Week 11: Marathon des Sables

pic from www.photography blogger.net

"You don't get what you wish for, you get what you work for."

- anonymous -

Have to love absorb weeks.  All the aches and pains have gone, and I'm band-aid free!  Physically, a good week running 76km/ 47.5mi and cycling 113km/ 70mi. 

Sleep was slightly better with less tossing and turning, though still only 6-7hrs a night.

Read a lot of forums and blogs this week and realized how naive I've been.  Example, I was planning on running in road shoes which gave a good laugh to a number race veterans.  Queue nervousness and anxiety about other things I haven't thought of!  Surely there will be more of these.

As for gear, when including shipping costs, stores are cheaper than the internet, so off shopping I go.  No time to get into this today, maybe next time.

Unfortunate incident,  the motor on my turbo trainer is no more.  No idea what happened, it just didn't work when I tried to ride on Sunday morning.  Now, re-arranging the schedule to add walking and outdoor riding while I try to troubleshoot with the manufacturer.

This Is It

In case you're still wondering what MDS is all about, watch this.

Week 10: Marathon des Sables

pic from www.wm.edu

"Life is ten percent what happens to you 

and ninety percent how you respond to it."

- Lou Holtz -

This week, training was good, 80km/ 50mi run and roughly 125km/ 78mi cycling.  It's nice that I'm sticking to weights and yoga unlike previous training where that fell by the wayside.  Hopefully it keeps going!

Week started rough with a 2hr run in what I thought was light showers and a 'bit' of wind.  Come to find out after, it was typhoon like weather.  Who knew!  Anyway, because of the cold and a poor choice of shirt, I finished with raw nipples.  Never fun.  Still running with band-aids.

Beyond that, some stiffness behind my left knee and slight lower back 'discomfort'.  The knee should be fine, just need more foam roller.  The back could be more concerning if it continues.  I think it's time for a sports massage and hopefully that works it out.

Sleep has not been good.  Generally, 6-7hrs per night and often tossing and turning.  Not ideal for recovery.  I think it's too much liquid, getting up to go to the bathroom.  Plan to cut down on liquid and find and extra hour of sleep somewhere.

Diet is fine.  Eating as I wish with some sweets everyday for the added calories.  I'm not focusing on weight/ body comp this time, but for comparison, I weighed in at 63kg/ 139lbs after some holiday indulgence.  We'll see where that is in April before the race.

On the mental side, finally getting my act together.
- Flights and Hotels booked, land a few days early to adjust to time and temp
- Notebook, purchased and started using
- Gear, have narrowed down the compulsory gear, now to compare in-store to online prices (biggest surprise, down sleeping bags are REAL expensive!)

Week 11 is an absorb week, so hoping the aches recover.

Winter 2012 - 2013

I failed to post over the end of 2012 and here's why.

We're engaged!

Australia

Byron Bay

lots of coffee!

Kyoto

Washington DC

Merry Christmas!

Feliz Noche Buena!
pork, black beans and rice, yuka,
platanos maduros, salad, bread

Annapolis, MD

Going for a dip at the mall, DC

Fukuoka

Happy New Year!

Week 9: Marathon des Sables

"Ain't no man can avoid being born average, 

but there ain't no man got to be common."

- Satchel Paige -

After traveling for a while (pics to come!), it's nice to be back in a routine.  This week was 71km/ 44mi of running and about 100km/ 62mi cycling.

I've started running on the sand and enjoying it.  Go into more detail in another post, but have been between 10-40mins and going well.

Most of the running is done with a book bag of 3-6kg/ 6-13lbs.  This is likely less than what I'll carry across the desert (max 10kg/ 22lbs), but I'll build up to it.  Some slight back issues, but nothing a bit of stretching can't take care of.

Physically, holding up well.  The calf issue mentioned last week, the result of running on old shoes, is now gone.  This does mean retirement for the old guys, always a sad day.  But, it also means time for new kicks!  Can't wait!

One point of contention, I'm not mentally focused enough.  I like to have reminders of my goals everywhere: a picture by the bed, quote to recite in the morning, a training notebook (with goals plastered across the front), pics or other stuff at work, etc.  But, right now I've got none of that, kind of going one day at a time, which I think loses site of the overall target.  More to come on this.  

More Thoughts on the Program:

- Thursday: HMP speed session and weights (technically the first day of training week)

- Friday: hills cycle, target to work hard on consecutive days but avoid injury from over-running

- Saturday: MP speed session, 3rd day in a row of hard efforts

- Sunday: short, easy cycle to flush the legs

- Monday: cycle, long moderate run and weights to build endurance

- Tuesday: yoga and long moderate run, hoping the yoga hits the core before a long run 

- Wednesday: REST!

Assuming you've noticed, but I'll start each weekly post with a motivational quote.  Most of them come from Twitter, so if you want more, check out @Sports_Greats and @SportsQuotable.

Marathon des Sables: Training Program

Happy New Year!! (belated)

Finally!  Eight weeks into training and finally posting this.  Here we go.

General Thoughts
1) cardiovascular - lungs need a lot of work, starting on pace work this week
2) injuries - generally ok, hamstring is better but recently developed a calf issue
3) health - not so concerned about weight or bf, sticking to a generally healthy diet but with this amount of training, I expect to naturally hit decent shape
4) mental - really trying to challenge mental toughness combining long bike to run sessions with weights or yoga

Program (more or less an extension of the Tango Ultra program + cycling)
- 21 weeks (wanted 30 but limited due to hamstring issue)
- 4 run sessions per week (2x pace and 2x long), 3-4 bike, 2 strength and conditioning and 1 yoga
- weekly average (estimate): 69km/ 43mi run, 120km/ 75mi bike
- max week 18 (estimate): 150km/ 94mi run, 190km/ 120mi bike

This is going to be fun!