First off … thanks for all the incredible support and positive vibes after I announced I am running the 100 miler at Sinister 7 this year. I truly appreciate the vote of confidence.
Now let’s dive into it. I am going old school – starting next Monday I will post my weekly training recaps!
Let me share with you a glimpse of where my head is today.
The first thing I do whenever I sign up for a race is create a training calendar. I love a good excel sheet. I have been doing this for the last few years. There’s something satisfying about typing in my daily mileage and cross-training. It also feels more real and tangible.
I like that I can easily look at the entire plan and track my progress, and make adjustments when necessary. Plus I get to paint the cells a rainbow of pretty, pretty colours.
Right now I am in a base-building phase. That means I am just trying to get back into running shape and establish a solid aerobic base. My goal is to improve endurance and my muscular systems while maintaining a consistent schedule. I started in December after I was given the go ahead to get back running from my physiotherapist.
Consistent strength training is also making a comeback. I love lifting so this has been fun. The spin bike has also been a great recovery tool.
This phase will be a two-month grid. I’ve been running between 50 kilometres and 76 kilometres per week since December. Save for the work break at Christmas, I have been sticking close to home and running on the pathways and at Nose Hill. I am taking a break from chasing elevation during this grunt work phase.
Visualizing the race
The second thing I always do is to break down the race in distance and elevation. I like to visualize what I am getting myself into. Remember when I ran the 50-miler? I went down for a weekend to train. I hope to get down to Crowsnest at least once before the race in July.
I plot the distance and elevation for each leg with the estimated times and cutoff times. I don’t usually have to chase cutoffs but I have a feeling this is going to be a tight race.
I’ve scheduled a few races for training in the months leading up to Sinister. More about that later. Also over the next few weeks and months I will also start paying closer attention to my nutrition. There’s so much to do to prepare. Right now the race seems so far away but I know it will be here in no time or 26ish weeks.
Do you create a spreadsheet when you register for a race? How do you track your training? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.