After a major race you need to rest and recover before getting “back on it”. Just over a week ago my coach asked me if I was ready to get back on it. By that she meant ramping up the training as there are only 109 days to go to Tahoe and we’ve got some serious work to do. When I looked at this weeks plan I had to remember that while this was a significant hike in my recent training, it was just getting back to where I was before The Fling.
This week I have ran 93km and swam 4.5km. This is only going to increase although it will involve a lot of power walking up hills and then running down them at speed. Back to back runs are our favoured approach to getting me ready for my Tahoe adventure so on Saturday I headed out with Stuart for 35km, part road and part trail. We managed a reasonable pace but it was a tough 3 hrs 15 mins. I practiced my nutrition and hydration strategy and had no issues. I then drove straight to Aberdeen with my wife for my daughter’s birthday - getting out the car wasn’t much fun. A nice dinner, a few glasses of wine and after breakfast we headed back down the road. A three hour drive is not the ideal way to prepare for a 25km run and the weather wasn’t looking good with the wind picking up to the forecast 45mph.
I really wasn’t looking forward to the run and with no company, I plugged in my headphones. My legs felt stiff to start with but soon warmed up. The music helped pass the time and my heart rate behaved which was the sign that the hard weeks training had paid off. Next week should be an easier week before it steps up again. Tomorrow is a day off and I am looking forward to the rest. But it was good to be “back on it” and I’m looking forward to getting into the mountains and soon the gym. I’ve work to do to get this body stronger to cope with the stresses of the training and Tahoe. I hope you are enjoying following me on this adventure?
Sunday 26 May 2019
Sunday 19 May 2019
The dawn chorus
I love this time of year. Every morning I am woken by the dawn chorus of the birds singing their hearts out. Some people might not like being woken before 4am but it tells me it’s summertime. The early day light helps me get in a good run before work and the mileage is building back up.
With work and training I had 4x 5am starts this week and with the increase in the training it’s fair to say I’m tired and glad tomorrow is a day off training.
The week has had the usual mix of recover runs, heart rate runs and tempo runs. I was back in the swimming pool on Friday having been absent for over 6 weeks. It’s like starting all over again except you pals are 6 weeks fitter and 6 weeks faster but I’d prepared my head for this before going in the water. I’m in there to take the strain off my legs from running while getting fitter, not to become an amazing swimmer.
Saturday’s run was 21 km with my pals. I was told to take water and gels and ignored the advice. As a result the last 5km were exceptionally tough - note to self, do what your coach tells you! Later on in the day we were out socialising. A late lunch stretched on and this was followed by a poor nights sleep. Not good preparation for my 16km run today which was always going to be tough following yesterdays exercise and excesses! This time I took water and gels and was grateful for it.
Once again I had company which makes all the difference when you know it going to be tough. The pace target was 5:30 per km and we made sure we stuck to it. By the end I was very tired and when I got out of the car at home, I was very stiff.
My wife was ready for me and had laid out two yoga mats so she could take we through a gentle warm down. 20 minutes later I was “a new man” and headed off for an Epsom salt bath with a protein shake followed by lunch (an no alchol!). My training schedule will pick up from here so I can expect many weekends where I’m “burst” but this is what will be required to get me ready for Tahoe. I’m sure in a month I’ll look back on this week and think how easy it was. But just now I’m glad I’ve got my feet up.
With work and training I had 4x 5am starts this week and with the increase in the training it’s fair to say I’m tired and glad tomorrow is a day off training.
The week has had the usual mix of recover runs, heart rate runs and tempo runs. I was back in the swimming pool on Friday having been absent for over 6 weeks. It’s like starting all over again except you pals are 6 weeks fitter and 6 weeks faster but I’d prepared my head for this before going in the water. I’m in there to take the strain off my legs from running while getting fitter, not to become an amazing swimmer.
