Monday, March 2, 2009

Let the games begin and the TAPER!!



Last week, was my biggest training week of the season, and thank goodness for 'down weeks', I don't know what I would do without you! The taper begins for Way Too Cool. It is exactly 12 days away and I am getting pretty excited. I have spent some time dorking out on the internet, looking at my field of competition, and figuring out what it is I need to do to pull off a top 3 female finish. So far I have concluded that I am going to have to run the perfect race. The field is strong, fast, and most importantly- experienced. I do enjoy being the under-dog.

Yesterday, peter, Jurgen and I ran out at Sasamat/buntzen lake and Diez Vista area. The trails out there are stunning, runnable, and fun. It is a nice change from the North Shore mountains. The views of Indian Arm from high up on the ridge were breath taking. I left my camera in the car thinking that it would be too foggy up high, but I was wrong, so the picturesque view shots will have to wait. Pete and I ran 5.5 hours. I felt really strong throughout the entire run, especially the end. I feel that I have done a good mini-peak and the next 2 weeks will be maintenance miles to keep the legs fresh.



I had a 2 hour massage today (my aunt is the best massage therapist in the world). It was painful and it took all of my strength not to cry! When I quit my job In December, I left a wonderful world of medical benefits behind. I have not been receiving the weekly massages I was getting used to. I can definitely notice a difference and will be going more consistently from now on. I truly beleive it is the one thing that keeps me injury free. I always feel like I have a brand new body after massage and I get all the power back in my legs. I have struggled using the foam roller. There is something about self inflicted pain I don't do well, but I can tolerate pain that is inflicted on me (by a massage therapist). At least I know that the pain I may feel during the race won't feel any worse than my massage!

The week of training looked something like this:

Monday- FREEDOM (off day)!!
Tuesday- AM: 25 min run/ 1 hour strength session
PM: 6 x hill repeats + tempo back to start= 1:17
Wednesday: 2 hour trail run
Thursday: 1 hour Strength + run/walk home
Friday: AM: 1 hour road run/ PM: 1 hour trail run
Saturday: 1 hour trail run
Sunday: 5.5 hour trail run

See you in the trails!

2 comments:

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Hey Nicola,

It’s Katie from the Mountain Madness training group.

I was just using the Google machine to do some research for my first race The Dirty Duo and I came across your blog randomly. Great posts! Good luck in your race. Thinking about your distance will keep me going on Saturday. Thanks for the great training runs!