Overcooked, Now the Long Weight!

So, I managed to squeeze in 152 running miles in training last week, starting off the week with sore legs after the Connemara recce. To be honest, although by the Sunday I was running closer to 7.45 to 8 minute miles, my legs don't feel that bad. It was a good mix of about 80% trail and 20% road.

I will drop my mileage down to about 70 or 80 miles this week and include some hill sessions and then drop down to about 30 miles for race week. I will also do a bit more work on the cross trainer to supplement the running.

I am now wondering whether 152 miles 2 weeks before a race is too much. That said, I avoid heart rate monitors and playing too much on times and the use of other technology. I simply go by how my body feels when I am out on the run as ultimately this is what you go by on race day. Surprisingly, 2 days in to my taper my legs seem to be recovering quite well and I managed an average pace of 6.40mm for 7 miles last night. So although still tired I would not have been able to do that at the end of last week.

As with many runners, I hate the taper because a) it seems like it's the perfect time for an illness; b) its sometimes the perfect time for an injury; c) less time running; d) my focus goes on maintaining a reasonable weight, although I struggle with this element as my body still craves for the same amount of food as when I am in full training; and e) the wait.

Nutrition is the area of my training I struggle with. I have managed to get close to my ideal race weight this week simply because of the mileage I put in last week, but already I can feel I am overeating. Not for the sake of simply eating, but because my body seems to be constantly hungry, despite a massive drop in mileage (from around 20 - 30 miles a day to 7 miles a day with a gym session). I try and keep a varied diet of mainly porridge, lentils, meat and nuts with an endless amount of fruit. I believe that weight does have a huge contribution to performance and is something I will need to focus on more, especially for the most important race of the year for me, the World 100k Champs.

Anyway, as I am not running I thought I would blog as I am already going 'cold turkey'. 

Turkey mmmmm