Saturday’s run was 21 km with my pals. I was told to take water and gels and ignored the advice. As a result the last 5km were exceptionally tough - note to self, do what your coach tells you! Later on in the day we were out socialising. A late lunch stretched on and this was followed by a poor nights sleep. Not good preparation for my 16km run today which was always going to be tough following yesterdays exercise and excesses! This time I took water and gels and was grateful for it.
Once again I had company which makes all the difference when you know it going to be tough. The pace target was 5:30 per km and we made sure we stuck to it. By the end I was very tired and when I got out of the car at home, I was very stiff.
My wife was ready for me and had laid out two yoga mats so she could take we through a gentle warm down. 20 minutes later I was “a new man” and headed off for an Epsom salt bath with a protein shake followed by lunch (an no alchol!). My training schedule will pick up from here so I can expect many weekends where I’m “burst” but this is what will be required to get me ready for Tahoe. I’m sure in a month I’ll look back on this week and think how easy it was. But just now I’m glad I’ve got my feet up.
Sunday 12 May 2019
Rebuilding
What a difference a week makes. The bruising and swelling on my knees is gone. They are 95% better but still not well enough to go into the swimming pool as the skin on my right knee is still open. But I’m back running.
I’ve been so frustrated. My first run was 5km and it was to test my heart rate and fitness following the 53 mile Fling. The following day was 6km and then I had a days rest!! Whilst I felt I could run further I am sticking with the programme. A 10km on Thursday with a 5km recovery run on Friday - I felt I wasn’t out of 2nd gear but orders are orders. Yesterday was an hours run on heart rate and I felt I had plenty in reserve. Today I was asked to go faster than yesterday with no reference to heart rate.
I went out with my pal Stuart and headed off at a decent pace. After all I had a lot of pent up frustration. I pushed ahead and felt great. I couldn’t believe the average pace when I stopped, actually I was worried I’d be told off by my coach for going too fast! Got a few PB’s.
I have 123 days till Tahoe and there is a huge amount of work to be done. I’m excited to be entering this phase of my training. Getting the running legs back and then start the strength work and soon the mountain work. A saying that I think is very true is “if you want to achieve something you have never achieved before, you have to do something that you’ve never done before”. So this is new territory to me and I am really looking forward to it.
If you set stretching goals , the path to success isn’t always set out in front of you. But once you have your eyes on the goal, you require laser like focus to make sure it happen. I’m programming my mind to think that 4 days of non-stop running, power walking, crawling and out sprinting bears will be normal. Fortunately I mix with people who also don’t set barriers. Being surrounded by friends who push themselves hard means the bar keeps getting higher so I’m always grateful for their encouragement. The journey to here over the last 10 years has been unbelievable. I never set out to do this, it started with trying to swim 750m in a sprint triathlon. Funny where it’s led me! Dream big folks.
I’ve been so frustrated. My first run was 5km and it was to test my heart rate and fitness following the 53 mile Fling. The following day was 6km and then I had a days rest!! Whilst I felt I could run further I am sticking with the programme. A 10km on Thursday with a 5km recovery run on Friday - I felt I wasn’t out of 2nd gear but orders are orders. Yesterday was an hours run on heart rate and I felt I had plenty in reserve. Today I was asked to go faster than yesterday with no reference to heart rate.
I went out with my pal Stuart and headed off at a decent pace. After all I had a lot of pent up frustration. I pushed ahead and felt great. I couldn’t believe the average pace when I stopped, actually I was worried I’d be told off by my coach for going too fast! Got a few PB’s.
I have 123 days till Tahoe and there is a huge amount of work to be done. I’m excited to be entering this phase of my training. Getting the running legs back and then start the strength work and soon the mountain work. A saying that I think is very true is “if you want to achieve something you have never achieved before, you have to do something that you’ve never done before”. So this is new territory to me and I am really looking forward to it.
