Its two weeks on from the Tarawera Ultra, and, more importantly, twelve weeks until my "A" trail race this year, the Ultra Trail Australia (the UTA for short).
The UTA has been on my wish list ever since I started to wonder about ultra running. In those early days, my ultra running hero (not only because he is a cool guy, but also because he was then the only ultra runner I had ever heard of), was American Dean Karnazes. Hell, he still is! But DK came to NZ in around 2008, and talked about The North Face 100k, which was what the UTA was then called. It enthralled and enticed me, but I never thought that I would be capable to running that far.
Fast forward 8 years, and I've completed 3 100k Tarawera ultras, the 80K "The Hillary", as well as other distances between 50 and 75k. Now it is finally my chance to travel to the Blue Mountains to have a crack at the UTA.
So, how has training been going? The short answer is ok, but not great. I took most of the first week after Tarawera off, and only managed to do three 45 minute "absorption" (i.e. recovery) runs.
Last week my coach James gradually started introducing some more work into my schedule, including a 2:30 run on Sat, and a 4:00 ride on Sunday. I'm pleased to say I got through both with no problems, although the run after 2 hours on my feet, deteriorated to a walk/run. Clearly I have work to do!
The plan this week is to step it up again and continue the gradual build toward UTA. As well as running more miles I'll be focusing on (a) good healthy LCHF nutrition; (b) flexibility and mobility, especially in my calves, quads and hamstrings; (c) strength training once a week; and (d) stairs, stairs, and more stairs! Bring it!
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| A taste of what's to come |
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