The long hard road.... (with apologies to Ron Hill)

It’s a funny old game, this ‘training for an event’ malarkey. You put all your eggs in one basket, as opposed to adjusting your training to fit a particular race.

In a ‘regular’ running program, the mileage and variety would be akin to a sine wave: big mileage one week interspersed with a bit of variety and conditioning, lower mileage another but focused on quality and speed. But with my training for a specific race, May 1^st, with a background of ‘good, basic but nothing in particular’ fitness, that line is a steep incline!

Illness, injury, skipping sessions are simply not on. Tricky when the entire Kootenay population seems to be suffering coughs and colds and those who aren’t, go playing in the mountains on skis.

Let me give you some examples.

1. Injury

I was helping to set some cross country ski tracks over the weekend, and in my enthusiasm to do a ‘good job’ I managed to get the skidoo stuck. Well, jammed is a better description. Jammed in setting concrete and even though the machine was only 2m from the perfectly good trail, it was positioned at right angles to it, buried. What had I done? Tried to turn the darn thing around to give the trail another good beating. My perfectly innocent actions cost me nearly four hours of toil and a strained back.  Down but not out, fortunately.

2. Playtime

I was lucky enough to be called into Natasha’s school for some much needed work last week. Thoroughly enjoyed it, but in chatting to some colleagues one was spending the weekend in a hut some 20km off the highway with some buddies (why is this not me? I wondered to myself) and another was skiing up from his house, into the mountains for some play. Would I like to join him? Is the Pope Catholic? Does Natasha like plain, greasy crisps? What a stupid question. YES! But on reflection, I had to tamper my enthusiasm. ‘Bin the training or do it’ was the advice from my virtual training partner, Peter. ‘But don’t reschedule’. Made perfect sense. Could I afford to bin my 12 mile run on Sunday? The steep training mileage incline image burned in my mind, with the May 1 deadline getting perilously close. I declined. Damn.

3. Illness

Natasha has had a cold this last week. She is not alone. It was inevitable that I succumb at some point. On Thursday I was duly dropped off at New Denver golf course to run home. 9 miles. Fartlek. I was up for it. But within 30 seconds I knew in my heart of hearts that not only fartlek out of the question, it was going to be a case of ‘get home as best you can’. I felt lousy. After, my legs were a soreness I had not witnessed for a long time. Muscle soreness you get after a very long run or a race. Painful to walk downstairs. But only 9 miles? Odd. I could not put my finger on it. On Sunday I ran a blazing 12 miles. Back on track. My legs? Tired but not sore at all. But I had the makings of a rasping cough and got me banished to the couch for the night. Illness.  Affects us in so many different ways. Peter has had to stop his training for a few days – I feel spared. I hope, though, for sprightly legs until 10.29.59 on May 1^st. Only then can I be ill and legs stop working.

To quote Kevin:

Yeah, some days you go out with the best of intentions but you just

have a crap run. Other days you start off feeling like s**t but 

recover to have a good session. Running is a funny old game.

Sure is!

I’m trying a home made energy mix: 1/3 banana, 1 tsp honey (home produced of course). Yum. The challenge is the dispenser and how to carry it. Ideas welcome. My head is turning toward our UK visit, my runs, my training, how to fit it all in, but how to be flexible enough to incorporate running with mates. I’ve got to keep that inclined mileage line going….