After many weeks of coming close to a 50-mile week, May opened with a high point as I put up 50.5 miles and a 20+-mile day during the first six days of the month before taking the Sunday off to rest. I finally hit the 50-mile mark for a week, and my legs felt surprisingly good. I suppose that was a reflection of the base that I’ve built so far this year with so many weeks of mileage in the 40s and ultra finishes at the TARCtic Frozen Yeti in February and the “Don’t Run Boston” 50K in April.
The positive May momentum lasted for barely a week.
I’ve been searching all year for a shoe that would offer me more cushion for longer runs, or at least for pavement runs, ever since feeling the pain early and often from a less cushiony shoe during my 64-mile effort at the Hamsterwheel in November. I’ve desperately wanted something with more cushion as I seek to run farther. As a flat-footed pronator, I need arch support. Hokas don’t work for me. Few shoes do. For years I ran in the Brooks Adrenaline road-trail hybrid until that was discontinued. I’ve been happy with the Salomon Sense Rides for a few years now, but they offer little cushion and I feel every step on pavement.
When I tried the super-cushiony New Balance Hiero 7s earlier this year, I loved them for a few weeks in late February/early March until my old knee issues flared up because the soft soles caused me to pronate badly. Recently I pivoted to trying the Brooks Adrenalines for just my road runs. The new model has a bigger stack height and more cushion than prior versions that I’ve liked. Fresh off of my 50-mile week, I tried the Adrenalines on the road in the neighborhood. Within a week, my left knee flared back up. It was a battle to quiet it back down for the remainder of the month, so my 50-mile week was followed with two 27-mile weeks and a 25-mile week before inching back upward in the final days of the month.
I finished May with 149 miles for the month and upped my yearly total to 707 miles of running. That’s the most miles I’ve put up by this point in a year since 2017 while training for the CCC 100K in the Alps, so that’s something. But it’s still far fewer miles than I’d prefer to have on my legs with the Notchview 100-miler just a month away.
I’m thankful that I have so much experience in this sport, with 26 ultramarathon finishes since 2012 and so much time crewing, pacing, volunteering or reporting at races to glean wisdom and insights. I’ll tap into all of those lessons learned in the weeks ahead. If my knees will quiet down a bit, I’m determined to run well at Mt. Washington on June 17 and follow it up with a 100-mile finish at Notchview three weeks later. It may not be as fast or as pretty as I’d like for it to be, but I’m determined to persevere and get it done.
Chris Wristen 