Sunday 12 August 2012

Race,recover,adapt and........RACE AGAIN ??

                      Anglo Celtic Plate start

Well it's been a busy few weeks,even if I have been on holidays since the ACP.Plenty of celebrating with family and friends and a break from the the demands of ultra distance training.
However this week I returned to the day job in the garage,and with that came a return to the daily grind of training as well.

I scheduled my holidays to fit in around the ACP to allow for enough recovery.I pulled my calf muscle during the ACP and this needed time to heal.I thought I would be out for a few weeks,but thanks to Leon's healing powers and a certain set of needles I was back in action again after 5 days!Leon also gave me a foam roller for self massage,which I had never used before but now that I have started using this I cannot recommend it highly enough!It is a must for anybody looking to increase recovery time from workouts and so easy to use.And because it is so compact it can be brought anywhere.For more details check out Leon's website http://www.physiozone.com/

My return to training this week has been somewhat painful to say the least!Two 100k races in 3 months have taken there toll and my recovery is slower than usual.This week I got in 2 long runs,a speed session(10x1k) and a hill session,but it was the long runs which I found the more difficult for a change!
But in saying that I am happy with the quality of my sessions this week in my first week back :)


Today was my first long run since the ACP and also my first opportunity to try out Craft's range of heat training gear.Even though the sun has been absent of late it has been extremely hot and humid.
So with a 3 hour run ahead of me with temperatures in the high 20's it was on with the Craft Ventilation tee and my arm coolers.What a difference wearing the right clothing can make to performance.When you are running in hot temperatures for a long period of time it is crucial that you are wearing the right clothing,so that your race performance or training session is not deteriorated in any way.Craft's Ventilation range not only look good but they are extremely effective in hot temperatures.
                           

As for the next few weeks....There are a couple of road ultras coming up at the end of the month(a 40 miler and a 50 miler),which I have not decided on yet.I will see how my body responds over the coming weeks before I make a decision.It would be very soon to run two more races especially with them being only 6 days apart,but we'll see :)

The overwhelming responses which I have received from family and friends since the ACP has kept me in a positive frame of mind and will hopefully drive me on to continue working hard and become a better athlete.

So in the meantime it's continue training hard and work towards the next big day out.