Go Hard

One of my favourite things about training hard is when you hit those moments where you reach a clear next level in fitness. Improvement in running is never linear. There can be an ebb and flow, mixed with a sometimes unpredictable performance in the day to day runs. This is why I like to take a medium to long term view for most of my training. Running rewards consistency over an extended period of time . Over the last couple of months I've tried to push out the envelope. This has resulted in a few ups and downs during that time. However, it has now brought my fitness to a new level. I'm not at my best ever race fitness, but I am potentially on my way there. What is this new fitness level? My body can now comfortably handle 100km training weeks. I haven't been at this level in a long time, and I haven't ever really sustained that level for long periods. So if getting a solid 100km training week is relatively comfortable, then it sets the base for some substantial i...

Recovery from a big race? It's important, but what does it really mean? How do I decide I'm recovered? Take a day easy for every mile in the race is a rule of thumb, but that translates into 35 days. I've got a 100km race I want to be prepped for. Maybe I could just smash my way through training and keep going until my body catches up. What could go wrong? So on and so on, my head struggles with how to structure the days to week(s) after a race. To decide how to measure my recovery I need to know what my goals are. That's simple, to be at my best for the Wilsons Promontory 100km in May. To help with that I want to not only take the fitness I've built recently, but capitalise on the gains I've taken from last week's Two Bays Trail Run 56km . Now, how do I do that? Firstly, I move away from the term recovery . Instead I use  regeneration . For me it creates a better mindset. Recovery always comes across as a passive process, rest, sleep and not much else u...