This year will be a down run.  Training began in September, building mileage.   October brought a mild knee injury, and November was spent recovering from that with easy mileage.

The plan this year is to train at the 2000 Las Vegas Marathon (3:45) level (VDOT=41) for the 2001 Las Vegas Marathon.  Then training intensity will be determined on the results of that race.  Mileage in January through May will generally follow Noakes' recommendation.

I gradually resumed training in December to the 55 MPW level, and then encountered difficulty.   I began training again, only to find the left knee had been re-injured.  I got a 50-mile week early in January, the last of which was the 12 mile course on packed snow through Heiberg Forest.  That run was difficult the entire way due to the pain and swelling of the left knee.  At that point, a 3:45 marathon on 04 February seems in doubt.  A 4:45 marathon (required for Comrades qualification) does seem possible.

Update 11 February 2001

Well, I had a shot in my knee in November, another one in January.  Some physical therapy showed an imbalance causing stress in the left knee, so some exercises were started to correct it.  Then I got sick (pneumonia?) on a business trip to Houston 25 January, and stayed sick through the Las Vegas Marathon last Sunday, 04 February.  I ran a very ugly time there, 4:30:34, but did manage to qualify.

Yesterday, Tom and I planned to get together to watch the 2000 Comrades video that the hotel people recorded for Tom while we ran.  We hadn't watched it in 7 months.  Julia and Bob joined us.  In the morning, I got e-mail from Tiekie, the South African that ran a long way with me last year, inquiring if I was running again this year.  A freaky coincidence.

I took 3 days off before the LV Marathon, and 3 after.  I am not injured in any noticeable way at the present time, and plan to go out for 12 or more today.  My current plan is to run somewhere in the 28-48 MPW range for February, after getting about 32 MPW in January.  Then, following Noakes' advice, bump it up to 34-59 for March and April, and then taper in May with something like 36-70 miles for the entire month.

Tom has made our hotel reservations for Durban, and we have talked about another 4 night venture prior to Durban at Kruger, probably farther north this year.  We have also discussed probably going to Capetown for a few days afterwards this year, or we may return to the Drakensburgs.

Update 04 March 2001

Three good weeks to end February - 49, 44 and 50 miles.  No sign of injury or any increase in speed either.  Just plugging away at the miles.  On Sunday the 25th I went to Pittsburgh for a week of work training, and ran in shorts and tee shirt in the 72 degrees they were having that day.  Today it was 6 degrees in Fayetteville when I went out for today's run.  It's that time of year.  You just have to love it.

Update 01 April 2001

March was a good training month.  Actually it was terrible, weather wise, but I did good training in March.  I ran consistently, and put in some good long runs.  The longest was 31.2 miles earlier today, capping off a 65+ mile week.  The March weekly mileages were 46, 51, 64 and 65.  The weather has been terrible, way below average temperature, always windy on Sunday, usually snowing.  But I feel pretty good about training so far.  I have been consistent, and have no injuries.  I don't even have the nagging plantar fascitis that bothered me so much last year at this time.  Time to make travel reservations.  I may run the Cleveland Marathon April 29 to get a better seed, so I'll hold off registering for the Comrades until then.

Update 16 May 2001

April was not as consistent as March, with weekly mileages of 44, 29, 38, 40 and 45.  It seems that the 2 back to back 65 mile weeks may have been too much too soon.  And the long runs (by myself) seemed to make going out for an even longer solo run too daunting.  I put bottles out a couple of times, but never even started a very long run.  However, I am keeping a positive outlook.  I have trained too long to lack self-confidence, and I will go to Africa expecting to enjoy myself.

Update 3 June 2001

May polished off the training with weekly mileages of 34, 57, 30 and 28.  I did try one hill workout and felt okay although not speedy.  Exactly 4 weeks before the Comrades, I ran 3 whole laps at the Highland 1-2-3 and felt very strong and comfortable.  This restored my long run confidence, and gave me some practice running and getting food.  And with 4 weeks to recover from the pounding was just about right.  A very comfortable run through Heiberg Forest with 13 days to go convinced me that recovery would be complete by the 16th of June with no worries.  All travel reservations have been made, and we leave in 6 days!

This graph illustrates the training in terms of average daily mileage, by month.  The range for each month is taken from The Lore of Running by Dr. Tim Noakes.  This mileage is prescribed based on the optimum training for the Comrades in the 5 months preceding the race of 156 hours of training.  I actually trained (running) 152 hours.  The daily mileage is based on my training speed, which is based on a table indexed by my marathon time.  So I ran 4.7 miles per day in January on the average, 5.8, 7.2, 6.3 and 5.4 for February through May.  In general, I tried to under train instead of over train, but notice I overdid it in May.  That, however, is because Noakes' book was written based on the race being run the last week of May, and since that time, the race has moved into the middle of June.