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| Pain Time on Box Hill |
This was meant to be the post-Christmas get-back-to-training month. Not PBs.
Not that I'm complaining.
It probably has something to do with a conversation I had with Robbie Britton and Rebecca Cox on their latest (and very excellent) free training day on Box Hill.
You see my mistake for 2013 was that I believed to run ultras you had to mimic race conditions in your training. Go long and go slow. I at least managed to go slow and was working on the long bit.
Turns out I this was pretty much the wrong approach as both Robbie and Rebecca have achieved fantastic performances with speed & hills, and all on an average 40-50 miles per week. A real eye-opener given my 2013 training and mileage (and corresponding slow performances).
This is something I have now changed and seems to be working so far. Though the raft of PBs may also be due to recovery and muscle bounce-back from the Piece of String, the decrease in mileage is certainly giving me more energy and a fresher approach rather than grinding out training miles.
One thing is certain. After realising that I was on the wrong track, I've signed up with the local Athletic Club and am looking forward to some very short (200m - 1 mile) reps in sessions that are over in 90 minutes. Tops.
This new training routine is going to be e-a-s-y.
Or maybe not.
On another note, I tend not to be too hard on myself on long weekend runs, but do push hard in races. Another piece of info I took with me was "if you feel you can repeat the session the next day, you haven't pushed hard enough".
So to make sure I do my fair share of hard work and push myself adequately I've loaded up the race plan:
| Sun 12-Jan-14 | Tanners 30m |
| Sun 19-Jan-14 | Thornbury Riverbank Rollick 9m |
| Sat 1-Mar-14 | Green Man 46m |
| Sun 23-Mar-14 | Wreckers 50m |
| Sat 26-Apr-14 | Highland Fling 53m |
| Sat 10-May-14 | K2B 40m |
| Sun 25-May-14 | The Ox 34m |
| 21-Jun to 5-Jul-14 | LeJOG 840m |
| Sat 16-Aug-14 | SVP 100k (date moved forward) |
| Sun 21-Sep-14 | Cotswold Way 102m |
| Sun 12-Oct-14 | Norfolk Coast 100k |
| Sat 15-Nov-14 | Beacons Ultra 47m |
| Fri 5-Dec-14 | The Hill 160m (qualification pending) |
2014 is aimed at building the base for 16/16 in 15 (sub 16-min 5k and sub 16-hour 100 miles).
Well.. I don't believe in impossible.
