also something I would be very competitive at. The McKenzie 50k is a point to point trail ultra marathon that runs along a river here in Oregon. There are some hills on the course but it is a net downhill race. Not a bad way to get acclimated to running 31 miles! The start line is about an hour away from where I live. My training had gone well. I did a lot of 2-3 hour runs and a lot of training on the course itself. I was told 4 hours-flat was a really good time on the course and one that would put me in the top 3 or top 5, even potentially in the hunt to win it. I did a 22 mile run on the course going out and back that averaged 3:50 50k pace. The first half of that run averaged 4:00 50k pace going uphill (opposite from how the course actually runs) and the second half at 3:40 pace (the right direction!). I was in shape and looking forward to this new challenge. Oregon, however, had other plans for me. We got some intense forest fires at the end of August and into September. The air quality got truly awful. It was hard to run in town even though we were hours away from the nearest fires. People were being evacuated from their homes just an hour from where I live. The race directors did a great job keeping us informed. They just sent us messages starting 10 days out from the race saying to keep still and wait for further direction. We seemed to be getting these messages daily and they made the official announcement to cancel the Wednesday or Thursday before what was supposed to be a Saturday race. It was the right decision. We were not about to go and run a race where people had been evacuating from just a few days before. I tapered for this race and then had nothing to show for all of my summer miles. I decided not to dwell on things and shifted gears immediately to go all in on the NYC Marathon. The ultra would have taken a lot out of me and I would have needed some time to recover in between the two races. Instead, I was able to run four solid weeks of 91, 104, 103, and 112 miles (9/11-10/8). 112 is the most that I've ever done in a week. I actually hit 122 at some point in here over a 7 day period when I had a long run on a Sunday and then on the following Saturday. I count my weeks from Monday to Sunday so 112 sounds good enough to me.

Here is a sampling of some of the workouts and long runs that I have been putting in:

9/10- 18 w./ 8 @ 5:53 pace

9/12- 4 x mile in 5:33 avg. (on bark) + 4 x 400m in the low-70s, closing with a 67

9/17- 20 miles in the 6:40s

9/19- Lumberjack- 4 x 400m, 10:00 tempo, 4 x 400m, 10:00 tempo, 4 x 400m (400s in 74-75, tempo in the 5:40s)

9/23- 21.5 miles w./ 13.1 tempo in 1:19:12- 6:02 pace, last two miles 5:53, 5:49

9/27- 3 x 3 miles- 5:55 avg.

9/30- XC 5k 17:38

10/1- 20 miles in the 6:50s

10/3- 15 x 1km- 3:40 avg. (on bark)

10/7- 20 w./ 12 mile tempo in 1:12:22- 6:02 pace

I have been doubling on most of my easy days and have gotten in a lot of medium long runs in the 12-15 mile range. This has not been easy working anywhere from 8-12 hours Monday through Friday. You could say that I've been a little tired lately.

I am feeling very good about my NYC preparation right now. All of these workouts have been done in high mileage weeks, usually with a double the day before a hard effort. In my buildup to my 2:46 Newport Marathon last spring I only did two 20 milers, one 3 weeks out and one 2 weeks out. I was cramming for the marathon coming off of a goal half marathon (Eugene Half where I ran 1:16). This time around I've done four 20+ mile runs each weekend from 7 weeks to 4 weeks out and will do two more. My mileage is higher and more consistent than it has ever been over the last month. NYC is a tough marathon but I am still hoping to take a crack at a sub-2:40 time. I want to go through halfway in 1:20:30-1:21ish and then try to cut down from there once I get over the Queensboro Bridge. Mile 17 is where I will try to run my fastest splits. I have a solid base and a solid plan. I just need to stay the course and put the finishing touches on training and I should have a good race come November.

NYC will come almost exactly 1 year after I had a blood clot in my lung. The last 11 months have not been easy. I did not know if I would be able to run again or train this hard. I missed time last December and January, scared that running would bring clots back into my life. The anxiety has not gone away completely but I got back into training last spring and, over the last 6 months, I've set PRs in every distance from the mile to the marathon. Now I want to see 2:3x on the clock in NYC and bust these clots once and for all. I'm really looking forward to this race!