Sunday, January 31, 2016

Run Ottawa Run Streak - Days 29 and 30

Busyness pushed me to the treadmill again.  My schedule called for a fartlek on Friday and a "long" run today.  (A 45 minute long run is not much longer than a normal easy run for me.)  The fartlek and easy run would have been a good tune up for the race tomorrow.  I chose a reasonable facsimile of a fartlek for last night's treadmill session and a short 20 minute run tonight because it's late and I should get some decent sleep before the gun goes off tomorrow.

The "Race 'Below ZERO'" tomorrow is the first race of the MEC Ottawa 2016 series, and my first competition since last April's Run for Reach half-marathon fiasco, where I was severely under-trained and had my first DNF of the modern era.  I am treating tomorrow's race like a "C" race - no special attention to food or sleep, no peak, no taper.  I have no idea what to expect, nor do I have any expectations, except to have a good time and enjoy the race atmosphere.  I just need to make sure that I show up on time and don't forget my bib.

That being said, I will empty the tank because I want to use the race as a baseline for structuring future training.  After nearly 3 months of steady state running, I have no idea where I am at fitness- or speed-wise.  I have been running slow and steady in order to develop consistency and avoid injury, and as a result, I have trained myself to run slow and steady.  That has to change if I want to do well in the two trail races this summer and the marathon/half-marathon in Gatineau Park in October.

No comments:

Post a Comment