I wanted to run fast today, it didn’t happen. I am getting slow. It’s time to do speed work again.
If I talk about fast, don’t think seriously fast. My idea was to do a 2 kilometers warm-up this morning, followed by 10 kilometers within an hour. That’s 6 minutes per kilometer. That has nothing to do with fast. Even for me. Yet, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t push. I had no power in my legs.
Racing and resting
I have a million excuses. I haven’t done a lot of running in the last couple of weeks. I mean my last normal training week was probably the week from April 10 to April 16. After that I had all kinds of races: The Mighty Marathon (April 22), Brabantse Ultra Trail (April 30), Eryri (May 13) and the Dolomiti Extreme Trail (June 10). In between the last 2 races I was sick.
Races are fun, but I need time to recover from the long races, which means the last couple of weeks I have just been racing and resting. After the Dolomiti Extreme Trail I even took a total break of running. Just 2 weeks, but still…
Lack of training
This week was my first running week again. I eased into it with some shorter runs. Today was the first run longer than 15 kilometers and the first one I wanted to run a bit faster, but as I said I had no power, which could be the lack of training.
Another option is all the strength training I’ve been doing this week. If the Dolomiti Extreme Trail has taught me one thing, it’s that I have to get stronger. Stronger legs to get up the mountain when it becomes steep, and stronger arms to be able to push more on the running poles. That’s why Sara and I are doing 2 to 3 strength sessions a week now.
RELATED: Seven lessons from the DXT
Indiana Jones
Last excuse; the last two nights I went to bed late. Friday Sara and I had an evening out; pizza and a movie. We went to see the new Indiana Jones; the Dial of Destiny. It was fun. It could do with a bit more humor and some shorter car chases, but we enjoyed ourselves. Last night we picked up Cinzia, a yoga teacher from Sardinia, who is here to film a course. Nothing big, but enough to upset my daily rhythm.
So I think I do know why I am getting slow. Now the trick is to get fast again. In the coming weeks I’ve planned some speed-work. To be precise, every Thursday is speed day; either Fartlek or interval. Let’s see how that’s going to work out. I’ll keep you posted.
