My fundamental change in approach this year is built around a focus on consistency. Sustained incremental progress over time through consistent action... however, that is trumped by injury management.
The last couple of years I have been my own worst enemies at times. Pushing really hard in intermittent bursts. It's probably the youth sprinter in me. All out followed, by inactivity, rinse and repeat. This has led to holding onto injuries way too long, and making both the longer runs and challenges a pain-filled-shit-express at times.
If you've followed along the last 6 months you'll know that I am focused on consistency. Working on weekly total mileages spread out over the week rather than vastly loaded on a single long run day, days of rest following, a midweek run or two, more rest, then add more miles and repeat.
Consistency has been working well, but the accumulated fatigue has started to catch up with me. 9 Hour training weeks, spread out over 6 days with a rest day has taken a bit of a toll and last week, following a 50K week (it was still only the end of Feb/start of March!), things were starting to hurt and everything was feeling empty.
This could be in part due to being structured with my eating in order to help shift pounds leaving me lower on energy levels, but I could feel the build up of tiredness and the twinges of tendonitis that won't go away, returning. Not good. And I had to listen to what my body was telling me... 'Rest!'
The guilt was palpable in taking an incredibly easy week. I dropped from 9 hours training to 3. Focused on some rehab and stretching, and just chilled for a bit. I'm glad I did as the tendonitis eased up notably, and my SI Joint (though still a bit tight and painful, which was a BIG issue early last year) has improved. I needed to listen to my body, and I'm glad i did. The results? Well, this week has seen 5 back to back running days so far and each day has felt a bit better than the one before. My Zone 2 pace has increased and can comfortably hold a zone 2 run pace at 8km/h on the treadmill for an hour and still feel decent afterwards. Given it's still only mid-March, I'm really happy with this as I have NEVER managed to achieve this so far! Consistency has definitely shown progress! Only 12 weeks ago I couldn't run without pain. This is in line with my Phase 2 Goal I set last August in this post. and I'm exactly where I need to be... even with the week off! The Phase 2 of my training was this:
Phase 2 - Trail Base & Lactate Threshold Building - Key Outcomes (6 Months)
May/June 2023 - Injury Free Run 100km Ultra sub 24hrs | Weight 92Kg
April/May 2023 - Injury Free Run 50km Ultra | Weight 94Kg
Mar/April 2023 - Injury Free Run 35km Long Run | Weight 96Kg (NEXT UP)
Feb 2023 - Injury Free Run 25km Long Run | Weight 98Kg (DONE)
Jan 2023 - Injury Free Run 15km Long Run | Weight 100Kg (DONE)
I'm perhaps a week or two behind some of the long run distances, however my weekly totals have already reached over 50km. This is VERY good progress and ahead of schedule. My weight loss goals are just a little behind but this week I crossed the 100kg barrier for the first time in a long time! Now I'm 99.5kg this week.
I'm back to consistency and it's starting to finally feel easier in my running! The foundations are in, and with 8 weeks to the 100km challenge, and 6 months until the 300km, I'm feeling good about my prospects of getting through it all.
I've had to change so many things in my life, and these changes are starting to show results.
Consistency
Taking the time to address the underlying issues (physical and mindset) before pushing myself
Altering my daily life (sleep, wake-up, etc)
My eating
Training
Research (particularly my phisiology)
mindset and belief system about myself
Data
...to name a few.
When I compare to last year at the same time (you can read where I was at the same point last year here). Things are definitely better!
My most recent MAF test was over 5km in 30 mins at Zone 2 compared to 4.2km for the same test last year. That's a big difference! I can run further, faster and for longer than before. The platform and foundations are looking stronger than last year, and this bodes well for the ramping up I'll be doing through April into May, followed by a couple of weeks post 100 to recover, then the big summer training block into the 300k in September.
I'm still not pain free, but it is a damn sight better than it has been in a VERY long time! When it hurts, I'm listening. When I'm tired, I'm listening. When it feels good I'm listening...
Thanks for reading (and listening)...
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