Training for the Fells Trail Ultra Winter 40 Miler

After I ran the TARC Fall Classic Race in October, I took a few days off and tried to get into some consistent training for the TARC Fells Trail Ultra Winter 40 Miler. I had planned for this to be my last long race of 2014, and decided that a few 50-60 mile weeks were attainable given my schedule at work and home. Planning to throw some speedwork in the weekly runs, I wanted to get in as much quality miles as I could.

The chart below shows what I could put together in the limited amount of time before the upcoming race. I don't run very high mileage partly due to the amount of time I have, and partly because I have found that quality works better for me rather than quantity.

Week thru	Mileage	Elevation(ft.)	Key Workout(s)
October 26	31.1	2,989	No workout, easy recovery week
November 2	52.9	5,200	3x2 miles
November 9	59.1	9,682	Tempo/Hills sandwich: 15 minute tempo w/ 30sec. hill sprints, Hill repeats at Wachusett, Reservoir long run loop
November 16	51	7,133	5k tempo, Monadnock Run with hill repeats
November 23	43.9	7,690	10 mile tempo, hill sprints
November 30	23	3,481	3x1 mile

The tapering began last week and I can't wait to get to run the Fells Skyline Trail again to attain some personal redemption from last year's DNF. I shouldn't put too much thought into it, but I feel like I could have done well last year and dropped for purely mental reasons. I'm hoping to perform okay this Saturday at the race and complete the 5 loops of 8 miles each. There is some tough competition out there and my plan is to just run a good consistent pace and hopefully complete it somewhere around 8 hours.