Last week was the final the final training session before the first of my Ultra Marathon challenges - Windsor 50km. Those of you following the last few months will know that it's been pretty difficult to get any kind of consistency. In fact, it's been really shitty at times... But we are where we are, and we deal with what presents itself. When it came to my final pre-taper week of training, the week went pretty true to recent form, and plans were f*cked up again. I'm OK with that though. I've just learned to breathe and let go...
No point getting bent out of shape over it. It is what it is. That said, while I didn't get to do all of the training I had planned, I still managed to put 55km through my legs over the 7 days when I add in the 27km from previous Sunday to the 6|6|6|10k from the Wednesday to the Sunday just passed.
Come Friday's run I had a calf niggle. It was spasming just after my last of the 6Km runs and tightening considerably. This I'm pretty sure was a mix of muscle fatigue (as it was in my weaker leg with all the recent issues - left side), and hardcore physio on Monday evening.
The smart thing to do was to take the Saturday planned 14km off and see how it eased, and then test it on the Sunday. This was why i chose to simply do the 10km rather than 14 + 14km I had originally planned. It was a wise move, and I'm proud of myself for not pushing it. It was a well reasoned, rational decision as the last thing I needed was a risk of tearing my calf. In fact, the pain I had on the Friday night was similar to what I had three years ago when I tore the calf, simply because I pushed when I should have eased. I might be crazy... but I am not stupid. My final longer run went well. Calf held up and cruised along nicely. Being Mother's Day, my wife came out, ran much faster than me (of course) and i scored some valuable brownie-points. We shall call this a win.
Pre 50K MAF Test
In order to get a sense as to my fitness level going into the 50k challenge I performed a MAF Test which you can read more here: https://www.longroadtoultra.com/post/13-maf-tests-maffetone-s-measure-of-progress-results
This was performed after a stressful day yesterday, and fully fasted (no food for 24hrs), so i wasn't hopeful on getting a good result...
I'm happy to say I was wrong...
I ran a treadmill test (I always do, so I get consistent running conditions and measurements) and was very pleased to see that my MAF Test was the best it has EVER been! 4.5km in 30 mins at a 132bpm heart rate. Given that in May last year my final pre 100km-attempt was at 4.22km in 30 mins, this is a great result!
The Run itself looked like this for pace and you can see the 30 minute split time (#2) in the pic. Feeling pleased as I scored my highest VO2 Max and my Highest Maximum Aerobic Function since this whole saga began. This means my body is way more efficient than when I started. That means I can theoretically run longer, easier and faster than ever before on this journey without crashing. In ten days I get to put this to the test over 31 miles (50K). That will also be my longest single training run ahead of the 100k next month and puts me where i really wanted to be. I'm aiming to get a MAF score of 5km in 30 mins by the time I take my final MAF test ahead of that challenge. Now my attention is turning towards my short 13 day taper into the 50k. That looks like this:
5km Wed
5km Friday
8km Sunday
Done...
I'll be resting up for 6 days with no running. Just a few walks to keep things moving. Just a bit of rest up time to let niggles heal up and get the energy in my legs. A bit of stretching, eating normal and fairly clean, lots of hydration and banking some decent sleep!
Thanks for reading...
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