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[[File:Dailymile mileage.jpg|none|thumb|500px|Dailymile.com mileage chart.]]
==August 2012==
This month I've focused even more on [[Downhill Running]], including [[Downhill Intervals]]. These workouts are hard enough that if I continue them after the world championships, I may move to running three days a week rather than four. August included the overload week for my [[Three Phase Taper]] which went well with 150 miles, some of which was hard hill intervals. I've also dropped my body fat down to a lower level than before the national championships this time last year, but I've managed to increase lean body mass at the same time. I now have less fat, but weigh about five pounds more. I've continued to combine[[Intermittent Hypoxic Exposure]] with [[Electrical Muscle Stimulation]] and I think it's working well. .
{| {{table}}
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Miles'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Hours'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Avg Pace'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Num Runs'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Longest'''
|-
| August 2012||370||50||8:05||22||25
|-
| July 2012||316||45||8:26||17||26
|-
| August 2011||614||82||7:59||30
|}
==July 2012==
The summer eventually arrived in force here in North Carolina and the heat became a limiting factor. I had some downtime visiting Washington DC for a long weekend, and I had some minor issues with the muscles in my right foot. However, I've also started to do far more [[Downhill Running]], so I feel like my training is proving effective for the upcoming 24 hour world championships in Poland. Even though this will be a totally flat race, I believe that the [[Downhill Running]] will cause adaptations in the muscle structure that will improve my endurance at long distances. I'm doing a little more cycling again, and I'm combining [[Intermittent Hypoxic Exposure]] with [[Electrical Muscle Stimulation]] which seems to be quite effective. I'm planning on using a [[Three Phase Taper]] for the world championships, but I haven't decided if I'll increase the distance on my usual frequency, or keep the distance and increase the frequency.
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Avg Miles'''
|-
| June July 2012||316||45||8:26||17||26||19
|-
| June 2012||375||52||8:18||20||30||19
==August 2011==
August continued my experiment with running every day rather than four days per week, which pushed my mileage to a new high. My peak week was 186 miles, running 27 miles for 6 consecutive days. I found that nutrition and recovery becomes critical with this amount of exercise. I'm in the process of writing a page for '[[GOMAD grazing']], the technique I've found helped me with the higher mileage and I believe would be effective for other runners.
I'm not sure if this high mileage approach to training is more effective than training four days per week or not. I'm a lot fitter and faster now than I was when I started, but I've also lost 13 pounds and been doing quite a bit of altitude training with the [[AltoLab]]. I'd like to think that this type of high mileage would change fast twitch muscle fibers into slow twitch, but there seems to be little evidence for that. Running 180+ miles per week and holding down a full time job puts huge logistical and psychological pressures in addition to the obvious physical strain. In many ways, my body handled the high mileage far better than my mind did.
