Tapering has begun. Normally this is where more of the psychological battle comes in. After a period of building some large accumulated fatigue, you can feel slow, cumbersome and sore for the first few days.
This leaves you doubting if you've done enough and if you will even survive it, let alone finish it. It gives you time to think... which is not the best thing to do when stepping into something as unknown as your first ever 200 miler multi-stage.
I have no point of reference other than take my biggest ever volume and then double it... without rest days. Fuck. Think of it like that and it becomes real easy to let the doubts kick in. All of those DNFs and withdrawals. All of those injury laden stretches of training. They all start to mix and brew in your mind.
Now I have at least the experience of a 100 mile training week (and the memory of what a monstering this gave me), to work from. I mentioned in my previous post that you can never really do enough as an amateur with a busy work life and family in the 'golden' middle age of your life.
This helps, but also that is also the peak volume stage where fatigue has accumulated after months of training. Niggles are baked in, and the legs and head are tired. This week has been the chance to dial it back and let the body and mind begin to catch up ahead of the challenge in less than three weeks' time.
I'm dancing with doing enough to keep it in my legs, but not so much that I stop the recovery and adaptations from bedding in.
MAF Test As a test of my progress I performed a MAF test this week on my recovery run, with a best ever score while running easy in my Zone 2 of 5.2km @ 135 bpm. This is my best ever score, after a 3 month block of consistent running. I'll likely test again in ten days when I've recovered further but this is a really good sign The MAF Test is (click here for more info) is a great indicator of your fat adaptation (fat for fuel zone when running). and a good measure of your Maximum Aerobic Function. In June I was at 4.6km in 30 at 135pm. Now I'm almost 20% more efficient (i.e. faster at same effort level). In 3 months that is a big gain considering the fatigue I'm carrying right now. The long distance engine is in the best shape so far!
I've also increased my running power figures (meaning stronger running)
Sept 1 - 220W avg 672w peak watts (immediately after peak volume period)
Aug - 220W avg 550W peak watts
July - 219 W avg 480W peak watts
June - 200W avg 420W peak watts
Very pleased! Kit
Now my attention turns to kit. To summarise, I have a lot of kit to take. I need fresh running gear for each of the 6 days (plus 3 pairs of socks each day), kit needs to cope with any weather from sunshine to wind and rain (the Outer Hebrides in Autumn is going to be very unpredictable). I need spare trail shoes, recovery shoes, evening/sleep gear, hydration & energy, recovery items such as protein, rolling stick, and mini massage gun, tape (all of the tape, not just some of the tape as I'm held together with tape!), blister solutions, creams, emergency survival bag, water proofs x2, mid layers, base layers, warm layers... the list is extensive!
I've needed FULLY waterproof kit bag and rest-stop drop bag as the chances are the bags will be in the rain for periods. I've also needed to get collapsible carbon running poles that are ultra-light to help with the hills and uneven trails.
I certainly had enough general gear for a few days of trails, but for 6 it means shelling out some serious money. When trail socks are £15 a pair, 18 pairs can certainly add up!!
The good news is that my company is sponsoring me for some of the associated costs, so I have on order a few t-shirts and hoody with the challenge, charity and company branding on so they can liked-in the crap out of this to help with donation raising.
Packing & 'Admin'
Packing it all is the next challenge. I have to fit:
6 tops, 6 t-shirts, 6 base layers, 3 pairs of shoes, 6 shorts, 18 pairs of socks, two sets of water proofs (in case of wet outs), electrolytes, 20 gels (a big box), recovery shake powder, tart charry juice bottle, stroop-waffels, clif blocks, mini massage gun, evening tracksuit/hoodie/warm jacket, running pack, water bottles and bladder, lotions & potions, medical kit, head torch, batteries, chargers, headphones, tape, blister solutions both on-trail and evening repairs... and so much more... all into a 70 litre bag and a small carry-on size waterproof drop bag.
Organisation will be key as I expect to be unable to think straight after about 3 days into this. That means many many ziplock bags labelled for everything to ensure I can easily access it when I need it and it be organised for each day with options for every type of weather.
Oooooff. I have to start this now so that I know I have enough time to fill any gaps in kit I forgot to buy. My long-suffering wife is going to hate me this weekend as our bedroom will be upside down for a couple of days and I have a few runs slotted for the last meaningful distance weekend (which will be HOT as it's 30C here this week). I will feel much better getting this nailed now rather than last minute though, so wish me luck :-) Thanks for reading...
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