So we are officially 5 months out from Glacier to Glacier…yep let that sink in a minute, I sure as hell did!
Over the last couple of months, my training plan hasn’t been set in stone and I’ve neglected it a little bit. Now I can make up excuses if I need to but its not really about what has happened, its more about what i do with myself moving forwards. My dog had an operation a couple of months ago and getting out the house for a normal walk and getting my steps in has been limited only until a couple of weeks ago. I was starting to feel a little guilty if I was leaving the house to go do exercise when the pooch is still on a lead and unable to get out for a run herself. However, since a little glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel and the vet telling us she can now walk as far as she wants (still on the lead), I’ve been able to get my step count back to where I would like to see it. One thing that resonates with me is the saying,
What gets measured, gets improved
Peter Drucker
I think my average daily step count has gone from low thousands to over 12k per day since the green light from the vet, who knows what it will do when we get to go off lead again! Having all the data on my wrist with my Garmin Fenix 6 (I know don’t judge me, a new version is out and I don’t have it!), I am able to see where I am at during the day to know whether I need to take the pooch out again, or go for a stroll myself.
So, now that I am starting to feel a little more organised with getting up and out the house with the dog, I thought it was about time that I looked into making my training plan for Patagonia later in the year. Now i always create a training plan for any year when I have a number of races in the diary and want to focus on something. This year is no different, so I set about creating the plan.
As you can see from the plan, i have a lot of sessions that I “plan” to do! Now this is purely to hold myself accountable to getting fitter and stronger in order to successfully complete the adventure race in November. Without this, I would be aimlessly trying to get some miles in on foot and might not feel the guilt if I have a low week or miss sessions. Now the plan isn’t going to correct all of that for me, I still need to be the one motivated to meet the plan set out, but I won’t be beating myself up if I miss 10-15% of these sessions across the next 5 months. It’s the direction and supporting plan that will help drive overall consistency in my training during this summer period.
At the moment the plan is loose and will need some tightening up as I go along, for example I will need to ride some weekends longer than my current 45 minutes a week Watt Bike session on a Monday. Likewise I will also need to go hire a kayak from time to time to build up my endurance at sitting in a kayak for hours to build up core strength in the sitting position. What I did however need was the plan aimed around running.
Running
In signing up for this Glacier to Glacier event, it will set new records for me. Not only will day 1 be the furthest distance I will ever run, day 2 will then go and break that record again! So in order to not fail at this I need to focus on improving my running distance across the next several months and build up slowly to get to goal distance.
I read a number of marathon training plans in order to understand how many miles I should be getting in during the weeks and months in build up. However what I have to do isn’t really covered by these plans. I need a plan to help me get to 20 miles distance, but then get up the next day and go again! With 15 miles being my previous longest run, I know I can get there but will need to make it interesting in order to not get bored during training. So the running plan has been supported by conversations with a friend who has previously ran ultra marathons and Marathon Des Sables, an event which contains back to back to back marathons, oh and in the dessert for shits n giggles too!
I am pretty confident of the plan and where I have ended up. I also hope to take Ruby out with me at the weekends from August onwards, she will be a year old by then and my training running buddy on the weekend!
Strength & Recovery
I have also been looking into my other training methods and recovery. I am currently working on a DIY project at home of converting my garage, well a portion of it, into a home gym. I want to shift some of my previous HIIT focus into strength training. Inevitably, the older you get the more you need to look after yourself. So its a good time for me to look at strength work and building muscles to support joints through what will be a demanding summer. The gym will be finished over the next few weeks and will have free weights, rowing machine and of course another dog bed for Ruby.
On top of this I have just purchased an Ice Bath for the garden and aid in my recovery. Been thinking about this for a while and off the back of me creating the training plan and seeing how busy it is, especially with back to back runs at the weekend, i really want to make sure my body recovers as best as it can. There are also many other benefits to cold water therapy, so maybe ill do a little post on that when it arrives and I take the plunge!
Well that’s all for now on the updates, time to get into the swing of things with the training and get cracking!
Don’t forget if you would like to sponsor us for this mad crazy adventure, then head over to Just Giving and make a donation.
If you need me over the next few months, ill probably be training…
I Just Felt Like Cycling 