Last week was the joy of 'Peak Week'. The point towards the end of my winter/spring training block where you reach peak training volume, after months of progressive training, rehab, prehab and accumulated fatigue... all culminating in a bastard monster training week ahead of a taper and dialling down of volume in order to recover for a key challenge / event / race. From the Sunday to the Sunday it was a 85km week of running with 65km on trails and 20km of it on a hill focused course. It was tough.
It was one of the weeks I was most concerned about, having been managing the long term ankle/Achilles/heel problems and the issues that were building with my back and hip through the increased training load. But I came through it relatively unscathed. In fact, I managed to recover faster than I have done to date, and my injury issues have dropped in pain levels that are so much lower than before! I might just be able to toe the line in just over 2 weeks time actually entirely pain free!! This would be remarkable as I have never stepped up to the start line of an Ultramarathon without some issue.
This has me pondering... I set out with the intention of seeing what was possible for this 100km when I was free of injury and having had a consistent training block leading up to it. This has been mostly the case so far (touch wood!), which leads me to think about the targets and strategy for the challenge.
Anything can happen on the day, of course. Terrible weather, accident on a tree root, catching a cold, etc. There's still 2 weeks left and I need to stay disciplined in not being reckless; but if I can hit that start line in good shape, then I know getting that sub 24 hours is possible for me if there are no major issues on the course. My legs are capable, my engine is the best it has been so far on this journey, and I know so much more than I did before.
Dare I think the unthinkable? Do I push that bit harder than 24 hours already is for me and see if I can get sub 20 hours??
That will be mental. It means blazing through rest stops and taking very little time stopping to eat, treat blisters, recover, stretch, etc etc. It means pushing hard through the worst parts of the course and dicing with messing up my energy management (calories, glycogen stores, etc) only to crash and burn towards the very end.
Not an easy decision to go for it, and one I've yet to make. That'll be decided on the day. It'll be decided on the monster hills and by how my stomach feels along with factors such as weather and how I feel as I tick off each mile. It's an easy set of average speed calculations to make to see if it is 'on'.
For under 24hrs my average speed including all stops has to be above 4.2 kmh. That looks really slow, but across 100km I have 8 stops to refill fluids, use bathrooms, eat, sock change, etc. I have over 20 hills to climb. I have 8km of shingle beach to get across. This 24 will be far from f*cking easy!
If I want under 20 hours, then it's 5 kmh average speed. This would be monstrous for me. Consider than when I hiked the same course it took almost 35 hours! When I ran it last year (with the ankle issue) it took over 25 hours. Is 20 hours unthinkable??
I'm fitter than before. I'm lighter than before. I'm more experienced than before. And my injuries are less than they've been...
But, not so fast... I also have the 300Km in less than 6 months from now. Push too hard and I risk nasty return to injury that could unravel my shot at this insane 200 mile challenge. My running injured last year cost me my 300km challenge. Do I risk that again this year? At my age? So the big question I'm wrestling with is: do I go all in? Do I commit? Does fortune really favour the brave?... Or am I an idiot for simply thinking I could and should go for it, just when things are starting to finally look good for me, knowing I need to successfully get through another 5 months of training ahead? Anything is possible, I guess. But we'll just have to wait and see how I feel on the day.
Thanks for reading...
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