Thursday, January 21, 2010

A change in strategy

First of all. Thank you to all for the kind comments about Grandma.

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After all I have preached and advocated for in the last year about low intensity training, I am experimenting with the opposite.

I have been following Crossfit, and Crossfit Endurance for a while now, as well as listening to some of the podcasts on Crossfit Radio. It is interesting stuff.

There is a lot of debate about weather one can do ultra events on a Crossfit Endurance (CFE) training schedule. What I find kind of cool is, they don't really care. In fact, they say point blank "This might not be for you" to those who disagree.

I kind of like that attitude. They believe the proof is in the pudding, and they don't try very hard to convince you. I kind of like that.

But, on the flip side, I don't think they have a large base of testimonial to support some of what is said. Before any CFE or CFer goes ape on me, this is what I mean.

Like many, they refer to an Ultra as anything longer than a marathon. But, most of the testimonial I have read and heard about refers to 50k runners. That is cool, that is awesome, but is hard to coorelate to 100 Miles.

I could care less about the debate of "what is an ultra", I am just trying to interact with people who have gone 50-100 miles on Crossfit Endurance. I am having a tough time finding many. (they are out there... 2nd place Javelina Mark Mayazic did it).

I even posted a thread on their forum earlier this week. One guy responded (thanks Joe T). This leads me to believe that it either is not a high traffic forum, or there are few people who have used CFE to improve their 50M and 100M performance.

I do like the intesity and challenge the workouts present.

In fact, I have only been able to do a few CF workouts to scale.... and they were FREAKING HARD!

I have met a lot of people who call themselves Crossfitters, or refer to it as though they do it. What I have learned, is if you are doing it they way they see it, you will look a certain way. It will show.

I don't claim to be a Crossfitter, beacuse I have not yet hit a level where I feel worthy, but I am making progress. But I think this change in approach might help.

Part of the change is due to my lengthy travel schedule, and inablility to put in the heavy Long, Slow, Distance runs. I would rather do it this way right now.

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And on other notes, looks like I suckered the Fastest Matt into running Zumbro. I am working on the Long one. He claims to be volunteering, but he will probably succomb to the pressure. That leaves 1-2 more Matts

Game on

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Oh yeah.... Ran with the Lapham boys last night.

Good time. Tater Todd and I bombed some down hills and The Big Grabowski got "bitched" on his own course.

(Those were his words)

10 comments:

Runnin-From-The-Law said...

So is the plan exclusively crossfit for training? Or mostly crossfit, but some running too? Because isn't there something to the specificity of training principle? To run well, you have to run. What do the crossfit ultra gurus say about that?

It'll be interesting to track your progress.

Adam said...

You already know my experience, but I could never run a 50+ mile race as fast as before. The question that remains in my mind is: How much of the slowdown would be due to less running, as Cindy suggests, and how much because of the 20 lbs I've gained since changing my training?

I'd guess you'll gain some weight which will theoretically slow you down a little bit. In my opinion, less running and more high intensity cross training will affect you less the longer the race is. As a percentage, your half marathon or marathon times would suffer more when running less.

SteveQ said...

I've been following a few trail people who've been doing cross-fit, trying to figure out how they work it. Despite the shirtless douchebags who make me laugh, it seems to work for a number of people.

Nolan said...

I try to work P90X into my training as much as I can. When I need to take more of a break from running, I will focus more on P90X. When I have a race coming up, I will make sure to get my running in first, and as time allows, get the P90X work in. I have not seen what Crossfit is, but I am assuming it's along the lines of P90X. Will check it out...

Joe said...

Matt,
Looking forward to following. I'm planning to document my training and events this year at minultra. As we discussed in email, my training has always been on the light side. I won't call what I am doing now CF or CFE because I can't figure out what qualifies and where to draw the line. But I am using some of the WODs and I don't have time to run much. We'll see how it goes.

Work hard.

Joe T

Carl Gammon said...

For Crossfit and ultra experience, try Christian Griffith. Christian is a Crossfit trainer who consistently posts to both major national ultra lists. Since finishing the the Superior Sawtooth 100 two years ago, he's gone ultra crazy, running races all over the place.

surftrip at gmail dot com

Anonymous said...

Run more. Invest as much time as possible in the act of running. When issues occur, you address them then get back to running. Who has time to fart around with that other stuff? Sure, some people have to do a little maintenance, but I can't see why the average Joe needs more than 5 minutes occasionally to address something. For me, the continued process of running has a way of improving efficiency. Running 6-9 times a week enables you to sense what issues might be on the rise and you adjust. You fix it and move on. I am not against those other things I just have a tough time finding time or energy. If I want to run better, I have to train more.

Dehart

Matthew Patten said...

Hey Dehart,

Speaking of running more, SOMEONE was absent last time I was at Lapham.

Hey, If I can finish Ice Age within 1 hour of you (behind), I will call it a success.

Anonymous said...

Pack a lunch.

I am a road hog in the winter. Not much for snow covered trail running. Plus I get to take the dog out for runs in the winter as nobody else will take her out.

I did not know you ran 19 hours at Kettle. You are a world shaker.

Dehart

Chris said...

Hey Matthew, just getting up to speed on your blog. One thing that comes to mind, in terms of a lack of CF/CFE race results is the fact that it's so new and the community has been small. The CFE forum has not been a high traffic site, for sure. That is, until now. As you are seeing, the community of CF/CFE is growing (just look at how many are pictured in the cert photo's each week!) and traffic has really picked up at the CFE site and we are slowly seeing more race results posted. Personally, I've been following the CFE site/forum for just over a year and have seen a tremendous amount of growth and positive race results/personal experiences since then. My guess is that you will be one of those posting positive results from your experience with CF/CFE. Can't wait to hear how it goes for you.

Be Well,
Chris