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The legs are still tired

Almost 15 kilometers done of my trail run here in the Lommelse Sahara. I don’t feel so fresh anymore. Fifteen kilometers of running is nothing these days, but I guess my legs are still tired from my ultra run in Sussex a week and a half ago.

I told you, all this ultra running is new to me. In my past running life I ran twice the Rotterdam Marathon and once a 30 kilometers long training run. That’s all. A couple of half marathons, but nothing more. In those days fifteen kilometers already felt like a long distance.

The longer the better

How different is that now-a-days. Fifteen kilometers feels short. Half a marathon is a nice distance. 25 kilometers nicer. Only from 35 kilometers onward does it start to feel like a long distance.

Today is different however. Okay, I’m running in the Lommelse Sahara. It’s a lot of up and down. Nothing crazy. Nothing feels like serious climbing. Just little hills, but it changes the tempo all the time. Don’t get me wrong, that’s something I like. It’s the fun of trail running. No kilometer is the same. It’s continuously adjusting to the terrain.

Working hard

It’s just that running feels like hard work today. Normally the first 20 kilometers go smoothly. Today not. I guess the legs are still tired from Sussex. My mind might be fresh again, my legs aren’t. They felt good the last couple of days, but there is a big difference between walking around the house and running a trail.

Last week was a recovery week, as I felt low on energy. This week I want to step it up again. Running at least 50 kilometers in total. Next week should be my heavy week. That will give me 2 weeks of rest before the MUT festival, where I will run the Mighty Marathon (45 kilometers, 1.300 meters of altitude). Before Sussex I did a taper of 2 weeks. That worked, so I want to do a 2 week taper for the MUT Festival as well.

It’s all about the legs

At the same time, it all depends on the legs. My legs are still tired now. It feels hard to keep on pushing. The MUT Festival is coming closer. Okay, that’s not my main goal. The Dolomiti Extreme Trail in June is, but I want to be good in Belgium as well.

I think I can be. I mean, there are 5 weeks between Sussex and the MUT Festival. I think that’s enough recovery time. I think, because all of this is still a learning curve. Work in progress.

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