I think I'm ready

5 peaks race 1 is on Saturday, Dundas conservation area.

I did what I call my 'setup' run yesterday. Several days before raceday I give a good tempo effort. I have to get my breathing up for a sustained period, strengthen the diaphragm and everthing that connects together in there. If I don't do this, not only will I lack the necessary snap in my legs, but I'll suffer from stitches horribly. It's one of the things I'm prone to in hard running.

Keeping the volume up and pace down is great for development. If I don't do this I just won't have the engine necessary to carry out a good effort. I wished I'd known this several years ago. Naivity of figuring you can just blast out every run and you'll do nothing but get faster. It doesn't work that way though. You can't look at running from the perspective of this run or this day or this mile. It's all about this week and this month and this cycle and this season and this year, and so on.

But when the season approaches, gotta bite down and push it through some hard efforts. Most of my hard efforts this season are hill related, as that's what this 5 Peaks race series puts front and center. I still have to hit the tempos, it's the only way I can get myself up the pace and hold it on race day without clutching my side and slowing down. So that's a big part of the setup run, to push it and give innerds a chance to adapt and recover.

3 days are left and I do feel pretty good right now. Last time I did a cycle like this, despite the slow average pace of my runs and the pedestrian feel they give back, come race day I was amazed that I could hold a hard pace. It's strange, you don't think you're going to be able to do it because you've run so slow for so long. And then when you do go hard, you're waiting for it to come up and bite you, but it doesn't quite. That's what volume does for you.

You need to look at your runs from the perspective of the whole cycle, not just one ro twn runs. To develop as much as I'm able to with the amount of time I'm willing to dedicate to this thing, it's making sure I can get in all the workouts I'm able, fit in enough quality to make sure my legs will turn over, and have enough of an engine tht when they do turn over, they won't cease up. That's what it's all about. Too much quality, and I'll spend too much down time trying to recover and basically losing whatever I gain. Not enough quality and, despite the gains within, I can't exploit them.

Anyway, 3 days to go. I have to use road shoes as my trails aren't fitting right anymore but the course isn't that hard so it should be okay.