If you set stretching goals , the path to success isn’t always set out in front of you. But once you have your eyes on the goal, you require laser like focus to make sure it happen. I’m programming my mind to think that 4 days of non-stop running, power walking, crawling and out sprinting bears will be normal. Fortunately I mix with people who also don’t set barriers. Being surrounded by friends who push themselves hard means the bar keeps getting higher so I’m always grateful for their encouragement. The journey to here over the last 10 years has been unbelievable. I never set out to do this, it started with trying to swim 750m in a sprint triathlon. Funny where it’s led me! Dream big folks.
Sunday 5 May 2019
Reflecting during recovery week
The week after a big race is always an important one. You need a particular type of rest but this normally involves exercise. Not for me this time as my knees presented a major problem. I had deep gouges in both knees, bruising, swelling and they were constantly leaking puss. Putting bandages on them meant pealing them off slowly but this usually removed the scab which wasn’t nice. I struggled to wear trousers so attended several client meetings in shorts as I tried to “air my knees”. The worst part was sleeping as any pressure from the covers on my knees kept me awake so I didn’t get the benefit of a good nights sleep. I was having a bath every night with Epsom salts and then my coach came up with a miracle cream which started to speed up the healing. All this because I lost concentration for seconds in an 11 hour race! Worth remembering for the Tahoe 200 over 4 days with sleep deprivation and greater elevation.
After the first day my quads began to feel normal which was encouraging and shows the training I had done had worked. I lost 6 lbs on race day so have been eating like a horse all week - constantly hungry. A massage on Thursday was well timed and apparently my legs were in good shape, if you ignored my knees.
I also had a meeting with my coach to analyse the race. She was always of the view I should have been under 11 hours and by a good margin. But my holiday before the race put paid to that happening. Whether or not that played in my mind during the race I’m not certain but it didn’t help. What we both agreed was that this was just “a bad day at the office” however there were positives to be taken from it. You need to comfortable being uncomfortable if you are going to take part in long distance endurance events - I was certainly uncomfortable, right from the start of the race. Not only that I kept going and pushed through the discomfort and pain. Something I am going to be doing over 4 days in September. Once the first goal wasn’t possible I refocused on the 2nd goal and achieved it - it would have been easier on the day to have given up and walk in. However had I done that I would have regretted it forever. Pain is temporary, failure is forever.
I was under orders of no running this week to allow the swelling to go down. Yesterday I went for a 2 mile walk and today a 5 mile walk. My legs feel great. I’ll still need to bandage my knees at night or if I’m wearing trousers but they should be fixed in a few days time. I’m praying that I’ll start back running tomorrow as I don’t like sitting around but I’m sure the last week has helped my recovery and my focus is now completely on September 13th for the Tahoe 200. 130 days to go to transform my body to be Tahoe Tough!
After the first day my quads began to feel normal which was encouraging and shows the training I had done had worked. I lost 6 lbs on race day so have been eating like a horse all week - constantly hungry. A massage on Thursday was well timed and apparently my legs were in good shape, if you ignored my knees.
I also had a meeting with my coach to analyse the race. She was always of the view I should have been under 11 hours and by a good margin. But my holiday before the race put paid to that happening. Whether or not that played in my mind during the race I’m not certain but it didn’t help. What we both agreed was that this was just “a bad day at the office” however there were positives to be taken from it. You need to comfortable being uncomfortable if you are going to take part in long distance endurance events - I was certainly uncomfortable, right from the start of the race. Not only that I kept going and pushed through the discomfort and pain. Something I am going to be doing over 4 days in September. Once the first goal wasn’t possible I refocused on the 2nd goal and achieved it - it would have been easier on the day to have given up and walk in. However had I done that I would have regretted it forever. Pain is temporary, failure is forever.
I was under orders of no running this week to allow the swelling to go down. Yesterday I went for a 2 mile walk and today a 5 mile walk. My legs feel great. I’ll still need to bandage my knees at night or if I’m wearing trousers but they should be fixed in a few days time. I’m praying that I’ll start back running tomorrow as I don’t like sitting around but I’m sure the last week has helped my recovery and my focus is now completely on September 13th for the Tahoe 200. 130 days to go to transform my body to be Tahoe Tough!
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