Last day of rest. Tomorrow I’m allowed to run again. I’m really looking forward to it. The few days of rest were nice, but now I want to run again. Not sure how far I will go, as I have to make a new training schedule.
It won’t be far. Just a little recovery run, together with Sara, to see how our legs are doing after our runs in Sussex. They feel totally fine today, but I haven’t tested them.
Cross-training
Sara has already done some cross-training on the elliptical. Her legs hardly suffered from her run in Sussex. Just her left knee is painful again. That’s her weak spot. I have to come up with some exercises for her, so she can strengthen her Tibialis Anterior. That’s the muscle in her lower leg that’s causing the problems.
My focus in the coming weeks will be a bit more on strength training. Yesterday I shared with you the exercises I do for my feet. They help me to get stronger feet and stronger arches. Now I want to add exercises to make my calf muscles, hamstrings and quadriceps stronger.
Last Saturday, while running the Sussex ultra, I noticed I need more strength to be able to do all the climbing. I mean in Sussex I only had to climb 1.600 meters. In the Dolomites I have to do 3.800. That’s more than double. Way more.
New training schedule
So yes, it’s time for a new training schedule. My old one ended at Sussex. I first wanted to know if what I had created for Sussex worked. It did. I was able to run 53 kilometers. Okay, it was hard, but that was to be expected.
Now I know I can do the distance, the focus can be on climbing. I still have to maintain my long distance training, but I will shift my focus slightly. It does mean I have to go on the weekends more often to either Limburg or the Ardennes to find some altitude.
MUT Festival
Hopefully I can also find some races with altitude. Races are more fun than long runs. As you know my next race is the MUT Festival. I will run the 45 kilometers race there. That one has 1.300 meters of altitude, so it’s good for distance and altitude. However, I would like to have a training with more than 2.000 meters of altitude. Preferably without running more than 30 kilometres. Let’s see if I can find a spot to do that.
I am not the only one who needs a new training schedule. Sara needs one as well. For me Sussex was a test, for Sara it was her big goal. My quest continues, Sara starts a new one. She told me she wants to be able to run further, faster, with a lower heart rate, get better at running up and downhill in the mountains and fix her knee.
Those are lots of demands for one schedule, but I like a challenge. So let’s see what type of new training schedule I can come up with for her. Probably this Sunday I will sit down and see how I can put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
For now, keep running!
