Week in Training

I've decided to bring back the weekly training article — sharing my week with you as I go. The two main reasons I’m doing this are accountability and information. I’ve had the idea of doing this again for a while, but I’ve had a lot of resistance as well. Shoutout to Dan Stecken for being an exemplar of growing in public. A lot of my resistance has been not wanting accountability, although I’ve needed it. It helps.

Last year I was sharing my “This Week in Training,” as I was preparing for the Prairie on Fire backyard ultra. That's the training I'm back in. It’s now less than 14 weeks away (96 days), so not yet time for the specific training block, but close enough to be real and to get ready.

I’m in better position this year than I was last year. Last year I was injured when I took on the challenge in January, so I had rehab and training. This year I have some problems, but not nearly as serious, though it still includes some rehab.

Last week was week 1 of my new program to prepare, rehab, and train. I have two weeks of this prep/ rehab work before really getting into the main training. I’ve known of these weaknesses for months, but I’ve been inconsistent in addressing them. So, I sat down and developed a full and scheduled program — a 15-week phased block built around three priorities: rebuild the kinetic chain from the ground up, develop the running fitness for 50+ miles, and train the whole system to hold together when it matters. The programming allowed me to focus on execution, which is what I needed.

The Goal

I built this program with 15 weeks to race day, September 12th. Last year my goal was at least 31 miles, and I ran 42, or 10 yards/ laps. This year I’m holding the goal more loosely, but I’m looking for 50 miles, or 12 laps, with at least one lap in the dark.

I entered 2026 with the fitness mantra of “build the base, go the distance.” That is the purpose of this program. In a very real sense, the rehab work is primary over the running training. Last year’s race ended when my body broke exactly where I knew it would. It wasn’t a cardio failure or exhaustion, but weak areas that broke.

Week One

I thought I had an Achilles tendon problem, even before I ran the backyard ultra last year. I had pain in my heel, and that’s where the Achilles is, right? After the backyard ultra that pain was worse. I notice, however, when the pain came up while I was walking, I was able to make it go away by pressing and engaging my big toe while I walked. Eventually, I sought Barefoot Will help with the problem, and he was able to quickly realize it wasn’t my Achilles tendon, but the posterior tibial tendon. I didn’t even know that was a thing, which reminded me — you don’t know what you don’t know.

I have also been dealing with weakness in my hips and abdominal floor, patellar tendonitis, tight hips, and not engaging my glutes. Turns out, all of that is related, and it starts at the bottom, at my foot. The focus of week one became repatterning the response of the whole lower kinetic chain. Simple work, if you have a plan. The results of week one has confirmed the problem, the fix, and that I am not injured, just weak and out of alignment.

Every run and every workout starts with waking up the kinetic chain from the ground up by activating the big toe and arch, waking up the glutes, and engaging the core. Simple movements with big results. Further, I make sure to engage the whole chain, beginning with the big toe, while I’m walking. That makes every step a rep in the chain activation and repatterning. 10,000 steps becomes 10,000 reps!

The Work

I’m using the same basic workout schedule that worked so well for me last year, which I initially learned from Building Mike:

Monday: AM run, PM workout

Tuesday: AM run with speed work, PM workout

Wednesday: Active rest with focused rehab

Thursday: Double run day. Gotta train the legs to run tired.

Friday: Easy AM run, PM workout

Saturday: Long Run

Sunday: AM workout, PM ruck/ walk, flex into an active rest day as needed.

That’s the plan. Here’s how week one actually broke out. Hey, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. It wasn’t perfect, but it was really good work.

Monday: first run with the chain sequence. Felt the big toe activation for the first time while running.

Tuesday: speed work. 9:25 tempo didn’t feel fast. Legs responding differently already.

Wednesday: moved the PM workout here. Smart adjustment, not failure. The plan serves the training.

Thursday: double day. HR spike at mile 1 PM run. Managed it. 5.16 miles total.

Friday: recovery run. Caught the waist bend in real time. Self-corrected mid-run. Chain awareness arriving.

Saturday: long run shortened. 4:30 didn’t hold. Lesson logged.

Sunday: workout + ruck. Pallof press hitting pelvic floor weakness. The quiet work doing its job.

The Headline Data

Between my runs, rucks, and walks I surpassed 23 miles. That was a big increase and a big win, especially since my body held up well. The biggest problem I’ve been dealing with, the patellar tendonitis, didn’t even show up to any significant degree, just by working on the kinetic chain. The post-tib tendon is responding well and starting to feel strong. I managed a week of consistent movement, averaging almost 15k steps per day. More important than the step average, though, was I stacked 7 consecutive days of over 12k steps. No dud days. I’m not where I’d want to be, but I’m not nearly as far behind as I feared. All I have to do is keep showing up and doing the work.

As my brother Jordan B. Goldstein always says, “The truth is in the training.”

What I Learned

Week one was a big week. I learned a lot about where I am, and I know what I have to do to be where I want to be. First thing I learned is a coach needs structure about as much as a client. It much easier to execute a plan, than to decide what you’re doing every day. Programming doesn’t remove the hard work. It removes the decision about what to do every day.

I was reminded a good morning starts the night before.

Every step is a rep, if you’re paying attention.

Restriction is the body being honest about capacity. Load it progressively and it adapts faster than you think. However, you have to start with honesty about where you are.

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Last year I went 42 miles on a broken chain running on cardio and will. The chain gave out at yard 10. The cardio still had gas.

This week the chain held through a tempo run, a double day, a recovery run on tired legs, and a Sunday ruck. The knee that was my primary concern never showed up once.

Not broken. Just weak and out of alignment.

Week 2 starts today and I know exactly what to do.

Show up. Do the work.