The Antarctic Odyssey was the start of my journey into adventure racing and blogging. I wrote a series of post that charted my adventure from start to completion of my Antarctic Odyssey. This post is part of the series.
For someone with such an epic challenge coming up I seem to be taking things remarkably easy at the moment. Not only that but the Clyde Stride 40 (July) is approaching at great speed, so really, I should be getting a bit of a move on.
My training, events and downtime all share the same objective; to build miles, strength and endurance whilst remaining injury free. Falling victim to an injury at this time would be fairly disastrous, and so, I err on the cautious side.
Since completing the Hoka Highland Fling, I have taken 1 full week of rest and am now in my 2nd recovery week. Rest is just that: complete rest, no running, no cross training, no weight or strength training; plenty of stretching, yoga, sleep, and food with plenty of green leafy veg and protein. Recovery has been a case of easing back into a regular routine. It has consisted of some short runs of about 6 miles; cross training on the spin bike doing 15 – 20k rather than the more usual 25k – 30k; a couple of strength training sessions and the usual abdominal work; and a session with my sports injury therapist to work out the last of the tightness.
This weekend I will aim to do a couple of slightly longer runs of about 10 miles. Then it will be back to a more solid training schedule. The schedule is still taking shape but will look something like this. The long run will extend back out to 20 – 24 miles. I will start to do back to back longer runs too, and I will swap out some long runs for long treks. There will be a couple of strength training sessions a week, abdominal work three times a week. I will do 2, maybe 3 shorter run sessions of 6 – 8 miles, and one will be either speed or hill intervals. Finally 1 or 2 spin bike sessions. The shorter runs and spin sessions will be flexible depending on what longer sessions are planned.
Everyone trains differently and I know that many ultra runners go straight into recovery after events, especially when they are part of a build up to a key event, but this feels right for me: letting my body recover and adapt before starting to build up again. I can feel the benefits already especially in my speed and hill intervals. My stamina and endurance has gone up another notch. Dare I say it; I think I am on track.
