I've had an interesting week, in that I didn’t manage a single run. Not injured, just that my wife has been away, and parenting duties prevented any running whilst the kids were home, and I couldn’t get out for a run while they were at school.Funnily enough though, I had no problem with this, even though I should be ramping up my training. I’ve taken it as a kind of mid season taper, and a great opportunity for a bit of physical recovery.
Looking back on my training last year around this time I had a few very skinny weeks for mileage as we were away visiting family, and it had no detrimental effect on my fitness.
That said I am back into it, and making up for lost time. The first run out was hard work with heavy legs (very similar to after a taper) and amazingly my calves were still a little tender to touch following my bout of DOMS about 10 days earlier.
I followed up that 20km trail run with a similar run but with three hard 1km hill repeats in the middle, by the end of which I was toast. Today I just went with a circuits session (joined by my 9 year old Jack which was nice to see!).
I’m monitoring my training carefully over these next two weeks as I am testing out a pair of SKINS A400 compression shorts. First week without compression gear and the second wearing the SKINS. I will keep my calf guards on for both weeks though, especially given the intensity of hills being run and the DOMS recovery.
I have been fortunate enough to be supported by a number of companies (on the right hand side of this page) for my 33 marathons challenge, and I shall be posting reviews of their gear over the coming weeks.
So while my body has (hopefully) been repairing all the micro level damage I will have inflicted on it of late, it will be interesting to see how that has affected my performance. This is of particular interest as I start my final couple of months training before The North Face 100 in May, and as I continue to build on this for the far greater challenge in August. The results of the next few weeks could suggest that another week off could be in order.
It’s widely accepted that training should include easier weeks, and I am interested to see how taking a full week off will benefit in terms of long term recovery and in any drop off in performance.I’ll keep you posted.
Run Happy
Andy
“Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary toward a worthwhile achievement” – Henry Ford
www.ultrarunning.com.au
