MON 5 MAY
AM | 13.1km, 630m VG, 1hr 37min – stairs/hilly trail run
Last sustained stair session prior to TNF. Felt heavy in the legs going out, felt strong coming home. Heart rate was really easy to control this morning too. Chilly morning on the mountain...although I suspect the Blue Mountains will be at least a few degrees cooler!
TUE 6 MAY
AM | 8.0km, 245m VG, 1hr 3min – group trail run
Gold Coast Trail Runners group run - same as usual; easy paced with lots of breaks. Beautiful clear, cool morning. Body felt good.
WED 7 MAY
REST DAY
THU 8 MAY
AM | 12.0km, 135m VG, 60min – fartlek road run
Easy 2km warm-up. MAF efforts Fartlek run - almost ran it as an easy tempo, but I kept HR around 150, did some stairs and recovered when I let the HR get away from me a little. Easy 2km cool down. Body felt pretty good; feet were stiff this morning (not sore at all, but stiff).
FRI 9 MAY
AM | 9.0km, 150m VG, 60min – group road run
Chisel Runners group run (no extras this morning). Body, including feet, felt good. Taper is doing its job...
SAT 10 MAY
AM | 15.8km, 630m VG, 1hr 32min – long trail run (taper week 3)
One-week-to-go taper long run. Felt really good this morning - still have a runny nose, but the aerobic system was feeling excellent and the legs were strong on the ups. Not long to go...
SUN 11 MAY
REST DAY
TOTAL
Running | 57.8km, 1790m VG, 6hr 12min
Cross-training | NIL
Total time | 6hr 12min
My body is loving this taper caper! I don’t have much commentary to add to the training log this week, other than highlighting that the response of the body during taper (feeling fresh generally, and less fatigued…kind of the purpose of a taper!) goes to show the importance of the recovery aspects of the training cycle. Too many runners ‘run’ themselves into the ground week-in, week-out, and end up injured and exhausted. Phil Maffetone says it repeatedly TRAINING = WORK + REST. The rest part of the cycle is crucial.
As I did last week, I again want to highlight the health practitioners who have done such an awesome job in helping get me to the start line: Kimba Collins (Chiro), Jac Edser (O.T), Amy Mingin (Naturopath) and Liane Wild (Sports Massage). There are others too, but the thank-you blog will come after I’m done.
So. That’s that. My next training blog will recount my final week of taper leading into the 100km, but you most likely won’t get to read it until after race day!
I’ll also have a race report for ‘ya all (outlining how amazing I felt no doubt…).
Until then…I’ll see you on the other side!
See you out there – Juddy
[If you wish to follow my run, my support crew will periodically be posting photos and whatever else they get the urge to share during the course of event day on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JuddAdventures. You can also follow my live checkpoint times via the event website: www.thenorthface100.com.au. I’m bib #55 if you need it!]