Going For It: Badwater Training Plan

I enjoy running a lot of miles. Good thing, because I have been doing a lot of them preparing to tackle the Badwater 135.

Since I started logging daily mileage at www.running2win.com back in 2007, I have recorded nearly 24,000 miles. Considering that I began this running thing back in 1987 and have done nearly 170 marathons, six, 100 milers, and all the prep work for these and countless other shorter races, I am probably at or near 50,000 lifetime miles.

At the finish of my first 100-miler, 2007.                                        

That is why my rather aggressive plan to prepare for the Badwater 135 wasn’t too daunting to me – on paper.

I learned in mid-February that I was accepted into Badwater, and already had a great mileage base going. I had raced a marathon in late 2012 and had paced about 10 others throughout that year and into early 2013. I also had done a 100-mile race in September and another in early February, and was in the midst of training for the 2013 Boston Marathon when I got word that I was chosen for the Badwater field.

Further, I have crewed Badwater twice and visited Death Valley on other occasions, so know what the distance, the heat and the hills are all about “out there.” I understand what it takes to get from point A (the Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the Continental USA) to point B (Mt. Whitney Portal, two-thirds the way up the highest point in the lower 48).

Crewing Chris Moon through Lone Pine, 2012.  Photo credit to AdventureCORPS.              

So, it didn’t seem too big of a deal to work up a 12-week, 1,300-mile training plan. Believe me,  it has been quite a different thing actually doing it. But doing it I am, thanks to an unbelievably supportive, ultra-marathon-running wife who gets it, having a job that allows me to work any and all hours as long as I get it all done, and being blessed with enough physical stamina and strength to not fall asleep while standing and moving forward one step at a time for hours at a time for weeks at a time or breaking bones and tearing muscles and ligaments from excessive pounding day-after-day-after-day.

Here is where I am thus far:

Week 1 – 90 miles – Done (First week, getting warmed up)

Week 2 – 110 miles - Done
Week 3 – 100 miles – Done (My “rest” week)
Week 4 – 120 miles - Done
Week 5 – 150 miles – Done (including three days of 25 miles each in the South Florida heat)
Week 6 – 140 miles - Done
Week 7 – 100 miles – Done (Another “rest” week)
 
This is Week 8,  which will have me doing another 150 miles, including 50 of them at the Mohican 50/100 race this Saturday at Mohican State Park near Mansfield.

Survive this, and it gets easier (!), with 120 miles in Week 9, then a three-week taper of 90, 80 and 50 miles.

                            My wife and I heading out for 25 of those really hot Lauderdale miles.

Then the real “Challenge of the Champions” begins at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 15, when the temperature at the Starting Line will likely be about 110 degrees, climbing to near 130 degrees, and I will ascend 13,000 feet over the 135-mile-long course in something less (hopefully) than 30 hours. Needs to be at least less than 38 hours so I can finish on my 50^th birthday.

Oh, did I mention the “special training” I am doing in conjunction with all these miles to prepare for the heat and the hills? We’ll talk about “that” another time …